Sermon
Christ Is Omnipotent | February 8, 2026 AM
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
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Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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or contact us at mylibertybaptist.org or just
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look us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
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message from God's word will be a blessing to you.
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You would turn your Bibles, please, to Matthew chapter #28
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Matthew chapter 28. And once you have done so, if
Matthew 28 chapter mention
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you put your ribbon in your Bible over at Ephesians chapter
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#1 we'll be going back and forth between these two texts.
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You want to remain in Matthew chapter 28, but we will also be
Matthew 28 chapter mention
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going to Ephesians chapter 1. So you can put your marker
Ephesians 1 chapter mention
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there, and then we'll be going back and forth.
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If you don't have a marker in your Bible, grab that envelope
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that's right in front of you can put that right in there as well.
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Just make sure, you know, you give it back when you're done.
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You know, it's a just, you know, put it back in the, the, the
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rack there. But if you need to do that,
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you're certainly more than welcome to do so.
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We do have another special this morning that I'd like to give to
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you. You didn't know that there was
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going to be one more special, did you?
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But I'm going to give it to you right now because I think it
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goes along really well with the message.
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Are you ready? Oh, Diane's not up here.
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So I guess I'm have to do it by myself.
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Here's goat. Are you ready?
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My God is so big, so strong and so mighty.
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There's nothing my God cannot do.
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There you go. All right, man, I felt really
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exposed here. And Justin help me out there.
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The mountains are his, the rivers are his.
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The stars are his handiwork too. My God is so great, so strong
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and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do
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for you. All right, that's pretty good.
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All right, Well, I didn't say. I mean, I'm pretty good, but I'm
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just saying that's the special right there.
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You know, that's the kind of song that the ladies would teach
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in the back and probably do teach to the young people in our
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Sunday school and our junior church.
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And you know, we teach this to the kids and they really believe
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it that our God is so great, He's so big, so strong and so
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mighty. There's nothing my God cannot
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do. And I will tell you that those
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children back there, particularly the ones who have
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called upon Jesus Christ their Savior with childlike faith,
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they really believe that. I'm so thankful that they have
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that belief. But something happens from when
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we're that age and to when we get to this age where
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theologically we believe. What I just saying
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theologically, we believe the truth of those words, but yet we
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don't truly show it by the way we live our lives that God is
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omnipotent, that God is all powerful.
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This morning I believe there's a disconnect between how big
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people God or how big people believe.
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People believe God's big. This is not a good start.
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This is why you don't sing before you start preaching.
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People believe God's big, but don't live like God's big.
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So what's the disconnect? And how can we make sure we live
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our lives in a way that is theologically correct, that
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Christ is, Here's our word this week, omnipotent.
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Would you please stand for the reading of God's Word?
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We're in Matthew chapter 28. We'll begin reading verse #18.
Matthew 28 chapter mention
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It says, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All
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power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
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Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
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name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
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teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded
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you. And lo, I'm with you alway even
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unto the end of the world. And all God's children can say,
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Amen. Heavenly Father, be with us this
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morning as we look at this text. Lord, help me to be able to say
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what needs to be said about this issue of Christ in His power.
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Lord, thank you for his power. Thank you for your power, the
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power of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
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Help us to not just know it, but to live it.
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Help us to understand it as best as our finite minds can, but
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then to act it out in our day-to-day lives.
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We thank you for it all and we ask your blessing upon it in
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Jesus name, Amen. Thank you may be seated.
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Psalm 147 verse 5 says great is our Lord and of great power.
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His understanding is infinite. There's a lot of powerful
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things, a lot of powerful forces in this world.
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A wildfire consumes everything in its path.
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You've ever seen the destructive nature of a wildfire?
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You know of its great power. We talked this morning in Sunday
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school about the power of a volcano.
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It releases the force of the Earth's interior, erupting with
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molten rock and pressure capable of burying cities and altering
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geography. A hurricane can unleash winds of
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sustained nature and storm surge over vast regions, moving
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oceans, destroying structures with relentless organized power.
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We even look outside of our world and consider the power of
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even a supernova, an explosion so violent that in a few seconds
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it releases more energy than our sun, lighting up space and
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tearing the star apart. Those are all powerful forces,
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whether it's a wildfire of volcano, a hurricane, or yes,
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even a supernova. But yet none of these are more
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powerful than God. Hebrews chapter one verse one
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through 3 says God, who had sundry times and in divers
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manners spake in times past, under the fathers, by the
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prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
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whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
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the world's, Who being the brightness of his glory and the
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express image of his Person, and hear this upholding all things
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by the word of his power. What does Jesus Christ do?
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He upholds all things by the word of his power.
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You can consider a wildfire, you can consider a volcano, a
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hurricane, all of the stars that you find in the sky and all of
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their power simultaneously is upheld by the very power of the
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word of Jesus Christ. The Triune God is not just
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powerful, He is the source of all power.
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Now let me run that by you one more time.
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He is not just powerful, He is the source of all power.
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He is the power plant, if you will.
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But unlike a power plant today that would need a source of
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energy to be able to have it produce power, to be able to
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convert that energy from one thing into something else, He is
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the source of power. He is the very essence.
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There is nothing that needs to power up our Lord.
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He needs no batteries. He doesn't need to be plugged
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in. He is the very source in
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Genesis. Reality as we know it is spoken
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into existence by 4 words. Let there be light in
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revelation. All the enemies of God amassed
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upon the entire world will fall in a moment slain, as the Living
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Word returns with the words. King of Kings and Lord of Lords
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is upon him. He shows his power in Genesis.
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He manifests his power. Revelation and the other 64
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books in the middle all show the great power of God and that
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power will also be manifested for all eternity as well.
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Before we get deeper into our text today, we need to ask
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ourselves this question. I mentioned that the title of
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the message is Christ is Omnipotent, but what does
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omnipotent mean? It's a word certainly that
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theologically we use sometimes, but what does it mean if Christ
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is omnipotent? Well, it's really easy for us to
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just break this down into two different parts and understand
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each part of the word. The word Omni means all these.
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There are many Greek theological terms that use the word Omni.
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In fact, there's three that are often used in churches to
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describe who God is. Omniscient being all present, or
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rather omnipresent being all present, omniscient being all
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knowing and then omnipotent. So all is Omni but potent.
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What does that mean? Well that word potent literally
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means power. When you consider a medication,
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what is its potency? That means what is its power?
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And so as we consider who God is, he is omnipotent, mean, he
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is all powerful. He's not partially powerful.
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He is not at sometimes powerful in all times, in all ways, God
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is powerful. And again, that ought to make
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all God's children say Amen. Now this is the place in our
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message where we want to kind of look at our text and not just
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look at the Word. OK, we have an understanding of
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the Word. We saw power was in our text
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here just a few moments ago in this telling of the Great
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Commission by Jesus Christ. And in verse 18 we do see the
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word power. And Jesus came and spake unto
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them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
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But we ask ourselves this question, why is Jesus talking
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about his power? Why is this important as he's
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about to give? What is the Great Commission?
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Now I will say that the newer versions that you'll find out
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there of the Bible will take the word power and actually take it
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out of Scripture and will replace it with the word
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authority. Now this is a grave error
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because there's a difference between having the word power
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there and the word authority there.
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Some people have authority but don't have power.
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You ever had a boss? Maybe I should stop right there.
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You're at a boss that had authority but had no power.
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I remember when I worked both at the jewelry stores in college
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and Gordon's and at Kay Jewelers, and both of them
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required that we were to get a credit application today, that
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from our customers, we were to have someone to sign up for a
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Gordon's credit card or a Kay's credit card.
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And at the end of the day, in both companies, we had to call
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over to the Home Office to our district manager and we had to
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tell them amongst our sales statistics how many credit
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applications we had taken during that day.
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And I remember this was not something that I like to do.
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What does it naturally come into conversation and say, oh, by the
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way, would you like to get into debt with this ring?
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It's not really something that I want to talk about, but I had to
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because it was part of it. I remember for a while I really
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struggled. I had to make those calls.
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But you know what I found out after a while?
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I had to report those numbers, but the district manager never
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did anything about it. Never called back and said, hey,
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you need to do more. Never said you're going to be
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under suspension. Never said, hey, if you don't
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get this right, you're not going to be of a job.
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I found out that this district manager had a lot of authority
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but didn't exactly have the power that I thought that they
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had. The Greek word for power here is
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exousia, and it means the power to do something, and it was a
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technical term that was used in courts.
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Just the word power alone gives the connotation of authority.
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It's not that authority is not here, but if you just put the
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word authority there, it removes the very fact that Jesus Christ
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has authority but has the power to back it up.
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Jesus Christ does have all authority today, but He also has
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the power to be able to do that which He has authority for in
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the 1st place. And there are many that walk
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around and pretend to have authority these days.
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There are many who walk around and are paper tigers.
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But no, Jesus is no paper tiger. Jesus is no paper champion.
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No, He is the one who has authority and has the power to
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back it up. It's why it's important that we
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see here that all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
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Charles Spurgeon said power in the hands of some people is
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dangerous, but power in the hands of Christ is blessed.
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Oh, let him have all power, Spurgeon says.
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Let him do what he will with it, for he cannot do anything but
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that which is right and just and true and good.
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There is no abuse of power with our Savior.
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There is no lack of power with our Savior.
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There is no lack of authority with our Savior.
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He is the one who has all power. Now, as we look at verse #18 you
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might be bothered by or concerned by the phrase that
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immediately follows the word power.
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All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
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Did you notice that as we were reading it?
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And maybe that bothers you a little bit because you think,
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well, does that mean Jesus didn't have power?
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And now at this moment, he did have power.
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Well, I'm going to set your fears at rest before we get into
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what it means here in just a moment.
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You do understand that Jesus Christ has always had power,
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that it wasn't just at this moment, that power had been
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conferred upon Him by the Father that we already mentioned a few
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moments ago. Hebrews chapter one verse 3.
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But also consider John one verse 3.
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All things were made by Him and without him, without anything
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made that was made. Jesus was an active part of
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creation, by the way, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all active
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within that of creation. What about Colossians chapter 2,
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verses 9 and 10 for Colossians, pray for your
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pastor, Amen. Pray for your pastor's wife.
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Amen. Colossians 29 and 10.
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For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
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and ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality
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and power. Which looked at that in Sunday
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school a few moments ago. Revelation 1 verses 1718.
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Fear not, I am the 1st and the last.
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I am he that liveth was dead, and behold, I am alive
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forevermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and death.
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No, you do not need to be concerned that Jesus Christ was
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just conferred power when He came to this world.
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You do not have to be concerned that Jesus Christ was conferred
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power as He's giving the Great Commission in Matthew chapter
Matthew 28 chapter mention
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28. Jesus has always been powerful
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because Father and Son and Holy Ghost did not just appear in
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Genesis 11. They have always been and they
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have always been powerful. So that's what's not being said.
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So the question is what is being said?
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Because it does say all power is given unto Him.
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You'll give it unto me in heaven and earth.
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And the answer is important for us to be able to understand how
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this deals with ourselves. And remember when I told you to
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put your ribbon there in Ephesians chapter #1 Why don't
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you go ahead and turn there now like a waste any time we're
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going to write to Ephesians chapter 1 and pick up in verse
Ephesians 1 chapter mention
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#17 But the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
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glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
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in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being
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enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling,
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and what the riches of His glory, of the glory of His
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inheritance in the Saints. And what is the exceeding
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greatness of His power to us Word who believe according to
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the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when
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He raised Him from the dead. Now stop there for a moment.
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You say it's saying that the Father raised Christ from the
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dead. And the answer is yes, that the
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Father did raise Christ from the dead.
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But you know who else raised Christ from the dead?
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Christ. Why would you say that, Pastor?
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Well, Jesus made clear in John chapter 10.
John 10 chapter mention
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He says I lay my life down and I pick it back up again.
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But it's also the Holy Spirit who is involved in the
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resurrection of Christ, as we find in Romans chapter #8 as
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well. It seems to be that Father and
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Son and Holy Ghost were all actively involved in the
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resurrection of Jesus Christ. So don't be concerned there when
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it says He raised him from the dead, meaning the Father that it
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was Father, Son, and Holy Ghost all together.
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We're not talking about 3 different gods here.
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We're talking about the same God far above principality, verse
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21. Far above all principality and
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power and might and dominion, and every name that is named,
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not only in this world, but also in the world to come.
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And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
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head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the
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fullness of him that filleth All in all.
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Back in our text, when Jesus says all power is given unto me
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in heaven and in earth, what he is saying is he's imparting some
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of His final words to the church.
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And yes, he is speaking to the church here.
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Why is that important if he is just speaking to the disciples?
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As soon as the disciples are gone, the Commission is gone as
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well. He's speaking to the church
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which he founded in the Gospels when He called His disciples.
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That church which had already formed that church which He
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spoke of in Matthew chapter 16. In that Church of which he spoke
Matthew 16 chapter mention
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of in Matthew chapter 18, that church that had already held the
Matthew 18 chapter mention
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ordinances. That church had already had a
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business meeting in Acts chapter one.
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That church in Acts chapter 2, when 3000 people got saved, they
Acts 2 chapter mention
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were baptized and added unto them being the church.
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Jesus is talking to His church there on that mountainside as
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it's about to go, and he says all power is given unto me in
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heaven and earth, meaning as I'm about to depart from you,
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understand that I am the power, I am the authority of the
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church. And it says it right there and
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has put all things under his feet and gave him to behead over
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all things to the church. What he's saying here is I have
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been assigned to be the head of the church.
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No, this shouldn't bother us here this morning.
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Just as it's one of his tasks, as the Holy Spirit has a task of
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being a comforter, and the Holy Spirit has the task of being our
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guide and teacher. He is saying in go back to
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Matthew chapter #28 leave your ribbon there, but go back to
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Matthew chapter 28. All power.
Matthew 28 chapter mention
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Nobody went back there, but that's OK.
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All power. You think I can't watch you and
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hear you, but I hear nothing's happening.
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All right. All power is given unto me in
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heaven and earth saying this. All power is given to me to be
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the head, the chief cornerstone of the church.
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It's not that he wasn't powerful before, but he is exerting his
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authority over the church. This is his church.
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Liberty Baptist Church belongs to him.
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Every Bible preaching church that preaches the truth is His
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church. And he says all power is given
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unto me in heaven and earth. And he says it's important that
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you know this. Why is it important?
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You know? This text we're looking at in
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Matthew 28 is commonly called the Great Commission.
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The Great Commission is given in different forms in Matthew,
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Mark, Luke, John, and the beginning of the book of Acts.
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Perhaps Matthew is the one that we quote the most, but there's a
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word in verse #19 that's so vitally important.
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And if we quote the Great Commission, as I often do, it's
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a word. Sometimes I accidentally omit,
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and it's the word therefore. Now I want to help you with a
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principle of Bible study this morning.
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If you see a word therefore in your Bible study, you need to go
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back and see what the therefore is.
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Therefore, look, I know I can have a coughing fit every 5
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minutes or so, but I'm not crazy about this, OK?
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If you see the word, therefore you want to see what the
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therefore is. Therefore why is it there?
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Well, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
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Therefore go ye into all the world, teach all nations, rather
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baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
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the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
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I've commanded you. Lo, I'm with you alway even unto
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the end of the world. Amen.
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He's saying because I am the authority of the church,
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therefore I'm telling you, I want you to go.
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And as I tell you to go, this is important.
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As I tell you to go, understand when you go, you will have
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power. We're having a soul winning
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conference this week. What's that about?
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We're trying to teach people how to be able to win people to
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Christ. To be able to tell friends and
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neighbors, loved ones, strangers about Jesus Christ.
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This is the task of which He's called us to do.
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How incredibly cruel would our Savior be to give us a mission
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and then not give us the tools that are needed to be able to
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accomplish the mission? I mean, maybe you've been in
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that situation before where a boss asked you to fulfill a
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project, but then didn't give you the tools that you need to
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fulfill the project, and then you got in trouble when you
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didn't do the project. It was really the person that
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was the authority. It was the problem.
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Pretty quiet. So I guess that's happened to
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many people here. Or just waiting for me to call
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off again. I don't know.
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We could be one of the two. How cruel would our Savior be?
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They go and give the components the Great Commission when people
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to Christ, baptize them, disciple them.
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That's distilling the Great Commission right there.
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And what do we disciple them to do?
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Well, to live a victorious Christian life, to come more
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like Christ, and also to reach other people as well so that it
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can continue to perpetuate. How cruel would our Savior be to
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say, I want you to do it, but you're on your own.
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But that would be pretty lousy. But First Thessalonians chapter
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#5 and I mentioned this last week, I believe it says faithful
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is he who calleth you who also will do it.
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He does. He doesn't call you to do things
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of which he will not equip you to do.
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And God as the authority, Jesus Christ as the authority of the
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church says this. I'm going to send you, But as I
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send you, I will give you, what's the word power?
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So you think that you can't share your faith with someone
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else, But he says I'll give you power.
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You think you don't know what to do, but he says I'll give you
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power. You think nobody will listen to
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you because it's 2026, so I'll give you power.
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You think the message isn't palatable anymore?
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But sure, you received it, but how are you supposed to give it
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to someone else? But he says He will give you
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power. Why is this important?
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Because this is His church. God didn't just authorize us to
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reach the community, but He empowers us to be able to reach
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this community as well. There is no other organization
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that you can find on this earth that is well equipped to be able
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to reach the World like the local church.
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Oh, there's other groups that are out there, but the Boys and
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Girls Club can't do it. A A can't do it.
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The Rotary Club can't do it. No town hall can do it.
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You say, pastor, are you saying those are all bad people?
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I'm saying that they are not authorized and equipped to be
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able to reach this world like you and I are, to reach this
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community for Christ. But go back to Ephesians for
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just a moment, because I can see this doesn't really excite you
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yet. But be honest, be honest.
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It's OK. We're not.
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We're not excited about it. Maybe that's good.
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Belinda's, that's good. I like that.
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That's a new believer right there, Amen.
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I love that. That's good, That's good.
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And we need to be back to that, Amen.
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But I think in some ways, maybe that seems like it's kind of a
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pie in the sky. Well, this deals with the
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church, This deals with Liberty Baptist Church.
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Maybe you even think it just deals with me as the pastor.
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But may I remind you that the pastor is not Liberty Baptist
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Church? May I remind you that this
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pastor will not always be the pastor of Liberty Baptist
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Church. The pastor?
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You can't say that. Do you think I'll live forever?
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What I'm saying is this. The Chief Cornerstone is not a
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pastor. If it is on a faulty foundation,
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Chief Cornerstone don't want the power and the authority is Jesus
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Christ. But let's go back to Ephesians
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chapter #1 go back to verse #19 and what is the exceeding
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greatness of His power to to who?
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Usward who believe according to the working of his mighty power.
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We'll stop there for just a moment.
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If the church is given power to be able to fill the Commission,
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who makes up the church? Usens.
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It sounds kind of King James does it, but it's not.
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It's South, it's southern. He has given us the command,
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which means this. He has given us power as well.
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And you see what it says, because of his mighty power,
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that he has given us power as well.
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It stands to reason because of the Church has power, we make up
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the church. Do you realize that the power of
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God Almighty abides inside of you today?
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No, I'm not talking about some weird kind of doctrine here this
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morning that the Holy Spirit, who is God Almighty, the Spirit
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of Christ, abides in you today. And it's not just the fact that
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we have been given the Commission and empowered to go
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do the Great Commission, which we have been, but that power
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also extends to every part of our life as well as we try to
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live the Christian life. You can't live the Christian
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life on your own. You don't have the ability to do
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that which God has called you to do on your own as a believer.
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But it's Christ in you, the hope of glory, who can help us to be
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more like Christ. If you're struggling with
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habitual sin, what do we see? That the power of Christ abides
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on you, and you can break the bonds of habitual sin, not
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because of you, but because of Jesus Christ.
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God has given you the power to overcome a terrible past.
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God has given you the power to overcome fear.
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God has given you the power to overcome the situation that you
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don't know how you can untangle yourself from.
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God has given you the power to overcome the emotions that seem
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to run your life instead of being controlled by the Spirit.
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That power is within you. That power is not you, but it is
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within you. And for some reason we act like
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we're powerless, toothless, and sometimes even gumless.
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There's nothing we can do. And yes, half of that is true.
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There is nothing you can do except to throw yourself at the
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mercy of the one who saved you and say, I can't overcome sin,
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but I know by your grace you can help me on my own.
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I've tried to do what Christ has told me to do, but I keep
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failing. But you can help me because that
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power that belongs to him has also been given to me so I can
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reach a lost world for Christ, but so that I also live more for
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Christ in my day-to-day life. Are you tired of trying to be a
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good Christian and missing out? Let me change that.
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You are tired of trying to be a good Christian and missing out.
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Oh, now you agreed. OK, I just, I had to change the
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way I said it. Apparently you're making me work
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today. I'll tell you you're tired of
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it. Maybe the problem is that you're
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the one that's trying to do it and it's not Christ.
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Where's the power? He has all power.
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It's been given to him and it manifests itself in the church
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and also manifests itself in the Christian who makes up the
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church. And we should understand that
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that power is great. First John 4 verse four year of
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God little children and have overcome them because greater is
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he that is in you than he that is in the world.
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I will say this that power does not just well up inside of you
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because of who you are. You must be born again.
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You must know Jesus Christ as your savior force whosoever is
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born of God. First John 5/4 For whosoever is
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born of God overcometh the world.
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And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
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faith, that's where it starts. So maybe today you feel like
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you, you have no power. Could it be that you're not
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saved? No, I'm not trying to say if you
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have no power, you are not saved.
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But I'm, I'm saying today that maybe you have never even taken
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that step in your life, that you recognize that you're a Sinner,
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that you recognize there's a real judgment to come, that hell
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is real, that the lake of fire will you abide forever is real.
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Yet Jesus Christ bore the penalty on the cross so you can
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be saved. But then after that, what do we
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see? If we're not careful, we can
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still live very powerless lives before the Lord.
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But I say this today, lift your head, believer.
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The power of an omnipotent Christ has been granted unto
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you. I'm not trying to be weird about
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that. I'm saying this.
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That power has been given to you.
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We don't have time to go there, but you go to Acts chapter 1 and
Acts 1 chapter mention
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we see that the power was given to us to fulfill the Great
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Commission. All power is given unto you to
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do what? To go to Jerusalem, Judea and
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Samaria and the other most parts of the earth.
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That God has given us power to fulfill the gospel, but He's
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also given us the power to be able to live the life of a
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person who can go and give the gospel in the 1st place.
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So I can't do it. Well, through Him you can.
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I can't beat Sin through him, you can.
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I failed too many times. Through him you can do right?
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Yes. Through him, in your own power,
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no. Through him, yes.
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So what do we need to do today? Let me give you 2 very practical
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ways to help you here this morning and we're almost done.
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What do you need to do when it comes to this issue of power?
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First of all, number one, check your source.
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Check your source for power. You know, if I was to have an
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extension cord up here and I neglected to actually bring one
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up here, but Dave, please don't go grab one, all right?
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He would probably go and grab one for me.
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He probably unplugged the computer back there and bring it
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to me. And so we don't want to do that.
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But if I was to have a power cord, an extension cord up here
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today, imagine that I had a 10 foot cord and I had the one end
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and I had the other end and I put them together and I'd say
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go. You say, well, why?
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Why is this working? Well?
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Because it's plugged into itself and no power can emanate from
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itself. It could only be a conduit from
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a power source to something that needs power.
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And I found a lot of Christians do, a lot of Christians are
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plugged into themselves for power.
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And you know what? They got nothing.
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Why do we say you need to read your Bible every day to plug
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into the power? Why do we say that you need to
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pray not just every day, but every hour?
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I need the every hour the song goes well, why?
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Well, because we need to plug into the power.
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Why do we need to meditate on God's word?
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Why do we read a Bible verse? And sometimes I think we just
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get to the point where we say pastor says read your Bible,
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read your Bible, read your Bible.
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Why are we reading our Bible? So you can check it off the
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list. No, so it affects the rest of
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your day. So did you find a verse that
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really helped you? And maybe you set an alarm on
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your phone that goes off every couple hours and that verse pops
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up, you type it in and it's just a reminder stop.
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Selah. The Psalm says meditate on this.
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Think about it for a little bit, or else we get to the point
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where we're just the independent Baptist say, well, I'm.
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Going to read my Bible today Why?
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Because I got to read my Bible today.
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Why So I can read my Bible today?
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Why so I can read my Bible today like.
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That don't make any sense. I want to read my Bible today so
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I can be like Christ. We'll plug into the power.
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Too many believers that I've seen, they plugged in
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themselves. You know why?
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They don't want to go to church. They plugged in themselves.
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You know, I found him. When I'm plugged into him, I
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want to be here. I don't make excuses not to be
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here. I make excuses to be here.
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Why? Because I'm plugged in, right?
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But I think a lot of Christians have trouble with the source,
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but they also have trouble with sustainability.
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Be this. They'll do it for a little while
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and then unplug. They'll do it for a little while
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and then unplug. Like in 1989, as a young lad
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living in Tampa, we had a disaster, a state of emergency.
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And that state of emergency where temperature sustained at
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32° for about a week. Yeah.
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Yeah. It, it, it is, this is real.
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In fact, I want to make sure that my memories of this were
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not incorrect. And so I looked it up this week.
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It's. It's all online.
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So, you know, it's true. But anyway, 1989 what happened
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was so many people were using their heat pumps and that's what
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people would use in Florida still do to be able to heat
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their homes because it's so rare to need to heat.
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And the electrical grid was not prepared for the amount of
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people using their heat pumps for three days or four days.
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From around December 23rd until the 25th or 26th, depending on
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where you were in Florida, there were rolling brownouts or
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outright blackouts. Meaning this you had to be able
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to use your power for a few hours and then it would turn off
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and about 3 hours later it would turn back on.
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Do you know how hard it is to cook a Christmas Turkey?
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I remember my mom trying to, as soon as the power went on, cook
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everything. And you can do that except for
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the Turkey. You got to pull it back out.
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The Turkey had to go back in and out, I believe at least once
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because of the rolling Browns and nothing worked, nothing made
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sense. Christmas, you get these gifts.
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Oh, they got to plug in. There's no battery, you got to
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plug it in. Oh, I get to play it for two.
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Oh no, I'm done. Let me tell you, little 7 year
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old Adam was very disappointed at that Christmas because of the
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rolling brownouts. You can't do anything.
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How can you do anything like that?
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You do it for a minute, you stop.
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You do it for a minute and stop. Does that sound familiar to
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anybody here? You know, I'm not talking about
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your power at your house. I'm talking about your Christian
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life. You're really excited about
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church for a while. I think you're not.
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You're really excited about reading your Bible for a while,
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and you're not. You're really excited about holy
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living, about doing right, about the things you watch, the things
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you listen to. Well, then you're not.
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You're really excited about listening to the Spirit and then
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you're not, you know, listen, I understand that the Christian
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life says peaks and valleys. There are times that we do well
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and there are times that we struggle a little bit and that
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is natural. I do want to recognize that.
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But I would also say there is an issue with sustainability where
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we willing to plug in, but then something bad happens and we
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unplug. Can I help you with something?
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If you're struggling in your family, the place you need to be
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is here, not away from here. If you are struggling with
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personal sin, what you need to do is not watch more TV to dull
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the pain, not listen to more podcasts or more music.
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You know, unplug it all and get in your Bible.
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You know, how is it strange that we could watch a 2 hour movie
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and not even blink, but we asked someone to read their Bible for
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two hours? It would be considered cruel and
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unusual punishment. No, I'm serious.
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But if you're struggling and you start a Bible study, I'm going
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to read this. I see where this verse follows,
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and I'm going to go here. I'm going to think about I'm
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going to stop. I'm going to pray for a while.
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I'm going to get a notebook and I'm going to write this.
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I'm going to do that. Do you know how incredibly
-
helped you could be? And just that one sitting, let
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alone sustaining Say, pastor, you saying we OK, we're not
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supposed to do anything else but it.
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You know, I'm saying that when we tap into the power, not the
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power within, you give the power to be a champion.
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I have the power to wreck my life and everything else around
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me, but through Christ, I have the power to be able to live
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like him. Not through some performance,
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not like showing off in some pharisaical way, but by saying I
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need to be plugged in the source and it's not me.
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This is not going to work. I got to be plugged into him,
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the power source, the originator of power.
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But also I need some sustain, sustainability.
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I can't unplug and replug and unplug and replug and unplug and
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replug. Now listen, if you unplug and
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you get away from the Lord for a while, don't take what I'm
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saying as well, don't even replug, what's the point?
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No, I'm serious. There's some people who feel
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like that in their discouragement.
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And who do you think is whispering that in their ear?
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The Holy Spirit saying, don't come back to me.
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That's Satan friend. That's what that is.
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But stay plugged into him. And when you start to feel like,
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I don't know that this is what I want to do, ignore your
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feelings. Ignore your feelings.
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I'm thankful God created feelings because we can feel
-
things, but those feelings when they guide our life, will guide
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you right into the wall. Don't be guided by your
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feelings. Be guided by faith.
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Faith is this. I don't know that I want to read
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my Bible today. You say pastor, people say that
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if you haven't yet, you will. This pastor says it.
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Sometimes I don't know if I want to read my Bible.
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I got too much to do. I'm too busy or sometimes it's
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the night and I realize I didn't even read it today.
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It does happen sometimes I'm not I'm I'm not I don't like it.
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I'm trying to be transparent with you, but the best thing
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that you can do is to understand I have plug into Christ.
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I stay plugged into Christ and if for some reason I unplug,
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I'll run back in and plug in as quickly as possible.
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Are you tired of living a powerless Christian life?
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Says right here. The power was given to the
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church. We could be a powerful force.
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Even though we're a small group, say pastor.
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We're a growing church. We are a growing church, but
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compared to some, we are a small group.
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Compared to a town of 25,000 we are a small group.
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Do you realize it was a Church of 120 in Acts chapter #1 that
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by the end of the book of Acts that turn the world upside down?
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Why? Because those people were so
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great? Who?
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You mean like Peter and Paul who had baggage but God used them?
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Why? Because it was him.
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If God could use a man who says I don't know who Jesus is and
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cursed at people for saying I don't know who Jesus is.
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If God could use someone who had the baggage of the apostle Paul
-
who tried to destroy the churches and then become the
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apostle to them. If God could use them, you think
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he can use you? Why?
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Because it's not about you, it's about his power.
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Hey, plug in the right source, stay plugged in.
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Sustainability. It's all about him.
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He is omnipotent. Thank you for listening to the
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sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
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If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
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can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
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[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday
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at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
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May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.