Sermon
PASSION IS OUR POSTURE | PASTOR LUKE LEZON
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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[Music]
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all right um that was awful um like the
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8:30 was better than that so I realized
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that grass Lots less than ideal all
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right we're working on it like I know
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you're whooped from that walk first
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world problems all right but uh we are
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so grateful that you are here with us
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today uh and let me just say we're
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grateful for a number of different
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reasons but uh number one is that we
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find ourselves continuing in this
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collection of conversations that we've
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been in over the course of the past
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several weeks and so uh this is a
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conversation and a collection that is
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fixated and focused on the idea of
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Revival and revitalization not just
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within an individual but within a group
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of individuals what we would call our
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church right and so uh the Renaissance
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is a period of time in history a title
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that I have stolen from a period of time
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in history where we see that there was a
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lot happening in Revival and
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revitalization in different fields like
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like art and literature and culture uh
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in science in the church that ended up
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shaping Europe over the course of the
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14th to the 16th centuries but we have
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discussed how more importantly for us
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the actual definition of Renaissance is
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Revival or renewed interest in something
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and we believe that there is a Revival
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and A Renewed interest that is happening
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in the church all throughout the world
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but that we're seeing something
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beautiful and specific Happening Here in
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our midst in this place and so we've
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been talking about over the course of
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the past several weeks how uh we are
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transitioning the church's name from
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LifeBridge Church to key Church which
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will happen on September the 7th and
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there's a lot of exciting things that
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are going to coincide with that but in
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dropping that news we also wanted to
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make sure we don't just announce that
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and move on we wanted to journey through
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seven weeks and seven subsequent values
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of who it is that we believe that the
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Lord is leading us to be and to become
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and so we've talked about four values
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already that Jesus is our purpose that
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belonging is our heart that stewardship
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is our responsibility that Excellence is
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our standard and today we're going
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through our fifth value which is simply
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this that passion is our posture passion
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is our posture you might say what does
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that mean I'll tell you uh in about 37
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minutes and 43 seconds but I want you to
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know uh that important for us to
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understand here today is that to have a
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recognition of who Jesus is is not the
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equivalent of having a passion for who
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he is and what he's done and so I want
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to read a short verse here together in
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Romans chter 12 verse 11 I'm going to
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read this and then we are going to
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unpack it in depth and a lot of things
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around it as well does that sound good
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all right let's read we'll pray and jump
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in says this do not lack diligence in
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Zeal be fervent in the spirit serve
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serve the Lord do not La diligence in
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Zeal be fervent in the spirit serve the
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Lord will you pray with
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me Lord there's a lot
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there uh and there's a lot there that I
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don't want us to
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miss and so today
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Lord even just your spirit moving in
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people in the room in worship Lord I
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just ask that we would be a people
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today that has this land in a freeing
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way within us Lord would you rearrange
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some of our preconceived notions that
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maybe have led us to live a less than
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enthusiastic life for you Lord would you
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do something that only you can do
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through the preaching of your word and
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the power of the word itself Lord we
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love you we praise you and we thank you
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we ask these things in Jesus name amen
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well on April the 16th
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1867 Wilbur Wright was born as
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ultimately the middle child of five
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children in milville Indiana uh his
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father Milton Wright and his mother
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Susan Katherine Corner ended up getting
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married and they found themselves moving
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quite a bit all throughout uh their
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childhood because Milton Wright his
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father was a bishop in the Church of the
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United brethren in Christ and so he had
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a lot of different preaching assignments
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that would take him different places but
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ultimately it would move them to a lot
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of different places as well and so they
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would relocate fairly often well in the
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spring of 1869 the family ended up being
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relocated from milville Indiana to
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Dayton Ohio where two years later they
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would welcome another son named Orville
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Wilbur and Orville would end up becoming
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very close as brothers and they would
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share a lot of similar interests some of
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which would ultimately come to fruition
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as a result of Milton their father's
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travels because Milton was preaching all
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over the country he was would often find
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himself in different assignments and
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towns and cities that would allow him to
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see things that his family simply could
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not and so he would bring home little
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Trinkets and toys and gifts for his
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children and after one particular
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preaching assignment in 1878 he would
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bring home a gift that would ultimately
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change the trajectory of his son's
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Futures that he ended up bringing home a
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little small toy model helicopter made
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of paper and bamboo it had a small
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little rubber band that had the power to
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twirl the blade on top and we see that
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it was a toy a model that he had ended
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up picking up after realizing that there
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was a French Aeronautics Pioneer by the
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name of alons panad that had ended up
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constructing possibilities for human
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flight and so as a result this ended up
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instilling within Orville and Wilber
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this Fascination and a passion for man
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being in the air for taking flight and
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so in 1889 they would exercise their
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entrepreneurial spirit and they would
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find themselves opening up a newspaper
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called the Westside news
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and they would ultimately realize that
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Wilbur could edit it and that Orville
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could publish it and they could make a
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little side money to be able to fund
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another passion that they had discovered
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a craze that was sweeping the nation at
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the time in the late 1800s
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bicycles they loved and had a passion
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for bicycles that gave them a little bit
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more experience in the mechanics of how
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different things could move and so they
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ended up creating their own design they
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founded their own shop and they ended up
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funding what would be their ultimate and
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their true passion through this shop
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which would be flight they had a lot of
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different mechanical projects and
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designs that they were constantly
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working on and doing so under the
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distant tutelage of individuals that
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they really admired one individual in
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particular whom they loved was a man
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named Otto lenthal Otto lenthal was a
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German aviator who also shared this love
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and passion for Aeronautics and so what
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ended up devastating the brothers is
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when they came to find out that lenthal
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had ended up perishing in a glider crash
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on a mission to discover a little bit
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more information about the mechanics of
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flight but it didn't deter the brothers
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it actually made them even more
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determined to continue in all it is that
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they felt inspired to do that nothing
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was going to stop them and so they ended
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up moving for a season to Kittyhawk
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North Carolina an area that was known
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for its incredible winds which was in
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incredible for the work that they were
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doing and so they found themselves
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working on different designs for wings
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that would be most conducive for flight
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and they ended up developing a concept
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called Wing warping had a movable Rudder
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attached to it and on on December the
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17th 1903 they would end up successfully
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having the first ever flight of its kind
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a free controlled flight in a heavier
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than air plane that lasted for 59
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seconds and traveled
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852 feet they had nothing to accomplish
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this other than passion to serve the
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purpose of getting man in the air
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nothing I mean they didn't have any
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money they had never amassed some kind
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of Fortune Milton wasn't balling I'll
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tell you that nobody was doing anything
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crazy in order to give them some kind of
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sum of money that would allow them to do
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all these things they didn't have
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investors or backing of any kind of
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level they did not have any kind of
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formal degree in engineering or anything
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like that wouldn't you love to fly in
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their plane and so you see here that
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you've got all of these guys they have
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nothing in their life to go on they have
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countless failures they're being
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ridiculed Ked by others they risked
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Financial ruin they had nothing other
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than a passion diligence and fervency a
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Zeal to see this all come to life and I
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say that to you because the truth of the
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matter is everyone in here is probably
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passionate about something there's a lot
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of us that are in here and you have
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passion and there's a different
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origination story for all of that like
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your origin story of where the thing
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you're most passionate came to be and
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develop in your life might be different
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than other people a lot of times it's
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that you saw a hero doing something or a
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parent doing something and you so
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desperately wanted to be like them and
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do that it instilled and developed a
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passion within you maybe it's not that
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but maybe someone in your life when you
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were young told you that you were good
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at this or you were good at that and so
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in that moment you started to develop
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this passion within you for this thing
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that you believe that you are wired to
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do Wilbur and Orville end up having
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their imagination captive as children
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and it ended up instilling a passion and
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igniting a passion in them that lasted
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well past them into adulthood and what
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we see is that there are all of these
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different reasons that you could have a
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passion for this or a passion for that
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in your life and regardless of what that
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passion is in your life and regardless
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of how it came to be and how you see it
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developing and continuing on in your
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life I believe that the Church of Jesus
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Christ needs to have an imbalance scale
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where we realize whatever it is that
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most captures my heart and my mind in
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this life how much more should I burn
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with passion for The Rescuer and the
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Redeemer the secur of my salvation how
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much more should I be a person that says
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I am here to serve him because of all
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that he's done for me that's what we're
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going for today that's who we want to be
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what does that look like I think we all
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in here understand understand we are
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warned against being
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lukewarm and it for whatever reason it
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it it doesn't necessarily land in us we
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know it's in the
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book but it it doesn't
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necessarily impact us and so I felt like
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we need to understand we are warned
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against being lukewarm Revelation 3: 14-
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21 the Church of laod DEA is being
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warned in a letter that the Lord
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addressed to them about being quote Luke
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warm which is not a nice thing to say to
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someone your lukewarm is to say that you
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are not beneficial in any way shape or
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form I I know people are like that's
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harsh the Lord's harsher than people
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want him to be you're you're you're
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lukewarm uh you're you're not beneficial
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from the standpoint you're neither cold
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nor hot you're not cold which means
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you're not refreshing and enlivening in
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some way and you're also not hot in a
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way where hot water can be purifying and
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it can be cleansing you're neither of
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those things and the loud Deans would
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have UND OD what it means to drink
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lukewarm water and how nasty it was the
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Church of laoda ended up getting their
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drinking water from a distant source
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that was six miles away it would travel
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across an aqueduct that would end up
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bringing drinking water from six miles
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to the south of them and they would find
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themselves by the time that water
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arrived drinking it and they would say
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that it is disgusting and so we see that
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the Lord is saying to them you are
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neither cold and
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refreshing and you are also not hot like
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the water ERS that you are used to
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bathing in in the springs that are
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nearby but rather you are lukewarm and I
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will quote vomit you out of my
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mouth I think there's a lot of lukewarm
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Believers in the world today and I think
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a lot of that stems from the fact that
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we seem to not be able to delineate the
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difference between having an
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appreciation and a passion I think
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there's a lot of us that are in the room
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and we might be in a place where it's
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like you know what I have an
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appreciation for J Jesus but I don't
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necessarily have a passion for Jesus I I
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I'm have this awareness of who he is and
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what he's done for me but I don't have a
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passion to serve him as a result of who
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he is and what he's done for me and so
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we find ourselves living at a time where
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there's a lot of moralistic therapeutic
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deism which is just to say that there's
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a lot of us that are probably living a
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gospel life that is a little bit more
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affiliated with Karma than the gospel of
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grace where we're like I don't want to
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do this because I don't want God to do
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that to me and I don't I don't want to
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find myself over here cuz I don't know
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what'll happen then and we feel like
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we're stuck between these two worlds
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when the truth of the matter is we
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should be living with the conviction of
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not going well I just want to be good
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enough and live right but rather we
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should make sure that we're a people
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that say Hey I'm not just claiming that
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I know him I'm living like I do that I'm
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actually in a position where I can say
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beyond a shadow of a doubt I am living
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with diligence and fervency I am living
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my life to serve him with passion to
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serve him because he transformed my life
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to whom else would I go God to my
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Earthly passions or to you where am I
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going and so we see here that it is
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addressed in Romans 12:1 which is a
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weird verse it's a weird verse uh Romans
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12:1 falls under a subheading in my uh
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scriptures and maybe it's different for
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you mind says Christian ethics yours
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might say the marks of a true Christian
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and it's interesting Romans 12: 9-21 we
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list off quite a number of different
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things and it says in verse 9 uh love
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without
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hypocrisy detest what is evil cling to
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what is good okay okay uh verse 10 love
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each other lead in honoring one another
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got it 12 rejoice in Hope totally be
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patient in Affliction absolutely be
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persistent in prayer probably should be
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more okay yeah uh 13 share with the
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Saints in their needs got it verse 14
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bless those who persecute you don't love
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that one but I get it bless and don't
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curse sure verse 15 Rejoice with those
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who Rejoice yeah weep with those who
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weep all right verse 16 live in harmony
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with everyone don't be proud associate
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with the humble don't be wise in your
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own estimation verse 17 don't repay
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anyone evil for evil give careful
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thought to what is Honorable for
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everyone that makes sense verse 18 if
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possible as it depends on you live at
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peace with
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everyone I don't love that one either
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but I get it um 19 don't avenge your
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yourself leave room for God's Wrath
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Vengeance belongs to me says the Lord I
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will repay verse 20 feed your enemy give
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them a drink uh verse 21 do not be
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conquered by evil conquer with good all
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that that's good and clear and that
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makes sense to me uh Romans 12: 9
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through 11 Christian ethics and the
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marks of a true Christian are pretty
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straightforward I don't think anything
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that I said there people were just like
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man what is
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that at least I hope not DET test what
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Evil all right cling to what's good love
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each other be filled with hope be
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prayerful be humble don't be proud but
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verse 11's a little less straightforward
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it's like the black sheep of this
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particular passage you're just kind of
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like H what what's going on here uh th
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this this has a little bit more
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ambiguousness to
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it it says do not lack diligence and
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Zeal be fervent in the spirit serve the
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Lord uh and so here's here's what I want
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to do and I I'm I'm going to preface
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this by saying I am not doing this um
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because I I hope that you all think that
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I'm smart or scholarly uh but but I'm
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I'm going to go through a couple of
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words in the original language of of
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this and it'll be quite a few three to
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be uh specific because uh I I don't know
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about you but even uh as someone who
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studies this all the time there's
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something about do not lack diligence
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and Zeal be fervent in the spirit serve
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the Lord that feels a little less
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straightforward then don't hate
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people and so it's interesting it says
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do do not lack diligence in
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Zeal in the original language do not
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lack comes from the word Aros it's
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opposed to us in a negative sense it
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carries a negative connotation with it
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it means quite literally uh to be slow
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to act or to live with hesitation which
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doesn't seem that bad off the top like
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there are lots of different scenarios
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and situations that you could present to
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me and then say so as a result of that I
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I'm I'm living with a little bit of
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hesitation in that regard or I'm I'm a
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little bit slow act as far as this is
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concerned and it would make sense there
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can be justifiable reasons for you to
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live with a slowness to act and with
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some hesitation but that is not what is
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being discussed here actually what is
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being said is that you live with
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hesitation or a slowness to act because
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you are negligent and
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slothful when we went through the
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parable of the talents a couple of weeks
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ago we see that Jesus will end up
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addressing the three different servants
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that were given three different levels
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of talents we see one was given in five
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and he earned five more one was given
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two and he earned two more one was given
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one and he buried it and when Jesus
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addresses the one who buried his talent
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he says to him in Matthew 25: 26 you
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evil lazy anos
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servant evil
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lazy in the septu the Greek translation
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of the Hebrew Bible we see that this
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word will be used 12 different times and
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it's often translated as Slugger
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which is not a kind
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term it means you're habitually
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lazy so when it says do not lack it's
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saying don't be habitually lazy don't
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live your life with hesitation in
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serving the lord or being slow to act in
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serving the lord because this that or
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the other don't justify your
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slothfulness don't do
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it it says do not lack in diligence
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diligence is the word SP day it's
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carries a more positive connotation it
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means to do something with intense
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effort and motivation What's significant
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about that it's a word that's associated
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with action which makes sense when you
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connect it to the fact that we're called
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to serve the Lord and so you see here
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that it's admonishing us in Romans 12:1
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it's saying do not lack in diligence hey
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don't don't drag behind in your
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diligence because you're like I just
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don't know if I'm up for it I just don't
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really do I just don't really have time
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for it I just don't really know it
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rather with intense effort and eagerness
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and motivation serve the one who gave it
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all to have all of you like make sure
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that that's something that you're
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Desiring to do that you're not just
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trying to like do a Seas get degrees
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situation here folks we're not trying to
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do the bare minimum to
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pass but rather we are giving our
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all because he gave it all for us
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whatever you do work at it as if you
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serve the Lord Colossians 3 would tell
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us that's who we're called to be that we
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would not lack IND diligence in our
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Zeal be fervent in spirit fervent
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zo is a term that literally is talking
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about elements it's a it's a rather it's
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a rather obvious term if you read it it
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means to boil or to bubble that
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something is hot it would be used to
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talk about water that's boiling or metal
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that's glowing when it's been left in a
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fire for a period of time and obviously
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this is being used in a figurative sense
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here to be fervent in spirit is to say
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you be on fire you burn with passion for
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the things of God that we are called to
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be a people that are boiling so to speak
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that's the picture that's being painted
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in the spirit have enthusiasm and
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passion to live for our King and it's
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funny if you think about the word
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passion just in the English sense of the
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word uh usually whenever you hear the
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word passion you think about it in a
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positive way right I have passion for
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this I have passion for that person I
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have passion because I was changed by
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them or by that because I love them or
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that that I am I I'm thinking of passion
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usually in a positive context and yet
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the truth of the matter is that passion
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is not only used in the positive sense
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there's a wide spectrum of meaning on
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why you would have passion right like
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apparently Americans Love Murder
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documentaries the way that Netflix is
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presenting things
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right and uh my wife loves watching
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these things and so you know when she
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turns them on and they're talking about
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you know all the things that makes us
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really anxious and stuff you know you
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grab 60 ounces of cold brew and turn on
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a murder documentary and then hear about
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everything that's wrong in the world and
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just wonder I don't know why I'm
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stressed right now and what you find is
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it's interesting whenever she's got one
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of these murder documentaries on and
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they're talking about and so it was
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brutal in the midst of their sleep and
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then you're like who did it and they're
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like the one who loves them the most a
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loved one and so I book a hotel she
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keeps watching it and what we
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see is it usually someone close to these
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people that kill
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them and often times the
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narrator who's usually some washed up
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actor will say it is a crime
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of passion pause what that's not the
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word I would
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use but it
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is
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Passion can be there for a lot of
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different reasons it's
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secondary why do you have passion I can
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be passionate about killing you
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apparently or I can be passionate about
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loving
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you there is a wide spectrum of meaning
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why should we have
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passion why should we have passion I
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think there's a need for clarification
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on the passion that we have because of
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what we've experienced uh it's
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interesting The Passion of Christ is a
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Mel Gibson movie but it's also a
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theological term
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and The Passion of Christ uh is a term
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that comes from a Latin word that means
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to endure or
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suffer and it often is used to describe
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that period of
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time between Thursday and Friday between
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the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is
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praying and then book ends with the
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moment that the crucifixion is over and
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Jesus has died and what we see is that
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there's this term that's used for that
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it's called The Passion of Christ isn't
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that interesting
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and it's used to describe how he suffers
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for our salvation and that Romans
Romans 5 chapter mention
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chapter 5 that God proved for us his
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love in this that while you and I were
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still sinners Christ died for us that
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what we see in The Passion of Christ is
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that his passion was to secure our
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Salvation through his suffering and
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demonstrate God's love to us a love that
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by the way 1 John 4 verse 19 says we
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understand love and we know love because
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he first loved us that the reason that
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we have passion is because his passion
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extended to us became love that we
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understood and now love that we extend
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that it's because of what he's done his
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passion for you and I that we live with
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passion for him if his passion secured
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our Salvation then what else would I do
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but give all of who I am and all of what
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I have for him I have to his love and
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passion for me saved and changed me
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changed me I think about the Epic tale
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uh the count of Monty Christo anybody
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read or seen The Count of Monte Christo
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in here before speaking of The Passion
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of the Christ Jim cavel you know um I'm
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I'm partial to his version of the film
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uh there's a new like French version
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beautifully shot uh it's just it's just
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not Guy Pierce and Jim cavel and so uh
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it's interesting if you haven't seen it
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I'm I'm not going to ruin it for you but
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I'll fast forward to a moment uh the
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main character is is a man named Edmund
-
Dantes Edmund Dantes is falsely accused
-
and falsely imprisoned at the Chateau de
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it is reserved for the worst kinds of
-
criminals and at the time usually it was
-
those individuals that were partial to
-
Napoleon bonapart and so what we see is
-
that he ends up being falsely accused
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falsely imprisoned there and he ends up
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through miraculous means escaping and he
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ends up swimming to the nearest
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Shoreline and he's just kind of like
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celebrating on the shore and he's
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running around and his arms are flailing
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and he's so excited about the freedom
-
that he just found and he ends up
-
running across a band of pirates that
-
are just kind of watching him on the
-
shore fre out like a
-
lunatic and the leader of that band of
-
pirates says I don't know
-
you but I noticed that you just swam
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from that direction which is a
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prison and you barely have any clothes
-
on your back so I need you to
-
participate in a knife fight with our
-
best knife fighter and I will know that
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it is an act of God if you win our best
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knife fighter will die and that will
-
mean that you were meant to sail with us
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however I think it's more than likely
-
that our best knife fighter is going to
-
kill you and we will be rid of a
-
psychopath prisoner and so they end up
-
finding themselves in this battle Edmund
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Dantes and their best knife fighter
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yakoo and as they're dueling it looks
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really even until Edmund miraculously
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pins yakoo to the sand he has his knife
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to his throat and is about to kill him
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but rather flips the blade and stabs the
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sand over top of yakoo head whose eyes
-
are about to come out of his skull and
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in that moment Edmund looks to the
-
leader of the band of pirates and he
-
says to him I have a better
-
idea how about both of us live I will
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have extended Mercy to your best knife
-
fighter and now I will sail with you and
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you will have two loyal Sailors that
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help you in your quest so long as you
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can help me get to the place that I want
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to go and the leader of the pirate says
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sounds good to me and are about to go
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off but what's fascinating is that yakoo
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is still lying in the sand as Edmund
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Dantes is about to get up from over top
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of him and he is looking at this man
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realizing that he was within an of
-
death and he grabs him by the little
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clothes that Edmund has on his back and
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he says listen to
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me I swear on my dead relatives and even
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the ones that aren't feeling too good
-
right
-
now I am your man
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forever and Edmund looks down at him and
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says I
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know because he would have died you're
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walking a path that leads towards death
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I am a dead man unless someone
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miraculously intervenes here and it did
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Edmund Dantes ended up miraculously
-
intervening took the blade off his
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throat put it near his head but nowhere
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that it could touch him and said hey I
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will extend Mercy to you anded and we
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see that Edmund gets a response from
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yako who says I am going to live with
-
passion to build your kingdom I'll build
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my savior's Kingdom how much more should
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that be true of us that have understood
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that we weren't saved from having a
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knife to our throat you were certainly
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walking towards death and he said I'll
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take it on so that you can live that
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that should be our testimony that should
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be the reason that we have passion and
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yet I realize that there are some of us
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that are in here and are like I'm still
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not feeling it
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though like like some of you are like
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congratulations on being a a lunatic up
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there I don't feel that and I think we
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mistake how passion
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operates I'll share a story at the risk
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of it sounding like I'm trying to gas
-
myself up a little bit it's actually
-
kind of funny but um there was a family
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uh that showed up a couple of weeks ago
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here and they stopped me as I was
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walking around the lobby and they said
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hey um we usually come to the 11:30 uh
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and we just we couldn't make it on this
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particular Sunday to the 11:30 and so we
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decided to come here for the 8:30
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Gathering we didn't know if God was even
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at the 8:30 but we showed up uh and so
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uh you know we had some plans and so we
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decided you know what let's just go
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early like we we love the church and so
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uh they were on their way here and they
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started gambling kind of in the car
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among themselves like do you think that
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he uh is as excited at the 8:30 as he is
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at the 11:30 or like how do you think
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that that works is that I don't know and
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so they ended up uh betting I guess and
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so welcome to church and and and what
-
happened is um
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uh the father of this family said to me
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we were shocked at how excited and loud
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you are that early in the morning that
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is incredible he said it must just be
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your personality and I said uh uh well
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number one uh the first thing is that I
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had a preaching hero say to me preaching
-
should be a lot of things boring is not
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one of
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them uh and then I said
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um it's not a personality thing I
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believe every single word that's in this
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book and and and that's not that's 's
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nothing special about me there let let
-
me tell you this there are lots of days
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I sat with a worship leader a couple of
-
uh months ago and they said you know
-
what I just don't know that I like my
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heart hasn't been in the best place like
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I just don't know if I can step up there
-
and let me just tell you not every week
-
do you feel like you're in the best
-
place some of y'all are like I don't
-
want to be here right now you could be
-
like some of these losers watching
-
online right here but you're
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not you know what I mean
-
we love you guys
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uh but you're missing the blessing and
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um wow that's not the notes and
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um you don't always feel it passion is
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not an emotion it's a
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choice if you wait till you're
-
passionate you'll die doing nothing
-
it's a
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choice there are days that I don't want
-
to be up here that
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bad it's just real I don't know if
-
you're supposed to say that but
-
whatever there are days that you don't
-
want to be
-
here it's a
-
choice I'm not here for
-
me I'm here for you because I got to be
-
here for you and I got to be around you
-
because my faith sometimes isn't where
-
it needs to be and I am going through
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I'm just like I don't know but I'm it's
-
not about me I I'm I'm I'm here for
-
him I think about what Paul says in
-
Romans chapter 1 I long to see you I'm
Romans 1 chapter mention
-
here for you I long to see you it's
-
bigger than me it's not an emotion it's
-
a choice I know what you did for me you
-
want to know what I bet you didn't
-
really really love the idea of going to
-
the cross
-
but you chose to in fact we know that he
-
didn't Lord if you will take this cup
-
from
-
me but I
-
will you know still though I'm under no
-
delusion there are some of us that are
-
like I don't care if it's a choice I
-
don't feel like I can choose it and I
-
want you to know that is perfectly human
-
perfectly real and we are so glad that
-
you're here every person that has any
-
kind of honesty in their body would say
-
the same
-
thing you just like it me I don't care
-
if it's a choice I don't feel like I can
-
make that choice I don't feel it right
-
now you know it's it's interesting
-
I I thought about passion in the
-
scriptures and you know oftentimes
-
there's moments
-
um there's moments in the Old Testament
-
um when you think about passion where
-
someone will shout before the Lord
-
right and a lot of times like everyone's
-
kind of doing their thing and David's
-
just out there kind of like doing the
-
Snoopy Dance by himself and people are
-
like what a lunatic and uh
-
you see that there's this shouting
-
before the Lord it's interesting the
-
word shout in Hebrews the word
-
ranan uh and and it's the word that's
-
often used to describe that shouting
-
before the Lord what's interesting is
-
that it actually has various meanings it
-
can mean to sing to shout to rejoice and
-
to cry
-
out
-
ranan is used not just in passion so far
-
as Joy is concerned but also passion so
-
far as lamentation is
-
concerned ranan is used as passionate
-
praise Psalm 95:1 says let us shout
-
joyfully to the Lord Psalm 98:4 says let
-
the whole earth shout to him but it's
-
also used as a passionate
-
lament you see it in job 30:31 my flute
-
is used for the Weeping you see that
-
there's a root of the word ranan but
-
it's actually lacking in its feature and
-
so it's really saying that because ranan
-
is absent it's actually runon in the
-
other way around that it's a weeping
-
there's a lament as a result I can't
-
shout joyfully but I am crying out
-
Lamentations chapter 2: 19 says arise
-
and cry out in the
-
night your passion is not something that
-
is just on display when it's good it's
-
not just ecstatic
-
praise but it's broken lamentation as
-
well devotion to the Lord and passion
-
for
-
him is found in Triumph and in
-
Brokenness
-
equally rejoicing in victories and
-
crying out in Sorrows we see that even
-
in Luke chapter 10 it says that Jesus
Luke 10 chapter mention
-
rejoiced in the Holy Spirit we see that
-
in Luke chapter 22 that it will say that
Luke 22 chapter mention
-
in anguish he prayed more fervently that
-
there's passion on display here ranan
-
shouting for
-
joy and shouting and the sense of crying
-
out passion is true for the Victorious
-
and the
-
vexed it's passion and
-
praise and it's lamenting and
-
languishing I don't know where this
-
happened
-
um in church
-
history but somewhere like holding back
-
became normal
-
I know I don't speak for everyone in
-
here but I I Luke um came out of a
-
stream and tribe of the faith
-
where you raise your hand and it's like
-
who let the Pentecostals in here you
-
know uh you know it's more biblical to
-
fall on your face in worship than it is
-
to not do
-
anything but I had people tell me in the
-
name of order
-
you should lack
-
passion and the truth of the matter is
-
that he's he's a lord of order but he's
-
also a lord of
-
passion and somewhere along the way we
-
started to think that order is
-
indifference and indifference is
-
reverence there's a rule in studying
-
scripture called The Law of first
-
mention when you first see a word first
-
see a situation there's something
-
significant about it being there for the
-
first time that helps you understand how
-
it's utilized moving
-
forward
-
ranan is first used in Leviticus chapter
Leviticus 9 chapter mention
-
9 and we see that it's the Priestly
-
Ministry is being inaugurated that God
-
is setting up a lineage of priests that
-
are going to minister to him and to the
-
people for the nation of
-
Israel and so we see that those priests
-
are going to inter seed they're going to
-
pray for the people they're going to
-
orchestrate festivals and help the
-
people in praising their God they're
-
going to help make sacrifices to atone
-
for their own sins and for the sins of
-
the
-
people and so in Leviticus chapter 9 we
Leviticus 9 chapter mention
-
see that Moses calls forth his brother
-
Aaron and then Aaron and his sons are
-
being set forth as a lineage of priests
-
that will be over the nation and we see
-
the first thing that Aaron does is he
-
makes a sacrifice on an altar to the
-
Lord
-
and it says in Leviticus 9: 24 fire came
-
from the Lord and consumed the
-
offering the people saw
-
it shouted
-
ranan and fell face
-
down when the people
-
saw that a sacrifice had been made and
-
was good and acceptable to God they fell
-
on their their face and
-
worshiped I mean do we know that because
-
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ we
-
know that his sacrifice was more than
-
good and sufficient so that you and I
-
might be able to say hey the Lord
-
accepts us because of what Christ has
-
done for us how much more should we have
-
passion for what he's done for
-
us sometimes we look at the cross and
-
we're like well let me calculate
-
theologically just stop
-
it this should move
-
us move
-
us and if you're not moved by this
-
you've got to look all throughout the
-
scriptures and go why is it that
-
whenever
-
God consumes sacrifice or does the
-
people fall on their face and we're just
-
like is there more coffee do you
-
think passion is a choice
-
voice and regardless of what's going on
-
in your
-
life we should be able to say nothing
-
feels
-
right but I'm going to be
-
okay because of all that he's done for
-
me my future is secure in Christ Jesus
-
and far be it from me to say you know
-
what I'm going to be flippant about what
-
you've done for me but rather I will
-
fall on my face and bow at the feet of
-
my great king who gave it all to have
-
all of me and so maybe you're here today
-
and you've never put your faith in Jesus
-
but let me just give you a gospel
-
message in about 30 seconds you are a
-
sinner in need of a
-
savior you are headed to hell right now
-
if you've never put your faith in Jesus
-
I'm not trying to scare you I'm trying
-
to tell you the truth but honesty feels
-
like toxicity in a world that hates the
-
truth that's where you're
-
headed but there is a
-
way to Salvation and eternal life an
-
Abundant Life a joyful life in this very
-
moment of putting your faith in Jesus
-
repenting of your sins that we see that
-
in Jesus Christ God gave it all to have
-
all of us he lived the perfect life that
-
you and I could not he died the death
-
that you and I deserved upon the cross
-
he willingly went to the cross and
-
passionately endured that suffering
-
spilling his own blood that for you and
-
I who repent and put our faith in him we
-
would know that his blood covers our
-
sins past present and future he was
-
buried in a tomb for three days he rose
-
to life again and he's calling people
-
right now to repent of their sins and
-
put Faith in his name that you might be
-
welcomed into the family and experience
-
a guilt-free shame free Abundant Life In
-
The Name of
-
[Applause]
-
Jesus and so if you would pray with me
-
for a moment if you've never put your
-
faith in Jesus but you want to accept
-
him right now would you if if you want
-
to put your faith in Jesus would you
-
just put your hand up that I could see
-
anybody in here that's like I want to
-
put my faith in him yeah
-
Lord I am that sinner in need of a
-
savior I Repent of my sins and I am
-
putting my faith and trust in Your Great
-
Name I believe in my heart and confess
-
with my mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord
-
and
-
Romans says you will be
-
saved God would we be a people of
-
passion not faking in
-
Emotion but operating in the reality of
-
sunship
-
becoming a
-
daughter being welcomed into a family
-
that we had no way of entering into no
-
means of adoption had it not been for
-
all that you did on our
-
behalf Lord we love you we praise you
-
and we thank you ask these things in
-
Jesus name amen