Sermon
Bearing One Another's Burdens - Frank Brancato
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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It's wonderful to be with each and every one of you today.
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And as Chris mentioned, we have several of our number here that
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are visiting with us and we would hope and pray that you
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would feel as you are. And that is our honored guest as
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always is the case, it is a privilege to speak concerning
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the word of God. And I hope that we have some
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things this morning that will be both encouraging and edifying to
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you. In some way our passage is taken
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from the book of Galatians, chapter 6 and Beginning there,
Galatians 6 chapter mention
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in verse 1. Brethren.
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If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual
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restore, such an one in the spirit of gentleness considering
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yourself. Lest you also be tempted, bear
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one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
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When a person obeys the gospel you've heard me say this in days
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gone by he or she has a three-fold responding
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obligation. In other words, when my sins are
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washed away, Baptism and I Rise to walk in newness of life, it
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doesn't end right there and my responsibility only begins and
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the first responsibility that I have, I have a responding
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obligation to God himself and you know the Bible talks about
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living a holy life, it says be holy for, I am Holy.
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So, in other words, I have a responding obligation to God to
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serve him with my life for the rest of my life.
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Secondly, a few months ago, I talk on the subject of Christian
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growth and that's the second responding obligation and that
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is our responding obligation to our self to grow in Christ.
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But thirdly, that's what we want to talk about today.
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We haven't responding obligation to each other.
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We need each other in the Battle of living the Christian Life,
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day by day. And so we're going to talk about
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the idea of what it means to Bear one another's burdens.
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And I want to make a couple of introductory remarks though,
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foundational. Things concerning the things
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that people go through in life. It doesn't matter where you come
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from. It doesn't matter your
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background and it doesn't matter the circumstances in your life.
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If you are living your life today on this Earth, You will
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strive against and you will struggle with temptation.
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You know, temptation is the same for everybody.
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What makes it different is perhaps, you might have a
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weakness and the devil knows what that is and you may be
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tempted with something that doesn't bother me at all.
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But on the other hand, I might be tempted with something.
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That doesn't bother you at all and the devil knows those things
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and he it is called the devices of Satan and he throws these
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things at us. So understand everybody is going
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to struggle with temptation. In our life.
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That's number one. Let me say two things about
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that. Number one, number one, it is
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not God's fault. You know, don't ever let
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somebody tell you that God is tempting.
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You The Book of James says that God wouldn't let, no man say
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that when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God because God
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cannot be tempted with evil. Neither tempteth, he any man.
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So, when is a man tempted, James says, when he is drawn away with
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his own lust and enticed, and then when lust has conceived, it
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brings forth, sin and sin when it is finished brings forth,
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death. So number one, it is not God's
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fault. And you know, think about it
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this way to God is our refuge. If God was the one that through
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obstacles in our path, and in our way, we have no refuge.
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God is the one that we can go to, though, when Satan throws
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Temptations are way. So, number one, understand this
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about Temptation. It's not God, it does not come
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from God. Number two, temptation is not
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sin. Temptation is not sin.
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How do I know that? How do I know that temptation is
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not sin? We know that Jesus Christ, the
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Lamb of God, lived, a life that was perfect in view of his
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death. And he sinned, not at all.
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In fact, the Bible says of Jesus, he was tempted, like all
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men are yet without sin. So temptation is not sin.
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And it does not come from God. And yet it is something that we
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all struggle with. But when lust has conceived, it
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brings forth, sin and sin. When it is finished, it brings
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forth death. You know, I realize that sin is
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something that we all struggle with.
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We're not perfect in James chapter 3 and verse 2.
James 3 chapter mention
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The Bible says for we all stumble in many things in
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Romans, 7 and 24. Paul said, o Wretched, Man, that
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I am. He told Timothy, he was the
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chief of Sinners and yet. We cannot find a greater man
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than the Apostle, Paul when he gave his life to Jesus obeyed,
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the gospel was baptized into Christ became an apostle.
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We don't find a better man, but there's something else as we're
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in the battle together. We need the support of other
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Christians to remind us that we are not alone.
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You know, what this does, you know, this means it means
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confrontation. You heard somebody say, well,
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I'm just not good at confrontations.
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He ever had somebody say to you? I don't like confrontations.
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Well, I got to tell you if you like confrontations.
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It's quite possible. You're a troublemaker.
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Who in the world likes confrontations?
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What I'm saying is is we that live the Christian life
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together? We're going to have struggles
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and we need each other. And sometimes, sometimes it
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takes one Christian, going to another Christian and pointing
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something out. That that person perhaps is
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doing wrong. We talked about your friends for
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just a minute. We talked about friendship and
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Proverbs 27, verses 5 and 6. Listen to this verse 5 says,
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this open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed Verse
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6. Faithful are the wounds of a
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friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
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I got to tell you, I have not always made the right decision
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and neither have you. We have we have not lived our
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life and sinless Perfection as did Jesus.
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And even though we look at the Jesus, as the author and
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finisher of our faith, and even though Jesus is the standard of
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our life, he is the barometer. He is the bar.
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That's all true, and being a Christian means to be
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christ-like at all of that. We get that.
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The idea is this, though, when we talk about life, we don't
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always make the right choice and when I look back on my life,
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we're not going to be perfect. When I look back on my life of
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all the times that I made a decision that was not the best
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decision, and sometimes it was a really bad decision, right?
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Do you know that there was always somebody standing by that
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was dumber than I was, it was telling me what a great idea I
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had. I'm going to tell you something
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right now. If you have friends in your life
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and you make bad choices and they support you in the bad
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choice, they're not your friend. If they encourage you to make a
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bad choice or rebel against the structure of what is, right,
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they're not your friend. A friend, is somebody that will
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tell you exactly how it is even if it hurts, your feelings, as
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the proverb says, open rebuke is better than love carefully.
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Concealed and faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the
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kisses of an enemy are deceitful, you know, sometimes
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we have to point something out to someone.
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Sometimes that's bad news in July, on a hot afternoon at
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2:30, in the afternoon, on in judge alai.
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Chat in the excuse me, in the month of July in the year 2010.
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I got a phone call that changed my life forever.
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I got a phone call from a doctor that had to make a call to me.
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And it was not very fun to hear. And she told me I had cancer.
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You know, I would imagine it was a hard conversation for her to
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have with me. I would imagine it was a hard
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phone call for her to make. But can you imagine how
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irresponsible she would have been if she did?
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I just don't want to bring the bad news, I don't want to really
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tell him what his true condition is.
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I don't want to do that. I'm going to tell you it ruined
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my day just so you know, it wrecked my day, what a terrible
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phone call that was it wrecked my day and saved my life.
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And sometimes spiritually we have to do the very same thing.
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So if we're going to help each other though we're going to help
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each other. We have to make sure that our
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own backyard is clean in Matthew chapter 7.
Matthew 7 chapter mention
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Beginning in verse 3, Jesus says and why do you look at the speck
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in your brother's eye but do not consider the plank in your own
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eye? Or how can you say to your
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brother? Let me remove the speck from
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your eye and look, a plank is in your own eye hypocrite.
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First remove the plank from your own my and then you will see
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clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
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What he's saying is, he's not saying everybody has their own
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issues, leave everybody alone. He said this, get the plank out
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of your eye so you can see, clearly to help your brother get
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even the speck out of his eye. We need each other and there's a
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pattern and its founding Galatians chapter 6 and
Galatians 6 chapter mention
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beginning there in verse 1. Notice what Paul says here, he
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begins by saying Brethren. If any man is overtaken in a
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trespass, you know, sometimes the word is translated in
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various translations as overtaken in a fault and what
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it's talking about is this if anybody that you know, that's
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what a man means. If anybody that you know whether
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it A man or a woman that is a child of God.
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And you see that they are overtaken in any trespass.
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You have a responsibility to do something and that is to work
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toward restoration to restore and notice who does it, those
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that are spiritual. I got to make a point about
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being spiritual. I think being spiritual the word
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spiritual. He's one of the most
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misunderstood Concepts. Okay.
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What does it mean? What a spiritual mean, years ago
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as a painting contractor, we were painting a doctor's office
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and there was a gal that worked in the front there.
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She was the only girl that worked there.
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So she was the receptionist, the secretary of the office manager.
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She paid the bill, she ran the book, she did everything.
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And I remember her always talking about this idea and she
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would say this, she would say oh you know, last night I this
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happened. So I said a prayer and then she
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said, oh and mention God in this next statement that she would
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perhaps a and then one day she said, you know what, my husband
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and I got up at 5 a.m. today. We got our coffee, we went out
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in the backyard and on the patio area.
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There we sat there at 5:00 a.m. we drank our coffee, and I said
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a prayer. And you know what I said?
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I said you know, it's really impressive.
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She's always talking about God and she's always talking about
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praying. So I said this I said, may I ask
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you this what religious affiliation are you part of what
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church? Are you a member of?
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And she said this I'm not a member of any church.
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She said, I'm not even religious.
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I'm just spiritual The question is this though, is, can you be
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spiritual and not be religious? I'm gonna let the Bible answer.
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What is spiritual? What is it?
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This is what the definition of being spiritual really is in
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Galatians 5. And 16, I say, then walk in the
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spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
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That's number one. Okay?
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And we're going to get to how you do that.
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But for a person to be spiritual according to Paul in Galatians,
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Five. You have to walk in the spirit.
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Let's take it further. Let's go to Galatians, 5 and 25.
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If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.
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So whatever that means a person that is spiritual is somebody
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that is living in the spirit and somebody that is walking in the
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spirit. So if we can understand what it
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means to do that, then we can know exactly what Paul is
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talking about. Notice another pass It describes
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the fact that it's the word of God.
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So who is who are those that are walking in the spirit and living
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in the spirit. It's really simple.
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It's somebody that's following the word of God, you know, who
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that is. That's a Christian.
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Don't you see, it's not somebody that's reached some sort of
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higher level of perfection or higher level of spirituality.
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It's talking about a person that's not perfect, but it's
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talking about a person that is spiritual in that they're doing
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what they're walking in the spirit.
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They're living in the spirit. That is what that is.
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Following the revelation of the spirit.
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That's the word of God. That is a Christian.
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That is a faithful child of God. So who are those that do that,
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though? What we find?
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Finding Galatians chapter 5 in verses 22 and 23.
Galatians 5 chapter mention
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These are those that we've just spoke of, but the fruit of the
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spirit is love, peace long-suffering, kindness
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goodness faithfulness, gentleness self-control against
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such. There is no law, so not a
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perfect person. But somebody's got to come to
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the rescue. Did, did you get that?
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if somebody isn't sin, if I'm in sin, one of you has to come to
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the rescue. And remember, remember, there is
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something that you got to do. And if we're not talking about
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policemen, we're not talking about those that are Boston,
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other people around. And that, by the way, nowhere in
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the word of God does it. Say if Frank brancato is not
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doing right? Somebody go and really line him
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out and say that at all it says something different.
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Let's go back to the passage. It says restore.
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It says restore. I think the idea that we have to
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all remember is anytime somebody is corrected spiritually or
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something is brought to their attention spiritually that
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they're not doing right or they're cast aside or they're
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doing things. They should not do, remember
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when you go and you confront them, those that are, spiritual
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faithful, Christians shows up for the purpose of restoration.
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What does that mean? I love this word.
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The word actually comes from the Greek word.
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That means to mend it. Really means to fix that, which
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is broken. Get, that means it means if I'm
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in sin, I'm broken. I need one of you.
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I need one of you. That is following the word of
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God. That is manifesting the fruit of
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the spirit. That is trying to live in the
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spirit. Walk in the spirit.
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That's trying to do. What's right?
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I need you to come. Help me and restore for the
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purpose of restoration. Now in verses 20 to 23, it
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talked about the fruit of the spirit.
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Now my point being is this. There's two kinds of people.
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And those that are spiritual and those that are carnal and I
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didn't come up with that, Paul did, in fact, in 1st Corinthians
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chapter 3, it says, if I'm following the dictates of the
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flesh, I'm carnal. And you know, really that is one
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of the hardest things that is one of the hardest Temptations
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in life. It's not to be carnal, not to be
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fleshly. We're going to be guided by one
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of two things, either by the word of God, which is the spirit
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or we are Guided by the world or the dictates of the flesh.
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It's one of the other you are a slave to one of the others.
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So am I a Christian that is spiritual has to come to the
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rescue here and it also gives us a very compelling reason to
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live, right? Have you ever stopped to
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consider the people in your life?
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I want to be very personal right now.
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People in your life that you have an influence over that.
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Nobody else does. I'm talking about whether you're
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a Christian, whether somebody is a Christian, I'm talking about
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people that are in your life that you that they know you, you
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have influence over people that perhaps nobody else has.
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And we know that by way of the influence that we have over
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people that are in the world and our neighbors and people we do
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business with we know that from that standpoint but have you
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ever stopped to consider that there?
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Maybe even people in the church spiritual people that you have
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the influence over that maybe nobody else has remember when we
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talked about the church at laodicea, remember that we
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talked about the lukewarm Church.
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Know, when Jesus said, I would that you were hot or cold if you
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are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth.
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Okay, what that means is this. He's saying, I'd rather have you
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be a faithful Christian that's hot or cold, being somebody that
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is the alien sinner in the world.
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You know why? Because the word of God can
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still affect your heart. But the lukewarm person, the one
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that's just going through the motions, that is a Christian
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that's just going through the motions and they're not led by
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the word of God. They enjoy the status quo,
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perhaps to the person that's living a double life.
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Doing things out in the world trying to hold onto the world
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with one hand and Jesus with the other.
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That is a lukewarm Christian. Have you ever stopped to
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consider that the lukewarm Christian can do more harm to
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the cause of Christ? Then somebody that's in the
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world? Doesn't profess Christianity at
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all. Do you know why here it comes?
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What if I'm that guy? What if I'm the lukewarm guy and
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you say, wait a minute, why don't you come and attend
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Services? They might say, wait a minute.
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I know Frank. I'm as good as that guy.
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Is that guy doesn't live it? I'm as good as he is.
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In fact, if he's going to heaven, I can sure go to heaven.
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Not even say. I'm better than that guy.
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Frank, you kidding me. You see the point?
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that is a great motivator for living spiritually as you should
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because you have influence over other people in the world and In
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the church compelling motivation to do just that in first
1 Thessalonians 5 chapter mention
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Thessalonians, chapter 5 and verse 14.
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Paul says, now we exhort you Brethren warn those that are
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unruly Comfort the faint-hearted, uphold the weak
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and be patient with all, okay? How are we going to do that?
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Unless we are living our life as we should?
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Let's go back to our text here. It is Brethren.
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If a man is overtaking and any trespass you that are spiritual
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restore, such an one in the spirit of Get on this.
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In the spirit of gentleness. you know, I got to tell you, if you
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look at the preaching of Jesus, In Matthew 23, it was a time in
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the last week in the life of Jesus when Jesus was Furious.
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And it was similar to the time that he overturned, the money
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changers, the table of the moneychangers.
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Remember that too? So in the last week of his life
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Jesus was confronting sin and error, he was confronting a lot
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of bad people. But there's nothing that says he
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even raised his voice. You can say something in a
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proper way and be as strict as you possibly can be.
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You know, my grandmother lived to be about Louise Brown Connor.
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She's about this tall. I think and grandmom lived to be
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about, I don't know, I think 96 or so maybe older.
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And she was a little Italian lady, and she would say Frankie,
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it's not what you say, it's how you say it.
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My whole life. I've heard that little
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grandmother, she didn't make that up.
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Everybody knows that, right? What matters is how you say, it.
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I'll give you an example by the way about that.
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Some of you have heard this little story, but it's true.
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I used to weigh a whole lot more than I weigh.
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Now I think I used to weigh 50 pounds more than I weigh now.
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And I'll never forget, I went to the doctor and had a physical
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and I go in there for this physical and the doctor took my
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blood and did all these tests. And they said, well, you know,
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you got this all out of whack and this number is not good, and
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on, and on, and on, and I'm sitting there and the doctor
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says, very kindly and very nicely.
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And even very gently. He said Frank You got to lose
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some weight. I think your numbers will be a
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lot better if you lose a little weight.
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You know I said are you kidding? It's muscle weight.
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Its muscle weight. I'm in great shape.
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You don't understand right. Sold myself on the bill of goods
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that it was just muscle weight. Well, I went my way it took me a
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long long time but eventually I got the weight off.
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Okay. And I came back for a follow-up.
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I think it's like two years later and here I come in.
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I'm so proud of myself. And I sit there and they did
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some other blood work. And everything is in really
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great shape. And here it comes.
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He said, I'm so glad you lost the weight and I'm thinking
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finally, here it comes. I'm going to finally get a pat
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on the back. My doctor said I'm so glad you
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lost the weight because man, you were really fat I'm glad you
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didn't say that the first time. Because how you say it's
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everything? The idea of restoring by the
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way, is fixing that which is broken.
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And by the way, let me also say this to, when you talk about
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gentleness, if you have to remove a fly from somebody's
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forehead, you don't need a hammer.
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There's other ways to remove the fly off of forehead of another
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person without using the hammer. You could do it, right?
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You could say it right? We could approach each other,
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right? Don't ever approach, though.
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Look at this, when you do this whole thing, then he says, you
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got to do this. You've got to consider yourself,
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lest you also be tempted. This phrase means two things,
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two things. Number one don't have the
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attitude of a haughty Spirit or a condescending Spirit or don't
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be puffed up. Like you're better than the
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person that just committed that sin and don't think, wait a
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minute. I'm way better than that.
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Don't do that. Lest you also be tempted but
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there's more Don't ever act like it could never happen to you.
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Man, you have no idea. I'm telling you right now, it
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can happen to anybody. And I know people that you would
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have never thought. Whatever drift back into sin and
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do things that they've chosen to do.
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Or be overtaken and faults and decide to leave and leave God.
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Lead the Lord. And they were people that you
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would say they would never have done that.
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How many people said this about themself?
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It'll never happen to me? What about Peter do you know
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when Jesus rose from the dead, and Jesus is now speaking to
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Peter, and the apostles I call it.
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The second conversion of Peter member that he said, do you love
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me? He said, you know, you know, I
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love you, three times three times, he got Peter to profess,
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I love you one for each time he denied him.
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Accident. I don't think so.
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One forever time. So Peters on the way, right?
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And then all of a sudden, Peter's doing great.
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They, you know, Peter does Peter falls?
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Why? Because he refused to eat with
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the Gentiles, for fear of the Jews?
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You know what Paul had to do? He withstood him to the face?
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That was wrong. That was wrong.
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Anybody can fall. Don't ever think you cannot
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number two. Number two, you don't, sometimes
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we do. Sometimes we're hardest on
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people, okay? Sometimes we're the hardest on
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people. that are guilty of doing things that we are self are also
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guilty of I knew a guy, one time he was so hard on somebody else
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about a particular sin that he was doing.
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He was really hard on him and, you know, I found out years
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later. He had the same problem.
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Same exact problem. Sometimes we think it could
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never happen to us and sometimes we are harder on others that are
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guilty of the same thing that we are self are also guilty of.
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Let me give you a Bible example. Now, though, because back to
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John chapter 8, Cullen touched on this last week, when he
John 8 chapter mention
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talked about the woman that was caught in the very Act of
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adultery, I'm not going to go into the whole story, make a
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couple of points though because it shows that this idea that I'm
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talking about, it's nothing new. When the woman was brought
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before Jesus, The Bible says, they said she was caught in the
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very Act of adultery. Now obviously if she was caught
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in the very act and there was a man somewhere and he also was
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caught in the very act but nobody said anything about him.
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Remember what Jesus does? He does two things that are very
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significant one. It is significant what he said
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and to it is significant what he wrote with his finger we just
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don't know what it is. Jesus said, let he who is
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without sin cast the first stone, a couple of things about
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that. This is not a general passage
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sometimes this is taken as a general passage.
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In other words. Nobody's perfect.
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So let him who is without sin or Perfect cast the first stone
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nobody's going to be perfect, right?
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That's not what it means in the original in the original, it
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says this. Let him who is without this sin.
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Let Him cast the first stone. And then he does this, he kneels
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down and he takes his finger and he writes something on the
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ground. I don't know what he wrote the
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old type preachers used to say. Isn't it entirely possible
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though that he was writing the names of the men that were there
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that were guilty of the very same sin.
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It's perhaps true. Maybe You know what they did,
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they all walked off. And Jesus says, where are your
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accusers? And she said, there are none.
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He says, neither do I accuse you go and sin, no more.
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Sometimes we're hardest on people that are guilty of the
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very same thing that we are guilty of.
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And then it comes to verse 2 In this inverse to Bear one
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another's burdens now. What is a burden?
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The word burdens actually means heavy.
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Loads that are hard to carry. This is a two-fold thing, but I
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get very specific in a minute. Heavy loads that are hard to
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carry and sometimes that is things.
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You go through in life, sometimes it's illness.
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Sometimes it's loss. And it's true that we need to
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Bear one another's burdens. In fact, we can go to another
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Bible passage and show. Just that when we're talking
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about heavy, loads that are hard to carry in a general sense, no
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matter what they are. We can go to First Corinthians
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12 and 26, where Paul said, and if one member suffers all the
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members suffer with it, or if one member is honored all the
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members Rejoice with it, right? We can look at that and we can
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say, look, if I am having a problem in my life, I'm having
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Struggling my life. I need the, I need God's people.
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To come to my rescue. I need God's people to help me,
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right? And, you know, sometimes we are
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so good at this and sometimes we come up short.
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Sometimes we are really good at this and sometimes we come up
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short. But when you talk about the
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church, that's what Paul was talking about.
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In First Corinthians chapter 12, he was talking about the church
1 Corinthians 12 chapter mention
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as a body. It's as a family and just, as
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you would your own child, or your own sibling, or whatever it
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is to come to their aid. That's what happens in the
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family of God. We come to each other's Aid.
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So Paul said that if somebody's going to suffer, we're going to
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suffer. With it.
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If one member is honored all the members Rejoice with it.
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So bearing one another's burdens in a general sense, would
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include the things that you go through in life that are hard
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and painful. Yes, but specifically, in the
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context, it means this It means heavy weights that cause your
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brother to sin. That's the context.
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How do I know if anyone's overtaken in a trespass?
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Somebody, that spiritual here comes a Christian.
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You got to come to the aid, help to restore such a one in the
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spirit of gentleness consider yourself.
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Lest you also be tempted and bear one another's burdens.
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Heavy loads or heavy weights that cause your brother to sin,
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we need help. And by the way, if your brother
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is falling into sin, you know what happens?
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It needs somebody pick him up. You got to pick him up?
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If they're down, you got to pick him up.
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That's what right, that's what restore means fixed that which
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is broken, but you know what? Our responsibility doesn't end
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there. You know why?
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Because the Temptation is not going to go away.
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So if a temptation is there and we're talking about habitual sin
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here by the way and by the way, habitual sin things you keep
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falling back into has great. Heavyweights.
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It's great heavyweights. Have you ever heard the word?
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Guilt naturally? And when you feel guilty, it is
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a heavy burden. It is a heavyweight.
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So when you go to the rescue to restore that person, you got to
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do more than that, you have picked them up but now you have
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to help them. And you got to hold them up.
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That's what bearing, one another's.
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Burdens literally means. You got to hold them up.
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In James 5:16. Confess your trespasses to one
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another and pray for one another that you might be healed.
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The effective, fervent, prayer of a righteous man avails much.
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What does all this mean? Well, first of all, we know
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this, we know that what is first, and foremost is prayer.
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This is not something that is just talking about something at
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the invitation, by the way, that will happen.
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Just a minute. We're talking about something
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that is very important, and that is prayer.
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Now, let me ask you this, Don't let well first of all let me
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make a statement. Don't let somebody tell you that
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says if you are a child of God and you have sinned, don't let
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anybody tell you that you have to call somebody on the phone
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and ask him to pray for you because you can't be forgiven
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until that happens. That is not in the Bible.
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That's not in the Bible. We are a kingdom of priests.
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You know what that means? That means we have access to God
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through the high priest. That is Jesus Christ.
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So, when I sin, I don't need to call Terry Terry, pray for me.
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I want to be forgiven, I get to do it, I get to ask God to
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forgive me through Jesus Christ. If you buy before that acts 8,
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Simon the Sorcerer, when he sinned, remember that Simon, the
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Sorcerer Sandy was a Christian, he was a new convert and he
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sinned and when he sinned, Peter said, repent of this thy
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wickedness and pray God that the thoughts of thine heart may be
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forgiven thee. You know what he said, he said,
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please you pray for me. So what that shows is two
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things, you can pray for yourself.
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And you can have somebody else. Pray for you too. but when you
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talk about confessing your faults, And you talk about
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bringing that to other people. Do you know there's a wonderful
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secondary benefit? And that is accountability,
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right? It's accountability.
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You know, accountability is wonderful accountability, helps
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us stay on the right way or the right path if I go to Terry and
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I say Terry, you know what, you know what, I'm really struggling
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with this. I need your help.
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What have I done? I've confessed my trespasses.
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I've confessed my faults to my brother and what does the Bible
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say the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much?
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So I ask him he is spiritual he is following the word of God.
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He's a faithful Christian. What To do, he's going to pray
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to God on my behalf. But then, what else?
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I'm now accountable to Terry for my problem.
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For my struggle. I'm accountable to him.
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He's going to check in every once awhile.
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Hey, how you doing that? Accountability is everything,
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don't you see? It's not enough just to pick up
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the person, you've got to hold them up.
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And the way you hold them up, is by bearing their burdens, which
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are heavy loads that are hard to Bear.
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Heavy loads. You know, there was a young boy,
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one time, they had a problem. He had a real problem with his
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mouth. And he really meant to do.
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What was right? You really meant to do better
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but every time he got angry, he would just be overtaken with it
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and he would use some really really bad language and then he
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would feel really, really bad about it.
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And the story is told that he kept going to a preacher and he
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kept saying to the preacher, I'm from sinful, I'm I don't mean to
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do it. I just keep following.
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Following the preacher said this, I'm going to pray for you,
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but this is what you're going to do.
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You're going to carry a notebook with you and for the entire
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week, whatever you do wherever you go, you're going to take the
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notebook with you. And when you stumble and when
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you send your going to write down, what you said, why you
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said it, what were the circumstances?
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And all of that and every Friday in my office you're going to
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come and meet with me and you're going to sit there and we're
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going to go over it. You know what happened after two
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weeks after two weeks there was nothing on the page.
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The third week there was nothing On the page, the fourth week
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there was nothing on the page, see the point.
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The preacher said to this young man, well what got into you?
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He said I was so embarrassed to have to show you what I said it
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gave me the courage and the strength to not do it ever
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again. Look at it from the standpoint
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of ever heard. Somebody say it takes 21 days to
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break a habit in 21 days to form a new one.
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Okay? If I go to my brother and I'm
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accountable to him, guess what I'm doing every day that goes by
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is another day that I'm establishing a better habit,
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that's called bearing your burdens, that's called keeping
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you and lifting you up. So, When you do that, you
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fulfill the law of Christ. They also say this too.
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If somebody ever comes to you and tells you something very
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personal, don't tell anybody else.
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You know, that's terrible. When you go confide in somebody,
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And you tell them something, very personal about your life
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and a struggle, perhaps that you have been going through.
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And you tell them those things, and then they go tell other
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people about it. You know, my dad says sometimes
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it's hard to tell other people are trust other people with
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things because if you hand the load over to them they got to
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pass it on to somebody else, right?
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My dad told me that my whole life, let's not be.
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Then we need to be there for each other to restore.
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Not only that, but build each other up and hold each other up.
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And that's the responsibility that we have.
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So what does it mean? The law of Christ to fulfill the
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law of Christ? The law of Christ obviously is
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the law of love and that's a got be love.
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That is love of service and sacrifice for another and in
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John Chapter 13 and verse 35, a new commandment.
John 13 chapter mention
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I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you that
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ye also love one another but this is the will this is all but
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this that all will know you are my disciples if you love one
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another. In Galatians 5 and 14 for all
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the law is fulfilled in one word.
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Even in this you shall love your neighbor as your self.
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Okay. As we start wrapping things up,
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we got to talk about this. Got to talk about burdens okay
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because in one passage it says that you have to bear your own
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burdens and in another passage it says that were to Bear each
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other's burdens. Let's talk about that and this
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is our last Point. Here it is.
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In Galatians 6 and verse 5 for each one, shall bear.
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His own burden, that's from the King James.
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So in verse 5, he said, you got to Bear your own burden, three
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verses prior to that is our verse under consideration today
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and it says, bear one another's burdens.
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Is there a conflict? Is there a conflict?
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First of all, in verse 2. Let's talk about what they are.
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What are the burdens inverse to Galatians 6 and to Bear one
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another's burdens? What are the burdens?
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They are heavy weights that are causing your brother to sin,
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okay? Heavy weights that are causing
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your brother to sin. We have a responsibility to each
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other in that but in Galatians 6 & 5, everyone must bear his own
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burden. That's the King James.
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The new King James says load and I'm glad that it does because
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they're two different. Birds, it's not the same word.
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What's that mean? What is burden in the King James
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verse 5 or load in the kit and the new King James in verse 5
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Min. It means this, it refers to the
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things that we will, all give an account for It's really simple.
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It's really simple. I need your help.
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With these burdens that caused me to sin.
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But in the end you can't stand in for me.
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I'm going to give an account to what I do.
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You're going to give an account to what you do.
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That's what that means. So why do we help each other in
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this regard? Because we all will give an
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account to the things that we do in our life.
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That's all that. That means that is all that,
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that means. So it says this in, Romans, 14,
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and 12, to support this thought. So then each of us shall give an
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account of himself and to God, now, I realized that sometimes
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the Christian life is difficult, I do.
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I really do understand. And I understand things are
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hard. And I understand that sometimes
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heartaches come too. And they derail us.
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And I also understand that sometimes things that are thrown
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your way are so difficult, it makes you want to shut down I'm
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going to tell you right now. That's what the devil wants you
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to do. The devil wants you to shut
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down. If your shutdown, he wins.
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He wins. If you persevere?
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You win because the Lord wins. I realize it's tough.
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I know it's tough but there's nothing in the word of God that
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says be a Christian and have an easy life.
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There's nothing that it says that nowhere. so, when hard
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times come and they will, Draw nigh to Jesus.
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Draw nigh to the word of God approach.
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Your heavenly father repeatedly throughout the day to help you
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through it. And you know what, I'm going to
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tell you, you know, sometimes we do.
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Sometimes we beg God to take it away.
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We all do that. Sometimes it's hurts so bad, we
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beg God to take it away. Let's do this.
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Let's be better at this. Let's beg.
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God to give us the strength and the courage to persevere.
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I'm going to tell you if you do that, guess what?
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The whole world's Watching God gets the price.
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I'm finished in conclusion. Here's our passive one more
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time. If anybody is caught in a sin.
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Somebody's got to come to the rescue.
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Who is it at the spiritual person?
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Who's that? That's Christian what for line
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them out. No restore help to mend that
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which is broken. Let's do it in the right way
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though. Let's do it in the spirit of
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gentleness. It's not what you say.
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It's how you say it. Let's do what else.
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To let's never have the opinion or the idea.
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It could never happen to us. So let's consider ourself less.
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We also be tempted, let us bear one another's burdens which are
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heavy weights that caused our brother to sin and help each
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other through this life. And when We do, we fulfill the
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law of Christ, which is the law of love.
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I'm finished. Thank you so much for your kind
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listening this morning. We never know the hearts and
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minds of those that are present. Are you hearing the sound of my
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voice and you are not a child of God the steps to become a child
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of? God are very simple, Paul said,
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so then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
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Jesus said in Mark 16:16. He that believeth and is
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baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be.
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Damned Jesus also said in Luke 13 and 3, I tell you nay but
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except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
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All That means is this. We hear the word of God.
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We believe in Jesus. We believe in Jesus so much.
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We're going to do what he says. He said, repent, what's that?
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I got to change my life. What else?
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Jesus said, if you confess me before men, I will confess you
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before my Father, which is in heaven and that confession,
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simply is, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and
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all of those steps lead toward or up to the point of salvation.
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First, Peter 3:21 though says, the like figure whereunto even
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baptism doth also now save us. That's the point of Salvation.
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That's where you contact the blood of Jesus.
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That's where you have your sins washed away.
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We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the
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Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you
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would like any additional information or you would like to
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receive a free Bible correspondence, course by mail.
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Please email us at info at True Church of Christ
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Bakersfield.com. Our service times are on Sundays
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at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
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Please make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our
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honored guest.