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Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. To get connected or to give online, go to hcv.church or give.htv.church.

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If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text

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change me to 970-00. Thank you and enjoy the message. So you know that happened to be my

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three daughters and the outfits that they were wearing or the shirts they were mine they just

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decided to raid my closet so that they would look Hawaiian and summery for the announcements. We

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love them so much. If you're joining us from home thank you for welcoming us into your home. It's

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going to be a beautiful weekend. Hopefully you have a few days off and you can just celebrate

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the warmth of summer. Now according to George Barna, almost all practicing Christians believe

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that part of their faith means being a witness about Jesus. Now that this these numbers are

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across all age ranges from young to old. 97 percent believe that this is a part of their

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relationship with God and the best thing yet 95 percent of those people believe that others

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are going to be better if they develop a relationship with God. However a survey from

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Nashville-based LifeWay Research found that only 60 percent of churchgoers feel comfortable in

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effectively sharing their faith. That's just over half but yet the numbers get a little worse.

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80 percent have not shared their faith in the last year and more than half, 60 percent haven't even

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invited anyone to church. So if it's such a big important part of a relationship with God

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why is no one doing it? Well Roxanne Stone editor-in-chief at Barna Group says this,

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truth is most Christians are busy with other things. The day-to-day normal life, jobs, kids,

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budgets, sports, weather and what's premiering on Netflix this week. None of this is bad but the

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unfortunate reality is that most adults don't seem to connect their everyday experiences with their

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faith or at least they aren't talking about it if they do and the article continues to answer the

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question why aren't people sharing their faith and Ed Stetzer points out that the four top reasons

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people don't talk about Jesus in their everyday life is I'm afraid they'll ask me questions I

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can't answer. I struggle with my own faith how can I share it with others? I never learned how it's

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the church's fault and I don't know how to start a conversation with someone. Now if you're anything

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like me when I saw those that list I thought that's some pretty lame excuses but here's the

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problem if I'm to look out into this crowd 80 percent of you have not shared your faith in the

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last year and some of you in fact connected with those reasons this morning so what we're going to

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do for the month of July we're launching a new series called Grace Bomb and this series is going

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to challenge us to get outside of our comfort zone and to move forward in sharing the good news

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that God wants us to about his son Jesus and to do that it's a very challenging topic of which many

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Jesus followers do not put into practice I want to invite the Holy Spirit to come to prepare our

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hearts and more importantly to challenge us to get outward is it okay if we do that so Holy Spirit

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come. God I just pray that you would fill this room fill this place with your presence as we launch

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out into this new series as we launch out into this new phase for our community of faith of living

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outward focused lives desiring to see those in our community experience your goodness your grace

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and more importantly new life in Jesus name and we all said together amen all of that leads us to

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our first thought this morning you see Jesus followers are built with grace Jesus followers

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are built with grace and this morning we're simply going to focus on one verse from Paul's letter to

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the church in Ephesus and we're going to particularly focus on chapter two and to begin chapter two Paul

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summarizes the gospel he talks about the good news about Jesus and and he shares at the beginning

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of chapter two of how all of us were once dead in our sin and many of us know if you were here last

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week that this room is full of horrible sinners and if you missed the talk go back and listen to

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it I'm not judging you you can go back to our YouTube channel and watch and many of us were

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living in a world living in the world full of disobedience we had nothing to do with God

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and then Paul writes this in verses four through five of chapter two but God's so rich in mercy

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and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins he gave us life when he

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raised Christ from the dead and it's only by God's grace that you have been saved now notice we

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experience this new life not through anything we did or will do but through Jesus's actions on the

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cross Paul continues in verses eight through ten God saved you by his grace when you believed you

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can't take credit for this it's a gift from God everyone say gift salvation is not a reward for

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the good things we have done so none of us can boast about it for we are God's masterpieces and

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this is just an important reminder that we do not have to strive we don't have to be religious we

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we do not earn our way into a relationship with Jesus we do not earn God's forgiveness Jesus

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followers are built with grace which we just learned is a gift from God now question this

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morning if you all would amuse me and participate what do we do with gifts

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okay if you are getting let me rephrase the question I know it's going over your head I'm

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sorry it's so difficult this morning if you receive a gift what do you do with it open it

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thank you okay some of you are trying to be non-selfish oh we give gifts oh yeah we give them

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away come on when we get those gifts you rip them open it's not like you put it up on your bookshelf

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I'm gonna wait for a few years you know I got my Christmas collection my birthday collection that

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when you're giving a gift you rip that thing open right but like some of you said gifts are also to

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be given right in fact many of you know that you can't give gifts to people who are not

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right in fact many of you know that we can experience much more joy and happiness as a

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giver of gifts rather than a receiver which leads us to our next stop look grace built people

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grace bomb others now say that three times if you can grace built people grace bomb others

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Ephesians 2 10 for we are God's masterpiece the niv translation uses the word workmanship there

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he has created us a new in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us

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long ago now the word masterpiece or workmanship means that Jesus followers have been assembled

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or built for a purpose see when we begin a relationship with Jesus we become new spiritually

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we become new spiritually built people that starts from the inside out as we're filled with the

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Holy Spirit now when something is built it is built for a purpose and I grabbed a couple things

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out of our shed this morning I thought I could use for example I happen to grab my daughter's

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softball bat okay now this is an eastern ghost and what is this softball bat designed or built to do

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hit a ball right when that ball is pitched this bat is designed to hit a ball into the field of

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play or out of the field of play so that your team can score runs if this bat doesn't touch the ball

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does anything happen of course not this bat is designed to hit a softball I also happen to grab

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my snowboard okay this snowboard was was given to me by Steve Wilcox who I'm thankful that he did

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that for me and this snowboard is designed to what slide down a mountain on top of snow at a rate of

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anywhere from 30 to 45 miles an hour just praying and hoping you don't fall over because it probably

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would hurt real bad and it just so happens that Chris has now chosen with his son Nolan to learn

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this sport and to put his life at risk you simply strap your feet into the board start at the top of

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the mountain and quickly go to the bottom now if I did not have this on my feet would I go anywhere

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no I would just be standing in snow this board was designed and built for a purpose the purpose

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is that a person can slide down a mountain while standing up hoping that they survive so all of you

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can pray for me in the winter and for those of you that are now thinking about snow because you

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hate the summer boohoo I love the summer bring on the heat okay which brings us to our big question

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this morning what is our purpose as grace-built people well last week we began to touch on this

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a little bit when we looked at Jesus's two commands of loving God and loving others first

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and loving God were to be active in a relationship with God okay this happens we love God when we

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communicate with him through the Bible through prayer through corporate worship when we gather

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to sing through connection with other believers that is loving God that is growing our relationship

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with God but it doesn't end there so many people put those things in the practice and then stop but

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Paul he focused in on one specific function or purpose for a grace-built person and this is what

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he said so we meaning Jesus followers can do good things he planned for us long ago again good things

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works or deeds do not get us into heaven they do not start a relationship with Jesus however

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somehow we have been built we have been designed for good works in other words we are called to

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drop grace bombs doesn't that sound a lot better good works grace bombs I'll go with grace bombs

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so what is a grace bomb a grace bomb is a random surprising act of kindness that is meant to brighten

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and change a person's day simply think about a bomb when we were discussing doing this series

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just was kind of like I don't know if you should use the word bomb because there's a war going on

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and bombs are kind of negative and they are negative what is a bomb okay a bomb is dropped

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from above out of nowhere to blow up destroy or negatively impact something on the ground

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okay however we want to turn that around and we want to do the same thing with grace

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drop from above out of nowhere not to negatively impact but to positively impact someone's life

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for God's kingdom we can look at Paul the author of this letter his own life is an example of a

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grace bomb we're going to go into Acts 22 and in Acts 22 Paul is actually describing

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his encounter and how he began a relationship with Jesus let's look at it Acts 22 6 through 16 and

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this is what Paul says as I was on the road approaching Damascus about noon a very bright

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light from heaven suddenly shone down around me now think about this it's it's lunchtime

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it's bright sunlight and suddenly Paul's talking about a bright light shining on him I fell to the

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ground I heard a voice saying to me Saul Saul why are you persecuting me and remember Saul if you

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don't know anything about him Saul was a persecutor of the church of Christians he murdered the early

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church and desired to eradicate it Paul responds who are you Lord I asked and the voice replied I

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am Jesus the Nazarene the one you are persecuting Paul continues I was blinded by the intense light

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and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions a man named Ananias lived there he was

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a godly man deeply devoted to the law and well regoated wrote well regoated you know I'm learning

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I'm listening myself more people say there's a lot of chrissisms out there I'm learning I am making

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up my own language so if you want to use that please reference that I created it okay

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the god of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous one and hear

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him speak for you to be his witness telling everyone what you have seen and heard what are

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you waiting for get up be baptized have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord

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so remember Saul murdering people killing people suddenly it's transformed his life is turned upside

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down by what grace he experienced a grace bomb it wasn't negative it was positive God broke in

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and provided the power that Saul's life would be changed so much that his name would become Paul

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and then he would go on to write more than half the New Testament see once in a relationship with

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Jesus right these grace bombs don't stop we are called as Jesus followers to participate with the

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Holy Spirit to release bombs on others I mean remember what Paul said we can do the good things

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he meaning God planned for us long ago it's almost as if Paul is saying there are divine appointments

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available to you and me every day and I'm talking about in our walking around lives that we if we

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open our eyes and see the opportunities God will place them before us and we simply just have to

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walk in them and release God's grace onto others and you're like well just give me an example of

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course well many of you will go out to lunch after this it just may so happen that your server

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whether it be a male or female is just having a really bad day and for many people when your

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server is having a bad day it negatively impacts your lunch well what if instead of us getting a

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bad attitude we see this as a divine opportunity to release God's grace how about the barista who

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makes your Starbucks coffee or Dunkin coffee on your morning route to work how do we not know that

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God has placed that individual in our lives as an opportunity for God's grace to be released

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how about the soccer or baseball coaches volunteers to serve your kids how about the person that just

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started at work last week that you have to train and you think I don't want to train anyone

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how do you not know God has not ordained that person to be in your life for the very reason

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to release a grace bomb or dare I say those neighbors that absolutely drive you crazy because

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they're so loud God has placed there for a divine opportunity for you to release grace

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and bring change into their lives I believe friends there is nothing random about people

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in our everyday walk of life that if we see our lives as living in God's kingdom God will bring

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people into our path so that we can release grace into their lives now the English standard version

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of the Bible translates verse 10 of chapter 2 in Ephesians this way for we are his workmanship

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created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in and I

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just thought it was interesting I found that that we should walk in them why I began to pray like

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God why is that added there why is that added to this translation well I believe it was added

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because we were created designed and built to share the good news wherever we go and it's not

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just written in the letter to the Ephesians which leads us to our next thought the Bible challenges

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us to drop grace bombs in fact 2nd Corinthians 9 8 challenges us to abound in good works and God

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is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times having all you need you will

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abound in every good work now abound is defined as exist in large numbers in other words God's gonna

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just bless us abundantly so that our good deeds our good works our grace bombs are just happening

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all the time in our everyday walk of life we are challenging Colossians 1 tend to be fruitful

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so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way bearing fruit in every

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good work growing in the knowledge of God fruitful means producing good or helpful results

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in Titus we are challenged to be committed he gave his life to free us from every kind of sin

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to cleanse us and to make us his very own people totally committed to doing good deeds committed

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is defined as to be all in to be dedicated to a cause Hebrews tells us to sacrifice in order to

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share the good deeds don't forget to do good and to share with those in need these are the sacrifices

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that pleases God and finally in 1st Peter 2 12 we're challenged to be a good example when it's

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written to be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors then even if they accuse you

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of doing wrong they will see your honorable behavior and they will give honor to God when

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he judges the world so all throughout the Bible we are challenged to be living with good deeds

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to be dropping grace bombs on others and Jesus even takes it further which leads us to our next

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thought see Jesus challenges us to live out grace every single day look at Matthew 5 14 through 16

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you are the light of the world like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden no one lights a lamp

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and then puts it under a basket instead a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone

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in the house in the same way let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will

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praise your heavenly father see Jesus challenges us and he says if you're in a relationship with me

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you're to be light you're to be light to the world and if we think about light light is warm

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light feels good I mean there's a reason that during the wintertime it's all cloudy and cold

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and overcast that people go into hibernation and depression there's a reason because there's not

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enough light and see our good deeds are to be impactful they're positive the others are to feel

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good when they receive them and you say well Chris why would I do that because that's what God's grace

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is God's grace is warm and refreshing God's grace is just full of mercy it feels good I love gathering

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with you and worshiping together light also points to a reality see without light if we were to turn

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out all the lights in this room all of us would stumble around in the dark trying to find our way

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out and with light though we can see the direction that God is calling us to do therefore our good

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deeds should point people to Jesus someone is greater than ourselves listen the kindness movement

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is all over our culture you can buy kindness shirts to challenge people to be kind even though you

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yell at them and curse them right you you can buy a bag of Doritos that tells you to be kind

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as you eat this Dorito when in reality that bag of Doritos is causing you to get high cholesterol

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and to gain weight okay that bag of Doritos even though it says be kind on the packaging

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it's not kind to your body okay our good deeds are caused what it causes us to point others to God

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it causes us to point others to someone greater than ourselves that he is the source of light

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for ourselves that he is the source of our kindness he is the source of our love and our goodness

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now as I was preparing this talk and going through this I was like man these four points

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these are good points this sounds so easy right doesn't it sound easy it does it's like biblical

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all the scriptures are there let's just go live these outward focused lives but yet

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80 percent of the church never does it and I just began to pray I'm like God why are we not outward

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focused why is it that we don't desire to see other people changed by God yet when all the statistics

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say 98 percent of you believe that it's good for someone to begin a relationship with Jesus if I

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was actually to raise your hand again it's good I want to see people changed okay well if you want

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to see people changed we have to realize this we have to break out of our comfortable Sunday routines

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okay and hear me out I love our community of faith okay I love gathering together with you

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it's it's it's there's nothing like worshiping together there's nothing like praying with you

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however we can get comfortable in going through that routine because see when we get outside of

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these walls and we get in our workplaces or we get in our neighborhoods there's those people that

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annoy us get on our nerves and then we get intimidated by them and then we don't ever share

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our faith as a community of faith what do we do we try to push you out we schedule different

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opportunities for for you all throughout the year like for example the last several months we've

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given away flowers in the squares right oh we have these glow bracelets we have these glow

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bracelets we want to challenge you to give out at the fire there's some fireworks in clear spring

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tonight there's fireworks in Eggers Town tomorrow Williamsburg tomorrow I'm sure there's many other

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places too probably Martinsburg take these glow bracelets and give them out to people as a means

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to what share with them God's love okay we've given out water bottles many of you know that our

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backpack giveaways coming up it's our biggest outreach of the year we give away thousands of

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backpacks okay we challenge you to be a part all good things right however those events are all

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around us right we're comfortable around us we're confident around us we're confident why is it that

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when we're out by ourselves we can't see ourselves as being instrument or tools being used by God

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when that's how he desires for us to live see God desires for us as a community of faith to put on

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these big events to reach our community but God also desires that within our everyday lives us

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individually are reaching out so that we are making a difference as well does that make sense

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all of that I'm saying leads to our final thought I believe many of us would begin to live outward

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focused if we realized that living an outward focused life challenges us to change see I feel

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God challenged us to use this series as a means of our community of faith growing to the next level

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this this series isn't necessarily for the people outside these walls this series is for you and me

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because when we get outward guess what we grow our relationship with God right last week I shared that

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Jesus challenged us to simply said the whole Bible is two commands love God and love others

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right and and I believe that if we take Jesus seriously in those two commands this series is

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going to be a tool right to impact and change our lives by loving our neighbors but going vertical

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and growing our relationship with him I'm all about loving God I'm all about reading the Bible

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I'm all about going through devotions I'm all about praying for people praying for others

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worshiping I'm all about being in growth groups they're all good things but there's something

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powerful when we step out of our comfort zone and share our Jesus story with someone else

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there's something powerful when we get out of our comfort zone and pray for a neighbor

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there's something powerful when we step out of our comfort zone and meet the need of someone in

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our community when we put ourselves out there to be used by God we are changed from the inside out

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and you heard in those excuses why people don't share a lot of it is all fear-based but yet in

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second Timothy 1 7 for God has not given us the spirit of fear and timidity but of power and

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love and self-discipline there's so many people that say well I'm insecure I'm an introvert I'm

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not extroverted I don't know how to talk to people good depend on God because he will use you when we

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try to do it in our own strength guess what we get in our way God and the Holy Spirit has a way of

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overcoming our insecurities our insecure our introvertedness and our fears of man but here's

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the deal when we're being outward we have to remember to activate the Holy Spirit we have to

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remember to begin to listen and discern to him as we're walking through our everyday lives

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not telling the Holy Spirit what we want to do we have to be obedient to activate the spirit and

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then Jesus even takes it a step further in Matthew 9 36 to 38 when he said when he saw the crowds he

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had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless like sheep without a shepherd he said

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to his disciples the harvest is great but the workers are few so pray to the Lord who is in

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charge of the harvest ask him to send more workers into the fields see I believe when we step out and

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live outward focused lives it makes us aware of the people around us right that God's kingdom is

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available to all people and we simply have to be generous with our time with our resources with

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our energy to impact others we have to be willing to step out friends we have to be willing to allow

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our lives to change our relationship with God to grow and that happens when we step out because

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look at first Corinthians 9 27 I discipline my body like an athlete training it to do what it

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should otherwise I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified listen

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in a culture that is just desperate for truth people are spiritually hungry they're spiritually

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hungry but they're all so skeptical they want to see you living this out if this whole Jesus

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thing is so good and he's changed your life and and he's the good news then you're going to be

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and he's the good news then why isn't your life changing does that make sense so so we are held

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accountable to grow in our relationship with God when we're outward focused which leads us to our

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action steps living a grace bomb life we are to live a grace bomb life so all of you we're giving

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these cards on the way in did everybody get a set of cards so this is your grace bomb cards and all

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these grace bomb cards do is they are used as a tool to challenge you to be outward I mean basically

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what we're doing is we're living Hebrews 10 24 let us think of ways to motivate one another to

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acts of love and good works so these cards when we say to load it simply means that you have cards

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on you wherever you go so typically when I have cards whether it be hdv invite cards or grace bomb

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cards I put them in my car near my radio that I control and change songs so that everywhere I go

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I see them sitting there and when I say load all that does is it triggers my mind to remind myself

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that I need to be aware of what's happening around me so that I can look for opportunities

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to serve others so I can look for opportunities to pray for others so I can look for opportunities

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to buy something for someone and let's be in our busy lives sometimes all it takes is a simple card

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a simple reminder that we are called to live outward focus lives now don't get me wrong listen

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there's going to be days when you don't feel like grace bombing okay there's going to be days when

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you wake up on the wrong side of the bed you have a bad attitude you have a grump on your face

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you're depressed the world is against you it's all the government's fault you know when you're

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having one of those days just leave your grace bomb cards at home okay because you're not going

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to grace bomb anyone anyway okay and it's better for them just to just to judge you than for you

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to give them a card with a smirk on your face they're like who's that that that's being

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hypocritical right so just leave your grace bomb cards at home when we load it's a reminder that

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we're called to share the good news to have opportunities presented to us by the Holy Spirit

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which leads us to our next step we listen these cards are a reminder to listen look at Romans 8

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11 and 14 the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you and friends I don't know

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about you but that's good news that I hang on to every day and just as God raised Jesus from the

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dead He will give life to your mortal bodies by the same Spirit living within you for all who are

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led by the Spirit of God are children of God and what these cards do again is we load we see them

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that we listen we listen for opportunities that God is going to give us in our everyday lives

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that He's going to present to us a person that we're going to run into we need to listen to his still

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small voice see here's the reality the Holy Spirit speaks to us with encouragement with love

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He gives us wisdom to make wise decisions but He also gives us opportunity but so often we're so

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busy we have our music up so loud we're watching the next show we're on our social media we miss

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the opportunities because we're in a fast-paced culture that steals the opportunities from us

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we need to listen for example simply think about the last time you are waiting to check out could

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be at Walmart, Sam's or simply think about the last time you're waiting to pick up food from a restaurant

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what was everybody doing while they were waiting in line?

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Oh I can

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right true or false?

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That's what everybody does now while you're waiting to pick up your food or you're waiting in line

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you're looking down our phones have trained us not to engage with other people

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Did everyone see that? Not to engage

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Leave me alone

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Leave me alone. I love my news feed it's my story it's my highlight reel right that's what everyone's

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doing God's challenge you to listen and change so this week when you're waiting in line put your

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phones away when you're waiting to pick up your food put your phones away and look around and 90

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you're not going to see anything except tops of heads you're like man that's an ugly head you might

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see some dandruff right it's okay you may make eye contact with someone that's having a really bad

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day and how do you not know that that person was not put in your life and you took the time

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to engage them so you got load listen and then let her go right now in the first gathering I shared

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I don't like let her go I don't think that's hcv so we're gonna go let her rip okay that that feels

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better that's more us we're gonna let her rip Acts 10 38 as you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth

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with the Holy Spirit with power now notice what happens then Jesus went around doing good everyone

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say doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil for God was with him now notice Jesus

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was constantly walking around doing good he was dropping grace bombs he was the original grace

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bomber and and it wasn't just that he was praying for people and healing people he was doing good

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right and all of us have the ability to do good with our time our treasure and our talent and

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and listen it doesn't have to be all about money right you can bless your neighbors by simply

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inviting them over for dinner one night you're gonna eat anyway you already spent the money

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right so it's not even that you're blessing that you're just having them over for connection and

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for relationship it could be that you just simply donate the talent that you've been given to someone

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younger than you or or a child that would desires to grow up and learn the guitar and you just

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donate your ability to teach them the guitar now typically grace bombing and what these cards are

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for right you load you listen you let her rip okay so so many of you this is a great way to start

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doing this the next time you're in line at a coffee shop okay make sure you have a card with you order

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your coffee whatever it may be i don't care where you are you can be in any coffee shop look behind

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you and pay for the next person's coffee that's behind you leave a card and ask the person to give

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that person the card that's all you have to do and then sprint out of there so they don't talk to you

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because you're all introverted right i can't talk to anyone so you just let her rip right and you

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don't even have to do that with coffee you could do it you could do it wherever you eat i mean i was

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going to say chick-fil-a but many of us can't afford to do that chick-fil-a the prices of

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of the food there i would love to do it but it'd be like 200 bucks but anyway maybe god's calling

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us to be really a blessing to people but but you start by grace bombing people in that way

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it's just simply anonymous you leave a card you get out of the way because this card points them

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to simply looking up grace bomb there's a video on there that points them to jesus and our church

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and it's a great tool to get you outside of your box but the anonymous can then move in their

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interaction for example i felt like god highlighted this to me today many of the many of you you stop

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and grab coffee or you take coffee with you on your way to work every morning what if once a month

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instead of just having coffee for yourself you got coffee for all your employees or the people you

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work with wouldn't that be cool and listen i even said this to the first gathering stop here i'll

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give you the code come in make a big pump of coffee take it with you to work but you have to bring it

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back okay you can't steal the pump you have to bring it back rinse it out and have it ready for

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sunday morning but if you want to do that i'll make it so you can take coffee to your employees

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leave cards on the tables and they say well why are you doing this because god loves you

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but it starts interaction does that make sense starts interaction some of you like duncan right

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you can buy like a 20 cup pouch just leave it at your office drop some cards you've been grace

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bombed does that make sense but it starts interaction with other people then suddenly

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you're like wait a minute i like the anonymous thing that's fun and and now my employees know

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that i'm bringing coffee once a month this is going to move to opportunities where you actually

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engage in the kingdom okay because now you you like it you're enjoying being outward you're going

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to start praying for the sick you're talking to your neighbor their kids are struggling you're

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praying for your neighbors and you begin to interact and allow god to use you with the power

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of his spirit does that make sense like it's it's it's a domino effect that we begin to live these

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that we begin to live these outward focused lives and here's the reality friends

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our community needs us okay look i'm the president of a local little leg okay

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we don't have enough umpires we don't have enough coaches there's no one to serve no one wants to

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serve in the concession stand there's no like the whole idea of volunteering or serving others

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is nowhere in our culture i mean it's gone

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why can't the church fill those needs because i believe that's what we're called to do

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you know what i mean i believe we are called to use our talents our gifts our finances a means as a

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means of living outward lives so that god uses us to just grow and explode his kingdom are you with

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me all right so here's what we're gonna do take out your cards take one card out okay grab a pen

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if you would if you need a pen we have pens here maybe you can use your neighbor's pen or your

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wife's pen or your husband's pen we want to use pens okay so you might have to borrow you might

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have to meet someone it's okay like introduce yourself be like hey when you're done writing

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can i use it i'm susie what's your name oh i met someone new look you're being outward already

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look i'm training you in the church okay so here's what we're going to do listen

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i'm going to invite the holy spirit to come and i'm going to ask him to reveal names to you

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in your everyday walk of life that god is calling you to interact with this week and then i want you

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to write those names down you got it oh my goodness okay i'm gonna go down to first grade okay

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holy spirit come i'm gonna invite the holy spirit to come we're gonna be silent

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we're gonna be silent we're gonna listen for names that god gives us in his still small voice

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that we know in our everyday lives that he's calling us to make a difference in

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holy spirit come speak to us god speak to us

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co-workers friends

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friends

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you said the coffee shop

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and

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i failed a thousand time

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I just give you an opportunity of what God just did to me.

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I'm giving examples.

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As I was praying, God highlighted some neighbors for me, but he also highlighted a person I

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don't even know.

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There's a guy that stands out here by the McDonald's on Basel Boulevard and holds a

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sign up almost every day that says, I can't work, homeless, have some sort of disease,

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right?

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And for the past four months, I've driven by this guy, and he's probably in his, he's

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younger than me, he's probably in his 30s.

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My thoughts that run through my head every time that I drive by him is, dude, there's

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jobs everywhere, get a job.

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Like, I mean like Sheetz is paying $20 an hour.

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Like get a job.

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But that's been my attitude for the last six months, or four months, or however long he's

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been standing there.

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And as I was just praying, I felt like the Holy Spirit highlighted and said, Chris, why

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don't you instead of judging, grab a couple McDonald's gift cards for $5 and hand them

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to him as you drive by him.

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And it may not make any difference at all, but it could stir up a conversation.

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So you then have an opportunity to pray for him, because the last time I checked, Peter

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looked at a lame man and said, I have no money to give you, but what I do give you will change

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your life.

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True or false.

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So suddenly, just in my quiet time of listening to the Holy Spirit, I A, got convicted of

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being judgmental, God forgive me, and B, now have a tool to use to reach someone because

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the Holy Spirit gave it to me.

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That's all it is.

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That's listening to the Spirit every day.

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And then when we're obedient, he uses us, transforms us, and makes us followers that

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are on fire for God.

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Amen?

404
00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:29,880
Will you stand with me?

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00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:38,040
So as I was praying this morning about how to close this gathering, God was very clear

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about how I should do it.

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And I felt like I was supposed to pray.

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I've got to move this table.

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I'm going to trip over the snowboard and all this stuff I bring up here, it just messes

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00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:50,800
me up.

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00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:59,040
I felt like I needed to pray for the Holy Spirit to release his power into your lives.

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And without his power, without his guidance, without his direction, we're a train wreck.

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So I'm going to invite you just to simply put your hands out like this.

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And all I'm going to do is just pray for God to release his power into your life specifically.

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And all this means is God, I want that.

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That's all it means.

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00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:24,040
So Holy Spirit come.

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Release your power in this place.

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Amen.

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God I pray that this would be a people before me that becomes an army releasing grace bombs

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into others.

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That God, their hands would be hands of signs, wonders, miracles, and freedom.

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00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:50,780
That their money would just come in in abundance so that they can give back to others.

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That their talents would grow and be harnessed so that they again can give them away.

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May we be a people, God, that is just as your son was just walking around doing good, that

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we would be known as a community of faith that's just doing good.

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00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:15,520
Holy Spirit come now.

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00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:21,320
Release your power in this place.

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00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:29,200
Release your power in this place.

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00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:32,200
In Jesus' name.

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00:47:32,200 --> 00:47:35,200
In Elvis' name.

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00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:38,200
In Jesus' name.

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It's not out of somebody goes by that we don't offer opportunities for new life to begin.

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So if we could go back to that place of prayer you know Jesus is just good.

435
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:54,480
He's good.

436
00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:57,480
He will change your life forever.

437
00:47:57,480 --> 00:48:05,560
Some of you are not here by accident but you're here for the very purpose of your neck and

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00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:06,560
neck.

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00:48:06,560 --> 00:48:09,840
So you know when looking around it's a personal thing between the individual and God.

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00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:13,560
If there's anyone here that just needs to start that journey, needs a walk in forgiveness,

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00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:28,120
needs a return to God, just flip your hand up and we'll all pray with you.

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00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:40,440
Let's put these words together, Jesus, I'm broken, full of doubt, shame, regret, sin,

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00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:54,360
change me, make me new, fill me with your Spirit, lead me into new life, give me opportunities,

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00:48:54,360 --> 00:49:00,960
grace bomb, others, Jesus' name.

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00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:09,280
Listen, if you prayed that prayer for the first time, text me please.

446
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:14,120
Take your phone out right now, text change me to 9700, I'll give you next steps, I'll

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00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:20,240
follow up with you this week, I'll give you the opportunity to move forward in your relationship

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00:49:20,240 --> 00:49:21,240
with God.

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00:49:21,240 --> 00:49:29,000
Okay, now for those of you that are just here, listen, you're released to go and do good

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00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:34,080
deeds, to do good works, to do good that God's already planned for you this week and you

451
00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:39,000
just have to be willing to step out, right, and let her rip.

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00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:41,000
Just let her rip, amen?

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00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:46,160
Alright so before we go, hold on, hold on, hold on, before we go, listen, two things,

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two things.

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00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:53,600
After this gathering, if you've never been to Start With Why, you heard my daughter say

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00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:58,240
I will be leading this, it'll take about 20 minutes, learn all about our community faith,

457
00:49:58,240 --> 00:50:01,920
where we've been, where we're going, what God's calling us to do, meet me, ask questions

458
00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:04,540
about our church, whatever, I'd love to have you join me.

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00:50:04,540 --> 00:50:09,400
After I high five everyone, I will meet you in the family room if you want to join me

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00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:10,400
for that.

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00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:15,160
You can pick up your bracelets that you give away at the fireworks at the Welcome Hub,

462
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:19,120
you have bags of 25, you just give out, and they're really cool, you know what it says

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00:50:19,120 --> 00:50:20,120
on them?

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00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:21,520
You know what it says on them?

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00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:23,520
Get lit.

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00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:25,400
Right?

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00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:32,760
Now for those of you that are judging me, okay, it says Matthew 5 14, okay?

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00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:37,120
Alright you see, see, so we're getting lit in that we're going to be the light of the

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00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:38,120
world, okay?

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00:50:38,120 --> 00:50:42,400
So you, they glow in the dark, you give them out to people and tell them, listen, this

471
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,960
is a hot button item for kids and teens.

472
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:48,240
I mean they'll be grabbing them and be like, what's get lit mean?

473
00:50:48,240 --> 00:50:50,240
And you'll be like, Jesus.

474
00:50:50,240 --> 00:50:51,240
Right?

475
00:50:51,240 --> 00:50:54,200
You just point them right to Jesus.

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00:50:54,200 --> 00:50:59,560
Now if you're joining us online, thank you for your welcome, send you home, God bless.

477
00:50:59,560 --> 00:51:05,120
I need you, alright, to high five four people in front of you and behind you so I can get

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00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:26,280
to that back door.