Sermon
Power of Confession Nehemiah 1 v6
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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So I want to continue with the book of Nehemiah.
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I spoke on chapter one last week, but somehow in my spirit I
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felt that I have done justice for the prayer of Nehemiah, of
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the way he prayed. So I want to focus on just one
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part of that prayer. I think it's in verse 6, chapter
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one, verse 6, Let your ear be attend to you and your eyes open
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to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and
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night for your servants, the people of Israel.
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I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and
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my Father's house have committed against you.
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Just want to focus on the word confess.
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When will you finish the chapter?
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I hope we will finish the chapter with that word.
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So the word confess is not totally new because the
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Christianity or the faith in Christ depends on the
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confession. It begins with the good
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confession that He is Lord, He is the Savior, and it all is all
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about repenting and confessing our sin.
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Everybody knows the word confess.
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But now, why do I want to take extra day spend on that word?
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Confess here? The news of breaking down of the
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walls and the gates sent him into a different kind of a
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reaction where he sat down, bought and bite and he wept and
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he fasted and prayed for days together.
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And then he made this prayer. And in the prayer he has
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reminded God about his covenant faithfulness and he reminded
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that he's great and awesome and, and, and then with he keeps
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covenant with those who love him and obey his commands.
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Now so many times we just walk into God's place and give him a
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list of things. You know, I am going to this
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business meeting. Can you please keep an eye on
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it? Or I am going to the hospital
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for seeing the doctor where you know, do something there.
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You know, just is there a way that you approach God?
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How do you approach God? There is a time when you pray a
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short prayer, which Nehemiah does in chapter 2.
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When he is the presence of the king, he sends a quick prayer.
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That is OK. When you are under pressure of
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time, you pray. A quick prayer is fine, but you
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can't do always the same kind of prayer in your life.
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You need to have a protocol. You need to acknowledge that He
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is awesome and great and powerful and sovereign, and you
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need to praise Him. You need to tell Him that you
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love Him. And what does it do?
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It prepares your heart to receive from Him what He wants
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to give you. Many of us are in a hurry when
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it comes to prayer. No, it doesn't work like that.
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When you come to God, you need to leave aside all things that
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are bothering you and focus on Him alone.
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You are worthy, you are awesome, you are great, You're sovereign,
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you're compassionate, you're merciful, you are just.
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You can go on and in AW. Tozer wrote a book called
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Knowledge of the Holy in that he says somebody has praised God of
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1000 attributes and someone else praised the God of numberless
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attributes. You cannot exhaust God when you
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think about Him. So every Christian must be
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falling in love with God that you will be able to say
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something new about him because he has numberless attributes.
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You need to know him. You need to say something new.
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It is just a casual conversation we had in the family.
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And John raised some issue about some video he showed me and he
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says he talked about Jesus being given a name that's so high that
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every knee will buy every tongue confess.
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And he said that name is the name Yahweh.
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And he was trying to argue that Jesus is not the highest name.
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But before that, we had a prayer meeting on Friday night.
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In the prayer meeting, I was telling God, you have given the
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name Yahweh so that Israelites 1 nation can connect with you.
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But you're given the name Jesus to Yahweh and brought him in the
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flesh so that the whole world can connect with him.
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I didn't know when I was saying that to God that this video I'm
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going to see after an hour or so and I'm going to bring up the
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conversation. But did I say something new to
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God? I did in last 45 years.
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I never said that to him before. So what I am trying to say is
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you must be bubbling with worshipping him, connecting with
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him, knowing him that is. That is when we know that you
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are alive in Christ Jesus. Sign of life is you will love
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this Jesus, you will worship him.
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You are something new to say week after week after week is
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like in a marriage relationship. Also 40 years you are married,
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50 years you are married. You must have something to say
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sometimes about the partner spouse.
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Otherwise you know it is just dry marriage.
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I would say it. So let's make it interesting
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when it comes to prayer as well. Now he's talking about
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confession. He's saying I confess the sins
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we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have
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committed against you. Now why should we confess?
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When you confess the the the transformation begins there, the
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power of transfer is released. When you confess, walls are
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broken down, the gates are burned down and stones are all
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burnt out, and there is no hope of see.
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That is the the city has lost its protection, has lost its
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prestige, and you don't feel proud to be living in Jerusalem
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with the walls broken down and gets burned down.
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Look at our families. Are there problems in the
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family? There could be historical
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problems. Sometimes we must have said
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something, done something 20 years ago.
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We are still suffering because of what we did and what we said.
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The walls are broken down, the foundation stones are upturned.
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So things, there are always things.
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Look at our children's life, how they are in the Lord, how they
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are having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, how they are
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walking with God. Or look at many of these
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aspects. I tell you, family is the unit,
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foundational unit where we need to have the walls in its place
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and gates in its place rightly. And the next foundational unit
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is a church, the body of Christ. But the individual families are
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the stones that form the walls and gates of the church.
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We need to have this picture very clearly in our mind.
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We are not called to be alone. You are not a Christian on an
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island. No.
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Gods purpose is to raise a community of believers.
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That's why we gather here on a Sunday to worship him.
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And that is biblical and that is fundamental right of every
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Christian to worship God with other Saints.
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Sometimes you can go to a conference and not talk to
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anybody. It can be just like a smile and
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a shake hand. And then suddenly he says, oh,
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I'll come back to you. And he leaves you OK?
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You are coming here at a conference to relax, to connect
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with people and you just shake and say I'll come back to you.
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What are you in a hurry for? So sometimes you are there for
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2-3 days and you don't connect. Why am I saying that Is we are
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going to the camp, OK, In the camp, let us build
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relationships. Let us get to know each other
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because that's a time you got no limitation on it.
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Afternoon you after lunch and you have a free time and the
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free time is the time to connect with people.
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Somebody may be very because of age and things that you may want
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to have a little rest. That's fine.
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But still my purpose, whatever the purpose of the camp, is to
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build the relationship to make the church more loving and
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strong. We need to have the foundation
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made right, and that comes through fellowship.
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So camps we need to have, we are having one in a year.
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We should have more than one in a year, basically.
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But let's see in the future how it goes.
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It will be building the church, building the families, building
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the community. Yeah.
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So confession is very, very important.
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So what does confession do #1 it is not a moral reset.
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Is not a moral reset. Oh, I've been living insane this
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and that. I confess it.
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I reset my life again, go with God again, again I fall by, fall
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down and sin again. I need to reset.
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That's not the point. There is not for moral reset.
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Of course it can do that. But that's not the sole purpose
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of confession. Is not for a moral reset, it is
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for knowing, encountering a holy God who expects, who has
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standards for you, who has expectations of how you live for
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Him. He has a purpose and a plan and
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confession is what is going to bring you into that place, to
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receive His plans and purposes planted into you, rewritten into
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you and reinforce into your life.
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That is what confession will do. Secondly, confession has
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transforming power. Everybody says transforming
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power. If you don't mean you don't
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confess, you don't repent. It should not be shallow.
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It is not a shallow experience. Oh, it is not like saying
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somebody you, you are walking in on the street and somebody you
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know, they are walking behind you and they without their
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intention, you know that their foot touches your foot and you
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know, you are startled. Who is kicking me from behind?
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And that man doesn't want to say sorry because you look back and
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say sorry. Does it happen?
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It happened to be New York on the on the bridge as somebody I
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feel somebody's foot and I look around that girl looks and says
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after 2 seconds he says sorry. OK, At least the confession when
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it comes to with God is not a shallow confession.
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I have to say it. I have to do it.
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No, it has to be coming from deep inside your spirit.
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It has to come from your soul and it must make you convict of
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your shortfalling. It should help you to see the
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holy God and X and his expectations for you and say I
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am sorry I fall short of your goal for my life, your
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expectation for my life. I am so sorry.
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And when it comes from the spirit, from inside your soul,
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then the transforming power begins.
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The transforming power begins. It is like the prodigal son who
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said my father has many servants and they have enough to eat and
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spare. Therefore, I will rise up and
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go. That is my next point.
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Confession stirs up your volitional part, the part in you
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that will move your will. It is just not emotional.
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It is not just not intellectual. That confession has to touch the
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depth of your spirit, that volitional part.
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Ultimately, what will make you change is that will must be
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moved and the confession does exactly that.
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It will change. It will push that will to do
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what you are not able to do otherwise what you've been not
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able to do for years. That is going to change when you
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confess. Are we together?
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One of the other things we we have understanding the time will
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change things. Can we say it together?
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Will time change things? It doesn't Time doesn't change
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anything when the when you look at the nation of Israel, you've
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got the 10 tribes in the north and the 2 tribes of roughly 2
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tribes in the S 1st Assyrians came and invaded and captured
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the people, took them away and deported them to different
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places. It is almost like a place like
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in the modern Iraq, the modern Iraq from Middle East.
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They were taken away, go up and up and up up to Iraq and they
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were settled there. After that all happened 150
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years of time. God gave to Southern Judah to
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repent and to keep faithful faithfulness to Him, but they
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did not learn any lesson. After 150 years, Nebuchadnezzar
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came, the Babylons came and attacked and they captured that
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was sorry, I got it. What was the year?
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Did I mention the year just now? OK, the the Babylonians came and
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they deported. First deportation happened in
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597 BC and he put another guy there as a king or a governor.
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He was faithful to him for a while, 2-3 years, then stopped
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paying taxes. He comes again, invades him,
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captures the people, takes them away again in 586 BC and 582 BC,
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and by then the southern Kingdom has completely fallen three
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times. He came, captured the people,
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deported them, put them in different places.
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Now this time he took them to Iran, the modern day Iran.
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So Jewish people have got enmity with Iran now.
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But there that was a home for a while for 150 plus years and
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afterwards they were captured and deported and put there.
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After nearly 150 years comes the year 444 BC when Nehemiah is
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standing in the presence of the king asking for publisher to
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rebuild the walls. Has time healed?
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No, time is nothing, time is nothing until we repent, until
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we say I am sorry my Lord, we have messed up our life.
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Our families are disturbed today because we have made some
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mistakes in the past and then God releases His grace and
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favor. It is true about everybody,
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about its about my life. It's the same thing.
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It's not going to be different for anybody.
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I need to depend of my past. Are you crazy?
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On this Sunday morning? You're disturbing us all.
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That's not my idea here. That's not my idea here at all.
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I'm not wanting to put extra guilt or anything.
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That's not my point. There is power in confession
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because it's going to break the power of Satan.
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When you confess, what happens? Power of Satan is broken.
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We are we are ministering deliverance to a person and I
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let that person in a kind of a confessional prayer, I am sorry
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I had done this, please forgive me, Wash me in your blood, Set
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me free from every spirit that comes from so and so.
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And it was going on and I said now let's do some more
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confession. Lord I am forgive me and wash
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me, cleanse me in your blood and set me free from every spirit
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that comes from my father. I told her to repeat she
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repeated it. Then I said Lord set me free
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from every spirit that's coming from my mother and she said Lord
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set me free from every spirit is coming from my Mama.
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It was just 15 minutes of Ma it the spirit does not allow her to
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say mother. Why the moment she says set me
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free from every spirit coming from my mother, that spirit has
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to go. She doesn't want to do it.
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And she was laughing in between. Why am I behaving like a child?
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Why am I not able to say it? And she comes back to normalcy
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and then she talks with us and then again, OK, let's continue.
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Every spirit coming from your father set me free.
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She says it no problem. Every spirit come from your
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mother set me free. Every spirit coming from it was
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going on, Ma. It took us a long time to make
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us say it and to set her free. Why am I giving this
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illustration? There is power in confession.
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When you confess it, the power of Satan is broken.
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Whatever it is, call a spade a spade before God.
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You don't say. You don't put some grass on it,
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some flowers on it, and say this is not spade, it is just a bunch
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of flowers. No, you don't do that.
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Call a spade a spade. Sin a sin and and repent and say
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I am really sorry. I am really sorry.
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And when that repentance happens, 100% repentance, that
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power of sin is broken. That demon that has kept taken
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captive of your life will be forced out because you have
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repented, because you have confessed this power in the
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confession, this power in the confession.
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SO4 Generations of people have come and gone, but the things
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have not changed in the capital of Susan.
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And Nehemiah is standing in the presence of the king, but he
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cannot ask him. He cannot even mention the name
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of Jerusalem, because if he mentions the name Jerusalem, if
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he mentions the name Judea, the king will may trigger his memory
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and say, Hey, I already told no, why are you asking again?
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So he says my parents, my forefathers sepulchre is in
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ruins. Isn't he bothered about the
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people who are dead and buried? That's not his point.
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His point is the city walls. But he says the city where my
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fathers have been buried is lying in ruins because he wanted
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to start up emotional part of the king.
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And he addresses that way and the king walks into the plot and
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is gives in to him and says how long will it take?
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That's in chapter 2. How long is it going to take?
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That means king has is positively wanting to grant his
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request. OK that will.
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I don't want to rush into the next weeks message but the point
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I'm trying to hear is he has spoken to the king in a way to
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camouflage the issue and because he if he mentions everything
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he's not going to get it. So he just camouflages issues
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and speaks to the king and gets his favor.
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But then 4 generations the time has not healed things.
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It needed a man who had to confess his sins, his family
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sins and his nation sins. And the revival comes the
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confession. There's power in confession is
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the same thing that Daniel did, is the same thing that Moses
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did. He confesses sins of Israelites.
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God said, hey, these people are rebellious and stiff naked.
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They are not going to change. I want to wipe out every one of
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them. I will raise you and make you a
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nation. And Moses said, God, remember
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that you are a compassionate God.
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You are a merciful God. Don't forget who you are.
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Don't forget who you are. If you do that, people are going
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to say that you are unable to bring your people into the
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promised land, so you kill them. When our heart is aligned with
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the heart of God, your interests will fade away.
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Only the interests of God will rule your heart and your mind.
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And there is power in confession.
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There's power in confession. So you have the story of Jonah.
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The word of the Lord came to Jonah, go to Nineveh.
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I said no, no, no, I don't want those people to be saved.
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So he goes to Tarshish under a different direction.
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And of course you know the story how God ordered a whale or a
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fish or a dolphin or water large enough to swallow him alive and
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spit him out on the shores from where he could walk into
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Nineveh. And then when he preached the
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message he said 40 days, 40 days, the gods judgment is
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coming upon this nation only 40 days.
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And you he must have been half of his in three days of time.
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All the juices from the belly, belly of the fish must have
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eaten away his clothes and discolored and spelling fishy
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and things falling from his hair everywhere, all his body and his
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walking in the seats. 40 days you are going to be destroyed.
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40 days you are going to be destroyed.
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That news went up to the king is a crazy man saying 40 days the
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Kingdom is going to be overthrown.
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And king says did he say that? I don't care if he's crazy man,
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but let's believe him. And he decreed that everybody
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will fast with sackcloth, even the animals, own animals.
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You have to put a sackcloth on animal, your horse, your
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Buffalo, your cow, your sheep, and the children, babies, they
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repented. And then what happened?
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God changed his mind to punish the nation.
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Is there anything that can change?
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God is a contract heart. We opened our worship this
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morning with what is the song we sang create in me a clean heart
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Ogar that's from Psalm 51, Create in me a clean heart every
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song today, you know, I said, oh, this is all my messages all
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going there in the every song was addressing it and that is
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the Holy Spirit. I, I didn't tell them what I'm
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going to preach and they didn't tell me what they are going to
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sing. But everything is falling in its
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place. And that is the work of the Holy
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Spirit. Praise God for it.
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Praise God for the worship team. So you've got a King David who
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has committed adultery and murder.
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You look into the book of Leviticus.
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The book of Leviticus talks about different kinds of
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sacrifices, offerings for sins committed unintentionally.
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You are not plan to do it, you do it.
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Then there is a sacrifice to forgive you and to cover your
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sin. No sacrifice for willful sin.
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No sacrifice for willful sin. And that is the reason why King
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David, even though he had committed adultery with
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Bathsheba, then God, her husband Oraya, to be killed in the
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battle, double sin. But this is willful sin.
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There's no remission, no covering, no sacrifice to cover
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his sin. He must be put to death.
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He must be cut off from the people of Israel.
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He must be punished. And he had this child growing in
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Bathsheba. And the child is born and the
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child died, but became sick and died.
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And he was fasting for seven days and everything is all over,
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and he thought nobody knows about it until the word of the
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Lord came to Nathan and he came and confronted King David.
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Until then, he did not realize that he has offended God more
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than one year. If it happened to David, King
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David, it happened to us. We may not be ready to repent,
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but I tell you, good things will happen.
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Refreshing times will come. Blessing will come when we
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repent. I know.
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What is the question in your mind?
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Are we not believers? Is not all our sin forgiven?
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Why are you talking to me today about confession?
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Again, I tell you this part of the confession thing.
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We will never come out until the Lord comes.
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It was Martin Luther who said there are two kinds of sins,
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sins of Commission and sense of omission.
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What is sense of Commission? What they should not do You do
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the sins of Commission. What is sense of omission?
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You don't do what you are supposed to do good things.
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I usually give an example like your, your, your, you bought
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your ticket, you put your money, has swiped your car and you are
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sitting in the bus and you are going and at one stop, one guy
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jumps into the bus, doesn't swipe the car, doesn't put the
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money and he comes and sits next to you.
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If you did not pay your fare, that sends a Commission.
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But you saw that that guy did not pay his fare, he didn't
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swipe his card. But are you telling the driver,
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hey, stop, this guy hasn't put the money, we don't do it.
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That is enough omission. Am I communicating?
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So he said at the end of the day, Martin Luther is lying down
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on the bed and he would say, Lord, forgive me my sins of
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Commission and sins of omission. Why all of us committed.
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So we need to, we need to confront ourselves every day and
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the end of the day, we have to confront ourselves and repent.
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Examine how things went. Examine somebody whose face
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changed when you said something to them.
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Recall, oh, I said it, it hurt them, but I didn't apologize.
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Make it good next day, but first with God first before you close
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your eyes and sleep. That is how you deal with sin.
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You don't let it go for the next day.
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You need to repent quickly. And I tell you this, this, this
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concept of confession, it goes on through the Bible.
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You will come up to 1 John where you say, where John writes, you
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know, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse
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us from all unrighteousness when when we confess our sin. 1 John
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19. And then you go into the Book of
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Revelation. In the Book of Revelation you
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see to the letter 7 letters are written to seven churches and to
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Ephesus. He says, Yet I hold this against
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you. You have forsaken the love you
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heard at first sight. At first consider how far you
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have fallen. Repent and do the things you did
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at first. If you do not repent, I will
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come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
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Judgment. Why do you have to go through
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judgment when there is a facility and available means of
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being forgiven? Confess, repent, confess,
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repent. You know without repentance,
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confession is incomplete. Confession is not only
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confession is you agree and say the same thing.
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If God says you are told a lie, when you confess you are say I
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told a lie. If God says you committed a
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murder, you say I committed murder.
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That's confession agreeing and saying the same thing that God
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is saying about you. But repentance is you go, you
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are going this way and when you repent, you make a 180° turn and
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go the other way. That's repentance.
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So you need to confess and repent together.
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It makes one complete act. I have talked to so many
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families, every family, one person is ready to say sorry.
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Another person is never ready to say sorry.
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It just happens. All the families have seen I
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already have come across not even one.
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I cannot say even one family where both are ready to say
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sorry and not come across one. That is just the nature, human
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nature. But the longer we hold back to
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say I'm sorry so long, you're depriving joy in the family, joy
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in the family stolen. They will come and picks up the
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joy and goes away, disappears until you say sorry.
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It is not going to be changed. It is not going to be changed.
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We should ask for grace to say sorry when it has to be said
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right time, quickly delaying is not going to help.
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We should ask God, Lord, give me grace to repent.
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Give me grace to say sorry. Give me grace to confess.
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This is very important. I am telling you, you can't
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learn about it. After 100 years of age, Now I am
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old. I can't do anything.
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I will learn to say sorry now. No, that's not the time it is.
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Now is the time we have to learn to say sorry and then revelation
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another church Pergamum, never that.
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I have a few things against you. There are some among you who
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hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the
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Israelites of sin so they ate food, sacrificed idols and
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committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those
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who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
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Repent therefore. Otherwise I will soon come to
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you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
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Now that is a higher degree of God becoming your enemy and
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fighting against you because you are not willing to repent.
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As a church we must repent as well.
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Theatra he writes again to make it quick.
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I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is
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unwilling. So there's going to be judgment.
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And then he talks to Sardis. I know your deeds.
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You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
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Wake up. Strengthen what remains and is
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about to die. For I have found your deeds
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unfinished in the sight of my God.
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Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard.
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Hold it fast and repent. If you do not wake up, I will
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come like a thief. So what does the repentance do?
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What does confession do? It makes you awake.
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It keeps you alert to the plan of God, action of God, heart of
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God. And I have tell you, it makes
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you sensitive, it makes you responsible.
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It just makes life easy for you and for others.
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So when we confess what happens is here in to the Levodicia.
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This is a church that was neither neither warm or not not
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hot. Those whom I love a rebuke and
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discipline. So be earnest and repent.
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Here I am. I stand at the door and knock.
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If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in
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and eat with that person and they're with me.
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Repentance restores fellowship with God.
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You want to enjoy fellowship with God.
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Look, examine what needs to be confessed.
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And then he says, I'm standing at the door and knocking.
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When you repent, say I'm sorry. I will come into your heart and
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I will eat with you, you with me.
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Intimacy with God is the ultimate goal, and repentance
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helps us achieve it. And Nehemiah understood it and
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began the right way, confessing the sins of the people, his
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family, nation, so that good times may come.
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And you know what is very interesting about Nehemiah?
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He is like many Christians, modern day Christians.
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He did not have a vision like Daniel had, like Joseph had
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dreams. Nothing, no dreams, no visions.
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Yet you have a man who is sold out to do the will of God and
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who stands by faith and wages the war by faith and goes and
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rebuilds the walls. In 52 days six of the gates have
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been set up, walls have been replaced, burnt stones removed
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and reinstated. In 52 days.
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You ask Nehemiah, when you go to heaven, did you have a dream
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that one day you are going to do this thing?
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No, no, no, I never had any dream.
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Ah, did you have? Thus says the Lord, I am
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appointing you a man to go and rebuild the walls.
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No, there is no revelation from God for Nehemiah.
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What made Nehemiah success is his heart aligned with the heart
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of God. When the things of God are not
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in the right place, your heart is grieved and God says that is
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my will to restore and he. You don't need another word to
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come, no revelation you need, you don't need a dream.
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You just stand up and do the will of God and God will go
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before you and fight for you and support you.
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Repentance is the key. Refreshing times will come.
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Walls will stand up, gates will be restored, honor will be
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restored. When we begin with repentance,
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sometimes the consequences are too far out that we may not be
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able to control them. Things that have happened 20-30
-
years ago. But when we say, Lord, I'm
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sorry, I repent. God who is outside the timeline
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can put his hand on what happened 20 years ago, 30 years
-
ago, and set right the consequences in the present time
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so that your future will be a blessing.
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That is our God. That is our God.
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Repentance softens the heart, makes it more playable like a
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play DoH in the hands of God. You become useful in the hands
-
of God when you repent. Repentant does not go unnoticed.
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When a person is repenting, he is changing, His heart is
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changing, his mind is changing. Nobody can say he is the same
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guy. I have seen him for 20 years.
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No, the change will be visible to everybody.
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You cannot contain the flashing of the Thunder and the
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lightning, and you cannot hide A repented heart.
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You cannot. Everybody will know that you are
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a different person and they will gravitate to you.
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They will connect with you, they will relate with you, and it's
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going to be beautiful. Repentance is not a feeling,
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eating, feeding on the guilt. It's not feeling, eating,
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feeding on the guilt. It is like a rope someone who is
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drowning hangs on to. When somebody is drowning and
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you throw a rope and he clutches the rope.
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The moment he clutches the rope, death is cancelled.
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Life begins the same moment. The time you grasp that rope,
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the death is cancelled and the life begins to operate in your
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life. Hope begins to operate in your
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life. Light comes into situation where
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everything was dark before. Do you know what it is like to
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drown in the water? It will confuse your mind.
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You will be breathless, you will be forced to drink water and
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then when you are pulled out they are going to push on your
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belly and bring out the water again.
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Its just traumatic. But if you grab the rope, all
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those things will be cancelled. You are going to begin to see
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light. Demand is not feeling, eating,
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feeding on guilt. It is just broken.
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It is just broken. I just want to share with you
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that rope is a lost mercy. That rope is a lost mercy.
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CS Lewis is a very great thinker and a writer and a philosopher
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and he has many things to say about repentance.
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In his book called Mere Christianity.
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He writes now repentance is no fun at all.
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Its not fun. What does he say?
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Its something much harder than merely eating humble pie.
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It means unlearning all the self conceit, self will.
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It means undergoing kind of death.
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You will be demolished and a new person comes out like a sphinx
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from the ash rising from the ashes.
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That's the power of confession. Repentance is not something God
-
demands of you before He will take you back.
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It is simply a description of what going back is like.
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It doesn't make that a condition, but that's what it is
-
all going to happen when you repent and turn to God.
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In other words, repentance isn't a toll we paid to earn.
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Gods love is the very path that leads us back into His arms.
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Repentance is very important. Repentance is not believing in
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self. But abandoning self is not going
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on saying hi Ramana, hi Ramana, no that Ramana has to die.
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When we repent, that comes an end of self will, self
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determination and it is like a rebellion.
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When a man is rebelling against a king, he has a sword in his
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hand, bow and arrow in his hand or rifle In the modern days
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AK47. But when you repent, you put
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your arms down and raise your hands up and surrender.
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That's the song you are singing today.
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I surrender it all. Confession is not about shame.
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Oh, to say sorry, you think, oh, I'll be so ashamed to say I'll
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be put down. No, it is not about shame.
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It is power. Power to restore relationship,
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power to restore future, power to change things.
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It's not to put you put shame at all, but forgiveness,
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reconciliation, restoration, joy and peace.
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Repentance opens the door for forgiveness. 1 down 19 brings
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healing and renewal. 2nd Chronicle 714 King Solomon when
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he built the temple, he said when people look at look towards
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this temple and pray, be attentive, listen, open your
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ears, hear their prayer and answer.
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That's repentance. It's not emotional,
-
intellectual, but a volitional elements of repentance.
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I will rise and go. And you know, there is a song by
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Jonathan and Melissa Hessler Hilson they called ABBA.
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And that song, I listen to it every day before I begin to
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pray. The first song that plays is
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ABBA. And what you see here is that
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you see that father coming running after the prodigal son
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with a ring and a robe. Ring stands for authority, robe,
-
forgiveness and righteousness. The Father is not ashamed of his
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son. He is not ashamed.
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He he is saying, the son is saying I am not worthy to be
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called your son. Make me a slave, make me a
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servant in your house. And father says, son, stop that.
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Here is the ring and here is the room.
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I tell you, every time you pray and you play the song, your
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prayer is going to change. I don't know how long it will
-
hold on somebody's attention, but try it.
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ABBA. But Jonathan and Melissa Helser,
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I'm asking Joseph to sing it for us now.
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And as a song is playing, look with a intentionally look at
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your past life, all the past, and look at the things that you
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need to repent and say sorry to God.
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And you want this renovation to happen.
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You want a refreshing time to come.
-
You want the new foundation to be laid.
-
You want the vast to be built. You want the guest to be set up.
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You want that protection to come.
-
You want the blessing to come. You wanted the joy and peace of
-
God to come and change the life of your family, yourself, and
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the community and the church. Just do so you can come to the
-
front and surrender yourself to Jesus.
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Surrender to him. Thanks for.
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Joining us at Omega. If you need prayer for healing
-
or breakthrough, or simply to find out more, please head to
-
our website or Facebook page in the links below.