Sermon
Whole Surrender, Full Inheritance | Pastor Loren Covarrubias
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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In the book of Numbers chapter 13, it says this.
Numbers 13 chapter mention
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These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the
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land, and Moses called Hosea the son of Nun Joshua.
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Now, this is a very important scripture because we've been
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talking about people from the Old Testament.
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The Bible says that our stories are written for our example and
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also for our admonition. So we can look at their lives
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and say, well, I want to do that.
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And in some cases there are examples that we'd say, I don't
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want to do that. But Joshua is one of those with
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a pretty skeller stellar report if you would.
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And he had this amazing responsibility that God gave to
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him to lead the children of Israel into the promised land.
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And I talked about that last week when God instructed him,
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but also encouraged him, Joshua, be strong and very courageous
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because it was going to be a challenging thing to lead the
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people into the Promised land. But today I want to back up the
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story just a little bit and talk about a time when they were
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first facing the enemy and Joshua's pardon, that Moses is
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still the leader. But it's a time when they've
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decided, as they've come up to the Promised land, we need to
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send some spies into the Promised land so we can kind of
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check out what's there. And the Bible tells us in the
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opening of chapter 13 that this is where Moses gave this name
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change, if you would, to Joshua. Now we are talking about the
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fact that we have to understand this also illustrates to us what
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the Bible calls the new creation.
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How do you know what? When we're born again, the Bible
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says we are new creatures in Christ.
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And it was always traditional in the early charts for people when
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they were baptizing or dedicating their children to
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give them a christening name, if you would, which would be a name
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that would be different from the natural name if you would,
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because there was that always this recognition.
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We wanted to keep in mind that when we're a Christian, we're a
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new creature in Christ. But here Moses is singling out
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this man by the name of Hoshea, and his name literally means the
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deliverer. And as I shared last week, his
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job wasn't to deliver the children from Egypt.
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That was Moses's job, but his job would to be complete the
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delivery to take them into the promised land.
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And he just had that kind of a character and that kind of
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personality that you could say, wow, this is a guy that's going
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to be strong, He's going to be courageous and he's going to
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lead the people in. But Moses gave him a name
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change, if you would, and they changed his name from Hosea to
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Joshua. Now the one means the deliverer,
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but this means Jehovah, our deliverer.
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And this is a very important concept for us to understand as
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Christians because when we come into this world, we have our
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natural person that we're born in.
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In the natural world, we have our genetics, we have our
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experiences to make us into the person that we're called to be.
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And the Bible tells us in the book of Psalms chapter 139, Gods
Psalms 139 chapter mention
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involved in those things. He was in our mother's womb.
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He fashioned the days for us when we were yet unborn with the
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idea that because His call was upon us before we were born,
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there would come in time when we would respond to Him and be born
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again. So that we wouldn't just be that
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natural person. We could be what I'd call a
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supernatural person. Because once we're born again,
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we have a spiritual side to us and a natural side.
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And this is what this name represents.
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You're a deliverer, you're a strong person.
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But when you have gone to your side, wow, that's going to
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exponentially increase what you're able to do.
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And that's why it's important for us to understand.
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And I like to talk about this a lot these days because I really
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believe we're living in a time when God wants to do something
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that according to the Scriptures, is exceedingly and
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abundantly above all that we could ask or think.
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But it's only going to be possible for us as we let God
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work in us and we come to that new creature in Christ, that
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reality that God has for us that we're talking about in this time
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as we're thinking about Joshua and the children of Israel going
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into the promised land. Now we have our own Joshua, if
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you would. And I spoke about this last
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week, how that when Mary became pregnant, Joseph was going to
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put her away privately. The Bible says we're familiar
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with that story from the Christmas season because he was
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a kind and a just man. He wasn't going to marry her
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because she was already pregnant.
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She had committed a sin according to the law of Moses.
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But the Angel Lord comes to him and begins to speak to him and
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give him a clarity on the situation.
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And when he does, he says this, she shall bring forth a son, and
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you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from
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their sins. So all this was done that it
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might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the
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prophet saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child and
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bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is
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translated God with us. And the name Jesus, as I
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mentioned last week, is a special name to us.
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But that's the Greek version of the name Joshua.
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So when Joseph was given the name, it wasn't significant in
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the sense that it was a special name.
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It would have been because he would have remembered the story
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of Joshua and he would have known what the name meant
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because it translates from the Hebrew language as a person who
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is able to do that, delivering power.
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And that's why he says His name shall be called Joshua.
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Again, we call Jesus because He will save the people from their
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sin. And I was like to point that out
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because a lot of people think God only saves us from the guilt
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and penalty of sin, but God wants us to know He can
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literally save us from our sin. How do we know that's a big
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difference and how do you know that takes a step of faith?
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Amen. And that's what I believe that
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God is saying to us today. We've got to take that step of
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faith where we believe that God is able to not only forgive us
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of our sin, but deliver us from our sin.
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Most of the sin that we have in our life is self-destructive.
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And Jesus said I didn't just come to make you alive.
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I have come to give you the abundant life.
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Anybody out there want an abundant life, God can give it
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to us. Amen.
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And that's important for us to understand.
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But the second part is in this particular case, that his name
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wouldn't be just Joshua, if you would, but his name would be
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Emmanuel, which literally translates God is with us.
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And of course, as Christians, we should understand, according to
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our theology as Christians, Jesus Christ was truly man, but
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he was also truly God. There was the God part and there
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was the man part. And that's true of all of us.
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When we're born again, we aren't truly God like Jesus was, of
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course. But when we're born again, how
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many know we have our natural part and we have our God part as
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we receive God into our heart and into our life.
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And Jesus Christ lived a very normal life for the 1st 30 years
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of his life, if you could call it normal when you go to Isaiah
Isaiah 53 chapter mention
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chapter 53 and see some of the things that he went through.
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But at that time he talked about the anointing coming upon him
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and then he began a supernatural ministry.
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A lot of times people say I wonder what kind of miracles
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were Jesus work be when he was just a child.
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And there's some books out there that supposedly talk about it
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that were not received as a church Canon because they were
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mostly recognized right away that they weren't written
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inspired of the Holy Spirit. Because truly the beginning of
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his ministry was supposed to start when he was in the temple.
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And he said the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.
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And he was quoting Isaiah chapter 61 because the Lord hath
Isaiah 61 chapter mention
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anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, the opening of
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prison to them that are bound, and also to proclaim the
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acceptable year of our Lord. He had a three-year earthly
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ministry, but we like to emphasize how important it is
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for us to understand. He also has a resurrected
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ministry, if you would, because the Bible says he ever lives to
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make intercession for us and he told his disciples and I will
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build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against
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it. Isn't that an awesome thing,
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church, that we're a part of something Jesus Christ is
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billing and it is a spiritual habitation.
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And the Bible says that we are the living stones that truly are
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a part of that. Now as the children of Israel,
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we're getting ready to go into the promised land.
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The Bible tells us that they sent spies into the land, just
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like in that scripture that I said.
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But when they sent the spies into the land, the idea was to
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get a strategy of war. But unfortunately, when they
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sent the 12 spies in, 10 of the spies had a bad report about the
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land. And that's what this next verse
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of Scripture is about, it says. But the men who had gone up with
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him said, we are not able to go up against the people, for they
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are stronger than we. And they gave the children of
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Israel bad report for the land which they had spied out,
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saying, the land which you have gone as spies is a land that
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devours its inhabitants, and all the people with whom it is are
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men of great stature. There we saw the giants, the
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descendants of Anik. They came from the giants, and
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we are like grasshoppers in our own sight.
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And so we were in their sight. Now I put up here the promised
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land, or you could call it the land of Struggle.
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Now that's very important to understand because we have to
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recognize that struggle is a part of life.
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How do you know when you were born?
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You were born with a struggle. If you don't know that, call Mom
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and ask her about it. It's important to understand
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that it's quite a process to be in travail and have a child.
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And as a pastor for all these years, we've seen a lot of
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people, especially our family members who have passed over to
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the other side and typically they're suffering that's
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involved in that. I remember an elderly pastor,
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Mom Bill from the church office, trained at, She was doing a
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service for the elderly people in the church, and she was quite
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elderly at that time. She says.
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I don't know why we have to suffer so to get to the other
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side, but there often times is a struggle getting to the other
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side. And if you want to be honest,
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there's a struggle from the beginning to the end.
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Not every day is a struggle, but how, you know, life has its
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struggles. And I'm kind of an optimistic
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person, and I kind of look at the good side of life, if you
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would. So I remember talking to Pastor
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Joe Milosek one day, and I said, you know, I've never really had
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any struggles in life. He looks at me.
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He said, Lauren, you had muscular dystrophy, You had
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seizures. Those are struggles.
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I'm like, yeah, I guess I did have struggles because I didn't
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ever look at it that way, because that's just kind of my
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personality, the way I look at life.
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But the truth is we all have struggles, and sometimes we have
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struggles that seem like they're just not going to go away.
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Sometimes we look back at our life and we look at struggles
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we've been through, and we can't figure out, well, what was that
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all about? But we have to understand that
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struggle is a normal part of the human experience.
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I think that's very important in the day in which we Live Today.
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Last week being Independence Day celebration, we talked about the
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fact that as a country we were born in a struggle called the
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Revolutionary War, and it took many years to really be free.
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Indeed, that brought on the War of 1812.
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But they talk a lot on the news these days.
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And it seems obvious that we are very divided nation, that
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there's people on this side saying this, people on this side
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saying this, people on one side are saying the people on other
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side are not telling the truth. And I remember one day here and
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somebody saying there's never been such a divided country as
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we have today. And I thought this must this
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person must not remember we had a civil war church.
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Our country has always had struggles and there's always
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been different sides, and I really believe it's the
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struggles that have made us such a great nation.
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And I say that not just because I'm a patriotic American.
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If you look at the world and you understand why millions of
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people are trying to get across the borders to be a part of our
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country, it's because we are a very blessed nation.
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God is a part of that, no question about it, because the
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church certainly has been a part of the struggle and has been a
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very good influence. But a lot of that is is we have
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had struggles along the way, and struggle is how you get to the
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place where you're supposed to be.
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Remember a couple weeks ago I talked about Jacob one day.
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He's wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, and the Bible tells us
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that the Angel of the Lord said to him, let me go, the day's
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breaking. Jacob said, I'm not going to let
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you go until you bless me. And of course the Angel of the
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Lord said, well, what's your name?
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Well, my name is Jacob. Well, it's not going to be Jacob
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anymore. It's going to be Israel.
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And the Bible says he got the blessing, probably not the
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blessing he wanted, but the blessing that we all need to
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understand is what God does in our life, and that's given us
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that new name. But when he gave him the new
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name, he said your name will be called Israel because you have
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struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.
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A part of the new creation is recognizing that life has its
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struggles, but God wants to use those struggles apart as a part
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of the life transformation that we are supposed to go through.
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Now, when it uses the word struggle there, it's could be
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implied that you're talking about a war or a real violent
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upheaval, but that's really not what it's talking about.
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He was wrestling with the Angel of the Lord.
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And how do you know when the Angel Lord said, let me go?
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And he said, I'm not going to let you go.
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How do you know? The Angel Lord could have said,
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Oh yeah, you're going to let me go?
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Come on. That's true.
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The Bible says even touch the thigh of his hip and he was
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limping the rest of his life. The Angel Lord could have got
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free anytime he wanted to. But the point of this is, is he
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was willing to hold on for the blessing that life would have to
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offer and cherish. God has called us to hold on and
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I've been believing God to do some things for the 47 years
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I've been in ministry and I've seen him don't do so much.
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But I'm still looking for the end result, if you would.
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That's why I love that song, that new song we sing because it
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talks about having a vision, talks about yielding to God, but
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it talks about how God is going to bring to pass his wisdom for
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the church. And that's the day and hour in
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which we live right now. Church.
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I'm excited. I believe with everything within
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me, it's like the church has come to the promised land and
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God's saying to us it's time to crossover.
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There's going to be a level of promise we've never experienced
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before, but we have to understand there's going to be a
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struggle. When the children of Israel got
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to the promised land and they found out they were giants,
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they're like, I don't want to do that.
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I don't want to do that. It's a land flowing with milk
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and honey. It's the promised land.
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They were slaves in Egypt for 400 years.
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They didn't really have much of A formal religion.
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They just had a right called the circumcision of the flesh to
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remind them that their ancestor from the past, Abraham, had
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received a promise from God, had sealed it with a covenant of
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circumcision and said one day you're going to get with the
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land of Canaan as your inheritance.
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It was the promised land, a land they had heard was going to flow
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with milk and honey. So when they come to the
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promised land, they have to fight with the giants.
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And they're like, you didn't tell me there was going to be a
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struggle involved in this. Well, that's the way it is when
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we become a Christian. When you give your life to God,
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your life struggles don't end. They just take a whole new
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dimension as God can become involved in those.
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And when we look at how God has introduced struggle, it's
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important for us to understand that.
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I've often heard over the years people say, you know, Christians
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have to be united. We have to kind of get together.
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And part of the thinking of that is we have to figure out how to
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get along. So if we're going to get along,
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well, you can't believe that. I can't believe this.
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You can't talk about the truth. Well, I can't quit talking about
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the truth because you will know the truth and the truth will
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make you free. Amen, Charge.
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But the point I have is that if we all do what God wants us to
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do, how you know we will be united?
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We might look at it and not understand how we're united
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because we don't always know everything that God is doing.
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But it the struggle and our differences are good because we
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bring life to each other. Sometimes we bring a little bit
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of a evening out to each other, but the church is alive.
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Christians are God's people and God uses everyone for his
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purpose. But we've got to fully follow
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the purpose God has for us. Amen.
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Because God introduced his struggle in the very beginning
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of time. He created the natural order and
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then he put mankind in the garden, said be proofful
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multiple. He fill up the earth and take
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dominion, and so he introduced struggle right away.
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The Bible says that he created woman who was taken out a man
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and she was the opposite of him. How do you know that meant a
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struggle? Come on, if you're married, say
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Amen. Just kind of consent to what I'm
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saying. It doesn't mean you're supposed
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to have a war with each other. It means that it takes a
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struggle to get to the best marriage, takes a struggle to
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get to the best of what God has for us.
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And that's what God wants us to understand their individual
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lives. There's a struggle right now to
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get where God wants us. I believe that God's creating a
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stirring in the land. Part of that story might be you
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might be just thinking, well, I'm just not satisfied right
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now. What's going on?
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God says it's time to go into the promised land.
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It's time to take full possession of everything that I
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said I called you to, says the mighty God.
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When they came to this land, they only looked at it, a
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natural observation. And So what happened is they had
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a natural convention. We looked at those giants and
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the Scripture says, and I think this is interesting, we saw
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ourself as grasshoppers before them.
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And so that's how they saw us. Church, if you see your obstacle
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as something that you can overcome, it's going to overcome
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you. But when you see your obstacle
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from God's point of view, you know that I can do all things
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through Christ who strengthens me.
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Amen, Church. You know that no weapon that's
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formed against you can prosper. And even every tongue that rises
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up against you in judgment, the Bible says God will condemn
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because this is the urges of the Saints and their righteousness
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is of me. And so the children of Israel
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missed the opportunity. And unfortunately what happened
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is God said, well, you guys don't want the land, you won't
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get the land. And so they wandered in the
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wilderness for 40 years. God says, don't be one of those
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people that says, I don't want the best that life has to offer.
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Be one of those people who says, you know what, I'm going to take
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the land in Jesus name, Amen. Well, that's what Joshua and
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Caleb were like, it says. But Joshua the son of Non and
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Caleb the son of Jephena, who were among those who had spied
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out the land, tore their clothes.
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They spoke to all the congregation of Israel saying
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the land we passed through to spy out, it's an exceedingly
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good land. If the Lord delights in us, He
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will bring us into this landing, give it to us, a land which
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flows with milk and honey only. Do not rebel against the Lord,
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nor fear the people, the land, for they are our bread.
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Their protection has departed from them and the Lord is with
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us. Do not fear them.
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Now it's important to understand because He says that we have to
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be a people that see the potential not.
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The potential of destruction. When Jesus Christ came to the
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earth, he said you must be born again.
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If you're born again, you can both see and enter into the
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Kingdom of God. That's our promised land.
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God will give you the ability to see things from his perspective.
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God will give you the strength to take the land that God has
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before you, Jesus said to his followers.
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It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
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That's why if you notice in that verse, Joshua said them now if
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we do what God wants us to do, he will give us the land.
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You see, the struggle isn't something that we accomplished
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something the struggles within ourselves to be obedient to what
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God has for us and the struggle to say, I want everything that
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God has for me. And the if God is well, if God
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speaks, you can be sure he's going to do what he says he's
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going to do Amen, Church. And so we have to be a people
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that understand that God is calling us right now and this is
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such a special time in God. Now.
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I like what he said here. He said, and these giants are
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just going to be bread for us to eat.
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What what are you talking about? Well, the giants are the
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breakfast of champions, as it used to say on the Wheaties box
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because if you're willing to accept the challenge that God
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sets in front of you, it literally becomes bread for you
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to eat. It nourishes you, it strengthens
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you, it has a supernatural impact on you.
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Now that means you do it with God's help.
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That's why when Jesus is was in the wilderness himself and the
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devil came to tempt him, he had been fasting for 40 days and the
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devil come to him and said, well here, why don't you turn that
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bread in that stone into some bread so you can eat.
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He said man does not live by bread alone, but by every word
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that proceeds from the mouth of God.
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I'm not just going to pray that that becomes satisfying to me.
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I'm going to pray that God will give me a word of instruction so
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I'll know what to do. Anybody following this right
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now, how we know it's time to get some real bread right now,
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The world we live in today, there's so much bread to eat
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because there's a whole lot of giants in this land.
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But now God's saying to the people of God, it's time to be
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like Joshua and get your nourishment because this is a
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day when God is going to do that great and powerful work that he
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promised. Hey man, give him a praise on
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that. Now this next verse of Scripture
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is kind of sad because it's basically God lament.
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If you would preach this on a Wednesday night a few weeks back
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that we have to understand that well, we're creating the image
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and likeness of God. He created us with emotions.
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He has emotions, He wants us to express love to Him, and when we
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don't, it can feel bad for him. In that sense it says, then the
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Lord said, I have pardoned according to your word.
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But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the
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glory of the Lord, because all these men who have seen my glory
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in the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and
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I've put me to the test now these 10 times, and I've not
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heeded my voice. They certainly shall not see the
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land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those
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who rejected me see it. What is He talking about here?
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Well, after they had rejected the opportunity that God had,
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God was upset and the Bible says he said to Moses, OK, Moses,
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I've had my fill. Let's kind of just get rid of
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this group and I'll raise up another seed after you to take
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the promised land. Now, how do you know if the Lord
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did that? It would still be Abraham's
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seed, so he wouldn't be breaking his covenant with the people.
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It'd just be a longer process if you would.
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Well, Moses had this great opportunity, but he's like, no,
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God, don't do that If you're not going to take them in the
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promised line. I don't want to go in the
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promised line. Forgive this people.
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And that's when God said, OK, I'll forgive them.
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I'll give them mercy, but they won't go into the land.
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Now that's a very important Scripture church, because a lot
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of people want God's mercy, but they don't want his empowerment.
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And it seems like that's the easiest way out.
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Oh, let God's grace come and forgive me.
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Yes, but you're missing on the promised land.
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You're missing out on the inheritance.
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You're missing out on the things that God has for you.
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And God's missing out on a people.
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And that's what's so very important because God goes on to
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say, well, one of these days the glory of the Lord is going to be
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revealed in all flesh, is going to see it together.
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What did he mean? One of these days there's going
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to be a people who say, God, I'm going to take that land.
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God, I'm going to go in and do what you have told me I can do
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with your help. And what does that do?
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That reveals the glory of God. Church, I want to do something
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in my life that brings glory to God.
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That means ask me something more than Lauren Corubius can do
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himself, but something that with God, I can know that all things
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are possible. And I hear that lament when I
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pray because I've been for 47 years.
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And Lord, I want to be that person that doesn't let you
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down. I don't want you to say, OK, you
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can just have my mercy. No, Lord, I want to be like
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Joshua and Caleb. I want to go in and take the
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land that you promised me. Amen Church.
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He's calling us there. Now this is an interesting
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scripture because he says, but my servant Caleb, because he has
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a different what speared in him and has what followed me fully,
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I will bring into the land where he went and his descendant shall
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inherit it. Now this is where it's good to
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see what the definition for Caleb is in the original Hebrew.
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It basically says he was like an attack dog.
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So here's courageous Joshua and his sidekick the attack dog
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come. You know, they were quite a
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team. I want to be a Joshua.
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I want to be a Caleb. I prefer Joshua.
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But anyway, this is what Caleb was like.
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And why was he like this? Well, the same reason Joshua
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was. He didn't have the same spirit
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in its demonstration. It was he had the spirit that
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says I want everything that God says is mine.
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I want my life to fully represent everything that God
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can do. That's number one, but it talks
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about having a different spirit. Now this is important to
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understand because when God created us from the earth, he
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created his body and then he breathed in our nostrils the
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breath of life and then we became a living being.
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That breath of life is the human spirit, the candle of the Lord.
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What makes us aware there's a God makes us aware there's an
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us. And that human spirit of is a
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very big part of what God wants to do in working in us to make
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it possible for us to do something awesome in this life.
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And so it's so very important for us to recognize the work
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that God can do. Look what it says in Ezekiel 36
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and I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within
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you, and I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and
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give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within
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you and cause you to walk in my statues and will keep my
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judgments and do them. This is the Jesus plan, give you
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a new heart. But I want you also know that
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it's a new spirit which is separate from Him giving us his
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spirit. Now that's very important
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because of the first Joshua. All he could do is exhort the
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children of residents like, come on you guys, let's do it.
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But Jesus, our Joshua says I can do this through you if you'll
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let me. He's not just exhorting us to
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take the challenge. He's saying I will give you a
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new heart, I will give you a new spirit.
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I will cause you to fully walking if you're willing, I'm
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able to do that. But you got to give me your
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heart and your spirit says the Lord.
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And that's why I put up here separate.
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I will put my spirit in you. I will put because he gives us a
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new heart, He gives us a new spirit, and then he puts his
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Spirit in us. That's a beautiful experience
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being born again. Amen.
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Church. If we're born of the water and
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of the Spirit and then open up our spirit, God will come and
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inhabit us fully that we can be the demonstration of his glory
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in the earth. Wow, what a plan our Joshua will
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do in US. What's necessary for us to face
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the life that we're facing Church.
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Now this is a very important scripture because it says for we
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have become partakers of Christ. If we hold the beginning of our
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confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said today, if you
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will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the
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rebellion. For who having heard, rebelled?
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Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
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The reason we need a new heart is because in our old heart
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that's been damaged by our life experiences.
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For the children visible was in the wilderness.
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What they did when they were going through these distresses,
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they kept hardening their heart, hardening their heart.
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And what happened is after a while they couldn't hear the
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voice of God because it's with the heart man believes the Bible
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says, and with the mouth confession is made unto
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salvation. So today, if you want to hear
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God's word, hey, give him your heart.
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If you've hardened your heart because of circumstances of your
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life, today God can give you a new heart.
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And if you've never given your life fully to the Lord, you can
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surrender that today. Go to the waters of baptism and
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receive the Spirit as a living God in your life.
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Church, God has such a great plan for us.
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Amen. Today if we will hear His voice
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and let Him do with our heart. Wow, God has some awesome
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things, but I also want to talk about the human spirit because
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this is important. Furthermore, we have had a human
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Father who corrected us, and we paid them respect.
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Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father
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of what spirits, and live? And remember, the divine breast
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came from the Father. He's not talking about other
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spheres, angels, He's talking about the spirit that's in us.
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For they indeed for a few days chastened us, as seemed best to
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them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His
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Holiness. Now, no chastening seems to be
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joyful for the present, but painful nevertheless afterward.
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What does it do? It yields the peaceable fruit of
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righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
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How does God give us a new spirit?
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Well, it's just like when He gives us a new heart.
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I mean, you get a new heart, but you got to keep giving Him back
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your heart. In church, the same thing is
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true. The human spirit.
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The human spirit is basically our subconscious self and that's
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why we can't always be aware of what God is doing.
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But he says the Father works in our spirit.
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How does he do that? Well, when we're going through
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the issues of life, when we're going through struggles, if you
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would, if we give Him our heart and our spirit, then the Father
-
is able to work in US and produce His true holiness to
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make us more like He has called us to be.
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As we surrender ourselves to Him, that's when we know God as
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our Father, the Father of spirits and the very breath that
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He has put inside of us, our human spirit.
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He begins to fashion and form into something strong like you
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can and be like Joshua and the natural have a lot of hoods fit
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if you would and just like wow, I'm going to be able to do this.
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God can give you that. He can give you a new heart and
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also a new spirit. And I love how it says if we're
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trained by it now in the original new King James version
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or excuse me in the King James Version, it says that, but in
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the original translation it says who are exercised be it by it.
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And I always like to point this out because sometimes when we go
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both situations in our life and we look back at them, we can't
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say, oh, that's what good came out of that.
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Does anybody have a part of life you've been through?
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Maybe you're going through right now and you're like, what's God
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going to do with this? You might never know, but if you
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give him your heart and your spirit, one day you'll realize,
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wow, God gave me a new heart and a new sphere.
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He made me available for him. And that brings forth the fruit
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of the Spirit, which is what the fruit of spirit is.
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Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness,
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faithfulness, gentleness, and ultimately self-control.
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Against such there is no law. Those who are Christ have
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crucified the flesh with its own passions and desires.
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So if we're going to live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the
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Spirit. God says I made you alive and
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now I can make you the walk the path as you surrender yourself
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to me. When I first received the
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baptism of the Holy Spirit as during the Jesus People
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movement, and I was a part of a Pentecostal church at the time,
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and we always thought that after you received the Holy Spirit,
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the goal was give up control. They just say things like let go
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and let God. Well, the ultimate work of the
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Holy Spirit isn't that we let go just say, oh, I'm totally
-
surrendered. It means God gives you
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self-control. He gives you the ability to make
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the right choices, to walk with strength and be everything that
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he has called you to be. And that's such an awesome thing
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in church. I really believe with all my
-
heart we're living in that time. In Hebrews chapter 12 it says
Hebrews 12 chapter mention
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this, but you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living
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God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable company of angels,
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to the General Assembly and Church of the first born who are
-
registered in heaven, to God the judged of all, to the spirits of
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just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new
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Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling.
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That speaks better things than that of Abel.
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When Jesus said He was building His church.
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You know, he started way back when, when He called Abraham in
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the very beginning. And there's this process that
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he's been building. I wrote a whole book on this
-
called The Descending New Jerusalem because a lot of
-
people think this is talking about heaven.
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But when you read it and it talks about the church and talks
-
about the spirits of just men made perfect it, it lets you
-
know that this is the whole plan of God.
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We have God who is our Father. We have Jesus Christ who gave
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his life for us. The new covenant is forgiveness.
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But then we have our heavenly Father can perfect us in our
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spirit. And I really believe that we're
-
going to see the fulfilment of this vision.
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That's why I showed the picture before church starts of the
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descending New Jerusalem concerns.
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I believe this is the day when God's putting on the final
-
touches, and a part of that is a people who are going to let God
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truly give them not just a new heart, but a new spirit to walk
-
with power in this day. I'm going to ask everyone to bow
-
their heads and close your eyes for just a moment because I
-
believe with all my heart this is a very special time in God.
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God's word to the church, God's Word to you as it's time to take
-
hold of the promise, take a step outside of yourself into God's
-
dimension to have power in your life.
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Not to have a life that's out of control, but a life that's in
-
control that you can offer to God and let His glory be
-
revealed. This is an important time when
-
the glory of the Lord's going to be revealed and people are going
-
to do it many different areas of life.
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It's going to be an amazing time for the glory of the Lord shall
-
be revealed in all flesh, shall see it together.
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Why do I know that? Well, the mouth of the Lord has
-
spoken it, and you're chosen to reveal the glory of the Lord to
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your generation. Father, as we present ourselves
-
fully to you, I pray Lord, that we would fully yield our heart,
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fully yield our spirit, that you can complete the work in us.
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We ask it in Jesus mighty name as we give you the glory.
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Amen. This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius
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from Mount Zion Church. We thank you for joining us
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today and invite you to connect with our church family by
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visiting mountzion.org and following us on social media.
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God bless you.