Sermon
Living Waters of Grace April 20th, 2026
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
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of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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He's revealed them to us, but many of us as Christians, we're
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like sitting here, die. I really don't know what he's
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talking about because I haven't really seen some things.
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I haven't really heard some things I haven't really seen
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poured into my heart, the things that God's prepared for me
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because I love them. I maybe feel bankrupt.
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I feel like I'm just going through the motions, or I feel
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like my Christianity is dry, or I'm backslidden.
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Or we use all this terminology because it's been a long time
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since we've heard the voice of God speak clearly to us.
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Can we all agree it's a lot easier to doubt someone than to
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trust them? Even if they were faithful for a
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long time, it's easier for us to say, you know what I doubt that
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you're as good as you've been in the past.
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Today, Pastor Clark says we do this all the time with God.
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We forget about what he's done and only look at what he's given
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us. In the short term, you must
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remind yourself of the goodness of God every day.
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The enemy wants you to doubt him, but you must stand firm on
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the truths of Scripture. Now here's Pastor Clark in
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Revelation Chapter 4 with today's edition of Living Waters
Revelation 4 chapter mention
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of Grace. So Paul had this awesome
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encounter with God, this incredible experience.
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He can't even really talk about it.
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He can't communicate in words he said the things he heard were
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not even translatable into human language.
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But it was an amazing thing. He was never ever the same after
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this. And, and to the fact that God in
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his mercy gave him a university to keep him humble so that he
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wouldn't think he was better or more spiritual than anybody
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else. And I really believe as we see
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great things from God in our lives, God is obviously very
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wise and cautious with what he entrusts us with so that we
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don't walk around thinking we're something we're not and using
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our experience to manipulate others.
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I think so many of the people that we see on TV today who
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claim that they've had voices from God or experiences or
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whatever, if you study what they say and line it up with the
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Scriptures, you'll find that it's bankrupt.
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There's no experience or any encounter that I'm talking about
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today. We're trying to convey that is
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independent of what the scriptures teach.
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Nowadays people will say, I have an experience.
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Well, if the experience isn't aligned with the Scriptures, it,
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I don't care what they say their experience is, it's not
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biblical. That's the problem.
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Nowadays people will debate their experiences over the word
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of God and, and that's why people get into heresy and
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delusion. But nonetheless, these people
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are singing this new song and God has also given Paul as well
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as the writer of Revelation, the apostle John, this experience.
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If you turn to Revelation chapter 4, now I know some of
Revelation 4 chapter mention
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you quite well and you've told me at times where God has
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revealed himself to you in very specific ways that are very
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extraordinary. And it's, it's changed your
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life. It says in the throne room of
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heaven in Revelation 4, John saying after these things, I
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looked up and behold a door standing open in heaven.
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And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet
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speaking with me saying, come up here and I will show you things
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which, which which must take place.
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After this, immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne
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set in heaven. And once sat in in the throne,
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immediately I was in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
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This out of curiosity, has anybody ever experienced
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something that is not normal in the sense of what we would
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consider normal in regard to your relationship with the Holy
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Spirit? Raise your hand, there's quite a
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few people in here who have encountered God and a very deep
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way. Now that doesn't mean you're any
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more spiritual any better that this means maybe you were more
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hungry or more yielded or God's sovereign hand chose to reveal
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or manifest something to you. Recently I was praying with a
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brother and we were in a church and we were praying and we're
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talking about a lot of things and I was praying and then all
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of a sudden he was praying and he, he began to have some
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ecstatic encounter with, with God that I, I couldn't
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understand or comprehend. At first I thought he was maybe
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going crazy, but he wasn't. God was just like blowing his
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mind and revealing to him the Kingdom of God and its depth and
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all those cloud of witnesses are with the Lord that we're
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surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.
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You know, in Hebrews it says, let us run with patience.
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Erase it is set before us. And he said, Clark, he says, I
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never experienced in my prayer life anything like I've just
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experienced. Now, he couldn't really explain.
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All I knew is that God met him in a very deep and profound way.
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And I am encouraged to know that God desires to do that in our
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lives at different times. I can't make that happen.
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I can't set up that situation. But if I'm hungering and I'm
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thirsting for God, he will reveal himself because God works
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in the midst of what we would claim or call a supernatural,
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which I don't even like using that word, but it's
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extraordinary. It's outside the realm of
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natural thought, right? If you turn to Acts chapter 2,
Acts 2 chapter mention
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now, we're living in the last days.
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And these things are occurring even now as we speak throughout
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the world in different ways, in different dimensions.
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Peters sermon, he's standing up preaching Christ.
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And after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, he says these are
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not drunk as you suppose in verse 15.
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It's only the third hour of the day.
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But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
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It shall come to pass. And the last day says God, that
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I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, your sons and your
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daughters shall prophecy. Now a lot of day, a lot of
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things today people are claiming they're prophesying.
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What does it mean to prophecy? Well, the clear rendering of
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that gift is someone who's has the capability of edifying,
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building up people, exhorting people, warning people and
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comforting people. Paul says I desire that you all
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prophecy but the day we've gotten out of that biblical
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mandate of what true prophecy is and someone will say up thus
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sayeth the Lord of hosts Bah Bah this Bah Bah, and they're just
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like spewing their own thoughts and their own mind saying that
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the Lord said this and it's it's very dangerous.
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Jeremiah says these people in the last days will claim to be
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prophets speaking for me, and God says I did not speak to
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them. They're not speaking my word,
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they're not speaking my truth. But nonetheless, there will be
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this movement of God's Spirit in such a way that people will have
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insights to be able to say things to you and to me without
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them even realizing that they're prophesying.
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You know, sometimes when someone sits down with me and shares
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their heart and talks about something, maybe it's a
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situation in the church or situation in their life or
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something, and I hear their voice and what they're saying.
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I know that what they're saying is coming from God.
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I just have a witness in my heart and I don't say, man, you
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know, you're prophesying. That's not necessary.
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I like what Chuck always says be supernatural naturally, you
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don't have to hype it up and and act like all spooky and weird
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whenever God's moving. And and I think that the beauty
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of God moving many times is he moves through one of us or some
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of us, we're not even aware that he's moving right, because if we
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were, we would think that we had something to do with it.
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But God moves independent of our own psyche.
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He speaks through all of your lives to me in different ways as
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I trusted. He speaks through my life to
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you. And then it says your young men
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shall see visions. Now, I'm not going to ask for a
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raise a hand because all of a sudden a young man raised his
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hand here today and said he saw a vision.
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We think he's all nuts, wouldn't we?
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That's just the way people are wired nowadays.
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They're like real paranoid man. You saw a vision.
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You need to see a psychiatrist, you know.
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But it says your young man will see visions.
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What kind of vision? Maybe it's a vision of an
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unreached people group in some part of the world that never has
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heard the gospel yet, and you have the capacity by God's
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working that you know these people need the gospel and
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you're being sent and called to go.
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Maybe it's a vision for a church plant.
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Maybe it's a vision for a different type of ministry.
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There's all kinds of things that God does in our hearts if we're
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open. It says your old men shall dream
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dreams. Now I'm an older man.
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Now I don't consider myself an old man, but I am an older man.
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I have a lot of dreams and I don't understand the dreams lots
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of times. Sometimes I think it's
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indigestion, something I ate the day before.
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Some dreams I wish I never had right?
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I say I am glad I that wasn't real because if it was I'd be in
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big trouble. But dreams many times God uses
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to warn, right? I remember when I first became a
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Christian, I had this dream about this this person by the
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name of Enoch. And I, I didn't know the Bible
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too well at the time. And so I wonder, is there
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anybody in the Bible by the name of Enoch, you know, or Ezra?
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I had a dream about him one time.
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I didn't even know these names existed.
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I was so excited when I found the names in the Bible.
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I thought for sure God was going to reveal his total plan for my
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life now. But I read it and I was more
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confused than I ever was. And why would you want me to
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know this, You know, But it says that these things will come to
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pass. He says on my maidservants and
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on my maidservants, the men, servants and maidservants, I
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will pour out my spirit in those days.
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They shall prophecy. I will show wonders in heaven
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above and signs in the earth beneath.
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We're moving into the time of the tribulation.
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As He begins to manifest the blood and fire and vapor and
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smoke. The sun shall be turned to
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darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great
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and awesome day of the Lord, and it shall come to pass it.
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Whosoever calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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A tremendous realization again of the working of God's Holy
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Spirit. So my question today in regard
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to the 144,000 experiencing this worship on Mount Zion with the
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Lamb, the Lord Jesus. How alert are we today to the
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witness of the Holy Spirit dwelling in US?
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How really alert are we to that? All the media is taking us away
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from concentrating on God's voice to my own heart.
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Television, Internet, radio, satellite radio, newspapers,
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magazines, periodicals, all this chatter is drowning out the
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voice of God in all of our hearts.
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I mean, I get excited sometimes when I come in contact with
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someone that begins to share with me what God's revealing and
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showing them through their study of scriptures and, and not only
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that, but how he's setting out a course of action and a plan for
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their life that is undeniable. And in time, I see the
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realization of that come to pass down to the years in, in, in
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certain people's lives. But I wonder how alert or how
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hungry are we to the witness of the Holy Spirit dwelling in US?
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You know, the Holy Spirit dwells in US.
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You guys know that Like where, where's the Holy Spirit?
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He's in US, but how much do we know him?
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I mean, I've been married 39 years now, and there's things
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about my wife that I'm still discovering that I don't know.
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There's certain aspects of her character that God begins to
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show me what a special woman she is and how I can take her so for
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granted so easily. And, you know, and here's God,
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the Spirit in me that I don't really know to the degree that I
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know He wants me to know him. Are we just become too
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comfortable in the natural realm.
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I like life just to be the way it is.
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Don't shake me up, God, about anything.
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Don't show me anything. Don't reveal anything to me
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because I sort of just like trailing with you, 1,000,000
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miles behind you. Safer that way.
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I don't get caught up in the responsibilities or callings or
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humility, whatever it might be. We're just so used to what's
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natural, right? What naturally occurs naturally.
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I'm not expecting or anticipating the movement of
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God, the manifestation of His glory, His Holiness, his
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awesomeness. That's my prayer for this church
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and your prayer. I'm sure that when we come and
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gather, we want God's glory to be manifest here.
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We want His Holiness to be so compelling that it causes us to
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be broken and to say, Lord, forgive me my hardness, forgive
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me of my anger, forgive me of my unforgiveness, my bitterness, my
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backbiting, but I'm like over it.
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With Christians having attitudes toward one another, there's no
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excuse for it. There's no absolutely no excuse,
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is there? It says we're to be kind, tender
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hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake
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hath forgiven us. And it's far by me how
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Christians can just turn each other off or blow each other off
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or or say mean things about each other, evil things or or wish
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evil things upon one another, instead of loving and being
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merciful and being forgiving as God has forgiven us and his
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awesomeness. That's my prayer when we worship
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God, that we got talented musicians, we got great voices,
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we got good instruments, but it's all for naughty if we're
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not caught up in how awesome God is.
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We need to leave church knowing that we met with a holy,
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awesome, merciful God and that we leave with strength and vigor
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to face whatever it is we're going to encounter this week.
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None of us know what's on the horizon.
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If you flip over to 1st Corinthians chapter 2, as we
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wind down, there's different groups of people that Paul
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addresses when he's preaching and he talks about the the
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categories of where people's hearts are, where their minds
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are. The First Corinthians chapter 2
1 Corinthians 2 chapter mention
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verse six, he says we speak wisdom among those who are
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mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of
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this age who are coming to nothing.
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But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom
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which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none
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of the rulers of this age knew, For had they known, they would
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have not crucified the Lord of glory.
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But as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have
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entered into the heart of man the things which God has
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prepared for those who love him. What a statement natural eye has
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not seen, nor has natural ear heard, nor has entered into the
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heart of man the things which God's prepared for those who
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love him. But this is the mind blower.
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It says in verse 10, but God has revealed them to us through his
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spirit. Now the tragedy is he's given us
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this inheritance and he says he's revealed them to us with
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many of us as Christians. We're like sitting here, da, I
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really don't know what he's talking about because I haven't
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really seen some things. I haven't really heard some
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things I haven't really seen poured into my heart.
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The things that God's prepared for me because I love him.
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I maybe feel bankrupt. I feel like I'm just going
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through the motions, or I feel like my Christianity is dry or
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I'm backslidden, or we use all this terminology because it's
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been a long time since we've heard the voice of God speak
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clearly to us. But it says God's revealed them
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to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all
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things, yes, the deep things of God.
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For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the
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man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things
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of God except the Spirit of God. So in order for you and me to
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really know God, it has to be God's Spirit in us that reveals
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God to us. I can study the Bible till I'm
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blue in the face. I can memorize it.
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I know people that know the Bible inside and out, but
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they're bankrupt in in regard to the person of the Holy Spirit.
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Some people believe that the Holy Spirit doesn't work like he
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used to work. I don't know who comes up with
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that. You have to take your black
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marker and cross out First Corinthians 12 and 14 and and
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just act like it doesn't exist anymore.
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There's no evidence for the fact that the Holy Spirit is still
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not moving and working within his church.
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And thank God that the Spirit is working now.
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It says we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the
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Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have
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been freely given to us by God. You know, our conversations with
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each other need to be, hey, let me tell you about this cool new
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thing that God revealed to me that He's freely given to me by
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His Spirit that I never knew I had before, that God showed me
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something and gave something to me that's freely given to me by
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God. It says these things we speak
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not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the
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Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
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Now this is the problem in verse 14.
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The natural man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God.
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So today we have people here who are natural, and usually in the
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context of what this is written, this is people who are still
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outside of Christ. But I believe that even as
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Christians we can become so naturally compelled that we
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don't receive the things of God's Spirit.
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We're quenching the Spirit, we're grieving the Spirit.
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They're foolishness to Him, nor can he know them because they're
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spiritually discerned. But he is spiritual, judges all
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things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
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For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he might instruct
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him. But we have the mind of Christ.
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If you flip over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16
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through 18, therefore we did not lose heart.
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Now how many in here are going through a time that you're
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losing some heart? Raise your hand.
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I lose heart sometimes, guys, I really do, and I'm a pastor.
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I'm called to do what I do. And at this, because I'm called
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to do it does not mean that I don't have the same struggles
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that everybody else has or the fears.
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Sometimes I get really, really discouraged.
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But Paul says, therefore we do not lose heart, even though our
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outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is renewed day by
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day. You know, the Holy Spirit in US
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wants to excite us with God, his joy, his presence being renewed,
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getting stronger spiritually, even though physically or
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emotionally or psychologically we're becoming beaten up because
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of life. It says for our light
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affliction, which is, but for a movement is working for us a far
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more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
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So whatever you're going through right now, the Bible says it's a
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light affliction. You might say, well, Paul
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doesn't know about mine. Mine's a heavy in spite of what
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we think. It's temporal and it's going to
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pass through. You know, I remember when I had
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babies in my house and I'd be stressed.
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I'd be thinking like, how in the world am I going to raise these
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kids? I'm a kid myself.
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How am I going to pay for them? How am I going to do this?
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How am I worried about all this stuff?
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Right now my daughters are growing up in the two wonderful
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women of God. They love their children.
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They love their husbands. I had nothing really to do with
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that. God took care of it.
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He worked in spite of me. But He's gracious and He's
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merciful and he, He accomplishes His will from eternity past.
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But all the things that I worried about were stupid,
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because none of the things I really worried about came to
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pass. And today I got a different set
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of worries. I'm worried about will Social
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Security still be around? I worry about will I have
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health? I worry about will my job still
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be there next week? I mean, you know, typical stuff.
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And chances are those years will come and go and I'll sit back
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and God will speak to me with his gentle voice and say, you
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know, those things you were worried about five years ago,
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Clark, it's a waste of energy, wasn't it?
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Because you weren't expecting or trusting me to work at the time
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you were trying to figure it out.
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It says while we do not look at the things which you're seeing
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and the things which you're seeing, guys are natural,
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they're temporary, they're passing, right?
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It says we're not the ones that are looking at what's seen, but
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at the things which are not seen.
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For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things
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which are not seen are eternal. We need God to give us a vision
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in our ministries, in our church and our families of what's
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eternal, never taking your experiences, your encounters
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outside the boundaries of God's word.
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If you do, you'll fall into delusion and heresy.
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The God in the Book of Revelation is unveiling things
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that are too great for us to at times even fathom.
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But as God unveils, and that's what the word revelation means,
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the unveiling, the uncovering is to give you me discernment.
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And I and I can't help today but to tell you that as I was
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thinking about those 144,000 witnesses singing on the earth
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on top of Mount Sinai, but somehow being ushered into the
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presence in the throne room of God, that whet my appetite for
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deeper encounters with God myself.
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And I don't know where that leaves you.
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It might just like who cares, but I trust that you will press
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in to want to experience and encounter the Lord in deeper
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ways. Jeremiah 33 Three the promised
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call to me, and I will answer you and show you great and
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mighty things which you do not know.
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You want the Lord to show you great and mighty things which
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you don't know. Anybody up for that?
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Do you want Him to show you maybe what it is you've been
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praying about for a long time, it hasn't come to pass yet.
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Because maybe you're praying, not believing, not trusting, not
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hoping. But allow God to give you a word
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Himself for your own life, that what seems impossible today will
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be transformed by the working of His Holy Spirit.
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The job you're hoping for, or the person you want to meet, or
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the situation with a family member that you think's
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impossible or a Co worker, call upon him.
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He'll answer you and show you great and mighty things which
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you do not know. In our praise and worship the
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Holy Spirit can transport us before the very throne of God,
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if my sin can get me into the presence of God, Having
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therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place, by
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the blood of Jesus, God accepts me with me, carrying my weight
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of sin before Him, to find mercy and grace and forgiveness.
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How much more praising him. Psalm 22.
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Three says, But you are holy, O you who are seated among the
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praises of Israel His people. Another version, King James
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Version says, but thou art holy, O thou that inhabiteth the
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praises of Israel, the nation, the people, the remnant, the
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elect God inhabits that in some way that is beyond our ability
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to comprehend. Charles Spurgeon says as I close
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to be wrapped or be rapture in the praise to God is the highest
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state of the soul To receive the mercy for which we praise God
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for is something, but to be holy clothed with praise to God for
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mercy received is far more Why praise is heaven and heaven is
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praise. To pray is heaven.
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To pray is heaven below, but praise is the essence of heaven
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above. When you bow in adoration, you
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are at the very highest. We are digging into the Book of
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Revelation here on Living Waters of Grace.
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Pastor Clark is tackling this challenging book as we try to
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discern the messages that are within its pages.
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There's so much imagery, and at times you're not always sure
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what's literal and what's metaphorical.
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At one point, there's a reference to an adulterous woman
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riding on a beast. And as someone else mentioned,
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at one point, it almost sounds like a rodeo from hell.
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And in actuality, it kind of is. You learn about the downfall and
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demise of a sinful and rebellious world, falling down
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in worship to someone who is the anti hero, the enemy, Satan
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working his insidious ways into the minds of fallen people.
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It's sad and it's heartbreaking, but it's a classic story of good
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versus evil. Thankfully, we know how this
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story ends. Jesus wins, Jesus reigns, and
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evil is conquered once and for all.
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We pray and trust you've received Jesus as your Savior.
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But if you haven't, don't wait until the events and revelation
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become what's happening on the streets.
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None of us wants you to be there at that time.
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Instead, we'd love for you to be with us in heaven as we
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celebrate the marriage supper with Jesus as his bridegroom.
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To get a better understanding of where we are in the Book of
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Revelation, to listen to any messages before or after this
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one, you can find them at our website,
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calvarychapelonline.com. That's it for today's edition,
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but we hope you'll want to hear Pastor Clark teach more from the
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Book of Revelation. It can be exciting to think
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about the future for believers that it can feel a bit harrowing
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for those who don't believe. Come hear more next time on
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Living Waters of Grace.