tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38312480486482687852024-03-13T22:01:52.363+05:30எல்லாம் அவர் செயல்....Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-34170189326180146392019-05-18T19:18:00.001+05:302019-05-18T19:18:20.449+05:30என்னுடைய அழைப்பு என்ன? | The Movement Week 1 - Tamil<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: red;">அழைப்பு </span></h2>
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இன்னைக்கு <b>அழைப்பு </b>- ன்ற வார்த்தை யை பற்றி கொஞ்சம் டீடைல் - லா பார்க்கப் போறோம்.<br />
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எப்படி உங்ககிட்ட ஆதார் அட்டை இருக்குதோ, அதே மாதிரி ஒவ்வொருத்தருக்கும் அழைப்பு இருக்கு. அது கடவுளுடைய அழைப்பு.<br />
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ஒருத்தர் உங்களுக்கு போன் பண்ணுனா, அதை அட்டென்ட் பண்ணி பேசுறதும், இல்லை மிஸ்டு கால் ஆக்குறதும் உங்க விருப்பம் தான்.<br />
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அதேபோல கடவுளும், மகனே/மகளே இங்க வா அப்படினு உங்களை அழைக்கும்போது, <b>அவர் பேச்சை கேட்கிறதும் கேட்காம போறதும் உங்க விருப்பம் தான்</b>.<br />
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நீங்க கேட்கலாம், அழைப்பு அழைப்பு அப்படின்றயே, அப்படினா என்ன??<br />
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நான் சொல்றேன் . <b><span style="color: red;">அழைப்பு </span></b>அப்படினா :<b> <span style="color: blue;">கடவுள் உங்களை பூமியில் வைத்திருப்பதற்கான காரணம் அல்லது நோக்கம்</span> </b>.<br />
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ஆமாங்க, இந்த உலகத்துல இருக்கிற ஒவ்வொருத்தருக்கும் கடவுள் ஒரு நோக்கம் வச்சிருக்கார்.<br />
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இதுல அழகான விஷயம் என்ன தெரியுமா? உங்களுக்கு கடவுள் யாருனு தெரியாம இருந்தாலும் சரி அல்லது நீங்க கடவுளை விட்டு வழிவிலகி பல பாவங்களுக்கு அடிமையாகி இருந்தாலும் சரி, கடவுள் உங்களுக்குனு ஒரு நோக்கம் வச்சிருக்கார். அதை நீங்க தெரிஞ்சிக்கணும்-ன்றதுக்காகத்தான் உங்களை கடவுள் அழைக்கிறார்.<br />
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இதை வாசிச்சிட்டு இருக்கிற உங்ககிட்ட கடவுள் சொல்றாரு, உங்களுக்குனு ஒரு நோக்கம் இந்த உலகத்துல வச்சிருக்கேன் அப்படினு.<br />
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<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;">எபேசியர் 4:1</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;">ஆதலால், கர்த்தர்நிமித்தம் கட்டுண்டவனாகிய நான் உங்களுக்குச் சொல்லுகிற புத்தியென்னவெனில், நீங்கள் அழைக்கப்பட்ட அழைப்புக்குப் பாத்திரவான்களாய் நடந்து,</span></b><br />
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இதுல என்ன சொல்றாங்கன்னா, கடவுள் உங்களுக்குன்னு வச்சிருக்கிற நோக்கத்தை வீணாக்காம, அதை எப்படியாவது அடையிரத்துக்கு முயற்சி பண்ணுங்க.<br />
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அழைப்பு/நோக்கம் அப்படிங்கிறது கடவுள் உங்களுக்கு கொடுத்த ஒரு விஷயம் மட்டுமில்ல, நீங்க அதை நிறைவேற்றுவதற்கு நீங்க முயற்சி எடுக்க வேண்டிய விஷயம் கூட...<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">அழைப்புக்கும் மூவ்மெண்ட்/அசைவு/இயக்கத்திற்கும் என்ன சம்பந்தம்?</span></b><br />
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<b>உங்க அழைப்பு/நோக்கத்தை நிறைவேற்றுவதற்கான முயற்சியை இந்த மூவ்மெண்ட்தான் ஆரம்பிச்சி வைக்க போகுது.</b><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">மூவ் பண்றவங்க அதாவது நகர்ந்து செல்றவங்க இல்லனா மூவ்மெண்ட் சாத்தியமே இல்ல.</span><br />
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நம்முடைய அழைப்பு/நோக்கம் நம்முடைய சொந்த மூவ்மெண்ட்/அசைவு/முயற்சியோட சம்பந்தப்பட்டுருக்கு அப்படிங்கிறத நாம பர்ஸ்ட் உணரணும்.<br />
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ஆமா, எல்லாரும் அவங்க வீட்டுல உங்காந்துகிட்டு, நான் எங்கேயும் மூவ் பண்ணி போக மாட்டேனு இருந்தாங்க அப்படினா, மிகப்பெரிய மூவ்மெண்ட்/அசைவு அப்படிங்கிறது ஒரு நோட்டுல எழுதுன ஐடியா வா மட்டும் தான் இருக்கும், நடைமுறையில சாத்தியமே ஆகாது<br />
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நீங்க கேட்கலாம் <b><span style="color: red;">மூவ் பண்றவங்க அல்லது நகர்ந்து செல்றவங்க- அப்படினா யாரு?</span></b> ஒரு ஊர்ல இருந்து இன்னொரு ஊருக்கு போறவங்களா? -னு<br />
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இதுக்கு என் வாழ்க்கையில நடந்த, நடந்துக்கிட்டுருக்கிறத உதாரணமா வச்சி உங்களுக்கு நான் பதில் சொல்றேன் .<br />
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2012 - என் வாழ்க்கையில ரொம்ப மோசமான நிலமையில இருந்தேன். முழுமனசோட உள்ள வரணும் அல்லது மொத்தமா வெளிய போகணும்.<br />
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அந்த நாள், என்னுடைய பர்ஸ்ட் மூவ் எடுத்து வச்சேன். ஆமா நான் முழுமனசோட உள்ள வர்றதா முடிவு பண்ணுனேன்.<br />
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நீங்க கூட உங்க வாழ்க்கையில பர்ஸ்ட் மூவ் எடுக்க வேண்டிய நேரம் இதுவா இருக்கலாம்.<br />
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சிலருக்கு இயேசு-வை நான் நம்புறேன் அப்படினு முடிவு எடுக்கிறது பர்ஸ்ட் மூவ்-ஆ இருக்கலாம். இயேசுவை நான் முழுமையா நம்புறேன், அவரை என் வாழ்க்கையில கடவுளா ஏற்றுக் கொள்றேன் அப்படினு பர்ஸ்ட் மூவ் எடுக்கும்போது கண்டிப்பா உங்க வாழ்க்கை மாறும்.<br />
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நான் எடுத்த அடுத்த முடிவு சர்ச் அகாடமி - ல சேர்ந்தது. நான் எப்படிப்பட்டவன், கடவுள் எப்படிப்பட்டவர் அப்டிங்கிறத அகாடமி எனக்கு கற்றுக் கொடுத்துச்சு. அகாடமி என் வாழ்க்கையை மொத்தமா மாத்திடுச்சு.<br />
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சிலருக்கு சர்ச் அகாடமி ல சேர்வது உங்களுடைய அடுத்த மூவ்-ஆ இருக்கலாம்.<br />
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கடவுள் என்னை கம்போடியா, சியம் ரீப் போன்ற இடங்களுக்கு அழைச்சிட்டு போனார்.<br />
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2015 - நானும் என் மனைவி ஷோபியும் சென்னைக்கு மூவ் பண்ணி போனோம்.<br />
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<b>கடந்த 6 வருசமா நாங்க மூவ் பண்ணிட்டே இருக்கோம். எங்களுக்கு சரியான வேலை கிடையாது, நிரந்தரமான பணம் கிடையாது, ஆனால் கடவுள் நாங்க எதிர்ப்பார்க்காத அளவிற்கு எங்களுக்கு தேவையானவற்றைக் கொடுத்து எங்களை பாதுகாக்கிறார்.</b><br />
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ஒருவேளை என் வாழ்க்கைபோல உங்க வாழ்க்கை இருக்காது. ஆனா <span style="color: red;">உங்க வாழ்க்கையில உங்களுடைய அடுத்த மூவ் என்ன?</span><br />
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ஒருவேளை புது வியாபாரம் ஆரம்பிக்கிறதா இருக்கலாம், உங்க கனவை அடைவதற்கான முயற்சி எடுக்கிறதா இருக்கலாம், உங்க வேலைய விட்டு விலகுறதா இருக்கலாம், கடவுளை, ராஜ்யத்தை தேடுவதா இருக்கலாம், ஒரு நாட்டிலிருந்து இன்னொரு நாட்டுக்கு மூவ் பண்றதாகூட இருக்கலாம்.<br />
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<b>ஆனால் எல்லாமே உங்களுடைய விருப்பத்தை பொறுத்துதான்.</b><br />
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<span style="color: red;">நம்முடைய ஒவ்வொரு மூவ்மெண்டும் நம்மை சுற்றி ஒரு பாதிப்பையோ/மாற்றத்தையோ ஏற்படுத்தும்.</span><br />
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நம்முடைய உடம்பில் ஓடுற இரத்தம் மூவ்மென்ட்லயே இருக்கிறதுனாலதான் நாம் உயிர் வாழ்ந்துகிட்டு இருக்கோம்.<br />
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நம்ம நாட்டுல ஒருத்தர் 40 வருசமா கையை மேலே தூக்கி சாமியை வேண்டிட்டு இருக்கார். இப்ப அவரால கையை அசைக்க கூட முடியாது. ஏன்-னா கையில மூவ்மெண்ட்டே இல்லாததால கை மரத்துப்போச்ச்சு.<br />
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இதேபோல ஆன்மிக வாழ்க்கையிலும் கடவுள் நம்ம வாழ்க்கையில மூவ் பண்ண விரும்பும்போது நாம அனுமதிக்கலைனா நம்ம வாழ்க்கையும் கை மாறி மரத்துப்போகும்.<br />
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ஆனால் நம்மில் சிலர் 4 வருசமாவோ அல்லது 40 மாசமாவோ அல்லது 40 வருசமாவோ மூவ் பண்ணாமலே இருக்கோம்.<br />
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யோசிச்சு பாருங்க, உலகத்துல இருக்கிற எல்லாரும் பரிசுத்த ஆவியானவரின் வழிநடத்துதலின்படி ஒன்றாக மூவ் பண்ண ஆரம்பிச்சோம்னா எப்படிப்பட்ட வளர்ச்சி அல்லது முன்னேற்றம் இருக்கும் அப்படினு.<br />
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இப்ப நமக்கு ஒரு மிகப்பெரிய கேள்வி வரும். <b><span style="color: red;">நான் எங்க மூவ் பண்றது? கடவுள் என்னை எங்கே அழைக்கிறார்?</span></b><br />
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நாம் அதிகமா யோசிச்சு இந்த கேள்வியை ரொம்ப சிக்கலான கேள்வியா மாத்திடுறோம்<br />
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இயேசு ஒரே வார்த்தையில சொல்லுகிறார் "போ".<br />
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"போ" - இதை மிகப்பெரிய கட்டளையாவே கொடுத்திருக்கிறார்<br />
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<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;">அப்போஸ்தலர் 1:8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;">பரிசுத்த ஆவி உங்களிடத்தில் வரும்போது நீங்கள் பெலனடைந்து, எருசலேமிலும், யூதேயா முழுவதிலும், சமாரியாவிலும், பூமியின் கடைசிபரியந்தமும், எனக்குச் சாட்சிகளாயிருப்பீர்கள் என்றார்.</span></b><br />
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என்ன ? எருசலேம், யூதேயா, சமாரியா வுக்கு ஒரு டூர் போயிட்டு வாங்கனு இயேசு சொல்றாரு??<br />
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இயேசு இதை இலக்கியமாக சொல்லவில்லை, அடையாளபூர்வமாக சொல்கிறார்.<br />
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<b>எருசலேம்</b>: உங்கள் குடும்பம் /உங்கள் நகரம்<br />
<b>யூதேயா, சமாரியா</b>: உங்கள் மாநிலம்/ உங்கள் நாடு<br />
<b>உலகத்தின் முடிவுபரியந்தம்</b>: மற்ற நாடுகள்<br />
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இயேசு உங்களுக்கான பெலனை கொடுத்து மேலே சொன்ன இடங்களுக்கெல்லாம் போ என்று சொல்கிறார்.<br />
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நீங்க நினைக்கலாம், என்னால இதெல்லாம் முடியாது அப்படினு. ஆனா இயேசு உங்களுக்கு தேவையான பெலனைக் கொடுத்து உங்களை அனுப்புகிறார். அதனால நீங்க தைரியமா போகலாம்.<br />
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சில நேரங்களில் வசனம் அப்போஸ்தலர் 1:8-ஐ நாம் தப்பா புரிந்து கொள்கிறோம்.<br />
எப்படியென்றால் எருசலேம் அல்லது யூதேயா அல்லது சமாரியா அல்லது உலகத்தின் முடிவு பரியந்தம் அப்படினு புரிந்து கொள்கிறோம்.<br />
அல்லது முதலில் எருசலேம், அடுத்து யூதேயா,அடுத்து சமாரியா, அடுத்து உலகத்தின் முடிவு பரியந்தம் அப்படினு புரிந்து கொள்கிறோம்.<br />
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ஆனால் உண்மையில் இயேசு இதை ஒரு வரிசையிலோ அல்லது நான்கில் ஒன்றை தேர்ந்தெடுப்பதைப் போன்றோ சொல்லவில்லை.<br />
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<b>சிலர் எருசலேமிற்கும், சிலர் யூதேயாவிற்கும், சிலர் சமரியாவிற்கும் அழைக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறார்கள் </b><br />
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<b>கடவுள் இந்த பகுதியிலெல்லாம் நாம் மாற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்த வேண்டும் என்கிற நோக்கத்தை நமக்கு கொடுத்திருக்கிறார்.</b><br />
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<b>இயேசு நம்மை செல்வதற்காக அழைத்திருந்தால், நாம் மூவ் பண்ணுவதற்காக அழைக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறோம்.</b><br />
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இயேசு புதிய விதைகளை விதைப்பதற்கு, இன்று கடினமான நிலங்களை உழுது நல்ல நிலமாக மாற்றுகிறார்.<br />
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என்னைப்போல உங்களுக்கும் இருக்கிற இடத்திலிருந்து மூவ் பண்றது மிகப்பெரிய சவால். <b><span style="color: red;">சொகுசான வாழ்க்கையை விட்டு யாருக்குதான் போக விருப்பம் வரும்?</span></b><br />
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<b>ஆனால் நான் என்னுடைய வாழ்க்கையில், சிறந்தவற்றை மிகச் சிறந்தவற்றிற்காகவும், நடுத்தரமானவற்றை அற்புதங்களுக்காவும், பழகியவற்றை ஆராய்ந்து முடியாத விஷயங்களுக்காகவும் தியாகம் செய்வதுதான் சிறந்தது எனக் கற்றுக்கொண்டேன். கடவுள் என்னை அதற்காகத்தான் அழைத்திருக்கிறார்.</b><br />
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நான் உங்களிடம் கேட்கிறேன். <b><span style="color: red;">நீங்கள் இருக்கிற இடத்திலே செட்டில் ஆக வேண்டும் என்று நினைக்கிறீர்களா? அல்லது மூவ் பண்ண வேண்டுமென்று நினைக்கிறீர்களா?</span></b><br />
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ஒருவேளை நீங்கள் ஒரே இடத்தில் ரொம்ப நாட்களாக இருந்தால், நீங்கள் மூவ் பண்ண வேண்டிய நேரம் இதுவாக இருக்கலாம்.<br />
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ஒருவேளை நீங்கள் இயேசுவை இதுவரை விசுவாசியாமல் இருந்தால், நீங்கள் எடுக்க வேண்டிய முதல் மூவ் இயேசுவை விசுவாசிக்க ஆரம்பிக்கலாம்.<br />
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இயேசு உங்களை மூவ் பண்ண சொல்கிறார்<br />
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நீங்கள் கேட்கலாம், <b><span style="color: red;">எப்படி நான் மூவ் பண்ணாமல் ஒரே இடத்தில் இருக்கிறேன் என்பதை அறிந்து கொள்வது?</span></b> என்று<br />
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உங்களை நீங்களே கீழே உள்ள கேள்வியைக் கேட்டுக்கொள்ளுங்கள். உங்களுக்கான பதில் அதில்தான் இருக்கிறது.<br />
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<b>என் வாழ்க்கையில் சென்ற வருடத்தை விட இந்த வருடத்தில் எதாவது மாற்றம் இருக்கிறதா?</b><br />
<b>என்னுடைய செல்பி மற்றும் போட்டோ வில் சென்ற வருடம் இருந்த முகங்களை இன்னும் இருக்கிறதா? </b><br />
<b>நான் எதாவது புது நபர்களுடன் பழக ஆரம்பித்திருக்கிறேனா? </b><br />
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என் வேலை எனக்குப் பிடிக்கவில்லை என்று சில வருடங்களாக சொல்லிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறீர்களா? கடவுள் உங்கள் வேலையை விட்டுவிட்டு வேற வேலைக்கு மூவ் பண்ணச் சொல்கிறார்.<br />
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"<b>நான் செட்டில் ஆக வேண்டும்</b>" என்கிற மனநிலையை இன்று உடைக்க வேண்டுமென்று நினைக்கிறன்.<br />
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ஏனென்றால் கடவுள் உங்களை செட்டில் ஆக வேண்டுமென்று அழைக்கவில்லை, மூவ் பண்ண வேண்டுமென்று அழைத்திருக்கிறார். ஆம், கடவுள் உங்கள் வாழ்க்கையை விரிவு படுத்த விரும்புகிறார்.<br />
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இரண்டு வகை மனிதர்கள் இருக்கிறார்கள், சிலர் செல்வதற்காக அழைக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறார்கள், மற்றவர்கள் இருக்கிற இடத்திலே இருப்பதற்காக அழைக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறார்கள் என்பது ஒரு கட்டுக்கதை.<br />
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என்னுடைய பார்வையில், சிலர் செல்வதற்காகவும், மற்றவர்கள் இன்னும் அதிகமான இடத்திற்கு செல்லவும் அழைக்கப்பிட்டிருக்கிறார்கள்<br />
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கடவுள் இளையர்களை மற்றுமல்ல வயதான முதியவர்களையும் மூவ் பண்ண அழைக்கிறார் .<br />
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கிறிஸ்தவர்களாக நாம் அதிகமாக கேட்கிற கேள்வி: <b><span style="color: red;">நான் செய்ய வேண்டுமா? நான் போக வேண்டுமா?</span></b> என்றுதான்.<br />
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ஆனால் நாம் கேட்க வேண்டிய கேள்வி: <b><span style="color: red;">நான் போவேனா?</span></b> என்பதுதான்.<br />
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இன்றைய செய்தி கடவுள் உங்களை மற்ற நாடுகளுக்குச் செல்ல அழைக்கிறார் என்பது அல்ல, கடவுள் உங்களை அழைத்தால் செல்வதற்கு உங்களுக்கு விருப்பம் இருக்கிறதா? என்பதைப் பற்றித்தான்.<br />
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நாம் கேட்கிற அடுத்த கேள்வி: <b><span style="color: red;">நான் போகலாமா? எனக்கு தகுதி இருக்கிறதா? </span></b> <br />
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உங்களுக்கு செல்ல வேண்டும் என்று விருப்பம் இருந்து கடவுளிடம் உங்களை சமர்ப்பித்தால் மற்றவைகள் அனைத்தையும் கடவுள் பார்த்துக் கொள்வார்.<br />
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நாம் செய்ய வேண்டியதெல்லாம், கடவுளே புதிய வியாபாரத்தை தொடங்குவதற்கோ, புதிய பள்ளிக்கு செல்வதற்கோ, நண்பருடன் பேசுவதற்கோ நான் தயாராயிருக்கிறேன் என்று அவரிடம் சரணடைவதுதான்.<br />
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ஆனால் நாம் பல நேரங்களில் கடவுளுடைய அழைப்பை உதாசினப்படுத்திவிட்டு கடின இருதயமுள்ளவர்களாயிருக்கிறோம் . வணங்கா கழுத்துள்ளவர்கள் என்று கூட சொல்லலாம்.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">கடினம் : ஒரு பொருள் தன்மீது செலுத்தப்படுகிற விசையால் ஏற்படும் மாற்றத்தை தடுக்க கொடுக்கிற அதிகபட்ச எதிர்ப்பு. </span></b><br />
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கடவுள் நம்முடைய வாழ்க்கையில் மூவ் பண்ண வேண்டுமென்று வரும்போது நாம் அதை தடுத்துவிடுகிறோம்.<br />
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சில நேரங்களில் அவர் நமக்கான வழியைக் காண்பிக்கும்போது அதை தவிர்த்துவிடுகிறோம்.<br />
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சுருக்கமாக சொன்னால், நம்முடைய கடின இருதயத்தால் கடவுள் நம்முடைய வாழ்க்கையில் மாற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்துகிற முயற்சியை நாமே கடினப்படுத்திவிடுகிறோம் .<br />
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<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;">அப்போஸ்தலர் 7:51</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;">வணங்காக் கழுத்துள்ளவர்களே, இருதயத்திலும் செவிகளிலும் விருத்தசேதனம் பெறாதவர்களே, உங்கள் பிதாக்களைப்போல நீங்களும் பரிசுத்த ஆவிக்கு எப்பொழுதும் எதிர்த்துநிற்கிறீர்கள்.</span></b><br />
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இந்த வசனத்தை, ஸ்தேவான் தன்னை கல்லெறிந்து கொல்லுவதற்காக நிற்பவர்களைப் பார்த்து சொல்கிறார். நான் உங்களிடம் பலமுறை சொல்லி இருக்கிறேன், கடவுள் உங்களை நேசிக்கிறாரென்று. ஒவ்வொரு வாரமும் சர்ச்சில் வைத்து சொல்லி இருக்கிறேன். ஆனாலும் நீங்கள் கடவுளை உங்கள் இருதயத்தில் அனுமதிக்காமல் தட்டிக் கழிக்கிறீர்கள்,என்கிறார்<br />
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ஸ்தேவான் பரிசுத்த ஆவியானவரைப் பற்றி பேசுகிறார் என்று நம்புகிறேன்.<br />
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<b>ஆமாம் கடவுள் எப்போதுமே நம்முடன் பேசுவதற்கு தயாராயிருக்கிறார். ஆனால் நாம் அவர் பேசுவதை அறிந்தும் அறியாத மாறி நிராகரித்துவிடுகிறோம். அப்படியே திரும்ப திரும்ப செய்து நம்முடைய இருதயத்தை மரத்துப்போக செய்துவிட்டோம்.</b><br />
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<span style="color: red;">கடவுள் இன்று உங்களிடம் சொல்கிறார்: என்னை தடுப்பதை நிறுத்துங்கள். அப்படியொரு முடிவை இன்று எடுங்களென்று.</span><br />
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வணங்கா கழுத்துடையவர்களுக்கும் அழைப்பை ஏற்று செல்பவர்களுக்கும் உள்ள குணநலன்களை கீழே பட்டியலிடுகிறேன்<br />
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<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: red;"><span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">வணங்கா</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">கழுத்துடையவர்கள்</span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: red;"><span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">அழைப்பை</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">ஏற்று</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">செல்பவர்கள்</span></span></span></b></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">தங்கள்</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">செவியை</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">கைகளால்</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">மூடிக்</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">கொள்வார்கள்</span></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">இதயத்தை</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">திறப்பார்கள்</span></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">இருக்கமான</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">கையுடையவர்கள்</span></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">தாராளமான</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">கையுடையவர்கள்</span></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">தங்கள்</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">மீது</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">கவனம்</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">செலுத்துவார்கள்</span></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">ராஜ்யத்தில்</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">கவனம்</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">செலுத்துவார்கள்</span></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">சுயநலமானார்கள்</span></span>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">சுயநலமில்லாதவர்கள்</span></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">ஆயத்தமில்லாதவர்கள்</span></span>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">எப்போதும்</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">ஆயத்தமாயிருப்பார்கள்</span></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">பரிசுத்த</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">ஆவியானவற்கு</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">எதிர்த்து</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">நிற்பார்கள்</span></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">பரிசுத்த</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">ஆவியை</span></span>
<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">சார்ந்திருப்பார்கள்</span></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">தாமதப்படுத்துவார்கள்</span></span><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: "vijaya" , sans-serif;">பதிலளிப்பார்கள்</span></span></div>
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நீங்கள் அழைப்பை ஏற்று செல்லும்போது, உங்களுடைய கனவுகள், திறமைகள் மற்றும் காரணங்கள் அனைத்தும் அதன்மூலம் வெளிப்படுத்தப்படும் .<br />
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ஆமாம், நீங்கள் அழைப்பை ஏற்று செல்லும்போது, சில ரிஸ்க் எடுக்க வேண்டியதிருக்கும், வசதியற்ற இடங்களுக்கு செல்ல வேண்டியிருக்கும், சிலவற்றை இழக்க வேண்டியிருக்கும்.ஆனால் இதன்மூலமாகத்தான் உங்களுடைய முழு ஆற்றலும் வெளிப்படும் <br />
நம்ம சர்ச் ல நாம் மிகப்பெரிய மூவ்மெண்ட் ல இருக்கிறோம். நாடு கடந்து "கேவ்" ல கலந்துகொள்ளவும், அகாடமி படிக்கவும் வராங்க. சர்ச் வருவதற்காகவே ஒரு ஊர்ல இருந்து இன்னொரு ஊருக்கு மொத்தமா காலி பண்ணி வராங்க.<br />
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இதெல்லாம் ஒரு ஆரம்பம்தான். இன்னும் சிறப்பான,தரமான சம்பவங்களை இனிமேதான் பார்க்க போறிங்க-னு கடவுள் சொல்றார்.<br />
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கடைசியாக <b style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="color: blue;">பிலிப்பியர் 3: 12-14</span></b> வசனத்தை சொல்லி முடிக்க விரும்புகிறேன்.<br />
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<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;">12. நான் அடைந்தாயிற்று, அல்லது முற்றிலும் தேறினவனானேன் என்று எண்ணாமல், கிறிஸ்து இயேசுவினால் நான் எதற்காகப் பிடிக்கப்பட்டேனோ அதை நான் பிடித்துக்கொள்ளும்படி ஆசையாய்த் தொடருகிறேன்.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;">13. சகோதரரே, அதைப் பிடித்துக்கொண்டேனென்று நான் எண்ணுகிறதில்லை; ஒன்று செய்கிறேன், பின்னானவைகளை மறந்து, முன்னானவைகளை நாடி,</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;">14. கிறிஸ்து இயேசுவுக்குள் தேவன் அழைத்த பரம அழைப்பின் பந்தயப்பொருளுக்காக இலக்கை நோக்கித் தொடருகிறேன்.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: yellow; color: blue;"><br /></span></b>
கிறிஸ்து இயேசுவுக்குள் தேவன் அழைத்த பரம அழைப்பின் பந்தயப்பொருளுக்காக இலக்கை நோக்கித் தொடர நீங்கள் தயாராயிருக்கிறீர்களா?<br />
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இந்த செய்தியை உங்களிடம் சொல்வதில் நாம் மிகவும் ஆர்வமாக இருந்தேன். ஏனென்றால் என்னுடைய வீடு இங்குதான் கடந்த 500 வருடங்களாக இருக்கிறது. இந்த தெருக்களின் வழியாகத்தான் நான் கல்லூரிக்கு தினமும் சென்று கொண்டிருந்தேன்.சிறுவயதில் இதே இடத்தில் இருந்த சினிமா தியேட்டரில் சினிமா பார்க்க வந்துள்ளேன்.ஆனாலும் கடவுள் என்னை எடுத்துப் பயன்படுத்தினார்.<br />
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<b>ஒரு விவசாயியின் மகனால் கடவுள் என்னவெல்லாம் செய்யமுடியும் என்பதற்கு என் வாழ்க்கையே சாட்சி.</b><br />
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என் மூலமாக கடவுள் இவ்வளவு பெரிய காரியங்களை செய்ய முடியுமென்றால்,உங்கள் வாழ்க்கையை கடவுளிடம் சமர்ப்பிக்கும்போது, உங்கள் மூலமாகவும் பெரிய காரியங்களை செய்ய முடியும்.<br />
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கடவுளால் முடியாத காரியம் ஒன்றுமில்லை, அவரால் உங்களைக் கூட்டிக்கொண்டு செல்லமுடியாத இடமும் எதுவுமில்லை. நீங்கள் கேட்பதற்கும் அதிகமான, கற்பனையில்கூட நினைத்துப் பார்க்க முடியாத மிகப்பெரியக் காரியங்களைச் செய்கிறவர் கடவுள்.<br />
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நீங்கள் அழைப்பை ஏற்றுக் கொள்ள வேண்டுமென்று உங்களுக்காக காத்திருப்பவர்கள் யார்?<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">உங்களுடைய அழைப்பு உங்களை மட்டும் சார்ந்ததல்ல, உங்களுக்காக பலர் காத்திருக்கிறார்கள்.</span></b></div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-40633575782780365362018-11-09T18:20:00.000+05:302018-11-09T18:33:31.608+05:30Does Science Disprove God? A big reason to believe.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">What we believe informs so much of our life. What we believe shapes the decisions we make around relationships, career, what we do with our life, the way that we raise our children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">You can look at something one way(perspective) but until you look at it another(perspective), you might not realize actually what it is?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Science is filling the gaps that we used to just fill with God, isn't it? We didn't know how thunder and lightning worked, so we just said God. Now we know how it works, we don't need God. We didn't know how an earthquake happened, it must be God. We won't need God anymore because science will fill all the gaps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Science isn't trying to find the truth you want to find, it's trying to find the truth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">People say science is fact and Christianity is faith but actually they're both. Science requires faith to trust in theories that are constantly being evolved. Christianity belief isn't just faith, its facts as well. Jesus really did live, he really did rise again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Science alone cannot disprove God. Science isn't actually set up to disprove God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We have to reconcile the questions of 3 things</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>1. Origin and Beginning</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If we're going to throw God out of the window, then we've got to somehow embrace the idea that nobody plus nothing created everything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Who made God? God is outside of the realms of what we'd understand, God exists outside of time, he exists outside of matter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>2. Order from Disorder</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Our world is fantastically ordered. But ultimately throwing God and the idea of a designer out of the picture, We have to embrace the reality that it was just simply time, matter and chance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Bible describing God coding you through DNA. Prescribing who you are?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>3. Probability</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Do you know the probability of you is being you, the person you are, the way you are? it's 1 to the power of 10 times 2,685,000 you can't put enough zeroes on the page.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If we take God out of the equation, we have to embrace an approach that contends with our every day reason, logic and rational thinking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Science is incredible. It raises some really challenging questions in how we understand the linguistic descriptions in Scripture. But it would be foolish in my opinion to just throw God out the window.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There is something bigger than you, but there is also a streak within you that wants to deny it. It's your perspective, giving permission for your lifestyle, making way for your preferences, potentially putting pressure on you to make decisions that you don't realize but actually could end up costing you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The God so loved you that even though you were the one that broke the life in the first place, he loved you so much, in order that you could have a second chance, in order that you could become a new beginning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">What we believe shapes everything of our life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Our heart in this series is not to try and prove that we're right. Our heart in this series is try and fight for your soul, fight for your life. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Does Science Disprove God? A big reason to believe.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What do you believe?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now, the end of the day what do you believe is a bit of a controversial one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We'd like to ignore it, don't we? Don't talk about religion, Don't talk about politics. let's just talk about the weather. But the reality is <b>what we believe informs so much of our life.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I don't know about you, but often I'm a living life at such a pace that I don't stop to actually ask that question and yet <b>what I believe shapes the decisions I make around relationships, career, what I do with my life the way that I raise my children.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Perspective:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The reason it does is because it ultimately forms our perspective. To me, perspective is everything because ultimately <b>you can look at something one way but until you look at it another, you might not realize actually what it is?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For so many of us <b>our perspective is limited</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Something that for many centuries people said of Christians people of faith but I actually think maybe the tables have turned and actually the limited perspective is in not asking the questions of faith, and not asking the questions of God, because maybe you'll discover something that you weren't actually expecting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Because perspective is really powerful, and it has two powerful fruits you know think about the idea of researching a car that you'd like to buy, only when you turn up it's totally different. Or maybe you decide to go on a date with somebody you've met online and they walk through the restaurant and you think ooh that is not what your profile picture said, you can end up in all kinds of situations all because of perspective.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One of the powerful examples that I think about this is when I was a youth worker I did that for about 12 or 13 years, and I was really passionate about it. Loved working with young people, loved trying to help them through what can be an incredibly complex phase of life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sometimes there were great moments of victory, but also great moments of challenge. One of the things that I and my colleagues had to walk through it from time to time with<b> young people is when they made decisions that had caused life-altering things to happen</b>. So things like you know they'd fallen pregnant, or their girlfriend had become pregnant and often you know the conversation of trying to work that through with them and what they were going to do I'd ask them you know why did you end up in this situation? <b>why did you have unprotected sex or something like that</b>? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do you know what often that <b>answer was well everyone was doing it.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Perspective - Permission - Pressure:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here they answered me with a perspective, but it wasn't actually reality. They answered me with a <b>perspective </b>that had given them <b>permission</b>. Their perspective had said well If everyone is then it's okay for me but it also had created a <b>pressure</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>If everyone is then I need to</b>, but some of these teenagers I was working with 13, 14, 15, 16 less than 25% of their peers actually had lost the virginity. So they had a perspective that was completely out of whack with reality. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>But that perspective have given them permission and also created pressure that had ended up them in a situation that actually impacted the rest of their life, and not just impacted their life but impacted their child's life.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Honestly some they rose to it and it was incredible and it was the moment of maturity in life but for most it went on to be a life defining chapter that actually cost them and others. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Why? <b>All because of a perspective. All because of what they believed</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Just humor me for a moment and put your hands either side of your eyes. Suddenly your perspective keep them there, is totally changed. Why? because you put a barrier in the way of your vision. Just drop your left hand, your perspective just by removing one barrier totally changed. Drop your right hand, different again and yes you looked as stupid as you thought you might.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The thing is our perspective is created by placing barriers and so often those barriers are things that we assume and often we just accept at the immediate sense of legitimacy that statement may have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One of the things that I hear often is Well, <b>I don't believe in God, and I'm not even interested, because science disproves the existence of God</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I've had that sentence said back to me in pubs, in cafes and over the dinner table when I've been trying to share my faith with friends and family and colleagues that perhaps don't share that same faith. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>But the reality is that this broad statement that's made there's actually so much detail in it. that may mean we have a very narrow perspective that actually could end up impacting our lives.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So there's three things that we're going to journey through with around this whole statement today. There's no way that we're going to be able to condense hundreds of years worth of debate and argument into one, so we're gonna zoom out and come up to a big-picture level. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We're gonna start to ask the right questions, not just the detailed questions. Because there are so many times in these questions and debates of whether I can believe in God, we get sucked into the detail when actually <b>we need to zoom out first and then come back to the detail through the lens of the big pictures.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You see the <b>reality is the first barrier that we've got to put down</b> is I'm not sure that science ever can disprove the existence of God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Brian Cox</span></b> is a <b>very famous British scientis</b>t. <b>He's not a man of faith</b>. He <b>doesn't have a particular religion</b> that he had adheres to but he's an avid scientist. In fact he's very popular, recently breaking the record for the most number of tickets sold to a particular science talk. He's<b> very influential</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He said that "<b><span style="color: blue;">there is a naivety in saying that there's no God...</span></b>" the statement goes dot dot dot, because he actually uses some quite colorful language just to express quite how much he feels this is reality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If we go onto the next slide, he says that because "<span style="color: blue;"><b>science is not actually about asking the grand questions in fact it's actually asking the very simple ones...</b>" </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Science is not about asking the who and why? it's about asking the when? and the how? He goes on to actually say that if we were to ever answer the questions of the universe and God and existence of morality through science, it would only ever happen <b><span style="color: blue;">almost accidentally</span></b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So here <b>we have a scientist by his own admission saying science isn't actually set up to disprove God.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If we go on to the next one, this is Ravi Zacharias. He's very famous oh there you go Ravi Zacharias, and he's a very famous Christian speaker. He practices something called apologetics which is basically giving an intellectual philosophical and thought through defense of the Christian faith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ravi was recently asked, he said "<b>well, surely science is filling the gaps that we used to just fill with God, isn't it?</b>" We didn't know how thunder and lightning worked, so we just said God. Now we know how it works, we don't need God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We didn't know how an earthquake happened, it must be God. We won't need God anymore because science will fill all the gaps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ravi a bit like Brian Cox said well no that's not really the case, because science isn't asking all the questions that must be answered in the god debate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We've got to ask the question of <b>origin:</b> where do we come from?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We've got to ask the question of <b>meaning</b>: why am I here?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We've got to reconcile the questions of <b>morality:</b> what is right? what is wrong?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How do we know that and ultimately we've got to answer the question of <b>destiny:</b> where am I going?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Science alone is not actually even trying to answer those subjects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Antony Flew</span></b> is known as the most <b>notorious atheist in history</b>. He was born into a <b>family of faith</b>. His <b>father </b>was a <b>Methodist preacher</b> but by the 15 <b>he decided that God did not exist</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He went on for the<b> next 65 plus years</b> to become one of<b> the most prolific atheistic philosophers </b>the world has ever seen. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He was a professor in Oxford and debated with CS Lewis. Sometimes he would win, and sometimes CS would win. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But he had three major issues, <b>He didn't believe that God existed. He didn't believe that there could be an objective framework for morality. and He also didn't necessarily believe in the concept of free will.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He went on to be like <b>The Godfather for modern atheism</b> to the extent that in 2003, he was a signatory on the humanist manifesto.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's three world beliefs you can have, <b>Theism</b>: the belief that there is outside independent God, outside of time and space a creative or powerful being. <b>Pantheism</b>: that if there's a God it exists in the world and <b>Atheism</b>: that we are solely a naturalistic existence and that all works itself ultimately in humanism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So for him to be a signatory on that, he really believed it until in 2004, the year later he turned around and said he was wrong. And in 2004, he said my life commitment is to mean to go where evidence leads me. and<b> now I must admit that there definitely is the existence of a higher deity purpose and God.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In his book "<b>There is a God</b>" he spent the last six to seven years of his life passionately trying to point out that, in fact it was on account of scientific thinking that he now could not deny God's existence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's another eighth agnostic philosopher called <b><span style="color: red;">David Berlinski</span></b> who wrote a book in response to Richard Dawkins book God Delusion called the devil's delusion. and It wasn't about faith, it was about his frustration toward the lack of real science behind certain things in scientific atheism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In fact controversially he said "<b>Is scientific atheism of frivolous exercise in intellectual contempt? dead on</b>." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now if you like me to understand what the heck that meant. I'll explain it, He basically was saying that he feels that in the movements that are trying to push this there is just a dogged determination not to want to believe in God. He said that's not scientific. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Science isn't trying to find the truth you want to find, it's trying to find the truth.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So the reality is<b><span style="color: red;"> science alone cannot disprove God</span></b>, let's take that barrier on our perspective down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But the second thing that science is often billed as is, "<b>Well, science is about facts and religions about faith, and I can feel better about trusting facts than I can trusting faith.</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But the reality is that<span style="color: red;"><b> science like religion requires faith.</b></span> <b>It requires faith to trust in theories that are constantly being evolved. It requires faith to trusting processes and learning that is always being improved that sometimes even proves that what we thought 50 years ago was fact isn't actually fact.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So it requires faith. It requires faith to believe in things that we can't go back to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm not saying that's a problem but I'm just wanting to dispel the way that people say well science is fact and Christianity is faith when actually they're both. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Because here's the other thing for you as a Christian, <b>your belief isn't just faith, its facts as well. Jesus really did live, he really did rise again, let's deal with that reality.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you're a believer in here today, you have many reasons to believe. I hope that your head is starting to be lifted a little bit higher today even as I'm talking because what you believe isn't as irrational, isn't as ridiculous as you may have been told it is in fact it's actually far stronger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You see science requires faith so does faith in God. let's just level the playing field. So it can't disprove God and we're in the same realms of needing faith and facts in both.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Let's zoom up to what I think is probably the biggest issue we've got to reconcile if we're going to throw God out of the picture. <b>If we have to throw God out of the picture in order to understand the world around us, the way we are, where we're coming from, our morality, our meaning, </b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>I think we have to embrace thinking that totally cuts against everyday rational, reasonable and logical approaches.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Let me explain it like this imagine that you are walking down a street, it's a very familiar Road the commute to work, the way to school or college, it's where you always know, you know the surroundings all the different people but on this particular journey, you see something that you've never seen before. Just for the example of this, I want you to imagine you exist in a world where phones don't exist not just that they're the old they've never existed. you see mobile phone on the floor. I think you'd be freaked out, it's like an alien bit of Technology. Maybe you'd be waiting for a man in black to pounce on you to take hold of it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But the inquisitive part of you would pick it up and you'd soon start to realize this thing is incredible it's designed its me to interact with the world around it, it can listen, it can speak, it can process information perhaps you'd start to take it apart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As you start to take it apart you'd start to understand the finite balance, the beauty, the purpose. If you came round to my house and I'd made that discovery of this particular unknown thing, you'd be asking me <b>how's it made?</b> you'd be asking me <b>what does it do</b>? but more importantly you'd be asking me <b>where is it from?</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Because it would be irrational to think it hasn't come from anywhere, it would be illogical to think it hadn't come from anywhere, but most importantly you would be consumed by this question who does it come from? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">and so if we're gonna throw God out of the picture in the way that we understand the world we have to abandon that thinking that we employ in many areas of life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's three key ways that this what works itself.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1. O</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">rigin and Beginning</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The first is we've got to ask the question about <b>origin and beginning</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">See we believe that if something began, it was begun by something or some one. It is irrational to think the opposite. We believe that if something has an origin in a beginning, it was begun for a purpose and on purpose. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>But if we're going to throw God out of the window then we've got to somehow embrace the idea that nobody plus nothing created everything.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You're laughing because you know that in any other scenario, in situation you wouldn't accept that kind of thinking. Listen if you are well-read, I know that is an incredibly simplistic way of thinking about it, let's zoom out to a simplistic way because ultimately this is what we've got to reconcile first.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Imagine being in the court of law and the defense lawyer stands up and says Your Honor, it wasn't my client, if nobody did it, nothing contributed to it, it just happened. You know we all think those unsolved crimes 20,30,40,50 years ago and not one of us is accepting of the idea that somebody didn't do it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If we're gonna throw the idea of there being a bigger power, a greater creative power beyond our understanding then we've got to somehow embrace this idea that cuts against everyday rational thinking, everyday reasonable thinking, everyday logical thinking. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If that's what you want to do that's fine, but we've got to interrogate unbelief just as much as we interrogate faith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You see the Bible, I believe offers a far more rational option. Not one that I can unequivocally show you take you back to that's where the faith comes in. But you see in the Bible in Hebrews 11:3 it says by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Bible thousands of years before, the theories of the Big Bang understanding that our world came out of nothing. that at his command it was spoken out of emptiness he created it goes on and it says through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made in him was life and that light of all mankind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>I'm not telling you that I can take you back to that moment, but I am asking you what's more reasonable? what lines up with your everyday thinking? your everyday understanding? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some people would then say well <b>who made God?</b> but the brilliant bit about that is that science also proves that time and matter started at the Big Bang.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>So God is outside of the realms of what we'd understand, God exists outside of time, he exists outside of matter. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I want to ask you what's more reasonable? what's more rational? Is it a blind Christian just hoping there's something more? or does faith in God actually reflect what we see every day is reasonable, rational, logical?</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2. Order from Disorder</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We've also got a reconcile the idea of how can <b>order come from disorder</b>?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You know our world is fantastically ordered. But ultimately throwing God and the idea of a designer out of the picture, we throw out an option for order to come from order. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We have to embrace the reality that it was just simply time, matter and chance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now imagine, I'm going to start a business you come to me, you say I am thinking of investing in your business Dave. I say great and they say, tell me your plan I'm gonna make the most sophisticated, balanced, intricate, conscience owning being that's ever created. Dave I'm in, I've got a million pounds, where do I sign? just tell me the plan. do you know I'm gonna do it, I take all the ingredients put them in a bucket blow them up and wait. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now I can't prove to you that in 400 billion years those things won't evolve or adapt or change but let me ask you what's more reasonable? let me ask you what's more rational? is it really that illogical to think that God would set you apart when there is still so much to show that we are set apart?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Just think about <b>DNA </b>this incredible thing called DNA you may not know this because I didn't but DNA actually makes up four key letters<b> A C T and G</b> and from then becomes a code for all life it's called a semantic language. In other words it's a coding descriptive language much like a computer system that where you code a game or an app or something like that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To date, we find no originating source of semantic language other than intelligence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To date, there is zero evidence to show us right now, maybe I'll be wrong tomorrow they'll make a discovery. May be in 50 years, may be in a thousand years, if you want to lean your faith on that, fine. But right now what's more reasonable?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To think that intelligent design may have actually come from intelligent being? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Bible describing God coding you through DNA. Prescribing who you are?</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3. Probability</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But here's the other one we've got to reconcile the question of <b>probability</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Because if I came to you and I said here's a lottery ticket fifty million is on the line fifty million pounds, fifty million dollars and this lottery ticket, you've got a 50/50 chance of winning, it's just gonna cost you a pound, a dollar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Who's gonna take that ticket? no come on seriously who's gonna take that ticket? but those of you who aren't, you silly. You're gonna take it why? because in life you know you take good odds. Yeah probably you take it at 1 in 10. May be 1 in hundres/thousand. Maybe you'd start to debate it at one in a million because you know that at the end of the day if something's really not that probable why would I back it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do you know the probability of you is you being you the person you are the way you are? it's 1 to the power of 10 times 2 million 6 hundred eighty-five thousand you can't put enough zeroes on the page.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is before we take into account the probability of a world existing in a way that could support intelligent life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So again I'm not saying that I'm an equivocally right, but I'm provoking you'd ask the question what's more reasonable? what's more rational? what's more logical?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Christian lift your head. You're not a fool</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You see <b>if we take God out of the equation we have to embrace an approach that contends with our every day reason, logic and rational thinking.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And here's the thing, I might be wrong but with what I have in front of me my belief in God a higher being the supernaturally created everything around me is far more rational to me than to throw his existence out of the window and say there's absolutely no way that he could exist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">See the bible also says that for since the creation of the world God's invisible the Bible seriously the Bible is making its own issues clear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In other words, what it's saying is that the created world around us is like a masterpiece of art pointing us towards the artist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You know we're not just obsessed with created things, we're obsessed with their creators.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We don't just want to see the painting, we want to know about the artist. We don't just want to listen to the song, we want to hear about the musician.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Science is incredible. Science, yeah and I'm not also not going to be falsely saying, it raises some really challenging questions in how we understand the linguistic descriptions in Scripture. But it would be foolish in my opinion to just throw God out the window.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So next time we put the barrier up, next time you're met with the narrow perspective, you can start to open up a conversation and you can start to open up a conversation, you can start to go through life with questions, there's no problem with that. The problem is life when we go through life with doubts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But I guess the most important question is "Well why not then?" if Christianity really is that rational, that reasonable, that logical or why don't more people believe? that's a good question, isn't it? Surely that's proof that you're wrong. Proof that I'm wrong. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But the reality is that in each and every single one of us <b>there is a strand of thinking the desires to have what I want, the way I want it, when I want it</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now I love you but there is not one person in this room, there's not one person listening this, not one person on the face of the planet that that is not true off. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sometimes we manage to resist those urges, sometimes we give in to them dramatically. You don't have to look at a young child that's never been taught to disobey his parents or her parents and yet what do they do? they want, what they want, when they want, the way they want it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's this human thing and we don't graduate from that, do we?. I've met some of the worst toddlers in their 65 years of age. I know a very bad toddler his name is Dave Thomas, I see him in the mirror every day because there's this strand within us and the Bible calls that sin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now before you switch off, think about the definition I'm talking about, wanting things the way I want them, when I want them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But the problem with that strand is that's why it's convenient for us for God not to exist. Because if there's a designer, if there's a creator if there's a best made way then there's going to be a way that he prescribes for us to live. And ultimately that strand within us kicks against that, doesn't it? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Parents you ever told your child to do something and then they somehow find a way around it? Because we want what we want, the way we want it, when we want it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Just think about it like this this is Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn owns one of the most modern smartphones on the market today. But the reality is, Kaitlyn like me doesn't really know how to use it. She's never read the instruction manual, She certainly didn't read the terms and conditions, scroll up, agree, sign your life away. you never know what's in those things, do you?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">She's just going on instinct, she's never actually done any research. Most of the time it's okay, but she uses her phone in ways that it wasn't designed to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">She leaves it out in the Sun it overheats, she doesn't charge it probably, but most importantly she downloads apps that she doesn't realize they're actually corrupted and actually they infect the phone with viruses and so she starts to not be able to use the phone the way that she instinctively knows she should be able to, she's no expert but she just knows something's not quite right. sound like you and me? Anyway what does any reasonable rational person will do with that phone, they take it back to its creator, its maker, it's designer or at least someone that knows how it's made and knows how its created.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">She hands it in to the expert he takes it and starts doing some lytx on it and soon finds out <b>there isn't the problem with the product, there's a problem with the practice.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He comes back to Kaitlyn and says something like "<b>it's not really an issue with the phone that's okay but it's more how you been using it</b>". and she like any other rational person would respond much like this "<b>Wow thank you so much, I didn't even think about it, I'll improve on that, thanks ma</b>n" high five done and dusted after all she spent a lot of money on that phone. Maybe she wants to use it that way but probably for the value of how much it cost her she might just change a little bit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But the problem is is that when it comes to God we actually respond like this. "<b>What do you mean? I'm using my phone wrong? this is my phone, who do you think you are to tell me that how I'm using it is wrong? I don't need to change, what I'm doing is right"</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You see just because there's a designer, just because there's a creator, just because our world screams it doesn't mean that we automatically get it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You see there is something bigger than you, but there is also a streak within you that wants to deny it. It's your perspective, giving permission for your lifestyle, making way for your preferences potentially putting pressure on you to make decisions that you don't realize but actually could end up costing you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Any reasonable rational logical person would not say that Kaitlyn's second response is the right one, would they? and yet with God we accept it. I don't want to believe in God even if he exists. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>You see the reality is that we all have broken phones, if you don't get it yet that represents your life.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>We've made decisions that have corrupted it, we've made decisions that have broken it. The reality is that sometimes we're so far away from the original design, we find it hard to think that there could have been a better way when actually there was. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You see every other world religion offers you one option, bring your phone back and receive a long list of things that you have to do in your strength and your power and maybe you'll be okay. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Christianity offers something different</b>, Christianity says that for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him would have life and not perish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's an exchange system, Christianity is when we bring our broken phones, we bring our broken lives and instead of being given a list of to do's, we get an exchange option, <b>we get a second chance, we get a brand new beginning, the Bible talking about being a new creation. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And that doesn't mean that we can carry on living the lives we that we've been living before, we must change, we must come back to the designers way even though that might cut against everything we think we know, everything we think we feel, everything the society is telling us, everything that we want but ultimately if there is a designer, a maker, a creator than his way is gonna be best.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You see God has been billed as this man in the sky, wagging his finger, wanting to take from you. This scripture says the exact opposite.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The God so loved you that even though you were the one that broke the life in the first place, he loved you so much, that he would give the most valuable thing to him, in order that you could have a second chance, in order that you could become a new beginning.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And here's the thing. if you're in one of our churches right now, you sat around people who've made that exchange and you'll know that they're not perfect, just like I am NOT but you'll be able to see in their lives the trace and the shadow of where they're following the one that is. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The day-by-day improvements in their depression, the day-by-day transformations in their marriage, the day-by-day transformation in their identity, the day-by-day transformation in their hope, in their joy why? because they've exchanged, their old life for a new one. And bit by bit by bit getting realigned once again with their maker.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>You see, it's the most profound choice. Because what we believe shapes everything of our life. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But if there is a God, if he has authored the world around us and if that God is the Christian one which by the way Christianity stands up so strongly against, it comes head and shoulders above everything, we're going to show you how that is over these next couple weeks is incredible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then we also have to listen to the claims that God makes, because at the end of the day </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kaitlyn </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">could have kept hold of a broken life and just about made it through. But there is more to life. But there's also more to life after death. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Our heart in this series is not to try and prove that we're right. Our heart in this series is try and fight for your soul, fight for your life. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">18 years ago I met Jesus. 18 years ago he pierced the questions that I had so ignorantly put up around my eyes and I met the most loving, most life-changing, most incredible person that I'll ever meet. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Over these 18 years he's been transforming me step by step, and moment by moment. I<b>t has not been easy and there will be days where it is incredibly challenging in the future, there will be days of challenge, days of loss, days where it doesn't make sense, but ultimately I walk through every one of them knowing the one that made me.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here today you're gonna have a chance to respond to him. Perhaps you're in here today and you'd made that decision God is out of the options. I ask you today open your heart, open your mind, open that part of you that, I prophesy right now is moving the undeniable God bit of you perhaps you're on the fence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I want to say to you no decision is not a decision. We can't just pick from the buffet of options because therefore we're then god. I'll have a bit of that, I'll have a bit of this, I'll have a bit of that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Perhaps you lost your way, perhaps you lost your path, today is a chance to come back to him again. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Thank you for joining us in every location. May God bless you and move where you are right now in Jesus name.</span></div>
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-5582134307776165322018-10-13T13:20:00.001+05:302018-10-13T13:20:53.252+05:30The Tongue is a Weapon | Week 2 | Fighting Fit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">God never called you to be a spectator in faith. Your life is not a spectator sport, you get on the field and play. How we participate actually affects what you receive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">God wants to heal us and set us free from sins, but at the same time he wants us to start being responsible for the words that we speak.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We can turn up to church, and we can look like whatever a religious person looks like. But it's all worthless if we have no control of our tongue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">You imagine, if all of our conversations were recorded and amplified!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>1. Mind Gate:</b> I can choose to think about something or choose to deny it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>2. Eye Gate:</b> If we're in the wrong place, we can choose to look at things longer than we need to look, that can cause something to happen within the mind gate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>3. Ear Gate:</b> You can be around someone that is very negative. If enough words are spoken that are unhealthy they will come in through this gate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And all of things comes from Gates pours into your heart. Out of your heart the mouth speaks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We are responsible for what we fill our heart with. You're the gatekeeper of your life, no one else.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">You are responsible for your words. It doesn't matter what anyone does to you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">[Mind/Eye/Ear Gates - Heart - Mouth] creates a cycle. We wonder why we can't break the cycle, because we have no control over the tongue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The words of my mouth reveal the condition of my heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We will be accountable for every careless word. That careless word means a word that is destructive, removes life not adds life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">What we do is, We want to find someone that agrees with us. But You don't need understanding, you need confrontation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If you're putting yourself in a negative atmosphere, in an atmosphere of hurt and bitterness regularly, it's like secondhand smoke, it's going to be like a cancer and it will kill you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">You've got to start confessing what God says rather than what you're feeling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">What we confess will eventually consume us for good or for bad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There's wisdom about choosing when to be silent, when to be quiet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Practical Ways:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>1. Confession Produce Healing</b> -> when we confess we become accountable and we start seeing healing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>2. Encouragement is life-altering</b> -> There are people waiting for your encouragement. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>3. Praise is a Weapon</b> -> Make a joyful noise to the Lord when you feel low.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>4. Proclaim his word and his plans</b> -> We're speaking death into death situations. God says it's time to speak life into death situations before you see life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Employing your tongue with life = Health to your body, soul & Spirit.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Tongue is a Weapon | Week 2 | Fighting Fit</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We're in this series called F<b>ighting Fit</b>. And I have news for you, if I'm speaking to you and you're a believer, it doesn't matter where you are right now, if you're a believer that Jesus Christ came for you, that he is your Saviour, that you know him, <b>he never called you to be a spectator in this faith.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Christian life is not a spectator sport, you get on the field and you play.</b> The only people that spectate are the judges, and you know what they do, they just make a lot of comments about what everyone else does. The Christian faith doesn't have any of those and says we have one judge. It says that we are involved in a great race, a great game. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We were involved in this race for life and within that we are involved, we're participating, and so I would encourage you to participate in this message, because <b>how we participate actually affects what you receive.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So if someone comes in and you're perhaps tricked into coming into church, and you're there with arms folded thinking "How long is he going to go on for?" you're going to receive less than someone who is open-hearted, saying "There are some things going on in my life. I've got some things like that I was working through in my life." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's amazing how the enemy wants to rob you of the word that he has for you, how he'll do it? by distraction, so let's just get our minds fixed, because he wants to speak to you, and this word I'm going to share is fairly simple but it's profound and we struggle with doing it. That's why I'm going to speak it loud, because we struggle with doing it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We can say we know the principles of this word, but we're not practicing this word, and the more we practice this, there is a reward to this word I'm going to share with you, and that is actually life, life and life again, so there's a reward. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm telling you that this will change your life, so we're going to go for this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We started off saying fighting fit means not just turning out to church, not just like being fit, but being fighting fit. When someone gets into a boxing ring they didn't just turn up there one day and think "Hey, I fancy a bit of a fight" and yet that's what we do as Christians. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We don't train, we don't discipline ourselves, we don't know what self-control is, and we step into an arena and what we find is that we didn't prepare ourselves, and we end up getting hurt and damaged, and some people even step out of the fight, because they've said they'll just become a spectator, and <b>God says "I want my people to know what it is to run the race set before them and not give up,"</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We looked last week at a great foundational message about body, soul and spirit, and we looked at what that really is, and we said most of us are very easily led by our emotions; we're led by our feelings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I heard last Monday after doing the message a psychologist talking on TV, and they were saying that when you wake up in the morning, each day we all have different feelings, and we have different struggles going on, and you just need to take a moment and think about how you feel and then dress accordingly, and it will help you express yourself through the day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I thought it was a load of rubbish, but it's fascinating advice, wisdom from the world: wake up, and take a moment to think how you are feeling today. If I did that every day and thought "How do I feel today?" I might not get out of bed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm not thinking how I feel. I know I've got something to fulfill this day. I've got something to do this day. I know that this day needs me. I know there are people in my life that need this day, and if I'm feeling may be low I'm not going to dress accordingly. But some of us do. When we're bright we look bright, and it's like we made all the attention, and then when we're feeling rough some people just reflect it in the way that they dressed, the way they look, their posture. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We talked about being spirit led, spirit led, not feeling or emotions led but spirit led, the spirit that's within us, the spirit that speaks to us that we can only receive that life-giving spirit when we come to know who Jesus is, and then where did we finish up? It was all around self control, and it's one of the characteristics of who we are, who we should grow, we need self control to grow, it's a characteristic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm going to lead you into one of the most difficult things that we all find challenging. This is going to be relevant to every person I'm speaking to, every person that is listening, this will be relevant to you, so that's a good win, so don't switch off, because you need this. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Tongue:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I know what is the one thing that we struggle to control, the one thing all of us struggle to control, and when we think we've mastered it, it gets us into trouble. It's our mouth, it's this tongue, it's the words that we use, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was just thinking on the way in about the amount of times I've said the wrong thing at the wrong time. I got into trouble. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I remember years ago when we were pastoring and we had a couple round to our house that had a lot of issues and things going on in their life. It was a difficult evening, we were there for quite a long time, and then someone called and in those days they called on a landline, with a cable, and then when we answered it was connected to an answer phone, and if you don't pick up the phone fast enough the answer phone flicks on, and so Heather dived into the office and the answer phone started up as she's speaking on there. I'm with this couple chatting and then whoever's on the other end of the phone, I won't tell you who on the other end of the phone, is saying "What are you doing?" "Oh, we've got this couple round." "Oh my goodness that must be hard work, I bet you've been there all night, because they just go on and on." It was true, and I was sat in the other room hearing it echo through the hallway while I'm sat there trying to make loud conversation, hoping that they wouldn't hear. It was the most cringiest thing, and afterwards when we said goodbye it was like "I really, really hope they never heard that." They're not in the church anymore bless them, and it's just amazing how we can say things. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>You imagine, if all of our conversations were recorded and amplified.</b> All the things that we say in secret actually it says will be shouted from the rooftops. I've made that mistake where I've met someone in church, and I've said "When are you expecting the baby? Oh, you're not pregnant." They're not in the church either. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The amount of times I was trying to do something good, I was trying to notice, I was thinking that I want to be a man that notices things, but it helps to be sensitive about these things.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am sure every one of us can think of something we said, something that was misunderstood, someone got the wrong end of it or the a context. It happens to us all, the time where something takes place and we only get part of the story through the words that we use, and words get us into trouble, they get us into trouble? "No, I didn't mean that." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Bible has a lot to say about what we do with this tongue, because we get in all sorts of trouble, so when I talk about being fighting fit I believe that God is speaking to us saying "Church, you need to be wiser about this. I want to teach you about this, about what you say." So we're going to go into this fail in many areas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is a key area, and that means our character is mature and fully developed, because it's around self-control. It's something you have to grow, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You don't suddenly get it, you have to grow in this, and every one of us today can change. If we struggle and we're a bit loose tongued, God's plan is that we become more controlled. It's good for us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is like your life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How many of us can remember things that were spoken to us when we were young and formative, and that thing just keeps coming back and says "This is who you are," they can control the direction we take through life, they are massive, and for parents today we need to know that whatever we say and speak into our children, words are powerful, they steer the rudder of the ship that will cause a course to be set for good or for bad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I believe if you get a match and you just strike that thing, you strike, you don't need much of a match to set a fire, but you get a forest that is drying through some of the summer that we've just had. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There have been so many fires that have just raged for miles, square miles, all because of a spark. That's what our tongue can do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Someone that is careless with their mouth, if you get around them you're probably going to get burned: or a fire can bring life and light and sustenance, so there's this powerful idea of what the tongue is. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That means it can affect your destiny; it can affect your life; it will burn, just those words that have been spoken, the sentences that have been lying framed in your mind, they can burn through existence</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>God wants to heal us and set us free from it, but at the same time he wants us to start being responsible for the words that we speak. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You can't just dismiss it and say that's not important. God says it is. God says it is. So here's the diagram. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You've got to understand that this is our mind, this is where we process things, our thoughts or emotions. This is where we'll think about something that was said and then start to either think of it for good or actually think "Or were they meaning this?" Isn't it amazing? This is where it starts, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I want you to get the idea of these being gates. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Mind Gate:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There are various gates. You've got the mind gate. A gate is something that opens and shuts. <b>I can choose to think about something or choose to deny it.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Eye Gate:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then we have the eye gate. The eye gate. If we're in the wrong place, choosing to do the wrong thing, or sometimes we just find in life that things happen, the eye gate allows things in, we can choose to look at things longer than we need to look, that can cause something to happen within the mind gate, and then we start getting in trouble. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's not wrong to have feelings, it's not wrong even for temptations; temptations will come, but it's what you do with it and how you process it, and so the eye gate and the mind gate.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Ear gate:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now the ear gate is where it all comes in. These are gates where you're going to either completely open it up to whatever comes, whatever someone says. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That means<b> you can be around someone that is very negative.</b> You can choose to be around, and you're going to hear negative things. You can either decide to hang out in the atmosphere regularly, or you can choose to say I'm going to close my ears to that, so I'm not actually going to be around that, and if you think somehow you can switch it off by being around them, sorry, it doesn't really work, because we have these ear gates.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If enough words are spoken that are unhealthy they will come in through this gate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They come in through the eye gate, through the mind gate. Can you see what's happening? <b>And all of that then it pours into your heart.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Bible says "<b>Out of your heart the mouth speaks</b>," but the gates are where it all comes in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Everything that you understand and that you know and you're perhaps led to believe about yourself has come through these gateways, and that's why church is such an amazing place to be, because even if you've come in to one of our locations I would really hope and pray that if you were feeling a bit low, or you feel you're in a place where you need encouraging, that through the way that we sing and through the words that we use, the way we pray, what we're doing is we're choosing to open up the gates to something. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We're opening up the gates to something that's going to bring life, and what it does is it comes into your heart, it doesn't just stay here, it comes into our heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If we take a word that's been spoken and we get through the ear gate and process it in the mind, and we think actually that was personal, and I've got some hurt here, the hurt comes down into our heart, and the heart is like a reservoir, and I go biking around these reservoirs up in the mountains and round the massive areas of water, spaces that have filled, our heart is a massive space and we decide.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>We are responsible for what we fill our heart with. It comes through the gates. You're the gatekeeper. You're the gatekeeper of your life, no one else; </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some people deposited some things, but the great thing is you can change what's in your reservoir, you can change what's in the reservoir. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is so crucial, because what's in our heart will come out through our mouth. The Bible says it will. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If someone is like Mr. Angry, it doesn't take long to be around them and to really know them well, if you know them well that anger is not just going to stay inside, it's going to come out through what they say. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If someone has been through situations where they just feel a victim through life, you're going to hear it come out through their mouths and the way they reflect and see things. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's the way that we are, and from here it creates a cycle. This is why it's so important, that you understand that as it comes in through the ear gate we process it, and actually sometimes it misses the mind and comes straight through the tongue. Those things that we dwell on, goes in your mind, it comes into the reservoir of our heart, and as it's in our reservoir we start confessing it, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Bible says as we confess it, it starts to create a cycle in our life, "Well this is where I am, and so I'm going to confess it, and this is where I'll always be, this is me, this is how I feel," and as we confess it, it creates a cycle, and we wonder why we can't break the cycle and the pattern that we're in that is destructive or negative in our life, because it's what this tongue,<b> we have no control over the tongue</b>, and we're just saying how we feel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God says it's important. God says it's crucial, you can't say things and just get away with it. Sorry believer, you can't say something and just think "Well, by the grace of God, hopefully I'll be okay here." The Bible says we're responsible. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The words of my mouth reveal the condition of my heart.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you just step back a minute and look, even through this next week, about the things that come out of your mouth, and if somehow you look like you have a little record and record it all, and start looking, say "Was that healthy, was it good, was it judgmental ,was it critical, was it angry? We'd soon be surprised, but we've got to realize this is where God is pushing us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I want to encourage you. The words of your mouth, you can fake it, it actually even says in Scripture, in James, that we can even play at religion, and we can call ourselves religious, and<b> we can turn up to church, and we can look like whatever a religious person looks like, and we can be like that, but you know what it says, it's all worthless if we have no control of our tongue</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It says your religion is worthless if you don't have, because it's destructive, and even within the heart I talked about this reservoir, and that's where we pour out from, and if you're pouring anxiety into your heart, no wonder you're speaking out worry and stress, and as you confess it the cycle continues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you're praying for peace it's no good praying for peace if you're actually confessing anxiety. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>You've got to start confessing what God says rather than what you're feeling</b>, not being emotionally but being spirit led, and the Spirit says "My plans for you are for good, not for harm," but you've got to start confessing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For some of us, we have this reservoir in our heart that is filled, and it's contaminated, and you can only pull out from what you put in, and if we're not around God's Word much and we just hoping, and we're involved in conversations and attitudes and atmosphere that is negative, you're filling your heart, it doesn't happen every day, normally it happens over a process; </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Stagnation happens over a process, where just a little bit by bit "Oh well, I shouldn't think it really matters. I know I should have spoken up but I know better." You will shift and your heart ends up in trouble. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's something that God wants to speak to us about, being fighting fit, because I think it's really challenging, to be aware of all those words that you are responsible for. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>You are responsible for your words. It doesn't matter what anyone does to you. </b>This is where it's hard but they did this and they said that, and that's how I feel, and we start then saying it to someone close. We're reinforcing it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You mean I can't get away with? It came out." Often you'll find it's from the heart and what you've been storing up there, but it says that <b>we will be accountable for every careless word. That careless word means a word that is destructive, removes life not adds life. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That's where we get the phrase you're going to "eat your own words", something that comes back into our heart. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I think it's very easy and I hold my hand up to this, so don't think I'm standing here as a pastor. I want to be real with you, not saying I'm perfect in all this. I know that this tongue of mine has got me in trouble. We have that conversation and then the spirit within you, the Holy Spirit, is going "Those are not the words that align with me." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What we do is <b>we want to find someone that agrees with us</b>, and what we normally do is we go to friends or someone that's close to us that isn't going to disagree but agree with us, and it's "Oh, they understand me." It's the worst thing you can have, someone that understands you rather than confronts you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>You don't need understanding, you need confrontation</b>, and there's something a about a good friend that would do that. There's something about someone that would say "I think you crossed the line there," and that's how we need to be, to be responsible and be accountable, because it's very easy to gossip about people. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Come on guys, we do it. We gossip, we get an opinion about what we've seen or heard. It's normally third-hand information, and some people love it, and the Bible says these people will not inherit the kingdom of God. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You be careful what you choose to be involved with, because it even says gossip is like a tasty morsel, it actually tastes good, because I'm talking about someone else it makes me feel better, so it's not like something ugly or bitter, it's something actually sweet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How about a suspicion of people? If you have a trust issue and you speak that suspicion. There's one thing when you're allowing your emotions to lead you, but when you start confessing it, this is a whole other level of danger. When you confess it, it's another level of danger, and so when you start speaking about "I'm not sure about them" or "What is it you're not sure about?" "Well I just got that feeling," because immediately that person's "Oh, right, I'd better just keep" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We have got to watch out, because through that suspicion which can come from a lack of trust or hurt, it ends up that we make judgments on others, and when we get round that we're in trouble, we can fill out the gaps. I'm as good at filling out the gaps. It's like "that happened, so that must equal this," and we can be totally wrong, because we don't know the consequence, and we don't know the heart of God, and we don't know what's going on, but we want to make judgments, and these things bring doubt, nearly all of these things are fueled by pride.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We somehow think that we know better. Pride actually sets myself up, that I'm perhaps higher or more important than others, and that's the dangerous thing, that I start thinking that I know and I'm in a place to make a judgement, and God says you've got to watch it, even winning an argument, having the last word, that is not a good thing, it's not a good thing to be good at arguing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I got married it wasn't long before I realized winning an argument wasn't the point, it doesn't help anyone, it can be so right but so wrong, it's not actually about that, it's about agreement, it's about finding agreement, and that means common ground, we're going to come to common ground, but when we argue and I proved my point, no, you just proved you've got a lot of pride. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sorry, so many people have broken, fragmented relationships because of that, because where does it come from? Insecurity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I want to speak to the church now. It breaks the heart of God when his people who are part the body that should be joined together in peace and doing all things for unity pick out what they don't have in common, what they don't agree with. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We don't agree with dedications, we don't agree with baptisms, I mean I'm hearing more and more in these days where people will leave a church because they didn't quite agree with baptism as Jesus did, and we were instructed, one of the main things, and other ways, but more about how it's done, or the method or the quarreling over aiming on what separates us rather than what join us together, having 95% what we would join us together, but I'm going to fixate on this one thing, and through it we start speaking, speaking, and there is this critical spirit and it breaks the heart of God, and I want to say if that's you, you need to shut up. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You need a shut up right now, because there is something about what damages the heart, God is not impressed with it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It says here "since you know that they produce strife and they give birth to quarrels" and the enemy, if he can bring division and separate you off, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">it won't just be this church that you've got that issue with, it will be the next one, it was probably the one before, you've probably got a track record. It's time to start looking, because God wants us accountable for this whole area. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's like being around someone that smokes and you're a passive smoker, which means that you know you don't smoke but you're in a house or you're in a car and they just smoke, and every day I go to work and they smoke, you can't say it doesn't affect me, I just shut my ears, shut my eyes and I'll be OK. No, you're going to breathe it in, and there are people every year that die from passive smoking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When you get around people with that negativity and undermining, if they have an issue with authority they start speaking about it. I've seen so many people lost for this. Oh no, it's fine. It does matter about the friends you keep, it matters greatly to God, because<b> if you're putting yourself in a negative atmosphere, in an atmosphere of hurt and bitterness regularly, it's like secondhand smoke, it's going to be like a cancer and it will kill you. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pride will say you're fine, because you've got this super duper way of switching off. No, it will affect you, and if you're in that situation, you hear someone say something, you need to speak up and say "I'm not happy with that. I'm not happy about you talking about that, you need to sort your heart out." That's a good friend, it's a good friend. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>What we confess will eventually consume us for good or for bad. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If I'm going to speak about hope and love, and think the best, that will consume me. I'm going to live a life led like that and I'll still be wrong, but I'm going to choose to live a life that way, but if I confess suspicion, negativity, hurt, I'm a victim, it will consume me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That means if you talk a lot you're going to get into more trouble, it's so true. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sometimes, some people you just think "Say less." The more you go on, the more you get yourself in trouble. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In fact if you say less, because there are so many times when something's brewing up, something happens, and it brews up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>There's wisdom about choosing when to be silent, when to be quiet. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Also, can I point out, in the world of social media you might not say something, but confessing as good, as typing something, and the words that you use, because this is very dangerous, we've got an epidemic of this, where you can just say things, but not say it to the person's face, it's another level. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It means that we spill out damaging words, and we spill out things we haven't really thought about, and it's very easy to do that. God will hold us accountable as his people, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So the news is you don't have to confess what you think. You might feel this way, you might think that, but you don't have to confess it. It's another level, it's another level. You can interrupt your thoughts though, you're unhealthy thoughts, by what? Confession. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm going to turn it right round in this last few minutes, I'm going to turn this right round, bring you some good news. There is something about the power of our agreement. In church in Freedom we're quite a responsive bunch. Some weeks we're more responsive than others. I think it's sometimes like we're not really in the mood, but I want to say to you that in Scripture it says clearly that our yes needs to be yes ,or amen needs to be amen. Amen means let it be so, so when I'm speaking a truth to you from God's Word, there's something about you saying "let it be so." You're saying "let it be to me."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When Jesus spoke to the storm he didn't do it quietly in his heart, and all the disciples said "Did he say something?" He spoke to the storm. With Jesus it was important for him to confess and make declaration out loud. You can't just say "Well I was saying amen in my heart." In the psalms it says "make a shout, make a joyful noise," and I'm really hoping through this message we'll never be as quiet as we are right now, because I've said all about the negative stuff, but you want to turn this round. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You've got to start employing your tongue by being positive through praise, through what is good and upright. God says that's what we've got to do, but it's a choice, because many of us haven't said a word in church for many years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God holds you responsible, because when we gather together this power of agreement, when people get round and they agree, they can do incredible things. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When we sit and be quiet we're often spectators, and for some of us it's not natural. "I'm bit of a quiet person. I like to just sit and reflect." When you got around Jesus I'm sure, if he was here today and he was speaking to you, they would be like "I want Jesus. I want more Jesus. I'm here." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And often Jesus spoke to people that were around and said "What do you want? and he wanted them to voice it. Do you think Jesus didn't know what wanted? They knew he knew what they wanted, but he said "you want to speak it out." You've got to confess it out. If we're not confessing, if he can get you to say negative stuff, the enemy get you to say stuff that is unhealthy, he also wants you to shut up around stuff that is healthy, that brings life, that brings goodness. So we've got to do it, we've got to choose, we can't be silent. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's power and agreement. Saying you're amen isn't for me, it's for you. We say "come on." It's a sort of modern amen, and some people get irritated. "It's distracting me." I'd much rather like ten people in the room who were vocal and responsive, than 500 you hear a mouse, because our confession, that's the important thing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So I'm going to finish with these practical ways, and what you can do. Here we go. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. Confession Produce Healing</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Through your confession you'll be healed, and we've learnt this, especially in Barbarians, when we come together in our men's ministry, that if I confess what I'm ashamed of that wants to keep hidden, when I confess that, my sin, it says I'm going to see healing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Confess, confess is to speak out, confess is to speak out. I want to keep this quiet, I want to keep it here, and all that time I'm in shame, but when I confess I become accountable and I start seeing healing. There is power through confession. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2. Encouragement is life-altering. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Encouragement is life-altering. When you choose to speak to someone and you bring words of life or death - we looked at their death side - but you're children of God, and there is something about you speaking life, not just at church but in your life and around you, when you see someone that doesn't know Jesus, that's struggling, and you just go up and say "I just want to say that you're doing a great job. I believe in you and I think that you've got a great future ahead," really that can be the very words that turn someone's future from one way to another. We've got to get encouragement operating. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Too many of us are too quiet with this, because we don't understand what it really is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Proversb 18:20. We like to be encouraged, but you start listing the encouragement that you give, it's very minimal. That's an issue. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you've been given the words of encouragement and life we've got to start using it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Heather taught me all about encouragement; she was my greatest encourager in all the early days. She's the most encouraging person I've ever known. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Encouragement. That's why there's life all over her. There's life over you when you encourage, really encourage. How many of us will go out today without encouraging a soul?. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I think God's interested about that, I think God wants to know that we're ready to encourage and build life, build life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You don't know where people are at and <b>they're waiting for some encouragement. </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3. Praise is a Weapon.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Praise see is about confession, praise is declaration, so when I'm feeling low, and in the middle of the week there's been loss in my life, things haven't worked out, I'm feeling overwhelmed by my situation, God has given this incredible thing, to praise him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Praise isn't doing it quietly, but it might be getting that worship CD on and singing. You might not even have any music; you can still sing. Make a joyful noise to the Lord. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It says he comes on the shout of his people, the shout of his people is something of defiance, it's saying "I can keep quiet right now because all of that stuff wants to keep you quiet, you shut up you Christian, you shut up you person, you'd better just bow down in your situation and give up right now, where you can stand up and say "I'm going to lift a shout." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I haven't got the answer, I don't even know where my help comes from. We know scripture says our help comes from the Lord, and it may be delayed, but it's not denied. It's coming, it's on its way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is something about praise as a weapon, and we understood this, this is just about the worship stirring us up, use your praise. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You've had a week of being battered by the enemy and stuff going on. This is the day when we come together and we corporately worship together, and as we lift his name up, the enemy flees. This is real stuff. Armies were turned back. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">4. Proclaim his word and his plans.</span></b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You can confess through the power of proclamation, and what it means is if you're a believer you can prophesy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To prophesy to speak something into what isn't as if it was. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>We're speaking death into death situations. God says it's time to speak life into death situations before you see life. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He speaks to the dry bones in Ezekiel, and he says and these dry bones came up and they became a great army, there was a rattling and there was a noise, and it says they are there stood in front of me, and then says the breath came, the breath came. What's the breath? It's the spirit, it's the spirit that's within us, and the breath came and he says "Prophesy to these bones,"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I prophesy to you, I prophesy you every situation, situation of lack, situation of pain, of loss, of struggle, of self-doubt, of insecurity, of hurt, I prophesy to you, and I say come to life in Jesus name. There's life, not because of me but because of him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We need to stop talking about our mountains and start talking to our mountains, and tell them to move. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We're too busy talking about them when we've got to start speaking to them. Get out of my way. Move. His plans for you were good, his plans for you were great.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Employing your tongue with life.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Choosing to employ. Right now it's unemployed by many, but God is saying this is the day to employ your tongue more than ever. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you just increased 10% more and start employing your tongue with his promises, with declaring his promises over your life, declaring to what is dead that there's life, beginning to speak life to others, encouraging others, beginning to praise, beginning to lift your hands, begin raising a shout, begin praying, begin using the prayer app, begin using it to declare, speak it out loud, don't be quiet, speak it out loud. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It says the result is health to your body soul and spirit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Health, and that's why this is a message of life, it's a message of life, because when you do this and you employ this tongue it brings life, abundant life to that reservoir of your heart, but you have a choice. You're responsible, and God is saying "Will you choose life today, in Jesus name?" I want to hand over to our locations now. Thank you for being with us. God bless every one of you with this word, in Jesus' name. Amen. </span></div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-15407915318702794192018-10-07T01:08:00.001+05:302018-10-07T01:08:55.427+05:30How to overcome your emotions: Spirit Power | Week 1 | Fighting Fit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Fighting fit</b> is different from just being fit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">For many of us we keep hold of our faith but we're clinging on by our nails.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You're competing for a prize. It's not about competing with anyone else, it's actually competing against yourself. You can point at other people but you want to start looking and realizing it's yourself is the issue. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>1. Body </b>- Senses and physical needs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We're very quick at making judgments for the way someone looks. But Many of us are good at hiding what's in us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">God says it's good to take care of yourself and look good and healthy but that's not the priority for God. The priority is the inner beauty of the heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>2. Soul</b> - our mind, will and emotions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If you are living a life led by your feelings you will never live the life that God has planned for you. Living a life by feelings lead to regret, disappointment, dissatisfaction, you will never ever get there. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The truth is the grass isn't greener on the other side, the grass is greener where you water it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>3. Spirit</b> - Spiritual capacity and potential</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Every one of us has that built into us. But it comes down to our choice. The Spirit is eternal.Spirit is saying, come on I've called you for holiness. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There is this transformation for every one of you. God doesn't want to leave you where you are, you were not the finished article. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>The Contenders - Emotions Vs Spirit</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Often when we're emotionally led, we become quite proud and we overthink everything, instead of trusting who God called us to be. Our feelings are loud, they shout louder than the spirit. They shout loud on the outside. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If you're focused on the flesh you're going to fight God's plan and refuse to submit to his direction and then you wonder why you end up in a bad place because it cannot stand against it. But when the Spirit of Christ empowers your life you were not dominated by the flesh but by the spirit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Who's the boss? Emotions or spirit?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Many of us, we are believers but we're not actually following him as Lord because actually our feelings and emotions, those are our lord. They are our master. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Self control</b> comes from the Greek word "egkrateia". And it means the virtues of one who masters desires, thoughts and feelings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If you want to be fighting fit, you got to commit to self-discipline, we underrate it, we put it down. Self-discipline in every aspect of your life will bring fruitfulness, will bring power, will bring the potential that is within you that is eternal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You don't have to be dominated by your feelings any longer, but you can be led by your spirit,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">W</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">e couldn't do anything but through Jesus, through the power of the Cross because he paid the price for our sin.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">How to overcome your emotions: Spirit Power</span></h3>
We've started a brand new series today and it's called <b>Fighting Fit</b>.<br />
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Some of us are fighting fit or some of us are not fighting fit. that's fine. because, The whole idea of this is going to be like a spiritual gym. We're going into the gym together and the whole idea of getting fit is we're going to do some exercise.<br />
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I just want you to commit to these coming weeks. I believe if you commit to these coming weeks you're going to see transformation. It really is something on God's agenda, fighting fit.<br />
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<b>Fighting fit is different from just being fit.</b> Some of us are fit. We are just used to be in Christians, we're used to the routine, we have daily practices and routines but there's almost like a higher level. When you come into a fight, you've got to be fighting fit and this is what this is all going to be about.<br />
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So we're going to start off with birds. These are <b>Canaries </b>and they're famous for their song. People have a canary in their home because they're the most joyous birds you could ever find. They sing, they just sing all the time, they're happy.<br />
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You'll notice on the picture here, there's one odd one. This is called a red factor. Guess why, because he's red! It's not because he was born that way, he was actually born yellow and in fact I had one. I had one at home when the kids were little.<br />
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We had a canary in the little cage in the lounge and it was a red factor and how you get him red is you feed him a certain type of food. It's red factor food, basically it goes in, doesn't harm him, so don't worry, it goes in and it turns him from yellow to red and he's called a red factor.<br />
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And so I had my proud little bird who used to sing the whole time, he was the red factor. What he used to do is, the cages we used to have, they used to have those trays and all the seed and the mess would go in the bottom and you got to clear out, all the poo and that and you've got to clear it out once a week. So I just figured out rather than having to pull out the tray and it will mess over the floor, just use the hoover, the vacuum, get the vacuum nozzle in there and suck up all the seed, job done, it takes a minute.<br />
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So this is what I used to do weekly in my cleaning rota around the house as a good husband, but just on this one occasion something happened. I was there hoovering away, Heather was in the kitchen and she shouted my name and just like as usual, I was attentive. I hear her call me, Gary, it's like yes and just as I responded I must have slightly lifted the end of the hoover nozzle and all of a sudden I heard a thud. I looked in the cage and he wasn't there anymore. He had vanished!<br />
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So I quickly put the hoover off, got the pipe out, looked in the bag, he wasn't in there, got the pipe out, he was stuck halfway down the pipe. I got a great big stick, poked him out and he plopped out on the floor with his wing like this, that's what I thought. My little red factor canary, he was shivering and shaking, but I put him back in the cage, sort of propped him up on his perch. He was in the corner and he never sang again. I can't remember what happened to him actually but he never sang again.<br />
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This is a bit like us, we come to church every week, we put on our Christian best, we turn out and we do our songs. We've got the red factor appearance.<br />
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Funny, we go through the motions, we do the stuff and then something in our lives happened that we don't expect and suddenly that might be a dark moment.<br />
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It might be a situation that is beyond our control and we get sucked up the dark hole and we come through the other end and we pop out, maybe with something broken, but for some reason we don't sing anymore.<br />
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<b>There's something really powerful about this because for many of us we keep hold of our faith but we're clinging on by our nails. </b><br />
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We know we're different, we want to go in, when I use that whole title about being fighting fit, we want to be fighting fit, we hear a message and we respond and we step up in prayer and we do things and believe for the impossible and then the impossible doesn't happen.<br />
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Maybe for some of us, we have believed for a baby and we get pregnant and then we lose the baby and we go through life and through loss and through discouragement and things happen and those feelings come over our life and we begin to think, I'm just going to stay in the corner. I'm going to not sing but I'm just going to get through.<br />
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God wants to change our whole way of thinking.<br />
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I want you to think of the red factor because so many of us and that's what I'm disturbed by. Through this series I want you to see that you might have gone through, you might be going through things but it doesn't need to identify who you are.<br />
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Because what we do, we can turn up every Sunday, but what we do from today to next Sunday is the key to being fighting fit.<br />
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It's the key about how we are living our lives.<br />
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<br />
This is what Paul said.<br />
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This isn't just about your body. It is more than your body, if it was just our body it'd be simple, it's more than our body,<br />
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I went through situations and Paul knew what it was to go through situations that could have broken him but instead it made him better.<br />
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But it lies with us, it lies with you, about how we're going to respond to this and that's what I want us to look at.<br />
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<b>We're complex beings, I mean some of your more complex than others.</b> Some of you, still trying to work out, but thank God he made you, he knows, you think about it, some of us are so complicated but I'm going to try and simplify this. It's a very complicated subject but I'm going to try and simplify it.<br />
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When I say this, I want to say online and to everyone if we got any theologians around, there's going to be oh well that's called a dichotomy and that's called this and it's called whatever and you can separate.<br />
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Get the principle I'm talking about, don't get caught up because there's some different opinions and views, those won't really affect what I'm saying, so don't get stuck in that. That's what the enemy wants is for you to get stuck in your intellect.<br />
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I want you to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying today, I want you to listen to what he's saying because he wants to bring freedom into your life.<br />
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You're going to need to understand he's called you to be an athlete, that means <b>you're competing for a prize. It's not about competing with anyone else, it's actually competing against yourself. </b><br />
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What is the biggest issue I have? Myself. Where do the problems keep coming from? Myself.<br />
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<b>You can point at other people all you want until you start looking and realizing it's yourself is the issue. </b><br />
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It's not like the world has all got an issue with you, no, you've got an issue with yourself and I need to compete so I don't get disqualified.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">1. Body</span></b><br />
<br />
So think of these 3 elements to make this complex thing simpler. First of all, this is the simplest, we have the body. It's very black and white, here it is, the diagram I've got here.<br />
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The body, you're going to be born, you're going to live your life, you're then going to die and return to the dust. That's the cycle of life.<br />
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I know we don't like looking at that but that's your body. That's your physical being, that is something that's within, it's your senses and your physical needs, if you don't eat you're going to die. That's your body, your body is functioning and this is the body that we are given and in fact as Christians we believe this is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.<br />
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It's more than just a body that I can abuse, it's more than a body. But it actually says respect and honour your bodies.<br />
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It actually says you need to be careful how you use it because I believe that these are vessels. These are temples. You're a temple of the Holy Spirit so what you eat and the way that you keep fit and the way that you live out the years of your life.<br />
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If God ordained 78 years for your life but you are not healthy and die at 69 from a heart attack because you had too much fat in your diet, you're going to fall short of the God plan that he had for your life.<br />
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No one's responsible for that, it comes through competing in the games, being self disciplined. It comes through saying the fact that actually you've entrusted this to me.<br />
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I know right now that this body of mine, this is not all of who I am.<br />
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<b>When people look at you, they make judgments upon the way you look. We're very quick at making judgments for the way someone looks</b>. We'll look and we'll think, oh yeah, that's them, no, it's not them.<br />
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<b>Many of us are good at hiding what's in us.</b><br />
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Right now while I'm speaking, what we do is when we feel vulnerable we're not open, we close, we hide, and our body displays what's going on in the inside and the fact the Bible says that God is not interested,<br />
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<b>He says it's good to take care of yourself and look good and healthy and says it's good but that's not the priority for God. </b><br />
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<b>The priority is the inner beauty of the heart. </b><br />
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It says the hidden heart within mankind that is what God goes for, which is contrary to the whole world that we live in.<br />
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It's more than you see in the mirror. We've been entrusted with this body and as in God entrusts us with children and entrusts us with finance and opportunity, I believe we're also accountable for stewarding this body. So that's the body. I think we're quite aware of what that is.<br />
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<br />
<b><span style="color: red;">2. Soul</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
The next one is the soul. <br />
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Now this is where it gets really interesting because the Bible interchanges soul and spirit quite often, but come with me.<br />
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The soul, the way I want to describe this as we refer to it on our journey is that the soul is our mind, will and emotions.<br />
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<b>Something about seeing within our mind, those are the decisions that we make.</b><br />
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We chose to do some things and we chose not to have relationships with certain people because of our emotions and our judgments and opinions that were formulated through our experience, our disappointment, our discouragement and from it what happens is we end up formulating within our soul these decisions.<br />
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This is where our emotions live, some of us are more emotional than others, but heck it's something to handle and the Bible challenges us about this because the emotions will work against us.<br />
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If we live a life that is feeling led will be like the red factor canary, on the purge.<br />
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<b>I can guarantee you right now, if you are living a life led by your feelings you will never live the life that God has planned for you. Living a life by feelings lead to regret, disappointment, dissatisfaction, you will never ever get there. </b><br />
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It's designed to keep you going in circles. And yet we all have to contend with it.<br />
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<b>Having feelings isn't bad, it's actually very good, we need feelings but it is what you do with them that counts.</b><br />
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As a Christian, the Bible talks about what will you do with your feelings, either you're going to live a life that is feeling led or you're going to do something different.<br />
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And So we've got to realize that this is going to always be a challenge for us.<br />
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Paul even said it this way, he said, "I struggle to do what I know I should do, but why do I find it easy to do what I know I shouldn't. Who's in that gang? Who's in that gang?<br />
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It's like how often, how often? Especially when you're younger or more immature, you learn the hard way, you keep making the same mistakes,<br />
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I know I shouldn't but I want to and when you do, when you try and cover it up and then you think I'll get away from it and maybe I'll do it again, now I got away with it again until something happens and then you start realizing you're trapped in a cycle.<br />
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I know the result of this is guilt, I know it isn't peace, it's the opposite.<br />
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I know the result of doing this is trying to gratify myself because often these things are around gratification.<br />
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It felt good for a moment but afterwards when am I going to learn? I'm so stupid.<br />
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I remember physically beating myself, I'm going to be honest with you because I know what God had for me but I know what I went and did when I knew better and I was thinking why, this body, this flesh, this carnal thing that becomes animalistic because without God, we return to the things of selfishness.<br />
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<b>You're going to need to get control of your feelings because if you are feeling led, it will get you into trouble, it will rob your life, it will rob your life. </b><br />
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Paul understood this, but later on he understood even more, he writes again, he matures and he's starting to work it out and he said I've worked it out, actually for me to live, it's to die, but to die is gain.<br />
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He's saying about himself, I compete in the race against myself and it's my selfishness that I need to deal with and if I can't contend with my selfishness, I'm not going to live, I'm going to die. So he starts realizing what this is all about.<br />
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<b>We convince ourselves when we make decisions that it'll be okay, when God clearly said No. </b><br />
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We make decisions around dating a Non-Christian and just say, it just feels so right. How can it be wrong?<br />
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We make decisions about falling out of love with our husband or wife and then feeling attracted to someone else. Then saying, I know that God wouldn't want me to have a loveless marriage and we start looking elsewhere.<br />
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<b>But the truth is the grass isn't greener on the other side, the grass is greener where you water it. </b><br />
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There is something that we all do this. I'm not picking on anyone. We do it.<br />
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The enemy is a deceiver and a liar.<br />
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Think about the Garden of Eden at the beginning. What did he do? He tempted and within Eve's soul, it was like it looks good. No, you can't have it. I'm not sure, I don't think God would turn down the best for me, would he? I'm sure it must be good.<br />
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And we reach out and we grab it only to find that it only satisfies for a little while, and then we find that we're lost and we're distant.<br />
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There are so many things right now and I want to challenge us all as I speak to you online, if you're watching this on TV, in one of our locations, wherever you are. I pray Holy Spirit will you convict us where somehow we have listened to the voices through feelings, where we've said I think it's okay for God. I know he said No, but for me he says yes. I pray that it would disturb us right now, relationships, decisions.<br />
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It's amazing how so many things in our life, we can approve ourselves and say this is okay for me because it feels so right.<br />
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So if feelings were good it would mean, do what you feel like and you're going to live the best life ever. In fact, it is the contrary.<br />
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You live a life led by your feelings, you're going to live a life of loss. Because the enemy is a robber and a thief.<br />
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Enemy's a liar and a cheat and he will want you somehow to make decisions, even around sexuality.<br />
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Let's go there. Sexuality in the world that we're in right now. Confusion over sexuality, you can be anything, all sorts, whatever, it's just how you feel. I felt like this, surely that's me if I feel like it. God must understand that because he made me, when we know what God says in his word. So we've got to get this sorted.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">3. Spirit</span></b><br />
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Then the third one is spirit.<br />
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We've got body, soul and spirit. This is where it gets exciting, spirit! I've got some hope for you, spirit.<br />
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We'd all be lost if we stayed at that point. In fact, that's where we were before we met Christ. That would be my preach without Christ. It would be,<br />
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We're just going to have to do our best to overcome these feelings that you have. You're going to have to do your best.<br />
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I know you keep failing but we're just going to keep pushing along and maybe we'll just hold on to the end.<br />
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But when it comes to the spirit, our spirit, the Bible talks about our spirit, this is incredible. Our spirit, this is the spiritual capacity of every individual. We all have one.<br />
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When you read all the thousands of stories of people that died and then got brought back after 5/10/20 minutes, they will talk about and many people who are not even sure what they believe will accept that actually there could be something after death and people who talk about leaving their body and looking back and maybe going and seeing lights and seeing a guy that seems a little bit like a Jesus fellow, even in places that didn't know and weren't taught about Jesus, in places that weren't Christian.<br />
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<b>Your spirit, this is the spiritual capacity and potential for every person. That means that God is placed in every person the potential to be saved. </b><br />
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You can say that you're an atheist, you can use your intellect and have all your arguments and your reasons and stuff and go through but every one of us has something within us that has an antenna to go to God and when God is speaking, he's reaching constantly saying, come on, I'm after you, I'm after you. And we have to choose and go. There you are.<br />
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<b>Every one of us has that built into us. But it comes down to our choice. The Spirit is eternal.</b><br />
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As Christians we have a renewed spirit. If you're not a Christian your spirit is not alive to Christ. And it's either unholy or holy. That is why eternity is not, oh I didn't believe so I'm probably just going to stop existing.<br />
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We all have a spirit and it'll be our spirit that goes on and the Bible says, either we choose to be with God or we choose to reject him and we will be away from God and without God.<br />
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A vacuum of good and hope so there is a choice but the Spirit has the potential for eternal purpose and potential.<br />
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So he knew he placed it. It was there right from the beginning and that's where we hunger for holiness and righteousness and even as I challenge some people there about some of the things that we've justified in relationships, there is a voice in there, there is something in your gut that you're trying to block it out and you go no, this is right because it feels right.<br />
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You've got yourself in situations where you shouldn't be and you've got involved and did some things that you shouldn't do and you drank some things you shouldn't that led to this, that and whatever but there's this voice that keeps coming back, Spirit calls to Spirit and the Spirit of Christ calls to you and it's amazing because no matter where you are, even in your lostness, even when we walk away from him, it's like the <b>Spirit is saying, come on I've called you for holiness. </b><br />
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There's something in us, there's something in us that's deep down and it says that his Spirit bears witness with our spirit. That we are the children of God. You can't know that unless your spirit is renewed. Unless your spirit comes alive.<br />
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I think there is a hunger in us that we go away but it is calling us. This conviction. And the Spirit contends for our soul. Listen to that. So think about where your soul is right now.<br />
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We've talked about the soul, see your spirit contends for the soul, the emotions, the feelings, the decisions.<br />
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The person that you said, well this is just me, it's just the way I'll always be. I went through this and I was a victim and It that happened to me and I've had a tough deal, feel pretty angry about it.<br />
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The soul does all that. It says, this is where I am,<br />
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but then the Spirit is going, no, you're not staying there because the more I get of Christ in me, the more I get of Christ in me, it starts saying no.<br />
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This whole word about being transformed means you're on the move 'trans', we're in transit, you're not stuck, you're not staying there.<br />
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<b>There is this transformation for every one of you. God doesn't want to leave you where you are, you were not the finished article. </b><br />
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The enemy wants to say you're always going to struggle with that habit or that way of thinking. You are always going to struggle and you're going to be an emotion led person, but I'm here today to say no, because your spirit comes up and it says you can change because why? Not just because of you but it's the partnership of you in obedience with your spirit saying, spirit we got this.<br />
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This is about eternity here, this is about making decisions that will change and release my potential but we're in transit.<br />
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I'm going to say, no that's not acceptable. So I have all these arguments with myself all the time. I feel drawn to do this it's like wack, I slap myself across the face, and say, what are you thinking of? Some of us have this natural inclination where we have a weakness around certain things. You've got to learn them pretty quick and if you learn them quick you can say, here it comes, here it comes, wack. That's what discipline is.<br />
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You talk about fighting fit, you're going to need to train this muscle, but right now at the minute for many of us we do how we feel. It's like, this week's been hmm because I felt like this. That's what I'm saying the red factor, we're there, something happens to us and it's like...<br />
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<b>We wear what we experience but we should wear who we are. </b><br />
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<b>But when you know who you are in Christ, you've got to start wearing it before you even start believing it. </b>Because I know who he called me to be.<br />
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Can I quite believe it, but I'm going to start wearing it.<br />
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<br />
<b><span style="color: red;">The Contenders</span></b><br />
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So we've got a contention going on, we've got the contenders, we've got this fight going on.<br />
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Imagine the boxing ring, we've got the fight going on. The soul is all around our emotions, our feelings versus our spirit.<br />
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This is what's going on and it's fascinating because emotions are unpredictable. You don't know when they coming. They are so clumsy because we got such a big head over them.<br />
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<b>Often when we're emotionally led, we become quite proud and we overthink everything, instead of trusting who God called us to be. Our feelings are loud, they shout louder than the spirit. They shout loud on the outside. </b><br />
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They're contesting for us because they know if they can contest for the flesh and they can somehow indulge in and do those things, you're then in shame.<br />
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Blew it again. Feeling guilty, some of us came in feeling like that today. Feel a failure, feel down. It's not who God called you to be but if you listen, what you're doing is you're being led by your feelings. But you should know my situation. It's not reliant on your situation, it's actually reliant on the Spirit that is within you and the emotions.<br />
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They battle for gravitation and the ears cause distraction, why? Because they listen to everything.<br />
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They're like, so-and-so didn't speak to me today, they spoke to so-and-so. I just feel like I don't fit. They said that but I think they meant that, and how come I didn't get a thank you for that.<br />
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All the time it's going, you feel like you're not of value or worth, you feel like you don't deserve to be here because <b>your feelings are designed to isolate you to get you out and to say that other people are the problem. </b><br />
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People just keep letting me down. And yet God is saying no, this is about your spirit. Indecisive, inconsistent and a sore loser. Salt. <b>Where as someone who operates by the spirit is committed and disciplined. </b><br />
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That sounds like takes a lifetime to do. Its commitment and as soon as you think you've got it you're letting it slip. You've got to keep pursuing, you've got to keep going after it. There is something about a broad perspective. I might feel like this but I don't understand everything but I know God does understand everything and I know that his timing is perfect and I know I can trust him and so my perspective is broader. Maybe that person was itchy today and a bit scratty but I don't know what's going on there, so I'm going to choose to begin thinking the best, rather than worst because that means I can live a life that is full, rather than a life that is empty.<br />
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Powered by eternity, that's what the spirit is. I do things within my life that invest in eternity, not invest in my gratification for tomorrow because it would be gone.<br />
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Single-minded, not making a decision like today on a Sunday because I feel challenged and I'm going to take over the world, I'm an overcomer and then tomorrow I feel overwhelmed and I can't even turn out to groups this week because I just feel like I want to be by myself. I know I should but I think it would be good for me have a nice rest.<br />
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<b>It will do you no good. This is the lie that I've got to expose. </b><br />
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<b>People think when I'm feeling low and when I feeling down I want to withdraw.</b> It is a lie of the enemy and I rebuke it in Jesus name, that you were made to be around people. You might not feel like being around people but it is the best thing for you but if you go under duress and sit there like a big sulky big-headed big-eared monster, people are going to go, no we're not going to talk and then you think what I said it doesn't work to be around people, it's because you need to change the way your attitude is, you've got to be around people but there's also something around you changing your attitude to be open rather than closed.<br />
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Discernment that's a powerful thing. You discern between emotions and weaknesses and you can say, I'm not going there again, that's my vulnerability, I'm not going there again. Stronger through loss. Grateful in victory. Stronger in loss. Grateful in victory because God can do all things through this.<br />
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To live a life of stability and consistency because that's what we all want. I want to live a life of stability and consistency. <b>You can't be feeling led. You need to be spirit led. </b><br />
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And right up till now you might have been feeling led because this is what we've got to realise; if we keep spending money impulsively we're going to end up in a place where we're always in debt.<br />
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No pain, no gain. So if you actually withhold and you discipline yourself around those things, you start becoming more consistent, great stability but you've got a journey it through.<br />
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If you withdraw from relationships when they seem to be difficult you'll never enter into the fullness of what a relationship brings in as a reward.<br />
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If you decide that you're going to believe the best in others it is going to have a great reward, it's the way it works.<br />
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Some of you have done marathons and done some amazing things. How do you do it? You've got a mindset. A mindset is I'm going to set my mind and I can do this. I set my mind, "in fact the mindset focused on the flesh fights God's plan and refuses to submit to his direction."<br />
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This is talking to you, Christian. It's not the unsaved, he's talking to you, to us, as Christians.<br />
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It's saying,<b> if you're focused on the flesh you're going to fight God's plan and refuse to submit to his direction and then you wonder why you end up in a bad place because it cannot stand against it.</b><br />
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"But when the Spirit of Christ empowers your life you were not dominated by the flesh but by the spirit."<br />
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The news I've got for you today, the great news I've got for you is that the Spirit of Christ empowers your life this isn't just about you alone as a human being.<br />
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The enemy wants to make out that you're by yourself, that what's happened defines you, that's the end of it. If it was just that, it would be your body, it would be your soul, but this is the great news is this spirit, the Spirit of Christ empowers your life.<br />
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You are not dominated by the flesh any longer. I'm not lying to you. You've got this great big portion of your life that is given over to listening, it's tuned into the flesh, to the soul, to your thoughts, to your mind and they run wild like a 5 year old without any discipline and it wrecks your life.<br />
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You're up, down. You're confused, you're this way, you're that way, indecisive, inconsistent and God is saying it's time.<br />
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The enemy, as long as he thinks that you're dominated, you're always going to succumb. but when you start realising actually, no, you look at what God's Word says, you might feel that way but it's a lie of the enemy. The truth is there's the spirit that is alive in us. It's the spirit that works in us, it's his spirit that is in us, we are free and we are able.<br />
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You might have to have a go on a pattern and break a habit of thinking because feelings they come from habits.<br />
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When this happens in my life I was withdraw when this happens I always feel like no one understands me. I feel I'm better by myself. We've got to change the way that we think. We've got to change the way we live.<br />
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But it starts here. It starts here.<br />
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I think this is particularly hard for some people and I believe God's grace is sufficient for you, but if you were raised in a home where emotions played a huge part. If emotions were the thing that determined the way the day or the week went and you saw it and you grew up in it, you've been trained in it. You probably understand what it is to use emotions to manipulate people. To withhold or to give as a reward, it's manipulation and we don't have the right to do it.<br />
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We learned that using anger and other things to get our own way is a way that is normal, when God comes through his Spirit right now and he's saying to you that is not a way, it is empty, it's destructive, it's all around the flesh and it's like you're actually a slave to feelings and I'm asking the Holy Spirit to come in and by his grace begin moving upon us through his word in every way to say you don't have to be that way anymore, you can break free from a generational pattern and you can change it because that's God's plan for us, that we're no longer the old creation.<br />
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He says, behold you're a new creation, something like never ever seen before on this earth. <b>You're a new creation, why? Because your spirit was renewed and came alive in Christ. </b><br />
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But many of us are still on the purge. We've been through some stuff and we're licking our wounds when God is saying, no it's time to become stronger.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Who's the boss? </span></b><br />
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That's the question, just thought it was great do some visuals. Who's the boss? Are you going to be emotions led? Because it comes down to this.<br />
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Jesus talked about lordship. Don't call me Lord. He's talking to his believers.<br />
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<b>Many of us, we are believers but we're not actually following him as Lord because actually our feelings and emotions, those are our lord. They are our master. </b><br />
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But the spirit within us, it's time to kick the old style out, it has no right. I am telling you it has no authority over your life, it has no authority over your life.<br />
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And we can get all the counsel and we can get friends that want to tell us what we want to hear. What we need to hear is that the Spirit of God wants to bring life to you so how are we going to do it guys? Because that's great but how are we going to do it?<br />
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There it is in God's Word, it's been there all along and today I want to reveal it to you and say he never called you to live according to fear and emotions and what might happen and worry and anxiety but he called you to live a life of power, of love, surrounded by unconditional love.<br />
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But the word personal discipline, that's the bit, <b>if I called this message "Personal discipline message" not many people would listen to it, because we want to know the 10 best things to be successful but we don't realise that actually personal discipline is how you become successful. </b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Self control </span></b>comes from the Greek word "egkrateia". And it means the virtues of one who masters desires, thoughts and feelings.<br />
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It says that this is a fruit of the Spirit. It is something that you grow, you grow a fruit and I'm asking you, church, will you grow?.<br />
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<b>If you want to be fighting fit, you got to commit to self-discipline, we underrate it, we put it down. Self-discipline in every aspect of your life will bring fruitfulness, will bring power, will bring the potential that is within you that is eternal. </b>That's what he said.<br />
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<b>You don't have to be dominated by your feelings any longer, but you can be led by your spirit, </b> That's what he's called us for.<br />
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Stop letting your emotions vote. It is like letting the 5 year old vote on what you think's best. We wouldn't do it as parents but we do it as individuals.<br />
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I just feel this way, I just feel like we don't really fit in that church anymore. I feel like I might wander over here and see if the grass is greener.<br />
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God's words and his principles are truth. I didn't get up here to preach today because I felt like it.<br />
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I got up because God called me to do it. I lived a life controlled by my feelings for the first 25 years and it was this verse in Timothy that set me free but it took me 2 years to get free. That's what I am saying,<br />
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Don't think it's just a quick fix message. I'm highlighting something. This is almost like the event and maybe God is speaking to your soul right now but you've got to get your spirit in line. Ist'a your spirit that would say I'm making a new rule here. I'm making a new decision here. That's when I started to live a life that wasn't controlled by my feelings and things can go on in my life and you may not know whether I've had a good week or a bad week because I've chosen to put my hope in something higher.<br />
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I said, Lord I'm going to always trust in you and if I'm an eternal being and I'm spirit led, these earthly things will never shake my joy and shake my hope, but I'm found in who you are.<br />
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Church, last thing I want to say, listen to this, when I talk about the spirit, think about Jesus for a minute, maybe you're here and you're not a believer or maybe you walked away from God but I just want to tell you something. Before we came to put our faith in Jesus as a Saviour, we were separated from God and our spirit was dead. It was dead. Set for eternal damnation, that's what the Bible says, it was done. Then we came into contact with Jesus and we heard and we responded. When you responded to Jesus as your Saviour, it was almost like your spirit that was dead, it's like this power pack. It got plugged into the resurrection. It got plugged into the tomb and in that tomb, there was Jesus, the stone was over it and they thought it was all done and finished and suddenly there was like this heartbeat.<br />
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<b>There was a heartbeat where Jesus comes and he smashes death and hades</b>. He grabs the keys and he says no longer, I've taken up authority, authority over everything. That same power. It's like when you were dead and you came and you chose Jesus it was like the defibrillator. There's no pulse, there's nothing here, it looks like it's over and then it was like God, your Father, came and he put the defibs on and the power surge and it went in, your spirit came alive, it came alive and it's renewed and it's alive and that's why it says you transferred from that moment from death to life.<br />
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It wasn't a week, it wasn't good works, it was all because of Jesus. This is the message of the gospel; that <b>we couldn't do anything but through Jesus, through the power of the Cross because he paid the price for our sin, he paid the price for us that we wouldn't have to be empty we wouldn't have to be away but he chose us</b>, he chose us, he chose you, he chose you and he's here right now, he's here in this place.<br />
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It says that the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you. That's what it means. That's why you can do anything. That's why you can kick those feelings into touch and you can say no more. I'm going to die to myself. I'm going to follow Jesus. He is my master. He is my Lord. There is a heartbeat.<br />
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What happens as this continues the heartbeat increases, what does it do? It starts transforming my life. Where once I said yes, I start saying no longer.<br />
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Where I once held unforgiveness, I say going to forgive.<br />
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The things that I stayed and I had no power over, the power that was in Christ that raised him from the dead is right now in you and you can let people go, you can bless people, you can get free, you can find this freedom all because of him.<br />
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I want to hand over to you all now church at the start this series, that we get ready. This is a critical foundation for us to move forward and I want you to go away and pray into this and commit to be Spirit led. In Jesus name, we bless you guys.<br />
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-57630028356270885262018-09-29T11:22:00.000+05:302018-09-29T11:22:35.593+05:30How to Find Security | Week 5 | ReGeneration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Secure Base:</b> It's a triangle that basically expresses how we need three things in order to be healthy, attached, secure people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Secure Base:Psychological Version</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1. You're loved and you're lovable. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2. Relationships can be relied on to keep you safe. In other words that people are trusted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3. Other people are loving and protective. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Secure Base:Gospel Version</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">1. The great love with which he loves us. He loves us with a great love. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2. God will guard me, guide me and not let me fall; He will never forget nor ignore me; He's trustworthy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">3. God never lets you down; he sticks by you and will protect you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I think one of the biggest giants we have to deal with from one generation to another is belief. Broken beliefs pass from one generation to another cause broken foundations. We've got to heal these broken beliefs, because the broken belief system will keep going if we don't address it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We need something outside of ourselves to heal ourselves. We cannot fix ourselves. We choose who heals us; we can choose our parents, we can wait for our parents to heal us, or the generations above; we can wait for ourselves to heal us and that independence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Your healing isn't in your parents, your healing and your freedom isn't in people. but there's an ultimate healer, and that's God, because here's the thing, he labels himself the Father, which means he's saying to us I'm the generation above you. I'm the one above you who's got your healing. I'm the one that will give you a secure foundation, not people, not the perfect parents, not repentance, not some kind of easy life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">God is ready to adopt us into his family. Adoption means to enter into the privileges and the responsibilities of another. He's ready to heal our hurts, the belief systems that are broken, but we have to call out to him. He can't do it unless we acknowledge him as father.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Your past will be your future unless you have the courage to build a new one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You don't have to be a slave to beliefs; you don't have to be a slave to giants; you don't have to be a slave to generational curses or generational habits and <b>this whole series is about getting yourself free from the giants, for you but for the generations to come. </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">How to Find Security</span></h3>
Welcome to FREEDOM CHURCH. This is part five of our series which is called RE:GENERATION and It's been the most amazing series. It's all about how generational things keep going.<br />
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<b>History repeats itself through the generations, If we don't deal with it, If we don't change, and If we don't face down the Giants. </b><br />
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This has been one series where It doesn't matter who I've spoken to? Whether they're a Campus Pastor, a Volunteer, They're Visiting Church for the first time Whether They've been here forever. Every single person I've spoken to has been like "God's spoken to me in this RE:GENERATION series" "God's challenged me around the things that I keep doing"<br />
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For Dave and I and It was like week two, and God started pushing in on and tells us "You need to deal with that independence" "You need to deal with that thing that you always do" and It's been so, so POWERFUL.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Belief and Boogy Man:</span></b><br />
It really led me to start thinking about My family. and They're an amazing bunch. There's lots of them, They're Incredible. They're Creative and Wild and Adventurous and Mad and Strong and Passionate. They're an amazing, amazing Family.<br />
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But I want to tell you to begin with a little story that we had in our home growing up. So I lived next to the river, when I was little. I've got two siblings, brother and sister, and some stepbrothers as well. There used to be next to our house like a verge going into, like a wooded verge.<br />
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There's lots of trees and then the river. My dad always told us that there was someone called the boogey man. and the boogey man lived in the woods. I don't know whether my dad just really enjoyed telling crazy tales which he did now and then. I actually think, it was a bit of a fear technique to keep us out of the woods, to keep us away from the river. Makes sense, right? It's like, I tell my kids that You can't turn the lights on in the car. because it's illegal and the police will pull us over. Really I just want them to buckle down and go to sleep. Because, it's late at night and I'm driving home. We come up with all these things. We tell our kids. I heard a great one this week. Someone said "I don't let my children have ice cream Sundays unless it's a Sunday, and If we go to a restaurant, I tell them you can't have an ice cream Sunday, because you can only have one on Sunday," which I thought was a brilliant one. I might use that. Don't tell to my kids, they're not in here. But there's all these things we tell our children.<br />
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For years, I believed in the boogey man to the point where I remember the first time I was ever told off at school. I was five. I was in year one, you remember it so vividly, don't you? First time your teacher tells you off and I was stood around the sandpit, and I told the other children about the boogey man. that He was real, and he was going to come and get you. He was made out of bogey. and he stuck to you, and stuck you into himself and you became a boogey man as well. That's what I believed. so I told all these kids around the sandpit, "You're going to get caught by the boogey man, if you go in to any woods ever" at which point some of them cried and then my Teacher kept me in at breaktime, because I'd been telling scary tales. but in my head it wasn't a tale, it was so true.<br />
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The boogeyman exists. I haven't kept it going with my kids. I don't want them getting told off. but you know the tooth fairy exists and so does Santa.<br />
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But I was absolutely adamant, because there are these things we believe that our parents tell us. I think those generational habits, those are generational giants.<br />
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<b>I think one of the biggest giants we have to deal with from one generation to another is belief, like a belief system, something you believe.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Belief and Marriage Prep:</span></b><br />
OK, the boogey man is a funny one, it's a comical one. but I had other beliefs that I gained from my family. My family are phenomenal. but I'm one of the kids, along with many of you that grew up in a family where there was divorce. A lot of the people, a lot of my family struggled with relationships. There was an issue. We have very strong independent women in our family. There was a history going back generation after generation where marriage had been robbed and broken and betrayed, an adulteress, where kids had grown up in broken homes. It was a common story, If I look back over a lot of my aunties, uncles, the generations before me and one belief I had, this sandpit was the belief in the boogey man. But I remember another belief that came out of me in marriage prep.<br />
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Marriage prep is something we do in our Church. If you're getting married, you can meet with a Pastor. A couple of Pastors as a married couple, and you can talk through some of the things that you're going to bring to your marriage. Dave and I were rather passionate, when we came to marriage. and I'm talking about like argue passion. Okay.<br />
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I just remember this time we were sat across the table, from Chris and Karen, who are amazing Pastors in our movement, and we're arguing. I don't know what we're arguing about? We're probably arguing about arguing because that's what you do, right? We're just going at each other, you said this and you did that. and I just remember this belief that came out of me. <b>There's like family belief that I'd picked up on and gained.</b><br />
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Nothing my parents had ever said, nothing my parents had ever promoted. My parents are amazing, they speak positively, they speak life into me. <b>But it's this concept that I gained from the generation above or the generations around me. and it was the concept of this; "You're going to leave me anyway" </b>I just had so deep within me. "Do you know what? It doesn't matter if you argue with me, actually I don't care what you're going to say, because you're just going to leave, so I can fight with you, I can argue with you, I can swear at you, I can abuse you. I can say what I want, because you're just going to go like everybody else does" and it's this belief that I'd gone from one generation to another. and you know here's the thing, the enemy monopolizes on it.<br />
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My parents have never said that to me, they didn't say those things, that's not what they're like. They're incredible parents, but I'd watched a generation of people fall apart. I watched relationships on TV fall apart. I watched celebrities' relationships fall apart. I was convinced, and I had this belief system that the enemy had grown and monopolized and made bigger deep within me.<br />
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But that's not what God says about marriage, that's not what God says about people. and so there was this moment, and we have to, we absolutely have to believe.<br />
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Here's something we need to believe that <b><span style="color: red;">Your past will be your future unless you have the courage to build a new one. </span></b><br />
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I can't make claim to that. But our past will be our future unless we have the courage to start a new one. We've got to come in and say, No that's not how it is? My teacher had to come in and say "No, there is no boogey man" Someone's got to come in and say "No, those things you've believed about yourself from the generations before, maybe the things said" God wants to come in and you've got to be the one to have the courage.<br />
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It took Dave courage to stand by someone who had to deal with that belief. It took courage to believe in marriage. It might take courage for you to believe that you were made for a purpose. it might take courage to believe that you can be successful. It might take courage to believe that you can have children when your generations above you can't. There's all these things we've got to have courage to believe something different.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Secure Base:Psychological Version</span></b><br />
I just want to talk a little bit of psychology with you. I went to some parent training years ago and it was a phenomenal, phenomenal teaching. They were talking about something called the secure base. Lots of you may not be familiar with that; if you're a psychologist or you've been through parent teaching before, you've adopted, you've worked in Social Work, I don't know what you do? But if you do those things you've probably heard of something called the secure base and this is what it is.<br />
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It's a triangle that basically expresses how we need three things in order to be healthy, attached, secure people.<br />
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If we have these three things as young children, and if we have this base, this basis of psychological foundation within us, then we're going to thrive. Basically, if we have these beliefs within us we can survive. Now this isn't a Christian teaching, this isn't something that comes from a religion or a faith. This is psychologists' teaching. It says these three things;<br />
<b>1. You're loved and you're lovable. </b><br />
<b>2. Relationships can be relied on to keep you safe. In other words that people are trusted.</b><br />
<b>3. Other people are loving and protective. </b><br />
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If you have those three things as a child then you're going to thrive, you're going to be able to make relationships, life is going to be healthy, you're going to survive, you're going to have mental health. These things are going to be a part of your life. It's like a psychological foundation; this is what the professionals say.<br />
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Now I had all those things. My parents gave me all those things. I'm aware, I'm in a room where not everyone has this. The parent teaching that I was in was talking about children in trauma. I'm aware, I'm in a room of people who've been adopted. People whose parents are in mental health units because they need specialized care. People who've maybe not spoken to their dad for years or their mum was abusive. I'm aware of the room, I'm in. I know the stories. We're pastors in this church. I know the stories that are in front of me and all around the world when it comes to care and parenting.<br />
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But all of us, all of us have those moments where we feel like we're not loved. All of us have those moments where we feel like we're not safe or protected, or we can't trust people. This isn't just about parenting this is about these little moments where you don't feel secure and you don't feel safe and you don't feel loved, or like you can trust things, and so there's this generational thing that keeps going.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Secure Base:Gospel Version</span></b><br />
The one thing that struck me when we were having this teaching was this is the gospel? So there's a psychological version but hey there's a gospel version, right? Dave and I sat next to each other, and I've got my notes now and I find them. and I just circled it and scribbled it, because if someone's got this broken psychological base, if you've got this base within you, this foundation within you, you believes you're not loved, or believes you can't trust people, or believe that people are untrustworthy, it's a belief system that will go from generation to generation.<br />
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God comes in with the gospel, because he says this;<br />
<b>1. The great love with which he loves us. He loves us with a great love. </b><br />
<b>2. God will guard me, guide me and not let me fall; He will never forget nor ignore me; He's trustworthy. </b><br />
<b>3. God never lets you down; he sticks by you and will protect you. </b><br />
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These are just three of thousands of Bible verses that promise that God can be the secure base you need When the generations don't provide it, when people haven't been there. Hey, I'm talking to the fatherless generation aren't I? 42 percentage of marriages don't make it, that means children are growing up where for certain times of the week there's an absence from a parent, maybe forever.<br />
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I'm talking to a generation. I'm talking to a decline in the family unit. I'm talking to places where there's brokenness. I'm telling you God has got a foundation for you. God has got a belief for you, he's got a security for you, and honestly, <b>if we're going to heal a generation, We have got to engage with a God that wants to come and heal us. </b><br />
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We can face these giants with logic, we can face these giants with power and passion and praise, but some of us have got to face these giants with healing.<br />
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I know I needed God to heal the false belief system I had in myself. He had to come in with his truth, and he had to dig out the "I love you, you've got a purpose in life, you're not purposeless.He had to come in and speak to that. But I needed a foundation outside of myself. That's the thing with this psychological foundation, right? the secure base;<br />
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<b>Every single one of us needs something beyond our self. We cannot do this on our own. We can't. </b><br />
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I believe that <b>broken beliefs pass from one generation to another and cause broken foundations</b>.<br />
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There will be foundational beliefs you have inside of yourself that are passed from one generation to another.<br />
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My belief was maybe the marriage wouldn't work, but your belief might be that you can never have kids, or that you were a mistake, or maybe you weren't purposed. Maybe your belief is that you're a failure, or you're not good enough to be with. I don't know what your foundational belief is, But it will go from generation to generation, and it will not be healed until God comes in and heals it.<br />
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<b>We need something outside of ourselves to heal ourselves. We cannot fix ourselves. </b><br />
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If psychology says it, the Bible says it and I've seen it a million times over, We've got to start to see that God wants to come in to heal those deep broken bits of us. I know for some people that you heard some sayings that weren't right sayings, beliefs over yourself. I know some people heard they were an accident, they're stupid. I've heard parents yell in changing rooms "I just can't cope with you anymore. I've heard stories where people call out to their dad and their dad doesn't answer; Maybe they're told they're fat or they're compared to their siblings. I've heard these stories again and again in our church, in our world. I had two people this week tell me "I'm just not in touch with my son anymore and I had another woman, a young friend of mine, say "I just don't speak to my dad anymore."<br />
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I had two young women this week, tell me that they don't have contact with their father anymore, because there's this absence, and there's these belief systems that are going from one generation to another, and we excuse it. My dad was just like that, Pastor G said it, there was an absence of communication, my dad was like that, my great granddad was like that. This granddad was like that.<br />
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But we have to come in and find the healing beyond ourselves, <b>We've got to heal these broken beliefs, because the broken belief system will keep going if we don't address it. </b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Belief and Independent</span></b><br />
I had a broken belief system in marriage. I also had a broken belief system in men I didn't trust them, I'd made some foolish choices and it put in me this incredible Independent spirit.<br />
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I remember a time that I was with some friends and we were talking about this. It sounds very deep; it really wasn't. If you could write a book, what book would you write? and what would you title it? It's very deep isn't it? This one guy said "I'd write a book called Independence," and I tell you what, the feminist girl, broken, hurt, defensive, lonely woman in me was like "Yes all right. I'll write book called Independence. You don't need people, you can make this on your own; if you've got a problem you just need to get on and deal with it. You can run a business on your own. You could be a head of department. You can do this, you don't need people"<br />
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I had these years of my life as what I would say is a feminist. I believe in equal rights. I believe in men as leadership, I believe in women in leadership, but there but it wasn't based on that, it was based on this deep thing in me that hurts, and it brought about what I would call an independent spirit, and I was all about that I can do it on my own. Do you know what that is? That's hurt and it's pride.<br />
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But I also have a lot of incredibly strong women in my family, women who had to do it alone, my mum's a single mum and she nailed it. She nailed it. She knows what it was to raise three children, five and under, a majority of the time, because my dad served in the forces, so it wasn't just weekdays, it was six, seven months at time, and I know lots of you do it. She raised us in church; She put me in Church every sunday till I was 16. Oh and I fought, and then God showed up. She did incredible things, but I see strong women in my family and they're strong and they're independent and that's great.<br />
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But God wants to heal a generation, not continue the generational disbelief. He wants to come in and fix it.<br />
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So for me God had to fix my independence, and this guy went on. He was talking about this book that he would write, and he said "No, it's not independence, it's in a place of dependency, and he said "I'm not writing a book about doing it on your own, I'm writing a book about when you really look at your life, you have to put yourself in a place where you depend on something outside of yourself.<br />
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<b>You choose to either put yourself in a place of independence, or a place in dependency.</b><br />
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And god hit me. He hit me like a freight train, that there's a generational strength to our family of independence; go do it, get on with it, do it on your own, that's phenomenal. It got me my degree, it got me the jobs I've got, it got me the strength, I paid my own way. The women in my family have coped with some incredibly broken and terrible situations.<br />
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But I knew that I didn't believe in men; more than that, I didn't believe in trusting God, and if the secure base psychology tells us we need something beyond ourselves, then we need something beyond ourselves and I needed God to heal me. I needed God to come in and speak to the bits of me that were broken, and the bits of me that I believed, things I believed that weren't right.<br />
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I didn't believe I was worth anything. I didn't believe I was funny. I believed I was stupid. I believed that I didn't have a purpose, I believed that I was no good to be around, and God had to come and fix that, but I had to choose to depend on him. I had to change my independence and change it to trust in him.<br />
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<b>I believe that church is a powerful place to do that</b>; church is an incredibly powerful place to do that, and this is a bit of a side note, because I spent some years being this strong independent woman and I pulled away from church. I pulled away because I was hurting. I pulled away because I felt lonely, because I felt different to the people in my church, but one of the reasons I pulled away was because I didn't want anyone to speak into my life, and I was hurting and I was struggling and I didn't really want anyone to touch on those things.<br />
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But I believe this, that an absence of generations before can be met in the church family.<br />
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God says this he sets the lonely families. and something I've seen in this church and multiple other churches is I've seen women who are independent, I've seen men who are getting it wrong, I've seen women who are proud or have had affairs, I've seen lonely young people, I've seen lonely old people, I've seen every single type of generation, every single type of issue walk into our church and find healing, and they find healing in the families.<br />
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What we have here is a cross generation of incredible people who love one another, who stick by one another, who push one another, who challenge one another, who heal one another, who fall in love. We've seen everything in the church, because it's the one place, God says he doesn't come for the well, he came for the sick, and the church is the place where all this can be healed.<br />
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<b>If you have a disbelief in church or marriage or friendship or people, the church is the place where it can be healed,</b> and we aren't perfect. Oh my gosh, we get things wrong. I'm one of the leaders here, I get things wrong, but I know that this is a place where healing happens.<br />
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God has this thing where he speaks generationally, and this is the main point of what I want to get across today, God talks generationally, and he doesn't just talk generationally and you know there's the generations before that explain how it got from David to Jesus. I'm not talking about the generations of fatherhood or where blessings go from one generation to another, not talking about that kind of generation.<br />
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<b>But God labels himself as a generation, </b>and if we're going to heal the generation of birth below, and we're going to heal ourselves and these wrong beliefs we have, we have to go to a generation above us.<br />
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Now my family is phenomenal and my mum is in the church, we have a great friendship, I'm good friends with my dad, my stepmum, my siblings, and I'm in a place where we have, and in the past had to talk about hey you did this, and you said that, and it hurt, and I was worried about that season. We've had those conversations as a family, but that's not where my healing lies;<br />
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My healing doesn't lie in the forgiveness or the repentance of the generation above me, because we're not always going to get that.<br />
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<b>Your healing isn't in your parents, your healing and your freedom isn't in people. We have to find God says that we find a healing outside of ourselves, but there's an ultimate healer, and that's God, because here's the thing, he labels himself the Father, which means he's saying to us "I'm the generation above you. I'm the one above you who's got your healing. I'm the one that will give you a secure foundation, not people, not the perfect parents, not repentance, not some kind of easy life.</b><br />
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Don't think that anyone here who's got a two point four middle-class family, loads of money, parents are together are healed. Oh no. I've dealt with people in every every sphere of community and part of society where there's been brokenness from the generation above.<br />
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This isn't just to do with the poor but God comes and he says I'm your generation that will come and speak in to your life, provide you with the secure healing. I'm that generation. I'm that father.<br />
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Some of you will have amazing fathers. I watch Dave with our children and he's a phenomenal father. but he's not a perfect father, and I pray. My little boy, he's two, he doesn't sleep great. if you're a parent with a two year old and your child sleeps great, please come find me in cafe. Teach me your ways. I've prayed every prayer. God gives sleep to those he loves. Anyway, my son, we have to be in the room until he falls asleep. and it's beautiful, it's about attachment, it's to do with him feeling safe and secure, but I've started to say to him now "I can't be everything to you. I can't be everywhere, but God will never leave you nor forsake you, and If I'm convinced that, if I just keep saying that, He's got to got to find a father that's bigger than him, and that's greater than the father he's got on earth. He's got to find a security, because it's only going to come through God. <b>God has to be his father even when he's got a great dad on earth.</b><br />
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God says this. It says long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Christ, Jesus Christ. What a pleasure he took in planning this. <b>God took pleasure in planning to be your father</b>; He took pleasure in it.<br />
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<b>It's God's pleasure to be the generation above; it's God's pleasure to heal your brokenness; it's God's pleasure to heal the lies you believe over yourself; It's God's pleasure to be your father. </b><br />
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We're not talking about a broken father now. <b>Sometimes we view God through the lens that we see our father. </b>I really had to go on the healing journey.<br />
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My dad is an amazing man; he's not a man of words. Honestly, some of you've met him, just words aren't his thing. Sometimes I think I'm a miracle because they really are mine, and so I grew up thinking that God was quiet. I had to learn a different God, a different father God to the Father I have on earth. and my father's great, but God's even greater, because he provides all our needs according to his glorious riches.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Adoption:</span></b><br />
There's something really powerful about this verse. that isn't just to do with the father's son, it's to do with the word adoption.<br />
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I know I'm speaking to people who are adopted, and I know I'm speaking to families that have adopted, and I know I'm speaking to parents as well that have had their children go and live with another family. I'm aware of what I'm speaking to you.<br />
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But adoption is powerful. there's something about it that's painful and beautiful all at the same time, because you see if you have birth children and adoptive children they're just the same. They're just the same to you. There's no difference between a birth child and an adopted child. The thing with an adopted child, as you look at their story, and you look at their history, and you say "I'm going to love you anyway,"<br />
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God doesn't come in and call you his birth children. We have birth family for that. God comes in and calls you his adoptive children, and that means it doesn't matter what you've been through, it doesn't matter what trauma you have, it doesn't matter how painful your belief is, it doesn't matter how much you want to shout deep down inside how much pain there is in there, how rejected you feel, how lonely you feel, and whether you believe what belief systems you've been given through your generations. God doesn't care because he says "I want to come and adopt you anyway."<br />
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It's different; it's different; it's different to birth children. and you see it when you adopt children. You have what's called your birth family and your forever family; All of us have birth family. Jesus had a birth family, so God's got something about it that he loves. God put some design in birth family, but you know what he said? He said there's a forever family too.<br />
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For some of you, you're looking to your birth family to be the be-all and end-all of your world, and both families are phenomenal, and they're there to bring about God's perfect design. None of you were an accident. I don't care what your birth parents say, none of you were an accident, because you've got a Heavenly Father that comes in and says "I'm going to make you my forever family".<br />
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<b>Adoption means to enter into the privileges and the responsibilities of another.</b><br />
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I've had privileges from acknowledging God as my father; the privilege that my life has purpose; a privilege that I feel loved unconditionally all the time; the privilege of relationship; the privilege of provision.<br />
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God's provided so many things for me. You see, we also receive this spirit and it's the spirit of sonship. You can say daughter ship as well, but women roll with me, You know. The spirit you receive does not make you a slave; you don't have to be a slave to beliefs; you don't have to be a slave to giants; you don't have to be a slave to generational curses or generational habits. I don't have to be a slave to the boogey man. You don't have to be a slave to those things, and this whole series is about getting yourself free from the giants, for you but for the generations to come.<br />
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<b>The spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. It's called the spirit of sonship, spirit of adoption. There's something so powerful about that, and we receive it and we have it. </b><br />
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You see we get to cry Abba Father. There's this bit where there's something in us and something in God that we cry out "Daddy". Parents you'll know in this room, or you'll know as yourself, there's something about your dad.<br />
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When Dave comes home to our children. Oh my Gosh, he's way more fun than me, way more fun. I mean I'm the one who's done the hours but I'm he's way more fun. I get showered out 4AM, He get showered out 5PM, I love it. I love the forum couples, sometimes. But there's something about this, something in us that shouts out this cry.<br />
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<b>There's a higher heavenly father that holds your healing. Accept childship, sonship or daughtership.</b><br />
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I believe that today some of you have realized things you believe about yourself that aren't right, beliefs that have gone from one generation to another, the cause of broken foundation in you. You know them. Hopefully you've written in them in your notes, or the pain in your heart right now,<br />
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We have to accept childship.<b> Declaring sonship is what God does, but calling out "Father" is what we do. </b><br />
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<b>We choose who heals us; we can choose our parents, we can wait for our parents to heal us, or the generations above; we can wait for ourselves to heal us and that independence, or we can accept that there's a heavenly father out there that wants to heal us. </b><br />
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But what we have to cry is Father, Dad, Father God. <b>He's ready to adopt us into his family; He's ready to heal our hurts, the belief systems that are broken, but we have to call out to him. </b><br />
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<b>He can't do it unless we acknowledge him as father.</b><br />
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Some of that will deal with that independence or our pride, maybe you need to go and speak to a Pastor, maybe this is bigger than you realize, maybe you've got some things that are deeper and God's starting to show you them, and it takes a bit of humility and it takes a bit of church family and it takes a bit of another generation to come and work that healing with you, but God's desperate to come and heal us.<br />
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If we're going to heal the generations below us, if we're going to heal the false beliefs that have come from above, if we're going to heal the things that have been said, the bits where we're not secure, the bits where our foundations are broken, we have got to access the father, we've got to be in relationship with God, we've got to call out "God I believe in you. God you're my father. God you've got something I don't have.<br />
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I don't know where you stand in this room. I don't know if you see God as your boss or your teacher or your instructor. I don't whether you don't know God, and he's just some kind of mythical creature, or some kind of faith that you learnt about in your Catholic Primary School, or maybe he's one of hundreds of gods that you know of in your culture.<br />
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I don't know where you are with God right now, but what I know is this; he's declaring sonship and daughtership on you, and it is your choice to say God heal me. God fix me. God I want to be adopted by you. God I want you to come in and bring me the privileges and the rights and the healing that you have, because within me, I need healing from something outside of me, and I believe in you.<br />
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Wherever you are around the world, wherever you're tuning in to this, or if you're watching online or reading God's out there, ready to be in relationship with you, and if you don't know him nothing would delight him more than hearing you say you believe in him as the father. </div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-60019601952760775582018-09-22T12:22:00.000+05:302018-09-22T12:26:16.440+05:30How to raise kids well... Killing the Cuckoo | Part 4 | Re:Generation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">One of the first things you've got to realize that, every child that is given to you is unique. You cannot make comparisons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">You can say that We've read all the Christian parenting books. Okay, Why does your kid still got such issues then? Because sometimes we read all this stuff and we're still not dealing with things.You can be in church, you can hear from the Lord, you read your Bible all you want, you can listen to everything but unless you take action, and deal with some things, you're gonna find there's trouble.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">As a parent, we have blind spots with our children. We so often look and tend to only see good but we need to deal with the disobedient, and the blind spots.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">During Parent Teacher meeting, When parents are defensive and say "how dare you speak about my child like that!". Unless You're willing to respond and be open, You're just going to be exposed to the blind spots. You can think it's a short-term win, but it's a long-term loss.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There's a cost when parents choose to ignore what they should confront. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Different types of children.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>1. Johnny Lovely:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">All his parents see is "Wow he's lovely. isn't he?" and even when he does scoundrel things, it's like "oh but he's a lovely scoundrel!". We still bring correction, we bring stuff, but with it there is almost this default - "he's lovely".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">When they grow up, there's gonna be a confusion around what real good discipline is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Today we're in a culture, "well let's just sit down and explain everything" No, you need to have a culture of discipline where there are standards that actually they're known, without even talking about, and yet we're trying to. If you try to explain something all the time, you're not communicating clearly where the line is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Be clear, be firm. He doesn't need a discussion, about what he's done wrong. He needs discipline.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">You also need the agreement of parents, there's no good in saying, "wait till your dad comes home." Because, I've seen, the dad saying "right you just wait mum's gonna sort you out". That's so imbalanced, It brings confusion again. You've got to be both in agreement because sometimes one a parent really striving to bring discipline as standard, and the other one just undoes it by their response.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Many of us avoid confrontation, because we haven't confronted the things that are actually within ourselves. If you are undisciplined as a parent in your lifestyle, it's going to be very hard for you to confront a lack of discipline in your child. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>2. Johnny Don't</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If you're constantly correcting your children because you somehow want them to be perfect, because it looks good on you, you're gonna break them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">They can end up insecure, they're gonna end up struggling to find confidence, and if you actually hold back approval and affirmation, they're gonna go and look for it somewhere else through a girl or boy or friends or addictions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Giving our kids everything is not true, it's not good parenting. You may have very very little, but you can give the richest gifts to your kids, through the way that you love, and connect, and affirm.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>3. Johnny Guilty</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">He comes from a background where there's been maybe loss.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There are parents who lost their 1st son, So they poured so much upon the next son and could not bring discipline to his life. Because they wanted to overcompensate for the loss they experienced in their life.Divorced and Single parents, you can feel guilty for a marriage that's broken down, and so then you can overcompensate for the children that you have.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It's the worst thing you can do. They want to be treated normal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Cuckoo:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The cuckoo doesn't make his own nest. She lays her eggs in other nest. She lets the other mother take care of the eggs. The cuckoo normally hatches before the others and it will push every egg out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So finally when the original mother/owner of nest comes back, there's just this one chick left. She spends her time trying to satisfy this chick, that actually is not her chick.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If you don't watch, If you ignore what comes into your home, and you put up with whatever comes in, it'll rob you of your true inheritance. It will come in, and later on you will be consumed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Our children need leadership, not a democracy. If you want your children to live their best life, you must lead them, and not just appease them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">it's the greatest stewardship gift you'll ever be given. Greater than the millions on this earth, greater than anything could have, is your child. It's the greatest thing that you will answer for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So be encouraged parents, you're amazing! Parenting is one of the bravest, boldest things you'll ever have to do, and we're cheering you on here at Freedom Church.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">How to raise kids well... Killing the Cuckoo</span></h2>
<b>This message has potential to not just change your life but even some that have not yet been born.</b> It's gonna have a riffle effect. If we respond to this message today, it will impact the future destination and destiny of others<br />
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Now we're in this generation, the RE:Generation series, all about the generations, and I'm gonna have to visit this.<br />
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I wasn't gonna do it, but I was just challenged to do it, because certain things that you sort of shouldn't really talk about in church... and why is that? It's because they can normally cause upset, and this is probably one of the top subjects. So get ready, get your heart ready, because this is one of the things you shouldn't really go there too much about is, <b><span style="color: red;">parenting! </span></b><br />
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Because we get very sensitive when people start talking about styles of parenting, that could challenge ours, be different to ours, we all get sensitive.<br />
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I've been around church for a long time and I've seen it. I've seen sort of someone who seems very gentle and placid, but when sort of challenged about their child's behavior In kids, they become a roaring monster. "Are you talking about my Johnny?" Now I'm gonna pick on Johnny a lot today, and if your name's Johnny I don't want you to feel I've got an issue with you.<br />
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It's not like you know a bit of a point, so sorry about that but, you know, I know that God's gonna help you get through this. But it's so true, is that when you start talking, and I know that when I start bringing some principles around parenting, there's going to be challenge, a little bit of friction maybe some offence, "well I don't agree with that,"<br />
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<b>I want to present some principles that I believe are biblical, you then need to decide as parents,</b> you know, whether... hey just just have an open mind, that will question, say "maybe that is worth considering." So I'm not up here saying, "hey this is the way you should do it" because, you'll soon find out, I'm a parent that didn't get it right. I didn't get it right all the time, it was like, many times, made mistakes and I hope that I'm going to speak out of some of those things. Okay?<br />
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So this is now if this is how you should be a super-duper Christian parent. I've heard some people talk like that and I thought, I don't even come anywhere near you. You must be you know the way you get your kids to read the Bible, around the table and like, you know, take communion and do all these things, and we're gonna watch Bible stories. I'm thinking Wow! Something went wrong with me!<br />
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So guys just, I want this to be real, because of that I've got to give some like examples and if it's an example that you think "are you talking about me?" because again, I get people saying "have you been to my home?" Look guys no one's reported you, but it's amazing how... I'm asking now Holy Spirit would you speak to us. Holy Spirit will you speak into our homes, into our lives, into the way we parent, I pray that we would be able to lay down what somehow we feel defensive over, to say help us to be secure, so that we can really do our best, Lord for the generation that's coming in Jesus name.<br />
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So, the other thing I want to mention was, I know straight away if you haven't got children. So first of all, if you're single, well you haven't got children, you might be a teenager, you might be a zeal student, don't switch off! Because you can easily think "oh well, when I get to that stage it will be relevant" No! I'll tell you what if you, if you can grab hold of some of the principles I'm gonna share, it will set you up, right, for who you meet, and the agreement you make before you decide to marry. You don't want to wait till the point of like, "now I'm pregnant, let's quickly... where was that bit of teaching?" Don't do that. I'm saying that there is something, something for every one of us.<br />
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Also, if you perhaps, you've had your children and this is now looking back, there is still something for you. There is something for you and then ultimately everyone else, who you're thinking "you didn't mention me" is what I'm going to share about parenting should reflect something about the heart of God to you.<br />
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So turn it around the other way and if you can understand the way that God thinks as a father, you'll understand maybe some of the way that you respond to Him, because we're all children of God. So, please don't miss what God's about to do.<br />
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This is my sort of tribe the the five boys, obviously when they were younger. They were known locally as the Fight Club. But, you never talk about what goes on in the Fight Club! And when people saw us coming, you know we used to go for a walk in the woods and when we saw like a happy little family they seemed to disperse quickly, as if some fear and dread came over people, and we always wondered why no one ever invited us around to their house for tea, we had to make our own picnic and go out into the field, but we taught them what it meant to endure, and one of the things we taught all of our boys is, never give up, and even from this picture I'm showing you of the five boys; Josh, Luke, Jord, Isaac and Solomon.<br />
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They are all different and unique, so<b> one of the first things you've got to realize that, every child that is given to you is unique. You cannot make comparisons.</b> You cannot maybe even use one system for another system, because I tell you what, when Solomon came and we thought we had it cracked, we had to start all over again. In fact, we often think if he came second that probably would have been it!<br />
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Every one is different so that's why when I share some principles to you, you can't like just think, "yeah well that doesn't really apply to my parenting situation", because every parenting situation is so different. Right? You are gonna have all different challenges.<br />
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When I think back to when our boys were young, I was thinking when, in the early days when Josh was little, we didn't have disposable nappies! We had like those big 'Terry town' nappies, they were like covered half of the baby, you to wrap him up with a big pin through the front and then the big thing was is, they were like towels. They've got small towels and once they were like used and you know wet and dirty and everything else, we used to put them in a big bucket in the toilet, as in in the bathroom, used to put them in there and I used to poke them, and there was this solution in there that was, I don't know,it was toxic.<br />
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Constantly for probably 10 years of my life this bucket was in the in the bathroom. No potpourri (air freshener) took it away! I go to some of your houses now you got the potpourri (air freshener) in the bathroom when I go there, you've got a little candle burning and like there's no sign of nappies at all because you've got your little scented bags. but I'm not bitter!<br />
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And then when it came to like traveling in the car for any journey, you imagine we we went to Scotland once. Good like a seven-hour journey, I only had a van! So I strapped Josh in his buggy in the back with some those elastic things. Health and safety!? Then obviously, we didn't have phones that you actually took with you they were attached to something, so when they kicked off in the back, the Fight Club! You pulled over into the lay-by and you went behind the hedge, things happened, then you came back. There wasn't any screens to say let's watch this.<br />
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So guys, the point is... we'll all have different things to contend with and even right now I'm sure t<b>he challenges that you face as parents, there may be advantages, but there will be disadvantages.</b><br />
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It's not like "it was tough in my day" do you know what I mean? <b>There were things that were easier, things that were tougher. Let's just realize things may be different but the principles of parenting stay the same.</b><br />
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I think that these principles have stayed the same, even through biblical times where there's instruction given. They stay the same.<br />
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So let's not get into this way of thinking but maybe you know things have moved on now and we're a bit more the "modern parents". <b>"We've read all the Christian parenting books!" - Good for you, why does your kid still got such issues then? Because sometimes we read all this stuff and we're still not dealing with things.</b><br />
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So we're gonna look at a few of these and I thought it would be great to start from 1 Samuel chapter 2.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Eli and his Sons:</span></b><br />
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This is all about Eli who was a priest which would be basically, he's like a bit of a holy man, he's been chosen to prepare the sacrifices and altars and it starts off here all about his sons.<br />
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They weren't nice boys. They were trouble. They were scoundrels. I know sometimes we use it as a bit of a fun word but this isn't fun.<br />
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They said no time for the Lord, He wasn't a priority in their life.<br />
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The tent of the meeting is basically this place where they would come at the front to prepare and they were sort of going and they were sleeping with the women that were vulnerable, while the sacrifices have worship to the Lord were taking place.<br />
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This wasn't just like some in the background this was blatant full-on <b>disobedience</b>. And it's interesting that says here, Eli who was very old. <b>This hasn't just suddenly happened this has been a pattern for sometime.</b><br />
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This is the challenge! What was happening was, people were bringing the offerings, the sacrifices like the choice lamb, they were bringing them along and then the sons we're taking their pick of the best and we all know that the best belongs to God, is talk about priorities, see God deserves our best and there was the priority and what was happening was is they were choosing against all of the instruction they were saying hey we'll have that bit, the best for us, our household. God can have the rest.<br />
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Eli knew this. He knew it, and he was the priest, he was the example, he was the one who was meant to be leading his family, instead he had these two sons that were known as scoundrels, <b>but he wasn't gonna do anything about it. </b><br />
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<b>He failed to bring discipline in the early days and therefore set a path and passed a giant on to them that would rob their future generations. </b><br />
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It's all around parenting. The problem didn't happen later on, it was what he did, when they were in his house. This was Eli, this was the one who would even hear from the Lord, you know? This just shows <b>you can be in church, you can hear from the Lord, you read your Bible all you want, you can listen to everything but unless you take action, and deal with some things, you're gonna find there's trouble and this is the the big sort of challenge that we have as parents.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Blind spots:</span></b><br />
Do you know what?<b> With our children, is we have blind spots</b>. Because we often think, and this is what Eli, he just had this blind spot. He was so good in so many ways but when it came to his children these boys, he was like, "I just go mushy. You know, I just look at them, I know they're bad but, aren't they lovely?"<br />
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<b>And we so often we look and we tend to only see good, and there is good, but we need to deal with the disobedient, and the blind spots, they are a real challenge for every one of us.</b><br />
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I know when perhaps you do parents evening, and I feel first some teachers, because there is something about them trying, they've got your child all week, all month, all year, then its parent evening time and it is amazing to see, when we've been over the years, how much conflict there is, when parents are defensive about maybe the attitude of their child, because all they can see is... "<b>how dare you speak about my child like that!</b>" and<b> unless we're willing to respond and be open, we're just going to be exposed to the blind spots</b>.<br />
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Even now while I preach this message, there will be blind spots they will want to just say, "oh that's not me, that's not my Johnny!" Right? "Johnny's not like that."<br />
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We need to watch out because sometimes you see I think Eli's love for his sons, this is a weird thing because, you know if you love, It's like, "I love them so much!" Yeah, <b>you can love him so much you ruin them. </b><br />
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The challenge that God had with Eli was, the fact that <b>he honoured his sons more than he honored God. </b><br />
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<b>It means basically, he put his sons above God and God below them. </b><br />
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So when it came to disobedience or a standard, it was like "I'm gonna really side with my sons, rather than side with God because if I side with God it might bring me into conflict with my sons, and then I might end up having, I don't know, a disagreement with them and I couldn't bear that... so let's just ignore it. shall we?"<br />
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In fact, how many parents are ignoring things right now? Because t<b>here's a cost when parents choose to ignore what they should confront. </b><br />
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This is what the story is, right? Now, if you're a child a teenager, at the minute you might be thinking, "oh man he's given me a bad time here, because I'm setting you up" stay with me, This is good.<br />
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Because one of the things I've learned is, I will pay a great cost, if I choose to ignore what I should be confronting.<br />
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And Eli paid a great cost for the generations to come, because he chose to ignore what he should have confronted.<br />
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It's the fact that I will choose to honour, and I have been around friends and people who have incredible potential, who just have not been willing to confront their child. I've been in meetings with them, because of the disobedience of their children, where I've had to go with parents, to support them, to a meeting with someone else because of what his sons did to a girl.<br />
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And it's a terrible place, and then the father comes back and says, "well you know, I think it's the way the teenagers are today. I'm thinking you, won't confront, and then it happens again and again, and then they end up sort of disappearing because the father says "I'm not really willing to confront that, I'll confront everything else in my life, but this is my soft spot, this is my blind spot. This is the area that you know... please, don't ask me to go there God. Because, I just find it so hard when it comes to bringing that confrontation that needs to happen.<br />
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<b>Guys, I don't want you to pay the price. See we think it's a short-term win, but it's a long-term loss</b>.<br />
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So, I want to just refer to<b><span style="color: red;"> different types of children.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">1. Johnny Lovely:</span></b><br />
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The first one is called Johnny Lovely, and it's a little bit about what I've been talking about.<br />
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<b>All his parents see is "Aw he's lovely. isn't he?" and even when he does scoundrel things, it's like "oh but he's a lovely scoundrel!"</b><br />
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When you go to their house he's like a wild animal! and yet what they're doing is, the parents are like going "Aw, isn't he lovely, he's so adventurous!" Johnny Lovely! And Johnny Lovely,<br />
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The trouble with Johnny Lovely is, even when he does things bad, he's corrected through "oh come on, don't do that, Lovely!" What does that say? What does it say to him? Confusion.<br />
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So you'll get mixed up with affirmation. When we bring correction, with on the end of it, "you're lovely aren't you?" And we do this, because we just want to like, throw praise, and maybe, it's because we didn't have that. I don't know, maybe, it's because somehow, we just want to reassure, and reaffirm, and like, "Oh he is lovely" and we see this one side of Johnny Lovely.<br />
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<b>We still bring correction, we bring stuff, but with it there is almost this default - "he's lovely". But when he's bringing disrespect, or disharmony, or saying things he should not say, and we affirm it through "don't do that my lovely". </b><br />
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You're thinking "let me take him out, let me have a word, because he shouldn't be getting away with that!" Because this isn't just about this moment, it's not going to suddenly as he grows up, he's suddenly going to get a bit of a glimpse, of you know "oh, maybe I shouldn't behave just however I want."<br />
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Because <b>Johnny Lovey struggles with self-control. He gets affirmation and isn't quite sure where the line is. He knows that there things that are sort of wrong, but there is affirmation that comes, even when those things are wrong and he crosses the boundary. </b><br />
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And it's a challenge, because we want to bring affirmation, and yet there needs to be a firm, like firm clear direction when there is disobedience and disrespect.<br />
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And I'm saying guys, that you have to confront it. In the early days we had to confront it.<br />
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Let me tell you this, if you have a character, because all our kids are different, if you have a character that is very strong, if Johnny is a strong character, and God blessed you with a strong-willed, character-full child, you are going to have to be more clear, more determined, to bring this level of discipline. It's true.<br />
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I just know with our boys, is like when we started off with Josh, he was one of the toughest little kids. We went to battle. It was like a war between us, and he was only about one, and then he went into his twos, and it really was... He was trying to break me and I was trying to break him. Because of his will and the character and the determination.<br />
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And yet, Jord was a total different character, who I shouted at him once and his little bottom lip quivered. Do you know what I mean? There's different ways, you're different, but you've got to confront. And maybe there needed to be more reassurance with Jord, see? But with Josh there needed this strength.<br />
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I remember disciplining him once, and he said "didn't hurt", "Oh, come back into my room." This defiance! It's channeling it, because if we don't teach our kids to honour, he's talking about honour.<br />
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<b>If we don't teach our kids to honour authority, they're going to have issues all of their life.</b><br />
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They're gonna have issues with self-control, they're gonna have issues with, "I get affirmation for this, I'm not quite sure whether I've gone over the line here"<br />
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<b>I think sometimes we worry too much today that if we're too harsh, if we're too strong, if we sort of come in, that somehow it might damage them. I'm not talking about abuse, and all those things, and this is the problem.</b><br />
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Some of us you see, we leave Giants, because what we do is we end up sort of coming from a background where we were abused. And authority was abused over us, and so now want to do is, we don't like that confrontation, because it reminds us, and takes back to all that horrible stuff, which was wrong.<br />
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I'm not talking about that, it was wrong. But what we do is we swing the other way, where we want to bring this light affirmation. "We've got to bring discipline in" and then afterwards we're feeling guilty. I've been there! You've disciplined then you're like, you do, you're there thinking "I feel so bad! Why can't he just do as he's told?"<br />
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We've going to have to deal with it, but I knew that <b>if I didn't confront it at this age, suddenly you see little Johnny Lovely he's going to become a terrorist! I don't mean a literal terrorist, I mean he's going to terrorize people, he's going to terrorize people, right? He's maybe going to disrespect women, because he couldn't respect his mother. </b><br />
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And you allowed things to be said, and behaviour towards yourself, or as a father towards your wife, that what it does is, it starts to, "Oh well, you know he's lovely, let's think of the positive rather than the negative."<br />
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I think Eli had something around this, and it's so powerful guys, <b>because we will leave a giant for our child, because they grow up, there's gonna be a confusion around what real good discipline is.</b><br />
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I have got to say, scripture says, you know, that unless, if we actually spare the rod it says, but it's the rod of discipline, so it's not like great big stick, it's basically, if we spare it and <b>we avoid committing to discipline, you will spoil your child. Spoil means damage, so they don't fulfill their potential. </b><br />
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I've got to say I speak to far more people who were spoiled, and even today, the challenges they have today, are because they were spoiled. And they didn't have discipline, which didn't create self-control, which didn't develop honour and respect, and they got all these sorts of things going on, and they're trying to now, they are a parent themselves, trying to grow up Johnny the second.<br />
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And what we do is, often, when we've had a very hard, tough background, will swing the other way to being soft and loving, because we just want to be there, and some of us who have been very soft sometimes we swing even the other way, but there's a balance. This is about the balance you see, so this is Johnny Lovely, hope you got the idea.<br />
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<b>Be clear, be firm. He doesn't need a discussion, about what he's done wrong. He needs discipline. </b><br />
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Because sometimes we're sitting down trying to explain to a three-year-old. We've given them a whole paragraph of a book we've read or something, "Do you know why that wasn't good to hit your brother?" Sometimes they just need discipline, I'm not saying don't explain, and I think it's when things happen there's no explanation, that can also be damaging.<br />
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But I think today we're in a culture, "well let's just sit down and explain everything." No, you need to have a culture of discipline where there are standards that actually they're known, without even talking about, and yet we're trying to, if you try to explain something all the time, you're not communicating clearly where the line is.<br />
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<b>And last thing on this, you also need the agreement of parents, there's no good in saying, "wait till your dad comes home." Because, I've seen, the dad saying "right you just wait mum's gonna sort you out". That's so imbalanced, and what will happen is that brings confusion again. You've got to be both in agreement because I've seen sometimes one a parent really striving to bring discipline as standard, and the other one just undoes it by their response. </b><br />
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And you go round in circles, and you wonder, there is frustration, because you're not getting anywhere, because kids, they might look three, but they've already got it sussed. They know who's the weaker one. They know if there's a disagreement. And there is power and agreement. Disagreement will undermine you.<br />
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<b>I think in fact, many of us avoid confrontation, because we haven't confronted the things that are actually within ourselves. </b><br />
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<b>If you've got an anger issue, you can sometimes avoid confronting anger. If you picked up certain things, if you are undisciplined as a parent in your lifestyle, it's going to be very hard for you to confront a lack of discipline in your child. </b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">2. Johnny Don't</span></b><br />
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So let's move on to, Johnny Don't.<br />
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I just want to bring the balance to this Johnny Don't is the other extreme.<br />
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He ends up going to primary school, and they call out the register, they call out their names, and he's waiting for his name to be called, Johnny Don't, because he thinks it's his name. Because that's all he's ever heard growing up... "Johnny Don't!"<br />
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It's been correction. It's been discipline. Discipline without affirmation. You see there is a place for discipline but there is a place for affirmation, and there is this thing about our kids, <b>if you're constantly correcting your children because you somehow want them to be perfect, because it looks good on you, you're gonna break them. </b><br />
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They can end up insecure, they're gonna end up struggling to find confidence, and if you actually hold back approval and affirmation, they're gonna go and look for it somewhere else through a girl or boy or friends or addictions. It's huge! You can just see how big this is.<br />
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If you go the other way, and it's Johnny Don't, and I know so many people, okay, so many people. Some of these are grown men. I wanted to use the men as an example, grown man, and I'm talking about in their 20's even 30's who they have like quite a fractured relationship with their father, they've got a good Dad, they got a Dad at home. Mum and Dad stay together, it wasn't from a broken family, in fact, they might even go to church and they do their best and they've had a good, privileged upbringing, but when dad comes home, he's emotionally detached, and he doesn't actually really connect with his son, because he sees that "the way I love my son is providing and in fact we've done very nice and you got a very nice home, my job as a father is to provide" and yet what this... time and time...<br />
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<b>Men have come to me and they said "why won't my dad just turn around and say well done to me!? why won't my dad even today, just put his arm around me and say, do you know what I love you son?</b>" This is Christian men as well, I'm speaking to any Christian man right now, if you can't think of the last time you did that, if it's not sort of just recently, you need to confront something in yourself, because that's something again, that the issue you've got is, you're not confronting something that was lacking in you, and you need to overcome it, so that you can be emotionally connected with your children, so that you can reach out.<br />
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In a way, you can give them all they want, and <b>in certain parts of the Western world we have kids growing up with everything they want by the age of 14, they've had it all! And do you know what happens then? They then go into addictions because they're dissatisfied.</b><br />
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<b>Giving our kids everything is not true, it's not good parenting. Good intention is not good parenting. You may have very very little, but you can give the richest gifts to your kids, through the way that you love, and connect, and affirm. </b><br />
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Even Jesus, when he's getting baptized and he comes before this baptism, this is suddenly the beginning his ministry. Before he's done anything, we know that God speaks from heaven as the father, and he says, "Behold! This is my son! My beloved son!" This is his announcement! Day one! "This is my beloved son who I'm well pleased with." See affirmation, I'm affirming Him. There's this love in this parent saying, no, this is what is born out of, and yet, Jesus talks about a father that will discipline. And our Father loves to discipline those he loves.<br />
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If he didn't, it says he hates them, see that's the opposite if we don't bring discipline. It's like we hate them because we're setting them up for a fail. But if we're firm, and it's harder to be firm because, you can't let things go, you've got to confront, and you've got to work it out, and there's pain, and there's heartache, and it's like are they gonna think I'm the worst dad ever.<br />
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But if you don't deal with those things, you'll leave a trail of destruction. It's very difficult.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">3. Johnny Guilty</span></b><br />
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So, just the last one, Johnny Guilty.<br />
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I've thrown this in there because... Johnny Guilty, he comes from a background where there's been maybe loss. What it really means is, I knew someone's parents, at one time they went through devastating loss of their one son. So, their second son, they poured so much upon that son, because of the loss, and I don't know what it's like losing a child, a grown child. And from that they spoiled him to death, and could not bring discipline to his life, which eventually had such an impact on him. Why? Because they wanted to overcompensate for the loss they experienced in their life. Loss can do it.<br />
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If you've adopted someone you can do the same. You think they've been through so much, they've been through this, and so what you do is, "well, let's that go, let's be more, and let's we've got to make sure. They've been to all this rejection, so we don't want to cause rejection, do we? We'll step back, It's the worst thing you can do.<br />
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<b>They want to be treated normal.</b> There is something normal, about saying there's security here, not insecurity, and see from it there is this overcompensating, for the journey that's been.<br />
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What about divorce? Single parents, I'm speaking to right now. I know it must be so challenging, because you can feel guilty for a marriage that's broken down, and so then you can overcompensate for the children that you have and you make decisions based on your guilt and where you've come from, and what you do is you create issues, because you're almost like afraid of going there. Guys, you've got to get free.<br />
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You've got to get free and realise that overcompensating for this, that's gone on my life, and that's gone on. God makes all things new, and even if you're a single parent right now, you could feel through this message almost like overwhelmed because you by yourself, but at least you don't have to find agreement. You can just like right this is the way as a parent in my house, I'm gonna raise my child.<br />
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Do you know what? It's not too late. You've got to just take security and confidence but with it, you're gonna have to confront, and if you've been through pain, and you've been through all that difficulty through divorce and separation, you feel exhausted, so it's very hard then to confront the issues that have come from that because these are just to ignore.<br />
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But it will come back, and so you just got a watch out for this. You know, even if kids are in, were two people being divorced, getting married and you've got two sets of children, from two different families, again don't overcompensate, you've got to agree together. You have got to agree together. It's the best thing you can do for them.<br />
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So last week, I mentioned the cuckoo and we're not far away we're at the end... here we go. Here's the cuckoo, right, the cuckoo, you think "what the heck is the cuckoo?" Remember we had the we've been called to plant the trees, the trees that might be planted for generations to come... that's what this is all about, the way we raise our kids. We're doing something, investing for maybe something that we don't always see the end of.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Cuckoos:</span></b><br />
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But in the woods, there are giants, but in the giants there are cuckoos, and the cuckoo is a bird that we have in Europe, certainly in the UK, we have the the cuckoo bird, which is an interesting bird, because this one bird, he makes a nice noise... "cuckoo" and he comes out of a little clock sometimes...<br />
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But this cuckoo, he is a scoundrel, because the cuckoo doesn't make his own nest. She doesn't make her own nest. She looks for other birds who have made a nest, watches them from a distance, and waits for an opportunity when the mother is away and she's laid her eggs, to actually go and she sits on the nest and she lays her egg, and then she lets the other mother take care of the eggs while she's out flitting around, making out because she's got no responsibility as a parent.<br />
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And then this little bird is there, taking care of the eggs and then after a little while, the cuckoo normally hatches before the others, and this is what happens this is a picture of a cuckoo in the nest who is actually shouldering out the egg of the real mother.<br />
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There is something in this bird that understands if there's other birds in this nest, first she's going to see I'm different, next I won't get as much food.<br />
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There's instinct in this bird that will actually get in there and will push every egg out. So finally when the mother comes back there's just this one chick left, that she pours everything into.<br />
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What you're left with the cuckoo is the stripy big beast. The mother is the small thing, feeding this gannet, feeding this uncontainable and <b>she spends her time trying to satisfy this chick, that actually is not her chick. </b><br />
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Guys, that is why we need to realise, every parent, if you don't watch, and if you ignore what comes into your home, and you put up with whatever comes in, if you put up with standards and things that will come in and "oh this is just the way that our world is today", do you know what? You're allowing a great cuckoo to come into your house, and what it will do is it'll rob you of your true inheritance. It will rob you. It will come in, and later on you will be consumed.<br />
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You'll be consumed in your life, even after that child has left your home, you'll be consumed with their problems. Because you chose not to lead them.<br />
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The enemy wants to rob your seed. I can't think, when I just saw the cuckoo, I thought just like the enemy, waiting for an opportunity to come in. Removing, so you can't really compare what your child should be.<br />
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You need a great vision for your children. You need a great vision for the child that are yet to come, It needs to be firm, otherwise you're gonna end up in a place that means you're gonna have to feed it, and be consumed by it.<br />
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<b>So our children need leadership, not a democracy.</b><br />
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When my children, those five boys were in our home we didn't sit around the table and all say "hey what do we want for lunch today family?" We had food, they ate it. Or if they didn't, they went without.<br />
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We did things together, but we didn't say "hey where'd you fancy go in this year on holiday?" We didn't have those conversations, <b>we might have asked them but we made the decision. </b><br />
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We didn't say "hey now just see you a bit bored with Church, do you want to stay at home? while we go to church, because we don't want to force you, because we were forced and my biggest fear is to force you, because then it might put you off God forever. So why don't you stay at home as a teenager, watch things, while we're at church, that are probably going to make you further away from God, and then hopefully it's all gonna work out in the wash".<br />
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Because what we choose as parents to avoid, the difficult conversation, right, and we've been there, the sulky teenager in the car who doesn't want to go to church, and sits on the front row trying to distract you while you're preaching. "I'm your son and I'm not happy that I'm here."<br />
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Guys, we push through with every one of them, and I want to put this out, because your children's futures depend on this.<br />
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Some of us have given up and I'm calling out to you! If you've been doing this for a while, it's gonna be hard for you to go back and change your mind. But you need to go back and say look, sit them down and say, "do you know what? mum and dad were wrong, do you know we got this wrong, we want you to forgive us, this is actually a priority in our house, that we will serve the Lord, and you know what? Even if we're not gonna force you to worship, we're not gonna force you, but we're gonna go and worship together until you're 18 at least.<br />
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We're gonna do this together and while we do that together, we're gonna believe the Lord's gonna speak to you, he's going to show himself to you."<br />
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Where do you think there's more chance of the Lord changing this kid's life? In church, or at home on some computer? Hanging out with some friends that aren't doing him any good... Do you think suddenly they're gonna go out that well my parents didn't force me, and now I'm just like feeling so all oozy about Jesus.<br />
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It doesn't happen guys. We need to wake up and this is the story of the cuckoo, I want to encourage you, it's really tough, and it's really hard but don't you give up... because the enemy wants to rob your chicks. And we need to be firm and confident. Don't let fear come in, that somehow we're gonna push him away forever.<br />
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God will come through. God is faithful. God is faithful.<br />
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Let me finish with this, last quote here... "<b>If you want your children to live their best life, you must lead them, and not just appease them</b>." It all comes down to leadership, Church. Right? Leadership is parents, single-parent, parents together, right, I'm saying it comes down to your leadership.<br />
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<b>Your leadership to stop avoiding dealing with some things in your life, because you can't confront some things in your child's life. They'll pay a great price for it. </b><br />
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But I want to speak hope, and life today, if you have got a child that is difficult, I want to say God knew what He was doing when He gave them to you. He knew it.<br />
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All of my boys, God saw it fit that He would entrust them to us, and <b>it's the greatest stewardship gift you'll ever be given. Greater than the millions on this earth, greater than anything could have, is your child. It's the greatest thing that you will answer for. </b><br />
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So steward, raise up champions, raise up champions in the house of God, that's what we're talking about in this regeneration series, is there's champions all around us, but we've got to get this right church.<br />
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We want to raise Johnny Champion, that's who we want! Johnny Champion! That's who we're looking for. You've got to get a vision for him even in the most difficult time of rebellion and difficulty, get a vision and keep speaking visions, but you still got a discipline.<br />
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And we're gonna see, I believe we're gonna see the next generation that will raise the next generation.<br />
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You're gonna see generations raised with this balance, and it says you know if you honour me, honour me first, honour me. Honour me first,<br />
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God says. Honour me, put me first in your family, call out for wisdom. So I encourage you if there have been mistakes, that have been made up till now, if there have been, I know you've got regrets, it's really important that today, you put an end to it. It's okay, that's behind but I'm gonna take steps. Go to war on what you need to go to war on. Right, so it's saying okay, we can agree about this, we can have our steps, and we're gonna fight this through. Right, and there's a time to do that.<br />
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You ought to be full of energy and ready to go for it, but you got to go and you got to set this in place, and it will pay so much treasure back to you.<b> So be encouraged parents, you're amazing! Parenting is one of the bravest, boldest things you'll ever have to do, and we're cheering you on here at Freedom Church </b>Every one of you every one of you, around the world we're cheering you on.<br />
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We believe so much that this is how you're raised that the most incredible people. I don't know any of anyone who feel condemned today.<br />
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I want you to be encouraged and inspired because I believe you want the best for your children, so it's not to appease them but lead them. God bless you in Jesus name.</div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-77500916795413892822018-09-21T21:15:00.000+05:302018-09-21T21:15:34.596+05:30How to be truly successful...the power in succession | Week 3 | Re:Generation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Life is not like 100 meter sprint run which is starting from one point and ends at another point. Life is like a relay race run. We receive something into our hands, we carry it through our life and we then have a responsibility to pass it on to somebody else who comes next.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It's hard to measure your success while you're running. It can be measured only when you've placed the baton into somebody's hands. Our success is measured in the next generation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There are Businesses and political parties, their leaders did a great job. But they mess up the hand over to their successor. So those Businesses and political parties are collapsed when next leader take over the ownership.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Every generation has the potential to positively change the course of history.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In the relay race, we set the next runner up either to win or to fail. It is the same in every single areas of our life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We can do all that we can do to set the next generation up to win or we can do the opposite and get stuck get lost in the race. As a result whoever picks up the baton next has to deal with the hand effectively that they've been dealt by us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There is a connection across the generations that we really need to be aware of.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The next generation either builds on the successes of the previous generation or it pays the price.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Your courage/sacrifice/determination will set the next generation up to win. In opposite, If you fail to change your bad addiction/habits, your next generation will suffer the consequences of your weaknesses/failures.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A faithful generation enjoys God's favor protection and provision and then the next generation comes along and builds on that blessing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When we're running the race and we drop the baton, faithfulness is a thing that we decide I'm not going to give up at this point, I made a mistake, things went to wrong, I'm gonna own that mistake, I'm gonna grab the baton again and I'm gonna get back in the race and I'm gonna expend myself fully to get myself to the end of the race.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Faithfulness is not a limited and temporary affair. It's a consuming and lifelong commitment because of the impact that it has on the next generation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Every one of us has a part to play. In Bible, David was called to be a man of war and his son Solomon is called to be a man of peace. David has to live out his calling in order to Solomon to be able to step in to his calling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If you don't do what you are called to do, your next generation can't do what they're called to do either.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Succession is not a moment in life, it is a way of life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Seven points that we can embrace in order to set the next generation up to win.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. Live Faithfully</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. Fulfill our calling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. Champion their calling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. Provide sacrificially</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. Equipping them well</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6. Release them to lead</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7. Follow them passionately</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b><i>How to be truly successful...the power in succession</i></b></span></div>
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We're in in freedom church right now in a series called regeneration.<br />
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We've been thinking and talking about the fact that there are generation to generation and we're part of this kind of generational sort of flow that goes on and we get to choose about what we carry in our lives and what we pass on to the next generation..<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Success:</span></b><br />
In my life, I've noticed that I will spend time thinking about what success is? I want to be successful in my life. I don't think any of us set out in life to be an unmitigated failure and to do really badly.<br />
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We all say, I want to be successful but you may have noticed that success at times seems like a moving target.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Measuring success:</span></b><br />
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There are different ways of measuring success.<br />
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An easy way of measuring success is <b><span style="color: red;">material success</span></b>. I'm successful if I have a certain amount of money in my bank account, If I live in a certain type of house, If I drive a certain type of car.<br />
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I saw somebody tweet this week that they failed their A-levels but they have a really nice car therefore they're successful. It was encouragement for all the students out there around the world that struggled in their a level results.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Status measures:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
There are status measures of success. When we switch on the TV, we see the whole celebrity culture and this sense that if you're on TV, If you're a household brand then you've attained a certain level of success in your life.<br />
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We would all say that actually the media also makes us aware that some of the most are well-known people can be some of the most unhappy people in life.<br />
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So that's not look like success.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Happiness:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
So let's just talk about happiness for a minute. I was listening to the radio a few weeks ago and somebody was being interviewed on the radio and this person said I had a great dad he told me in life just do whatever makes you happy.<br />
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I thought the time that's terrible advice. If I did whatever makes me happy, it would be an absolute disaster.<br />
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There's something about happiness being important. But some of the most important things that you have to do in life necessarily make us happy. They may cost us something, they may cost us at times, measures of happiness.<br />
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We as a church recently we have this thing called The Cave, it's a gathering of our people of our locations from around the world. This year, we talked about eternity.<br />
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I think we introduced more into the conversation, <b><span style="color: red;">eternal measures of success</span></b>. The whole idea that for each of us we live a life and through that life we store up treasures in heaven. That's an interesting measure of success.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Generational Success:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
Today, I want to talk about something that connects him with this regeneration series which is the idea of generational success.<br />
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I want to think about the whole concept of succession.<br />
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This is my definition of succession that we live from generation to generation. All of us live a life that passes something on to the next generation, all of us live a life that receives something into the next generation. Succession is that idea of from generation to generation there's kind of a passing on and and a following on from what's gone before.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Life is not a sprint run:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
I was thinking about the fact that many of the measures of success in life treat life like it's a sprint.<br />
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If you were running in a sprint, you would start at the starting blocks and you'd run a 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters.<br />
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We can treat life like a sprint that we start it and we end it and the only thing that really matters is what we achieve between those two points. For example material wealth, status, happiness. It treats life like a sprint but I don't think that life is anything like that.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Life is a relay race run:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
I actually think that life is more like the relay race.<br />
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The reason that the relay race was such a dreaded thing was the fact that the relay race wasn't like a sprint. I mean a sprint it's hard to mess up the start of the race, you can't really get it wrong, you just have to run in a straight line, run round the corner and cross the line, easy job.<br />
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But not with the relay race. It involves particularly if you're somewhere in the middle, number two, number three you're having to receive this into your hand from a fast moving object under great pressure and all eyes on you. It comes into your hand and then having figured out, how you're gonna catch it from this thing that's charging towards you, then you have to run really fast, you run all the way there. If that's not enough, you then have to put this in the hand of another person who asks you approach them starts moving as well it's a very complicated affair.<br />
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I think that's much more how life is. It's like a relay we receive something into our hands, we carry it through our life and we then have a responsibility to pass it on to somebody else who comes next.<br />
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What I realized in my short-lived relay career is that firstly in the relay you don't know how you have done until you have released the baton. because it's very easy to receive the baton. You have to run like Usain bolt but in slow motion and then have put this into the hands of the person in front of you or have to dropped it on the way, you can mess up that moment of transition where you can put it in their hands and they start running.<br />
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It's only then when you stop and you look and you say how are we doing in the race.<br />
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It's hard to measure it while you're running. it's only when you've placed the baton into somebody's hands.<br />
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I think our lives are this way as well. This is something applies to the whole of our life, but it also applies to the seasons of our life as well. If you've had a job in a workplace, for example you may have been the best person ever to have done that job. But if you mess up the hand over to your successor, it's gonna reflect upon how well you've done your job. People are gonna say you know they did a fantastic job but when it came to handing over, the way they passed on the baton really messed it up for everyone. So there's something important about the way that we we transition.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Our success is measured in the next generation:</span></b><br />
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This makes life a lot more complicated. If you're measuring success by your bank balance, you have an actual number. But if we're measuring our success in the next generation, things are getting slightly more complicated for us.<br />
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The second thing about the relay is how we receive? how we carry? and how we pass on the baton? are matters.<br />
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We have to be conscious of and thinking about this through our life. It's not just that we can have a short season of success, have to be thinking about and engaging with this stuff all the days of our life.<br />
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As we receive things into our life and as we pass things on through our life as well.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">I think succession matters because our lives have a generational impact. </span></b><br />
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We can say that I don't want to have a generational impact, I'm gonna kind of get halfway through the race and I'm gonna duck out of the race and I'm gonna stop at that point that has as much a generational impact.<br />
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As running all the way, running fast putting that the baton into somebody's hand and then they move forward.<br />
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If I was in the relay for example and I was running number three and I received this and I get halfway along and I think well I'd ever wanted to do this anyway, so I just sit down, I grab it and I throw it over their heads. I can say well that was the end of the race. Nope, that wasn't the end of the race.<br />
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The race continued but the line that I was in, the team that I was a part of those that came after me suffered the consequences of my handling of this baton.<br />
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Recently, I went to see the new Mission Impossible film. New Mission Impossible film is absolutely fantastic as an action movie but I noticed when I read some reviews about the new Mission Impossible film as people said that it's the best Mission Impossible film Yet. But it's always gonna get measured and weighed in comparison to the films that came before. I just want to say it is actually fantastic you know because it builds on the story line, it answers some of the questions, some of the characters from the old film reappear in the new film, and it resolves what happens in their life.<br />
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But it's a great example of how whether they like it or not the makers of that film it's always going to be subject to what has come before. It's always going to be compared to what has come before as well and the question we were all asking as we left the cinema is hey what comes next?<br />
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Think about it succession in families. My wife and I are committed to wanting to give our kids the best start in life.<br />
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You want to give your kids the best start in life. But if you give your kids a good start in life and then the rest of life absolutely sucks for them. You can't stop. aren't you? As parents, you can say okay what could we have done differently? that's not to say as parents we're responsible for the decisions that they make.<br />
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They have to make their own choices, they have to go their own way. But there is something about that as we invest in them. As parents, we want them to go further than we've gone in our lives. We want them to be happier, we want them to achieve more, recognizing that in a sense their ability to become all that God has called them to be reflects upon the way we've set them up in life.<br />
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Succession matters to all of us. Think about it in church, you know it's a massive discussion in the church world. You can have a great leader of a church movement and they can lead a church to be thousands strong and achieve great things. But if when others take over from where that leader finishes up, the whole thing crashes and burns. Everybody stands down, what was it about their leadership? they didn't set up the next generation.<br />
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I really want to make the point that doesn't matter what we're talking about or looking at in life succession matters.<br />
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I used to work for an organization that helped people who had started their own businesses and had done very well. People who maybe worth 50 million pounds, a hundred million pounds, 500 million pounds.<br />
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What we found when we did some research is the biggest concern that those business leaders had was not the continued success of the business or competition. It was passing on leadership of the business to the next generation. These were family businesses and the business leaders has done really well. They were looking at the next generation going, what happens if I pass over this business? and they screw it all up, they make a mess of it. There's something about succession it matters to all of us.<br />
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I lived in the country where they'd had the same president for about a 30 years. One of the things that were said about this president that he felt that he was the only one who could lead the nation. As there were elections that he won over and over again. You couldn't help but think hey you may have brought this nation together, you may have built this nation for a number of generations now, but what comes next is really gonna be the defining measure of your success. Because if the whole thing crumbles what does that say about the way that you led? succession matters to all of us.<br />
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I think succession matters to God as well. It's an outstanding feature in the Bible. The Bible records the story of Jesus in four books Matthew Mark Luke and John. The first of those Matthew opens with what's called a genealogy of Jesus. It records the generation to generation succession that comes before Jesus all the way back to a man named Abraham 14 generations from Abraham to David recorded.14 Generations from David exile, 14 generations from exile to Jeep to Jesus.<br />
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There's something about that record, it's saying and what comes before the passing on succession, the baton from generation to generation is important.<br />
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God's sending us a sign in that. Look at how Jesus lived out his own ministry. He had no wife, he had no children yet there was something about the way that he led that his group of followers, went from a small handful of people into the hundreds, into the thousands, into the millions, into the billions.<br />
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Throughout his life, Jesus was meeting people like the Legion, the man he met on the shores of the lake, who was so troubled and so broken. What does Jesus do? he heals him, he fixes him up and then what does he say to him? go out. Be a missionary to the Decapolis, to the ten cities, go reach the Gentiles in this region.<br />
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Jesus was so good at succession. Succession matters to all of us and I believe that succession matters to God.<br />
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So we're going to look today at what I believe the Bible has to say about succession. There's gonna be a slightly different message then that we're gonna be thinking about the big picture of the Bible as much as we're thinking about some specific verses in the Bible.<br />
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There are two really important themes that I want to bring to life. Just a warning the two themes that I'm gonna pull out at big fees, they're weighty themes, they're heavy fees but I want you to stick with me as I pull out these themes. Because I really believe there's something in this for us, for our families, for our jobs, for our workplaces and for our church as well.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Every generation has the potential to positively change the course of history.</span></b><br />
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Theme number one every generation has the potential to positively change the course of history.<br />
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The really interesting thing for me about the Bible is the Bible paints a picture of a relay and not a sprint. You look at the Bible, it's all about the relay.<br />
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The Old Testament is this fascinating work that takes us from creation to just before Christ. It helps us track the history of a people group through many many generations and through that period of history. That's actually an amazing thing to be able to do. What you see in that tracking is, you see trends that emerge and I think the trends that we see in the Old Testament are just as relevant to the world that we live in today.<br />
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The basic trend of the Old Testament is this, the way you have good leaders and willing people, there is blessing, there is positive blessing on the nation on God's people. Where you have bad leaders and an unwilling or a rebellious people there is a consequence that comes upon the nation as a result of the decisions that they make. It plays out right the way through the Bible.<br />
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But slightly discouraging thing about the Old Testament is that once there many of the good guys, they spent a lot of time living under the consequence of poor decision making. But hey let's just cut them some slack and say isn't that the same for our lives too.<br />
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Sometimes I think that I'm winning but there are moments where I'm like actually I'm not winning right now. I thought I'd taken two steps forward we're taking a step back.<br />
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But this kind of trend is really apparent in the Bible. I think it serves as a warning to all of us, firstly of what can happen if we take our eyes off succession? but moreover the potential that there is within every generation to change the course of history.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Good Leaders:</span></b><br />
Good leaders in the context of the Old Testament are basically faithful to God that's what it simply is, it's being faithful to God. When they're faithful, their nation survives. Faithfulness really means they're committed to God's grace, to God's guidance. They're committed to God's covenant, they're committed to God's commands. Basically what they do? is they do what God tells them to do. They honor him, they make him a priority, their lives focus in on and center around What he said.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Unfaithful Leaders:</span></b><br />
The opposite, the unfaithful leaders, the poor leadership that brings a consequence upon the people. It does the opposite. It's all summed up in this one word idolatry. Basically what happens when there's poor leadership or amongst the people? is they choose not to build their lives around God, but instead they focus on a false god, they decide they're going to pursue other gods, they're going to turn God from being God into a pocket God, or into a shrine that they go and worship our a stick that they set up in the city, they worship false gods. As a result of this, there's a consequence for the people.<br />
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It seems to me that this trend in the Bible is that <b>a faithful generation enjoys God's favor protection and provision and then the next generation comes along and builds on that blessing.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">David and Solomon:</span></b><br />
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This is really played out in the story of David and Solomon.<br />
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What happens for the the people of Israel? they feel captivity in Egypt, they go around in circles in the wilderness for a while and then they take possession of the promised land. They're a group of tribes that coexist and that coexistence typically is a little bit fraught, it's a little bit troubled, there's a lot of division, there's conflict, they have external enemies that come and try and take them out of the game. It's a really interesting history for them.<br />
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The people are ruled at one point by judges. The judges preside and they make decisions. Eventually the people have had enough of the judges and they decide that they want a king. So they go to the Prophet and they say we want a king. The Prophet says to them, you don't want a king and they say we want King. Okay have it your way, have a king but be warned.<br />
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So Saul is selected from amongst the people. As the king now Saul's kind of rulership is a mixed bag let's call it that. But a young man emerges for amongst the people a shepherd called David. What we learn about David is, there something about David's heart, character and life. David achieves something, he delivers something into the nation that starts something new. As a result of the decisions that David makes, in the life that David lives, his son Solomon inherits something so much stronger than David himself inherited.<br />
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<b>Basically what it's saying is that a faithful generation enjoys God's favor protection and provision and then the next generation gets to build upon this blessing.</b><br />
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I'm not making a political point with this story. I'm just wanting to kind of illustrate what I'm saying here. When there was a change of government in the not-too-distant past, somebody took up their post in the Treasury in the part of government that deals with finance and arrived at his new desk to find a letter on the desk saying I'm afraid, there is no money. This kind of notes that he found on his desk, came to represent the kind of the some of what had been achieved by the previous administration. That wasn't really fair, because the government had that had gone before it actually achieved some amazing thing. Some person in government made the mistake of writing this note and of course it got splashed all over the newspapers.<br />
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But when the generation of government that had been in power that it essentially spent all the money stepped out and another government steps in and takes over. What they realized? the point is this that <b>The next generation either builds on the successes of the previous generation or it pays the price. It suffers the consequences of their weaknesses, of their failures.</b><br />
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<b>In the relay race, we set the next runner up either to win or to fail. It is the same in every single areas of our life. We can run as faithful people, we can run as committed people, we can run as forgiving people, we can run as gracious people, we can run as generous people.</b><br />
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<b>We can do all that we can do to set the next generation up to win or we can do the opposite and get stuck get lost in the race get caught up in the race and as a result whoever picks up the baton next has to deal with the hand effectively that they've been dealt by us.</b><br />
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We get to choose whether they go on to win or whether we set them up for something else. They may redeem what we set them up for, they may build on what we set them up for, they may take the brilliant hand that we've given them and waste it away but the point is there is this <b>connection across the generations that we really need to be aware of.</b><br />
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I was thinking about this, in terms of the life that my wife and I have lived and I think if My wife and I were honest we would say in some areas of our life you know we haven't been right now we've got to this point,I'm in mid of 30's, we have five young children, there are some things that we have done well and there are other things that we want to look at and work on and improve on to set up our children to win in their race.<br />
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<b>One of the things that I think that we've done well is I think that we have made some difficult and courageous decisions to give up some stuff in order to prioritize and honor God.</b><br />
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<b>Because one of the things that we said is if there's something we want our kids to grasp a hold of, their success isn't measured by their bank balance, their successes aren't measured by the car that they drive around in, or by the the trophies on the shelf. Success is measured in our willingness to be loyal to be devoted to God.</b><br />
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To say actually him and his house is so important that we'll do whatever he calls us to do. We'll always say yes to Jesus. We believe that shown something our willingness to do that.<br />
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I want to say to you the same thing, <b>your courage will set the next generation up to win. Your sacrifice will set the next generation up to win. Your determination to conquer and overcome the things that have held you back will set the next generation up to win.</b><br />
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If you allow it to and the opposite is also true, where I've struggled with issues in my life and I've said I'm not going to deal with that right now, if there's an enduring pattern of behavior, or a bad habit, or say for example that I had an addiction that<b> I just couldn't shake maybe it's gambling or something that's really costing my family money, it's gonna drain potential out of our family to set the next generation up to win.</b><br />
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This is the Bible and just rewind to that one where it says those who work the land will have abundant food. What it's saying is those they invest themselves, those they work hard, those they give their all will reap reward.<br />
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But those who choose not to do that are lazy or chase fantasies are gonna going to sort of live in the consequences of that.<br />
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<b>I wanted to finish this part of my message with this statement faithfulness is not a limited and temporary affair. It's a consuming and lifelong commitment because of the impact that it has on the next generation.</b><br />
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I was to like Mary Naomi for example and say to them I'm gonna be with you for the rest of my life, don't worry I'll always be here, actually as part of our vows I said to her. I would be faithful to her for the rest of our lives and then 2 years in she looked around, found that we had 17 children and I'd vanished she's gonna come and find me and she would say to me look you did a good couple of years there, you know it was two good years that you gave me. But that does not equate to faithfulness, because faithfulness is something that season in season out, decade in decade out, year after year after year after year after year till your dying breath. that's what faithfulness looks like.<br />
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But I've noticed this thing in the world that we're living in that we started to believe that being faithful is measured over the Sprint. It's like they were there for a few months, they gave it their all for a few months, faithful person now. That's not faithfulness, that's a good couple of months, that's a limited and temporary affair. There are, five years of loyalty or five years of commitment, five years of diligence how faithful person, No, No faithfulness is a lifelong endeavor.<br />
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<b>Faithfulness is something that endures through the decades. Faithfulness is something that endures even when we least want to press on and move forward.</b><br />
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<b>If faithfulness is the thing that even when we stumble brings us back into the game. When we're running the race and we drop the baton, faithfulness is a thing that we decide I'm not going to give up at this point, I made a mistake, things went to wrong, I'm gonna own that mistake, I'm gonna grab the baton again and I'm gonna get back in the race and I'm gonna expend myself fully to get myself to the end of the race.</b><br />
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<b>People cannot inherit from us what they do not see us model in our lives.</b><br />
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It's so important that we grasp at that. so that's the first thing that I want to talk about every single generation has the potential to positively shape the course of history.<br />
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The second theme is this that <b>every one of us has a part to play</b>.<br />
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When we zoom in on the to the Bible that I was talking about earlier the bit of the succession of David to Solomon, it's really interesting to me that David has a specific call upon his life, he has a specific responsibility that is given to him by God and that is summed up with the statement that David was called to be a man of war.<br />
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When we look at Solomon's life, the Bible tells us that Solomon is called to be a man of peace. He's called to achieve and do something else other than what David was called to do.<br />
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The point of this is that <b>David has to live out his calling in order to Solomon to be able to step in to his calling. It's a really interesting connection.</b><br />
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During David's life, David has much success and David at a stage of his life he gets a vision to build the temple for God. It says in the Bible David had fought these fights and he had these victories and he gets it within his heart and there's a whole bunch of context around this that we're going to part. But he gets this vision to build a temple for God.<br />
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What happens as David starts to embrace and pursue this vision is that he's told by God that's not what I've called you to, that's what I've called Solomon and his generation. They're going to deal with the temple, you're called to be a man of war, you're called to establish something in your life that they will need for what they're called to.<br />
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This is what God says to David, hey David you've got this vision to build a temple that's actually not what I'm calling you to do. It talks about you've got too much blood on your hands. What it's saying is you're a man of war. If you read in the Bible, it's actually in another part of the Bible you read this story it goes on to explain in the next chapter how David focuses himself on a few things.<br />
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One of the things David focuses himself on is defeating all of the enemies around God's people that have some of them have stood against God's people for generations and generations and generations.<br />
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What David basically says that God's not calling me to build the temple so rather than wanting to do what God hasn't called me to do, I'm gonna do what God has called me to do, and in so doing I'm gonna set up the generation that is to come for victory and for success.<br />
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It's a really interesting thing because<b> I think every single one of us in our life will get tempted at times to stray off script.</b><br />
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We'll look at somebody else's calling and we'll say how about ways that they get to do that? and yet in my life I've been called to do this. how come we have to live this type of life or invest ourselves in this set of circumstances or expend our self in this way? and they get to do all the fun stuff. we do that don't we?<br />
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We can look and we can say it's not fair, look at their calling compared to my calling. Their calling is so much better.<br />
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I think the point that the Bible is making here is <b>we've got to do what we called to do. Because if we don't do what we are called to do, guess what they can't do what they're called to do either.</b><br />
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If David had said I'm going to build the temple anyway because actually I think I'm good at building temples, and I said I don't you know God's always wanted to build a temple. He would have been unfaithful and as a result of his unfaithfulness he would have bought trouble and calamity upon the people would have been a great price that they paid because of his disobedience. That's not what David does.<br />
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David reconciles himself to the fact that as nice as it would be, to be that leader that leaves that legacy that has that heritage that's not his calling.<br />
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<b>David instead invests everything that he has in preparing the way for Solomon to succeed.</b> David recognizing that he was not the one called to build the temple, spends all the rest of his life investing all that he has in setting up the next generation to win.<br />
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It's profound that there isn't axed between David and Solomon, there isn't frustration for David because Solomon's getting to do what he wanted to do, instead David got an opportunity now in this generation in our life to set Solomon up for the win.<br />
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I'm just gonna read a short extract explaining some of what David does as he responds to this call.<br />
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Let's just see what David's done there? what he's saying is having received this instruction from the God, having reconciled myself to the call that is on my life upon our generation. He'd actually engaged heavily in war, he continued to be the man of war that God had called him to be to establish the nation as God had called him to establish it. He mobilized the nation to start stockpiling, to start saving, to start amassing an incredible bounty of treasure to make it possible for Solomon to do what he was called to do. so he used his role and his position to position the nation for success. But he did more than that.<br />
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David went from the field as a shepherd delivering sandwiches to his brothers and he was faithful to God and now he's giving a hundred and twelve tons of gold. I think is he takes all that he has in addition to using his role and his work and his connections and all that to mobilize what is needed for the next generation.<br />
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I had this moment when I was preparing this message when I got a bit distracted happens a lot and I was like I wonder how much 188 tons of gold is worth today ? seven and a half billion dollars.<br />
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The David mobilizes through his role, through his position, through his status, the nation to prepare for what comes next.<br />
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<b>He does everything that he can personally do. He gives all that he has to prepare for what comes next, and then he leans on all of his contacts and connections, he mobilizes his influence to prepare for what comes next as well and in so doing he sets the next generation up to win.</b><br />
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I think it's such a different picture to the picture that I see today of how generations set the next generation up for the win.<br />
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At times we would say well hang on my wealth is my wealth. These guys need to go in their own wealth. They need to go do it themselves. At times we might look and say I'm not content not to get to do that thing, I want it all and I want it now. That's the spirit of our generations, that's the spirit of the age that we live in.<br />
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Rather than waiting and equipping and readying these guys to do it even better than we've done, what a lament will be frustrated in the fact that I've not got to do it myself, that's the world that we tend to live in.<br />
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As a result,<b> At each generation, at each passing on of the baton, there's a stumbling in the race.</b><br />
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As a result, times it can be like the the people that were unfaithful to God that each successive generation, there's a restart that has to happen, a renewing that has to happen to try and take ground that has been lost or given up in previous generations.<br />
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I think God wants something more for his church. Imagine if we the church today said we're gonna try and achieve some great things for God in our lifetime. But actually what we want to do is we want to leave something, a legacy, an inheritance, a provision for the generation that comes next.<br />
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So that rather than being a kind of a one sprint wonder, there is a godly generational relay race that happens that sees more people reached and impacted all over the world. that's the kind of thing that takes the gospel to the ends of the earth, that's the kind of thing that fulfills all that we call to fulfill and honors God. It's challenging but it's true.<br />
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<b>I think we have an amazing opportunity to set the next generation up to win.</b><br />
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I'm gonna finish up with seven points, yes seven I mean somebody pointed out them this morning you know that's the biblical number for completion I was like that's a coincidence.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Seven points that we can embrace in order to set the next generation up to win.</span></b><br />
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Can I just say this I'm speaking to you in this room if you're 70 years old but I'm speaking to you in this room if you're seventeen years old today.<br />
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This isn't something you park and worry about in 30 years time, this is something we all have to engage with.<br />
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I was passing things on to others as somebody who worked in retail to pay my way, As a student I was passing things on to others when I was studying and I was working with people and I was volunteering. Throughout our lives succession is relevant, to a succession is important to us.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">1. Live Faithfully</span></b><br />
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We live faithfully, we commit our lives to being faithful to God. We allow that requirement to live faithfully to expand and to impact every area of our life.<br />
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How many of us if we were honest at times stumble on the fundamentals, generosity, giving into God's house. We can get caught up in these really basic things.<br />
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Living faithfully means we're gonna do whatever God calls us to do, and we're gonna do it with all of our heart, to love him with all of our heart or our soul with all of our minds, there's something about giving ourselves fully to living faithfully.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">2. Fulfill our calling</span></b><br />
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Embrace your calling whether it seems grand or it seems humble, just do what God's called you to do. Because it's about more than just how you feel? or what you feel it will perceive yourself to have achieved in your life? It sets those who come next up to win in their walk.<br />
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I just think that gives something of value, something of encouragement to us, when we think about the call upon our lives.<br />
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There are moments in my life where I've compared my calling and I've said why didn't I get to be the guy that made all the money and drove around in the really nice car? it'll be awesome, I guess I just do what I've called you to do, and don't worry about that stuff.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">3. Champion their calling</span></b><br />
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Look at David's example of faithfulness. He grabbed a hold of Solomon's calling. I think he owned it more than Solomon did are good before Solomon had even engaged with his calling.<br />
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He said I'm gonna give the balance of my life to Solomon's calling, I'm gonna make my calling his calling, so that he can go on to do what God has called him to do.<br />
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I think so often we don't champion the calling of the next generation. When people take over from us our work, it can be a little bit edgy, I wouldn't have done it that way, I'm not sure I would really do it that way, But it's not how we would have done it. It's not championing their calling that's been critical.<br />
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Championing they're calling means we're gonna own it, we're gonna own that thing.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">4. Provide sacrificially</span></b><br />
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David gave seven and a half billion dollars of gold, what you giving? no I'm kidding I'm kidding.<br />
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Provide sacrificially, there's something about us having a vision.<br />
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I really wanted to say that I think some of us have a vision in life, I just want enough to get by, I want to be generous, I want to give, and I want a comfortable retirement when I stopped work in the future.<br />
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What would happen if you were to get a vision for leaving much much more than that to the generation that is to come.<br />
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What if you were to say actually God what I leave will either unlock potential and calling within the next generation or it will inhibit it, so I'm gonna get a vision to leave a lot, to pass on a lot, to provide a lot.<br />
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I've seen we're part of an amazingly generous Church where people do give sacrificially. I've seen people give their kids been in the fortunate position to give their kids deposits to buy house and in so doing they put their children in a home. It's an incredible legacy.<br />
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It's like we're going to give, you can't do this on your own, you're doing your best but let us give you a hand up to help move you forward, and it's been a great blessing.<br />
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I know not all of us can do that, and that's okay. now God's got this, but there's something about having a vision to be able to provide sacrificially.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">5. Equipping them well</span></b><br />
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Go and read one Chronicles and see how David did all that he could do to prepare the plans for the temple to structure society in a way that would enable facilitate the building of the temple.<br />
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It says that they started to carve, prepare the stones that could be use, stockpiling the stones so that when the building came to happen.<br />
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There's something about equipping people well for what's ahead. It means that<b> there's gold within you that needs to be invested in those that come next.</b><br />
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I really think at times we can hold back from sharing what's in our hearts, and bringing what's in our hearts. We say well it's not my responsibility, they're running the race now. there's a way isn't there of coming alongside those that have stepped up and a stepping forward and saying hey I just want to share what God has placed within my heart to be able to help.<br />
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I've been in situations before where I've been the leader but I've been younger than other people in the room and I've seen them step in and say hey why don't we try this? and I've seen an amazing fruit as a result of me getting out of the way and letting them share their wisdom. there's something about receiving wisdom down the generational lines.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">6. Release them to lead</span></b><br />
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How can we set the next generation up to win? release them to lead.<br />
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I love the fact in our church and when I come in on a Sunday I see people on stage who are young, who are passionate, who are going for it.<br />
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I love the fact that right now around out the world we've got people long in their 60's the leading locations but we've also got people in their 20's as well.<br />
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I love Gary and Heather as hard as our leaders constantly to release the next generation to lead.<br />
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I think releasing the next generation to lead means to say it's a priority to us that we see people released stepping into leadership, taking on responsibility.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">7. Follow passionately</span></b><br />
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It maybe the hardest of all, follow passionately, where we see people stepping up.<br />
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When I step down as a leader within our church somebody else is going to take forward what I've built. I really pray, I'm praying now that my heart is prepared now to follow that person passionately.<br />
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When they do the things that I think are awesome, but when they do the things that I would never do, that I might look at that I wouldn't do it that way, I'm not sure what that's all about, that I follow passionately.<br />
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There's something about following passionately that is important within succession.<br />
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So just rounding this off. When it comes to succession, <b>succession is not a moment in life, it is a way of life.</b><br />
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It's a way that God blesses and it builds for God and it achieved something far far more for God than we realize.<br />
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The amazing thing David does all that he does to set Solomon up for the win. In Solomon's generation, in the history of Israel is known as the golden era of the nation of Israel. It's an era of unprecedented success, of unprecedented nation-building. They build the temple, they build Solomon's Palace, they trade with all of the known world, people come from a far to try and understand how it is they're achieving what they've achieved there? because of David's faithfulness, because of the way he lives his life, because of his legacy Solomon's generation really achieves what no generation previously had been able to achieve.<br />
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But here's the tragedy, Solomon in his success made some poor decisions. As a result of his poor decisions, he sowed the seeds that led the people from a place of unprecedented success to division, to exile, to being scattered all over the world.<br />
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It says that Solomon had hundreds of wives and hundreds of concubines from all over the world and they brought with them their religions and it stirred idolatry basically within the hearts of the people, the faithfulness turned to unfaithfulness. what happened? you saw a loss as a result.<br />
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The reason that I'm sharing this as part of this series, and hey guys I know there's been a lot in this message and this has been a long message, but I actually make no apologies for that, because I believe that this is a word in season for our church right now.<br />
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As I was preparing this message God gave me two words that I couldn't shake from my spirit and they were these words the final push.<br />
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Maybe you believe what I believe and that's Jesus is coming back, Bible tells us. He will return, be ready for when he returns. I really believe that Jesus is going to come back for his church, for his bride. But there's some stuff that we've got to get done before that happens. I really believe that there's something about us as the church having the mentality of the final push.<br />
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I don't know about you, but there's those moments in the game where we see that the end is in sight and so we give more than we would otherwise have given.<br />
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We mobilize or motivate more within ourselves to achieve more, to expend more, to leave more than perhaps we would have otherwise have left.<br />
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I really believe the church in this generation needs to have a mentality of the final push.<br />
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I'm not saying that next week when you're eating your Kellogg's cornflakes Jesus is going to return. We've been expecting this for 2000 years, one think that we can agree on is each day that passes moves us closer to that moment. That moment is going to be glorious, it's gonna be glorious for those of us that are in him anyway.<br />
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I want to challenge us as a church to have the mentality, when it comes to succession the final push mentality that in our lives, the various roles, the various things that we will do, the various positions that will hold in our lives, we will focus upon achieving but also upon good succession, positive succession, setting the next generation up for the win.<br />
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But I also want us with the whole of our lives to have that mentality as well. I want us to go home as husbands and wives, as young people have the conversation how am I going to use in my life not just to achieve through my life but to create a legacy that will mean that those that come next can go further and do more than I can do.<br />
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This has got into my thinking, I've started to question decisions that I've made priorities within my life, I've started to see things differently, we've started to say maybe we don't need that, after all it would be great. But somebody could do more with that, create more value if we were to release it, if we were to sew it if we were to store it up four times ahead.</div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-54058086469638222072018-09-20T08:32:00.000+05:302018-09-20T08:46:55.633+05:30Prayer Power | FREEDOM GLOBAL App Launch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><b>Pastor G:</b> I can just release the app and say Hey it is the great tool. But Unless we get hold of why this is so important? it's gonna be something we'll put on the side and use it occasionally.</i><br />
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<i>When we get to eternity, When we stand before the throne, we will look back to our life with the one question that I think we will all ask is Why I didn't pray more?</i><br />
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<i><b><span style="color: red;">P-riority R-elentless A-uthority Y-ou</span></b></i><br />
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<i><b><span style="color: red;">1. P-riority</span></b></i><br />
<i>I think many of us struggle in prayer because it's not a priority, because we lost the value of it.</i><br />
<i>When it is a priority, you establish a priority out of value, it becomes a discipline, discipline becomes a rhythm.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b><span style="color: red;">2. R-elentless</span></b></i><br />
<i>The reason we don't pray as much because we tried it and we felt that it didn't work. But I'm here to say to you, it's time to pick it up again, be relentless. </i><br />
<i>Some of us come up to the locked door and we just sit and we tried the same old door too long and God's saying hey, may be there's another way of approaching.</i><br />
<i>God is asking us right now, do you have shameless audacity? Shameless audacity means to be bold, courageous, daring, fearless, wild and a daredevil.</i><br />
<i>You don't have because you don't ask. Father wants to give to you but you are not asking. </i><br />
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<i><b><span style="color: red;">3. A-uthority</span></b></i><br />
<i>Many prayers are fueled by desperation rather than declaration.</i><br />
<i>If you are just believing for the impossible without really understanding how you pray, it can become frustrating.</i><br />
<i>We've got to understand is that when we call to pray, if we're coming and asking for these things, We should be commanding and demanding. This isn't being arrogant, God given you the right because of the cross, because of the tomb.</i><br />
<i>We walk around people who are suffering with prisons, suffering with things. When you intercede, you need to intercede with knowing your authority. If we don't know what is our authority, we're just wasting words.</i><br />
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<i><b><span style="color: red;">4. Y-ou</span></b></i><br />
<i>It won't work out until you take ownership of it.</i><br />
<i>We as a church, we have used our experience to get our expectation. But now, we want to have an expectation that will determine our experience.</i><br />
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<i>So guys, be encouraged, get excited, sign up and start using it.</i><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">PRAY</span></b></h3>
We had some incredible series in freedom church earlier. I mention these because you might wanna catch up these if you haven't.<br />
<b><span style="color: red;">Battering Ram</span></b><br />
In old days, castles where they have battering ram against the doors. Series was empowering our Church to say, Even if the doors stand shut there is something that God put in our hands is called Prayer.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Knock Knock:</span></b><br />
There is so much on this series. Its all around persistence. Its all about we need to keep knocking on the door.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Pray First:</span></b><br />
Its all about Pray should come first, often we complain, often we sort of we think we need to talk to lot of people and then suddenly we think, we need a pray.<br />
It was praying first and we covered what intercession means? We talk about our spiritual heavenly languages speaking in tongues in prayer.<br />
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An app that we have that mobilizes the Church. I believe it's not just mobilize our Church but also going to mobilize other Churches around the globe because we have heart of pray. Don't we?<br />
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We actually wanna see the church come together and pray like never before.<br />
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It's time to pray. It's beautiful to thing to see when church Pray. It's a beautiful thing when the Church get mobilized to pray. Because for so long we've seen prayer as something that's like boring or does it even make a difference. And God is stirring his Church to pray.<br />
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I want to introduce a scripture now. It's not perhaps a piece of scripture you would relate to prayer. Because in our previous series we were talking about widow. She was knocking on the door until judge came. Then he gave what she wanted.<br />
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I want to something about no relation to prayer but I believe that God wants to speak to us through like a perfect way to say Church You've got to see this, You've got to see what this means.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Paralyzed men and their Four Friends:</span></b><br />
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There is a paralyzed men, he's got four friends and when they coming, when they arrived, there is no room left, they can't get in, Jesus is in the house.<br />
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Jesus is there, bringing the word and he's speaking. I think Jesus set it up. Why Jesus is inside house? because He knows what's going down.<br />
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He was in the house, may be some dust falling and then they were like some What's going on? and these Guys are digging their way through the roof with their friend.<br />
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They couldn't get in, they went up on the outside the roof, dug a hole, goes in and he walks out to the front door. This amazed everyone and they praised God, and said We have never seen anything like this.<br />
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Right now God wants to do something through prayer like we've never seen before. I want us to realise that, although this is not like reference to prayer, I want to really give refresh about prayer and why we are doing this app?<br />
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<b>I can just release the app and say Hey it is the great tool. But Unless we get hold of why this is so important? it's gonna be something we'll put on the side and use it occasionally.</b> So I am not going to go very deep on prayer but I want to just refresh something in you.<br />
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I love this story because it talks about something being shut up. The door was shut, there was no room, there was no capacity. I'm sure that for many of us this does resembles our prayer life. I'm sure that this talks about the things that we have prayed, and it's like the door was shut. There's no way here.<br />
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This is what happened, they turned up and say door is shut, there's no room in and there's people around the outside of the door. They couldn't even get through. Imagine with the stretcher, with everything they're carrying.<br />
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<b>Because sometimes the burden that God has asked you to carry is something you've got to carry right through. Don't give up. Don't walk away. You're gonna need to carry it through.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">P - Priority</span></b><br />
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Prayer is always being priority to God.<br />
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In-fact the way that we come and reconciled to God, the father through the Prayer. It's the very means that salvation comes to mankind. See it's got to be a priority.<br />
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God has always had a top priority that he wants to converse and fellowship with you. He loves it, He wants you to be involved with his plans upon the earth. not just I'm gonna do it, you've got nothing to do with it. No, He's saying come on, Let the Church of God, Let the people, Let the adopted children play a part, Let me know what you are praying for.<br />
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<b>Because we've learned that even when we pray things shift, things changed. God is saying when my people humble themselves and pray then I will heal.</b><br />
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There's something going on that he expects the people of God have a priority of prayer.<br />
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If something is a priority, it's of a value. There are certain priorities in my life right now, I bear great value in that. and so because of it, it's a priority in my life.<br />
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And something isn't a priority when you don't have value with it.<br />
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I would say that for many of us, if prayer is just something we practice to do when we need it rather than something that we're proclaiming to see.<br />
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If we don't see as a priority, because it's not a value.<br />
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<b>I think many of us struggle in prayer because it's not a priority, because we lost the value of it. God is refreshing us.</b><br />
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When we look at these 4 friends, there is something about them, they said that we need to get Jesus before today.<br />
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May be you are young parent and you don't have much time because kids are awake early, and maybe some of you work crazy hours, may be some of you busy with jobs. It's amazing how we just say I would like to pray more but it's just my life is so busy. But when it's a priority?????<br />
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Lets talk about social media because it is amazing how many times the every person tap into social media to see what's happening. You don't have to say that You just need to committed to this. No you're committed by yourself. Because somehow you got value from it.<b> But this value is temporary, Prayer is eternal.</b><br />
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<b>There's something about the prayer. God's saying will you prioritize Church?</b><br />
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When we get to eternity, When we stand before the throne, we will look back to our life with the one question, I think we will all ask Why I didn't pray more?<br />
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We'll see the prayers that we prayed that caused eternal consequence. When we see the times caght up in the temporary. We had the thought that May be I should have spend some time in prayer right now. But we replaced it by looking at social media or watching the current netflix.<br />
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It is amazing what contests for that relationships. Father wants his church to come after it.<br />
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Those guys had this is a priority.<br />
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<b>When it is a priority, you establish a priority out of value, it becomes a discipline, discipline becomes a rhythm.</b> You almost don't think about it because you've made a decision, when you get a rhythm in your life.<br />
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I believe that through this app, there's going to be a rhythm that God wants to create in our life.<br />
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I'm encouraging every one of you,<b> wherever you're at, don't feel contempt, this app is designed to help you and facilitate you to create a rhythm. But it comes through value, It comes through the priority. </b>That will take you right up-to the front door and the front door is waiting.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">R-Relentless</span></b><br />
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One of the things I've learned about the prayer is you have to be relentless.<br />
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If you're gonna cray off because you're not getting the answers you have seen, turn upto the front door and you're there thinking that Well, I tried. That's what we do, we pray to God. Well, I did pray and in fact I've been praying about this for 6 months and I still see no answer, may be for healing, for a breakthrough, for the job, It's amazing how we will in a sort of time and do a little bit of deal with God and say Well I tried. It was like those guys coming for their miracle, coming into the source, they're coming into Jesus and turned up and say What we have to do? It's not our fault.<br />
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But there is something in their nature about being relentless that I absolutely love and scripture talks about it all the time. With the widow, this knocking, this constant, this relentless, knocking. I'm not going away till I get an answer. I'm not giving up. Because having this relentless spirit within you, what it does? is, it says OK, the there's no way, but there's more ways we can get into the Jesus through the door.<br />
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<b>Some of us come up to the locked door and we just sit and we tried the same old door too long and he's saying hey, may be there's another way of approaching. What about climbing about higher level? What about going to a place where you can go deeper and further so that you can really reach who I am.</b><br />
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What are they doing is, coming into the core, into the heart of Jesus. I think Jesus was just up there and say come on guys, I am waiting for you. He knew they are coming and when he saw the dust, he should have big smile. Body on the stretcher coming through the roof, 4 faces of the friends and they are saying that We got you to Jesus, we crashed a party. We have invited you to the center.<br />
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May be there need to be something within us that doesn't apologize but comes boldly. It talks about coming boldly before God's throne.<br />
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What's the turning point? <b>because of shameless audacity.</b> My wife got this in heaps. Heather is an asker and because of it she sees result. I gotta say she sees great results than I do.<br />
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<b>God is asking the Church right now do you have shameless audacity? Shameless audacity means to be bold, courageous, daring, fearless, wild and a daredevil.</b><br />
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Those of you willing to be daring with what you ask and believe for, it's like you cheeky monkey but it's the cheeky monkey that get prize.<br />
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We were challenged as a Church.<br />
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<b>You don't have because you don't ask. Father wants to give to you but you are not asking. </b><br />
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It's about contenting, It's about being the people and say OK, this door is closed but another way in. This is a tactical assault. Do not give up.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">God's Healing - Miracle:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
Many years ago,When we're in Africa at a crusade in Zimbabwe, there is a call for people who needed healing. We saw many people come. I was bit cynical, I was like thinking I want to see someone healed. I want to see something changed.<br />
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I saw a young boy of probably about 10 years old, he was brought in handmade wheelbarrow by his father to the meeting we had. There are thousands of people there. His limbs were all withheld and all sort of bent and it was like he never walked before. We could see physically, this guy withered away, no muscles and nothing. I want to see God heal him.<br />
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I sort of followed where they are praying. I was watching from the distance and they did this real quick pray and the father looked bit disappointed and we wheeled him off.<br />
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Next day, who comes first to the next event? His father comes with his son. He's in front, praise for him. Nothing happened. I'm thinking God, think what this father shameless audacity that here's my son I am expecting miracle.<br />
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Third day, he turns up, he came up earlier and he was like I'm coming for my miracle. He comes up and then prayed for him and I remember this, suddenly his legs begin to straighten, his muscles begin to restored. He just walked home, he pushed the wheelbarrow home. That's what God can do.<br />
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That's what happened on the story. The guy came in lowered on a mat and he ended up going through the front door carrying what he was being carried on. That's what God does through prayer.<br />
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<b>What you came to depend on is a thing you can carry on.</b><br />
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This's not just crazy story, this is about the church, the church being mobilized prayer. So we've got to be relentless in our prayer.<br />
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<b>Too many of us got to like, hey this is the 10th time, the reason we don't pray as much because we tried it and we felt it didn't work. But I'm here to say to you, it's time to pick it up again, be relentless. </b><br />
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It's our job to pray, it's God's job to perform. That's the way it works. You're not performing, what you are doing is you are praying to your father. Praying to him. Something so powerful when we come to father.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">A-Authority</span></b><br />
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Many of us don't pray because we haven't seen the results and we become unbelieving. So many people giving up praying and being daring, because if you're gonna live a life of a faith, you gonna need to take some dares and pray for some situations that everyone else says you stupid. You need to be audacity for what you asking. You need to believe for the impossible.<br />
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But sometimes, <b>if you are just believing for the impossible without really understanding how you pray, it can become frustrating</b>. So It's important that we are not just firing up prayers and we're praying in the wrong way.<br />
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Church we can pray the wrong way. We need to be informed about the way we pray. It's based upon his word. Jesus talks about it. He talks about the widow to understanding her rights. And the church we don't understand our rights well enough. We don't understand that when we pray, we pray from authority.<br />
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There are things that you can request through prayer, Lord give me a wisdom, I need more wisdom. It says ask for wisdom, Lord will you guide me as I take this step in my journey. You ask right, but there is so much more.<br />
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When Jesus was in earth and he walked around and he saw powerful things happen, he used the Greek word "Atheko". It means the legal right to demand and command.<br />
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So when he came and spoke to the leper, he didn't say that Lord will you heal the leper today. He's using this word. Jesus use this all the time. He uses this to calm the storm, he uses it to speak to the demon, he uses it to heal. He's not requesting. He steps into different line and saying I'm here to demand or command.<br />
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<b>We've got to understand is that when we call to pray, if we're coming and asking for these things, We should be commanding and demanding. This isn't being arrogant, God given you the right because of the cross, because of the tomb.</b><br />
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Because we're ill-informed, what we are doing is? We are praying pointless prayers like Lord, will you bless me today. That's the wrong way to pray, because you are saying that you aren't blessed but you are blessed. You are blessing and in-fact you are blessing to the people around you. What we want to see is we're praying that we'll see the evidence of the blessing but we're asking God to bless us. He says I've blessed you, you've got the ability to live this life.<br />
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<b>And then we pray, Lord Will you heal this person? We do it because we feel intimidated. But God saying that I gave you the authority, I gave you the power, you are authorized.</b><br />
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What we do is? We step up to the pray, lord will you heal? instead of commanding and demanding because of the cross, because of the Calvary healing is yours in Jesus.name.<br />
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You pray a whole different way and that's why people get up with praying and get bored of it, because we're praying almost at this passive understanding of why we're praying, not sure your will. He says Will you stand up, command and demand? that's what Jesus was doing. He didn't have any discussion with demon saying How do you feel today? May be coming out of that person.<br />
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<b>We walk around people who are suffering with prisons, suffering with things. When you intercede, you need to intercede with knowing your authority. If we don't know what is our authority, we're just wasting words. </b><br />
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<b>We have to stand better of using less words and using the words that count rather than feel like we prayed for hours but we haven't achieved much, because we've been just asking God stuff he's already done.</b><br />
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He did everything on the cross, he did through Jesus. That's why he said It is Finished.<br />
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It's not like God will you do this? would you stop enemy? He says stand up and know who you are and start praying in a way of fearless boldness because he gave his church the ability to do that.<br />
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<b>Many prayers are fueled by desperation rather than declaration.</b><br />
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We're motivated when there is a need rather than a proclamation.<br />
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As a Church we step in to what we haven't got instead of trying to keep hold of what we have already got.<br />
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Why do we decide to invest? Why do we commit so much time? because we want to put a tool in the hands of people of the God that mobilizes us to pray.<br />
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Sometimes I forgot, sometimes I haven't got that rhythm that is going the way it should. When we download this app into our mobile, it comes into our life and it becomes part of our life and we make a priority and value.<br />
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<b>We've been practicing this as Pastors for last couple of months and it has changed our prayer life. It's become a discipline and commitment that helps facilitates prayer in a powerful way.</b><br />
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Scripture says, when two or three gather together in my name, power of symphony, power of agreement. When you get agreement in unity, you get authority. Imagine when 2 or 3 goes to 200 to 300 in agreement, when they go to 2000 to 3000, when they go to 20000 to 30000. It's limitless.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Y-You</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
<b>It won't work out until you take ownership of it.</b><br />
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This is about us being one church in many locations, that's why we've got the global, these are our global needs. Church rally together and pray. Because of that we are asking for prayer day.<br />
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You might have 5 minutes in morning, 20 minutes in lunch time. It doesn't matter how you doing but this is my prayer day. I believe rather than have a half hour, it's gonna increase. The ownership of it, remove the guilt thing of trying to remember a small slot and say this is my prayer day and that's where I'm going to focus. But good think is you just don't have to pray only on your prayer day.<br />
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You've personal application. You've got your local, things happening in your location. It allows us to create the rhythm.<br />
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But Guys, it really is what you will do with it, it's about your personal ownership. We need every one of you.<br />
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If you are a brand new christian, perhaps if you don't understand that much about prayer, What a way to start!! You are gonna get list, this is for you, your prayers matters.<br />
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May be you have been around for some years and you thought I don't pray for many years, this is a new tool to help you pray more effectively than ever before.<br />
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May be you have been given up prayer like you haven't seen the answers. So this is the time just like four friends, that guy got healed and a miracle happened because they decided to take the ownership. They decided to put everything down say we're going to carry you, we're going to take you.<br />
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There's a sick person, there is someone in need right now, there is a situation of need on that stretcher and it's whether you will pick up the corner of the stretcher today and that there's a load, there's a weight navigate the stairs. May be people around them say, get down from there, you shouldn't up there, you're disturbing Jesus. <b>But I am looking for disturbers of Jesus. </b><br />
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<b>I am looking for people that are gonna come and break away from tradition and get the heart for relentless prayer, to make it a priority, be praying in a new authority like never before, to expect.</b><br />
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<b>We as a church, we have used our experience to get our expectation. But now, we want to have an expectation that will determine our experience.</b><br />
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Will you commit with us and say I'm gonna pray again. May be you stopped on 6 but goto 7. There's something about don't stop when you don't think anything. There is something about the lad in the wheelbarrow. Imagine if father gave up, I'm fed up with that church thing, I'm fed up with God. But instead he came and he was relentless with his faith.<br />
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So what will you do right now in engaging this app? I wanna ask you to signup today and take ownership of it.<br />
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The reason we've called it the global app because this is just the start of what we wanna do, there's more that will come, that we will add to it. So we didn't just want to called prayer app. This is a global app because there is a more we are gonna building into it.<br />
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So guys, be encouraged, get excited, sign up and start using it.<br />
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Make a priority, choose a day, get involved with the ownership of what God is doing because I believe that we are in amazing season.<br />
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Jesus even himself said things you see me do, you will do, but even greater things. Will you do?<br />
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God wants to use you that your prayer matters to him, to come and see the miraculous happen, to see things shift. Imagine mobilizing the church to pray more effectively ever before, unity and power that we do it as a symphony, one sound in unity, agreement in God that he is able to do all things to those who truly believe and that's what we are gonna do.</div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-13171802131370461792018-08-25T20:15:00.000+05:302018-08-25T20:15:10.737+05:30Slay Your Generational Giants | Week 2 | Re:Generation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>What's your vision for your family?</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><span style="color: red;">Cathedral Thinking:</span> They would plant the forest 80 years before they started building the cathedral. They had an 80 year plan, You need to start thinking ahead and start planting maybe for what you don't see.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>Do you think that for 80 years they didn't have any resistance? there was something, there are giants. The Giants are the things that take hold and authority in your life that want to come and cut down your trees.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><b>Giants could be a characters/habits of dad, a mom or a guardian that was over you(previous generation), they may be manipulative, they might have been an angry, an absent dad, a proud dad, maybe it's that your dad was undisciplined in what he watched, what he do, where he went and what he drank, Maybe he was great at holding grudges has a huge impact on you. Are you going to pass the same to your children?</b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>Generationally that often we end up doing the things because it's passed on to us but we don't quite know what we're doing in.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>What we're doing right now isn't just for us, we're impacting our own future now. But it's actually going to create the pathway and the highway for the generation to come.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>Avoiding your Giants today leave your children to fight them tomorrow.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>Children were a copy of their parents. They didn't really know what those issues were? Your kid can't identify what it is? but they will actually pick up on it as normal. We don't do it intentionally but that's exactly what we're doing.</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>God will always give us an opportunity but what we do with the opportunity is up to us.</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>How many times did we say YES when we should say NO? </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>Every generational curse is broken by a generational choice.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>God is asking, will you choose today to defeat the giant? or Are you gonna pass this to next generation?</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>Why are the Giants living in forests? because we gave them permission to stay.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>We need to recognize that in the absence of resistance, history will repeat.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>This works in a positive way where you can break it or it works in a way where you'll repeat it. what would you sign up for?</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>What Giant Did I grow up with that I need to kill?</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>What Giant Am I feeding that I need to confront?</i></b></span><br />
<b style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></b>
<b style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><i>You don't need someone to understand, you need someone to transform you. Jesus can transform you.</i></b><br />
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I believe that it's a message that is going to impact your life in a huge way not only your life but this is actually about others as well.<br />
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so it's a word that stretches and ripples out into the future generations that are to come.<br />
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So we're in this new series in Freedom Church called Re:Generation where part 1 last week it's all about the generations and if you miss that it's probably going to give a bit of context to where I'm going but I still I'm gonna trying to frame it so that you can pick up from this week and run with us.<br />
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But you might want to go back and pick up on it if you missed it because there's I think gold in there, there's gold and what God speaks <br />
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It's relevant to every person. Some messages are more this and more bit of that but this is relevant to everyone and for that reason I want you to like to press in hear what God has to say.<br />
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So we we sort of finished week one and this will set the scene we finished week one with talking about how the generations and I talk from my experience, my parents with the Boomers and then I was X-geneneration and then from there we've got the Millennials.<br />
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We looked at basically had those three generations. Those three generations there's a link from what comes before, it spills over into the next generation.<br />
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It's not the Millennials that sort of came up with YouTube and Amazon and all those things and things that sort of somehow have changed the way we interact socially. It was actually my generation. So you see the spillover, you see the setup, you see the foundations being put down.<br />
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<b>What we're doing right now isn't just for us, we're impacting our own future now. But it's actually going to create the pathway and the highway for the generation to come.</b><br />
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So if you have young children/teenagers right now, you're gonna know, this would be very relevant is you can't detach what you've prepared for them in launching them into where they're going. You can't detach it, and God speaks about it and God is interested in the generations.<br />
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So he speaks to us about hey you've got to be aware of this, you've got to think generationally not just about your generation.<br />
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We get in a trouble, if we just think about how I'm just preparing for me and my comfy life at the end and we're gonna do a good job and set our kids up and give them some provision. It's more than that.<br />
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This is more interesting in life like even within Freedom Church, it's very typical that we have three generations at least. We have newborn babies right now, right throw 80 years old. This sort of this three to four generation, there's a pattern that is flowing and there is a current that flows up and down.<br />
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We've got to be intentional about it, not accidental about it.<br />
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You can either just come into the world that we're in and just say all that, hey that's the way it goes and depression seems to be on the increase more than ever before, that's just the way it goes self harming amongst young people seems to be more of a trend, that's the way it goes or you start to realize that there is something directly you can do about it, because we've got to realize there is something lying at our feet right now that we can cause a change in what's ahead.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">We end up doing things without knowing the reason, because it's passed on to us:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;">Daughter:</span></b><br />
Now there was a newly married couple and when they got married obviously there was Sunday dinner. It's like, we can have a roast dinner. This young couple they got together. He was watching her get the ham joint for the first time ready and she was getting it raised she was gonna put it in the oven, she ended up cutting that the sort of knuckle that the top part of the ham off and cutting it off and put it to oven. He thoughn that's interesting, is there a special secret about this? why would you like cut the top before put it in? is does something to the meat? I did it, because my mother did. I've seen my mother do it. d<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Mother:</span></b><br />
The next day she called her mum and she said mom you've always done this. I've started to do it, because you did it. Why is that? and she said all this because you're grand did it. Then she said why did grand did it? I haven't already sure except I think it makes the best ham joint you're ever gonna have.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Grandma:</span></b><br />
She calls her grand says why did you always do that? She replied I cut it off because the oven was too small, because it wouldn't fit in, we've small ovens those days.<br />
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<b>Generationally that often we end up doing things because it's passed on to us but we don't quite know what we're doing in.</b> We end up reacting in certain ways, because what we think, that is the way to react.<br />
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We even sort of drive and have a certain temperament because when we've been in the car with our parents that's the way you behave when you're in the car.<br />
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Certain things happen in life where we have an automatic response because its is a learned behavior that we pick up and it's very powerful.<br />
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We said last week that it's seven years that you can build in a child before you really start seeing it coming out, and to turn that around takes a lot of time.<br />
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What are the things that perhaps we're doing right now? reacting, thought process.<br />
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Why I was a go-around feeling like no one likes me, I don't fit in.<br />
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Why do I was react and get angry when anger was modeled to me?<br />
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That's why we need to start thinking about these uncomfortable questions to find greater freedom.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Cathedral thinking: Biulding Forrest:</span></b><br />
So I want to show you is we we ended up bringing it the whole thing last week to this idea of not only generational thinking but cathedral thinking.<br />
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Remember I said that thousand years ago, when they built a cathedral, they would go in and plant a forest. They would plant the forest 80 years before they started building the cathedral.It was in their hearts before they actually took action.<br />
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But some generation, three generations before had to get it in their hearts to say we are gonna like I don't get the trees, do the hard work, we're gonna nurture the trees and grow a forest because the forest was used to build the cathedral and scaffold in roofing.<br />
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What they did is, they had an 80 year plan. So the people actually planted the trees would never ever see what they were used for.<br />
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You need to start thinking ahead and start planting maybe for what you don't see, because for us we're in this society right now where it is instant gratification, if we don't get it delivered tomorrow for I'm impatient, yet there is this thinking that we get when you build generationally of thinking long term.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Giants in the Forrest:</span></b><br />
I want to talk about the Giants in your forest.<br />
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We can build generationally the forests, really is the picture of generations investing and building for the future.<br />
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You imagine, when they built those, they sowed out and they grew those trees, <b>do you think that for 80 years they didn't have any resistance? there was something, there are giants. The Giants are the things that take hold and authority in your life that want to come and cut down your trees.</b><br />
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The enemy's plan is to rob and destroy and kill but he's comes to bring a life from life in all its fullness and so there are Giants.<br />
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We all have Giants to face, Giants that are passed on to us and it's more than a joint of ham.<br />
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As we begin to grow up, we think what do I struggle so much with this? oh it's funny, isn't it? because my father struggled with this, and his father struggled with this. When i struggling with this depression but we've got this in our family.<br />
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<b>There are giants that are left and there are giants that we feed.</b><br />
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<b>Why are the Giants living in forests? because we gave them permission to stay.</b><br />
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You might see that there's a bird flying, that is a cuckoo. There's something about the cuckoo that also is in the forest, but let's get our minds back on the Giant.<br />
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The Giant is there to come and destroy. The Giants want to live, they want to remain there, they want to sort of feel at home there. In fact we made a home for them and we feed them every teatime.<br />
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We've got to ask the questions and we've got to wake up to realize that this is going on in our life.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">The giants that my dad had that I also had to face:</span></b><br />
I'm gonna just talk now very quickly on about my own father. I have the huge privilege being raised in a Christian home. They taught me about God, they dedicated me to him, and they encouraged me to follow him.<br />
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At the same time, they would agree with us that, there were giants that my dad had that I also had to face.<br />
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One of those things was in our relationship. Maybe we were not particularly as close as I would like.<br />
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I want to honor my parents, but honoring doesn't mean to say that you just don't go to the place where you need to contend for some things.<br />
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I want to be the same for my kids. I don't want my kids to sort of feel like oh you were the perfect dad. I want you to recognize where I wasn't strong where you can be stronger. I want to cheer you on through an attitude of honour, I want you to be stronger and better and faster than I ever was.<br />
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It might mean there were some things that I know well, I could hold my hand up today, I don't want on this stage making out on this, great dad that's got the generations together building a wonderful forest. No I'm a flipping Axe man. I literally was when we first got married. I was an Axe man, used to go and cutting trees for the landlord. And then, God started dealing with some Giants in my life.<br />
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I know one of the things when I had this conversation with my dad, just before I was leaving home about the lack of connection as a father and a son, and the conversation, and the relationship, and all those things.<br />
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I've just not really knowing his affirmation was he said, well the reason I'm like that is because my dad was from the generation right before me called known as the silent generation. Silent Generation means to be seen and not heard. It means, if something goes wrong and there is some mistake in the family like a child born out of marriage, no one talks about it, secret, barrier. It means that it's better to be silent as long as you provide, as long as I keep turning up do my bit.<br />
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He said to me that when my dad came home from the war, he'd sit in a certain chair after work in the same place for 30, 40 years, came home sat there, he never spoke to me, there wasn't an interaction or affirmation and that's what he saw and there was a huge impact. Just imagine, this is a giant.<br />
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Then obviously little G(me) comes along, he was like a bit daunted by the responsibility of raising this child, this son only to struggle with the fact that I've still got this giant that I'm struggling with.<br />
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When I'm 17 years old my dad is saying, hey the reason that we like this in our relationship is because I'm a product of my father's generation and it came upon me all of a sudden, bang!!!<br />
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Does this mean to say then that, when I have sons, I'm probably gonna have to deal with this same thing. Right enough, I had to go to town on confronting the Giants.<br />
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It was at this point that I had to realize it so I can either just use this and say that that's part of my handicap, as part of my difficulty or I can begin to work upon him to confront the Giant.That's what I'm talking about today.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Insecurity:</span></b><br />
My example is a very simple example but it had a profound effect on my life, Because I was 17, but I can tell about how I brought certain things into my marriage, because of my insecurity and then from insecurity, because of the way that works.<br />
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I just want to be a great person that no one ever noticed. I've got a bit of a default sometimes for that rather shrink back, Let someone else. Because I just don't feel confident around people and look what he goes into us.<br />
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But I want you to realize that it wasn't suddenly at 17 I thought, that's really interesting about your history, and your background that explains some things, well it just looks like things are set and we may as well just do the best we can.<br />
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I'd love to say that when I got married at 19, it took decision after decision, confrontation, prayer, coming against it.<br />
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Guys I'm speaking to some of you now, there are prayed prayers, you made decisions and you still feel the same. You still feel like Am I ever gonna get rid of this giant? Am I ever gonna deal with it? well I'm here to say that through Jesus it's possible, to Jesus there's a way.<br />
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You've got to realize that without him, you can have great therapy. Without him you can have people that understand you. But <b>you don't need someone to understand, you need someone to transform you</b>. There is something about the transformation, power of who Jesus is? that breaks through generations and say I'm doing a whole new thing, but it starts with the same responsibility and saying <b>what will I do? am I gonna pass this? am I gonna just live with my Giants? and that's a big challenge</b>.<br />
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Because my generation was known because of what was going on to be the self-reliant generation. So when I didn't have that perhaps that relationship and affirmation, I decided to isolate myself, be self-sufficient. And from it, you just see then how other things come into play and you have to deal with those things as well.<br />
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God started transforming me, but I had to deal with the uncomfortable confrontation of the Giants.<br />
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I could say example of Heather, my wife. She can hardly ever remember her parents say that they love her.<br />
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We're now in a time where everyone loves everyone. It's like you're special, you super, it's far more culturally, it's much more acceptable, back then can you just see how the Silent Generation? No be silent, you don't need to affirm.<br />
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I would say to every father because I know I'm speaking to some fathers right now in particular, thinks somehow it's not a manly thing to do or I really think I should have to do that.<br />
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It's real special for your daughters but it's also special for your sons. I think there's something around, it's one of the manliest things you can do, not one of the girly things you can do.<br />
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If you just think, well they should know it. You're like shaking off your responsibility. I want to encourage you, see your daughters from a young age need to know that dad thinks. He's the first one that says you're the most beautiful girl, not someone else. He needs to build an affirmation and assurance and a confidence in who she is? and because of that Heather had to deal with some giants.<br />
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I just trying to give you an overview that there are things, these are just a few simple things that come up in our life very easily.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">King Saul.</span></b><br />
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It's basically Saul is going to become the king, he was nowhere to be found. How come everyone's turned up to see who's gonna get chosen as King and the one who is meant to be King is not even there. Oh Samuel went back to God, is he anywhere around? God said yes he's right over there hidden in that pile of baggage.<br />
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I think this is incredible because what it's saying is <b>God decides to choose someone in the middle of their insecurity.</b><br />
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He wasn't a little man. He had the stature of a King, but he had the heart of insecurity.<br />
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God wasn't choosing him because he was tall and impressive looking, he saw him and says you might be there right now you might how it'd be riddled with insecurities but my plan for you is to rule.<br />
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He's hiding because he doesn't want to be chosen. He gets pulled out.<br />
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<b>I love the way that God will always give us an opportunity but what we do with the opportunity is up to us.</b><br />
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You want you to pull you out, I was all saw it ,magic fairy dust, confident King. It doesn't happen that way.<br />
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He ends up gathering an army actually about <b>three hundred and thirty thousand</b> which is quite in my size army. These guys are going to follow, because they've been routed and chased by the enemy, people have been killed put into slavery. Suddenly he starts leading an army.<br />
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So things start off, they get off to a good start,<b> three hundred thirty thousand</b> is pretty good. But what happens is, he ends up becoming fearful.<br />
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It mentions that three times Saul became fearful. What was the fear around all the time? not the enemy, it was around what people thought of him who he was leading. He had an insecurity around what others think? and insecurity does that, it eats away at you what you know, I need people to like me and he had this massive issue of do people really like me? so you got <b>three hundred and thirty thousand</b> people out there, ready to go and fight to the death, Do they like me?<br />
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His son <b>Jonathan </b>who sort of ends up being away from him further on a few chapters, so a bit of time later they have one or two victories and things are pretty good but this insecurity, he's not dealing with the giant. Because he's not dealing with it, he keeps surfacing and it keeps doing things that get him into trouble.<br />
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What he does is he's waiting for Samuel to come and make a sacrifice before they went to battle.<br />
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<b>If you have insecurity you want to control things, another word for control is manipulation. When you manipulate things, you're actually become very impatient.</b><br />
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You will allow a certain amount of time and then you were saying that I wanna take things in my own hands. Because I'm fed up of waiting for this person, God we're gonna do things in our own way. Because I have this about me, and I'm insecure, I struggle to find peace, because I think it's actually trusting me more than trusting others.<br />
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You can just see, how he ends up in this place where you suddenly find him you see Saul with <b>600 </b>men so where did the<b> three hundred thirty thousand</b> go suddenly?<br />
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<b>If you have insecurity in your life, you're going to find it very hard to lead. They left him.</b><br />
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His own son Jonathan starts to see the pan of insecurity. He has a choice, this one day where it's just him and his armor-bearer. He says that we can hang around here, doing nothing, just waiting for the end to come, that's all they were doing. I can be like my father or I could change something today.<br />
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What he does is, he slipped away without his father know, because his father wouldn't have approved, he's a manipulative leader. He slipped away and he said come on let's go up to the enemy and see if just by us two.<b>We can face down insecurity and start to see a miracle happen.</b> Let's go and deal with the giant, Because if we don't deal with it today, I'm gonna inherit it. and this is what Jonathan was thinking.<br />
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<b>He was being defiant and he was saying, we either sit here in anxiety, in worry because you see that's what control produces anxiety and worry. We can just think what's going to happen? but when you start to know there is a God that he's in charge overall, I trust him completely because he loves me abundantly, and he loves me without reason, there was like immense love of the father unconditional.</b><br />
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So suddenly he gets up and he goes on this light, it would look crazy but what he's doing? <b>he's dealing with the Giant in his forest.</b><br />
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They see some great stuff but sadly Saul basically takes things into his own hands, he's fearful three times; he does another sacrifice, he also goes in and sees a victory happen afterwards. God said don't you take anything. What Saul do? he lets his men take things, he said well they like them, I mean that made me popular, because it was the point in like destroying everything, when they liked those sparkly things. So he said I'll go on, you'd be a ride.<br />
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<b>How many times did we say YES when we should say NO? </b><br />
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Saul wasn't in the occult he had a rebellion in his heart. He didn't do what God according to do. Because when we do, what we want to do and remain in control is disobedience. Samuel is actually talking about the disobedience in his heart.<br />
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Saul said that I thought it was better, I cared more about pleasing the people, here it is the giant of insecurity. I'll let them tell me what to do.<br />
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I want to speak about insecurity is a massive thing in our culture. Insecurity is linked to anxiety, we're on remain in control. Maybe you haven't even chose to put your faith in Jesus today or maybe you once did, but you've struggled to follow him, because it was this insecurity that caused you to back off from people and move into a place where you could be in control but the thing is there's something missing in your life, there's more and you won't find that completion until you know who Jesus is in your life.<br />
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Insecurity. guys you can just live with it or deal with it.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;"> In the absence of resistance history will repeat.</span></b><br />
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We need to recognize that in the absence of resistance history will repeat.<br />
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So you want to just pass this on and say on my watch are just gonna repeat history, you have that choice.<br />
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<b>This works in a positive way where you can break it or it works in a way where you'll repeat it. what would you sign up for?</b><br />
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It's not accidental, it's intentional, it's a fight, it's a battle, it's uncomfortable, encourage you guys it's possible that you can break through it. You can break through it with Jesus. There is a way of breaking through like nothing else.<br />
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It could be a dad, a mom or a guardian that was over you, they may be manipulative, they might have been an angry, that might be in an absent dad, they might have been a proud dad, so they set is like hey this is the course, we're always gonna be that family, well you can't say that about us, no one tells us what to do? amazing how that independence and that pride means that we end up on teachable, maybe it's that your dad was undisciplined in what he watched, what he do, where he went and what he drank has a huge impact. Maybe he was great at holding grudges, we don't talk to them anymore, in fact we're gonna leave that church and we're gonna go to this one, what is that dad?<br />
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and you might not even voice it, this is the strange thing, you don't have to voice it and say that because we had an issue with it. Because you've got like an eight year old sack here, but they will know, kids I've got to say to you, you will bleed this hurt, and you will bleed bitterness through your life it will come through you, it will permeate and it will be like a stench.<br />
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<b>Your kid can't identify what it is? but they will actually pick up on it as normal. </b><br />
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If you live on a farm and live around manure long enough you don't quite smell it the same as others.<br />
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I have seen people whose parents picked up a hurt and their life was a reflection of their hurt and then I saw the next generation, their children grow up and become young women, young man, <b>they were a copy of their parents. They didn't really know what those issues were?</b> but they just knew this one thing don't trust. there's wisdom in not trusting, isn't there? it's there.<br />
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You can't do life without trusting, you can't follow a lead without trust. You can have a small life that will stay on pass.<br />
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I remember talking to this person and they were described as suddenly had this revelation saying, hey I've lived a life where I don't trust people, I keep people at a certain place. Suddenly I've realized that this was passed on to me, I've got a decision to make right now, because I have a choice to make of whether I'm going to step into this opportunity I have, but it requires trusting leadership in my church. Suddenly I'm confronted with the giant that's always been there and in saying will you trust? or will you deny? and if I deny, I cannot go and fulfill the future that God has called me for. It was massive that these parents would probably not realizing but just leave their giant, he came around the table every Teatime, he was in the conversations, he was in the sarcastic jokes, he was in the comments saying well I don't think that's a good idea that you should be so generous, why don't you live your own life in a way that really matters to you? it's all about you, don't trust.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Avoiding your Giants today leave your children to fight them tomorrow.</span></b><br />
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Parents, you have chance to influence your children. If you avoid your Giants today, you're basically look at your seven-year-old and say hey I'm not going to deal with these issues of her, and moving from one church to another to another, I'm not going to always blame it on other people that you know I'm somehow the victim that everyone's bad to me in this big bad world, this anger issues, all those things that I have, I'm just gonna lay them at your feet my little seven-year-old. I'm gonna say, you kill the Giants because dad is checking out.<br />
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I would even put it on a silver platter for you, and make it look attractive, hopefully you might be able to leave them for my grandchildren.<br />
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<b>We don't say intention but that's exactly what we're doing.</b> We flip in either deal with some things that we have just accepted and we walk out in and out without making those decisions.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Interview - Derek from Cardiff and Pastor G:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b> I've got some questions for Derek, because as I've shared, I've tried to build a foundation here and get you to start seeing about what we leave in for the next generation. Derek I can share about insecurity and those things, but I just think that a lot of us have a lot tougher life than I had, tougher challenges by far. So I just wanted to demonstrate this. Tell us or give us a picture quickly about what it was like growing up for you?<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> I grew up in in London. My mum and dad emigrated to London from Ghana, West Africa. My father was from near shanty tribe. We were living in Northwest London and I'm grateful for my life, but it was tough, it was hard. My parents had emigrated, so it was tough in terms of like resources, like money.<br />
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<b>We needed my dad to be strong, We needed him to be patient, We needed him to be wise, but unfortunately he failed to do those things.</b> But it impacted us(me, mom and sister) greatly. I guess dealing with the stresses and the pressures of that my dad failed and a way that like our home was quite an abusive home.<br />
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So if explain like your story with like sensitivity, I want to be able to do the same life.<br />
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It's my mom's birthday tomorrow so I wanna honor my mum like how my sister.<br />
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It was difficult for my dad like domestic violence in a home, my dad used to be on my mom and like a young ages I saw things up, I shouldn't is seen. My dad had put my mom in positions like a man and especially a husband and a father she never put his children in and the levels are of a beast that my mum suffered were over horrendous.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b> What was the result?<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> So as a result of that, by this time they came to a point where I was about 11,12 my mum, me and my sister, we decided that we're gonna have to leave because it was too much for us at this one particular point to take that involves like police, in opposed.<br />
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We gotta move into a refuge hostel. I was tough, because we're all in this one room and we're having to come, to terms and deal with how it feels for each of us? like what it is that we're going through? and it was tough because I am 12.<br />
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I don't know what world of light. So felt like I've got a physical presence and I can take care of myself, but there were times I felt a bit of a guilt I didn't look after my mum and that was heavy, that was really heavy.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b> So as he grew up and into teenage years, you've obviously giants that you dad already shows you, left for you, they suddenly started perhaps impacting What that look like?<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> <b>I guess a man's job in in the home is to make his children feel safe. I never really felt safe.</b><br />
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It was hard dealing with trusting people. Probably <b>still now I find it harder to trust people</b>. It's because of that I probably ignored it and probably felt that wasn't a reason but if I'm totally honest with myself that was definitely the reason why I find hard to trust people.<br />
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I built up walls to try and make myself feel safe. Sometimes when people are looking after me and my best interest in terms of decisions are question a lot, I'm not too sure why people are doing things. I can get really paranoid, growing up in a home with violence <b>I guess that came to be sort of quite common in my life after.</b><br />
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I just didn't have that male forces like figure in my life to tell me like you can't walk like on this pathway. I made some terrible decisions and getting involved in the life of like<b> selling drugs and being around the wrong type of crowd </b>without a male for a figure to tell me that this isn't the best God's got for your life.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G</span></b>: Some of violence was allowed you to start this?<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> From 18 to 24 like intermittent that's the life that I was walking in and not to incriminating. People that I've grown up with lost their lives. <b>I've seen bodies go cold in front of me. I lost some of my summer best and closest friends.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G</span></b>: So you have a choice to either repeat what you've seen, and you were pretty much set on that path of perhaps going down a place of destruction or change. What was the moment that really grabbed you to thought I've got to make some choices here.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> I lost the couple of friends and I moved to Cardiff. My uncle was living just outside of Cardiff. Again, I was still intermittently just involved and stuff and things got really like really, really, really serious.<br />
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I had to help a lot friends, back home. It was in a position again where my life was under threat. My beautiful wife Irene told me that She was pregnant. <b>My first child is gonna be born and I asked God to help me, because it was either I'm gonna be in prison,</b> sleeping next to people do in life annoying or like I won't even be here anymore. Time's have been close to that.<br />
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<b>God just stripped everything. Money that I had, friends or poor people that I was associated with, God just took all of that. I had nothing</b>.<br />
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So when my first daughter was born, I was actually living in a hostel. So it's like 12 years early and I'm living in a hostel with me my mom and my sister.<br />
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But I just <b>asking God like what's happening? what's going on my way and my family? my first child is about to be born. I just broke down</b>. I just let her to take a control to this situation.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b> what happened next? you got invited to the Church?<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> yeah so Irene was coming to Freedom Church Cardiff. It was at the University and it was in the evenings. At that time when she was born I decided to go back to University. Saturday Sunday evening, I am not be working, so on a Sunday evening Irene go to church.<br />
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Really I wasn't really on coming to church, I was trying to get a lift home.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b> And the funny thing is <b>the series that you came in on was called Prison Break</b>, very real for you, listen up here but how profound that was because you were in a place really where you were in prison and you walked into church, because we got to realize there's people coming in and the proof like the place that you were living in a shelter by yourself, everything stripped away. <b>God start speaking but more important you start responding.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> yeah I just sort of make a choice, I didn't really want to go back again. Because my mom had planted certain seeds in me that I've never departed and so at least although my life was going a certain way.<br />
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When you're speaking, we were watching. <b>You're speak in there certain things that I hid in my soul but which I know that it's for me.</b> I decided to put my hand up. I think of myself too good. I remember, <b>I think Dave was doing a response and it just hit me hard and I knew that it was my time to respond.</b> I remember I think the Salvation prayer with Dave and I was just crying man, just crying because<b> I felt like okay God, I'm coming home. I never knew at home.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b> There were like from that point it obviously wasn't a quick fix, there was a decisions to make, you had to work out, what's a relationship look like?<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> yeah and and it's good that you've got people around you can help. there's Dave, Chris. Sometimes when I tell this story I have noticed when I sitting down, sometimes I do God the service of speaking about what he's done in my life. So if I get upset and I cry. Because I feel like I just have to empty, the powered across and what God's light done luck in my life.<br />
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I never get too familiar with it but I've been walking around with this stuff and felt it never like stuff that I've been carrying wasn't going to impact me in a way that I don't feel safe or I don't trust people. It had a massive effect.<br />
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<b>I'm grateful for people like being able to help me make those decisions or show me what the right decision looks like for a life for a man.</b><br />
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My relationship with Irene at the time wasn't the best. So even sometimes even if people weren't saying stuff to me directly <b>they're giving me an example of a godly marriage light looks like.</b> We had to let God do the work in the both of us.<br />
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<b>I want all my children to feel safe around me. The safety around me that I never had from my dad. My mom did everything that she could d</b>o, and she's done a fantastic job. <b>But I need that from my dad.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b> you proposed and you got married?<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> yeah I proposed.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b> <b>It was a huge thing, You have to fight those giants</b>, you came back from where it looked like it was over. But <b>you're sat here today, because of years of you committing to change, your decisions of change</b> and you also have another daughter.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b><br />
Look at this family here, God's in the business of like, <b>even where you were in your desperation, never ever left you</b>. <b>He saw the potential in you and your family</b> and a Donna because she wasn't yet there and yet<b> God sees the children in your children and he sees that you have an incredible future together. </b><br />
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<b>A couple that were affect other marriages, a couple that will affect other people in similar situations and right now God has completely transformed your life. But it was because you chose to fight the Giants and say I'm not gonna make it an excuse, I don't want to be a man of excuse but I wanna be a man of action.</b><br />
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So to finish <b>what's your vision for your family</b>?<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> My vision for my family is <b>for my children to know that I love them, for them to be feel safe, for them feel protected just like God has the best balance and purpose for our lives </b>that I do for them as well.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b> What would you say to anyone that might be in a difficult place thinking, I don't think I can break away from my past history?.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Derek:</span></b> I guess you don't really have to think that you've got audience answers<b> because God knows all the answers for you. Just place your trust in him with your hear</b>t. Maybe or even <b>if you don't understand them just fall on your knees at him</b>, he's got you.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Pastor G:</span></b> We want to thank Dell Sharon, thank you man.<br />
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Okay guys, stay stood where we are that was a powerful story. I want us to see that this is a reality what I'm preaching. We could get probably dozens if not hundreds of stories. But, Church realize that <b>we have a God that transforms lives</b>.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Every generational curse is broken by a generational choice.</span></b><br />
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Because I've heard for too long people say, oh well we got a bit of a curse in the family or we got this thing that just seems to pass on and on. do you know what? Christ has empowered you to break a generational curse by what? by your generational choice.<br />
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I want you to grab hold of that because you know you can go away and just think when we pray maybe I'm gonna feel a warm fuzzy feeling <b>I'll say when Derek responded, it was then the hard work started, he made a decision to say I'm not going back, but he made a decision to start living a life that was different to the one he'd seen.</b><br />
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So guys it comes through a choice, you can change today the pattern that's been up to this point, you can change it. Christ gives us the power to do that right now.<br />
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I believe that God wants to challenge us, every one of us and ask this question what Giants did you inherit? maybe there are some things that you know you got to recognize them, don't ignore them. and what are the ones you're feeding?<br />
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They might be new Giants through experiences you had that you've allowed in. what are you feeding?<br />
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God says will you choose today to defeat the giant? will you choose today to come in and contend with him?<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Prayer:</span></b><br />
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I believe it starts here with the decision to choose, to deal with and confront the giant, perhaps that was left to you, you were left with some giants to fight. Maybe today, you're here and you're thinking yeah actually I've let some Giants in. what about the giant of lust that overtakes my life? you're gonna pass that home? you're gonna deal with it?.<br />
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So right now as I want to ask eyes are closed every location wherever we are, God sees your response. To deal with the Giant, you've got a light take charge, you've got to take action, so I just want to ask you if this is for you today, you recognize the Giant, you recognize what they are, and today you're saying I choose to make choices to change the pattern today, change the pattern. Will you raise your hand where you are? when you raise your hand reach out at God say yes I recognize it. I'm recognizing today that there's a pattern that there are giants that I'm actually quite friendly with, because you just put up with them. Today you're saying no more they become your friends, they're not your friends that are there to destroy your life. would you respond and put up your hands? and say yes this is for me, if you're struggling, I encourage you take charge raise your hand, raise it to God and say see me, this is my defiance of the Giant. I'm saying I don't want to be on repeat. I want to bring a new freedom today. I want to see life come today.<br />
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So Father right now I pray across every location, I pray in this room now by the power of your Holy Spirit, I come against every generational curse in Jesus name. I break the back of the curse, and the pattern, the cyclical pattern that says we will just repeat. We rebuke you today and I come now in Jesus name and we do battle with you and we defy you in Jesus name, and we say no weapon will prosper against us in Jesus name. so I come now and I sever roots from grandparents, roots from parents we pull them up and we say giant be killed be slain in Jesus name. We choose to turn around and we choose life, we choose Jesus, we choose Trust, trust in faith in you Lord. God so right now Holy Spirit I was asked that you start healing people. Father the healing in a way that no therapy can contend with, healing in a way that delivers people from anxiety today in Jesus name, the heals people from his insecurity today in Jesus name, heals people from abuse in Jesus name today, so will you pour out because of the cross because of the cross, will you pour out right now pour out upon your people. Oh God I'm asking you will you bring healing and freedom like never before, and the boldness to make decisions of saying, I'm not repeating I'm a new creation in Jesus name.<br />
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Amen.</div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-40966043161273026802018-08-18T20:18:00.001+05:302018-08-18T20:18:40.921+05:30You are caught in a generational current | Re:Generation | Week 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">[Boomers - Generation X - Millenials - Alpha] </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It's called re generation which really is all about not just the next generation but it's about our current generation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I'm trying to encourage parents here, let's be a wise and be aware of the way that we're raising our kids. Let's teach them by living as an example.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">How do you show kindness to your children? how do you show patience, gratitude?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The way that we are as mum and dad, the way that we love one another impacts a one-year-old, you have to wait till they're 13 to look out what's going on. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The way that we honor one another in our household impacts our children.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The way that we talk about a passionate love for Jesus will impact the way your children are raised than the way they love Jesus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We want our kids to have big dreams, and we want them to be who they're called to be, but if someone cannot sing a note in tune don't tell them to go on the local talent show and say you're the best singer ever because I'm your mother. It's going to be embarrassing for them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As parents, we need to promote trust, need to teach them trust, need to teach them what endurance means.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It would be a lie to think that my adultery will not impact the next generation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Alpha Generation are our kids right now. Our little kids that have been born. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The choices that we make will decide whether they go far or fall short. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So the choices we make today impact the generations to come. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Don't make the lesser choice, don't sell yourself short, hold out for God's best.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I wanna to say that your lack of obedience will spill over upon the future generations to come. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My obedience today is my children's blessing tomorrow. Many of us are enjoying the blessing because of the obedience of those that went before us. We need to make sure that when we check out, we're going to leave more for those that are coming than what we have.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Cathedral Thinking:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When they went to build a cathedral, they would plant a tree 80 years before they started building the cathedral. It means what would you put in the hard work for, what you're gonna go out into the rain and the storm to dig into sow, you won't benefit from it directly but the generations to come will. and they'll say who planted that tree to build the cathedral is called cathedral thinking.</span><br />
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I believe it's gonna be relevant to the generation that we're in, and in fact I want to introduce it because It's called re generation which really is all about not just the next generation but it's about our current generation.<br />
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Because if we don't sort of make the right decisions in our generation, we're not going to set up the next generation.<br />
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So it's really about thinking across the generations and I'm going to show you how this is important because this is something God has asked his people to think about.<br />
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So we're gonna go on a course over the next few weeks looking into the generations.<br />
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God, what are you saying to me? and you might not have children right now, you might not even be married, maybe you're one of our part of our students sort of group, you might be part of that. Don't switch off.<br />
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If I could have heard what I'm about to share with you, this is like me, sort of I didn't looking back to my younger self and saying you just need to realize these things.<br />
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Don't leave it too late, I want you to pick up on what God is saying here.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Generation - X:</span></b><br />
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First of all I want to introduce you to Generation X<br />
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It's like a little bit of research. I'm going to try and do it really quickly and effectively and talk about generations.<br />
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If you're in Asia or Africa you might not quite sort of, it might not be quite as relevant but you will get the principle of what I'm talking about.This is perhaps more Western sort of analysis, definition, just stay with me you're gonna see where we go in.<br />
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So Generation X is my generation. So if you ran that Generation X, that's what it looks so cool. It's like x-men. What a cool generation to be part of Generation X.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Latchkey kids:</span></b><br />
If you were born around this sort of generation, there's a sort of little bit of a catch phrase with it, you're the latchkey kids.<br />
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I'm a latchkey kid. what is that? what it means is, we were the first generation young children to return home after school to empty houses. Because the previous generation, my parents, they found this like, I didn't knew independence and freedom and from it, women went out to work more and more and because of it, it meant both mum and dad would go out to work.<br />
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So my generation, the X generation with a first to come home to an empty house so I had my own key. that's what it's called it's a latch key kid.<br />
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I might have been seven years old eight years old. I would go home now it's fine at the summer, but when winter came it freaked me out. Because when you're the only person at home and you know is dark. I spent a long time hiding beyond the sofa which is funny, but I'll tell you what it impacted me.<br />
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I just wanted to start thinking about the environment that each all of us were born into.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">More Divorce started:</span></b><br />
Also there was more divorce than ever before started. So then you had single parents that had to go out to work and that's why the children were also at home.<br />
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Also from it, it meant that you had to take care of yourself. So I remember that my mother would say, hey you can like sort things out for yourself. I remember where the frozen pizzas were? and that was T, tin of beans frozen pizza that was the regular thing. You have like a pack of ten and they were about this big and I don't know what was in there. You put in the microwave and this was your tea and this was like normal.<br />
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I never heard of free-range. I'd never heard of gluten-free. Just think about where we come? I remember when we were first married that whole thing about hey there's ease in your food. I think what it is and then you suddenly realize, you can eat all this terrible stuff, preservatives.<br />
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Let's just think how the whole of our generation has shifted today to this like all the different foods, the health, nutritional values. what a shift?<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Independent:</span></b><br />
So generation X, because of the economy and the way things were, they become a very independent generation.<br />
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If you study it, you will find that a lot of people who grew up as Generation X are very independent which can be good and bad.<br />
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They became cautious and known to be quite cynical which means I've had growing up just be careful about, not being cynical about things I see in life.<br />
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Because of the background of my generation that had. It was really caused by where I was coming from and what I landed into.<br />
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All of this meant that I try to be self-reliant. So from a very young age, I could iron, clean, cook. There was self dependence but also a view, don't think to positively, things could go wrong.<br />
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It's just amazing how that generation, I'm generalizing here being just see as they studied it. you will see these things they come through. Every generation has a similar one.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Millennials:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
So my children, now they're known as the Millennials.<br />
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I know I'm speaking to Millennials right now. so we're gonna switch straight into where we are now? the Millennials.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Self-Centric:</span></b><br />
When I talk about the Millennials, I don't need to feel defensive. But there are words thrown around like Millennials that they're very self centric. They sort of want things now.<br />
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We can go on and on with what that is? but I want you just to realize that where the Millennials are today, where you are today is because of my generation, Generation X.<br />
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Because you didn't create that culture. Actually the generation before began create that culture and that came from an impact from my parents and right now what I've done is, I've landed in this world where we're raised in our children, Millennials and we raised them into this world that we have the impact of them on.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Instant gratification:</span></b><br />
So a big sort of challenge around this is thing of instant gratification that we all have. It's not just Millennials, it's all of us now because we're in it.<br />
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I might be the X generation, but right now I am in this season where we've seen the Millennials and everything happening and there are many wonderful amazing things but one of the things to do with the internet.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Social Media impacts:</span></b><br />
Social media is this instant gratification. We've seen such progress more than ever before because you think 150 years ago you basically one generation was similar to the next, to the next. But we've seen this huge shift wage generation is changing with technology and how it impacts us.<br />
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You guys stick with me because you got to understand how this. This has a relevant impact upon our lives.<br />
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This instant gratification, you just think about it. If I just need something, I can do it here, hopefully not in church this morning. But I just need that puncture repair kit so I can fix things and you know what if I get the super duper fast delivery it could even come from the sky.<br />
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We're at an age where you don't have to. If you wake more than a day, you're thinking where the heck is it? something's gone wrong, we run out of coffee and Heather will say, you need water the coffee. I'm on it, I'll tell you what next, it's there, it's on our doorstep the type I want, the color I want, the flavor I want and also what Heather wants, it's all there.<br />
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I actually used to come to this place to watch films when it was a cinema. We used to come in and it was a Saturday morning, it was the matinee. Someone had a little piano at the front. They would play, God save the queen and we'd all stand and bring it back and then you'd have like Flash Gordon in black-and-white. You couldn't come in and say which cinema do I want 3D? do I want dwell? it's like hay you can have what you're given. You just glad there's a movie.<br />
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At home we only got three channels and yet now you've got a Netflix, you have to go anywhere. You can go through all of this, instant gratification of what's available online and if you really feel like it, you can even binge watch.<br />
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All of this has an impact not only on our Millennials if you're a millennial, but on us as well currently right now.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Struggle to understand the process:</span></b><br />
So what happens is those that are growing up in it, struggle to understand process. They want to see results and what happens is when you go through process there's something that you learn about character, something that you learn that you have to achieve.<br />
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Let's just talk about dating. When I dated, I mean I had to actually get in the same room as the girl that I fancied asked it out. When I saw Heather, it took me a few like weeks, but I finally got the nerve up and I'm there like working towards this quiet, moment in the room as she collided by and I knew this was my one moment. and I remember like if there she goes, there she goes and I sort of cornered her. I said can we gonna out? what do you say? can we gonna out? She asked me about three times what are you saying? I want you to come out with me, and there was that walk witness, we didn't have like phones. Actually in fact we were going out, we wrote to each other with a pen and paper. If Heather want to speak to me, she had a walk a mile to the phone box, those red things. That's how we dated.<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b>Online Dating:</b></span><br />
But today we got dating sites. You can be whoever you want on there. You can sort of build a profile that actually isn't right of you because you just want to get that swipe, those of you don't know, there's a swipe to the right is good, swipe to the left is bad.<br />
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It's very interesting because I heard like a report this week about online dating. They were trying to do the benefits and positives. Against all the negatives and they're finding more and more that there's far more negatives than positives, because of the pressure that's being built, because of the amount of people that putting themself forward, because they're struggling to meet someone like we used to meet someone, and because of that lack of patience which comes from the Self Indulgence is, instead of like put myself up there in front of maybe a few people I might meet, that let me put myself up there in front of the thousands that I'll never meet.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Pressure, Anxiety & Depression:</span></b><br />
Let me go through a list and this one young man was just going through the whole list of things that he kept adding to his profile, to get people, to basically I'm still not working, it's still not working, to the point of adding pressure and anxiety. This is what they're all saying, I became anxious because I wasn't the person that people were looking for.<br />
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We could have some fun and laugh but you can just see how impacting. This isn't like normal for many people, there are so many of these websites that come and impact people and through it cause some terrible depression.<br />
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We're also on world right now where depression is very common to talk about, and it's one of the first things they often ask you if you're struggling with stress and stuff.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">When I was young no one ever mentioned the word depression.</span></b><br />
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I won't say, it wasn't there. but there I just think in the world that we're in, and the generation that we're in right now, because of the immense pressure and what is going on our world, this instant gratification which removes patience, which doesn't build character. It brings almost like artificial relationships.<br />
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We know through social media the whole thing of just finding people that were like is a massive pressure.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">We are a product of our parents generation:</span></b><br />
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So we are a product of our parents generation that's good and bad.<br />
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So I want you to realize there are things that we need to honor and say I'm so thankful for that. I had parents that chose to follow Christ and set me on a course I'm so proud of that they gave me a head start in that.<br />
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But also I'm sure they would say to me as well I know that there were things that you had to work through and fight through because we passed them on to you. This is where I'm going especially next week, don't just grab this week, next week I'm going to be speaking more about this, about what we're leaving for the next generation, things that we should have dealt with, that we never dealt with. and so we are a product, you're a product.<br />
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We hear all the time, in all the years of pastoring, counseling and the stuff. we've heard all the time where people will say you know you get down to why are you struggling through this thing in your life? and it will often come back to, well it was because my upbringing, my mother father or lack of mother or father all these things. so it's just realizing that we are a product of our parents generation.<br />
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Now turn that around, it means those of us that our parents have got to realize, what are we producing? it doesn't just work one way, what's the other way?<br />
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We can't change what's being but we can certainly change where we going? Where we are? that's what this series is about it's saying it has an impact.<br />
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When we young, like very young the only approval that we need in our life is our parents, all those that guardians over us. But as we go through adolescence it changes through that approval looking towards our peers. If we as parents don't realize, especially in this world that we're in that there is this massive pressure to be light and acceptable within a certain period group.<br />
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We don't realize that as parents as Guardians, we're gonna be looking in the wrong place. A place of anxiety and depression, because we can never quite get to that place. and so there's a huge call-out to parents here.<br />
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We are a product of our parents generation both good and bad.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Raising kids, As a Parent set an example:</span></b><br />
When Heather and I were raising our five boys there was something that I learned, as I was growing as a parent was that <b>what we put into our kids today takes seven years to really come out </b>and that really impacted me.<br />
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When you see a bit of a behavioral issue, you tend to think right let's deal with it now. But if you've spent the last seven years building something and you suddenly think what the heck? what's wrong with this boy? and you don't realize that it's from the decisions from very early on.<br />
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I'm trying to encourage parents here, let's be a wise and be aware of the way that we're raising our kids.<br />
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The way that we are as mum and dad, the way that we love one another impacts a one-year-old you have to wait till they're 13 to look out what's going on.<br />
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The way that we honor one another in our household impacts our children.<br />
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The way that we talk about a passionate love for Jesus will impact the way your children are raised than the way they love Jesus.<br />
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Just saying we don't need to talk about that and we go to church. Nope. The culture in the environment that you set, it will impact the next generation.<br />
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When I start thinking about the years beforehand that you've got to prepare for this. I just feel like God is saying come on, wake up to love.<br />
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If we know that if children grew up in love and affirmation it's a powerful thing. But if they grow up in false affirmation, you have another problem because we also have been in a world where now whatever you want to be, you can be which isn't entirely true.<br />
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We want our kids to have big dreams, and we want them to be who they're called to be, but if someone cannot sing a note in tune don't tell them to go on the local talent show and say you're the best singer ever because I'm your mother. It's going to be embarrassing for them.<br />
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We have people who were deluded because they were told so long that you are genuine, you are the best, you're special. It's shifted the other way, because when I was young, if I said I'm special, it will be don't think you're special, your parents won't let you think you were special it's going to your head. Today is like you're special, I love yourself and against some of these things in the right balance a true about learning to love ourselves and these other things.<br />
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But when we just think how and just do anything I want to see it breeds an arrogance and also it disempowers people.<br />
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When you go in the school races today, we know there's not really a first you can have eight, you can be six winner.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">I never won, it told me about hard work.</span></b><br />
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<b>If there's no losers, you don't understand about hard work. If you're going to take sixth place and you're a winner, you're gonna feel like you're a fraud.</b><br />
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It will take more than a little badge to say hey aren't you great, you came six then you're like a winner, Nope. because we've got like nurture and be careful.<br />
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So we need to be aware of these influences in this generation and <b>we need as parents to promote trust, to teach them trust, to teach them in what endurance means.</b><br />
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You might not always be able to have what you want when you want it.<br />
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To teach them have a real conversation that we set an example where our phones are on the dining table when we're having dinner with our children. what for? what is that for? we're teaching that this is a reliance that we need that we have. We create in culture and this is a generational influence a current that is run right through and we're jumping in on it.<br />
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I said to you this isn't blaming Millennials. Because in fact Generation X, my generation are the ones they were the minds that came up with Google, Amazon and YouTube. So my generation created what we're now in. So for us to think are their generation of today, not like when I was a kid. No we created that.<br />
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I'm trying to now speak back to that and so what are we gonna build right now is too late, wait, we're in front and then say what the heck were we doing?<br />
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We need to as the church and as Christian parents and even if you listen to this and you don't have a faith you know there's something for you in this, there's something about you building great young people, building children for the future.<br />
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I think every parent wants that kids with carrots and kids that are not influenced by likes and dislikes, but they find out who they really are and that identity comes through who are the guardians of them.<br />
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So it be aligned to think that the decisions that I make today are independent of those that come after me. We need to realize that.<br />
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So my decisions that I make around the way that I speak to my wife, around the decisions I make around finance in debt, the decisions that I make about how we going to set the culture in our home? how are we going to talk about others? are we going to believe the best? or are we gonna have a cynical crisp wedge?<br />
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<b>It would be a lie to think that my adultery will not impact the next generation.</b> well had a blip.<br />
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I want us to realize because we so easily smooth things offered in the Generation. Christians sometimes we good at this is like hey don't worry about that. Now I believe God has an answer for it.<br />
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I believe that God is a redeemer, but if we just think that we behave how we want independently of how it's going to impact our children, we've got another thing coming.<br />
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So that is a challenge to say, let's be wise about the way that we think, let's teach them what godly wisdom is, but let's do it by living as an example.<br />
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How do you show kindness to your children? how do you show patience, gratitude?<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">3 Generations:</span></b><br />
This is a God speak to Moses. This is the first time that we see in Scripture that God refers generationally. He's not just speaking of Moses, he's speaking to the generations. God has this view, way he speaks he speaking hey I'm not just your God, but I'm the God of your father, and I'm the God of Abraham, I'm the god of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.<br />
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You've got these three generations that he mentions and it's really important, because he's speaking something to us about the relevance of three generations .<br />
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So there's a pattern of behavior that you can create within three generations that once you establish it becomes resilient. It takes on permanence for good or for bad.<br />
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So you think back about all, yeah well that happened to my parents and actually my dad said that's because his dad was like that, and in fact we got bit the thing that runs through the family <b>because that divorce thing carried on from one generation to another generation to another, that alcohol issue and addiction ran from one generation to another to another.</b><br />
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What God is saying here is, you give me three generations that obey me and follow me that find a place to actually sort of say, we're putting you first god, we're gonna build your house firs,t and as for me and my family we will serve the Lord.<br />
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But you know what, the devil isn't really that bothered if you just you're a one flash wonder or one generation wonder. You can either be the greatest. I don't know Reacher of people impacting this world in one generation.<b> If you don't pass it to them to your children, to the next generation, it won't stick there's no stickability</b>. It'll be like who was that? Can't really remember much about they did a few things didn't they?<br />
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But when you get it stick into the second generation, that's when the enemy gets work, <b>that's why the enemy is interested in robbing the seed of the next generation</b>, that's why there is a contention and a battle.<br />
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Maybe I'm speaking to some parents that are going through something right now where it just feels like you're your child, your teenager, maybe your grown-up child is like just walking away from God or in their place that they made bad choices because you've got to know that there is a battle for your seed. Because once you pursue and you press in and you back, we have to realize this is a cosmic battle.<br />
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It's not just like, oh we're having a few issues here, because of I don't know social media, self harm, etc. You have to realize there's a big cosmic battle going on here.<br />
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Seven years before we're building into our children these things and as you start looking at that you start seeing how we need to set them up, set them up to win, set them up. But God wants to see this resilience, it comes through the pan of generational. generational thinking it's challenging, isn't it?<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">God responds generationally:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
So we could safely say that God responds generationally.<br />
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When he speaks to Moses, he's not speaking just to Moses. He doesn't just see your generation. So even with us here right now, on this day, he doesn't just see you, he actually sees the generations that are within you. He sees the generations before that's how he responds to us is generationally.<br />
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That's why, it's important that we don't disconnect. It's like our turn, this is our slot, this is our light you know we've arrived here on stage, here we are and it doesn't really have a big impact on what's coming next. Nope. it does.<br />
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We have to realize what we've picked up that isn't good, realize what is good that we need to pick up and carry and then we got to decide what we're gonna take into the next with all of the environment and all of the sort of challenge of the environment and the culture of the generation we live in right now. But God is with us.<br />
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That's why, I think we have certain nations around the world particularly in some of our third world countries where men abdicate responsibility as fathers. Because if you can get father's not to step up into their responsibility, you break the line of a generational pattern.<br />
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<b>If those men keep stepping away, maybe I'm speaking to one now is if you sort of had just tempted to leave your wife, or to leave your children, and maybe you're not even married but you're gonna walk away because it's easier to for you just to look after yourself, it's easy for you to go and earn your money and find other women, it's easier for you to sort of live selfishly, you haven't thought that this is about the generations But there's something about the generations that will come and that's why it's the greatest robber.</b><br />
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I'm saying that God is a God of the generations and if we just think this is about my world and my pressure and my challenge and I'm struggling to support my family so I'm gonna walk. The enemies, they're saying there, there's another generation that will amount to nothing, and there's brokenness in the trail.<br />
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It's only when we get this turn around and I especially man, God's man that would actually step up in responsibility and set this culture and set this for those that are coming after us.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">My obedience today is my children's blessing tomorrow.</span></b><br />
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It's not just about me doing something, so I can get a blessing today, no my obedience the reason that I'm gonna discipline myself, the reason I'm gonna pursue God through this, the reason I'm gonna show them that we will always trust God no matter what is, because my obedience today will be the blessing of my children tomorrow. It doesn't stop with me.<br />
This is what God is saying the benefit that I think the challenge is coming through the generations as in that that negative stuff, but the positive thing is when I get it right, it flows through the generations.<br />
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So we know that, he was starts off Abraham, he starts off basically no children, Barron there's this promise to say I'm gonna make your descendants like your seed. What does it come through? what does the blessing come through? it comes through obedience.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Because you have obeyed me</span></b>, and he's speaking to Abraham here and you will see that there is even Levi who is like his great-grandson, it say it talks about the blessing that comes to him because of what Abraham did.<br />
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It means that what you do today, and the hard decision you make today, and the choice to follow God, the choice to maybe give when it's difficult, all these things when you're obedient to what God has called you to do, it spills out and it floods out on the generation to come.<br />
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This is for us as a church, it's not just for people with people with children. We got to realize no matter what age you are, what generation you are, you're not out of this, you're in it right now and there is something about what we're spilling into the next generation, what we're modeling for the next generation and it says clearly because of your obedience. I'm taking you from barrenness to fertility, to an abundance all because obedience is the key.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Obedience is the key.</span></b> Whatever you're struggling with right now, obedience is the key. If you think that your marriage is over, you need to realize that he doesn't give up on it, obedience is key. He's a God of restoration. It's not just oh well we're packaged that and put it off and carry on.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Boomers - Generation X - Millennials</span></b><br />
So I'm going to try doing something now. I want to do this diagram that I made.here we go these are three generations.<br />
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So we've talked about three generations create in a pan a cyclical pattern either of good or a bad.<br />
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The boomers are my parents generation. they're the boomers perhaps the baby boomers, they had this sort of hippie and all that sort of stuff and they were like found this little liberal and there was all this stuff and so there was this big like increase that they just called the Boomers.<br />
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Generation X might was came out of that. so we were like we were being built on out of that. Then the Millennials come on top of this.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Generational Current:</span></b><br />
But through it all, you've got to realize that there is a current. So a generational current that flows through from one to the other.<br />
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We can actually prolong that and build banks to gauge it through for bad or for good, and it will pass through. and that's why people talk about all year, my great-grandfather and we looked in our roots here and it's got this.<br />
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If you're not intentional to break something that is damaging your family, the current will run through one generation to another to another with all the complexities and challenge of the current generation.<br />
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But if you get it right and you start saying do you know what? as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord, I'm not going to say to my kids when they get to that awkward age of saying I don't want to go to church and they sit there looking miserable, well we're a bit more like you're special, aren't you? and we just want you to find your way and like experience it for yourself, you stay at home mum and dad go to church. You're making a big mistake. I'm telling you big mistake.<br />
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There's somewhere in the middle we means you don't have to force children. If I'm leading my children, I'm saying this is what we're doing as a family, and I'm not gonna make you worship, I'm not gonna make you do things, but we're gonna go and this is something that is a priority and as long as you live in my house.<br />
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I'm saying you that this is the current that runs through, because all at that time you're exposing them to one moment where the Holy Spirit drops revelation suddenly they understand, well this isn't just my parents faith, this is a faith for me.<br />
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But some of us haven't even got our kids in the place to be able to hear it, because we decided to vacate and get out there, because we didn't like the confrontation at home. We didn't like the atmosphere because it was awkward and there were times in the bedroom, and there were times like where we had to bring discipline, because we just taught me as well just give in.<br />
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<b>Don't give in because this is the generation to come, this is like a birthright, this is your inheritance.</b><br />
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I've seen too many parents just get into this wishy-washy stuff more out of fear rather than out of conviction to lead.<b> Leadership is what's missing.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Choices:</span></b><br />
All of this comes around this thing called choices.<br />
This is the good news, you can be in a generation that is rubbish and I'm sure I'm speeding some people that haven't had parents raised them, maybe you were adopted, raised by your auntie, maybe you were like in a situation where you just did not have a good start.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Legion</span></b><br />
I know many people in the Bible there was one called Legion and he had so many like spirits and demons. My guess is he didn't have a good family background. But when Jesus turns up, everything changes.<br />
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Because when Jesus turns up, he didn't say hey you got a few issues, we need to like check you into like a health clinic or something. He says I see the purpose and destiny in you.<br />
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What he's doing is he speaking to Legion about his future. He's saying that today's the time to make a choice.<br />
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I think as he brings deliverance. He's also encountering the Jesus that makes all things do.<br />
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So even if you're at a place where just thinking yeah well I had a good start look at it like it's absolutely I've had a terrible beginning. But today you can make a choice.<br />
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All through this, some of us even have a great foundation and we make bad choices.<br />
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I can't make my children make good choices I'm gonna set up to do that but all of us have choices. This is the thing that stands out in the generation that we're in. This is the thing that changes it all and what is it all for? it's because we're preparing the Alpha generation.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Alpha Generation:</span></b><br />
The Alpha Generation are our kids right now. Our little kids that have been born.<br />
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The Alpha generation is the rocket ship we're launching. This is what we have right now in front of us.<br />
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Everything we do with this generational current that we're going to make sure it's a good generational current, we're gonna make sure it's powerful, we're gonna make good choices that make the difference.<br />
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Why? because we want to see our alpha generation launch, they will go further than we ever went.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">The choices that we make will decide whether they go far or fall short. </span></b><br />
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You cannot separate the choices you are making right now with the way it's going to pour out as a blessing upon those that are yet to come.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">The choices I make today impact the generations to come. </span></b><br />
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That's right for every one of us not just parents. You can be young people, you can be a teenager today, the choice you'll make today and being obedient to Jesus will take you this way or that way. You've got a choice to make.<br />
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<b>Don't make the lesser choice, don't sell yourself short, hold out for God's best.</b><br />
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The choice I make about Tithing. I want to bring the reality of this where God says you know where to bring the Tithing and the offerings into the house of God. It's not just oh well I don't really know if I agree with that.<br />
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<b>I wanna to say that your lack of obedience will spill over upon the future generations to come. </b><br />
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It's not just about well you know we've taken this new mortgage and it's a bit tired. You have made your own house and you've caused a disadvantage to your children. But you think, you created a nicer home but you've created a more difficult future.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Cathedral Thinking:</span></b><br />
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There's a picture of a cathedral and you would have heard me talk about this years ago Cathedral thinking. I don't want to deposit this few Cathedral thinking. what it means is?<br />
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<b>When they went to build a cathedral they would plant a tree 80 years before they started building the cathedral.</b><br />
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Why? so that they had trees to harvest for the timbers and in the roof and all the scaffold that they would build with it. Its look like a forest.<br />
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So 80 years before, they say we're gonna build a cathedral. and they build they would sow, imagine putting in these saplings 80 years before. I'm never ever gonna see this tree like cut and used into its final purpose. I'm never going to see it.<br />
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But there's something that this generation understood about generational thinking, that is not actually about what I plant, and what I sow, not about what I reap.<br />
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But we've got involved through self-indulgence to want to see, I want to see an instant result now but God is saying to his church and he's saying to us a freedom right now <b>that is not about what an instant result, it's about what you will sow for the generations to come.</b><br />
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It means what would you put in the hard work for what you're gonna go out into the rain and the storm to dig into sow, you won't benefit from it directly but the generations to come will. and they'll say who planted that tree to build the cathedral is called cathedral thinking.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Compounded Obedience = Generational Blessing</span></b><br />
So the result is compounded obedience, time and time again, resulting generation to generation, obedience results generational blessing.<br />
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A blessing that flows, many of us are enjoying the blessing because of the obedience of those that went before us. and it's flowing God wants to increase it and it's exponential and it increases and it flows.<br />
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<b>I personally want to make sure that when we check out, we're going to leave more for those that are coming than what we have.</b><br />
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Do you know? we have pastors around the world, and we got some church around the world. We struggling from week to week because we didn't have a resource to step into. The reason we didn't have that resource because we didn't have people who thought generationally before us.<br />
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Because this faith been going for 2000 years and if we were obedient, forefathers were obedient, we'd be stepping into an abundance, that there wouldn't be lack like we have. So you can't change that.<br />
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What I'm saying is we need to change it. We need to change the way that we leave more land, that we leave more finance, that we leave more opportunity, that we leave more vision, that we leave more wisdom for the generation that's coming.<br />
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It means we got to think forward, we have to think generationally, and it's true compounded obedience. that's what we want to do. This changes everything.<br />
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What are we gonna leave?<br />
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I pray that God a bless this word to you. Don't forget to join us next week where we're going to be looking at dealing with the Giants in our generation.<br />
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Amen</div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-44204643100633434832018-08-11T23:32:00.001+05:302018-08-11T23:39:00.322+05:30LET US RISE UP & BUILD<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Hey Church LET US RISE UP & BUILD. #B120</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When was the last time you prayed and cried for Chennai?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>LET US - OWNERSHIP</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Let us take the ownership of vision and needs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Don't become numb to the need.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Ownership is the driving force for a miracle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Sometimes it takes a foreigner to inspire the locals to do something about their city. Don't wait for a foreigner to do the work that you're supposed to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The body of Christ was not called to abdicate but to take ownership.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>US - UNITY</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When the vision comes, you gotta fight for it. You're not just fighting for yourself. You are fighting for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There's a unity, there's blessing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Their house divided against itself cannot stand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Unity equals vision over preference.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Rather than bringing problems, you have to bring solutions. It's vision over preference.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We are the people who build up not tear down.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>RISE UP - BELIEVE</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We need to have faith that we can double.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When you rise up, You have to step up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You play a vital role.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You're here for a reason. You have a gate, wall, tower to build. What you build matters. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>BUILD - SACRIFICE OUR COMFORT</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We have to understands that we're standing on the shoulders of sacrifice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Freedom Church is not built on the gifts and talents of a few but on the sacrifice of many.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Would we be willing to give up something for someone that perhaps we would never even meet? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Would we be willing to sacrifice something huge and for that person to never know your name?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You are not too old and you are not too young. God wants to use what you have.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You might feel like a burnt stones but God wants to use whatever you give him. We need to run together as the Church.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">God wants to encourage you today that whatever you give, it doesn't go unnoticed.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><i><u>LET US RISE UP & BUILD</u></i></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><u><br /></u></i></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><i><u>#B120 -> Build 120</u></i></span></b></div>
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We need to cross the river and receive everything that God has for us.<br />
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We want to share vision ultimately because we genuinely believe that Jesus can change the city, if you're a Christian and if you forgot that then you've got issues.<br />
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You and I need vision. Otherwise we get bored, we get distracted, we get confused and asking Lord what is your work for my life?<br />
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<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><i><u>Nehemiah</u></i></span></b></div>
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I want to share with you some vision from the guy in the Bible who received the Godly Vision and he was famous because he saw it into completion. We can learn from anybody who receives vision, it should be someone historically completed.<br />
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We can learn from Nehemiah<br />
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<b>Nehemiah completed the vision, but not everything's perfect.</b><br />
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His people have been in slavery in Babylon for 70 years that's the longer than most of you and I alive in the world. He's been slavery for 70 years and he gets news that the place where he came from is in destruction.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b style="background-color: white;">Nehemiah 1:1-4</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b style="background-color: white;">In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, </b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b style="background-color: white;">Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b style="background-color: white;">They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b style="background-color: white;">When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.</b></span><br />
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Nehemiah receives and hears this news of Jerusalem that's been burnt down. Immediately as he receives it, he begins to carry a burden for it.<br />
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<b>What we need to do as a God's people? We need to carry a burden for the city.</b><br />
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<b>When was the last time you prayed and cried for Chennai?</b> When was the last time we wept?<br />
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We have to understand. This isn't some fairy tale stories, God put stories in for reason.<br />
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What we need to understand is, what Jerusalem represents? Jerusalem was where God's people were, and if it's good, if it's blessed, if it's prosperous that means that God's people are good. But when it's broken down, it means we got issues. it means that things weren't as good as they used to be, it means that there's some dire situation.<br />
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What we want to understand is that, with these examples of <b>the wall represent the church.</b><br />
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When Nehemiah looked upon the dire destruction of the walls, it represents sometimes and I would say currently <b>God's heart for the church.</b><br />
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God's heart for this city, then he called the Christians to go make an impact in. But right now, it's not where it should be or where it could be.<br />
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We're gonna understand this for the context, in many respects you can say that the city is our city. What God desires is our 120.<br />
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As he begins to get this burden, thankfully Nehemiah is the cupbearer to the king. My presumption is that he holds cups for the King.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Because once you get a vision, God give the provision to get that.</span></b><br />
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He will give the favour that you need to walk. He will give you access through the gates to the doors to fulfill what God has called you to do.<br />
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Nehemiah walks into the presence of the king. What the King doesn't know is that Nehemiah is with the presence of the king. He walks in and says I got a burden, I see what could be and I've got to do something about it. So the King says, well you'll break with I, are you going to do it? so he takes the vision, he gets permission favour from God to go and do what God called him to do. We too have that favour to do that.<br />
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Then he goes to the priests, the officials and the Bible says the people who are going to do the work. Guess what? <b>that's you and I.</b><br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">Nehemiah 2:17-18</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.”</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.</span></b><br />
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Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: <b>Chennai </b>lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of <b>Chennai</b>, and we will no longer be in disgrace.”<br />
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I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.<br />
They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.<br />
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Do you know about the 7% Christians, Some people tell me that planning to plant church in Chennai because there is too many Christians. It's 80% other religions. Its our job to do.<br />
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We need to get bulletin for our city.<br />
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As he shares the vision what was their response? go away??? No. I don't want nothing to do with it??? No. I prefer my monthly work hours at work??? No I think that's just for the pastor??? No. What did they say<b><span style="color: red;"> let us rise up and build</span></b>.<br />
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<b>So they strengthen their hands for the good work. Once he received a burden, he presented vision and all of the people said let us go and do this, let us respond. </b><br />
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What I want us to get the framework of how hard for you is that you would be commissioned to be able to say let us raise up and build. That is our heart for you today.<br />
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If you receive the visions, you hear it, what does the Bible(Habakkuk 2:2) say <b>Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">We are builders:</span></b><br />
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Did you know that every single one of us are builders? and did you know that there's a good chance that you're currently building?<br />
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You may not be building physical houses but certainly building something. Either you're building your career, or you're building your education to get those three little letters, or you're building an image, you're building a name for yourself, you're building a home where kids can be, maybe your job is to literally build people. Whatever it is, we're builders.<br />
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I realize it's from a very young age that I like to build business. It's really not going for well but the desire was always within me. so from the age of 10, I used to hire myself out to my mother and I would charge 100 rupees to work for the day. and I stopped doing it because its look likes slavery. So that was the age of 10.<br />
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At the age of 12, I will call all my friends together and said I would have million-dollar idea, working pounds but it's a million-dollar idea. So what we're going to do is, we're going to get all of the stuff in our house that we don't want and we're going to sell them at school. so you know this was the idea, Do you want my PlayStation game? Do you want color T-Shirt? When going to sell them, I realized that I am the only one who provides the good and I have to split the profits.<br />
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At the age of 14 -15, I really interested shares in the stock market. I don't know why? I don't know numbers much, But my fascinating. So me and my grandma, we would go to back in the newspaper, and there are things with penny shares. I don't know if you have here. The penny shares, basically when a company first goes on the stock market, don't worry if this isn't making sense, stay with me. so we literally just watched these shares, maybe one rupee each and the hope and desire would be that times are multiplied by 500 times and then you make your money. I was really interested in and research so much so that I would have stockbrokers from the London stock market calling my parents, my home phone saying hello this is Mr.XXXX. My dad would answer, I need to discover that they weren't talking to him, it was the little boy. so I pick up the phone to call the stock market and they are saying Is it Mr.XXXX? I said yes, this is Mr.XXXX speaking, and they said would you like to invest in the London Stack Market? My dad was furious about this because 90% of our phone calls from these people. Yes I said I would like to invest. But there was a one problem, I don't really match your criteria. What you mean? How old are you? I am only 14. He said that you are the youngest person i have spoken.<br />
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From my early stage, I began to discover that I have to build stuff.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Every single one of us, everybody wants to feel like they're part of something big.</span></b><br />
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Why do you want to give to charity? why do we change your jobs? because we know that what we're doing is making a difference. that's within Millennial's, especially with such a high employee turnover, because the moment we don't feel like we're making a difference opportunity, we looking for the next job.<br />
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The reality is what I've discovered is that every single one of us want to be a part of something bigger.<br />
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What I realized as I was going to journey of building my own name, my own reputation, my own career. Literally, I had plans for my life.<br />
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As I was building towards that, something rudely interrupted my plans, he was called Jesus, it was called Freedom Church. All of a sudden I had a glimpse of something that it could be. All of a sudden I had a glimpse of something that actually met that when I get part of this, somebody else's eternity can change.<br />
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<b>What else can you do, when somebody else's eternity can change.</b><br />
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I need to tell you this morning that there is nothing like the kingdom of Heaven. Bible(Matthew 13:45) says when you get glimpse of the kingdom of heaven is like a pearl that you would sell everything for.<br />
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What I'm saying is, there's nothing greater than the church you can be a part of. Trust me I'm not saying this as a Pastor. I knew this before I was a Pastor.<br />
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God took over my life and he gave me something to build. I believe that the same vision that same how that's something that Nehemiah had. I found something worth building, I found something worth being a part of. So we're going to discover what those things were?<br />
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When I talk about today is, what is it going to take for us to say let us raise up and build? so we're gonna break it down really simply.<br />
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<i><u><b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">LET US - </span></b><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>OWNERSHIP</b></span></span></u></i></div>
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For me, the word LET US is declaration that says ownership, this declaration that says this is no longer Nehemiah's vision, this is our vision.<br />
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Here's what you need to cross. This 120 isn't my vision, this is our vision and that only takes place for ownership.<br />
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So this concept that has to be gone to the next level. LET US means ownership.<br />
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Nehemiah's vision became their vision. Ownership says, this is no longer your vision, it is mine and it's ours. First we need to take ownership of the vision.<br />
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Secondly we need to take ownership of the need.<br />
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Once you take ownership of the vision, I think that actually ownership of the need prevails your ownership of the vision.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Don't become numb to the need:</span></b><br />
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There is a need for these walls to be built. I don't know if you got the memo, but there is a need for this morning that is why I'm going to give every sweat on this stage, this floor, this morning. Because there is a wall that needs to be built, yeah there is a need that can only be prevailed through Jesus.<br />
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Why do I do anything else? there is a need out there that can only be prevailed through Jesus.<br />
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Though Israelites went to Babylon and were in slavery, there are also some that stay behind. So that tells me that there is a whole group of Israelites were still in the city. It means that they saw what Nehemiah saw. <b>They saw the issue, they saw the need. But it became the status quote, it became normal.</b> They let it pass their minds that actually what they were saying was, <b>I'm not going to take responsibility for this, this is someone else's problem.</b><br />
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There are some Israelites still in Jerusalem, but everyone else said, this is somebody else's problem. No offense, there's something pretty offensive someone might speak to me after this. But why is this such a garbage problem in India? because someone says this isn't my problem, What can I do with it?<br />
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But the same kind of mentality happens to the church. So when we share your vision, you say that's your problem and yet we become apathetic, we become familiar, we forgot the ownership of the vision. We became numb to the need.<br />
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The God is waking up as courage to say there is a need that you can prefill, then there is an ownership that you can have you.<br />
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When you see Nehemiah, he was the difference-maker. He said no longer am I just gonna look past it, but I'm going to engage with it. He chooses to own it rather than avoid it.<br />
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<b>This message is not to the leaders. This vision is not for the leaders. It is for you. If you are here today, this vision is for you. This requires your ownership.</b><br />
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You need to understand that <b><span style="color: red;">ownership is the driving force for a miracle</span></b>. We have to take ownership to see it take place.<br />
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What I love about this story is that once the Israelites were in Babylon for 70 years. Did you know that Nehamiah, though he was an Israelite was born in Babylon? that tells me that all this time whilst Jerusalem and the walls were burned down and all of this destruction took place, Nehamiah never actually saw it until chapter 1 someone tells them about it.<br />
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In other words, what this tells me is that Nehamiah wasn't from there. He was Israelite by blood but not by name.He was grown up in Babylon. He was born somewhere different.<br />
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<b>Sometimes it takes a foreigner to inspire the locals to do something about their city. Don't wait for a foreigner to do the work that you're supposed to do.</b><br />
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This is more serious not funny. There's nothing wrong being a foreigner. I am gonna be a foreigner for rest of my life. You're gonna take responsibility, It's your vision, your church, your city.<br />
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It's easy to look at the pastor and say Hey, you do sacrifice, you can put these hours of the week but I'll continue doing my stuff. I'll continue doing my thing and there's no real ownership. But it to someone else to come and step in and saying you needs to get a heart for your city.<br />
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Can I just break these walls and these chairs because I feel like there's bit of a barrier between us. God brought me here today and he told me to bring you guys here today and to tell you you needs to get a heart for your city.<br />
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You need to say this is my vision. You need to take a ownership of it. you're obeying matters.<br />
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Nehamiah understood that in order to for this wall to be built, I need to take ownership for it.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">The body of Christ was not called to abdicate but to take ownership.</span></b><br />
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So how can you take ownership of this vision? do not just gets up in series on, you need to get your hands dirty.<br />
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How can we take ownership? we need to say these are my people. You need to take ownership these people in this city.<br />
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I have a heart to give, I have a burden to pray. I'm going to serve my king, I don't serve money. this is how if you take ownership LET US.There's no separation here, this is part together.<br />
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You and I need to take a ownership because it is the vehicle for a miracle.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><i><u>US - UNITY</u></i></span></b></div>
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<b>US </b>represents <b>Unity</b>.<br />
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Unity verse disunity. If we're going to see this happen, it's gonna require our unity. We're gonna stand in this together.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Nehamiah 4:14</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.</span></b><br />
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<b>When the vision comes, you gotta fight for it</b>. Also you're not just fighting for yourself. Never said fight for yourself. Fight for brothers and sisters next to you. You are gonna fight for this vision Church. Its about unity, it's about Brotherhood sisterhood standing together.<br />
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They had a lot of backlash but in the one place that we do not have disunity is inside the wall. All the gossip and the stuff happened outside of the walls, but can we not have it inside the walls? because it is in the inside walls that God's people are and we need to protect and fight.<br />
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Do you know why the church fails to be a powerful one? because it fails to be a united one.<br />
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Bible says that <b>There's a unity, there's blessing</b>. Our unity matters more than you could ever imagine. How we speak? what we say? what we think?<br />
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Bible says that <b>their house divided against itself cannot stand</b>. So what I'm saying is today they notice if you've got issues you got to deal with it. Because there is more at stake than our preferences.<br />
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We need to understand vision and unity. <b><span style="color: red;">Unity equals vision over preference</span></b>.<br />
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Real simple, unity means that it's not about my preference, but it's about the bigger picture.<br />
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Disunity means that we have lost sight of the vision.<br />
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Let me give you some examples. Now it's not the time to complain about song choices, it's time to get a burden for change.<br />
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Now is not the time to get hurt about how someone spoke to you, it's time to get a heart for salvation.<br />
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<b>Rather than bringing problems, you have to bring solutions. It's vision over preference.</b><br />
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As we do, We will build the walls of God city. Unity matters.<br />
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How do we talking and thinking about one another is matters. I am not gonna talk about you, you're not gonna talk about me. But one thing I do promise is that people outside world. You just got to deal with it, because <b>nothing good came easy.</b><br />
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If all we here doing good stuff, all we here is pleasing people. You are gonna upset the people in the way to the vision for the vision. We need to make sure that there is no gossip inside.<br />
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How many volunteers we got engaged doesn't matter. Because it's vision over preference. That is how we build the walls of God city.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">We are the people who build up not tear down.</span></b><br />
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What they did when enemy came, they fought with one hand and build with another. Keep protect church. We need our unity.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><i><u>RISE UP - BELIEVE</u></i></span></b></div>
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<b>Rise </b>means <b>Believe</b>.<br />
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We have to believe. Do you believe that God's hand is upon us to finish? But that is exactly Nehamiah believed.<br />
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Next time, you tell your parents and friends. What are you doing? 120 because the Lord's hand is upon me.<br />
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We have to believe. I have faith life matters. I have believe about this vision matters. We need to have faith that we can double. We need to believe in what we're apart. We need to rise up.<br />
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These people have been in slavery for 70 years. It takes some sort of faith together and stand up and said I'm gonna go again.<br />
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This wasn't the first time when walls went down. <b>After 70 years of failure, disappointment and frustration, they said I'm going to rise up. </b><br />
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If you're in that place, you to need to rise up and believe.<br />
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Are there any Christians here today who are going to rise up for that city?<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">STEP UP:</span></b><br />
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<b>When you rise up, You have to step up.</b><br />
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You play a vital role.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Nehemiah 3:22-24</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">The repairs next to him were made by the priests from the surrounding region.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">Beyond them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs in front of their house; and next to them, Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">Next to him, Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section, from Azariah’s house to the angle and the corner</span></b><br />
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It says how individual got involved and how they were used to build they were designed to build.<br />
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What you see in this chapter is name after name after name.<br />
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<b>You have something to build.</b> You are here because God called you to build part of the gate. God brought you here because there is a people only you can impact. God called us to influence and impact.<br />
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There was name and something that they built. They remembered for eternity. that means that what we built matters.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">You're here for a reason. What you build matters. You have a gate, wall, tower to build.</span></b><br />
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We have to watch out not to neglect. you act that we are responsible<br />
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You are not here by mistake. Fundamentally believe that. You here for reason and you have a vital role to play.<br />
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I'm so serious, this is the only reason we came to Chennai. Because we're so passionate about your potential and what is in you. You have a part to play.<br />
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To see something that's never been done before is going to call us to do something that is never been done before.<br />
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Maybe never tried, maybe never served, maybe you've never seen him move when it was time to step up.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">BELIEVE:</span></b><br />
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Why we have to believe? Is other churches not doing anything? Because we forgot that church is the home of God. We forgot that there is no bond between mankind.<br />
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We got to believe what Jesus died for is to give life for.<br />
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Jim Cymbala says "<b>I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show himself mightily on our behalf</b>"<br />
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It's crazy, it's stupid, it doesn't make sense. but maybe We might see God move in our heart.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><u><b><span style="color: red;">BUILD - </span></b><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;"><b>SACRIFICE OUR COMFORT</b></span></span></u></i></span></div>
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We're gonna build. Our involvement, a part to play in this matters.<br />
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When Nehamiah shared the vision with them, these guys they got up and they worked hard<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Nehamiah4:6</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.</span></b><br />
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All of their heart. They gave it everything. Blood, sweat and tears they worked hard.<br />
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We understand that working hard at work because we getting paid for it. But this does voluntary, but it's not shallow.<br />
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When action we can see eternity change. When action we can see we will believe.<br />
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<b>This is requires a sacrifice.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Would we be willing to give up something for someone that perhaps we would never even meet? </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: red;">Would we be willing to sacrifice something huge and for that person to never know your name?</span></b><br />
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These people knew what it meant to sacrifice.<br />
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December 2015: this is actual church plant team. A team of a 18, came all the way in 2015 to start a church in Chennai and now We are here.<br />
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What I love to found passionating is most of us, We don't even know their names. <b>We don't know their names but yet they were willing to sacrifice everything so that we could be here today.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">We have to understands that we're standing on the shoulders of sacrifice.</span></b><br />
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If we're going to see 120, 150, 200, We can get out of this hotel. They just may not know our names. But I thought today I'll take a picture. When the room is full and they don't know your names I'll be able to take and show them a picture. There are people that were willing to sacrifice and the people that were willing to say I'll do whatever it takes. it doesn't matter whether they know me just so that we can see God's church expand and run.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Freedom Church is not built on the gifts and talents of a few but on the sacrifice of many.</span></b><br />
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Mine and your sacrifice is how we're going to get there.There is a 120 will or will not be here based on the sacrifice of people in this room.<br />
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So what does sacrifice look like? I think they put in extra hours to build the wall. It means serving and volunteering, it means giving what you have, it means being more time, it means inviting like maybe never invited before, it means making time for this vision in your life. It's about getting uncomfortable.<br />
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Did you know? God didn't bring you here so that you would be comfortable. God didn't bring you to this church so you're comfortable. He brought him here so that you would sacrifice and so that you'd see a miracle.<br />
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<b>Comfort that the world brings will rob you of what he has for you. </b><br />
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Am I willing to allow my comfort to decrease so that my local people can increase? Ask Jesus he knew that felt like for his comfort to decrease on that cross so his love for people could increase, that is what we need to do to <b>let us-Ownership, us-unity, rise up - believe, build - sacrifice our comfort</b>. So that we can see a miracle happen.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Nehemiah</b></span><b><span style="color: blue;"> 4:1</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews,</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, "What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble--burned as they are?"</span></b><br />
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What did they use to build the walls? so if the enemy comes to Nehemiah and mocks him. There might be some mocker's at the end of today, there might be some people who leave the church at the end of day.<br />
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What are these people Christians doing? you and I thinking of doubling. you're crazy.<br />
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It's amazing how they'll take God vision and make it your vision.<br />
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They says can they sacrifices? can they finish in a day? can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burnt ones?<br />
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What's it going to do with anything that last question, <b>can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burnt ones?</b><br />
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What we need to understand is the way that they built the wall was through the stones they were previously used, they were the stones that had been burnt during the destruction of the former city, they were the ones that would be the previous failures, these stones that have come to destruction, come to nothing run out of hope, these were the stones church that have baggage in issues, these were the stones that people said were useless, good-for-nothing, will never matter to anything,<br />
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These were the stones that God use to build his wall. They are the same stones and God is going to use to build his Church.<br />
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Because there are people here today and you feel like burnt stones. You feel like you've been through stuff, maybe you being part of other churches or you need a part places that seem so full of potential and you're thinking where did it all go wrong? there might be even tell about disappointment that you're carrying for your past. But I'm here to tell you today, there may be the things that seem insignificant or no value or a beating through the trials, it is burned stones that God is going to use today.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">You are matter to God:</span></b><br />
<b>If you're feeling unworthy or insignificant, you're just right for God. Because he love those burnt stones.</b><br />
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I'm here to tell you that you are here for a reason. I want to tell you that you matter. your role to play is important.<br />
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<b>You are not too old and you are not too young. God wants to use.</b><br />
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There is nothing in your life that grace can't get to, he has the plan for your life, you can make an impact. God sees your service, he will reward your pursuit, it is not all of a church, the church is the hope of the world. and you are the part of it.<br />
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I want you to know today that you are matter. You might feel like a burnt stones but God wants to use whatever you give him. We need to run together as the Church.<br />
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It doesn't matter what I feel like, I have or don't have, whatever it is, it's significance and matters<br />
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Every time you give in that offering bucket make a difference.<br />
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Every time you encourage the person, don't forget that person might have hard week. God might use you to encourage that person.<br />
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Every time you serving in the church, you laying down the brick to build the Church.<br />
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Every time you invite, you building the wall of the city.<br />
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Every time you care and waiting up for somebody, you are laying the stone that could be used by God.<br />
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Every time you sacrifice and you feel like nobody is seeing it, you are laying the stone that is seeing by God.<br />
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Every time you give your talents and you said God I don't have much ideas and gifting, you layed something for God's wall.<br />
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Every time you pray, I don't know what to pray and I don't pray loud, you are laying the stone for the Church.<br />
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<b>God wants to encourage you today that whatever you give, it doesn't go unnoticed.</b><br />
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The fact that you sat in this seat or read this, You don't have to be here but you are. My prayer today is you would be overwhelmed by vision. You want to say, God I want to use whatever I have, whatever it takes, I'm gonna work hard. I'm gonna do it with ownership. I'm gonna do it in unity. I'm gonna believe. I'm gonna build. and when you do, we see something incredible happen. You are here for a reason, God wants to use what you have.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><i><u>LET US RISE UP & BUILD</u></i></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><u><br /></u></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><i><u>#B120 -> Build 120</u></i></span></b></div>
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I believe today that God is capturing your heart with vision and you've been wondering why I am even here? what is my purpose? What might been a part of this place? why do I bother coming this morning? and God told me to tell you that you are here for a reason. It's calling you to build and be a part of something bigger and you can ever imagine. so there's a call for us to respond. I want you to ask the Holy Spirit is Holy Spirit, what more are you calling me to give? God how can I get involved? God no longer I am gonna go from me and stay on the outside, watch. I'm not going to observe but I'm going to own. I'm going to be a part of this. God I'm going to make the decision to build your church.<br />
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<b>Amen.</b></div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-33597658681547614262018-08-04T15:51:00.001+05:302018-08-04T15:51:39.333+05:30Jesus wants to make you uncomfortable | Week 6 | Jesus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Jesus, the Confronter</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>There is no believer who is born again is not called.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>When you step into your calling, you step out of your comfort.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>This message is to disturb those got comfortable.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Jesus will disturb your agenda until you confront your dysfunction to cause you to pursue the call.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Sometimes he'll call you out of your success, sometimes he'll call you out of where you've actually set things up quite well, things are pretty well sorted and comfortable and then Jesus turns up and says it's time to follow me.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>When God called you from day one, he didn't call you to training, it was a call to service.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>You cannot impact the world and remain being comfortable.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>You're a believer in Jesus Christ and if your faith is actually quite comfortable, you're in danger of dysfunction.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>The greatest enemy of faith is not fear but familiarity.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Somehow the provision of the miracle has become our prison.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>We so easily become familiar, I say it's one of the biggest enemies we have in the church, just get familiar with miracles, familiar with salvation, familiar with marriages that are redeemed, familiar with healing, familiar with forgiveness that goes on every day, familiar with hope and life familiar with this gospel that we have, that's demonstrated through action not through conversation.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Fear is the thing that often can drive your faith.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Your greatest days are found outside of comfort.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Jesus came to create a war against the system in every one of us and that is the war between belief and unbelief.</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>We need to start talking about what God is about to do? not about what's happened?</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>1) What dysfunction have you become comfortable with you? </i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>2) Where did you allow your faith to become comfortable?</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>3) In what ways, he asking you to leave your boat today?</i></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Jesus wants to make you uncomfortable</span></b><br />
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So we're gonna be looking in this part again about <b>who the real Jesus is</b>? and it's we like to look at this side that perhaps not everyone thinks about.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Teaching bike ride</span></b><br />
I just want to just mention one of my boys in an experience that we had years and years ago what reminded me was this week, I was talking to Josh my son and he was saying hey Dad, I think it's that time where I'm gonna teach Judah, his eldest son to ride a bike. When you get to that point as parents, we're gonna need to begin this process of riding a bike, it's one of those great things to sort of find freedom in. But when they're little, it doesn't come easy and it reminded me straightaway of when I was trying to teach Jordan, so George he was our third born, he wasn't that keen on riding a bike, he ride it with stabilizers, remember stabilizers put those little arms on the back, he'd be happy going around the sort of driveway on his stabilizers. But we went on whole day one time and well we're on whole day, we were all going to go for a family bike ride. Five boys, Heather and myself and we're all going to go for this like bike ride and with it, it's not helpful if he's on stabilizers. so I'm thinking, today is the day we can remove those stabilizers and he's going to learn what it is to find freedom. I thought it was a fantastic idea, Heather wasn't so keen but it's like today is the day, because we were gonna to go like an a 10 mile bike ride. I thought that was a good idea to start off with, and so off we went the other boy shot forward and then I'm trying to help like little jawed on his bike, and he was this little toddler on on his bike, and I'd obviously run alongside, you've done it parents, run alongside and they you think oh he doesn't know one I've let go until he crashes, tears getting back, come on George you can do it, back on the bike. This happens three times, four times, five times. He was so upset, I don't want to do it. I say you're gonna do it whether you like it or not because we're all waiting. We've started something, we're gonna finish it.<br />
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Maybe <b>Jesus has started something in your life, he wants to finish</b>. In fact he says that <b>I won't start something without the intention of finishing him</b>. It says that he started a good work in you will complete it. I just love the way Jesus process.<br />
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We don't like talking about the Jesus bit, that's gonna help you ride the bike without stabilizers.<br />
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Because what happened is, we kept going and going, I remember one point you were doing really well and we actually got some distance. I was thinking come on, he's got it, got it and then he veered off into the stinging nettles and he had sort of stings all up his legs and he was tears down his face. I said the best thing is you got to get back on that bike, and we got to go again. Heather's in the background heartbroken. Can't we stop this? I said No, we got to push through and that day he did learn to ride his bike, he overcame it. There was something about today's the day, there was pain involved, there was stress, it was very uncomfortable but he overcame.<br />
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There's something that God has speak to every one of us, about an area in our life. We all have it, it doesn't stop, an area where he's saying, it's time to do without the stabilizers, your fall back, your safety.<br />
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Because, we're involved in a walk of faith. If we're involved in a walk of faith, it means we got to step out with what we cannot understand or see. It means you're gonna need a step out sometimes on the water and not know whether are you gonna sink? so this is about the life that God has given us.<br />
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We're gonna start off with this scripture that was a great way to start off.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">[Simon, Andrew] & [James, John]</span></b><br />
Just think, they're theirs by the lake, they're doing their business, this is their business, their income, their livelihood and they're throwing out their nets, they're catching fish. and then Jesus just turns up, and he says it's time put your nets down to come and follow me. Because I'm gonna make you fishers of man.<br />
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So interesting that Jesus were at the very beginning cause two sets of brothers and he does it in this one passage.<br />
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<b>They're not only leaving their business, they're actually leaving their family, they're leaving something greater, they're leaving their security.</b><br />
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I want us to realize that when Jesus comes and he speaks into our life, there's always going to be a challenge, there's always gonna be something that's gonna say hey it's time to get up and leave.<br />
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He didn't go and say hey we're gonna hang out tonight and have a bit of a supper and I'm going to talk to you about the idea of following me. He didn't say I'm going to take you on a three-year plan, this is what its gonna look like, do you want to buy into it.<br />
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He came and immediately said follow me and when it talks about Peter and Simon's brother Andrew, they actually had a fishing business, these have one boat, they had a fleet that all business going on and it says they let things down and they went and followed.<br />
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<b>Jesus is disturbing the cycle of their life, the pattern of their life of what's going on</b>. and this is what he's done, I'm sure for many of us where Jesus came along and he doesn't always call us out of problems.<br />
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Many people think hey come to Jesus, come out of your problems. Sometimes he'll call you out of your success, sometimes he'll call you out of where you've actually set things up quite well, things are pretty well sorted and comfortable and then Jesus turns up he says right now it's time to follow me.<br />
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So let's not presume that Jesus just comes along to your problem situation to call you out of it, he'll actually call you out of your success. He will disturb your agenda to cause you to pursue the call.<br />
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In fact <b><span style="color: red;">when you step into your calling, you step out of your comfort. </span></b><br />
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I want us to understand this church, wherever we are around the world, we need to understand that when Jesus comes to call you, see every believer I believe is called. It's not like joining a club, It's not like hey just fancy doing a bit of this Jesus stuff right now.<br />
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Maybe you're sat in one of our locations listen to this, you've got some sort of faith but you're not quite sure, I'm telling you, Jesus when he calls you and you will know this you're going one direction, I know many almost like every week we see people who were going one direction and then suddenly, maybe they come into a location, maybe they hear a word and it's like Jesus calls them and says follow me and they respond to Jesus and by following him what do you do? you turn around and you follow, you turn into a new direction.<br />
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<b>When you're called, you step out of your comfort.</b> You look at all of the times that Jesus moves and calls people, they don't step into comfort, they step out of comfort.<br />
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We got to realize Jesus didn't save us to make us happy, he saved us to cause discomfort.<br />
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But if you've lived this life and you've heard the call, you will identify that when he called me, it created disturbance in my life, it created disturbance . It's not like hey do you know what we're all going live happily ever after, everything's gonna be like predictable from now on, do you know what? all your needs to be taken care of things are just gonna get better, and you're gonna think what is this life? is like Jesus, the comforter.<br />
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In fact the Bible doesn't refer to Jesus as the comforter, refers to him as the confronter.<br />
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<b>He comes to confront a system but the system is within us.</b><br />
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I'm going to show you what this is? he comes to confront things. Even as those brothers decided to get up and leave their business, leave their family to pursue Jesus. What would they do? they were leaving their comfort, security.<br />
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Here many people, I think sometimes we as the church done a terrible job at this, we sort of come and we say hey follow Jesus, Jesus is gonna forgive you. It's true there's forgiveness in Jesus. He will come, you can be reconciled to God through Jesus. We can say, how wonderful Jesus is? we can say he's your peace, he's this he's that.<br />
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<b>Yet there is something about Jesus being the confronter who will confront sin in your life, he will confront disobedience in your life, he will disturb your agenda even when it's not a sin, but it's not the best.</b><br />
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Because those guys I believe they had faith in God, they believed. But it's like, no there's more for you, he's disturbing them and he's saying will you get up? and will you move?<br />
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Straight after this point when the brothers got called, do you know where they end up? if you follow on in Scripture what happens next? they end up in the feeding of 5000.<br />
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So he calls them, not into comfort but discomfort. I've tried to imagine being the disciple around Jesus and I just thought it was pretty uncomfortable. You weren't there just thinking oh wow this is like you know, I mean one minute we're in a storm, we're gonna drown. Next minute, We've got impact over 20000 people, we've got packed lunch and Jesus is saying you sort it out in front of them all.<br />
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See, Jesus's confronting something, he's confronting something in the disciples, he won't avoid you and we get all worked up about it, perhaps ask someone else, But Jesus saying No do you want to grow? I'm gonna confront something, Do you wanna realize your potential? I'm gonna confront something.<br />
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Jesus will confront something within us but it's whether we're going to respond.<br />
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Jesus goes into the feeding of 5000 is like, this is where it's going to be guys, he sets it out from the beginning. He even talks about being the bread of life, he talks about hey I am the bread of life after the feeding of the 5000 and it says so many of them were offended, so he had thousands of people following, it says they were disciples. so more than the twelve, there were so many disciples and it says they got so offended. They said who can accept this? teaching is so hard, I think Jesus didn't know what he was doing.<br />
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Jesus was saying, if you're gonna get offended by this teaching, you're not gonna walk with me when we go through the trial. So many of them left many of them.<br />
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Jesus saying I haven't called you to comfort.<br />
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God has given you a call. When he called you from day one, he didn't call you to training, it was a call to service.<br />
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<b>Many of us would like to think, train me for a couple of years Lord then I'll be ready for the call. He doesn't do that, he calls you then he goes about training you. that's what I love.</b><br />
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You're not qualified because you train while in you past, he called you so as we respond to the gospel and we respond to his call, we're saying I hear you call and I'm coming after you.<br />
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<b>I think often comfort is from the devil, discomfort comes from Jesus.</b><br />
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We spend our lives seeking to be more and more comfortable. Jesus will spend time through our life trying to make us more uncomfortable.<br />
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I believe in bringing a message that is real, it's pretty, it's down to earth but we do, we are whole like our life is set up to actually become more comfortable, more laid-back, more sort of less challenge, less risk. Let's make ourselves, let's plan things so even towards the end of our life war, you just prepare them for death.<br />
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But there's something, because there are people check out. They finish their job, and they check out and like no vision. They just seem to suddenly become very old, because we respond to vision we don't respond to comfort.<br />
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Yet we feel uncomfortable all the time I hear people say, hey I love you know I love freedom Church, I came along to one of your locations but I just find it too challenging, yes it's uncomfortable. But when I look at who Jesus is? there's no other way.<br />
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<b>I believe that he wants the best for us in this.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Examples:</span></b><br />
Even right now, Hereford I'm preaching this message, give you an example of this, this isn't just a theory, this is the way God calls us and leads us on the front row alone. I've got <b>a family of five</b>, basically they don't have a thing, they're staying with their family waiting to go to Cape Town plant Church, put everything on the line and lay down their nets to say ready Lord.You ask them, if that process is comfortable.<br />
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I've got <b>Joshua & Rose </b>who also sold everything, this is on the front row guys, sold everything with their family of three and expecting another one, sold everything, going from one home to another, waiting and believing to get a visa to go onto the place God has called them. you ask them if it's comfortable.<br />
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I thought <b>another couple</b> here, who haven't long been married, who were given everything up to go to Cape Town plant church,<br />
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I've got <b>another couple</b> who have given everything up, sold things to go to Port Elizabeth.<br />
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Guys, this is on front row. I could keep going through every row, our worship fans today, there were <b>three people on the stage</b> who were going to three different nations in the next few weeks.<br />
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I really just don't like to start waking up and thinking, oh did Jesus call us to be uncomfortable, yes he did. He's called us and he's disturbed us and this message is to disturb those that got comfortable.<br />
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See everything about our life and about the way we are as people, we want to draw to security and comfort, it's not natural to say I just want to just make myself really uncomfortable. We want to go this way but when you discover Jesus the path that Jesus calls you to, it is one of being uncomfortable, is one of challenge, is one of confronting but it's the best way. because why these people doing it,<br />
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Because the call comes, we lay things down, we leave family and we go after what Jesus has.<br />
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So straight after the disciples, I talked about the feeding of 5000. Literally straight after this in the same chapter, Jesus leads them, he goes into the synagogue to teach, he's going to go into the local synagogue. As he goes into the synagogue again a situation happens and it's a bit awkward<br />
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Disciples, this is going to be the life we live, this is an accident and yes so many of us getting comfortable even talking about demonic spirits, and impure spirits, the shriek and whatever and they have to obey the name of Jesus. We get uncomfortable, we've got a whole church around the world that gets uncomfortable to talk about the demonized or the oppressed and those that need say I'm free.<br />
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Let's keep church comfortable, let's enjoy time in his presence. Yet, Jesus goes right into where does he go though? and he knows what you're doing? where does he go to set the man free from the impure spirit? he goes to church.<br />
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It's not like hey let's go to that night club, because all they really need it, he goes to the church. It's his first stop off with the disciples. He says you'll be quite happy wouldn't you to go to the place where you think all the sinners are, we're going to go where the religious people are, and we're going to cause the disturbance and it's going to be so uncomfortable but we're gonna call that demon out and they're gonna have to go and the impure spirit be gone and I'm gonna show you what it is to follow me? that there's no place to hide, don't you think that you can just go and church and just think that we can make ourselves all look nice and pretty, we're going to call out the demonic spirit.<br />
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Now this is the challenge though is that <b>it seemed normal that this impure man with the impure spirit was in church.</b> Now if it was impure, I don't know what that means but it could be sexually impure. He could be doing things within the church. It says that was his sin, he was there so he was regularly like part of that place. He wasn't a stranger.<br />
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Don't you find it strange that this impure spirit was quite comfortable to be in the house of God.<br />
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At the moment that we have Church where it's comfortable we're in trouble.<br />
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The moment that we try and please people we're in trouble. Right here it was almost like a form of religion he was part of, but underneath the serve surface was this impure spirit.<br />
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It is amazing what can lie low in church, so I want to say right now in every location, every place in the name of Jesus come out. I tell you what there is something, sometimes we can just like being this set in and we can hide and we can keep those things that we know it's not right, it's a dysfunction.<br />
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Jesus comes to confront it, he doesn't come to make you feel comfortable.<br />
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Maybe you feel in like, what I just feel it's time to go now, and some of us what we do is, we go to certain Church for a year or two, because it takes a couple of years to get to know someone, and then we start feeling like maybe this isn't a church for me, you go to another one. Because sometime there's something within us, that is driving us. So we don't get confronted but we remain comfortable, and today God is saying will you call it out?<br />
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See sometimes I think that I've done this, we can take comfort in our discomfort.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">What dysfunction have I become comfortable with?</span></b><br />
I've known many people because sometimes we feel more comfortable around our bondage than around the freedom that might come. We get used to a pattern of thinking which causes us to actually feel quite secure, and we don't want to change it. I know I am speaking to some people right now, in fact the question I got for you is, what dysfunction have I become comfortable with?<br />
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If you don't write that down as a good question to think about, because normally we don't recognize our dysfunctions, and how we often combat that is we look at others.<br />
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It's really important, what dysfunction have I become comfortable with? that it's become part of me, that God wants to change, and said no that's not what I want for you.<br />
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See if it can feel good to gossip because it makes my dysfunction smaller. It can be good talking about other people's problems, because it makes my problems seem less significant. It feels good to indulge in my insecurities because I've got fresh excuses not to change, I can go on about my insecurities and about who I was and I think he would don't like me, they don't speak to me, they don't really care about me. Because what it does is it says to me is you don't need to change, just stay in that place. is this true? this is true,<br />
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<b>Why would you want to stay in that place? because I got comfortable with my dysfunction and it's become normal,</b> it feels good to wear my hoods because then people can see I'm a victim. Self-pity actually makes me feel better.<br />
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Guys, some of us were talking too much about where we failed? where we got hurt? where it went wrong? we need to start talking about the future, <b>We need to start talking about what God is about to do? not about what's happened? </b><br />
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We need to realize that as we stay in that place is dysfunctional, if we stay within our hurt and the brokenness, Jesus comes and he calls out the impure spirit and he says I see you and I called you out. Because he loves us, but that's not comfortable, that wasn't comfortable being that guy, bye he was happy after. Thank you for setting me free. He will call it out. He'll create situations in your life to highlight it to say you're gonna deal with it.<br />
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<b>God will disturb your agenda until you confront your dysfunction.</b><br />
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Sometimes you're thinking, why isn't this working out? why isn't that happening? maybe he's pointing, maybe it's another relationship hasn't really worked out, she can't seem to trust anyone, maybe God is causing a disturbance so you can look at your dysfunction around the lack of trust or the hurt that you wear, because he wants you to be free.<br />
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I love this see although we can live a life that wants to seek comfort and Jesus comes to bring discomfort, <b>why does he do it? so we can ultimately be free.</b><br />
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See that's the thing, it's not that all, this because who would ever sign up just to beat it, it's not about just being in a place of discomfort, it's that's where freedom is. Freedom comes through this place.<br />
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This other bit of scripture I want to talk to you about is, you'll know this is well known gonna whisk through it. They were on the boat and Peter's gonna see Jesus and he's gonna get out of the boat and walk on the water. But just before that, Jesus had done a setup, he set the situation up. He said you guys go out on the boat and a storm happens and all his other stuff and then what Jesus does is he comes around the back door through the back curtain and he's pops on the water and he's walking along there go and there's a ghost. They think Jesus a ghost at first, then Peter says no it's not a ghost, it's Jesus. so they think they're gonna drown, they then think there's a ghost and then Peter takes the opportunity to say something's going on here, Jesus is confronting something in us, he's confronting fear. He's confronting, are they gonna trust him?<br />
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He didn't have to do this, they could just say wow is it this an amazing event, and if you were on Instagram, he became Jesus well you know it's like Mazen this is what happened today. Peter's not thinking about that as an event, he said if it's you and he said come and this one would come and Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.<br />
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See, you've got this whole set and what he's saying? I could just watch this or I could be part of it. He's confronting something in me.<br />
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I'm not gonna avoid it, I'm gonna actually come after it. Peter, he's one of the most uncomfortable disciples, he's like he said saying the wrong thing, he's cutting someone's ear off, he's like doing all sorts of then here he is, he saying Lord if it's you tell me I'll come. Jesus says one word, come.<br />
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What's he calling him into? it says he think, gets down from the boat, steps in, starts walking, start sinking. what's he calling him into? Oh a nice comfortable life?? he's calling him into like are we gonna have a lesson here but we got the safety nets in place and we're then gonna go back to the classroom and observe and see how we could have done that better? it's all gonna be right, no one's gonna get hurt.<br />
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He say no you're gonna get out, and actually there's going to be a risk of drowning, because that it didn't go still, it said the waves and he's heading towards Jesus.<br />
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<b>Jesus, the confronter</b>. Jesus the one that he's saying you need to find some peace in your discomfort, finding peace in your discomfort.<br />
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That's often the transition of selling up everything and then moving into what God has for you, is sometimes a long time and through that time lots of doubts come, lots of ghosts come and yet we are required to say just call me, It's about the call, is not about the training. It's about the call, he called every one of you.<br />
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<b>There is no believer who is born again that is not called.</b><br />
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If you think, I'm not one of those sorts of Christians you're not a Christian then. Jesus never ever stepped down from heaven out of all<br />
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I know being comfortable in the glory of heaven stepped into the earth, into the stable, what's he doing? he's showing his life, he's showing yeah I'm actually gonna walk the path of discomfort for you, I'm gonna go right through. He didn't do all of that so he could get some followers that want to sit in a little room all together and not in the world.<br />
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<b>If you can impact the world, you're gonna need to be uncomfortable, you cannot impact the world and remain being comfortable. it doesn't work.</b><br />
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<b>You cannot remain comfortable and unlock the potential he placed in you.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Our Church building</span></b><br />
I've said this you know in the past but this this comes to mind a story where Jesus made me really uncomfortable. It was years ago, in the very first building that we had for church where we bought it through an amazing miracle. God provided, it was like an amazing miracle story. In the coming years, we saw amazing growth, we filled that church. Other churches were like saying, hey you know it's so amazing what God is doing and we we were really like doing well and we are all different things going on and he was saying aren't you doing well? do you know what I was so unhappy, we didn't have financial issues, we didn't have attendance issues, all the people in our church thought it was like great, it was just like wow this is a great time, and we were sort of at a moment where it's like things are doing really well.<br />
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I remember not be able to sleep at night because God said, if you settle in your comfort right now, in this small town with under a hundred people, you're never gonna fulfill what I really called you for.<br />
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I remember, I said to Heather that something's really wrong on the surface, everything looks great what we worked towards, but somehow the provision of the miracle has become our prison. What was once a miracle in your life where God provides for you new thing what a blessing can be the very thing that will stop you entering the greater thing. It will stop you from entering, because you've got to leave this behind, and you got to move into risk to see the greater thing of God unfold in your life.<br />
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So that's a great warning for every one of us, the moment you think hey isn't this all going well, we're having our happy clappy meeting and we do well here, but God said no it's time to move, I said what shall I do Lord and that's when he said sell the building. I thought it would give me about a year to selling it was a difficult type of building, and within a few weeks it was sold. Because what Jesus was saying I want to make it uncomfortable for you, I want you to be able to work this through so you get your plans together, I want your plans to be my plans, I'm teaching you about getting out of the boat.<br />
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What Jesus was doing was, he was saying come. I got to say it wasn't like an easy route then, that it cost upset, it caused people to doubt that were with us, it caused some people to leave, that will we there was a process we went on to the water. But we wouldn't be here right now if we hadn't have done that thing.<br />
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I want to use that to put it into your life and just say okay what area I have look to get comfortable with, you need to feel disturbed and that disturbance is the very thing that drives us to the best that God has.<br />
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So <b><span style="color: red;">the greatest enemy of faith is not fear but familiarity.</span></b><br />
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I think many of us we talk about the enemy of faith being fear or that's what you know comes against us, and I understand some of that. But I think it's more being familiar.<br />
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I have familiar are, we are just hearing another message today, you know we do every week, actually we've forgot the last two messages, really?? It's like we can hear message, we can take notes but take no action. We can become familiar with worship, when Jesus stepped down from heaven and took the hardest route there ever was. He was the King of Kings, he came down and took this route for us and sometimes we struggled to get up out of our chairs and to raise our arm. Because we're feeling not very comfortable with it today.<br />
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<b>We so easily become familiar, I say it's one of the biggest enemies we have in the church, just get familiar with miracles, familiar with salvation, familiar with marriages that are redeemed, familiar with healing, familiar with forgiveness that goes on every day, familiar with hope and life familiar with this gospel that we have, that's demonstrated through action not through conversation.</b><br />
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I believe fear can be an ally of faith because when Peter stepped out do you think he had no fear? I've learned to discover that actually <b>fear is the thing that often can drive your faith</b>, because as soon as I feel it coming up against me is right we're gonna come at it.<br />
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I know as I refer to many of the families and couples that are moving into the next season, they will be able to get up here and tell you is not without fear but they've learned a couple fear and say we're not gonna be intimidated by fear but we're gonna use fear to drive us towards Jesus. See fear can drive you towards Jesus, without it you don't tend to risk. But with fear, you will.<br />
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So <b>if your faith got comfortable, you're in danger of dysfunction.</b> so what I'm asking everyone who's listening this message now if you feel comfortable in your faith, please hear me, to respond to this, you don't need to change your address, you don't need to go on a trip the other side of the world, that don't miss the point, <b>it's actually about responding to vision, it's not about responding to go into another country. </b><br />
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It's about responding to, maybe share in your faith see because you got comfortable around those who know you, but you wouldn't really want to share it to those people at work, because that would be uncomfortable.<br />
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See it's about vision, what is God calling your family to next? what is God speaking to you to believe for next? where do you need to come in and believe for God next? so this isn't about an address, it's not about moving countries, please if he's asking you do that, do it. But if he's asking you to continue in business and maybe take some risk and take some steps out, do it. But the point I'm saying is, if your faith today, <b>you're a believer in Jesus Christ and if your faith is actually quite comfortable, you're in danger of dysfunction.</b><br />
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Somehow dysfunction is crept in, because it doesn't go along with Jesus. You don't see Jesus, saying hey this how it's all gonna be, we're just going to hang out and play nice Christians until we move on to eternity. It doesn't work like that.<br />
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<b>I want to challenge you, there's some dysfunction, if your Christianity got safe. Because that's not what we call to live.</b><br />
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See, the devil's goal is to get us to find comfort outside of Jesus. It'll even do it, when we get that job promotion, because it keeps us there, because then we have more coming in, and we rely on those things.<br />
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Sometimes we see success which can be a blessing, but it actually can become comfort that the enemy will use to stop you in your tracks, so that you don't fulfill what God put on your life and that unfulfilled prophecy that you had, that you're still waiting to receive is still not happening, because you got stuck in your comfort, you got stuck in that place.<br />
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This is Jesus speaking, so funny, because people think Jesus the peace Giver, Jesus the comforter, but here he is he saying don't you think for a minute that I came to bring peace but I came to bring the sword.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">He's not talking about a physical battle</span></b>, do you know just before, if you want to read more in Matthew 10 at the beginning, he talks all about, he says if you're gonna follow me, you're gonna get falsely accused. if you're gonna follow me, you're gonna get imprisoned, you're gonna get flogged, you are gonna get imprisoned, you were gonna get perhaps even death. but don't worry don't worry about die and be more afraid of the one that can rob your soul.<br />
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He's described all this, then he comes to this like where he said don't think I came to bring peace, I came to bring the sword. What is he talking about? he's saying, <b>I've come to create a war against the system. </b><br />
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<b>What is the system in every one of us? is the war between belief and unbelief</b> that's what he is right now speaking to every one of us about.<br />
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<b>Why do we end up here in in the place of being comfortable and not press in to what God wants us, it's because of unbelief. </b>I come to bring a sword because he then says sometimes it's gonna separate family, because some family won't believe but you're gonna need a believe, some won't get it and you're still gonna need to believe.<br />
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Sometimes you didn't be asked to give up everything and follow me and others won't believe. This is a war on unbelief. Jesus came and that's why he's calling us to the place of discomfort. He's the confronter because all the time he's saying,<b> you need to choose belief.</b><br />
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When Peter got out and <b>he said come</b>. What's Peter doing? he's going to a war on his unbelief, he steps out, he's choosing faith. The ultimate goal is faith and it comes to trust, that's what he's doing in your life, that's why when you recognize discomfort, you can say, what God's doing something new in me, God's training some muscles.<br />
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You've got a choice, because I know far too many people right now are sat on a chair and you're not prepared to change, you're not prepared to move into discomfort, because you've got comfortable but I want to call it out of you in Jesus name, I want to call out the potential that's in you, <b>because there's a potential in you that you will answer for one day, the lives, the people, the places. </b><br />
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<b>Because in fact the Bible says that God gives comfort and he does it through the Holy Spirit. When he gives comfort, it says he does it, so you can comfort others, it's not even for you.</b><br />
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So <b><span style="color: red;">your greatest days are found outside of comfort, it's found outside of the boat</span></b>.<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b>3 Challenges/</b></span><span style="color: red;"><b>Questions</b></span><br />
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I want to just like sum up the thing with three challenges. it's just three statements and now I'm going to pray.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">1) What dysfunction have you become comfortable with you?</span></b> I just pray Holy Spirit will you reveal to us, what we got comfortable with that dysfunction, maybe that impurity, maybe that unbelieving heart, speak to us.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">2)</span></b> <b><span style="color: red;">Where did you allow your faith to become comfortable?</span></b> you once believed for the impossible for amazing things but somehow you got your place yourself in a place of comfort. God wants to disturb it<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">3) In what ways, he asking you to leave your boat today?</span></b><br />
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This is for every person that is listening to this message, if you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.<br />
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I believe that there's always a call where saying will you leave the boat? when we have willingness and we show willingness, he's always gonna say come. But you need to be prepared.<br />
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So right now to ask us to close our eyes every location wherever we are. and I want you to think about those three things. But I think the most important one, the thing of action is saying <b>where is God asking me to get out of my boat of comfort of security? where is he asking me? what is it that I need to confront today? where am I gonna choose belief over unbelief?</b><br />
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The disciples the others they were all in the boat, they won't do anything wrong, they were a great bunch of guys. You can be in church, you might be doing really well but you're not fulfilling the best life that God gave you. right now, I want to call it out in Jesus name, I want to call it out, what is dormant? call it out what somehow you got discouraged with dis heart with, and say you need to choose to believe again and say call me Lord, I am coming. it says he steps outside of the boat starts walking towards Jesus.<br />
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-84046079198928345042018-07-28T16:08:00.001+05:302018-07-28T16:10:55.760+05:30You can't give what you don't have...Jesus the life giver | Week 5 | Jesus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>Jesus is the life giver. </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>When Jesus was in cross with agonizing pain, he gave life to thief/to enemies/his mother and disciple/us.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>Eventhough we know that Jesus is a life giver, we are not living in the fullness, because We are disconnected from him.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>We disconnected because we are rely on others/desire control/try to be the answer/have doubt and fear/are caught in sin/carry unforgiveness.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>Even in the natural, it's dangerous if you dehydrate. so in the spiritual is also dangerous if you dehydrate.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>Even Jesus when he poured out himself, he would always go and refill from his father.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>Don't just get connected, stay connected with Jesus.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>Jesus is thirsty for you. Jesus is always accessible to us, but we have to make ourselves available to him.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>Be creative in finding new ways to connect with the life giver.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>When you meet the life giver, you have to become a life giver to others.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>Who are you going to be a life giver to?</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><i><b>Think of ways that you can be consistent in that where you can bring life to those people.</b></i></span><br />
<i style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><b><br /></b></i>
<i style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><b>Don't keep it to yourselves. If you find it hard to share your faith, share some compassion, show some love, show some kindness. This world is lacking kindness right now.</b></i><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus the life giver</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's so great to be talking to you today about Jesus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We've been doing a series Jesus which is amazing to be able to stand up here what a privilege to come and speak about Jesus to you today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I mean where do you start? and where do you finish? talking about Jesus is like the ultimate. isn't he he's absolutely amazing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have got a really simple message for you today. But it doesn't matter if it's simple, whether it's complicated, whatever message is,<b> it's from the Bible that the living Word of God</b>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The living breathing words of God that is full of life and wants to breathe life into every facet of your life today. Whether that's your marriage, relationships, friendships, family he wants to breath love.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Bible is living book. It's the living breathing Word of God. It is powerful to do mighty things. We know that how do we know that, because this room is full of people whose lives have been impacted by this words, but not just this room beyond this room in our other locations, but not even just through freedom church throughout the ages, <b>this word has been impacting people and it's powerful and it's mighty to save</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I've got a simple message but it's going to be great, so even outside our building we have some banners that say Jesus, he says<b> I am the way, the truth and the life</b>. You wouldn't believe how many people I have conversations with this say, well it doesn't really matter what you believe? you can believe anything, you can be whatever religion because they all lead together onto one path that leads to the same God. That is an absolute myth and it's a lie.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I don't know whoever made it up, but it's not the truth. <b>Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life and no one can come to the Father except through me. Because he is the only one that we can come to and be saved through</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He's the source of life, he is the very essence of life, he's the author of life itself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus - The Multiplier</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We've had such a great time in the series so far. We've looked at Jesus the multiplier. Who doesn't want to go on a picnic with Jesus? I mean you know where you see the equivalent of a happy meal turned into feeding the 5000. I would love to have been there. I mean it's pretty awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus - The Tester</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then, we heard from rose Jesus, the tester which was so good. Because when you're going through a test, that is so such a powerful message to bring. Keep praying for them guys. The test isn't over but we're enjoying it while it's happening.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus and Communion</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then Dave, I mean being with Jesus turning water into wine. Who wouldn't want to be at that party? he brings life to the party. doesn't? he by bringing water into wine and that message about communion. That is life itself to us. So powerful.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus has no grace for Religious things</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then Jesus the whip maker you know to silence those religious that actually lied to us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hanging out with Jesus is pretty cool. Even going to a funeral with Jesus would have been pretty awesome. Is he going to raise this one from the dead? but sometimes we can talk about it, like it's in the past. The stories he's did and the miracles you did and how amazing. <b>But he's in the present he's here with us today and these stories are still happening around the world</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>We heard and see em rip today that seven people committed their life to Jesus</b>, which is awesome, so Jesus is alive and well and he's also already in your tomorrow. Because, <b>Jesus isn't defined by our time. so he's in the past the present and the future.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I've been speaking out this message to sheep in the field this week. I thought to have a little practice, get out the house, then I was trying to find a really quiet space, because the sheep were a bit noisy. I thought, well go to a graveyard, that's pretty quiet. But when you preach Jesus, the life giver in a graveyard that can be dangerous and it started lightning and thundering. I was like, I'm getting out of here now. Anything could happen and that's the power of Jesus. because he brings life into death situations.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus - The Life Giver</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm gonna be talking about Jesus the life giver. Because that's who he is. He is the life giver, that's what he does, that's who he is. He brings life wherever he goes in miracles healing, he brings life through his words in fact it says that the word that I spoke about earlier the word the Bible he was the word made flesh. So that's why it's so powerful, it's living. He brings salvation and that is how powerful he is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He wants to breathe life into every facet of your life today. I've already said that, but I want to reiterate it because people here today, I can see that God wants to speak into your life today and it's powerful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was thinking about Jesus, <b>the greatest miracle of all is that he died on the cross</b>. He gave us life, he was being able to be Jesus, the life giver through his death. He died on the cross for mankind is a powerful act for mankind and it's amazing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He was on the cross and even in death, he was still pouring out life because he is the life giver. Think about the pain that he must have suffered, and the things that he went through for me, and for you.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Pain and human</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Who's been in pain here? anyone, yeah all the ladies mostly. but yeah it did actually ladies put their hands up because it makes you think about childbirth. I've had five babies, I know a little bit about pain. I've never ever told one of my birthing stories. so I thought I'd tell one today. I'm not going to tell all five of them, don't worry and I'm not going to give any gory details. but when you see a woman that's heavily pregnant you think, heck that's got to come out, that is gonna be painful and it's enough to bring your tears to your eyes, just even thinking about it. I was in the labor ward, there was a lot going on. I wasn't really thinking about being a life giver to anyone else that day, well I was trying to give life, I was trying to give birth to this baby, but I wasn't being a life giver. I wasn't thinking about the Midwife, how was she? I wasn't praying for her or anything. In fact at one point, I kicked her right across the other side of the room. I felt really bad about that boy, that's a confession, it's good to confess things. Then I was like Gary don't come near me, just don't come near me. But he dared to do that. He dared to come near me. I got hold of him and I was like push with me, and so every contraction I was pushing down him and he says that I bound his head against the bed frame, but he did break off his tooth. I wasn't very sympathetic, I was like, well if I'm going through this pain, you can have a bit of pain as well. He was in pain with me and then the doctor came in. I was like, I have lot of respect for doctors and nurses and midwives usually. But when you're in pain, something happens to you and you turn into like a different person. Doctor who came in and said take the gas and air off her. I was like don't you dare do that? and words were coming out of my mouth I'd never heard before. I think I was actually speaking in tongues at the time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Agonizing</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pain and Jesus</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But it got me thinking about Jesus. He's already on the cross, he's in all this agonizing pain, and what's he doing even when he's on the cross, as if dying for the whole of mankind, isn't enough. He's actually on the cross, there's a lot going on. He's giving out, he's pouring out life all around him.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus gave life to thief</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's two thieves either side of him. One is like making fun of him mocking him, being pretty horrible even though he's dying, the other one recognizes him and he knows that he's the one, he's the Christ, he's the life giver. He connects with him on the cross, and Jesus said you're going to come with me today to paradise and so he gives him hope even in a death situation which is so powerful.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus gave life to his enemies</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then the guys on the ground they've spat at him, they've mopped him, they've called in the most foul things, they are the most vile people that you could ever think of meeting, they whipped him, they've done all these terrible things to him. He looks at them and he's praying for them. He's in all this pain, he's in agony. He's praying for them, Father forgive them. They don't know what they're doing, they don't realize Who I am, they don't realize I am the life giver. It's so like powerful when you see the way that he was even in pain, he'd already been whipped half to death and he was on the cross giving out life, it was pouring out of him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus gave life to his mother and disciple</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then he looks to his mother, he says to John be a son to my mother. He's being compassionate, he's thinking of everything. There's so much going on and he's taking on the whole sins of the world but he's still pouring out life to those around him. It's absolutely amazing. Then He says Mom, be a mother to John because he loved John so much, didn't he? and it's so powerful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus gave life to you and me</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When he comes to the end he says <b>it is finished</b>. He wasn't saying my life is finished, he was saying <b>the mission is accomplished</b>. I came and did what I meant to do. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do you know who he had in mind when he said that? it was you. It was Jesus had you in mind when he said that it is finished, because <b>he came and he died for the sins of all of us, he died to set you free so you could live life in all its fullness but also it have eternal life</b>. I mean it's absolutely amazing so he is the savior of the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But I always loved this as well. I mean, if you're not a believer here today, whether you are or not. I love it that <b>every time you write the dates or you open your phone you see the date, our calendar system</b> well in the Western world anyway is <b>it's all before Christ or after Chris</b>t. Every time you write the day even if you don't believe, <b>it's like Jesus nudging and saying you know your life even when you celebrate your birthday whether you believe me or not, your life is connected to my death</b> and that's why we're living in the 21st century because it's 2018 years since his death. We see that every day and yet people I just find that amazing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Why are we not living in the fullness?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You might be thanking Jesus a life-giver. Well we know that, everyone knows that that Jesus gave his life for mankind and people. but why aren't we living in that fullness? why aren't we living with the knowledge? If we have that knowledge and we know he's the life giver, why aren't we living in that fullness?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I know so many people that have been Christians for years, they go to church, they even go to midweek groups(fellowships/prayer cells), and yet they say do you know what? I'm so dry, I'm so thirsty, I'm not coping, I'm not overcoming things, I'm not living in the fullness and I'm not flourishing. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Why we disconnect from life giver?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It was easy on a Sunday when we're all together with like-minded, we're there in the mosh pit, we're praising God, we might even come forward for a response and then what happens something happens? we leave and then we hit a problem Monday morning and we take control ourselves. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Because we don't rely on the life giver for our problems that we can disconnect because sometimes we're relying on others in church to be spending time with the life giver instead of spending time with him ourselves and we're relying on people up the front for a good event.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sometimes we're so controlling, We can't trust Jesus for our problems or things that are going on our lives. We want to take control of everything. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We try to be the answer, when he is the answer. We try to be the answer to things or doubt can so easily come in, fear can come in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Maybe we're actually have got hidden a sin in our lives and we're thinking why aren't I living in the overflow? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Maybe we're still carrying that unforgiveness all that hurt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We have to let go, because otherwise we're not going to live in the fullness of the life that he wants us to do. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We need to seek him with our problems, we need to read and pray to him, not try and solve things out ourselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Maybe if you're going through something really big you need to seek counsel from someone that is a leader it's really important.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus met Samaritan woman at the well</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We're gonna look at a story now about the woman at the well. A lot of you know the story, I'm not going to tell the whole story because it's quite a long story. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Basically, Jesus was on his way to Samaria and he stopped at the well. He said the disciples off, because you know what? they're like, they're a bit of a nightmare, sends them off to get lunch, they never really get what's going on, do they? he sends them off to get lunch and he knows that he's gonna meet with this woman at the well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus meets with her. Actually Jews and Samaritans didn't mix, they didn't speak to each other. When he spoke to her at the well, she was like so shocked.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus meets with her and he offers this living water that we're talking about because he's the life giver. <b>She has this amazing connection</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then he says to her, go and tell your husband and she says I'm not married. He said, yeah I know you're not. He says you've had five husbands and now you're living with someone you're with someone that is not even your husband. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus was having this conversation but straightaway <b>she felt valued by him</b>. Because he spoke to her and like Jews didn't mix with Samaritans and then she has this amazing connection with the life giver.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They have this like talk between themselves. She was a woman who was thirsty, she was drawing water every day but <b>she was thirsty for love</b> she was thirsty because she was looking for the one but she didn't know where he was? She didn't recognize him. She went from man to man looking for the one and she couldn't find him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Who knows the full story? I mean, I think she was probably full of guilt and shame, she probably had a reputation. Who knows that one of her husband even maybe two in those days might have died. She might have been through terrible trauma of loss, it's a terrible thing. Grief is a terrible thing, we don't know her full story but <b>she was a woman that had suffered a lot of pain and then she meets the one who was the life giver and it changes everything</b> and she has this connection and straightaway she feels so valued and loved by him and she knows.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then Jesus says, I am the one, he's tell so he says I am the one. <b>She can't contain herself</b>, because when Jesus pours out life into you we're not supposed to contain it. What does she do? she goes off to the village and she tells everyone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Like I said, she was a woman with a reputation and I'm sure a lot of them thought, oh here she goes, again she's met some other fellow at the well now, some other chap that she's chatting up. But No, <b>they could see that she was different, they could see that something had happened to her</b> and she was like living at that overflow of the connection with Jesus and it was pouring out of her. <b>It impacted that decision that</b> <b>she made that day impacted so many people</b>. Because it was coming out of the overflow of who he was. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's people in all of you here today all over the world that I can't connect with, but if Jesus has touched you, you can pour out that life to someone else and there's people in your life, this people in you that you're going to connect with, there's people in you that you need to go reach. Because we're not supposed to contain this living water. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The whole point of it is that we pour it out and give it to others, It's not to keep to ourselves. so she has this amazing connection and and it's a revelation, isn't it? with the life giver. When Jesus does a work in you, when he does something in you, it has to come out. We're not supposed to keep it to ourselves</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I can relate a lot to this woman at the well. I see a lot of myself in her, some of the things I've been through and I'm like he came after me, he searched for me. I was so lost but he came and he found me and I felt so rejected, I felt like I wasn't good enough at times, I wasn't enough that's what the world tells us all the time that we're not enough, but Jesus says No you are enough and he's saying that today that you are enough and he's here for you today saying I want to give you that amazing life because he's the life giver.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I think about, it doesn't mean it's easy. I think about times I'd been in my life, my mom died, all of a sudden it was quite shocking and they said she'll be at home in 48 hours and then she died. It was a terrible shock at the time and then we found out my dad had Alzheimer's. We go through these things but when you're connected to the life giver, the life source he is the one that can help you through these things and get you through them and it makes all the difference. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I don't know how people live without the life giver in their lives. We should be consumed by him, he's the reason. I feel like I'm consumed by him now, because I've had a connection with the life giver it's amazing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">When you meet the life giver you have to become a life giver to others</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So when you meet the life giver you have to become a life giver to others so important, you know so many people are going to be impacted by what he's done in you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Don't keep it to yourselves</b>. Pastor Gary even shared about the multiplication message. This is the greatest gift that we ever have he's given it to us in our hands, The greatest gift of all, the greatest miracle of all and yet we could so easily bury it or we hide it we're afraid of what people think we put a bushel over it. No, we're supposed to show the world who he is and multiply it by going and telling others and pouring it out of you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I just want to do a little demonstration just to explain that Jesus like we have to live out the overflow of who he is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus not stingy, he's good for more than a drop and what he does is, he pours in us. okay it doesn't just give us a little drop like that and expect us to keep going. But sometimes we come into church, we have a little drink, don't we? We have a little drink on the Sunday and then we expect that to keep us going weak and it's saying oh and then we might have a little bit more we go to groups(Fellowships/Prayer cells) and all yeah that keeps us going to the end of the week. But he wants us to live our life overflowed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even in the natural, it's dangerous if you dehydrate. so in the spiritual is also dangerous if you dehydrate. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What happens is that is overflowing and it just keeps on pouring because the whole point of Jesus giving us living water, that's eternal. it's that we're conduits, we're carriers of his life. What he pulls into us supposed to pour out, we're not supposed to contain it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's supposed to pour out of us and that's why we stagnate and go dry, Because we're not sharing the good news of people. We should get excited about it and thrilled about it. When we're sharing it ,that's when it becomes fresh and alive again it's amazing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus is more than good for a drop, isn't it? absolutely overflowing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>When you meet him, you see everything differently, everything changes, you see things differently, you hear things differently</b>. He gives you like a new dimension, you see people how he sees people and it changes everything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Let's be like Jesus. I mean how does it start? how do we need to pour it out? how do we do that?</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Starts with </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">conversation</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We start by having a conversation what does he do at the well with this woman? he asks a question. It's don't complicate, it's not difficult, let's keep it simple. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We just have to start talking to people and it doesn't even have to be pour. I met someone at keep fit the other week and we were coming out and I thought gosh she's lost a lot of weight and so I thought I'm going to compliment her, I'd never spoken to her before and I said you're looking great. We've been doing then she went on to say that she'd brain surgery and so then I said I was able to relate to that because obviously our sons had brain surgery and so she said how on earth did you manage? because I was okay, but my mom was in a terrible state. She was asking how I coped with it? and I said because I have a faith and I was able to pray and it gave me such a peace, I had people all around the world praying with me and then I've invited her to church and hopefully she's coming soon so that's so good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Just be natural, just be yourself and God will do the rest, he will speak through you. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>If you find it hard to share your faith, share some compassion, show some love, show some kindness. This world is lacking kindness right now.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It shows someone that they're accepted maybe not by others but you accept them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus was generous that day at the well, he was generous to her in his words and his love for her .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even in death situations, we can still be life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I always think there's two types of people those are believe and those they don't. You've got Jesus on the cross, you got the thieves either side, one believes and one doesn't.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I just try and keep it simple. I think I got a 50/50 chances pretty. I'm not that a gambler or anything, but that's a pretty good way of thinking about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In order to pour out, <b>even Jesus when he poured out himself he would always go and refill from his father,</b> and that's sometimes where we're missing it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We're coming on a Sunday but we're not spending time in his presence ourselves and that's so important.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>A geese story</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm just gonna tell you a little story now about when we first got married. We were a bit crazy. I mean you know this already, I mean it's amazing that you follow us it's really amazing. But actually, before we had kids, we had loads of animals. I was weird while my husband did and I just went along with it. We had geese and we had these geese and they had like eleven eggs they laid and we like didn't even know how that happened they just appeared and we were like then we couldn't wait to see these eggs hatch out. Then one day, the day came when they hatched and they were the most beautiful, gorgeous, sweet little chicks like this fluffy and yellow and cute and gorgeous and we were just in love. It was so lovely. As you can imagine the next day, we couldn't wait to see them again and we went out but there was one egg that hadn't actually hatched. so we thought we'd just leave it under the mom and then so anyway went out the next day and they had all gone, that little ray of sunshine not one of them was left it was really, really sad and tragic. I'm over it now, it was a long time ago but it was really tragic. so this one egg I think of the rats dragged them off and at them, but there wasn't even if I know or something did, I know it's terrible. What happened was this one egg was left so we were like precious about that, it's like the only one left so we thought what should we do? we can't leave it out there it's gonna get eaten, so we put it in with the snake. We had a snake, we put it in the incubator because we thought about keep it nice and warm but then we were like well if we're both away in the day and it hatches when we're not there, the snake is gonna eat it, that's gonna be yes I'm alive and then go there would be just would be just the worst thing ever. We thankfully were there when it hatches out. We got it out of the incubator and it was hatching and it was hard was so exciting, it was like David Attenborough and it was amazing. This little chick hatched ow and so I became the life source to this chick, because we couldn't put it with the mom because it would have got eaten. so I had to be its mother, and so I was working full-time then. I thought what am I going to do? so I put it in the little shoebox, put some straw in there, to cut on the bus with me into work. When I worked at a typing pool, it was like called Lloyd's of London and I was in the typing pool and all the girls thought this was great. I mean I didn't tell the boss obviously. I looked in the box one day though and this little chick looked a little bit, it was just cold, it was still lie but it was cold so I was like what I did what any normal person would have done at this time and I put it down my top to keep warm, it's like the obvious thing to do. I was carried on typing away, then the boss came in and of all the times she could imagine what happened, the chick wakes up and is moving around rather a lot and I'm typing away, the girls are all laughing and I'm dying, thinking this is the most embarrassing thing ever. then I got in big trouble for that, as you can imagine it is like, you are not allowed to bring your pets into work. So I could no longer be the life source to the chick, I know is terrible isn't it? and Gary couldn't really take it to Bible College so I can't even tell you what happened to the birds, this is just too sad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Joking aside it is a funny story, but we have to link into who Jesus was? and he is the life source. if he's the life source, he is the living vine and let's read this it says</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">that's pretty straightforward, isn't it? so it's such a key to us if we want to live out of the overflow and live in this fullness of life, we have to stay connected with the life giver, we have to spend time and it's a key to remain in him, spend time in his presence is vital, its life to us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So we have to tap into that source. otherwise we will dry up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He gave us the Holy Spirit for a reason, he's called the helper. He gave us the helper, because we need help and we need to help. but we need to drink from that source.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Don't just get connected stay connected.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So don't just get connected stay connected to him. it's easy to get connected, we have to stay connected. it's so important.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Jesus is always accessible to us, make yourself available</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What I love about Jesus, he's always accessible to us, but we have to make ourselves available to him. He's always accessible, he's always there for us. When it goes wrong that times in my life, when I've done things were all gone away from him. It's because I'm the one that's walked away or I haven't linked into that source.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I just wanted to say to the <b>men </b>in particular at this point, you are responsible guys, sorry about this but <b>you are responsible for your whole family</b>. So it's so important that you spend time at his presence. I'm not making excuses, we all need to. But it's so important, because if you lose connection with a life-giver, you are leading your whole family and it's devastating. So keep your eyes fixed on him. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Be creative in finding new ways to connect with the life giver</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Whitewood says well those don't be rigid. aren't we? in the ways that we spend time with him. I find it really hard I'm a creator, I don't like to sit in an office and sit in the same chair every day and do the same, it would just get boring. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you think of it like a date I mean we've been married for nearly 34 years. Imagine if we'd had the same date night, in the same place, have the same meal or not bothered having a date at all, we wouldn't have a really great marriage. but we have and that's because, we've done like exciting adventurous things, we've done new things, we've done different things, it's been great. I wouldn't expect to spend a morning with Gary a week and expect a dynamic marriage. We're coming into church, having a morning we're gone a week and then expecting to have an amazing relationship with God, it's just not going to work. But we were just sitting there the other day, me and G. Our house is pretty quiet right now, because our kids have all left while josh has come back with his whole family at the moment which is great, but before that we were sat there reading and Gary was reading a book and I was reading something as well and we were just not talking, not doing anything. then I heard this voice and he said I love being in your presence. I wasn't sure for a minute, if he was talking to me or God but he was talking to me. I was like win. and I said aw that's so cute, I said why? and he said I just love being with you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But it should be the same with like we should just love being in his presence, just be with him do something different, do it your way like I said this week, I haven't prepared in an office. I've been in a graveyard have been speaking to the Sheep and it really helped me. because I'm a visual person and like creation is screaming out. I am the life giver and he is screaming out to us. I love to be outdoors, I loved it because that's what connects my heart to him, I love being with him in that way. it just </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I see a beautiful view and I think and he's painted it for me and it's different every day that connects me immediately, it takes me into his presence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I think about relationships in my life that I'm so thankful for and that takes me into his presence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Don't make it so difficult and complicated and like Dave said about communion you know the natural and the supernatural go hand in hand, don't be rigid you don't have to have communion in church, let's be more natural about how we spend time with him and how we thank him and like put worship on whatever works for you like do it to spend time with him but don't go dry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">that's just a glimpse of who he is? and we're connected to the life giver. I mean that's Scripture that's just a glimpse of the life giver and who he is?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My other question to you today is, who are you going to be a life giver to? because if he's a life giver to us and we're pouring that out, we have to be life givers to others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I always get challenged with this myself. I think yeah, I get I keep fit class, I can have a little chat here and there, that's like my market place so I can go to Aldi to my suit local supermarket, and speak to people there, but I was challenged specially after the Eternity messages at the cave. I was like, I need to do something more where I can be consistently speaking into someone or giving that life to someone, not far from here, there's a place that people go to spend the last days of their life on this earth and it's called the hospice. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was really challenged that I've got some time on my hands now I was like I am going to go and spend some time in the hospice. I know that's the place where people go to die and that's gonna be, maybe a difficult thing to do. But I know that Jesus can use me to bring life even into a death situation and to bring hope and to bring joy. okay I might not be able to share my faith there, but I can be compassionate, I can do something to make their life really great at the end if I can. Not just them but their whole families are gonna be like there and I've been through that and I'm like I can help people there, I've been through it and I you know I want to use that to help others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Think of ways that you can be consistent in that where you can bring life to those people.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Woman with illness for 12 years</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's just one other woman I want to mention who was ill for 12 years. She a woman, she'd been really ill, she tried everything, she'd been to every doctor you could think of and then she heard that Jesus was coming to town. She knew that he was the life giver and she was like, all I've got to do is reach out and touch him, all I've got to do is to reach out and touch the him of His garment and that's gonna change everything and he's going to heal me, I know he's going to heal me. She did, she managed to touch His garment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There was people barge in, it was people all around him touching him, but <b>Jesus knew that this woman was looking for that life source</b>, she was looking for that life and he was like life left him, he knew that she had touched him. He said, who's just touched me and he said by your faith you'll be healed and he spent time talking to her, and adding value to her, loving her for who she was. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">She reached out, because she knew that. there's people here you need to reach out to him today like she did. You need to reach out and touch even if it's the him of his garment, he is going to change lives through that. Just need a little bit of faith, reach out to him and touch him today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We're just gonna go finish off with this now because we're going to go back to the cross now. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus is thirsty for you</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We started off at the beginning with the cross and like when he said I mean I couldn't believe this, I was really overwhelmed and touched by this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But Jesus at the cross, <b>when he said he was thirsty, he wasn't thirsty for a drink, he was thirsty for you</b>. He was thirsty for the souls of men and women and he's thirsty for you today, he is thirsty for a relationship with you today, that's what he was thirsty for on the cross, and that's what he's thirsty for today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus wants to be a relationship with his people and he's accessible to you. today.</span></div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-51284896799662323642018-07-21T20:10:00.003+05:302018-07-21T20:10:46.456+05:30Jesus has no grace for religion | Week 4 | Jesus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Many people don't come into church today, because they just think Church is all about do's and don'ts. No, it's not about do's and don'ts, it's all about life giving.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Sabbath was made for the people, and not people made for the Sabbath. God gave us a gift, day of rest. Religion took a gift and made it into a prison by saying you should not do anything on sabbath day.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Jesus came to set us free. He came not for a religion but for a relationship.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">False religion makes principals more important than people.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Religion creates legalism - Works based religion.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Religion makes us to become a hypocrisy - Pretending to be something we are not.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Religion makes us to do a Prejudism -Pre-Judgement.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Jesus has incredible grace for sinners, but he has no grace for bad religion. The Lamb of God turns up into Lion When he saw the merchandise in Church. Jesus got angry and made whip. He drove out everyone of them and said, Don’t you dare make my Father’s house into a center for merchandise? He's not doing it to people, he's doing it to religion.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Sometimes we get caught up in religion stuff and we don't even know, we got caught up in it. So I don't want you to identify religion in others, I want us to identify it in ourself.</span></i><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Jesus has no grace for religion | Week 4 | Jesus</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We're in an incredible series here at freedom Church called the Jesus series. This is all about Jesus and we just thought, hey we ran out of ideas let's talk about Jesus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you know what? when you come to the end of things Jesus is always a good place to go.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm sure that maybe you're even here today just thinking, hey what more can I learn about Jesus? There are things in Scripture and it actually says, there wouldn't be enough books.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We just got a real little glimpse so we're going to be looking at who Jesus is? and we got something special for you today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's perhaps gonna be a little bit different because We want to bring a different angle. Many people when they think of Jesus, they think of the Christmas Jesus and they like that Jesus. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You think a lot of people who perhaps don't really know who Jesus is? they think of Jesus in the stable and then they might think of the east of Jesus and there's just something about a Jesus who hangs on the cross around someone's necklace or in a church and then there's the Jesus who's the Good Shepherd. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What about the Jesus? this would be great preach. Jesus who says that your yoke is easy and your burden is light. Be up for that, see we'd love that. But I'm not going to preach on that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We love this sort of Jesus who turns the water into the wine. So awesome, but I want to introduce you to another Jesus. <b>Jesus is not safe</b>, he is not safe and I want us to understand this that we sometimes pull out the Jesus we want and that's who we want to serve and we call on him when we need. <b>But there is a Jesus that is not safe</b>, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is a Jesus that when he called the disciples to follow him it meant they would give up their lives. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>There was a Jesus that came along into situations and instead of walking away from difficulty he walked into difficulty.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When people wanted to kill him and murder him which were the religious leaders by the way, what did he do? he walked straight in there says you want an argument I'm here. But he chose not to answer most of the questions he was asked, he only asked back a question. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other way of coming right back at the issue of the heart rather than the actual argument of the question. Today many people want to argue about who Jesus is but <b>until you meet him it's very hard to sort of explain who he is</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is something about this Jesus that is dangerous even when he was on a boat and he loved just doing a lot of boat stuff. When he was on a boat on the lake Galilee, he decided hey today we're gonna go over to the place where the gravestones are, where the sort of you're all bit freaked out because there's screams that come from here because the insane and the sort of the people that demon-possessed all these crazy that's where they are.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They've been deposited there and left and abandoned by humanity so Jesus says we go in there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>That's why whatever your situation is, wherever you are today, there is no situation that Jesus will not arrive in to.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It doesn't matter if you think well I've messed it up and I don't know how to come back. He's coming to you, there's something about this Jesus of mine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Jesus comes to the place where the sinner is, he comes to the place where the rubbish is</b> and he says I've come right down to earth right now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus takes his disciples they're freaking out and he says we're gonna meet this guy called Legion, and he meets this demon aook, he was like famous because he's so threatening is the most scariest thing you've ever seen and he comes and speaks about his future and he calls him out and sees freedom, he doesn't talk about his issues </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus isn't here to talk about your issues, he's to set you free that's who we serve.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We talk about Jesus and if we think I'm free you know I'm free, we're gonna go on a journey right now to see<b> how sometimes we get caught up in stuff and we don't even know we got caught up in it</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's a system and this system affects every one of us, because we formulate opinions and belief systems many from our past, many from what we see social media and from it we have an idea of what religion is. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">so what's happening is, you've got like the temple courts is where they're coming into the place of worship, as they're doing it they're selling sacrifices, because before Jesus, there to sacrifice animals there to spill the blood of animals until Jesus came to pay one and final price. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But here he is, the Lamb of God turns up and he sees all the animals, they were there and they were selling them but what was happening? the poor people were being taken advantage of, the people who were like desperate to somehow common and be closer to God, and to be in his presence, they were coming to buy like the purified animals and they were being taken advantage of. Not only that, they were being charged prices and there was a whole load of crew, <b>it was just corrupt.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus, what do you think he does about it? he walks into this situation and he is gonna get his disciples together, so we just need to go back you know back to your home Peter we need have a prayer me in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We just need to get together here and have a bit of a discussion, because we just got to think how this could look guys, we're trying to get followers right now and we got a thing how we can use the situation, you didn't do any of that. if you read on what he does is, it says Jesus he gets the disciples over and he says I've got a plan guys, we think suddenly he's like impulsive, No he's calculating, he said well I got a plan so he gets romantic what is it Jesus, this terrible was so upset about it, let's go away and complain all day. Says, no we're gonna do something. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Jesus says I'm gonna make a whip</b>, Jesus why would you make a whip? so I can witness lot out of here. Jesus meek and mild it says that he begins to put pieces of rope together. When I practice this, it takes me about two minutes 40 seconds, it takes quite a while to put a few piece of rope get the sort of knots on the end he creates a whip. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is calculated. The disciples are thinking, Jesus we're trying to get people to follow you, we're trying to get people to see the nice side of you, you're the Christ, you're the one that people want to come and sit around your feet and see the little children, and suddenly you're making a whip. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Religion</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Jesus has incredible grace for sinners, but he has no grace for bad religion.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I want to speak about a system which is called a religion. One thing that always disturbs in me is when you talk to someone, straightaway they say, oh you're religious. I know I'm speaking to many people right now, you're thinking, No I don't want to be grouped with the religious because that word can mean some terrible things.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Religion has come in, it's like a system. so I wanted to talk about the way that Jesus confronts religion which is a system, it's not Judaism it's a system that we have right now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every one of us, we are vulnerable to religion. I don't know, whatever church you're from but you might be I don't know a church that seems to be out of their modern free, whatever you think you're free of religion, you need to think again. <b>Religion gets into the center of us</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So let's not start thinking about those religious people that do religious practice, because as soon as we start doing things that we don't understand why we doing them it becomes irrelevant. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Things that are relevant become a relic and that is why religion is often a relic to people and it's not relevant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So Jesus says, hey I've come to bring life, so he gets the whip out, and he starts whipping the animals out. It says then he doesn't stop there, he turns the tables over and the money is going everywhere. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm sure there would have been some people get angry. When it comes to money, people get angry. Peter's like elbow in them and he's like getting them headlock. so you don't read that bit. There were some upset people that day. In fact he cost so much upset, it said though they ended up wanting to plot to kill him several times. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But he's coming to religion, I'm not backing off, I'm not going to be intimidated but I'm challenged by this because we often see the face of religion and we want to say all while you know everyone has their own different way, and maybe that's the way they do it, they just sell animals for exorbitant prices to poor people. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The same thing has happens today but in a different setting.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Jesus came to set us free. He came not for a religion but for a relationship.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Jesus is not a lamb, he's a lion. When he's picking up the whip, he's not acting as a lamb, he's acting as the lion.</b> He says how dare you make my father's house into a den of thieves? he's mad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You will see through his life, the times that he gets mad is around religion. isn't that funny? because we love our bit of old-time religion, <b>sometimes we just love what we know, we feel comfortable with it. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Probably if you're in a church where you feel comfortable, you're in the wrong Church. Probably you got some religion</span>.</b> because that's what religion does. it suits you, it pampers you and it says hey aren't you off? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe that Jesus when he asked the disciples to follow him, he never said follow me I'm gonna make it a comfortable life for you, you're gonna have a great redundancy, it's all going to be good. <b>He said you got to pick up your cross and follow me. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So we all think what we like bought into when we followed Jesus. Who was he when he said follow me. <b>He declares war on a system of religion</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Healing on Sabbath Day:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm going to tell you another verse here in Luke and it's a story about Jesus going to the synagogue, he's going to the church building. it's on a Sabbath and on a Sabbath there's rules. He notices that there's a woman there who for eighteen years has been crippled and doubled up that she's never been able to stand up and it says a demonic spirit who did this to her. She's looked at the ground, could not look up. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus turns up to the situation where all you can do is look at the ground but Jesus says, No I want you to look up. He's the lifter of your head. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's something about Jesus that wants to deal with shame, deal with unforgiveness, deal with condemnation because she would have walked down and in that day they would have all said, look at this woman who is it's because of her sin and shame so she she walks around but she finds herself in the house of God because she's searching after once, she's searching after the Messiah. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here he comes right up to her but it's on a Sabbath and he says straight away says, he lays his hand out and he actually touches her and he says be healed and immediately the demon left and she stands up straight. She goes out praising God.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Incredible story, this isn't the only time he did this, He kept going into places he shouldn't heal people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How ridiculous is that? don't think about the person, there is a spirit of religion here and the spirit of religion saying, alright you okay that might be great what's happened </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">but you did it in the wrong way</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and the religious spirit will come and bring judgment and will say oh well it might be great that you've seen so many people come to know Jesus but not sure about the method. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not really sure about the way you guys do worship, I'm not really sure about the way you do it and what this spirit was saying to the people was how dare you, on the Sabbath day see people set free from bondage because religion has come to bind people to disempower them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>In fact even Jesus said, you make the way hard for yourselves but at the same time you even stop others entering the kingdom of God. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Religion actually prevents people, it doesn't help people.</b> You see the anger. you cannot believe it, you've seen this miracle, there was known it for eighteen years, they were known her, incredible miracle. It's amazing how the miracle, we can get wrapped up with religion and somehow bring criticism.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Our traditions will nullify the Word of God, that's a big concern.</span></b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now the funny thing is with the Sabbath, when we look at the Sabbath very briefly, there was God gave a command. what was the command? <b>work six days and then on one day you shall rest</b>, even God did it. spring, you know it's a good example. so<b> he gave this instruction, he gave this command then what they did is they made six hundred laws around that one command.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So there were six hundred laws all around it. example, on a Sabbath you can only walk so many steps. so if you've walked like you can walk out in nine hundred ninety-nine steps, one thousand too much you've got to stop right there, you can't, you need to get something to carry you, because that's work and God is going to somehow look down on you and you think you were disobedient rebellious people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It says that if someone is in need unless they're dying, come back tomorrow. Because otherwise it could be termed as work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We know that Jesus had his disciples in the corn field, and they sort of picked something and then they said what are you doing on a Sabbath? you're working because you picked something to eat. Imagine because like six hundred, this is just over one command. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I want us just to be thinking about the three things that Jesus came to smash around the system. so there's the system of religion I'm gonna try and condense it real quick in three areas because we need to identify it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">I don't want you to identify this in others, I want us to identify it in ourself</span></b> and you'll see why? because we get so religious around the way others do things, but he wants to speak about the way we do things, he wants to change our heart over these things. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When they were in the temple, selling making a profit, <b>they were more interested in profit than his presence.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sometimes we could be more interested in our system then his presence as a real challenge. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I talk about false religion what does it do? it makes principals, my principles and the way we do things, the way we do worship here, the way our building is, you think about it people are having issues what is it? what happened in on this Sabbath day? it was the fact that you healed on ,see it's a principle our law says you can't do that, oh let's put that poor woman who suffered for 18 years aside for a minute and talk about the principle and this is how you recognize this spirit of religion within us, when we get more interested about the way something's done, when we get more interested in our preference rather than his presence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I just don't think we should be doing that. I think some of those guys are a bit too young to be getting up the front. I've heard all of these things. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Can we hear this message? because some of us right we've come in even right now we're just like half asleep, and yet we're full of religion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'd ask you with you, Will you press in and hear this? because you see religion one wants to make you comfortable even right now a few of us relaxing back are, yeah about Jesus and religion and the Sabbath and you're the very one that needs freedom, because you're bound up, banged up and he wants to bring freedom. But you need to be ready to respond. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We know just coming to church isn't enough, well don't you came and sat on a chair today, it's not enough. we've got to come and meet this Jesus.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>This real Jesus, God I think why we're here? is it for a relationship? or is it just to fulfill a duty? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think I'd rather people that really want to be here. you know I'm talking about the church and about owners okay and if you're a guest you're so welcome but if you call yourself a Christ believer and you're here, I really hope it's because of this relationship with Jesus that you'll come in after him. because we need him more and more. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>So we've to realize that religion will make principals bigger, they're not care for people.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">1. Legalism</span></b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So the first thing I just want to cover real quick is legalism, these are one things that Jesus came to smash.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I think about legalism, <b>legalism is a work-based religion</b>. What it means is hey we're gonna keep to the rules and as long as we keep to the rules my heart can be in whatever condition inside, but as long as I fulfill the rules, and as long as I go to church, as long as I do the Christian stuff I need to do and as long as I do my good works sees where good works we are starting. What happens? pride starts coming in saying why? you are fool, you're better than this person.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Legalism starts to inflate you.</b> This is why Jesus went to town on the religious leaders, the Pharisees, Sadducees. He went to town because they were there saying, hey aren't we better than those because we pray for an hour, aren't we better than those because we come and we end up sort of putting our money in before everyone and saying look how much we give to God. then Jesus says, yeah but look about the widow she comes and gives everything she has from her heart because this is about a heart, it's not about a law,</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>This is about a heart that loves Jesus, it's not about law that you fulfill because you can never fulfill enough laws to win and earn your salvation.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Because what it means is we end up being self justified, when Jesus is the only one that justifies us from sin. and that is why like truth that is do you know what is only by grace that we are saved, none of us can do enough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>As soon as we start thinking, well I've done this, and I've done that, and I've served the church, and I've like given my life in that, it's legalism.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People sometimes can't see the real truth, because they get stuck in legalism and this comes from this spirit of religion.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>It's rather to do with my work rather than his work.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What he's saying is <b><span style="color: blue;">God gave you a gift and the gift was a day of rest. You took a gift and you made it into a prison. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We as people see legalism does this, it will take what God meant for good can worship in spirit and in truth, and then it's like whoa I don't know about those like jeans they're wearing, and what about them hats they wear as well, I'll sure if I believe in hats, it's just amazing that we can get legalistic about something that God has given us because we came from a background that wasn't really, we've got backgrounds and we've got opinions already formulated and he was coming to smash those things and he said I'll I gave you this was a gift. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Sabbath was a gift but you made it a prison because you're serving the Sabbath but the Sabbath is there to serve you.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every time we get the wrong order and we get the wrong thing. What happens when we get it out source, we end up serving that rather than that serving and blessing the people of God. that's what he's saying, he said you got all bound up with this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I came from a background where you know my early years, we went to church Sundays. I had a whole list of things I was not allowed to do. The big thing was you can't play on a Sunday, you can't play football, you can't play certain things, you can't watch TV. Where's that come from? and we have things you see where we and when this impacts us we start projecting it onto others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What we've done over the years is, we've created buildings, and this happened after Jesus, what do we do? man created buildings where was more about the building than about worship, it was more about we got to go to the building and you got to be allowed in the building but only the special people sit towards the front of the building and if the building's really ornate and really fantastic it's a great piece of architecture but then people made it about the building and it's not about the building, but <b>even today I hear people that know Jesus they were talk about their preference of building when it comes to worship, you got some religion my friend. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Religion snares you, traps you</b>, they even took the word of god that was in Latin and they chained it to the altar. Because they didn't want the common man to get hold of it, because then he'd really see what Jesus was, who he was? and then they kept it within a certain group of religious leaders that then used it to bring control. This is what Jesus is coming against, this is what Jesus is saying, I've come to make you free. I'm sure <b>many people they don't come into church today, because they just think Church is all about do's and don'ts. No, it's about life giving, </b>it's about the rules that are there or to see the best life you could ever live and for anyone that is involved in a broken marriage his way is the best way when it comes to marriage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You might say what about all these do's and don'ts, yeah you do it your way, you probably find that, they'll possibly break because without Jesus we're on our own and there was just something about him speaking to us saying come on, you got to watch out for legalism.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we get to heaven does speak different people and they say all on this on that, when we get to heaven and I don't know say there is these pearly gates and he's like you turn up you say Here I am and then now Saint Peter is they're saying, right okay you've got your name, I'm a Catholic, I'm a Baptist, I'm Anglican, I'm from freedom. because I speak to people and they immediately want to tell me what they are? he is going to go through that list he's gonna go all got a Katherine, mmm Brenda, Fred. I got nothing by that name here, nothing written in the book of life, your name's not in the book of life because you put your faith in a system, you put your faith in a denomination or a movement name when he wanted to know you, when he wanted you to come to know him, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's not a digger anyone, it's a digger religion. When we just think that I will, I'm this and I'm that, it will not save you when it comes to that day, only the fact that you believe and you follow Jesus as your Savior and Lord.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It says those that not just here but those that did, those that followed, those that turned around and went after him. He says those are the ones, many people call me Lord, but I didn't know them, I don't know who you are. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>You can say religious language but unless you know me and follow me I don't know who you are. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Religion has this like great way of making you feel comfo</b>rt, say all I'm part of this club ,and I'm a member of this church and I've been going for so long. we do some great things and some great charitable things and you know I just feel Jesus came to Smashing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know some people might feel a little bit cautious or freak out, but I just challenge you, he wants to bring freedom to you because it grabs a hold of you.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2. Hypocrisy: </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next one is hypocrisy. it's another thing Jesus came to smash. it leads you see from legalism, pretend to be something we're not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I said, Jesus had this incredible grace and patience right for a prostitute, he's all over her with love and say I'm not here to condemn you. come to the religious, this religious group of people they were like moral upstanding, they made all the laws, they were big givers, they were big prayers. if you listed it, you would think wow what an amazing group of people. They're the people he calls a group of vipers, they're the group that he says you're a bunch of snakes to their face. Jesus great, doesn't do it behind their face, it says it to them and he says you need to saw yourselves out because you'll like a cup like on the outside you've cleaned it all and it's like you put it on the side, it's like that wonderful lovely painted, look at it, but inside its filthy, its moldy and rotten.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>When the sinner comes to Jesus, they don't come with any pretense.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In fact, if I share anything with you it's like we got to be real people too, we got to come and not pretend to be something we're not. because we have a habit of getting around Church and start thinking that we're more like, we deserve a bit of this, the bit of entitlement going on here and from EGC we end up there not looking at our hearts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've seen this time and time again where people will come and challenge me over maybe around tithing, because they want to make an issue out of it. they agree with they want to make an issue about it. When the guide is talking to me has got a great big issue with pornography but he's making judgments and he's making very strong divisive statements but it's like hey I'm here my polish stuff, do you know? I know this scripture, I know that, I want to tell you what I know. <b>I'm thinking Jesus wants to know who you are</b>? and so funny </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've known people to leave church because we baptized someone slightly different to the way they think it should be done. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You missed the whole point, oh that's it me and my family leaving because you didn't say the Father Son and Holy Spirit in the right order. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Guys this is what religion does, we might think that's stupid, but there can be things with us that will come up and will go off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not happy about that, I'm not happy about the way that you were I think you should be doing more for the homeless and it becomes an issue, whilst we're not even doing a thing for the homeless, </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>We're very good at criticizing others it makes us feel good. We have to look at ourselves.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Jesus speaks this is just to give you an indication of how he's feeling?</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's what religion will get you to do the plank in my own life and I'm pulling out the speck in yours or can't believe you, I can't believe you slipped up there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">we see something that we can see but you don't see into people's hearts <b>but God sees into your hearts.</b> that's what he's really looking at.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Guys we'll be so careful that we don't, we're not Sunday Christians, we don't put on a Sunday best and we come with us Sunday language and we do our Sunday worship and then we live a different life through the week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's what he's talking about, he's saying woe to you, that's not living the life, it's not living about who he is.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3. Prejudism</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The last one prejudice. Jesus came to smash and whip the butt of Prejudism. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Simply is prejudgment, that's what it means. I'm going to prejudge, I'm actually going to make myself and sit on the judges seat and <b>make a judgement even without any basis of evidence, I'm going to make it on what I think, my experience, the past what I've been told, my belief system, my culture</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What happens is, we like to think prejudism is to do with certain things in our world that are very clearly incorrect. But when it comes to us, we don't like to think that we might have prejudism, but I hear it all the time in church. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You know for years, we just have criticism about allowing women to speak on the stage, obviously from very strong individuals that felt that it was unbiblical that women should all be allowed to speak on the stage. then I had another group who said we didn't allow women to speak enough on stage, I like meetings all the time ,I stopped those. but at the time, I was thinking what it's like and I had this from people that didn't want to let women and empower women in church they couldn't even leave their own wives, they couldn't even leave their own families but they didn't want women to have any place in church. and you know what we did we released more women and you know that even as pastors around the world. We don't advertise the pastors, I hate this when I see this churches where it's like these are the leaders, oh there they are, all the men, and these are their wives. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Guys I believe right in gender equality and freedom church.</b> I believe that God has done something with us to say I want to see a church that is not prejudiced around that because where the heck did you get that from? there are these things that come into our life so easily and they want to come and Rob us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another area is around things like buildings. we have people that won't come and worship in some of our buildings because we haven't got windows or it's not an attractive building, we're in a cinema right now. People who know Jesus will say I'm not, I don't really prefer that, I'm not comfortable with it oh but I'll go somewhere that there is no life because I've got a window to look out of. see that's what religion does to you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Go where there is death but avoid where there is life, because somehow religion got hold you say, yeah but you'll being really good there, aren't you? just keep sitting there, making a difference to no one and the enemy is going to be happy with you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm a great believer that we can worship anywhere, I'm a great believer is not about the building at all, we'll use whatever building we can like <b>there are certain places right now around the world that we're not allowed to meet publicly and we're having a meet in people's homes in secret, think there's any less?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You give me an old church building will worship the heck out of it as well. I don't know issues because I've learned something because I used to be that person, I used to be prejudice, I used to have I think, I well you know this is because I was brought up in a certain way that had a certain way of thinking and I used to think my way because it's what religion does, my way is the right way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>I've learned that my way isn't the right way. I learned that Jesus is the right way because he's the way the truth and the life and who comes to the Father only through him</b> and so it's him that we need ,it's him that we need to worship.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's something that we're missing Church, there is something we're missing with the way that we do Church. They won't gets about the building in my heart like really eggs for people that just say, hay I love the word, I love your people you know it's just the building.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What about the worship? I've had more people leave our church over the years because our worship is too passionate than probably any other reason. I've had people say if it wasn't for you, you're passionate wild worship and perhaps those lights we come off our people who've sat there with fingers in their ears showing me that we're not happy with amplification all the drums, like we've been through all this I've never had anyone complain that we're having too much quiet worship, so I always just keep seem to be worshiping a little bit too much, it's normally praise is normally passion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Passion disturbs the religious, passion worship doesn't disturb the religious. you'd be religious all day to do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we we went to Italy, we were in around some of the lovely churches, you walk in and they're like SHHHH? Keep calm, everywhere we went.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Religion grabbed a hold of what was a celebration and turned it into a funeral,</b> that's what a religion will do to you. You've got to recognize that religion will do this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">so I'm probably even speaking to someone right now, maybe you got invited in or maybe you've I don't seen some of like our worship or seen some the way we do things and it's like, yeah but I'm not you know, yeah but, you already came in with an issue which is prejudism because you decided that guy with a hat on the stage who's leading worship, somehow isn't doing it right and because of that you're not entering to the presence of the Lord.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You've decided that maybe the way that we do things isn't the way it lines up with you and I gotta say some of you have been even in our church for some time but you just don't quite fit, you think it's about the way we're doing stuff and you're even thinking or maybe I don't think your vision is our vision connecting anyone anywhere, but I want to just give you some revelation here that's the spirit of religion,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe that God has brought you into our church for a reason, for a purpose. I'll tell you, what is religion that was stifle out of you by saying all, nope that's not right and the way that's done and they don't do enough of this and this isn't presented that way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm gonna make you an issue based living person that always has issues. You sit there quietly for maybe a year or two until things you know something comes up and you disagree and then just thinking I don't think it's really our place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm saying to you it's the spirit of religion that is upon you legalism will do that to you and God wants to come in and set you free. Because it will rob you. You'll go into another church and another place for you is down the road, you're gonna have the same issues. Because <b>you've decided to be an issue based person through accept spirit religion over your life. It's time to get free from the prison, it's time to break out from the prison Jesus came to break us out.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Guys we got to understand, this is the real Jesus, <b>this is the whip maker Jesus, he's not doing it to people, he's doing it to religion.</b> he's coming against the spirit religion says this robs and sucks the life out of God and of people. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The worst thing is they do it in the name of God. The enemies do have been doing it for centuries, we put crosses on buildings, we do in the name of God and we suck the life out of people and we limit them and we tie them up and we say you're in bondage, that's what the spirit of religion does and we do it in the name of God and Jesus come to break it open, he came to change it all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We can try and fix often situations within our life like problems we can try and fix situations that happen in our life, but we often end back in the same place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's like a temporary fix. I say if we have a spirit of religion that works through legalism, through hypocrisy, through our prejudism about the way we prejudge others, you'll keep going back. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Until you break the system, you'll never get free of your situation.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We wonder why we keep going back to the same place? we get fixed for a while, we hear a word and we respond, it's like, yeah some freedom for one we go back to it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you look at those three things in the spirit of religion, that's the thing, we got to break that system that wants to come and rob what Jesus did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I want us to search our hearts, every one of us. Don't you start thinking about someone else, think about how his religion? I got religion hold of me and you know the response to it is repent. it means changing my mind, turning around, recognizing it, throw myself upon God's mercy and say god I'm so sorry that I judged people, I pointed at others and I said that's not the right way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus came to bring us freedom, right now some of us are bound up in a system, prejudging others and he says the way you judge others it will be the way you'll be judged.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1 Corinthians 1:26-31</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">[26-Brothers and sisters, consider who you were when God called you to salvation. Not many of you were wise scholars by human standards, nor were many of you in positions of power. Not many of you were considered the elite when you answered God’s call. 27-But God chose those whom the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise, and God chose the puny and powerless to shame the high and mighty. 28-He chose the lowly, the laughable in the world’s eyes—nobodies—so that he would shame the somebodies. For he chose what is regarded as insignificant in order to supersede what is regarded as prominent, 29-so that there would be no place for prideful boasting in God’s presence. 30-For it is not from man that we draw our life but from God as we are being joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. And now he is our God-given wisdom, our virtue, our holiness, and our redemption. 31-And this fulfills what is written: If anyone boasts, let him only boast in all that the Lord has done!]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Remember where you came from</b>, remember the mess that you were in, remember from where you've come. He saw you and he found you. He cares about everyone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>If any of us should boast, let us boast in him. Let us not boast in what we have done or achieved, because it was all him.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We're able to come into his presence today all because of him and he wants to remind you of his blood of the sacrifice but the Jesus that came and paid the price for every one of us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you're a believer here,Pray to Holy Spirit that, will you reveal to me any area of prejudism, hypocrisy, I pretend I'm something else that I'm not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we get legalistic about issues they're robbing our life.</span></div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-29491471228457227672018-07-14T15:55:00.001+05:302018-07-14T15:55:48.144+05:30How the church got communion wrong | Week 3 | Jesus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Jesus has become a religious icon but he actually was and is a relational icon.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Jesus said that he broke bread as a representation of his body and he gave wine as a representation of his blood.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Communion isn't remembering something that's happened, it's proclaiming something that's happening.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Communion isn't so much or simply just about how much Jesus suffered but about how much he loved.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Communion is high priority.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Don't take Communion in unworthy manner, take it with glad and sincere hearts.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>I don't need to take communion only in church. I can take it in my home too.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>I don't need to get the communion only from priest.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>I don't need to take communion to deal with my sin/failure.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>I don't need to take communion to pursue prosperity.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Jesus wants to meet us in our normality.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Religion has reconstructed much of what Jesus came to deconstruct.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Communion is something glorious, something great, something that should fill our heart with reverence and our eyes with tears but also our soul with joy that Jesus took on our punishment far beyond what we could ever imagine, far beyond what we would ever like to admit. He became unrecognizable so that God would recognize us..</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>How the church got communion wrong</b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">It is great that you've joined us, because we are in the middle of a series about the most amazing, most incredible person that has ever lived, continues to live, his name is <b>Jesus</b>. This series is all about coming back ground some of the profound truths of who he is? what he did? what he's continuing to do? and to bring out some profound revelation that's going to make a difference to our Monday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'll choose they always say that it's gonna make a difference to the way that we treat one another, it's gonna make a difference in our marriages it's gonna make a difference with our children. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus is not a historical figure. Jesus isn't in history, he's writing history. We believe that he died but rose again. and so <b>it's not just about what Jesus did? it's about what he is doing and continues to do? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">One of the things that I love about Jesus is he was so much more normal than we actually really realize. What was the trade that he chose to do? carpentry. He was born out of wedlock in a town that had no significance. <b>He really came down to our level and lived life with us and he embraced it</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We've sadly made Jesus this untouchable kind of religious icon, we've stuck him back on the stained glass windows, we've stuck him back on the statues at the front of church, we stuck him back on the jewelry around our neck. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Actually he came to do life with us, he came to do life in the normality of our days. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">One of the things that I think points towards this truth is just how much he loved food. There's more interactions Jesus has around a dinner table, around food ,almost anything else. Jesus loved to eat. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Food sustains life:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Everybody likes food. Food is actually something so powerful because in essence food first and foremost, it sustains life. doesn't it? Every single organism on the face of planet needs to eat to consume something to stay alive. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Food brings enjoyment to Life:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Food actually helps us to enjoy life, it brings an enjoyment to life. I know for some of us in our locations right now, you might be in a position of life where you're thinking where's my next meal coming from? but and we want to help and we want to support, please reach out to some in our church, if that's the case for you. But for the vast majority of us actually food is about what we want? or what we would enjoy? It brings extra dimensions to the things that we do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Think about going on holiday. Often we pick and choose where we're gonna go on account of the cuisine, you think about where you're gonna go on a date night because of what you want to eat, in fact, for most guys date nights more about what they want to eat? then the conversation they necessarily want to have. It brings an enjoyment to life.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Eating together engages us in relationship:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When Jesus engaged around the dinner table, we think that he was serenely silent, just eating like one little bit because he didn't need to ,because he was the untouchable Jesus that just floats into every season. No, I reckon he probably had a favorite dish, I reckon he enjoyed it. There's a moment and when he sits around so many tables it was far more normal than we realize, but one thing that's really powerful when it comes to food, especially in the context of how Jesus did it is that when we eat together it actually engages us in relationship. It's something that we share together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> I've had some meals that in and of themselves weren't very good but the moment that I had them with the people, in the environment is a connection of relationship far more than just sustaining of life or something that I enjoy eating.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;">Zacchaeus:</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Think about Zacchaeus, is a Bible character he was a tax collector and that means he was basically a bad man, he had stolen from his own people, turned his back on his own people, and he was a corrupt individual, he was also profoundly short. Jesus comes to his town and he wants to see Jesus that everybody's talking about. So he climbs up a tree and he sees Jesus. He's the last person that Jesus should have been interested in, and yet he's the first one that Jesus notices. Jesus says get down, I want to go to your house. What did they do in the house? <b>they ate</b>. Jesus again didn't sit in the corner silently as the Zacchaeus was transformed just merely by Jesus's silent presence. I reckon Jesus was like, Zacchaeus these olives are amazing, where did you find them? and they Zacchaeus like boughs his head in shame said I stole him. I reckon he was there you know we'd like that mint dip and secure who made this oh it's my mum's secret recipe and then he realized he's the son of God it's not a secret to him. They ate around the dinner table and what happens? he meets Jesus and it's the Zacchaeus turns around and he says I'm gonna turn my life around, everything I've stolen I'm gonna give it back four six seven forth I'm gonna be transformed. why because <b>Jesus met him in his normality. </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Jesus has become a religious icon but he actually was and is a relational icon:</b></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But sadly what's happened is, we've taken Jesus and we've made him a religious icon, when actually he was a relational icon. We've put him back up on the altar, back up on the stained-glass window. Actually if he was here, you'd sooner find him in the local pub talking to people that feel that they are a mess and a wreck. He didn't stay in the temple waiting for people to come to him, he went. It got him in trouble. He went and associated with people that he shouldn't. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What was Jesus doing, when he was doing that? he was eating sitting around a table meeting them in their normality.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Religion has reconstructed much of what Jesus came to deconstruct: </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Religion actually has reconstructed much of what Jesus came to deconstruct. You might say if you're here for the first time and you're not used to church you might say but aren't you religious? heck no I'm not one bit religious, because religion is about a state of rules and regulations, a process of traditions that you have to keep up with just to be okay with God. I'm in relationship with Jesus. I meet him when I'm brushing my teeth. I meet him when I'm driving down the road, I meet him when my kids are screaming on the school run, I meet him in the night, I meet him around the barbecue. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because actually he came to deconstruct these ideas that it's got to happen in a church or it's got to come through a particular priest.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Jesus wants to meet us in our normality:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus wants to meet you in your normality and so many of us are waiting for Sunday. <b>We're waiting for Sunday or were waiting for the next big conference</b> or the next big event or were waiting to get back to the cave when actually if we realize Jesus wants to meet us every day in our normality.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We're gonna talk about one thing that he gave us as the church that we can do that helps us engage with that in such a powerful way but sadly something that has become very religious and separated from what it really really was meant to be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because there were lots of meals that Jesus had. I mean think about the feeding of the 5000. It was a big meal. You think about when Zacchaeus, you think about Peter and Jesus restores him what is it? it's around a barbecue. You think about when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples it's after a meal. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Last Supper is a Communion:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But probably the most famous meal that Jesus ever hosted or was a part of was the Last Supper. This is probably one of the most famous images da Vinci's Last Supper. It's amazing picture but at the end of the day, it's actually a very inaccurate depiction of what the moment would have actually been like.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Firstly they're all white. Secondly they look a bit proper. Think about it, these guys were the most uneducated, most unworthy fishermen, tax collectors. These were the roughest lads. Actually it was far more relational than sat down on a big table. They would have been reclining on the floor on cushions, leaning back food their hands everywhere, they wouldn't have been knives and forks, it would have been very civilized. But actually it was also a meal that they were very used to. Because the meal was the Passover. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">They would do this every year and they would have had this meal 20, 30 maybe 40 times depending on how old they were. In other words it was a bit like Christmas day. You know what's gonna come out the roast potatoes, the turkey, the gravy, the cranberry juice there would have been such a familiarity to this meal that we miss. But he was a profound moment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">They eat and then Jesus drops a bomb because he says one of you is gonna betray me. Can you imagine that's gonna give you indigestion. You filled yourself with you're nice you're gonna mint and like a fistful of Olives won't flip stone right, and he says one of you is going to betray me, and then they think it's a good time to ask Jesus, who's gonna be the greatest then? they have this discussion but the <b>most famous moment in the Last Supper is when Jesus leads the first ever communion.</b> But sadly something that was so relational, so normal, so profound has become so religious, so separated from its original intention that we miss the profound nature of it</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Even the fact that I said right we're going to talk about communion, some of us have switched off inside. oh yeah okay communion. But actually we're gonna unpack the power of what Jesus was doing in this moment where he breaks bread.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>We took something relational and made it a religious act:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When it comes to communion we took something that was relational and we made it a religious act. We took something that was actually meant to be shared in homes between brothers, between families, between husband and wife and we made it a religious act which has completely sucked out all the profound reality of what it actually is. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Myths of communion:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What I want to just kind of walk through is just a myths around communion. For some of us this is going to be quite challenging particularly if maybe you came from a more orthodox or a high Anglican or a Catholic background because actually there are some practices we have in church that aren't actually biblical, there are actually some practices or some concepts we have in church that aren't actually what Jesus intended. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>1.Only in Church</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So the first is that sometimes when it comes to communion we think it only happens in church. Jesus did this in an upper room with his friends, with his brothers. In fact in a moment we're going to look in the set and we're gonna see that the early church didn't break bread in the temple, they broke bread in their homes. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Even for those of us who maybe have come and been brought up in a slightly more charismatic or free church background, we still have that in us. We still think the first thing as soon as I start talking about communion, some of us immediately thought yeah we don't take that enough in church. When was last time you took at home? </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>2.Has to come from priest:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Another one is that it has to come from the priest. In other words I've got to go up to the front and I've got to get it from somebody who's worthy enough to give it to me. When actually Jesus said No, you take this bread and wine in your mess, in your unworthiness together relationally. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>3.To deal with sin/failure:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes we think that we got to take communion just to deal with our sin and our failure. Maybe I'll let out a bit of a swear word or maybe I had one too many beers I'll go to church take communion sort it out.That's so unbiblical, it's so not what Jesus intended. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>4.To pursue prosperity:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But you actually also have other people that do the opposite, they do it to pursue prosperity. If I take communion, God's gonna love me a bit more and he's gonna favor me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;">We've taken something that was relational, profound life-changing and we turned it into a religion just act.</span></b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Actually there is something that we are seriously missing out on when it comes to the power of this. If we go to Acts 2, you'll see that we talk quite a bit in the modern church about the early church. I wish we were more like the church in Acts. I don't, because the <b><span style="color: blue;">Bible says that the church is end is better than its beginning.</span></b> So we keep banging on about acts. Why aren't we treatment for more? oh if only we could see 3000 saved in a day? No, actually what the Bible says is you could believe to see 10000 saved in a day. But just look at this because there is something profound about what they did because actually was very simple </span><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">Early Church devoted themselves to the </span><span style="font-size: large;">Apostles teaching:</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It says that they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching. Let's just pause there for a second. How devoted are you to the teaching that comes out from this house? I'm not saying that because I'm here preaching how devoted are you to my message. But the church devoted themselves the Apostles teaching. Let me tell you what that meant is that when they left the gathering it didn't go in one year and out the other. They talked about it in the week, they went back over their notes that they made, they actually came out of that and say Jesus what do you need me to change. They could remember it, because they've been purposeful, they digested it, they were devoted. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think so many of us turn up for another bit of steak and we haven't done anything with the first bit. <b>I think our church will grow more if we more devoted to what we get taught here and actually on a Sunday. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I know people that are struggling in their walk with Jesus or maybe not growing and they look at somebody else who's growing. They get despondent or frustrated towards them. Here's the difference, the one who's growing is doing something with what that's all often the one who isn't, isn't. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It says that they devoted themselves and to fellowship. In other words, they did life together and the breaking of bread and to prayer for things that's all they did. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Early Church did life together:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">They listen to the teaching and did what it said, they did life together, they cared for one another, they broke bread it's one of the essential parts and yet we do it potentially in church far too rarely, at home really far too rarely but actually did it almost daily, and then they prayed and get this everyone was filled with all that are the many wonders and science performed by the Apostles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So those things the Bible is teaching us that they produced an atmosphere of faith where miracles were abounding. <b>We pray we want to seek more miracles yet we're not devoted. We want to see more miracles but we're not breaking bread, wanna see more miracles we're not praying together, we wanna see more miracles we're not actually doing life together. We can't claim a promise, if we're not doing the thing that actually makes that promise come about.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It says all the believers were together they were United. There's something about communion that brings us together. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Think about what I said earlier, food engages us in relationship. <b><span style="color: blue;">The most important meal that we should be having together is actually communion.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I want to unpack this in a bit say they had everything in common. In other words, they got on, there was unity in the church, they liked each other, oh my goodness wouldn't that be good. What would be good if in churches people actually got on and liked each other? churches would grow a lot quicker. wouldn't they? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need that was radical giving, radical generosity, radical sacrifice because of these things that they were doing but they continued to meet together in the temple courts. What I'm talking about breaking bread in our homes, it doesn't mean you don't come to church. They continue to meet even daily but then it says this they broke bread, where? in their homes and they ate together. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It wasn't a religious act that they had to go to church for, it was something they broke bread in their homes and ate together with what glad in sincere hearts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In other words, <b>when they took communion they were happy about it, they discovered something.</b> When you take communion it's about breakthrough,<b> when you take communion, it's about celebration, when you take communion it's a proclamation of what God has done</b> not just some somber thing that makes us feel more guilty than we already did. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">One of the reasons I think that they had so much power or there was so much power in them taking communicators they really understood what it actually meant. But it's been so lost, so so lost and that's what I want to unpack for us today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We know that communion meant that Jesus said that he said that he broke bread as a representation of his body and he gave wine as a representation of his blood, and we're gonna dig deeper into what those two things mean. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But before we do that I want to just bring a little bit of tension to our conversation because Paul writes to a church in Corinth in two books in the bible 1 Corinthians and to clean this now. Corinth is a bad town, it's like the Vegas of the Bible. It was full of prostitution temples, so basically what you would do in order to go and worship is you go and pay a prostitute, sleep with her and that was the act of worship. It was such a town of degraded behavior. within 150 years , the City burnt itself to the ground twice. Because there was that much of violence, there was that much debauchery in this city. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So when Paul writes in Corinthians and we see him writing about marriage and love and the fruit of the Spirit. We think about that marriage passage that's quoted all the time love is patient, love is kind comes from Corinthians. He's talking to this place but then this happens in the first book because 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Paul starts to speak to the church about the power of communion and it messes with our understanding. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Communion is high priority:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because <b>I've always thought that communion is just a symbolic act, isn't it? it doesn't really have a power in and of itself it's just something we do to remember what Jesus did.</b> But actually, look at this interaction that Paul writes he says if I receive from the Lord what I also passed on to you. In other words, <b>what he's saying is that this is such a high priority I'm passing it on</b>, it was one of the priorities and as a as a pastor in our church I don't really think of the last time that I made a priority to say to a new believer you got to learn to start taking communion. But Paul with the churches like this is really important you got to do this quite regularly, this is something you've got to get in your life, the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this and remembrance of me in the same way after supper he took the cup and he said this is the cup my new covenant my blood do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;">What Paul is teaching them is that communion isn't </span><span style="color: blue;">remembering something</span><span style="color: red;"> that's </span><span style="color: blue;">happened</span><span style="color: red;">, it's </span><span style="color: blue;">proclaiming something </span><span style="color: red;">that's </span><span style="color: blue;">happening</span><span style="color: red;">.</span></b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we take communion we are speaking into our present and we're speaking into our future not just thinking about something that happened it's a proclamation not just the remembering.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Don't take communion in unworthy manner:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But then it goes on and it says this so then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner we're going to come to that in a moment we'll be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat the bread and drink from the cup.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In other words what Paul's saying is there's such a weight to what communion means? you can't just take it lightly you've really got to remember the power that doesn't mean Sambar but it does mean worthy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What's really interesting is, in the church in Corinth they had a big social demographic divide, it very rich people and very poor people. what happen is when they had communion, everybody brought their own bread and their own wine. The rich people were bringing so much bread and so much wine to show how rich they were and they weren't waiting to share with the poor that they were even getting drunk doing communion. It's hard to believe, isn't it? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But there was something the poor saying I've heard that you do this in an unworthy manner, you're not thinking about your brothers, you're not really remembering what this was all about. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In other words, what they were doing is they were doing it for the wrong reason and they were doing it in the wrong way but then it goes even further with the next verse because Paul then says for those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. <b>That is why many among you, many just think about that word not some, not one or two, many among you a week sick, and a number have fallen asleep.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let me just tell you what that falling asleep means they're dead. So Paul is actually connecting that the way that we understand <b>communion is linked to us seeing the wholeness and the fullness and the healing and the health of Christ in our lives</b>, and yet it's just a symbolic act, isn't it? Jesus is actually saying that this is such an important act that when you do it there's so much power in it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;">If you do it for the wrong reason in the wrong way actually you step out of God's best. </span><span style="color: blue;">It's not a punishment, the next verse goes on to say that it's not punishment it's discipline.</span><span style="color: red;"> Paul says it's so that you learn and you realize where you're getting it wrong. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I read that verse, it's quite challenging, isn't it? messages with your thinking, it's just a symbolic act, isn't it? bit like baptism it doesn't save us and yet there's so much power in it but then what excites me is this. Surely we can assume the opposite that if we take communion, the right way for the right reason that we can believe for greater health, greater life, greater prosperity and our even in our physical beings because surely we can assume that, surely we can. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I was reading this there's something so powerful about I was like we've got to look at this as a church, because we get so frustrated that we don't see the health and the wholeness. But I think that what was the early church doing? they were breaking bread, <b>when's the last time we broke bread</b>? </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Executive Pastor Dave Thomas - The Cave - Communion</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This was really powerful for me because we have an event every year called "<b>The Cave</b>" it's like a conference we don't like to call it a conference because we want it to be something different but it's like a conference. We have one in there in Europe and then in Africa in Asia. I was ill the week before and many of you guys will know that I had the privilege of being part of our worship teams and who's singing at the cave which is a great honor. But by Thursday lunchtime, I had no voice. It wasn't the case that I couldn't sing very well like I couldn't even get a note out. By Thursday evening, we'd already made the decision that I wasn't going to sing, I'd passed on the songs that I was gonna sing to our team and I was cool with that. It's not about me, I've got a great team but I wasn't frustrated to some degree, because I was like I know God that there's something more I want to be healed I want to be okay in this. Our campus pastor in Cardiff Tony came up to me and she said Dave I don't want to seem religious because when we start talking about communion we think it's religious she said. But I just feel convicted, I think you should maybe take communion. When she said it, initially internally I was, I really that's a bit you know I'd take communion and it all sorted out, but what she decided to say no I really think you need to just commune with Jesus and just trust him. So secretly I took communion about five or six times across the weekend of the cave. I not only had a voice on Friday night my voice was stronger at the end of the cave than it was all week. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Something that was really ironic is that the only one I could find was mulled wine and the only thing that resembled bread was a mini cheddar so <b>it was the most disgusting communion you could ever imagine. But what was amazing was I was there and I was having these moments with Jesus where I was just getting on my knees I was just saying I know your body was broken so that I would be whole, I know that your blood was shed so that I could be close to you. </b>Yeah I was also wise I drank herbal teas, I did all those things. But here's the thing I've done that before and not had a voice the only thing I did different was communion and here's the bigger testimony. I basically am responsible for the cave and it's awesome what an honor. It's also quite stressful and there have been many years where I haven't actually enjoyed the cave because I've been so focused on it, and they've been years where I haven't really been that connected to people because I've been so job focused at the cave. This year was the most peaceful, enjoyed it the most and was the most connected to people than I've ever been. why because I was getting around the table that meat connected me to Jesus and connected me to people. I was getting around the table that brought healing and health to my body but it also brought closeness for me with the rest of the church.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We've got to realize that there's so much more power and let me tell I'm gonna just spell it out let me tell you <b>who has tried to diminish the power of communion? the devil, because he knows that if like the early church we were just devote ourselves to the teaching, really do life together, break bread in the way that we should and pray thousands will start getting saved, many miracles are started to happen. </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>First Miracle of Jesus:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So in these kind of final few sort of minutes of this message I want to unpack communion and I want to do that first by taking you back to the very first miracle Jesus ever did. Because shortly after the cave, I had this experience, I started reading through John's Gospel again. In Chapter two, we see the first-ever miracle Jesus did. some of us will know this and some of us won't. But basically what Jesus does he's at a wedding, they run out of wine, Jesus gets a little water turns it into wine and the party keeps going. Who's heard that? who's heard that kind of story? who's read that story in our locations who's heard that? okay quite a few of us. I've heard it a lot and I've heard some great messages on it, things like Jesus saves the best to last, and he cares about the small things and you know the servants did it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;">John doesn't call it a miracle he calls it a sign:</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But as I read it after realizing something about communion, <b>the Holy Spirit showed me the profound message in this miracle</b>. if actually John doesn't call it a miracle he calls it a sign and what's the interesting thing is only a very small number of people actually knew about it. <b>It wasn't proclaimed to the whole wedding people, it was for a very small number of people.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's some of the things that you pull out from the scripture it starts first miracle happened on the third day of a wedding. What happened on the third day? We got to realize Jesus was making more than just the party carry-on. He then it says this that Mary asked him to do it and he says okay take these six jars thirty gallons each filling with water and then they take the war on his turn to wine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;">Jesus turned our dirty water into the best wine:</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But we miss this, Jesus says take these ceremonial jars. so the jars that Jesus got them to fill were the <b>dirtiest jars </b>possible. There was <b>symbolically dirty</b> and they were<b> practically physically dirty</b>. Because the mortar that they would use from these jars, they would use to wash their hands washed if he wash the rest of their body as a symbol of getting clean from their sin. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So the water in these jars would have been deemed unworthy it would have been <b>it represented our sin, our mistakes, it represented people's adultery, represented people's greed, it represented people's failure, it represented people's weakness, it represented all sickness and illness</b> that was the water Jesus decided to turn into wine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It wasn't just some water that came from the tap. Jesus is boldly making a statement saying<b><span style="color: blue;"> I'm gonna take your dirty water and turn it into the best wine</span></b>. when they take the cup and they take it to the master of the house. The master of the house drinks it and says this is the best wine why have you saved this? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But there's another little detail it says that <b>he didn't know where it came from.</b> Why? because <b>if he knew it came from those jars, he wouldn't have let her drop touch his lips</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When you drink this wine, we just oh yeah its Jesus's blood thank you lord. No <b>when you drink this wine, it is your transform failure, it is your transform lack, it is your transform mistakes</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">He doesn't just deal with it he transforms it, turns it into the best that's why the early church could take communion with glad and sincere hearts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">They weren't there going, they would have had reverence we're gonna come to that in a moment. <b>They weren't taking it I'm such a failure, No they were taking it going I was such a failure, but now you turn my life into the best wine and it keeps flowing and it changes the party and it keeps it going and actually my life is a celebration now not a mistake</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If we start to realize that this is communion, Why wouldn't we take him more? My family did it last night before we had a meal, there was reverence, there was power but there was so much celebration. We declared together, you took our dirty water and you turn into the best wine, you took our failures and our mistakes and you've given us hope. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's the thing you might say I don't feel like that, <b>start taking communion, start proclaiming</b>. It's a proclamation, it's something that says I am this whether I feel it, I am this whether I know it, I didn't feel healed when I was taking communion, I don't feel strong, I didn't feel like it would come through. But God starts to do a transformation work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This link with water and wine, water and blood is fascinating, because in <b>1 Corinthians 10</b> Paul actually starts by saying remember the <b>Israelite </b>walking in the desert, <b>what did they eat</b>? bread that they broke every day. <b>What did they drink</b>? water that came from the rock that was struck, <b>what's that represent</b>? the rock of Jesus that was struck on the cross. So all the way back in the desert, they were taking communion. Do you realized that? daily connecting in relationship with the father and connecting in relationship with one another. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Passover what would happen is that they would sacrifice so many lambs they had to dig a trench out of the temple but they connected that trench to the water trench and so water and blood went out the side of the temple what comes out the side of Jesus when he's pierced. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>You got to realize that this is so much more than just a little symbol.</b> It's something that we remember, this is something that represents the very washing the breaking of every sin and failure. When you take this it's a celebration, it's a declaration. He's signed to see the power the profound power.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The thing is though Paul doesn't challenge the church on their revelation about the wine, he challenges the church on their revelation around the body. He says it's not that you don't get the wine it's that you don't get the body. so let me show you what he means, <b>Isaiah 52</b> is prophetic word that describe what happened to Jesus and every word of this prophecy came true. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In these moments I'm going to talk about some stuff that's going to be very challenging to hear, it's going to turn your stomach but I would rather tell you the truth so that you can take communion in a way that really means something. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because Isaiah says this, just as there were many who were appalled at him his appearance was so <b>disfigured</b>. <b>He's talking about Jesus</b> when he was beaten so disfigured beyond that of any human being, his form marred beyond any human likeness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A few years ago there was a film called The Passion there's a very gruesome depiction of the cross and his death. For those of us who've read it and those of us who've seen it, sorry it's hard to watch. But here's the reality it doesn't go far enough. <b><span style="color: red;">Jesus was beaten so badly,</span></b> torn limb skin says they parked out his beard, says they put a crown of thorns on his head. So much so that when they hung him on the cross, somebody didn't even think that he was a human being anymore. Think about those Roman soldiers arguably the strongest, most intimidating soldiers that have ever lived spending years moving swords and shields, think about the power in those arms and shoulders to strike his face, so much power. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Jesus became unrecognizable so that the father could recognize us again:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But here's the thing, he didn't just become unrecognizable as a human being, <span style="color: blue;">he became unrecognizable to the Father</span>. As scripture says that in that moment the father turns his face away. Because <span style="color: red;">Jesus didn't just take on our beating, he took on our sin</span>. He became unrecognizable, <span style="color: blue;">he took on every one of our failures, everything that's in the closet he took it on, every mistake we've ever made he took it on</span>. Even the father couldn't recognize him anymore because <span style="color: red;">he became our sin</span>. Jesus became unrecognizable so that the father could recognize us again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we break bread, there is something sober, something challenging. <span style="color: blue;">But something glorious, something great, something that should fill our heart with reverence and our eyes with tears but also our soul with joy that he took on our punishment far beyond what we could ever imagine, far beyond what we would ever like to admit</span>. <span style="color: red;">He became unrecognizable so that God would recognize us.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But he goes one step further because in the next chapter of <b>Isaiah 53</b> it says in fact he has borne our griefs and that <b>word grief doesn't actually mean grief it means sickness illness and disease.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So when his body is being broken, you see the <span style="color: blue;">blood dealt with sin</span> the body <span style="color: blue;">dealt with sickness.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It says that he carried our sorrows. <span style="color: blue;">The word sorrow doesn't mean sorrow. It means emotional pain</span>, I even would go as far say <span style="color: blue;">it means depression, it means our mental health issues</span>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>He bought everything and when he's beaten, every cancer, every addiction, every failing he is beaten.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Paul was saying to the churches <span style="color: orange;">you don't understand what this means? that's why you're still sick,</span> that's why some of you have even died early because if you just understood you were proclaiming faith and because you proclaimed in faith you would see more of that health and goodness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;">I'm not saying you take communion every day and you're not gonna get sick</span>. I don't know what the will of God is for your life, but what I am saying is that <span style="color: blue;">if we can learn anything, we've got to discern what this body really meant that he bore it for us, that we proclaim.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;">If you wait to get sick to take communion, you're making you're missing the point.</span> <span style="color: blue;">This is about waking up daily and saying</span>, because your body was broken I live in wholeness, I live in fullness, I speak it out over my life even when I can't see it, I speak it out over my life even if it doesn't happen, I still believe it because I'm gonna make a proclamation until the day you return. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Yet we assumed that he was stricken struck down by God and degraded by humiliation, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our wickedness, the punishment for our well being and by His stripes we are healed.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Its a time to take on new meaning, its a time to take on new priority, its a time to be something that you need to share around the barbecue, around the dinner table with your kids, with your friends. Because here's the thing, it's not a religious act, hey let's take communion, oh that's a bit churchy isn't it? no I'm gonna declare but the <span style="color: blue;">God's taking my dirty water and made it the best wine, but God's taken my brokenness and brought me healing</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Communion isn't so much or simply just about how much Jesus suffered but about how much he loved:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's about recognizing that when we take that wine, we're declaring freedom, peace, a one with God. When we break the bread, we're declaring our wholeness, our health, our right standing with God.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Church we're gonna start taking communion more in these gatherings but here is the last place it should be happening, it needs to happen in our homes, it needs to happen before you're going into that boardroom meeting that you're nervous about, Not, I'm gonna take you mean you can you make sure it goes okay god, No I just want to do this with you, I want to get around the table, I want to talk with you, I'm gonna share a meal with you Jesus, because I want to be close to you, I want to know you in my trial and needs to happen around the hospital bed in faith but also in trust. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">How many husbands and wives on the day that they got married took time in the party maybe just take communion. oh I'm provoking in us church is it's not a religious act, it's a relational one. <span style="color: red;">It is not just symbolic, it has within it great power when we believe and we proclaim</span>. if we as a church could resurrect its true purpose, I believe we'll see the kingdom come.</span><br />
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-1086719140164613802018-07-07T20:16:00.000+05:302018-07-07T20:16:31.538+05:30Jesus the Test Maker | Week 2 | Jesus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Are we Believer or Follower?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Why Jesus looking for followers?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What can we learn from the history of Jesus tesing Simon Pieter?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Can we pass the testing of our faith as like Simon Pieter?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Can we pass the testing of showing our faith in public as like Mary Magdalene?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Can we pass the testing of laying things down as like Mathew?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Do we want to fail the testing of submission, trust and ability to follow as like the rich young ruler?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Why followers are tested by Jesus?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What kind of testing going on in our Life in this season? and How do we response?</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Jesus the Test Maker</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We believe that this is going to be a powerful series, because when you call something Jesus, it's got a lot to live up to, it's the name above all names what other name could you pick. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This one is called Jesus, the test maker. We're gonna be looking in part to it Jesus, the test maker so thanks for being here it's gonna be fun. we're gonna talk about tests. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">Jesus is looking for someone</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I just want to say "<b>Jesus is looking for someone</b>" before I really introduce myself, just show you know where we're all going.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I wanted to put this out there, right at the beginning of the message, because I don't know if you've ever flown. have you ever flown internationally? when you fly internationally, you can't take water or liquids on the flight. when you enter the airport basically they put the signs out there to say drink your drinks, put your stuff in bags, take it out of yours out of your luggage right now you cannot take liquids on the plane and then all the way through, every security check, in every signer you pass, in every stop that you hit, they reiterate this message just show you know where we're going.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So I wanted to put this up at the beginnings the same kind of thing this is where we're going. <b>Jesus is looking for someone</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I don't want to bring this on you at the end of the event today, because I think that <b>some of the people that Jesus is looking for in the next season of building his kingdom are right here listening/reading to this message</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you're not prepared and if you're not aware that you're who I'm speaking to you today, then you're gonna be one of those people who gets in a security line and turns up in front of the guy with the terrifying presence in front of the scanners that make you feel guilty even they don't have any contraband on you. just feel terrified and you're gonna be the one down in your water really quick because you missed all the signs so let me just put the sign out there by the beginning <b>Jesus is looking for someone</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus's looking for someone today Jesus the test maker. so please don't count yourself out. I don't know if you know him already today, maybe you've been following him for a number of years, maybe this is your first time in church wherever you're watching/Reading this message, we want you to know that Jesus is still looking for people to build his kingdom. but I'm fascinated by the way that Jesus builds his kingdom, the way that he gathers people to him, the people that he draws. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So I'm going to talk to you a lot today about people. The people in the Bible and what they were looking for. because we're all looking for something, we're all searching for something, even as Christians in this place today we're looking for something, we're trying to find something and you know we go on this search and search for Jesus's voice. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm in a season at this point in my life, if you don't know me, my name is Rose. I'm married to Josh, he's one of the directional leadership team here in freedom church. About a year ago, we had this sort of quite surprising and quite unexpected call on our lives to move over to the States, and get involved in a ministry that's starting up over there, to go and support a friend of ours, and go and begin something new in a place in the States. We weren't anticipating that call. But at the time, we were campus pastors here in Hereford, and we were doing different things with the Academy and God called us to move and to change our focus and to go and connect in with something new. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Right now we're in a wonderful zone called the <b>waiting zone</b> where<b> things happen slowly and we answer questions vaguely</b>. I don't if any of you guys can relate to being in the waiting zone. but if you ask me, so what's going on? and I say we're not quite sure, that's true we actually aren't quite sure. but we're just waiting, we're just waiting. but I feel like I can speak about in some way some of the tests Jesus throws to us as we follow him because they're all a part of following him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But in this season in my life, I've never been so hungry to hear Jesus's voice honestly .I've been looking for it, I've been searching for it, I've hunted it down in honesty far more earnestly in this season than when I was comfortably and securely in a regular and stable position or role or place in my life. I've looked for Jesus more in the last few months then I've probably looked for him in the last few years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That's why I know that this message today is going to speak to some people. Because I know some of you guys are waiting for something, maybe you're unsure about something, maybe there's a test that's going on in your life and you're looking for something, and it's a great feeling, when you find it. It's an amazing feeling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've discovered since being married that I have my own superpower which is a thing a thing of wonder to the family that I have. since I've been married and particularly recently I've noticed that whenever we go anywhere, whenever we get ready to leave the house and go places which we try to do from time to time so that our children can see other humans. it's daunting but we do it, because we're brave. I say to the family, right guys I've got our shoes on it's got a stuff together, we're gonna get in the car in about ten minutes, and one by one they come to me, and they draw on my superpower and it's quite amazing. My firstborn comes to me and says mum I need to take a dinosaur where's my dinosaur? then my second comes to me and so can I take a shark pencil? yes you can, where is it? okay and then my youngest comes and says I need a head flip, I need a head flip. She likes to look nice and then my husband comes and so have you seen my wallet? do you know my sunglasses are? so they stand in front of me waiting for my gift. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I go into my zone and show my mind palace and I say, you... it's under your bed, you... it's in your pencil case, you... your hair clips on your head already, you.. I don't know where your wallet is, because you're the adult, look after your wallet, deal with a legend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But this power is growing and it's amazing, it's something that began at marriage and has grown ever since I feel it growing with every child and then we leave house on time and obviously everybody has all this stuff and we're super organized. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So it's amazing the feeling to find something. It's such a good feeling we're all looking for something all the time. what I'm always surprised by when I read the Bible is that Jesus is looking for something, <b>Jesus is looking for someone</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sometimes we think the all-sufficient King, the Messiah, the Savior, he's not looking for anything but he's looking for someone and that's what I want to talk about today, I think he's looking for you, and the person sitting next to you, and the person who's gonna walk into this place next week that you're gonna bring with you. I think <b>he's looking for some people to build his kingdom</b> right now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So we're gonna look and talk about searching and the tests that come when we search. But ultimately this is what Jesus is excited about, he's excited about turning people who had deniers or not aware of his presence, maybe some of you even watching/reading this message today, you don't know that Jesus is real. He wants to take you on a journey from being one that denies, one that doesn't know the truth of his life and his power to being a believer, that's <b>the most phenomenal transition we can make in our lives is when we go from one who denied to one who believes</b>, that's what Jesus came for. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He came to make an eternal invitation to everyone who would hear him and allow us to become not just those who question, not just those who search and look trying to find fulfillment and everything, but those who believe, those who read his word, know his truth, sense his presence and walk in his ways those are believers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But I don't think that's the only thing that he's looking for. In fact Jesus has really burdened me as I've been preparing this message today to stir up the church a little bit. It's great to believe. our faith redeems us with the Jesus who gave all for us. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But there's more than believing. I believe that today he wants to create some of followers, that's what he's looking for. <b>Jesus is looking for followers</b>. People who will lay down their lives, and do everything that he's called them to do. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus came to give this invitation to everyone, but I think what happened over time is a number of people stopped in the belief circle. that's why it's bigger actually than the follower circle. Because I think probably the Church of God today has more believers than followers actively going after his kingdom and seeking Him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I wanna talk today about the price of being a follower, the tests that come when you were follower, the fact that there's nothing to be discouraged about in those tests, they're a part of following Jesus and actually we see them all over the Bible in every disciples life that faithfully followed him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So I want to just talk to you about today the difference between being a believer and a follower. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There's something that when I read the Bible really surprises me about Jesus and his interaction with people. That is the fact that he gave an invitation to every person who would hear his message. <b>He gathered crowds that were bigger than we can understand and he gave every individual the opportunity to follow him. But he drew some people closer than others.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In this season for me where I'm waiting and I'm uncertain about every next step that I need to take as an individual than with my family. As I'm leaning into his voice, I'm desiring more than ever to be really close to Jesus. I want a step not just in the crowd that followed him around but closer than that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus allowed some people closer than that. He actually had these circles of people around him. He had these different levels of friendship and connection that he participated in with the people who were walking with him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus had this whole crowd that went with him everywhere. then he had these twelve men who he invited even closer into his life. and then they had three of those men who he took with him on specific, certain, important journeys and moments in order to download something to them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I read that in the Bible, it does surprise me firstly. Because I think if you only had three years to get something done, would you take people everywhere you went? would you explain things to everyone again and again? would you want to repeat yourself? would you want to go over things that are actually fairly basic but they just need to hear one more time? it surprises me that he took people with him everywhere because he had such a huge job to do and yet he actually slowed down to go at their pace and do the job so that he could take them on the journey.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It surprises me, if you've ever read the Bible, and you've ever read about the 12 disciples, it'll probably surprise you too. Because some of their questions are shocking, but it's amazing that Jesus did that. But what also surprises me about this is that it somehow goes against part of the picture of Jesus that we are brought up to understand in the Christian faith. He loves everyone the same, everyone is equal, we all have an equal footing with him. <b>At some points, Jesus would have walked to the disciples and said you... you... and you... come with me, the rest of you aren't invited</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It surprises me, because somehow it's not the Jesus that we think of automatically <b>we just think everyone can come, everyone's invited, everyone can be near to him</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I just want to clarify, Jesus loves everyone. Jesus laid down his life for everyone. Jesus's invitation to come and no hope and future an eternity with him is open to everyone. but, what this makes me think is that <b>some people draw closer than others based on the way that they walk with Jesus, the test maker.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So I want to talk about how we can walk with Jesus, the test maker and be those that don't just watch from a distance or filter around with the crowd, but those who draw right close to him and become one that he is speaking to engaging with and connected to you daily. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jeusus loves us all, but he's looking for someone, he's actively looking for some people right now to build his kingdom and so he allows us the opportunity to draw closer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>But it's our choice, it's up to us. We don't have to. He's never going to push anybody into that circle and lock them there. He's also never gonna deny anybody entry. He's gonna give us the opportunity to draw closer and it's our choice.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I believe that it comes down to the way we respond to the tests he puts in our lives. It comes down to the way that we engage our faith when we're in a testing situation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I want to show you some examples, lets look at Luke 5, right at the beginning of the book of Luke, Jesus is beginning his ministry on earth, and he's starting to call people to him just like he still calls people today. He was looking for someone then and he was walking around this lake and he spotted some boats and he saw an opportunity to call someone to him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But<b> I want to draw your attention to the way that these people responded, not just to the call but to the tests that came with the call because he tested them as he called them.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">[Luke 5:1-4</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's very logical. I'll have your boat take me out to shore and more people can hear what I'm saying now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What we know from this little bit of Scripture is, it's the end of a busy night for Simon. He's washing his nets, his job is done. He's finished what he went out to do for the day. He's not just finished, he's packed down. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When you're not just on your way up, but you're fully committed ,you've washed your nets, everything is clean and dry and done, and you're out, you're going home to bed, that's the stage that he finds Simon at.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus finished speaking and then he said to Simon, <b>put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch</b>. One of the things we need to know about this command is that it's completely illogical. Every experienced fishermen just like me will tell you that these fishermen fished at night, because the water is still, there's nothing to freak the fish out, there's no sound, there's no disturbance, they go out through the night, they get their fish, and they go home in the day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But here's Jesus having spoken to multitudes of people who probably were all quite noisy, quite disruptive, and quite a pain for a fisherman. He's drawn all these people to him and then he says right go out in the sea and let's do some fishing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Simon knows that it doesn't work Jesus, that's not the way that this goes that's illogical, and I have more experience here than you. Carpentry versus fishermen, I know my stuff, this is the wrong way to do it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But Simon's got a test in front of him. <b>Will he trust what Jesus says even though it seems illogical? will he believe and will he listen to what it is that Jesus is calling him to even if it doesn't seem to make sense?</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Simon answered master we've worked hard all night and we haven't caught anything. So even though I hear what you're saying, let me just give you the context here, there aren't any fish right now, and you just scared them all away. So I've already tried this, but because you say so I will let down the nets now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I wonder if Simon had a kind of a little doubt in his mind or he was kind of thinking, let's see what happens here. you can preach but can you fish? let's just give this guy the test. May be he was far more submissive than that. when they had done so they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break so they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them and they came and they filled both boats so full that they began to sink. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Jesus was testing something in Simon's heart by asking him to do something that didn't make sense. He was testing something that would ultimately allow Simon to draw even closer. His response was a response of faith.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus knees and he said go away from me Lord because I'm a sinful man for all for he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken and so were James and John the sons of Zebedee Simon's partners, and jesus said to Simon <b>don't be afraid from now on your fish for people.</b> so they pulled their boat on to shore they left everything they had and they followed him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This was the first interaction that Simon ever had with Jesus and it was a test.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first thing that Jesus did when he called his disciples is he tested them. Because <b>Jesus doesn't just want believers who know what he said and trusted in their hearts, he wants followers who will do something physical, practical and bold in their demonstration of what they now believe.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There's always a physical at working of an inward shift that happens when we follow Jesus. The first thing that Jesus did with the first disciple that he treated him was test him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We need to know that this faith tests us. We need to know that the tests that come are not to stop us, they're not to hurt us, they're not to punish us, they have great purpose. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But Simon in this test had an amazing response. I just want to pull out five things that he did or that he that Jesus saw in him.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. He was a hard worker</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He was a hard worker. Lots of us make space for Jesus to come and invade our lives.,so we lay things down, and we stopped doing things, and we wait by the door to hear our call, we pack our bags just as soon as he comes for me I'm ready to go, and that's great. But he was working hard, he was actually involved in doing something, he was just a fisherman on the shore washing his nets he'd done a hard day's work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus said that's the kind of person that I want, I want someone who's already working hard, he's already doing what they're called to do who's already got their hands on the job and getting things done. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. He listens</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The next thing that he does is he listens. He sits in the boat as Jesus preaches. Before he's asked to do anything he starts to absorb the word. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I just want to say to you if you are engaging in this series for the duration, I know that there are words that are going to come that are going to bring Jesus alive to you. But don't let it just be these Sunday messages that bring Jesus alive to you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Whether or not you're new in this church, whether you've been here for a long time, knowing Jesus for a long time, go and read one of the books of the Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John, go and find some of Jesus for yourself and allow these words to build on what it is that he's already showing you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Simon already had some understanding or some experience of the power of Jesus words because he'd been listening. So he's asked to do something that's testing off the back of knowing the truth of Jesus's word listening to him. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. He obeyed</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The next thing that Jesus loved I believe the third thing that Jesus loved about what he saw in Simon is that he obeyed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I don't think this is gonna work God, but because you say so I'll do it. There was an obedience that was unquestioning about what Simon did. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. He was Team Player</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He worked with other people. We all have to cultivate the ability to work with other people because Jesus is looking for someone. But he's not looking for a superstar, he's looking for a team player who can come and get involved in what he's doing all around the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When we follow him, we follow him into a network of saints and heroes and people of the faith all over the world who were looking after their portion, stewarding their bit and we go and join them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We don't need to overtake them, We don't need to outshine them, We don't need to do something different. We need to go and join them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus is looking for team players. When he saw Simon's signal his partners over, I believe he saw a part of the potential that Simon would have to carry the church forward.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5. His humility</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The last thing he saw his humility because after all of this, after seeing this miracle, Simon gets on his knees and says I'm not worthy of what it is that you're about to take me on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I believe Simon probably had an idea of where he was going, an idea of what he was about to get involved in. He said I'm not worthy of this, God I don't know if I can do this, is it me that you want? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We have to have a humility about the way that we follow Jesus. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: magenta;">But Jesus really does want followers and not just believers.</span></b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This was just one test and it had so much fruit for the eternal church. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">so I just want to draw your attention to a couple of things. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first interaction that Jesus had with this man was a test. Who else gets tested? I'll just answer some questions for you, when we think about tests of our faith. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Who gets tested?</b></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the answer is everyone, <b><span style="color: magenta;">every single person who Jesus is calling will face a test at some point</span></b>. Don't let it discourage you, let it make you determined to pursue him through it. Because every person that I have ever met in their pursuit of Jesus has faced tests, tests of their faith, tests of their patience, tests of their mercy, tests of their joy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I believe that God is asking his church to become less fazed by the tests that he's taking us through. Because he's taking us through them for great purpose. Sometimes we freak out and feel like, perhaps we're getting it wrong, perhaps if things aren't going our way then we've made a mistake, we're not following him faithfully, maybe we'd heard him wrong. We worry and then we stop moving. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus wants a people, he's looking for someone who will walk through these tests just like Simon did with a boldness and obedience to his words. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We need to stop getting worried, every time something doesn't go exactly as we thought it would.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Because honestly in this season for me, I had a plan down to days and months, we will go at this point, we will get on the plane, we can purchase this house, we can move to this area, we can start our jobs at this time, also I'll have a baby in this plan, the plan is gonna work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was feeling comforted by that plan. Some of you in Hereford might know you prayed us out like six weeks ago and we're still here. So the plan isn't tracking as I imagined it to. if I let that freak me out, if I buried everything because oh it hasn't gone like I thought it would go. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The vision over my life isn't what I thought it would be, the finances I have in my hand aren't what I thought they might be, the relationships that I have around me aren't what I imagined they could be. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If we freaked out because of that and stopped moving, then we're not following Jesus into what he's taking us into.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1 Peter 4:12</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Christians, we can do that, I'm gonna follow Jesus, I'm gonna preach his word, I'm gonna reach people in my community, I'm gonna go and invite them for church. you know the first time it's somebody laughs at you or says no or just kind of plays down your invitation or never turns up, you can't let that stop. You we're fishers of men.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Don't let the test surprise you. The test is there for a purpose. </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Some more examples for test.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. Leper:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I just shared an example of Simon but actually if you look through the Ministry of Jesus he constantly gives tests to people who follow him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: magenta;">Take up your mat and walk</span></b>. That's not a belief test, that's a following test. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Take up your mat and walk and then it will be well with you. As he straight after he speaks to Simon, he speaks to a leper. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He healed the leper and then he says here's your test. Don't tell anyone what's happened, go to the priest, make an offering, and people will see that you're healed. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2. Prostitute woman</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There's a practical test that comes as people encounter Jesus. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: magenta;">Go and sin no more</span></b>. He says to a woman who is caught in a compromising position, he forgives her sins when he says go and sin no more. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There's another woman that he encounters in the Bible and he says <span style="color: blue;"><b>go from here and tell everyone what you've heard</b></span>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are constant examples of tests in our lives, and what that means is if everybody who encountered Jesus in the Bible had a test, it means that everybody who encounters Jesus here and now has the test. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>We all have a test. I don't know whether it's a test of patience for you, I don't know whether it's a test of relationships right now for you, I don't know if something is testing your joy, something is testing the way that you're feeling, testing your emotions. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I don't know what's testing you but what I can guarantee is following Jesus involves tests.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We see it right through the Bible and then we get surprised, when it comes to our turn and it doesn't go exactly how we planned it or in exactly the timeframe that we thought we would go. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Jesus tests us. Jesus is the test maker not because he doesn't love us but because he has great purpose for us and we're in training for something more. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He's looking for someone who won't just believe in His goodness, but who will know it, testify it from experience and share it with others with wait. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Who passes the test? who progresses in their connection?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So let me just ask you another question if everybody gets tested, everybody who encounters Jesus, If we all get tested in some way, who passes the test? who progresses in their connection? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I believe that everyone has the ability and the opportunity to be a believer in Jesus Christ. He loved us so much that he laid down his life for every single one of us and every single one of us can believe. But not all of us follow. Only some will pass the test.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I wanted to give you some examples of this I said we're gonna talk about people today so I'm gonna introduce you to a few different people from the Bible who Jesus encountered. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. Simon</b></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We just read about Simon. Simon passed the test. He passed the faith test, he did what Jesus said, he was obedient to the practical things that Jesus asked of him.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. Levi(Mathew)</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Levi is another one of the disciples that Jesus called just a little bit later on in the Book of Luke. He's a tax collector, he's got a steady job, he's got a regular income and he's got security. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But Jesus walks past his little booth. I don't know what that would have looked like, but I like to think of it just like he's sitting in the middle of the street in a little booth tapping at his taxes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus walked past his booth and said <b><span style="color: magenta;">leave all of that and come and follow me</span></b>. Leave all of your wealth. leave all of your possessions, leave all of your security, leave all of the things that I've placed in your hands, leave everything actually that makes you feel like you're doing okay in this life and come with me I've got tense, it's gonna be great.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Levi doesn't just do it, he has throws a party with all of his other friends and he says come and meet this guy who's just called me to lay it all down. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The test was passed by Levi. He did a great job and he laid down his finances. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some of us today are being called to lay things down that we cling to that we find security in, that we count our worth by even, we're being called to lay them down, there's a test in your life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But people have gone before you and they've passed that test and you can do it too. Because when you do you become a powerful follower of Jesus.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. Sinful woman </span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She walked into a room of people who hated her, she bought the most precious thing that she had that she owned, she broke this bottle of perfume over Jesus feet and she wiped her his feet with her hair as a demonstration and a measure of her love and commitment and ultimately gratitude for her salvation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I think that's test enough to walk into a room of religious people who hate you and show your commitment and your devotion to your Savior in front of them, no matter what they might think of you, no matter what they might say of you. I think that's a test that some of us are facing right now in our locations around the world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Some of us are facing the test that we need to make our faith known.</b> We need to make our faith public, and we need to let people say what they will say about us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If we get despised we get despised. If we get laughed out we get laughed out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She did that, but then Jesus gave for another test. It wasn't a practical test like some of them that I've talked about so far. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was actually a test in what she believed. He said that <b><span style="color: magenta;">you're forgiven and go from here in peace.</span></b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some of us face the test of accepting and allowing God's grace and God's mercy to redefine us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She faced a test of identity. Are you gonna keep identifying with the sin that you were once engaged with, or are you gonna allow me to reform you and remould you and step into your new identity which is one who's forgiven and one who grows in peace. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4. Rich young ruler</b></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rich young ruler who we read about another person who Jesus tested and the test was very open.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Master what can I do to follow you? you can follow all my my Commandments, you can love me above any other. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I do those things that's what the rich young ruler said. I've done that since I was a boy, I already do that I'm a believer, I already follow what you said, I already know who you are, I believe in you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">okay if you want the next level of the test it's this. <b><span style="color: magenta;">Sell everything that you have, let go of your possessions and your wealth, leave the life that you're secure in and come and follow me</span></b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It said he went away sad, because he couldn't face that test, he couldn't do that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>There's some that passed the test and some that don't.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's our choice. Jesus puts us all on a level playing field here. We don't have advantage over others. We simply have a test of willingness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So some passed the tests and some don't but why? why does he test us like this? why do we face these challenges in our faith? Ultimately, <b>he wants to test our hearts, he wants to test our willingness, because he's looking for someone to change the world</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">Results of Tests:</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">The rich young ruler</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">he was looking for submission and Trust and the ability to follow and he didn't find it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I believe that that rich young ruler was probably someone in the world who heard Jesus's teaching, who was built and blessed by Jesus's teaching, but he wasn't right up here close to Jesus. He was way back here deciding which bits he would engage with and deciding which parts of him he would give.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;">The Sinful woman who's Mary Magdalene</span></b>. She was a woman who stood at Jesus feet when he was being crucified. She followed him right through his ministry, she continued to be devoted to him, that boldness and that identity that he rewrote in her. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She had to draw in every ounce of that because three days after he was crucified when the stone got rolled away and there was no one in the tomb, Mary Magdalene was there. she was standing there, waiting to see the body of her Savior that's what she thought she'd find, instead this angelic presence that we now know was Jesus himself came to her and said you need to go and tell everyone, you need to go and speak to everyone that you see and say, that there is no body in this tomb Jesus is risen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This job was given to this woman here because she passed the tests in her life. She was faithful, when she was tested. Jesus said, will you take my identity over everyone else's identity that they've spoken over you? will you know your forgiveness? will you go in peace? and </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Because she did that faithfully, she was able to be pretty bold as a woman in this culture to walk back to the crowds, and say guys the tomb is empty, Jesus is risen, I've seen it with my own eyes, you all need to come and follow me. <b><span style="color: magenta;">There is a boldness and an identity that needs to be rooted in Jesus for that to happen the tests are preparation.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;">Levi is actually Mathew.</span></b> there's a lot of renaming in the Bible in case you're unfamiliar, Levi was the disciple called Matthew who wrote one of the most well known descriptions and and portrayals of Jesus's journey as he was here on this earth. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Matthew was with him in so many different areas. Mary Magdalene traveled in this crowd Matthew was one of these twelve and the tests that he went through as one of those twelve were constant and unrelenting but he went through tests and he passed the majority of those tests. </span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Because he was willing to lay everything down he got to travel with Jesus, see everything that Jesus did, be close to Jesus in some of the most miraculous moments that we know of, and walk with Him. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There was a test that had to happen at the beginning to prepare him for his purpose.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;">Simon is Peter</span></b> the disciple that we know of as Peter that we talk about a lot because we get to hear probably more about the tests of Peter than the tests of any other disciple in the Bible.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Because he was tested so much, he failed sometimes but he kept on being willing for the tests. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He wasn't surprised at the fiery ordeal that would come as if somebody was after him he continued to pursue Jesus as Jesus built his faith as Jesus strengthened his understanding in his personal testimony of miracles that he experienced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: magenta;">He ended up being one of these three, one of these people that Jesus called closest friend, one of the people that he relied upon in some of his most intimate and and powerful and private moments.</span></b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pieter was there because Peter kept on living up to and standing up to and taking the tests that kept on coming.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sometimes we do fail those tests or sometimes we don't get it all right. Peter didn't always get it all right, and yet he's an example of somebody who the test makers strengthened to a point where he would take on the church and take it to the next generation. Jesus said of Peter, <b><span style="color: magenta;">on this rock I build my church, you've continued, you've been unrelenting, you've been determined. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is the kind of person that I'm looking for. So don't be surprised by the test, be determined in the test and you get to walk with Jesus in the building of the kingdom of God.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Why does Jesus test us?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus test us. <b><span style="color: magenta;">it's not a punishment. It's preparation for your purpose. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you're going through a test right now and you're tempted to give up just know that there's purpose ahead of you, because y<b>ou might be the woman who tells everybody in the future, you might be the man who builds something brand-new in the future. you don't know yet, you just got to walk through the test in front of you.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Whatever it is don't be surprised by it, Jesus is a test maker. I think sometimes we need to shift our perception Jesus just loves me, he just wants to bless me all the time and he just wants to give me all good things. Those things are true, Jesus wants to give you good things. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I love the fact that in that first story that I shared with you in Luke 5, He's asking them to go fishing so that they'll be blessed, there's a blessing in that test, there's a great fruit that's gonna come out of that test. It's not just Jesus playing a game, Jesus wants to bless Simon Peter and the other fishermen on that boat by giving them the catch of their life. But first they have to engage their faith and they have to walk through the tests. and </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There's blessing for us too, there's blessing that he has for us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But I believe that God's just challenging his church that Jesus is just reminding his followers,<b><span style="color: magenta;"> guys tests are part the course here</span></b> tests are what we walk through in part of preparation for what it is we're going towards.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>James 1:2-4</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We need to carry that Scripture as a promise, and as a a fact that we can continue to stand on. These tests are building something in me for where I'm going, for what I'm heading towards and I need every single bit of it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So this is what I wanted to leave you with, this is what I ultimately want to say to you today. if you're facing tests of many kinds in your faith, maybe the test is that you don't know what you're supposed to be doing, maybe the test is you don't know where you're supposed to be going, maybe you know exactly what Jesus is asking of you in this season but it's a hard thing to give or it's a hard thing to let go of, maybe some of you don't know what the test is. But you need to go back and listen to smash the idols series, because I'm sure you'll find one in there they were loads. </span><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>The test is not a mark of disobedience, It's the making of disciple</b></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The test is not a mark of disobedience, you know sometimes we think I'm getting it wrong, or I'm pursuing the wrong course. The test is the making of a disciple.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Don't be discouraged by it. Be determined in it. Don't feel like it's a punishment, it's a preparation.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus loved Pieter so much and he continued to test him to prepare him for where he was gonna go when Jesus had gone back to heaven, Pieter was gonna need some strength to rely on he was gonna need some unfailing faith to build on. So Jesus tested it and grew it and developed it and multiplied it all of this time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Test is not your opposition, it is your opportunity</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Jesus is looking for someone.</b> I believe Jesus is looking for someone even here in this room but I believe that some of us have allowed our tests to overwhelm us or to stop us in our tracks and I just want to remind us this morning or this afternoon or wherever you're watching/reading this, I want to remind us that we should not be overcome by the tests that are in our life, we should be encouraged because it's not just it's not your opposition it's your opportunity to pursue Jesus to something more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Please keep believing in this season that Jesus has more for you. As you face the tests that you're looking at right now, he wants you to progress forward into what he has. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">we're gonna just have a couple of minutes where we worship God but we reflect personally on the tests that he's placed in front of us. <b>Where are their tests that you have stopped in? where are their tests that feel too big for you? where are their things that you know God is asking you to face up to and to change and you've put off because you're content in the believer zone rather than the follower zone?</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Because I've got to say that in this generation and this season that we're in right now, our news is full of heartbreak, our world is full of need. Jesus is looking for someone who will go forth into all the world, make disciples bring this news, bring this gospel and it's not gonna be believers who do it, it's gonna be followers who do it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So <b>where are you being limited by the test? where are you stopping in your tracks? what is God asking of you? where is he asking you to get pick up your mat and walk to believe in the new identity that he's given you to leave everything and follow him? where is he asking those things of you? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We need to be a church who were willing not just to believe but to follow him to everything that he has for us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: magenta;">We need to know that he has a great plan and purpose for us and he's preparing us.</span></b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I just wanted to say this all that time when Simon is partaking in the tests, all that time when he's throwing his nets out again and and trying to fish again Jesus is right there in the boat with him, he's not far away, he's not on the shore, he's not left him to it, he's right with him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your test today, Jesus is right in the boat with you, he couldn't be closer, he's cheering you on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I would love each of us to consider the areas in our life where Jesus the tests maker is being shut down shut out and denied in our life because we're not comfortable or we're not confident to pass the tests that he's placing in front of us. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Prayer:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Father God I thank you so much that you love us enough to test us and to bring us towards a greater future in you. God I thank you that the tests that come in our lives bring faith, I thank you that they bring hope to others Lord that they bring purpose into your kingdom. and As you're looking for someone Lord, we want to be those who will follow wholeheartedly. God I pray even now as we sing that you would start to speak to hearts start to convict individuals and start to show us of the areas where we're content to believe rather than follow God show us the things that we need to do so walk-in closeness and connection with, you in Jesus name. Amen</span><br />
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-48350114050557670982018-06-30T17:45:00.001+05:302018-06-30T18:15:18.805+05:30Faithfulness is Fruitfulness | Week 1 | Jesus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Do we want to multiply our talents?</b> ==> Yes, everyone wants it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are we asking <b>what happens if it doesn't work first time? How can we deal with failure?</b> ==> If we don't want to confront things we're never going to multiply.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are we saying <b>We don't have what we need in our hands?</b> ==> No, We're wrong, We have what we need in our hands right now but we're not recognizing it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are we saying <b>I will withhold my talent and multiply?</b> ==> No, we got to release to multiply not withhold.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are we saying <b>I want to be in comfort zone and multiply my talents?</b> ==> No, you can't multiply if you're not into risk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are we saying <b>I will live with my complacency and multiply my talents?</b> => No, Multiplication happens through actions not through complacency. Do something with what you got.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are we saying <b>It's my talent and its about only me and its my decision to take whether multiply or not?</b> ==> No, you are wrong, There's other people in other side of your multiplication. This is more than just for you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are we saying <b>I am not answerable to anyone for my talents?</b> ==> No, You are responsible for your talents and What God is put in your hands, you will be answerable for.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are we saying <b>we are faithful?</b> ==> then where is your fruitful?</span><br />
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<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Faithfulness demands fruitfulness.</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We start a new series here at Freedom church, and it's all about JESUS.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was so excited about this series. Because I believe that when we look at who Jesus is, there is always blessing. So If you wanna go away with something, go away with the blessing, you've come to the right place. you've come to the right message.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But we're gonna look at Jesus perhaps not in a typical way that many people look at Jesus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's not like let's do a bible study about Jesus. <b>We're going to look at some extraordinary sides of Jesus.</b> in fact in sort of the Bible, it says that there were many stories about Jesus that were never told in scripture.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is a sides of Jesus, you don't even know. So straightaway that's says to me, let's not presume, May be you've come in, may be you're searching for faith, may be you're not even sure what you believe, may be you've been a Christian for many years, <b>there's always something to discover about Jesus.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You have to get ready and say God will you teach me something new.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is a fascinating thing I found as well is that when we talk to people who perhaps don't have faith, they're quite happy for us to talk about God, but as soon as you start personalizing it and start talking about Jesus, it seems somehow cause offense/awkwardness, because God was made flesh through Jesus and he came to earth, to came to the cross, to pay a price for us. Because we were lost and we need a savior and it was only Jesus who came for us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We're gonna start off in quite a sort of relaxed way. <b>We're gonna start and look at how Jesus loved food</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When you look through the gospels, it is amazing how often Jesus is like around food. He's having suppers, dinners. He's going like to parties, he shouldn't go to. He's having barbecues, Can you imagine, the son of God doing a barbecue for you?</span><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Feeding of the 5000</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">[</span><span style="color: purple;">Luke 9:12-14</span><span style="color: blue;"> As the day wore on, the twelve came to Jesus and told him, It's getting late. You should send the crowds away to the surrounding villages and farms to get something to eat and find shelter for the night. There's nothing to eat here in the middle of nowhere.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus responded, "You have the food to feed them"</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>They replied, All we have are these five small loaves of bread and two dried fish. Do you really expect us to go buy food for all these people? There are nearly five thousand men here, with woman and children besides.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>He told his disciples, Have them all sit down in groups of fifty each]</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A lot of hungry people. It could be probably the biggest gathering Jesus ever spoke to. Because, when they referred to number, they referred to men. 5000 men. on top of that, they were woman and children. so this crowd, many people believe is about 25000.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">From the beginning of the day, Jesus had been healing, he's been speaking, he's been impacting people. Mass crowd of 25000 people being there since the morning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Morning is gone, and the day wore on, and the disciples were looking on and like 1'o clock turned into 2'o clock, Jesus was still preaching, 2'o clock turned into 3, he was still going, 3'o clock to 4, they were in 5'o clock. Disciples were just like watching Jesus and thinking, "wow this is some sort of serious".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus is preaching to the crowd. Day is wearing on, it almost like evening. Jesus is still going on. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Disciples were having a little committee</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They're thinking I wonder when he's gonna quit. I think people are hungry, may be one of us should go and interrupt him. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Imagine, going infront of Jesus when he is preaching, he's been going for few hours now. Disciples are together, they sort of vote someone, who's gonna go and tell to Jesus? I am just thinking, It could be Peter. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Imagine it, He's waiting for the pause from Jesus several time and finally he comes up and says Jesus, I think people are hungry. May be we should call it a day. We could listen all night, we're just like getting warmed up. But the people they are not used to it. So Jesus, Do you think it's time to quit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus turned around and says "You feed them".</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Excuse me Jesus, what was that? there's 25000 people here and we are in the middle of nowhere. Yeah you feed them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Its like, Peter came back to the committee. The're all thinking come on, we've got an answer, is it quit in 5 minutes? He says feed them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They say straightaway, We've already checked and all we've got is pack lunch with five loaves and two fishes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They said that Jesus, this is what we've got. Jesus ignores the fact that they've said. He doesn't even say is that all what you could find? It's not like that's a great effort, well done. Because, I think disciples were thinking, restaurants are closing, we need to get away soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Its so funny how we put these things in front of what God is about to do. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Don't rush away from what God is about to do.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Don't rush into something because it's convenient. You need to sometimes press in because God's about to do something great.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>What they had to offer had no impact on Jesus.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus just ignores him and said, alright get them to sitting groups of fifty. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Have you tried getting 25000 people to sit in groups of 50. It must have been absolute nightmare. But they get them seated. <b>There's something about the order.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">[</span><span style="color: purple;">Luke 9:16-17</span><span style="color: blue;">, Then he took the five loaves and 2 fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them]</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That's a miracle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If I am Peter, there's 12 of us and We've 5 loaves and I am barely getting half. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am just imagine right now being Peter, says right Peter, this is your bit, I'm gonna pray over it and bless it, we're gonna put it in basket, you're gonna start giving out, you're gonna feed multitudes with this piece of bread.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am just imagine, everything's going through my head right now. As I put it in the basket and I walked to the first crowd of 50. They're all looking on, it's like here we go guys here we go, break it up, break it up, small pieces, too much, too much. As it goes along and it gets less and less and you are trying to stretch this thing out, <b>but as it goes, it seems to multiply, as it goes it seems to increase, as he gets to the end of the 50 he goes on to the next 50, there's more here and as he starts going, it increases and the overflow of what is happening is taking place in front of his eyes.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>It didn't multiplied in Jesus's hand, it multiplied in his disciples hands.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>We're waiting for too long for Jesus to multiply something when he said you've to multiply what I put in your hands.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: magenta;">The miracles happened when the disciples are obedient.</span></b> This is to do with the obedience, is not to do with the understanding. This is to do with obeying what master says, it was only then they started to see the multiplication.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm sure all of us, we would love to say here Jesus, here's the bread and fish, just make it grow. But Jesus says I'm gonna bless it then I'm gonna give it and you've to start sharing it.</span><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1.Multiplication requires confrontation.</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Every one of us love to say that I want to live a life that multiplies. No one wants to say I just want a bit less of everything. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We wanna multiply what's in or hands. If we got a certain skill, we wanna multiply that skill. We have certain thing's given to us, we wanna multiply it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is something about multiplication in the kingdom of God, that's what he talking about. He's trying to teach them about the kingdom of God.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For us to multiply, we're gonna need to confront our fear. Because, when they were there, and the day was wearing on, and people looked fed up, and they were hungry, there was 25000. He says, ok what you got? I've got this small bit of bread and then I had to walk up to the need that was overwhelming in my life,and I had to stay but with it, I'm gonna start releasing it. I'm gonna need confront it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>If you don't want to confront things you're never going to multiply. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You want to multiply your life, you want to see increase, you want to see replication in your life. I've learned that Jesus is going to take you to a place of confrontation. Confrontation about why you want to multiply?, confrontation about what's the sort of motive behind the desire?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>There's gonna be questions around what happens if it doesn't work first time? Can you deal with failure? When everyone says there's no way, will you make a away? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Anyone can just sit with all the cynics and say, this is all we got Jesus. They're basically saying there's no solution.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>You want to multiply, Jesus comes to confront your faith.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They even said, Jesus this is all we had, 5 loaves and 2 fishes which is hard to believe amongst all the people. They then said, even if we had enough money, there wouldn't be enough food for us to be able to buy anywhere. </span><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2.The potential to multiply in your hands.</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So they were telling Jesus about all the issues and problems and obstacles when Jesus wanted one of them to say that yeah I want to believe that there is something about you being the source of blessing that you were the one that multiplies and you can take one and one and make it five.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus came to them and says you feed them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some of the prayers that we're praying to Jesus and he's turning around and <b>say No, you do it. Jesus, will you?, you do it. Jesus, but I can't, you do it. Jesus what you move for me, <span style="color: magenta;">just get up and do something</span>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is something powerful about this that he expects us to look at what's in our hands.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Every one of us has what we need in our hands right now but we're not recognizing it. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The loaves and fishes was all they needed for an incredible miracle to feed 25000 people. It was actually in their hands but he was waiting for them to bring it, to bless it and then to begin letting flow through their hands.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>What is it that you're holding on to that you need to let flow through your hands?, what is that you think there's not enough?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What if disciples, What if Peter said I'm absolutely starving, let's have one them fish, What if disciples kept it and said well we need to keep something aside for Jesus. You never see the miracle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: magenta;">What is it that God's put in your hands that you don't think is enough but it's more than enough and he's asking you to begin to release it.</span></b> There is something you will see right through scripture, the widow with the oil, you will see people who just say I've hardly got enough and I'm about to die. He says, yeah but you just got to meet the multiplier, you just got to meet my Lord and Savior, you got to meet my God, He is the multiply that when you begin pouring out and it's in the pouring that it kept pouring. </span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>So what's in your hands?</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3.a Multiplication happens through releasing not withholding.</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It doesn't happen just like that where as it happens when it's released.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is a principle in life and some people that aren't even Christians understand this principle and they will give an amount of their wealth into charity, because they believe in this principle. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You got to sow to see something back.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even through multiplication in our life, you got to release not withhold. What does fear gets to do there's no enough.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We all say we're released when we got lots but when there is not enough, we want to hold. There's not enough and there's no solution but you said NO.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>I want you to think as a multiplier. Your God is a God who multiplies.</b></span><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3.b Multiplication happens through risk not safety.</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Many people just think, it's fear that keeps us holding on. But it's not always that. <b><span style="color: magenta;">it's actually the fact that we're comfortable. </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We get comfortable in our lack and we just think I've just got to survive through. But I've learned to multiply and anyone sort of in a business principle will tell you that <b><span style="color: magenta;">you can't multiply if you're not into risk</span></b> or it be very limited.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You've got to speculate, you've got to think ahead, you've got to say that I am gonna put this in, I'm gonna cast this out, I'm gonna show this out. As we do it, we are gonna start giving the pieces of bread, they're multiplying, this is risky what happens if it goes wrong. They're multiplying, they are growing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>God wants to speak to us today and say where it is that we have just remained safe? because that's what lack does.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I've known people that actually have quite a bit but then they bolster how much they have just in case anything goes wrong. You know what happens, probably something goes wrong. </span><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3.c Multiplication happens through actions not complacency.</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You've got to take action, you want to multiply, you want to multiplication in your life, you wanna see greater things in your life, you're gonna need to take action.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Do something with what you got.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">[</span><span style="color: purple;">Mathew 25: </span><span style="color: blue;">Parable of the talents]</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is connected with the multiplication, it's connected with the feeding of the 5000, it keeps coming through.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus tells this story of King who's gonna go away on a journey and he entrusts his servants, his steward. He entrust them and he says there's three of them and he says to one I'm gonna give 5000, I'm gonna give the next 2000 the next one, the next one thousand. <b>Five, Two and One.</b> What happens as they give this, they end up sort of putting it to work. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The one with 5000 puts it to work and he doubles it. <span style="color: magenta;">He invested, he makes it work, he takes his action. He doesn't sit back, he takes action to multiply.</span></b><span style="color: magenta;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jesus is teaching us this vision, we got to get this because the church doesn't understand it. <b>We sit and we hold is like what just in case things go wrong, lets sit and hold and do the safe thing but they invested</b>...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Second one with two get multiplies, he gets four, he ends up with 4000.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The last one, what does he do with the one thousand, the least amount. <b><span style="color: magenta;">He ends up burying it, because he's fearful of what will happen.</span></b> He says at least it's safe there and then we're going to pick up the scripture here that says about when master returns.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">[</span><span style="color: purple;">Mathew 25:23-26,</span><span style="color: blue;"> His master replied, Well done, </span><span style="color: red;">good and faithful servant</span><span style="color: blue;">! you have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. Master, he said I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where yo have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So </span><span style="color: purple;">I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground</span><span style="color: blue;">. See, here is what belongs to you.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">His master replied, </span><span style="color: red;">You wicked, lazy servant!</span><span style="color: blue;"> So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed.]</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>That's not the result that master was looking for from one talent.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The servant with the one bag of gold didn't understand who his master was.</b> He said, I think you were tough/hard, you are a tough boss. If we don't understand that it says in the bible that <b><span style="color: magenta;">God is a good God and good father who will give good gifts to his children. He doesn't withhold. </span></b>He's not a withholder. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But If we think God is somehow wanted to cheat us, He's gonna be tough on us. we're gonna hold, but <b><span style="color: magenta;">when you start to understand who he is, it changes everything, it changes the way we respond.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It also says that he allowed fear to make the gift of God dormant in his life. Because that bag of gold is like the things that he's put in our life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Every one of us that I'm speaking to you today, whatever location, wherever you are God has entrusted whether it's one bag of gold, 2 bags, 5 bags. It says all according to your ability, God entrusted you with gifts. Gifts that he put in your hands.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>What you do with your gift is big priority to Jesus.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What you do with your loaves and fishes that just looked so small and the task looks so great and we're there saying I just don't know what to do. He's saying it's time to use it. It's time to put it use. It's time to multiply. I'm the God that multiplies and if only this servant understood who his master was. He would have gone out with boldness and say, I'm gonna take action. I'm not let fear intimidate me and cause me to abandon my gift. </span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>What gift you abandoned? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What is you're sitting on I think it's not very good compared to all the others. He's saying right now, you need to put it to work, you need to start using it, don't sit on it. don't start looking at your past, don't like to start looking to where it went wrong there and it went wrong there. <b><span style="color: magenta;">What he is put in your hands, you will be answerable for. </span></b>I know this and priestess to myself is it's a real big thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is saying what I put in you and who I've called you to be and the gifts of God in you. What would you do?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Master's gone away and coming back.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I wanna be in the place where I say look this is what I did with what you gave me and it multiplied.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I don't wanna be in the place to say Well I just sort of sat on it and kept it safe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But through risk, through taking action things changed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When you look at the difference between the good and faithful servant and the one that was wicked and lazy. <span style="color: magenta;"><b>There is one difference fruitfulness.</b></span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That's why he said to the one who multiplied, <b>you've been fruitful</b>, that's why he said to the wicked lazy servant because<b> you've been unfruitful.</b></span><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Stewardship void of multiplication is unfaithfulness.</b></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I want to shout this right now? because I just feel you need to know this because <b><span style="color: magenta;">I'm fed up right of Christians living a life that is unfruitful and then blaming the church or blaming where they've come from or blaming their situation or their weakness or their lack in some way.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You will not be able to blame others when you stand before the Lord your God. You will not be able to get through he takes it, so this is so serious to God that what do you entrust with you says I want to see your return, I want to see you multiply it. This wasn't for you, this was for you to multiply, reproduce. If you have great gifting in you, you should reproduce it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">No good living this life and go and you never reproduced it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You might talk about unfaithful that shakes us up a bit. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm faithful I go to the church. sorry doesn't care. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm faithful I sort of go and serve. sorry it doesn't count.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Being faithful is fruitfulness, reproducing, making disciples, using your gifting, doing what he put in your hands.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If he put wealth in your hands is create wealth for the kingdom, create wealth for his purposes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Whatever your gifting you've got to multiply it. You want to multiply it.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As a leader, what is my objective is to multiply other leaders. So we can impact our world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">[</span><span style="color: purple;">Mathew 25:28-29.</span><span style="color: blue;"> So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. </span><span style="color: red;">For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.</span><span style="color: blue;">]</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This doesn't make sense in Christian circles, because lets face it. If we do the Christian thing we want to like help out the guy who hasn't got as many instead taking the one bag and give it to the most. But what Jesus is sharing here, <b><span style="color: magenta;">he says he will give more to those that do stuff with what he gave them. Basically, he will increase those that are fruitful and he won't invest where people aren't fruitful.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I think there are so many great churches. I know I might get criticized for this now. But I'm going to say it anyway. I'm fed of seeing dying churches where people say this is what Christians say to me, <b>well I know things aren't looking good and we're just holding on for the next few years because we're faithful. I think, no you believed a lie, that's not faithful.</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Faithful means fruitful. You can't have faithfulness without fruitfulness. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If we think that just that's being loyal right, let's not get it mixed up is being loyal, it's being dependable and all those things and those are good things but this is not actually what the Bible talks about being faithful and that's why you see people who are holding on to the end because it makes them feel, well I will, I'm being faithful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>If you're not multiplying what God put in your hands and you're not seeing the world around you being impacted by your church. You've got to ask serious questions about what you're doing. </b></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>If you're not seeing the next generation impacted by your church, you've got to ask what are you doing? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You've to ask as a father right now, if you're in a church and you're not seeing fruitfulness, you got to say what I am doing. You will be responsible. He's called you to be fruitful, because he said be fruitful and multiply.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You've got to know that you called to be fruitful and I will give to those that have. They're basically doing something what I gave them, they're good stewards, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: magenta;">They're faithful because they are fruitful not faithful because they attend.</span></b></span><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Faithfulness demands fruitfulness.</span></b></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I put demands in there because you've got to realize that <b><span style="color: magenta;">you can't just say I was faithful.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That servant who had the one bag of gold what was he? He was faithful with his bag of gold, he produced it. he said <b><span style="color: magenta;">I looked after the whole time and I stayed around this gold all my life and I can give you back what you gave me, here it is. I took no risk, I wasn't confronted by my fear, I stayed in a place of comfort, I believe that this is all I had to offer and here it is I am gonna return it to you master</span></b> and he's gonna say <b><span style="color: red;">get away from me you lazy, you wicked servant</span></b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is how God sees what he puts in our life because they're precious why because <b><span style="color: magenta;">there are other people on the other side of your action.</span></b> <span style="color: magenta;"><b>There's other people in other side of your multiplication. This is more than just for you</b></span>. It's about others, it's about the multitudes, it's about the 25000, it's about what God is put in your hand right now with the loaves and fishes and he's saying yeah it doesn't look a lot but <b>you got to start breaking</b>, y<b>ou got to start giving</b> because that's when<b> you start seeing miracles happen in your life. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So whatever you're intimidated with right now, whatever feels like there's so much need in my life right now, there's a time we say God it's time to release, it's time to trust, time to multiply, you're the God of multiplication, you demand fruitfulness. Because he loves us. </span></div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-43497449191677420522018-06-23T23:29:00.000+05:302018-06-23T23:45:29.447+05:30Kingdom Rebels Don't Win | Week 6 | Smash the Idols<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Smash the idol of rebel in our heart. What kind of rebellion living in our heart against God's Kingdom? What it will cost to us? Are we like Saul or David when we caught up in our sin? What is the difference between Rebel and disciple? <span style="color: blue;">God doesn't give up on God's plan. He just does it with somebody different and at a different time. If you want to place Saul, Be aware that God already has eye on your David.</span></i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God use this message to impact and encourage your lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I wanted to start about sharing this story. About 2 years ago, a friend of mine, his name Wickliff, he's a worship leader in our campus in Kampala came to me and said that Have you ever thought about buying Crypto currency? [Crypto Currency is digital money]. I replied that there is no way I'm gonna buying any Bitcoin. and then about Year ago, another person came to me, a man named Clem, great leader, he said that there is something about Crypto currency, God's going to provide for this church through cryptocurrncy. <b><span style="color: blue;">I did absolutely nothing. I just ignored it. If I had listened my friends and put a 1000 pounds/dollars in bitcoin 2 years ago, By Christmas I would have been sat on 40000 pounds.</span></b> It's shocking. isn't it? Because Bitcoin went through the roof.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have wondered <b><span style="color: blue;">Why did I not do what people were suggesting to me?</span></b> What was it in me that caused me to say No...I'm not gonna do that, to just so easily dismiss the idea to be resistance the idea to be unwilling to embrace the idea. I've realized that actually there has been in my character in my life, a bit of tendency towards this way of thinking at times.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I was a child, I quite complaint child. When I became adult, a rebel that kind of emerged within me. I became a little more defiant, a little stronger in my views. I was the person, if somebody said you need to do this, I'd be like <b><span style="color: blue;">Why do I need to do that?</span></b> that was my response. <b><span style="color: blue;">Explain yourself to me. Give me a good reason. Even If somebody gave me a good reason, I would very often be like, I'm going to go away and think about that and very often I'd kick it out and not do it anyway. I was kind of resistance.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We've got quite number of us that can relate to this willful kind of strong-minded. <b><span style="color: blue;">We know our own minds.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>I've been quite hard work for somebody to lead and speak into my life.</b> Because it's like why should I do this? I don't want to do that... that doesn't sound very fun/pleasant. that's been quite obstructive at times. Can anybody relate???</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">We live in a world that actually celebrates the rebel.</span></b> I've got 4 children. When they're little bit rebellious on me. I like that side of them. I'm like all it's a cheeky, oh resistible.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>We want to see rebels win. </b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We love the cause of the rebel and we love the heart of the rebel. Sometimes, we even find ourselves cheering on the rebel.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>God opposes resistance and unwillingness. It's rebellion. It's destructive. It costs us his best.</i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What we celebrate in world, what we kind of enjoy in our own lives actually sets us against God and against God's way.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am talking about this whole concept today of rebellion. <span style="color: blue;"><b>I am not too troubled rebellion in the world, outside of our church, outside of God's kingdom</b>.</span> There will be always the rebellion. I think that's part of the world that we live in. <b><span style="color: blue;">What really concerns me is rebellion in my heart and rebellion in our life.</span> Because it's gonna costs us something of God's best, then this is something that we need to smash.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">[1 Samuel:15 Prophet:Samuel - King:Saul - God's command to Saul "</span><span style="color: blue;">Go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation - men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels and donkeys</span><span style="color: #660000;">" - But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, everything that was good. </span><span style="color: blue;">These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed</span><span style="color: #660000;">]</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">God is very unhappy about this.</span></b> Samuel goes and find Saul. Saul has been just setting up a monument to himself, celebrating his great victory, <b><span style="color: blue;">having kind of missed the fact that he's been disobedient. </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Samuel comes to Saul and says What's going on Saul?. Saul says to Samuel We did exactly what you asked us to do. <b><span style="color: blue;">Angry prophet says to Saul, If you did completely what I asked you to do then why can I hear sheep right now?</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Saul argues back, I did what you said. <b><span style="color: blue;">We did this for good reasons, we did this to honor God.</span></b> We didn't killed the best that was out there, because actually what we did is we bought it back in order to sacrifice it to God. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Saul starts by lying and saying we didn't do exactly what you said. He justifies himself.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Samuel says, <b><span style="color: blue;">Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams.</span></b> <b><span style="color: blue;">For rebellion is as serious as the sin of fortune-telling, and disobedience is serious as false religion and idolatry.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Not doing what God wants us to do is worse than making an idols and getting involved in witchcraft.</i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Because you rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you as King.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>If resistance, if unwillingness, if stubbornness is as serious as idolatry, this is something that we need to deal with it.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Something we've got to go to war against in order to really enjoy the fullness, the more of what God has for us to take a hold of all that God has for us in our lives.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>We need to smash rebellion and disobedience.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Rebellion:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Resistance: Fight against, or refuse to accept, Godly authority.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Unwillingness: Not agreeing with or yielding to Godly authority.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Opposite to rebellion and unwillingness is obedience and submission.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Resistance and unwillingness don't seem as bad somehow as the alternative which is obedience and submission.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These biblical concepts somehow tarnished in the world we are live in.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God was same back then as he is some years later as he is today and will be tomorrow.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Some of us have a kind of thought of submission and obedience is tricky for us.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>When we think of leadership, When we think of Jesus, very often we're more drawn to the idea of Jesus is the servant leader than we are as the Jesus the leader who operates in authority and brings challenge.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If that's the case for Jesus, When we think of our small group leader, We definitely like the idea of servant leader who makes us nice food and is pleased to see us than guy who's there say hey I want to engage with and challenge you around these things in your life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>1.God has put people in authority over our lives.</i></b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We may live in the world that loves the rebel and is like against the authority like never before. But God's order is that people are in authority over our lives.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God speaks through Samuel to Saul. What did God look smelling sound like to Saul? Samuel.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We could say, yeah but that's because it was old testament, a long time ago, God spoke through the prophets back then. I did little bit research, this is what new testament says.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Children, obey your parents [Ephesians 6]</b></span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Workers, obey your bosses [</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ephesians 6</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">]</span></b></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Wives, obey your husbands [</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ephesians 5]</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Obey governing authorities [Romans 13]</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Obey and submit to leaders in church [Hebrews 13]</b> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>If there is abuse going on in this relationship, then you have to shout about that.</b> You have to stick it out no matter how terrible or abusive that circumstances you're in.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you are somebody who is thinking of your husband or your wife right now and you're being abused by them, I would say to you, please reach out retreat, get some help, find a place of safety so you can go and get some support and I pray that we will be able to see mediation and transformation there and change but don't stick out under that circumstances.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It could be probably one or two percent. The 98 or 99 percent of our lives, it's not life and death abusive situation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's that our boss at work asks us to do something and we think I really don't want to do that. Why would I need to do that? or as children, our parents saying do this. Why are you still stood there looking at me like that?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Somebody says you need to spend more time with your wife, you need to invest more in your marriage, you need to go away, you need to come be part of ownership course in church, I want you to get to work by 9'o clock everyday, why'd you come at 10 past 9. this is usually the stuff and we mount an insurrection. I may have to say yes, I may have to smile a nod but not in my heart. I don't want to do that.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>So often people who God has placed in authority over us saying what God himself has been saying to us will saying something</b>. I'll be like I just don't want to do that, I'm not ready to do it, I'm not ready to pay the price that I will need to pay.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Today, in church, the baskets came around and Joe said, hey this is the moment to bring our tithes to the Lord. I don't do that. that's the kind of area God's weather I've kind of opted out of.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>New testament is strong on the need for us to obey. God wants us to do what he wants us to do. When we don't, there is a price to pay.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>[Romans 13:1-2, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted and those who do so will bring judgement on themselves]</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When we're rebel, when we're resist, when we're unwilling to do what God is saying to us and unto take on board what the authorities around us saying there's a judgement that comes upon our lives. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>2.It's not obedience if we pick and choose what we want to do.</i></b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Saul and the man did some of what God asked in. They saw all the worthless and despised things, wiped all that stuff out. it's an intelligent, wise stewardship principle for the good stuff, we're going to keep. Surely God couldn't meant that we should destroy that stuff as well, We could enrich ourselves here, we could strengthen our position here.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I wonder, if they didn't even really think about it because they probably weren't tuned into the fact that God wanted to do them to do something specific.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We go through the seasons in our life where we forget God's voice/word and then afterwards he says hey something went wrong little while back. <b>We say what was it,I didn't even notice it. God says No but I noticed what happened.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Whatever reason Saul and his men did some of what God ask but they didn't do all of what God asked. But when Samuel comes to Saul, <span style="color: blue;"><b>he doesn't say Saul bad news, you only got 50% on the test</b>,</span> so we're gonna stop you few tears. <b><span style="color: blue;">What he said is rebellion is a rebellion. You didn't do what God said to do and there is a price to pay, you've brought judgement upon yourself.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When there is a resistance in our hearts are bit just a small measure of resistance to what God is saying to, what God wants to do the leadership that we're being brought,<b><span style="color: blue;"> it can cause us to make very very slow progress. At times, it can cause us to feel that we're not moving forward at all.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you don't feel like you're moving forward in life right now, maybe you've got to ask yourself the question, <b><span style="color: blue;">where is the resistance actually coming from?</span></b> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Saul and men stepped out of alignment with God's instruction. What it shows us is <span style="color: blue;"><b>partial alignment comes at a cost</b>.<b> God wants us to be fully aligned under the leadership, under the covering, under the protection of his word</b>.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In my house, there is a tiny misalignment in pipe when install the toilet 5 years ago. year after year, week after week, month after month, it's destroyed the toilet, it's destroyed the floor and it's destroyed there and it's stripping through and it's damaging the roof. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's something about living in alignment in our lives, in alignment with God is saying, in alignment with God's word and truthfully in alignment with the leadership the authority that he places over our life, it's a blessed pace.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>3.We need to repent where we rebel not justify our disobedience</i></b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Saul when he is confronted about what he did, he tries to get out of it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When you're kind of cornered and it's like have you done what I asked you to do. But the evidence around us would suggest that is not true. I more or less did what you asked me to do but actually there was good reasons. <b><span style="color: blue;">We try to justify</span></b>,Why we haven't done? what we should have done and we're trying to kind of dress it up. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">We'll even use the God card</span></b>. Oh Samuel the reason we bought all these nice cattle and sheep back is we wanted to sacrifice them to God.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Samuel says straight through, Saul first of all you lies about it and then he tries to kind of twist it and distort it and says it's all about God, it's all about Jesus. He could have gone further in that but eventually what becomes clear is that <b><span style="color: blue;">there's deception in his heart, there's rebellion in his heart.</span></b> and Samuel says we are gonna confront this in your life today, we've got to deal with this rebellion in your heart.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">David </span></b>also gets caught up in some sin. <b><span style="color: blue;">Bathsheba</span></b>, the whole situation where David doesn't go to war, he goes to his roof instead sees next door neighbor's wife bathing, and thinks to himself that he like her, He's coveted her, he's had adultery relationship with her, he lies about it, and he has the guy's husband killed. Doesn't come much worse than that people. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Another <b><span style="color: blue;">prophet named Nathan</span></b> comes along and confronts this and says this is wrong. <b><span style="color: blue;">David uses the another word begins with R. It's the word he Repent,</span></b> this is right, this is terrible, rather than justify what I did, rather than try and lie about it and cover it up and resist what you're saying to me, I'm gonna own what happened here and I'm gonna say I'm sorry now</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Sometimes it takes me too long to own the mistakes that I made. that's something human's nature.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sometimes by the time we're willing to own it, it can be too late.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I came to freedom church, <b>I've been out of church for about ten years.</b> I've been 2 other churches. Church leaders that had tried to speak God's vision for my life, into my life. <b>I'd resisted it</b>. When I came to freedom church, we got to the point, We've just got to take it this stuff on board right now and it was very challenging journey, there's nothing that God's grace, We get to step into the great things that he has for us, We get to go on that journey because we repented and we changed. </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>But I still missed out on 10 years of what could have been. </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's no way, it's like the Bitcoin.<b> I can't rewind the tape/digital video and replay that part of my life and make the investment enjoy the benefit of it</b>. I can't do that. It's gone, times up, missed out on that</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>4.Our actions will determine whether we fulfill or surrender our calling</i></b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Samuel says that the God will regret making Saul King.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">God gave him a opportunity and he's made some bad choices here</span></b>, regret in this situation means I'm going to give to somebody else what I gave to him. I'm gonna remove it from his life and I'm gonna place it upon somebody else who will go on the journey. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God's given us freewill. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Our actions will determine whether we fulfill or surrender our calling.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>[1 Samuel 15:23, Because you rejected the word of the Lord, because you didn't obey the God, he has rejected you as King]</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>When we resist, when we rebel, we will bring judgement upon ourselves.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Saul's <b><span style="color: blue;">disobedience </span></b>costs his calling. His <b><span style="color: blue;">resistance </span></b>costs his calling. His <b><span style="color: blue;">stubbornness </span></b>costs him his calling. His <b><span style="color: blue;">rebellion </span></b>cost him his calling. Because of this, <b><span style="color: blue;">he lost his claim to be the anointed King.</span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is relatively familiar and recurring plan/situation. Sometimes people challenge me, sometimes God challenges me. <b><span style="color: blue;">Nobody seems to challenge me more than God challenges me. But somehow, it's easier to ignore when it's from God and it's much harder to ignore when it's somebody in the flesh.</span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I've seen so many of people that I love come and be part of our church and then God will for the 15th time, or the 10th time or the 5th time, may be for the 3rd time, bring challenge to their lives in that area that they've struggled with for years and years years, and suddenly I see them disappear. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If I'm honest, I don't think I can think of anybody who's gone on to great things, when that happens. Because <b><span style="color: blue;">ultimately God was trying to speak into somebody's life and there was an unwillingness or resistance within them to hear what he was going to say. </span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What happens in that situation is very often becomes about the messenger rather than the message. They didn't say it that way I wanted to hear it. I didn't like the way that they were saying it to me. They didn't take the time to get to know me. They didn't fully understand my circumstances. All of this may be true. But that's not the point here. the point here is that they go on to miss out on something that God has for them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>If you want to place Saul, Be aware that God already has eye on your David.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We learned from this story is 2 point.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>i. If we were a rebellion, costs us God's best.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">ii. God doesn't give up on God's plan. He just does it with somebody different and at a different time. </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Where in my life am I paying for my rebellion?</span></b> think about the areas that don't seem to have the right fruit, and the areas where you got stuck, the areas where you've not move forward, the areas that most challenging you in your heart.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Where in my life am I living in the blessing of obedience?</span></b> this is the other side to the rebellion. When we live in obedience, we see great blessings in our life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There are 2 reasons why this message really matters to me.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">i. This is my story</span></b> - I was Saul. I could still be Saul too, If I stop making some good choices. and If I allow that rebellion to thrive within my heart, I would be a fool to stand here and say to you that I'm no longer resistant at times to God, no longer resistant to the leaders that he places in my life. There's always an element of that I personally have to fight against.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I rebelled I missed out, it costs me something. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sometimes I stop and think What would've happened if we'd not come and been part of this church. I've got into some conversations with some leaders along the way and they challenged me very directly about some attitudes/views that I had, somethings that I holding on to, they challenged us in our marriage, they challenged me in my leadership, they challenged me in the way that I was living my life and I think sometimes what would've happened if I'd done what I wanted to do at that movement, I'd have headed for the door, I wouldn't today be living in what I know to be God's call upon my life. I'd be probably dealing with the consequences with the hurt, with the brokenness, there's something of a cost that comes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Which of these I described here, sounds more like you.</span></span><br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Rebel vs Disciple</b></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>When I was a rebel I resisted leadership but as I've grown as a disciple, I've had to learn to submit to leadership.</b></span></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #073763;">When I was a rebel I was convinced I knew better but as a disciple, I've become humble, I'm becoming humble, I'm fighting for humility and I'm becoming hungry to learn.</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I was a rebel I did what I wanted to do </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">but as a disciple, I've got to do whatever it takes.</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I was a rebel I used to justify my actions even using God's word </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">but as a disciple, I'm having to learn to own my mistakes.</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I was a rebel I really struggled in Church, I avoided it most weeks, I hung around on the periphery, I was very vocally critical and I used to gossip about other people in church </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">but as a disciple, I've had to fight my way to the center, I've learned to control my tongue and I've to grow.</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I was a rebel I reported by via my direct, insecure line to God and nobody else is interfered in that communication </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">but as a disciple, I'm having to learn to allow others to speak in, to honor the leaders that God has put in my life.</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I was a rebel I took offense easily and lived with a lot of hurt </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">but as a disciple, I'm having to become quicker to forgive and quicker to let go of the past.</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I was a rebel I was unaccountable and truthfully life was very comfortable </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">but as a disciple, I've had to become accountable and it feels like I'm almost always in the stretch.</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I was a rebel I got stuck for 10 years of my life </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">but as a disciple, I've God allowed me to move forward.</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #073763; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
When I was a rebel I was living a life that seemed to have limited Kingdom fruit in it, I've seen God grow the fruit in my life, in my marriage, in my family, in my leadership, in the things that I do with my time.</span></b><br />
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Me and my wife would privileged to be leaders in church, We spent the last 2 years in Uganda. I believe that God sent a disciple to do that mission not a rebel. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I believe that the best he has for the people that we will lead in the days ahead will be released through the disciple.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>ii.We have so much to lose and even more to gain.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I came to freedom church, it was in one location and about 100 people. <b><span style="color: blue;">We've seen far more than a tenfold blessing released into our church </span></b>since I arrived here in 2007-8. We've seen God do amazing things, we've seen God increased the number of our locations from 1 to 16, we've seen our attendance increases, we've seen more people getting saved, more people getting baptized, we've heard more stories of lives transformed, a marriage is healed, we've seen income increase the provision to do, even more I've made some amazing friends and grow my church family, the amazing things that God has done in our church. It's been move of our God. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>There's one location that we've closed in that time and make no mistakes, we closed it because of rebellion. Because you see rebellion always costs us God's best but obedience it causes us to enjoy great blessings.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I met a young man Jayden and his wife Folie. He was the biggest drug dealer in the Siem Reap until our church planters met him on the streets and told him about Jesus and he accepted Jesus into his life and today <b>he's a leader in our church, he has children, his brother has got saved, his mother has got saved, God is reviving his family and moving.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Many of us listening to this message today would say we can't wait to see revival in our nation and in our lamp. We can't wait to see God's move in the cities that we live in.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Do you know what revival is built upon? It's build upon a obedience, it's build upon unity, it's build upon submission, that's the fruit that comes when we seizes hold of God's word that's what happens.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The saddest think about Saul is <b>he didn't really understand what was going on with God,</b> when God said today I'm gonna settle the account with your </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Amalekite, <b>because 400 years earlier </b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Amalekites are attacked the God's people as they escaped slavery</b>, they'd been a pain in the bum to them ever since, they kept attacking them over and over again. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Because Saul was a rebel, he wasn't willing to obey, because his men wouldn't do as God said, they didn't destroy them, they didn't wipe them out.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">20 years later, David's new leadership almost ends because the Amalekitiies come and attack his families that zip line, carry them off, he has to go war again. It wasn't until hundreds of years later under Hezekiah that they were wiped out, even after that another hundred years later, the descendants of Agag, a man named Haman is plotting how he can kill all the Jews and again God has to step in with somebody else, the call gets transferred hundreds of years later, Queen Esther steps in and rescues God's people. that's where the </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Amalekitiies</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> story ends in the Bible.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>There is so much to loose but we have so much to gain.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><i>Be a rebel and it will cost you God's best. Obedience also very costly but the reward is great blessing</i></span></b>.</span></div>
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I pray as you move out of this message, <b>God speaks to your heart, shows you what could be, shows you where in your life this applies so that you can take a step today towards the greater that he has for you</b>. Amen.</span></div>
Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-80198095287644177072018-06-15T19:57:00.000+05:302018-06-15T20:16:14.887+05:30People should not be idols | Week 5 | Smash the Idols<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Yes... People are made to love... But they should not become an idol... How do we know if someone is an idol to us??? What are the things need to be ordered in mu heart to smash the human idols in my life???? If we love God more, We will love others better... God is fiercely loves you...</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">People are made to Love. </span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I think there is one thing that every single one of us can agree on, No matter what our belief is. I don't know how you coming to this today, whether you're a Christian or you're a Atheist, Whether you're young or old, I don't know what your story is... I think there's one think we can all agree and that's "<b>People are made to Love</b>".</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <span style="color: blue;">You don't have to believe in God to believe in Love.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> It's part of how we designed - falling in love, being in love and loving people, loving your family, loving strangers is a universal concept. We are designed for it.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We are made in God's image and so in turn, made to love people.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> I believe that it's like an attribute of God, something of who he is that he put in us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> My 6 year old daughter went for a playdate at her friend's house and she came home at 6'o clock. She run through the door, she was so excited, she had this beaming smile on he face. Mummy, let me tell something.. this afternoon, I learned about Jojo Siwa. She is young girl who dance and has youtube channel. She is kind of pop idol. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> This is not about Jojo Siwa, this isn't about pop idols. <b><span style="color: blue;">This is about the speed with which my daughter fell in love with and became a obsessed with a person</span></b>. It took 4 hours. 3 pop songs and youtube channel and she is obsessed. My daughter wants wear the dress like Jojo Siwa and so on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Because, although there's this thing in us that loves people, there's this thing in us that loves to idolize people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <b><span style="color: blue;">You don't have to be a teenager to idolize. You can be 6 and begin to build the idol of people.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Teenagers crying their eyes out, because a band is broken up. Why? because they idolize them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> We have this thing in us that love people but we take it too far. We have an entire industry that's built on idolizing. There is billions of pounds worth of money that creates that funds that pursues us to build idol in our life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> It's not just a western culture. Some of the examples I have used might not even know about in your locations. <b>But you will have your own version.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> You will have your own version of celebrity. Celebrity is someone who celebrates it. It's fine to celebrate people. I'm all for celebrating people's skills, gifting, sporting talents, achievements, things that they've done in science, things that they've done in literature. I love that and also I love Royal Wedding.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There's something about celebrating but there's something that we do that goes beyond celebrating and it's idolizing.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">People are an easy idol to make, because they respond. And we love what loves us</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We love it, when we get our name mentioned on twitter. We love it, when we get the like. We love it,when someone who we are aspire responds back to us. Because, it fulfills something in us of this love.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Having a person who's an idol isn't just a celebrity thing. It's a human thing.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> It's not necessarily something that I fall into or I'm interested in. But I have my idols that are people. I have people that capture me, capture my attention and I want their affection and their affirmation. I want their response, I want their love, I want to be like them. I want their role and responsibilities. There's something about them that I just think , If only... If only I was there more... If only they loved me... </span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We create an idol of someone when we worship them as if they were a God.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We have to ask ourselves the question when it comes to smash the idols.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Who am I worshiping more than God?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Who do I give my affection, my attention, my action to?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Who do I see and start to elevate?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> I believe I worship God when I talk about him, When I serve him, When I post on social media about him. But we can do that about people and that's worship. We make them idol.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> God created people but we make them idols.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> People are not idol. We make them idols. Instagram is a massive part of culture today. There are people that have made themselves an idol on Instagram. <b>But they can't be there unless we like them. They can't be an idol unless we give them that place.</b> Because we make idols. It's look like we can't help it. We want to love/admire/follow something, We are desperate for it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The old Testament is full of this desperation in God's people to have a King an Idol, something they can interact with. Sometimes something that will appease them not something that will be Lord or be King.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We run to idols that appease us and love us and it's often a Person.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They.. Worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator.[Romans 1:25] </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I've got amazing people(Husband, Children, Friends, Leaders) around me. But when we've got a creator, When we've got God, When we've got something beyond the fallen world/man. We've got something to worship/idolize/look to/be in love with, that's far better than a person. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But we do it. Peoples are easier to interact because you can see them, hear them, feel them. May be there's a satisfying. Put an easy place to find purpose and identity and support and comfort. God designed that but he designed something far better.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Idols exist in culture/magazines/online/films and media, But i believe that the biggest place where they exist is hearts.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These men have setup idols in their HEARTS[Ezekiel 14:3]</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We can't stop the onslaught of media culture. God is called us to be in the world to experience and enjoy some parts of culture and arts and sports. But it's when that idols get into your heart? that's the bit that we have control of... that's the bit that we have to rule. Because idol will make its way into our affections.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The enemy isn't silent in all of this. He wants to get you. He wants to give you something to look to other than gods. because it'll steal our worship. He's desperate to do it.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do humans really satisfy us more than God?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have got an amazing husband. But I spent years in college, early 20s. There was a season where I had 3 boyfriends in a row, like no breaking. I'm not proud of that. I was looking to be satisfied/liked/not be lonely/funny enough/cool enough/worthy of companionship. I was trying to find my satisfaction in a person. But it doesn't not just the opposite sexes/whole love romances. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sometimes we can try and find our satisfaction in a leader. They've got all my answers. If I go to their party, I'm enough. I am not listen to God, I need to meet with my leader because they're gonna help me. <b>Because this created thing has more answer than the Creator. It's a idolatry.</b> </span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We are looking to find some kind of answer in something that's fallen/created rather than go to the king of universe. </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But it's not a celebrity thing/teenage thing/love romance thing. It's a everyone thing. We all do it, because our hearts are made for people. We're made to love and we pull people into this idolatry place. We pull them into this position in our hearts, because they're going to satisfy us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">May be you want that recognition at work, May be you want recognition from the opposite sex, May be you want to be in that crowd. May be you want them to say thank you. But we pull them into our hearts that really is a place that God has to take over.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">You need to check your children who they are following. You need to check out who they're idolizing.</span></b> Because my daughter might be six and I might think that Jojo Siwa is harmless. But I have to watch what a kind of attitudes/words/songs she's singing over her life. because she's six when she remembers those lyrics. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I just make a point of checking what my children are watching and listening to, because celebrity culture, the culture of idolization will work its way into our children as young as it can.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How do we know if someone is an idol to us?</span></h2>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1. Our affection for them outweighs our affection for God.</span></b></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">We give them our affection. I'm talking about our words, our time, our gifts, our love.</span></b> We want to be around them. We give them displays, encouragements. May be we seek after that word from them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Idolizing the people is two-way thing especially when we are not talking about celebrities, we're talking about people in our lives, people in around us(family, colleagues, friends). There's an interaction and there's desperation in us, there's a human thing in us to give affection/to want one affection. We can begin that exchange of affection, giving and receiving can began to make us to love people more. It puts weight in us but people, We give that affection because we want a reaction, because desperately want that person to give back to us. They become an idol. They become a tap and source of affection when the creator wants ti give you that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2. Our attention is on them.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When you're young adults, hormones are crazy and you go to that party and all you do with your attention is think, where he see me? Is what I am wearing OK? Is he gonna talk to me? You play over the conversation in your head like how you're gonna say hi? or what you're gonna chat about? because your attention, everything you're thinking about/processing, you walk into a space wanting that attention. There's this thing in us to want attention and We give attention. We give our mind. We give what we do with our bodies, We give how we dress, We give our words, anything to give and receive attention.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If someone in your life taking so much of your attention, so that it outweighs God. Your gonna find that they're gonna become an idol. Because there's this weight of attention that you give to them.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I don't believe it's just a romance thing though. I believe some of you work jobs where you're desperate to give attention to someone in your work or receive attention from some kind of employer or boss, May be it's someone in that crowd at college/school/university. There's this attention you give to them more than anything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some people are so crippled by the need to give and receive attention from certain people, be them leaders, friendship groups, people at work, someone of the opposite sex, someone who's going to give you validation. You're so crippled. You're anxious without their attention. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>If you are anxious because someone doesn't invite you to party or someone doesn't give you hello in cafe after church or you're not part of some kind of whatsup group. If that anxiety grips you, you have an idol. </b>Because what they have to say to you, the attention that they are giving you is worth more than what God has to say to you. You've idolized them. You think that they're going to be your answer, you thing that this person is going to come in and that invite and that party and that whatsup group and that validation from that person of the opposite sex is going to give you purpose and identity. I'll tell you this, <b><span style="color: blue;">Its not going to give you anything</span></b>. It's going to give you a moment and momentary pleasing to your stomach and your lack of identity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Insecurity doesn't give up until steps in. You will not feel secure in who you're, you're not gonna feel secure in people groups/job/marriage/in any environment if you are trying to get the attention of people. Why because <b><span style="color: blue;">people will not satisfy you, they are creatives. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The greatest place where my children ever get satisfaction and identity and purpose is from their father. <span style="color: blue;"><b>The greatest place I will ever get attention and satisfaction and identity is God</b>.</span> I had to learn it and I learned it by being rejected and I learned it by not being in the in-crowd and I learned it by going to God and saying "God you know what, I am who you say I am." I'm not the person because I'm in a party, I'm not the right person because I'm on the stage. None of that matters, it disappears. Because its human and it's mortal.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Your security and your identity and your attention has to be an exchange of you and God because people will fail you.</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3. We allow our actions to be defined by their ways.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There are groups of people that you will hang out with that may be don't know Jesus. Three examples are 1.Family dinner table, 2.Work - group of colleagues 3. Social group like friendship group. All of those groups will have habits and actions. They'll have ways that they function. May be they drink too much, May be they swear, May be they smoke together, Maybe they gossip or they laugh about crude things. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">If we're part of a group of people or a person and we change our actions to be like them or to be with them or to be accepted by them, we're setting them up as an idol in our life</span></b> because we're saying that their way of life, their way of thinking and functioning their habits and their behavior is worth more than Gods.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You choose to give your sexual purity away because that person is going to give you validation, they are an idol to you. You choose to drink and get wasted when God says don't drink too much, those group of people are an idol to you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You care more about their acceptance and their attention than you do Gods. Because you'll morph into who they are.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm talking about sin and also talking about habits, behaviors. What if God's called you to something and a Christian member of the family says I think you should do this but you know what God said to you. <b>You change your actions to morph to people, you've got an idol.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Honestly as a child, it's the hardest thing when your parents disagree with you but God trumps it. Our actions should follow his call, because when they follow his call and we do what he says, we follow his words and we're saying God you're above everything, God you're worth more than what people say, Lord I care more about you, You are worth more. But If you raise a person up to that place and you're raising an idol and you're responsible for it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I think idols have a two-way think. We choose what position they have in our hearts but I just hunt you down. <b>There are some people in our lives that want to control over us</b>, because it gives them validation. It gives them an idol place. It gives them superiority.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you work in a job that has a very clear set of ranks or positions, you still have humility in all those positions but we're human. <b>We feel pride to wanting to control people</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some of us stuck in the idol trap where the people are hunting down our actions, we are giving our lives over to them therefore creating some kind of idol in our life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All these ways of living affirm a person as an idol and we have to change because we have complete control of our lives. God gives us free will, it's our choice.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love [Jonah 2:8]</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If we pay more regard to people, their affection, their attention and we obey their actions in order to draw close to them we forsake steadfast love.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Dave and I have marriage that's very honest but <b>I'm gonna get my steadfast love from God</b>. My husband is steadfast and he's loving, he's amazing but he can't be everything to me.<b> I let him down. If he trusted in my love, my affection of my action, I'm gonna let him down</b>.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You can't set your partner as your idol. It's not steadfast. People are not steadfast.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You can have an amazing marriage but it's nothing compared to relationship with the Creator.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The more I find my identity in my creator, the more I find my action, my emotion, my affection, the more I put those in God, the better wife I am, the better Mom I am. Because people can't be your steadfast love.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Parents - your children can't be your idol. They can let you down.</span></b> When we love something, we elevate it and some of us have elevated our kids. We've elevated our kids above what God said. We've elevated their dreams. We've given up everything to see them dream which incredible but what about the church? What about God? What about disciplining them? What about teaching them in the ways of the Bible? What about saying NO? Because we can't elevate our children to this place where they're everything.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We can't elevate our husbands/friends/social group to a place where they have power over us, because we are making an idol.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Disordered Heart: </span></b></h3>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When the order or our affections, attention and actions go to a human idol first.</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Its like a disorder, Its like heart isn't in line.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you've got disorder, if you've got an idol or person in people group, there is the one you've craving after more than anything. You're gonna be swayed. What if say No? If they don't ask you on a day, if you can't make that party, If you don't get the promotion. It's like we moved, we're swayed by these instead fast idols and it puts this disorder. There's no security or peace in our heart. There's anxiousness because we don't know, some one's net gonna let down or hurt us.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1. Order My Affection</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You can actually love God first. Affection is about touch and feelings and emotion and encouragement and words. If that's easy in the mortal realm. It's easy with your friends and family. But telling God, "God I 'm so in love with you. Lord you're everything to me. God Thank you for everything you have done." This kind of affection doesn't a girl thing, that's son or daughter of God thing and that's why we battle through worship because it is display of affection for God. It's God you mean more, God you mean everything, God I love you. God Wants our affectionate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are we generous to people or Are we generous to God. It is easy to buy flowers and gift cards or send an Instagram. God once our affection, he wants that I love you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My children could be crazy all day but if they got in my lap and said "I love you". It all disappears and God's the same, he just wants us to say I love you.<span style="color: blue;"> <b>God wants our affection. He's desperate for our hearts and our affections.</b> </span>That's where idols live. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>When we start moving our affections to God, We start kicking out these idols</b>.</span> Because we start to say God What you have to say about me means more.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2. Order my Attention</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Imagine yourself in this scenario, You are walking into some kind of room. May be it's family/friends/colleagues, someplace you go often. If you walk in there with a human idol, it's likely you walking in and saying <b><span style="color: blue;">I want that persons attention. I'm going to do something to get their attention</span></b>. If you are walking into that room with God as your first, you're gonna be asking this, <b><span style="color: blue;">God Where's your attention and who do you need me to pay attention to.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You walk into social situation wanting people to fix you.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You want attention and affection. How about you quit and craving value and start giving here? Why don't you walk into your work situation/family and rather than craving all this attention and affection and affirmation of these humans. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Why don't you walk into room and say <b>God What are you doing today? Lord where can I give attention for the lonely?, Lord Who is hurting? God where's the Gospel going out? Lord who do you want me to love and prophesy over.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I had gotten so caught up in my own needs. The people were my idol instead of God because my action was based on what they could give me, not what God wanted to do in their lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You switch and change this. <b><span style="color: blue;">When you start putting your action on God's side, you're going to start seeing God move.</span></b> Because God begins to me more for you and he begins to be this higher place in you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I wanna challenge you this week. Before you walk into some kind of room where there is a group of people, where previously you would have idolized them. I want you to stop at the door and I want you to say God I'm going to give your affection. I'm going to pay attention to what you're doing in this room and I'm gonna obey that rather than being moved by these idols that previously had my attention/affection. I'm gonna walk into that space and I' gonna give in to that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3. Order my Actions</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">If God is our first, We're gonna do what he says.</span></b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It means you get swearing and you stop your gossip, you stop trying to wangle the situation so that you will be leading, you stop drinking, you stop making out doing things you shouldn't do, you stop dishonoring your parents, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I don't know what your action is but you are going to have actions that you hand over and allow someone else to in control.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">God is judging our hearts. He's judging the intentions of our hearts. </span></b>He's looking at our actions and saying do you love me? Am I first in your life? because there is call in us to put him first.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">I believe that when we start order these things, we're taking away the human idols</span></b>. We're taking the power of people, sometimes they wanna to control us, sometime don't. We're taking it off them and we're saying God you are in charge. You're who I live for an audience of one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some of us get our attention and affirmation from our leaders. They might be sharing gospel with you or scripture or may be you do life with them serving in church. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">There's a difference between honor and worship. There's a difference between inspiration and idolatry.</span> </b>You can be inspired. You can admire. You can honor leaders in your life. But when you start to tip into the need for them or the need for the tense, that's when it starts to be idolatry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>I am not saying cut away from completely</b>.</span> Don't do anything that they do. Don't give them any affection/emotion of feeling, that's not what I am saying. I'm saying that we've to do this thing where God's first.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ordered Heart</span></h3>
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<b><span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Love the Lord your God with all your heart.. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. [Mathew 22:37-39]</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God makes it very clear where our attention/affection/affirmation must first lie. He made it so clear. It's him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He's the one that we need to be in love with, he's the one we need to be thinking about, he's the one that we need to obey not people.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If we move through that place, we're moving through to a place of having an ordered and a healthy heart.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If we love God more, We will love others better.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Because with a thing in idol is we interact with it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you are in that place where God has the first of your attention/action/affirmation, he's gonna pull those things into you. God's gonna pour his attention upon you. He's watching you and talking to you. God's gonna pour his affirmation into you. God's gonna pour his affection and his love into you. He's gonna teach your actions. and If this is the place where we're in, If this is the place we exist,<b>When we love people, We're gonna love them the way he loves us.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When we're around people, we're gonna bring action and change to them as much as we are to our own lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God is desperate to be your first love, I am not talking about romantic love, I'm talking about love of father. <b><span style="color: blue;">God is fiercely loves you.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I don't know what job you do, What things you see, what culture you are in, where you serve around the world, <b><span style="color: blue;">God fiercely... fiercely loves you.</span></b></span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God wants to deliver us from human idols. He wants to stop people controlling us. He also wants us to stop letting people control us. because He wants to free us.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I believe you really need to talk someone about this human idols. The thing is with talking about idols is reveals them and someone can keep you account to it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There are things we need to do to process this kind of challenge. This is called smash the idols, not remove the idols or take the idols down, it's called smash the idols. Because <b><span style="color: blue;">there is a action need to do.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I just wanna challenge you church, wherever you are, you will got a room you walk into, you'll got a space that God's called you into a group of people, a family, a social group, a work setting, you'll got it. <b><span style="color: blue;">Lets go into that place with God as our first</span></b>. Because I believe we can change the world when we show it what it means to not be obsessed with each other and obsessed with people and to be obsessed with him.</span><br />
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-45067760621254421532018-06-09T18:26:00.000+05:302018-06-09T19:22:38.273+05:30Smash the Idols Week 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></b>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-c3b92ebc-e470-4aec-f198-214940918797"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Smash the idol Covet. Be content. Don’t take content as a reason for complacent. Set your hearts and set your minds.</i></span></span></span><br />
<span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></b></span></span>
<span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">Smash the Idols.</b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It will sounds like little bit violent but it's all about Life and the best life that God gave us.</span></span></span></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c3b92ebc-e470-4aec-f198-214940918797" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What gets in the way of our love for God. When we love other things or when we love something more than we love God and his commands and how those things can easily get in our life?</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c3b92ebc-e470-4aec-f198-214940918797" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just because of you are a believer doesn’t mean to say that you don't have an idols.</span></b></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c3b92ebc-e470-4aec-f198-214940918797" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a greater contention in our life when we become a believer, for idols and other things to actually distract us from God’s best.</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c3b92ebc-e470-4aec-f198-214940918797" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Idol in 10 commandments : <b>Coveting</b>- You shall not covet what someone else has got. You shall not covet things. You shall not put other things before me.</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c3b92ebc-e470-4aec-f198-214940918797" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can just think of Don’t be greedy. Because it’s linked to greed.</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c3b92ebc-e470-4aec-f198-214940918797" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Pastor Gary: </b>When I was 9 years old, I liked the knight toy in shop very much. But I didn’t get chance to buy it. One day, We started to collect the money for our church. I am one of the kid who collects the money. I took some amount from the money collected for church and bought the knight toy. I took knight toy to my home. But everytime I look to it, I just felt guilty and ashamed because there was something about even at 9 years old, there was something about coveting something. <b>In my life that actually caused me to thieve in a terrible way</b>. It was a year later that I met Jesus and gave my life to him. You did not have to tell me that I was a sinner, I knew it.</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c3b92ebc-e470-4aec-f198-214940918797" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did children know that they are doing bad things? There was something in me that was dark and able to do things. <b>This is what separates us from the love of God</b> and that’s why we need Jesus, that’s why we need saviour, that’s why we need to smash the idols.</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c3b92ebc-e470-4aec-f198-214940918797" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These idols designed to come and overtake our life. I’m not talking about the knight toy and a little thing happened. As we grow older, it turns from trying to possess the knight toy, to try to possess the girl, to try to possess the job, to try to possess the better thing, the better car, the better item.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The possession that somehow inside me is saying you’ve got to possess something better and it robs our lives.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This idol cause us to just think I’ll be happy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you know where that knight toy is today? I don’t know where it went.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********We are giving everything and we will risk everything for something that later on we don’t know where it went.********</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We will give our lives and work into things for years and years to obtain something, only to find out when we get there that, I don’t know if I care about anymore and that is the deception of the devil. There is something within us that wants to cause this thing to possess and to grab hold of things.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********To Covet: It’s a strong desire to obtain and possess something.********</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To understand what it is to covet, we have to understand what content means.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********The opposite of content is to covet.******** </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The enemy wants to rob something, he’s robbing us of something. He is not just trying to deceive, he is trying to say that this is better. So the opposite of content is to covet.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every person in this world want to be content. To know what it is to be content and say it’s good with my soul. That’s what world seeking for. The opposite of it, that works against us to rob contentment is when we covet. I will be content, if only I could possess and have that and little bit more things will cause me to be happier.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********CONTENT:arkeo(Greek Word) - “to be sufficient, satisfied and by implication to be strong and able to assist someone”********</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When <b>Paul </b>talks about being <b>content</b>, he’s not just saying Be happy with what you got and sit back and think life is good. It’s more than that. It’s to be sufficient, satisfied, implication to be strong.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Content means, I don’t only have just enough I have more than enough that I am able to assist someone with what I have.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Content doesn’t mean that I’ve just got a measure and I’ve just got enough to get through life but it means the content that God gives to me is so much more that overflows from my life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>God is about overflow</b>, he is not just about measuring up. He is not just about enough like coming together, may be on a Sunday to get enough of that message to see through the week. He is not about that, He is about you being strong, so you have more than enough not just for yourself but for others.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So it’s pointing from I need to obtain and I need to somehow consume, to I need to be consumed by who he is, and through being consumed there’s more than enough.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you like this virtue, your actions will be self-seeking.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You do something for people, just because someone does some great things, it doesn’t mean to say that their intention is self-seeking.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve done something in the past that I knew, If I did them, it would be able to create an opportunity. I would actually for a minute either give or help or assist, so that it would create an opportunity to see me go further. </span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So sometimes even what we’d give them, what we say doesn’t always necessarily reflect our heart. Scripture says All of us will be judged by the intention of our heart.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[<b>Philippians 4:11</b>]I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Paul </b>is saying not he have an abundance in his life, in fact he had need. I am content because of who he is in my life, the way I’ve positioned myself. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Paul </b>is saying that <b>Although I am in need, although I have beaten, although I have been imprisoned, although I don’t know what the future is, I don’t know where my next meal is coming from, I have learned to be conten</b>t. He is saying that satisfied, strong, in fact unable to even help others right now. It’s an act of defiance.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enemy lies to us, oh yeah you’ve got that need in your life right now. So how can you be contended. But the Bible doesn’t talk that way. The truth says, oh no, there’s a secret that is greater than what you see in front of you. Even in a place of need you can go, you will say I’ve got this place of strength and contentment in my life and that’s where I am, that’s where I am sitting.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********Be aware that being content doesn’t mean to say you are complacent.********</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s not about sitting back and being placid and think I just wait and see whatever happens. We need to seize hold of the promises of God. We need to press in.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paul didn’t sit back and just say oh I am not in anymore shipwrecks. He kept going. So even insane he was content, he was not complacent.</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">*******Don’t use that as a reason of all, I’m just content. No, you are lazy.*******</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Laziness become an idol.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Content is something powerful, it’s strong and it’s for others.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>The first temptation of Jesus</b>, very first attack he had from Satan. Jesus was in wilderness and he is fasting for 40 days and he is hungry. Enemy comes and questions his hunger, his need. He is saying to Jesus, take things into your own hands, you can turn the stones into bread. You’re hungry right now, you’ve got a need right now. Get your eyes off your father and do something about it. Because you have the power within you to do something about it.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The very first attack was getting eyes of Jesus off his father unto himself.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we covet, We get our eyes off Kingdom provision and we start putting upon and we’ve got to make a way, We’ve got to achieve it, We’ve got to somehow grab it, we better like somehow get hold of it whatever means and it goes into us.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The point that enemy comes to tempt you even around coveting is actually at the point of pressure in your life. </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus had 40 days of fasting but there is like a great financial need in your life right now. The enemy will come and say “Don’t you trust your father, trust yourself and do whatever you need to do to get what you need”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The goal of the devil was to get Jesus out of contentment and into coveting. Do you think he might try the same with us?</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********Coveting causes me to seek provision outside of God*******</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Coveting </b>- its starts with something small but then it increases like I need to seek provision outside of God that’s somehow he’s not coming through for me, I’ve waited, I’ve been patient, I prayed, My need got greater. So I just need to take some things into my own hands or we’ve got this opportunity and we just need bend a few rules to obtain what we need to get. <b>It's so easy, It’s leads then to lying, deceptions involved, it leads us into a place of shame, it leads us into a place of hurting others where offence is caused</b>. It can go on and on.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every time we hit the point of pressure in our life, 40 days fasting, place of needs, there’s a tension, there’s a pressure and whenever we see a breakthrough there’s always a pressure, the enemy will go and say “you need to look outside of God for your provision” and that’s when we get into trouble. He wants to cause us to do it in our own way.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Achan </b>- he went to Jericho and they said hey don’t take anything and they had amazing victory. He saw gold and silver and Babylonian robe and he coveted it. He thought If we’re not allowed to take anything from this battle, how we are gonna manage my family over this next few weeks. The enemy caused him to say you need to do something for yourself. He took it, he hide it and buried it in his family’s tent and paid huge price.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Saul </b>did the same, he went into a city. He was told don’t you take anything but he left the best for himself.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********Covet:pleonaxia(Greek word) - An inappropriate desire for more, implying a self idolising served by a grasping nature.********</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is in every one of us. if you know it, you can smash it. If we think that I’m a little good christian and it doesn’t really affect me. Guys, there will be a weakness and area, the enemy will come. He had a lot of practice at this and he will say, oh If only…. You’re gonna be happier, if you just possess this. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is the idea of grasping, grabbing… I was nine years old, but just think about what was within me. No one needed to teach that to me but I deceived and I thought, I just want to grab it, there’s something plastic soldier is somehow deceiving to think that I’m gonna be happier.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Marriage </b>- I give you myself to rest of my life. Few years later, lack of honor, boredom stuff put ourself in the wrong place and then suddenly, I want to grab, I want to possess, I will do whatever I need to get hold of this, because this is what I need to make me happy and it’s the biggest lie of all. If there’s someone in your life right now and you’re thinking may be committing adultery, or you’re thinking of may be I just need to go step further, I want to sound it louder, there is only the death that comes from that. There’s not something that come out be healthy and good and a happy ending.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we covet, it causes blindness.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have seem families destroyed when parents died and there’s a dispute over the wealth. We are not interested, we are not bothered about money, no we are not sort of those people. Time and time and time again, brothers and sisters falling out because they got this or they didn’t get that or there wasn’t a wealth and we want this and who had the ring. There is something in us and this is where we need to run towards who Jesus is? We need to run towards him, we need to run towards goodness, we need to smash the idol.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you feel that thing and if I need this, I don’t think it’s fair</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10 commandments says, do not covet your neighbor’s wife, do not covet their house, do not covet these things, do not want to grab hold of these things. It can be lust works the same way.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Lust </b>works the same way. There are young people caught up in lust, married people too.. Don’t think that when I get married somehow I can break lust. It’s all around coveting. It’s like I want, I want but you can never have it and live in despair and shame and destroys your soul.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">People lust after status because they think if they get the status, if I covet that position, I am gonna find who I really. You need to find who you are? And God will show you what he has for you.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Materialism </b>- whether it is the car, the better car, the house or the thing is amazing how we will put ourselves in great debt. Just to be able to possess it, only to find a few months later, I feel the same but I’m in greater debt. You just got more rooms to clear.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So many things that would want to grab our attention or focus and we often spend our lives working towards them, spend our lives where we buy ourself in years and years and years of debt. So we just grab hold of something temporary when god says build for the eternal.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we start being a church that were build for the eternal, we gotta start smashing the idols. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The eyes of <b>coveting </b>is all around us because it comes through the <b>eye gate</b>. It comes through what we see and what we hear. <b>We are living in a digitalization world</b>. We can see things, we can see virtual reality of things and we’re around things where everything is just made to look so amazing and incredible. <b>The power of advertising, the power of media will make you think</b>, if I need that in my life and if I need it,I think to do something that is not in line with God is Okay. because he’s a god God and yet we sell it, we sell ourself and end up in a place where we find that is empty. But its cost us so much.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>[Garden of Eden: Adam and Eve.]</b> They had everything they need. There was one bit of fruit the knowledge of good and evil. If I just I want that. You got everything you need. Yes but I want that.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You got everything you need in your life right now. But there’s something you told yourself, I will not be content until I get this thing. When you get that thing, it’ll be until you get that thing. And When you get that thing, it’ll be the when I get a bigger thing. <b>It drives us to distraction and we serve idols instead of serving God.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********To covet is - believing that god is withholding his best for you********</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I covet, I am actually thinking, I need to do something about this, I need to grab this because why would my father not let me have the knight toy? I am gonna take it for myself. I am gonna do something. </span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">God is Love. He is a giver, he’s like our father.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Something happened with Eve because Eve obviously was thinking how come God wants to keep this one thing from us. I wanna touch it. I wanna grab it. Eve listen to the devil who was trying to corrupt the character of God by saying “Why would he say that to you.surely he’s lying”. That’s what enemy wants to do for some one of us right now. <b>You haven’t got answer to prayer right now, you’ve gone through some stuff and it’s probably because God is withholding his best, and the moment we think that way, the moment we start coveting.</b> Because when I understand what contentment is , is the opposite. It’s all about the provider in my position and security.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[<b>David and Bathsheba</b>- 2 Samuel 11:2&4]</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>David </b>close to God, an amazing leader, was in roof and he was wandering around (Eye Gate). He sees <b>Bathsheba </b>and he finds out she’s married but he wants her, he covets her, he takes her and there is a massive consequence. He ends up arranging the death of her husband by putting him on the front, so that he can have her for himself.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********Don’t you underestimate covetousness in your life********</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>David </b>should have been at war but he remained in Jerusalem, looking around extra time on his hands. <b>David stayed somewhere he shouldn’t have been. </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we find ourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, we get into trouble. If you’re in the wrong company at the wrong time, you’ll get into trouble. </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you’re someone who has a lot of time in your hands and you start watching what you shouldn’t watch, one step leads to another step and ends with coveting and its consequences.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You need to make sure that you are in right place at right time. Don’t find yourself somewhere you shouldn’t be.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Am I gonna look to good things? or Am I gonna look to things that will make me fall?</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********What you focus on, forms your desires and floods your heart********</span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whether that’s good or whether that’s bad, what you focus on forms your desires.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you wanna to know how to build up an incredible desire for God, focus on him and his words and his truth. If you wanna focus on loving and being kind, it’ll flood your heart.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But if you focus on <b>unforgiveness</b>, it’ll flood your heart. <b>You won’t be get out of your head.</b> You’ll measure things, <b>you’ll get into trouble</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You focus on what you want, you will go after it for years and years. You focus on grabbing hold of something, you don’t have thinking the grass is greener in the other side. It will flood your heart with lust. when you finally get it, you’ll find out that only brings destruction.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Covetousness is fueled by unrest.</b> You will never find rest with it. It’s fueled by desires that is never fulfilled. That’s the fruit of covetousness. You will never find it fulfilled.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">God wants us to look towards his contentment, to what it is to be truly content.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Colossians 3:1-4]</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Set your hearts and set your minds. If you just set your mind and not your heart, you’re in trouble</b>. You have to be disciplined with your mind. You gotta set your heart for the treasure that is incorruptible, not the treasure that is temporary and blown away.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>It’s all about what you focus on. It’s all about what you feed your soul with.</b> You have to start desiring God and his purity and his goodness. You have to start desire what it is to be a giver.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Do you know why so many people struggle with tithing?</b> Because we think God is taker not a giver. We don’t tithe because the idol of coveting is at work in our life. We say, I can’t afford to tithe. Why, Where did your money go? I’ve spent it on myself. I think that’s the fruit of coveting where you grabbed, you seized and you wanted more, you’ve got something bigger and you can’t really afford it. We pushed ourselves to the limit and now we can’t manage to give. Even if wanted to do, we couldn’t. Because that spirit, the idol of coveting got in our life said even if you give to God in faith, it won’t be enough for you because he is a withholder not a giver. Everything about God is a Giver. He gave everything, he gave the most precious thing, he gave his son.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We don’t need a revelation of what it is to receive a blessing. We need a revelation of what it is to be give. When you understand what is to give, that’s when your focus changes, that’s when you understand what it is to be content.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********Godly contentment: God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace. So you will have more than enough of everything in every movement in every way.[2 Corinthians 9:8]********</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you get to understand, what godly contentment is, <b>it’s not about I got these needs. But this is who God is.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While we’re facing the great challenge, health issue, we’re waiting for some healing, You can say I’ve got this godly contentment in me that he is everything. He has everything for me. I will refuse the lies[you can’t trust him, take into your own hands] of enemy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Godly contentment brings life to every one of us. </b>This is his promise for us. It’s incredible, he displayed it by giving his own son.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where is the discontentment in my life? Because it’s a great sign that we’re actually coveting something, because the opposites contentment, that’s his plan for you.</span></div>
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-29508172665628515542018-03-17T22:30:00.001+05:302018-03-17T22:44:43.476+05:30What is Binary Tree?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: left;">If you want to know about ADT, please have a look at </span><a href="http://iampandiyan.blogspot.in/2013/11/what-is-abstract-data-typeadt.html" style="font-size: x-large;">What is Abstract Date Type?</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: left;">If you want to know about Tree ADT, please have a look at </span><a href="http://iampandiyan.blogspot.in/2017/12/tree-adt-introduction.html" style="font-size: x-large;">Tree ADT - Introduction</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Binary Tree:</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Binary Tree is a tree in which no node can have more than two children.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Full Binary Tree:</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A full binary tree is a binary tree in which each node has exactly zero or two children.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tree in which every node other than the leaves has two children.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Complete Binary Tree:</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A Binary Tree is complete Binary Tree if all levels are completely filled except possibly the last level and the last level has all keys as left as possible.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Full vs Complete Binary Tree:</span></span></h2>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-diBR8mZEbNo/Wq1E2jHF0qI/AAAAAAAAAwA/5UfJWaYysp4fV7vfWse8dfCkwF4nKDkFQCLcBGAs/s1600/full%2Band%2Bcomplete%2Bbinary%2Btree.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="1600" height="430" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-diBR8mZEbNo/Wq1E2jHF0qI/AAAAAAAAAwA/5UfJWaYysp4fV7vfWse8dfCkwF4nKDkFQCLcBGAs/s640/full%2Band%2Bcomplete%2Bbinary%2Btree.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://iampandiyan.blogspot.in/p/blog-page.html">Goto Data Structure Concepts</a></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://iampandiyan.blogspot.in/p/csr.html">Goto CSR Initiative</a></span></h3>
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<a href="http://iampandiyan.blogspot.in/p/csr.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e4EVsPD9MzA/VGQA15wk2gI/AAAAAAAAAV8/1FTw-K78GUc/s640/Give%2BYou%2BWill%2Bbe%2BGiven1.jpg" width="414" /></a></div>
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-58021518660267666252017-12-30T17:43:00.000+05:302018-01-20T20:41:43.481+05:30Tree ADT - Introduction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: left;">If you want to know about ADT, please have a look at </span><a href="http://iampandiyan.blogspot.in/2013/11/what-is-abstract-data-typeadt.html" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: left;">What is Abstract Date Type?</a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I recommend you to revisit <a href="http://iampandiyan.blogspot.in/2013/11/what-are-types-of-data-structure.html">Linear and Non Linear ADT </a>before start to read further.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Tree</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tree is non linear data structure which organizes data in hierarchical structure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">With linear data structures(like Linked List), you traverse from one end of the structure to the other, visiting every element in the structure no more than once. With non-linear data structures(Tree) there may be any number of routes through the structure. That is, at any element you might have a choice of one or more possible routes.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Parts of Tree</span></h2>
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<b style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Root</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Top Node in a Tree.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Every tree must have root node.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In any tree, there must be only one root node. We never have multiple root nodes in a tree.</span><br />
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<b style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Edge</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Connecting link between any two nodes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In a tree with 'N' number of nodes there will be a maximum of 'N-1' number of edges.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Parent</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Node which has branch from it to any other node is called as parent node.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Node which has child / children.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Node which is predecessor of any node.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Child</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Node which is descendant of any node.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In a tree, all the nodes except root are child nodes.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Siblings</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nodes which are belong to same Parent.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Leaf</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The node which does not have a child.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Internal Nodes</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Node which has at least one child is called as INTERNAL Node.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Degree</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Total number of children of a node.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Level</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Root node is said to be at Level 0 and the children of root node are at Level 1 and the children of the nodes which are at Level 1 will be at Level 2 and so on...</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Path</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sequence of Nodes and Edges from one node to another node is called as PATH between that two Node.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Length of a Path </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Total number of nodes in that path.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Height</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Total number of edges from leaf node to a particular node in the longest path is called as HEIGHT of that Node.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Height of the tree</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Height of the root node is height of the tree.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Depth</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Total number of edges from root node to a particular node is called as DEPTH of that Node.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Depth of the tree</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Total number of edges from root node to a leaf node in the longest path is said to be Depth of the tree.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Sub Tree</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Each child from a node forms a sub tree recursively.</span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://iampandiyan.blogspot.in/p/blog-page.html">Goto Data Structure Concepts</a></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://iampandiyan.blogspot.in/p/csr.html">Goto CSR Initiative</a></span></h3>
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-17691226025849191542015-04-18T16:46:00.000+05:302018-01-20T21:52:52.901+05:30C Program for Fleury's Algorithm to find euler circuit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: red;"><b><i><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">EULER CIRCUIT
PROBLEM</span></u></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Consider the three figures in Figure below. A popular puzzle is to
reconstruct these figures using </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">a pen,
drawing each line exactly once. The pen may not be lifted from the paper while
the drawing </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">is
being performed. As an extra challenge, make the pen finish at the same point
at which it </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">started. This puzzle has a
surprisingly simple solution.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oYgFID4PBYI/UmucHwVdBkI/AAAAAAAAAB0/5sS3-_Ve8as/s1600/Untitled.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="97" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oYgFID4PBYI/UmucHwVdBkI/AAAAAAAAAB0/5sS3-_Ve8as/s1600/Untitled.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The first figure can be drawn only if the starting point is the lower
left- or right-hand corner, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and it
is not possible to finish at the starting point. The second figure is easily
drawn with </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">the
finishing point the same as the starting point, but the third figure cannot be
drawn at all </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">within the parameters of
the puzzle.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> We can convert this problem to a graph theory
problem by assigning a vertex to each intersection.Then the edges can be
assigned in the natural manner, as shown in below.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TjroKia4a4c/Umuc5GNfiLI/AAAAAAAAAB8/lmPRIpbgCO8/s1600/2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="101" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TjroKia4a4c/Umuc5GNfiLI/AAAAAAAAAB8/lmPRIpbgCO8/s1600/2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">After this conversion is performed, we must find a path in the graph
that visits every edge </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">exactly
once. If we are to solve the "extra challenge," then we must find a
cycle that visits </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">every
edge exactly once. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">This graph problem was solved in 1736 by Euler and marked the beginning </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">of
graph theory. The problem is thus commonly referred to as an </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Euler path </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">(sometimes </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Euler tour</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">) </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">or </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Euler circuit problem</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">, depending on the
specific problem statement. The Euler tour and Euler </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">circuit
problems, though slightly different, have the same basic solution. Thus, we
will consider </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">the Euler circuit problem</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;"><b><i><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">EULER PATH</span></u></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In graph theory Euler path is a path that visits
each node from the graph exactly once.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;"><b><i><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">EULER CYCLE/EULER CIRCUIT</span></u></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Euler cycle is a
Euler path that starts and ends with the same node.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;"><b><i><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">EULER GRAPH</span></u></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Euler graph is a
graph with graph which contains Euler cycle.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;"><b><i><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">EULERS THEOREM</span></u></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Connected undirected graph is Euler graph if and
only if every node in the graph is of even degree (has even number of edges starting from that node).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
</h3>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><i><b>Fleury's Algorithm.</b></i></u></span></h3>
<b>1.</b> Pick up a starting Vertex.<br />
<b>Condition 1:</b> If all Nodes have even degree, there should be a euler Circuit/Cycle. We can pick up any vertex as starting vertex.<br />
<b>Condition 2:</b> If exactly 2 nodes have odd degree, there should be euler path. We need to pick up any one of this two as starting vertex.<br />
<b>Condition 3:</b> If more than 2 nodes or exactly one node have odd degree, euler path/circuit not possible.<br />
<b>2.</b> Get the next vertex in euler Path.<br />
Condition: Don't break the bridge.<br />
<b> i)</b> select the next vertex which has more than one edges. <br />
<b>ii) </b>If next vertex has only one edge, <br />
<b> a)</b> If it is last vertex, We can choose it as next vertex.<br />
<b> b) </b>otherwise dont.<br />
<b>3.</b> Remove the selected edge.<br />
<b>4.</b> Repeat 2 & 3 until all edges have been traversed, and you are back at the starting vertex. <br />
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<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: red;"><b>C Program::</b></span></h3>
<br />
<i>#include<stdio.h></i><br />
<i>#include<conio.h></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>int n;</i><br />
<i>int b[100],finalPath[100];</i><br />
<i>char ajMat[100][100];</i><br />
<i>int fp=0,count=0;</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">//Display the Euler circuit/path</span></i><br />
<i>void displayPath()</i><br />
<i>{</i><br />
<i> int i;</i><br />
<i> for(i=0;i<fp;i++)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> printf("%d ->",finalPath[i]);</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">//To get the degree of node i.e no of edges currently connected to the node</span></i><br />
<i>int getDegree(int node)</i><br />
<i>{</i><br />
<i> int j,deg=0;</i><br />
<i> int pos=getIndex(node);</i><br />
<i> for(j=0;j<n;j++)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> if(ajMat[pos][j]=='y') deg++;</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> return deg;</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">//To assign the root of the graph<br />//Condition 1: If all Nodes have even degree, there should be a euler Circuit/Cycle<br />//We can start path from any node<br />//Condition 2: If exactly 2 nodes have odd degree, there should be euler path.<br />//We must start from node which has odd degree<br />//Condition 3: If more than 2 nodes or exactly one node have odd degree, euler path/circuit not possible.</span></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">//findRoot() will return 0 if euler path/circuit not possible<br />//otherwise it will return array index of any node as root</span></i><br />
<i>int findRoot()</i><br />
<i>{</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> int i,cur=1;<span style="color: blue;">//Assume root as 1</span></i><br />
<i> for(i=0;i<n;i++)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> if(getDegree(b[i])%2!=0)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> count++;</i><br />
<i> cur=i;<span style="color: blue;">//Store the node which has odd degree to cur variable</span></i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> <span style="color: blue;">//If count is not exactly 2 then euler path/circuit not possible so return 0</span></i><br />
<i> if(count!=0 && count!=2)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> return 0;</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> else return b[cur];<span style="color: blue;">// if exactly 2 nodes have odd degree, it will return one of those node as root otherwise return 1 as root as assumed</span></i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">//To get the current index of node in the array b[] of nodes</span></i><br />
<i>int getIndex(int node)</i><br />
<i>{</i><br />
<i> int k=0;</i><br />
<i> while(node!=b[k])</i><br />
<i> k++;</i><br />
<i> //printf("inside while\n");</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> //l++;</i><br />
<i> return k;</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>int isLastNode(int node)</i><br />
<i>{</i><br />
<i> int i=0;</i><br />
<i> int degSum=0;</i><br />
<i> for(i=0;i<n;i++)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> degSum=degSum+getDegree(b[i]);</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> if(degSum==2)</i><br />
<i> return 1;</i><br />
<i> else</i><br />
<i> return 0;</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>int getNextNode(int node)</i><br />
<i>{</i><br />
<i> int i=0;</i><br />
<i> int pos=getIndex(node);</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> for(i=0;i<n;i++)</i><br />
<i> { </i><br />
<i> if(ajMat[pos][i]=='y')</i><br />
<i> { </i><br />
<i> if(!isHasOneEdge(b[i]))</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> return b[i];</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> else</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> if(isLastNode(b[i]))</i><br />
<i> return b[i];</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> return -1;</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>int isHasOneEdge(int node)</i><br />
<i>{ </i><br />
<i> if(getDegree(node)==1)</i><br />
<i> return 1;</i><br />
<i> else</i><br />
<i> return 0;</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>int isCompleted()</i><br />
<i>{</i><br />
<i> int i=0;</i><br />
<i> for(i=0;i<n;i++)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> if(getDegree(b[i])>0)</i><br />
<i> return 0;</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> return 1;</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>void removeEdge(root,eNode)</i><br />
<i>{</i><br />
<i> int pos1=0,pos2=0; </i><br />
<i> pos1=getIndex(root);</i><br />
<i> pos2=getIndex(eNode);</i><br />
<i> ajMat[pos1][pos2]='n';</i><br />
<i> ajMat[pos2][pos1]='n';</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">//To find the Euler circuit/path and store it in finalPath[] array</span></i><br />
<i>void eularFind(int root)</i><br />
<i>{ </i><br />
<i> int eNode;</i><br />
<i> while(!isCompleted())</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> eNode=getNextNode(root); <span style="color: blue;">//get Next node </span></i><br />
<i> finalPath[fp++]=eNode; <span style="color: blue;">//add the node to euler path</span></i><br />
<i> removeEdge(root,eNode); <span style="color: blue;"> //remove the edge</span></i><br />
<i> root=eNode;<span style="color: blue;"> //change the root</span></i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> /* printf("root=%d\n",root);</i><br />
<i> eNode=getNextNode(root);</i><br />
<i> printf("getNextNode=%d \n",eNode);</i><br />
<i> finalPath[fp++]=eNode;</i><br />
<i> removeEdge(root,eNode);</i><br />
<i> root=eNode;*/</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>void printbArray()</i><br />
<i>{</i><br />
<i> int i;</i><br />
<i> for( i=0; i<n; i++)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> printf("%d ",b[i]);<span style="color: blue;">//store the nodes in b[] array</span></i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<i>int main()</i><br />
<i>{</i><br />
<i> char v;</i><br />
<i> int i,j,l;</i><br />
<i> printf("Enter the number of nodes in a graph\n");</i><br />
<i> scanf("%d",&n);</i><br />
<i> printf("Enter the value of node of graph\n");</i><br />
<i> for( i=0; i<n; i++)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> scanf("%d",&b[i]);//store the nodes in b[] array</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> <span style="color: blue;">//Get the Graph details by using adjacency matrix</span></i><br />
<i> printf("Enter the value in adjancency matrix in form of 'Y' or 'N'\n");</i><br />
<i> printf("\nIf there is an edge between the two vertices then enter 'Y' else 'N'\n");</i><br />
<i> for( i=0; i<n; i++)</i><br />
<i> printf(" %d ",b[i]);</i><br />
<i> for( i=0;i<n; i++)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> printf("\n%d ",b[i]);</i><br />
<i> for( j=0; j<n; j++)</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> printf("%c ",v=getch());</i><br />
<i> ajMat[i][j]=v;</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> printf("\n\n");</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>/* <span style="color: blue;"> We can manually hard code the Graph value by below. But u need to command the above one to get the edge details.</span></i><br />
<i>ajMat[0][0]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[0][1]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[0][2]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[0][3]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[0][4]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[0][5]='n';</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>ajMat[1][0]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[1][1]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[1][2]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[1][3]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[1][4]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[1][5]='y';</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>ajMat[2][0]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[2][1]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[2][2]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[2][3]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[2][4]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[2][5]='y';</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>ajMat[3][0]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[3][1]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[3][2]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[3][3]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[3][4]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[3][5]='n';</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>ajMat[4][0]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[4][1]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[4][2]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[4][3]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[4][4]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[4][5]='n';</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>ajMat[5][0]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[5][1]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[5][2]='y';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[5][3]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[5][4]='n';</i><br />
<i>ajMat[5][5]='n';</i><br />
<i> */ </i><br />
<i> <span style="color: blue;"> //findRoot() will return 0 if euler path/circuit not possible<br /> //otherwise it will return array index of any node as root</span></i><br />
<i> int root,pos;</i><br />
<i> if(root=findRoot())</i><br />
<i> {</i><br />
<i> if(count) printf("Available Euler Path is\n");</i><br />
<i> else printf("Available Euler Circuit is\n");</i><br />
<i> finalPath[fp++]=root;</i><br />
<i> eularFind(root);</i><br />
<i> displayPath();</i><br />
<i> }</i><br />
<i> else printf("Euler path or circuit not available\n");</i><br />
<i> getch();</i><br />
<i>}</i><br />
<br />
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-72093666147332799982014-12-09T09:30:00.000+05:302018-01-20T20:57:51.115+05:30Multilists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Example::</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Lets take a look at simple registration example ,<br />There 5 students and 4 courses available.<br />A student can be subscribe to zero or more courses.<br />A course can be subscribed by zero or more students.<br /><span style="color: blue;">We have to print the 2 reports</span><br /> 1. Print all the courses with the list of students who were subscribed to the same.<br /> 2. Print all the Students with the list of courses to which they have subscribed.<br /><span style="color: blue;">For Example, How we will store the following details</span><br /> 1. S1 subscribed to the courses C1 & C2.<br /> 2. S2 subscribed to the courses C2 & C4.<br /> 3. S3 subscribed to the courses C1 & C3.<br /> 4. S4 subscribed to the courses C1, C3 & C4.<br /> 5. S5 subscribed to the courses C2 & C3.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Array implementation for Registration::</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> We can use 2 dimensional array to store the value.<br /> int college[no_of_course][no_of_students]==> college[4][5];</b></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCgW_dAO-0w/VIZsIs4pjtI/AAAAAAAAAf0/7RkrNfyPT4I/s1600/multilist4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCgW_dAO-0w/VIZsIs4pjtI/AAAAAAAAAf0/7RkrNfyPT4I/s1600/multilist4.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <span style="color: blue;">Print all the courses with the list of students::</span></span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ImJ-lkdF9SM/VIZtjdoWz1I/AAAAAAAAAgA/aco87BInFWU/s1600/multilist5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ImJ-lkdF9SM/VIZtjdoWz1I/AAAAAAAAAgA/aco87BInFWU/s1600/multilist5.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></span></div>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> Print all the Students with the list of courses::</span></span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--8KkCwQGddo/VIZt2HJ2AeI/AAAAAAAAAgI/PjFdF2BWl1w/s1600/multilist6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--8KkCwQGddo/VIZt2HJ2AeI/AAAAAAAAAgI/PjFdF2BWl1w/s1600/multilist6.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></span></div>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Problem in Array Implementation::</span></span></h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> Here, We have used 4x5=20 number of spaces. But we have utilized only the 11 spaces which has value 1. Remaining 9 spaces are waste of space.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> To avoid the wastage of space in 2 dimensional array to store the course and student combination, we can use Circular Linked List, here we can say it as Multilists. </b></span></li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Multilists implementation for registration::</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> We will use 2 circular linked lists, one for student another one for course.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> S1, S2, S3, S4 are Header of students(Circular Linked List).<br /> C1, C2, C3, C4 are Header of courses(Circular Linked List).<br /> </b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MOMA7DxE1uU/VIZuDGQoRxI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/0rXDvjX0-Fs/s1600/multilist1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="451" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MOMA7DxE1uU/VIZuDGQoRxI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/0rXDvjX0-Fs/s1600/multilist1.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></span></div>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <span style="color: blue;">Print all the courses with the list of students::</span></span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bFSSwcGNsms/VIZuL2VuNcI/AAAAAAAAAgY/EVrZrT-t4fc/s1600/multilist2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bFSSwcGNsms/VIZuL2VuNcI/AAAAAAAAAgY/EVrZrT-t4fc/s1600/multilist2.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></span></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> Print all the Students with the list of courses::</span></span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qS3jHgmJkA8/VIZuSsv0p0I/AAAAAAAAAgg/oOzEegtW-3E/s1600/multilist3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qS3jHgmJkA8/VIZuSsv0p0I/AAAAAAAAAgg/oOzEegtW-3E/s1600/multilist3.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></span></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Disadvantage of using Multilists::</span></span></h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> Using circular linked list save space but does so at the expense of time.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> In the worst case, if the first student was registered for every course, then every entry would need to be examined to determine all the course names for that student. Because in this application, there are relatively few courses per student and few students per course, this is not likely to happen.</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> If it were suspected that this could cause a problem, then each of the (non header) cells could have pointers directly back to the student and class Header. This would double the space requirement but would simplify and speed implementation.</b></span></li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <span style="color: blue;">Reference::</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C, Mark Allen Weiss, 2nd Edition.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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Karuppasamy Pandiyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17681696859687413770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3831248048648268785.post-65492759643356249922014-12-06T08:16:00.000+05:302018-01-20T21:14:50.939+05:30Radix Sort<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Radix Sort::</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Radix Sort is a non-comparative sorting algorithm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It sorts the data with integer keys by grouping keys by the individual digits which share the same significant position and value.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For Example 11, 21 51, 61 will be put into single group because all are having the digit 1 in least significant position.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Types:</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There are 2 types of Radix sort.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. Least significant digit radix sorts</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. Most significant digit radix sorts</span><br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Least significant radix sort::</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Lease significant digit is the last digit of the number.(For Example in 534, 4 is LSD)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For number of Digit in a Maximum_number(Numbers to be sorted)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. Take the least significant digit of each number.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. Grouping the numbers with the same digit into a single group.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. Repeat the grouping process, starting with the next digit to the left.</span><br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Example LSD Radix Sort:</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: blue;">Most significant radix sort::</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Most significant digit is the first digit of the number.(For Example in 534, 5 is MSD)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These sort keys in lexicographic order, which is suitable for sorting strings, such as words, or fixed-length integer representations. Unlike LSD radix sort, this sort does not necessarily preserve the original order of duplicate keys. MSD radix sort starts processing the keys from most to least significant digit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">b c d e f g h i j ba would output as b ba c d e f g h i j</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 would output as 1 10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> 1. Take the key’s most significant digit</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> 2. Sort based on that digit, grouping same digit elements into one group</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> 3. In each group, start with the next digit to the right and sort recursively</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> 4. Finally, concatenate the group in order</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Note:: Recursive Loop Will stop when all group contains single value. and Print the values in each Group in same order.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Example MSD Radix Sort:</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Points to Remember::</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">References::</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> 1. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_sort">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_sort</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> 2. Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C, 2nd Edition, Mark Allen Weiss</span></div>
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