Sermon
Sensing vs Seeing Him | Pastor Loren Covarrubias
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Now for the third Sunday I want to open with John.
John 15 chapter mention
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Chapter 15. Greater love has no one than
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this. Then he lay down his life for
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his friends. You are my friends if you do
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whatever I command you. No longer do I call you
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servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing.
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But I have called you friends for all things that I heard from
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my father, I have made known to you, and I put over this a
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growing relationship. How you know, we're called to
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have a growing relationship with God.
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Christianity is not just merely believing the right thing so
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that you can go to heaven or just be in right standing with
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God. We should understand that God
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literally wants to have a relationship with us where we
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know him and he knows us. And that's such a wonderful
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thing to think about that God has that for us and to also to
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hear the invitation that he would have for us to grow in our
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relationship with him. Few weeks back we celebrated
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Easter, Good Friday, the death burial, and also on Sunday the
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resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is alive.
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And yet as this chapter is unfolding, it's Jesus talking to
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his disciples before he goes to the cross.
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And one of the things he wants them to understand about the
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cross is that this is about his relationship with them, in this
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case a growing relationship. He, as he says, well, greater
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love has no one than this. Then he would lay down his life
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for his friends and he said to them, and I want to call you
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friends. And I think that would be such
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an amazing thing. Never remember, they were his
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disciples. He taught them very well how
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important it was that they would be his servants.
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And then he also taught them how important it was for them to
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grow in their stewardship. And I talked about how that we
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have a relationship with God that basically just like when
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we're raising children, we start out in the servant stage if he
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would because, well, you have to tell the children what to do
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because you're protected, protecting them.
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And slowly you're training them and developing them.
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And what we would call from a spiritual or scriptural point of
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view, stewardship, and that is being responsible for life.
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But then on this third level, he's saying, OK, now it's time
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for us to really have a deep relationship.
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Now it's time for you to be my friends.
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And I want you to know the price I'm willing to pay for that
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friendship, says the Lord. I really believe with everything
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within me that God is saying to the body of Christ today, it's
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time for us to have a new relationship with him.
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The firmer things have come to pass.
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It's a new day, says the Lord. Amen, church.
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And God wants you to know this is your new day.
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This is your new season, this is your new time.
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And God's saying I'm inviting you into a new relationship.
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Just let me bring you in, says the Lord, to a greater dimension
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of experience with me. This past week I went and saw a
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movie. It was called a Great Awakening.
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And as you know, I talk a lot about the awakenings that have
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been a part of the history of the United States of America,
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because America has been used in a very special way in history.
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And this year we'll be celebrating 250 years since the
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Declaration of Independence. And we've had an amazing history
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as a nation. It is definitely a blessed
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history. And I've always brought out how
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important it is for us to realize that's because of the
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church and the Christians and our participation in the greater
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society. It's important for us to
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understand this because even secular historians in the past
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have talked about the fact that America's had three, most say,
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some say even four major awakenings.
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And that was something happened in the church.
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The church became more alive and through that it impacted the
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greater society. And I believe with everything
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within me, we need the same thing.
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Well, George Whitfield was a part of that first Great
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Awakening. And that was when in the early
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days of American history, actually before the Declaration
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of Independence, there were a lot of people who came here
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often times for religious freedom, but mostly they came
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for economic freedom and opportunities that coming to a
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new land would afford them. But God had moved upon George
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Whitfield and John Wesley, and they had this very special
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relationship with God in England.
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They had what they called the Holy Club, and they were people
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that just sold out for God. John Wesley came to the United
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States and had a great influence.
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Methodist Church is part of that beginning that he did here in
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the United States of America. But George Whitfield was an
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amazing preacher. And when he came, they say that
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he's had like 30,000 sermons in his life.
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And I don't know who added all these things up, but there's
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different numbers based on whether you called it a sermon,
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if he spoke to a small group or not.
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But he was a person who just preached everywhere and any
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opportunity had. And so he'd preach in a city,
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get on a horse and go to another city.
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And he was trained as an actor, but he had this special
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anointing from God where he could literally speak to
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thousands of people. And they say literally that it
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impacted all the 13 colonies, preparing the way for the Great
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awakening that changed the nation, leading to the
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Declaration of Independence. This particular film that talks
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about his relationship with Benjamin Franklin.
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So it's very interesting. I'm going to try to get it here
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at the church. If I don't see more
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availability. It's been kind of hard to track
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down where it's at and the opportunities you can go see it.
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But I'd encourage you, if you haven't, to take that
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opportunity because this is a time when God's doing something
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new. I believe this is a time for a
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new awakening for us to declare and her participate in.
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And we need to have the faith that we can change a nation.
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Can anybody say Amen to that? How do you know we can change a
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nation? And part of the changing of the
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nation requires a change in US. And so that's why it's important
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for us to recognize that. And today, going in John chapter
John 16 chapter mention
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16, this is Jesus again as he's getting ready to leave, his
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disciples said, I still have many things to say to you, but
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you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the spirit of
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truth has come, he will guide you into all truth.
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For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He
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hears, He will speak, and He will tell you things to come.
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He will glorify Me. For He will take what is a mine
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and declare it to you. All things that the Father has
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are mine. Therefore I said that He will
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take of mine and declare it to you.
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Now in this reference, and this is the Scripture I've been using
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time and again because I love the fact that it talks about God
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saying to us how important it is for us to realize He is a God of
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appointed times. There's some things that we're
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not ready for at this time, but when we are ready, that's when
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God begins to move. And I believe that God has made
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us ready for this time. Amen.
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Well, Jesus Christ is talking about His departure and saying
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to them, well, you're not going to be an orphan when I leave.
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You're not going to be left alone.
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He said matter of fact, I'm leaving, but my heart's desire
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is that wherever I am, you may be, and it's important for you
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to know I want to be where you are.
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Now, some people take that scripture only to think that
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Jesus can't wait till we get to heaven, but that's not what he
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was talking about. He was talking about the fact
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that there is a present tense reality in the presence of God
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that we can have. Amen.
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Well, the first Great Awakening was really about people being
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born again. And like I said, that was a
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different concept for most of those colonial people who had
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come from countries where they had a state religion.
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People were born into their church and they basically had
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the religion of their country or the kindred, whatever.
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But George Whitefield and later on Wesley as well, told people,
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no, you need to be born again. And so that brought an amazing
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awakening. There was a second awakening
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where people began to see how important it was for people to
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have a changed life and have social change as a part of that.
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And then all the sudden people began to see something from the
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Lord about a second work of grace called the baptism of the
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Holy Spirit. In the early days it was what
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was called the holiness movement, later became the
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Pentecostal movement, later became the Charismatic movement,
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but the emphasis was upon the move of the Holy Spirit and the
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experience that we can have in the Holy Spirit.
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Now I believe this is important for us to see and This is why
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I'm sharing this word today because there is a change of
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mindset that we've to have in our approach to understanding
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both the Holy Spirit and how we relate to God in order for us to
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fully participate in all that God has for us.
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So in thinking about the Holy Spirit, I want you to notice
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that when Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit, He was
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talking about the Holy Spirit coming and it being all about
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Him. When the Holy Spirit comes, the
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Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth.
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The Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance the things that I
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said. The Holy Spirit will lead you
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and guide you, and the Holy Spirit will speak to you about
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all the things that I had for you.
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And He'll begin to show you really who I am.
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Now the purpose of this is to understand that the Holy Spirit
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comes not to speak of itself, but to speak of Jesus Christ.
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And this is a part of this transition that we need to
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understand that God is doing today in the church because he
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wants us to have this mindset about it all being about Jesus
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Christ being the person of God that we are to relate to, to
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understand. Now in thinking about the Holy
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Spirit, I was a part of what was called the Jesus People
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movement, the charismatic movement.
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And often times in speaking about the Holy Spirit, people
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want to make the Holy Spirit more personal people.
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So sometimes people were saying things about the Holy Spirit
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that we're really not based upon the scripture.
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And I want to talk to you a little bit about that today.
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One guy actually wrote a book called Good Morning Holy Spirit,
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and he was encouraging people, when you wake up in the morning,
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just start talking to the Holy Spirit.
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Now the problem with that is not, it's not biblical and the
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Bible, no one talked to the Holy Spirit.
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People talk to the Father in the name of the Son.
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It's important for us to understand patterns.
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Not like God's up in heaven saying, Nope, you're praying
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wrong. Can't listen to that.
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But the most important reason we have to know these things is the
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mindset it gives us in our relationship with God and how
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important that is. I grew up on the King James
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Version Bible and mentioned that last week and one of the changes
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that came over time was in the King James Version and speaking
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about the Holy Spirit. It would use the term it or
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itself because when they were translating the Bible from the
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Greek language, which is what the New Testament was, the word
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spirit is a word that's neuter. It doesn't have a gender, male
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or female. So as a pronoun, we have he,
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she, or it. Obviously when talking about
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female gender, when talking about the male gender.
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But there's the word it that talks about no gender.
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Now, when you think about this and you think about being called
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an it, it made sense. A lot of people are saying we
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can't call the Holy Spirit an it and that scripture says itself.
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So they came up with newer translations.
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I, for one, started reading from the new King James Version.
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But we have to understand that based on that thinking, we,
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we're really trying to interpret God from our understanding to
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using our feelings to explain God.
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And I want to explain that to you because it's important for
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us to see how the Holy Spirit works.
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Now it makes sense If somebody called you an it, how many know
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they don't sound too good? You it that just don't sound
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right, does it? As a kid, there used to be a
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show called Adams Family and they had this strange relative
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called it anybody else to remember it from the Adams
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family? So of course it makes sense.
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You don't want to call somebody in it.
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But the point of it from a pronoun perspective is simply
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this is saying that there is no gender related to this.
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And now we need to understand why that's important for us
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again, so that we can see how does this relate to how I relate
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to God? Well, it's important to see here
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that when Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit, when we have an
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experience in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit is not an end within
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itself. The Spirit is the agency, if you
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would, or God's presence, that what brings us to Christ.
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It's the agent by which when we come into a service like this,
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we have the sense of Christ. How do you know when we worship
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and praise? You can have a sense that God is
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in our midst. And how do you know that?
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That's because the Bible says that when we come with the right
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understanding, we should know Jesus is singing in the
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worshipping congregation, and the agency that makes us aware
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of that is the Holy Spirit. When we participate in the
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sacraments of the church in different aspects of what we do,
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we should realize it is about having an encounter with Jesus,
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and the agency by which that's possible is the Holy Spirit.
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Let me explain how it works in this particular scripture
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because Jesus, in talking about the need to be born again, says
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this. Most of the sure life say to
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you, unless one is born with the water and of the Spirit, he
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cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is
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flesh. That which is born of spirit is
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spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you
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must be born again, but the wind blows where it wishes.
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You hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from
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and where it goes. So is everyone who has been born
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of the Spirit. How many out there can say I've
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been born again? How many know we should see it
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as an amazing experience And that's what literally
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transformed the colonies and made a foundation for America to
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become a great nation. Now, how does Jesus say that
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works? Well, the Holy Spirit's at work
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and it's kind of like wind. I mean, when the wind's blowing,
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if you're just sensitive without watching The Weather Channel,
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you just feel something and you might see the effect of it
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moving the trees or in a storm, literally blowing over the
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trees. But the Spirit represents that
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which is unseen and not tangible.
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If you would. But in speaking about being born
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again, how are you born again? Well, you start out by saying,
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well, somebody might say you need to receive Jesus in your
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heart. OK, I want to receive Jesus in
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my heart. Or Jesus Christ died on the
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cross. So if you confess your sins,
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he'll forgive you and you can be born again.
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And so there's many different ways people will talk about it,
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but how you know the new birth has to do with opening up your
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heart to Jesus. But what does the Holy Spirit
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do? Well, the Holy Spirit is the
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agent by which you sense that. That's why I remember growing up
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in church and people saying, you know, you can be, you can know
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that you're born again because something happens inside of you.
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You just know and you're nowhere that you're born again.
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Amen. That's the work of the Holy
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Spirit. But the point is, is it's
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focused on Christ, his work, what he's done, and what you
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want him to do in your life. That's why I put up here in the
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Scripture said you must be born of water and of the Spirit.
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I put those two words up there and put equal sacrament.
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A sacrament is not a common term often used in Protestant
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churches, but we use it because it is the word that has been
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traditionally spoken of. And we actually believe that
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whatever we do in church, we should experience something,
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just like I said, in worship and praise when we had our water
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baptism today. The Bible says in Romans chapter
Romans 6 chapter mention
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6 that when we are baptized, we're buried with Christ in
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baptism. That just as we are buried in
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his death, we can also experience his what
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resurrection. However, you know, that means
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something happens and that's what sacrament means.
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It means that God lay something out.
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He says do this, and if you do that, this is what I'm going to
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do. So we need to have that old
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nature washed away if you would. When we take the Lord's Supper,
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which we'll do at the close of the service.
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The Bible says that when Jesus instituted that, he said taking
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the bread, this is my body. When he took the cup, he said
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this is the cup of the new covenant.
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And so we see the elements. There's something visible, but
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that visible represents Christ to us.
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Amen. So although it's not Christ in
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the sense that physically it's him, it is a representation of
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him. And yet it is the Holy Spirit
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that's going to do that work, whether we're taking communion
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or whether we're being baptized. But again, the focus is on Jesus
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Christ and the effect comes through the working of the Holy
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Spirit. But the thing that we have to
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understand is in coming from the Holy Spirit movement,
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charismatic movement, to this next phase that God has for us,
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we have to shift our focus even more so than in the past to
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think, well, this is about Jesus Christ.
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This is about focusing on a person because that's the
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tangible expression that God has given to us.
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Look what the Scripture said, Jesus said to him, Have I been
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so long time yet? You do not know me.
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He who has seen me has seen the Father.
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So how can you say? Show us the Father a little
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while longer and the world will see me no more.
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But you see me. Why?
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Because I live. You will live also at that day
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you will know that I'm in my father, you and me and I and
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you. He who has my commandments and
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keeps them. It is he who loves me, and he
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who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him.
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And what will I do? Manifest myself to him.
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Now this scripture of the setting of this is again, Jesus
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Christ is getting ready to leave his disciples.
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And in this case Phillip is like, OK, show us the Father.
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You're going to the Father. Won't you show us the Father?
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What's Jesus say? Don't you know, Philip, have I
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been this long time with you that you don't realize that when
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you see me, you've seen the Father, that the Father's in me
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and I in him, and ultimately we want to be in you.
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It's important for us to see that Jesus Christ is making the
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declaration that the Scripture does.
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That is, He is the visible image of the invisible God.
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So when he came here, even as he addressed the Father, it's
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important for us to understand that his life, his attitudes,
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the way he lived his life were also the attitudes of the Father
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as well. Why is that important?
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Well, some people look at the Old Testament God and they
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think, well, he was the meanie, so he sent his Son, Jesus
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Christ. That's God the Nice makes it
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possible for us to be forgiven, and even though we're still bad
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people, we'll hide under the covering of Jesus Christ.
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No, no, no. He wants us to understand the
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plan of God has been consistent from the beginning, that God has
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always been there and God has always loved us.
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He's always loved humanity. We're his creation.
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Amen. And he didn't just create us, He
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created us with a purpose. He didn't just create planet
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earth. The Bible says in the prophecy
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of Isaiah, He didn't create the earth for it to be empty and
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void. He created it for people.
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He created for a purpose. And guess who's going to fulfill
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that purpose? You and I, but focusing on Jesus
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Christ as the visible image, it also gives us something that we
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can see that we can relate to because he is the first born
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among many brothers. So let me know.
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It's good for us to see what he's like.
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I mean, to focus on that personal side is vitally
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important, but also recognize that it's through that we will
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obtain all the things that God has for us.
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Now I want to pose something very important from the
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Scripture and that is. To ask the question, will we
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sense him after that the Holy Ghost has come, or will we see
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him? Jesus said, I'm going to leave,
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but I'm going to come back. Isn't that what that scripture
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said? And he said, and when I come
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back, the world's not going to see me, but you're going to see
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me. And then he said something more
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important than that. And you will also know me.
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So in the Holy Spirit we can sense God's presence.
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And I love to sense the presence of God and what that can do for
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me. But He tells me that He wants us
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also to see Him. And how is that possible?
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Well, I will come and manifest myself to Him.
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Now, this is something that God has been speaking me in recent
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days. I've shared with you from time
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to time how God's been speaking to me and saying I want to
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expand your understanding and want you to see me in a way
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you've never seen me before. And so I've been allowing God to
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just open my understanding to a greater dimension because I want
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God to manifest himself to me. Amen.
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And what He says is you can see me.
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Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to physically see him, but in
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the situation that I'm in, I'm going to see him.
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You see, as a part of what God was speaking to me in this
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season as He's been preparing me for this time, as I began to see
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God sitting on the throne, as the one who sits on the throne.
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And the Bible says he rules in the affairs of men as well as in
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the affairs of heaven. He is God all the time.
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Amen. And so when I'm watching the
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news and I'm hearing this person say they're going to do this and
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this person say they going to do that, I understand everybody has
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an opinion about what they're going to do.
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And help me know there's a whole lot of programming you can watch
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them. It has more opinions about it,
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so you can listen to them. Usually you can hear the slant
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that they're trying to get you to know.
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But when I watch anything, I might be trying to certain what
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exactly is the truth in the matter.
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But I always know this. God sits on the throne, Amen.
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Give the Lord of praise. And what I also do is I say,
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Lord, I want to see what you're doing because, Lord, I know that
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whatever's happening in the world, you're doing something.
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And some people will say, well, I know what God's doing.
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I have these Bible prophecies. And they'll go back and they'll
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say, well, this is what's going to happen.
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This is what's going to happen. And some of these people have
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been saying the same thing now for 100 years, and it hasn't
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happened. That tells me people haven't
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been where they can see it yet. But God says to his church, you
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can see what I'm doing. In our own individual lives,
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sometimes we're in the midst of a crisis.
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And when you're in the midst of a crisis, how many you know you
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don't feel God as much. I know there's times when you
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do, you go through a desperate, oh, I'm so glad I sense God.
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Well, when you first get that bad news and all the strength
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goes out of you, you're like not feeling it.
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Or maybe it's a situation that you thought God was going to do
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something and it turned out differently.
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Or you've been standing on a promise.
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It doesn't seem to be working out.
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Sometimes you can feel well, you feel like you're not even a
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Christian some days I'm you know, you don't always feel the
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same everyday and I've learned this as you get older.
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You don't always feel the same as you're used to when you were
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younger. So our feeling can be very
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deceiving, but what we see will never be deceiving.
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And God says, I want to bring you to a place where you can
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begin to see me if you would. And being aware of me built on
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the person of Jesus Christ. But again, practicing it in
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church, where you see him in the baptism, you see him in the
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communion, you see him in the worship and praise, you see him
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here, you see him there. And then leaving the House of
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God and saying, I can still see him.
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My God is at work in my family. God is at work in my business.
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God is at work in my job. God's at work in all things.
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Amen. And I really believe that we're
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in a time of great change. People in the world will tell
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you the same thing. Some are calling it the 4th
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turning. Other people are just talking
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about how AI is transforming the world.
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And who knows what's going to happen?
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Whose jobs are going to still be there?
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Well, there's all kinds of information out there, but I can
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tell you this much. I'm going to be looking for God
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to be in the midst of everything that's in our lives because I
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believe what God can do. Now that brings me to Moses.
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And it says it came to pass when Moses entered the Tabernacle,
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that the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of
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the Tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.
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All the people saw the pillar called standing at the
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Tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshipped each
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man in his tent door. So the Lord spoke to Moses face
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to face as a man speaks to his friend, and he would return to
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the camp. But his servant Joshua the son
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of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the Tabernacle.
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And again the setting here. I read it to you in the opening
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is the children of Israel are wandering in the wilderness.
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The Lord has given Moses a pattern to build a Tabernacle.
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It was called the Tabernacle of meeting and it was a place where
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they could meet God. And Moses had this very face to
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face encounter with God. And literally when he went to
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the Tabernacle of meeting, you could see the pillar of fire or
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the pillar of a cloud, some visible demonstration that would
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be before Moses. And that's why the Bible says he
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spoke to God face to face as a man does his friend.
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And all the people would watch and say when Moses goes to
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church, we got to keep our eyes on it is something great is
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going to happen when Moses goes to the Tabernacle of meeting
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church. How many came today to a
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Tabernacle of meeting? Amen.
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I love that song today. Inviting Jesus in the room is
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what it's all about. But the Bible says he had a face
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to face experience with God. Moses was the friend of God.
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He spoke to God face to face as a man does his friend.
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Now this next verse of Scripture will tell you how much he loved
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the presence of God. It says that he said to God, if
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your presence does not go with us, do not bring us from here.
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Or how then will it be known that your people and I have
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found grace in your sight, except you go with us?
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So we shall be separate. Your people and I from all the
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people are upon the face of the earth.
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So the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you
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have spoken for. You have found grace in my sight
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and what I know you by name. Wow, that's powerful, isn't it?
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But see in chapter 32, the children of Israel had been bad.
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How many know they had a lot of days where they were bad.
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In this particular case, they had made a golden calf and
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worshipped it and said that was the God that brought him out of
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Egypt, Got Moses a little upset, got mad, a little bit upset.
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So in this chapter, Moses is like, now God, you're still
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going to go with us, aren't you? Because if you're not going with
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me, I'm not going to the promised land.
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And that's one of the things I've shared over the years over
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and over again. I love Moses because he loved
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the presence more than the promise.
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As charismatic Christians, we believe not only in salvation,
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but we believe in the benefits of the cross.
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He was wounded for our transgression, just bruised for
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our iniquities, just chastised for our peace.
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Yes, and by his choice we were healed.
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Yes, I believe all those things. But no matter what promise the
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Word of God gives to me, I have to be like Moses and say it's
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the presence more than the promise that I'm looking for.
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But I also think it's so beautiful here how God said, now
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Moses, you know I'm going to go with you because Moses, I know
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you. I think that's so amazing that
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God knows me. How about you?
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I watch news articles and look at things that are happening.
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I'd like to see science. And so when you talk about
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science and what's going on, they have these satellites and
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they have these ways of traveling to the planets out
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there, farther past the moon than ever before.
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And when they talk about the Galaxy, they talk about
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universes, more universes, galaxies, more galaxies, how we
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know everything out there is getting bigger and bigger.
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They're always looking for life because they can't believe that
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there's something unique or special about planet Earth.
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But there is as far as you can go and as far as you can see.
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They want to believe there's life somewhere else.
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I'm sure there's people that are going to believe there's life
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someplace else. I do know that the heaven is his
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throne, so something's up there. Amen.
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But I want you to understand something.
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It's so important to know that the Earth has been created for a
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very special purpose. And as big as all of that is,
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and even as big as planet Earth is, even though it looks quite
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small in the major scheme of things, looking down on planet
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Earth, God knows you. That blows my mind.
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I think you know me. Little old me.
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Yeah, I know you. Lauren Cobrubius and you can
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throw in your name there because he knows you isn't that amazing
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and at the same time he's in but I want you to know me more than
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you ever known me before. Now this is interesting because
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Moses is all excited about the fact that he's in the presence
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of God says, oh God, please show me your glory.
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Then he said I will make my goodness pass before you.
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I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.
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I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have
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compassion and whom I will have compassion.
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But he said you cannot see my face, for no man shall see me
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and live. Wait a minute.
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He just said he saw God face to face.
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But God saying you can't see my face.
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But what God was saying is most of us should see my face.
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We have this personal connection, right?
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But there's a certain thing about what I am you cannot see.
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Just like with the Ark of the Covenant I showed you a picture
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of last week. You know, if you touch the Ark
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of the Covenant, you could die. And there's something about God
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that's so awesome He could kill you.
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That's amazing thought, isn't it?
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But the point of all that is that God is saying, now, Moses,
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you have to understand something.
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It's not what you're seeing of me that's going to matter.
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It's who you see in me that's going to matter.
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Amen. And so, Moses, I want you to
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understand something. And so I'm going to give you a
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little glimpse of what you want to see, but you have to
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understand something that my goodness, my mercy, my
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graciousness, what's going to pass before him?
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Everything that God was, that was demonstrated in the life of
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Jesus Christ, that's what he would experience.
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And this is something important to understand because sometimes
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in our quest for more of God and what he is, we forget the fact
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that God says no, remember, let's make this personal.
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And that's why I say keep it about the person of Jesus
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Christ. And that's why when we think
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about sacraments or church service, everything is make it
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personal because that's when you can really touch what God has
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for you. Now, it's important to
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understand that. So we want to see something
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about what God is. And that's the key factor here.
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Now I used the scripture a couple weeks ago as well,
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looking at from a little different perspective today.
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So I catch we need to catch the change of what I'm trying to say
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here because he said hear now my words.
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If there's a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to
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him and division. I speak to him in to ring.
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Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house.
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I speak with him face to face, even plainly and not in dark
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sayings, and he sees what the form of the Lord.
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Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
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And as I've explained in Numbers chapter 12, marrying an Aaron,
Numbers 12 chapter mention
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who are the brother and sister of Moses.
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They're mad at him. They're even talking about him
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and fighting with him. And God speaks from heaven.
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How many know that's a good argument to have for Moses?
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I really believe that God wants to do awesome things for his
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people. He said those who know they're
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God, they're going to do exploits in the anointing of the
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Holy Spirit. We're going to hear the voice of
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heaven like never before. Church.
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It's going to be powerful. But what God was saying about
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Moses as he sees me face to face and he says he sees my form.
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I wasn't talking about the fact that Moses saw a burning Bush or
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pillar fire. Pillar of a cloud isn't that.
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He saw a mountain that was thundering and lightning and
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shaking with like an earthquake. It was like through each and
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every one of his experiences, Moses saw who God was.
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He saw something about God in a personal sense, and that's why
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for him it was such an important experience every step of the
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way, because Moses saw the form of God, and God is saying to us
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today that he wants us to see that form.
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And again, it's not talking about the visible in that sense,
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but it's talking about seeing God in every situation, seeing
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where God is in your life at this moment in time.
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Because church, there's never been a time like this time.
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That's why I love this scripture.
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It says, beloved, we are children of God.
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And in this case written a couple thousand years ago, he
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says, and it does not yet been revealed what we shall be, but
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we know that when he's Speaking of Jesus Christ is revealed, we
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shall be what like him. Why?
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For we shall see him as he is, and everyone who has this hope
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in him purifies himself, just as I am here.
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Can we all bow our heads for just a moment?
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Because this such an essential thing to witness, the moment
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God's been telling you. It's a new time, hasn't he?
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You know, there's something new going on, something fresh in the
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air. He's wanting us to sense and
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know with confidence. He knows you and what you know
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of him. He's in, but you're going to
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know more. You're going to know more.
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Father, we just thank you for this amazing time and believe
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that we will see you in our lives in every circumstance and
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situation. We'll see your form.
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This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius from Mount Zion Church.
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We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect
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with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and
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following us on social media. God bless you.