Sermon
This is the Confidence
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Okay, guys, last week we talked about how two things that we don't want to forget we
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are is one, that we are an authentic family of sacrificial love and must become that,
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and that we are a restored community of true disciples and must become that.
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So it's a continuous process.
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One of the things that's required for being a restored community of true disciples is
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what we want to talk about today.
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It's essential to almost grasping any and everything that God has for a restored community.
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Because the strange thing about a restored community is everything has been restored
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by Christ on the cross 2,000 years ago and therefore can only be appropriated with faith.
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So there's no restoration without faith.
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The restoration that happens without faith is the grace of God that is given to us
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before we are believers and also after we are believers.
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But most things are restored when people trust God and his sons' words on the cross that it is finished.
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That is when restoration happens.
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Restoration does not happen without appropriating that which has been finished in faith.
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Any questions on that?
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Because if you want things restored, you have to trust the restorer and the fact that he's
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already done the work.
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Otherwise, restoration is difficult.
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Thank you.
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Oh, no, I'm just kidding.
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Yeah.
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So let me make that statement again.
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There is no restoration that can be completed without appropriating things by faith.
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I mean, if there was one restoration that was done on the cross, it was that Jesus Christ
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died for every human being.
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But that restoration is not complete in a person's life till he accepts Christ as Savior and Lord.
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Faith is required for restoration to be complete.
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Just remember that always, eh?
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Faith is required for restoration to be complete.
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Anything that needs to be restored.
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And if we are saying that we are a restored community of true disciples, restoration requires
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a grasp of faith and the works of faith that has to be so extreme.
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And so today's teaching is going to be extreme.
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Repentance fits in during times of salvation and during times of still getting it wrong.
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That's part of restoration too.
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I mean, there are other parts of restoration too, eh?
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Unfortunately, I won't be able to cover all of them.
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Today I'm only going to be looking at faith being an essential part of restoration.
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Like Marcus just said, again, if I don't turn from my ways, then restoration won't happen either.
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But today, the one thing that we need to understand is everything that Christ has finished has
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to be appropriated with and through faith.
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And we're going to talk about faith today as an essential part of a restored community.
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And it's going to be an extreme teaching.
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And by extreme teaching, all I'm saying is it'll sound like we are taking Jesus at his
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word and going gung-ho to the point that you'll think this is a word of faith teaching and
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it's not.
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If you don't know it, blessed are you.
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Yeah.
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Don't go research that.
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It's not worth your time.
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Yeah.
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So, guys, so here's the first statement.
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Faith is basically entering into what God has already done or wants to do with you.
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Faith is entering into what God has already done or wants to do with you or for you.
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Faith is entering into what God has already done or wants to do with you or for you.
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So he is the beginner.
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He is the author.
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He is the initiator of these things.
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It's not something that he's being coaxed into.
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It's not something that he's fighting against.
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It's not something that he's reluctant about.
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It is something that he initiates.
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Faith is entering into what God has already done or what God wants to do either with you
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or for you.
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It must take away from our minds this idea that faith is hard work.
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It's actually a work of love.
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All the promises of the Father were birthed in love for you.
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All the promises of God, which the Bible says are yes and amen in Christ, were birthed in
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love.
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All these promises were given for my benefit.
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It was for my livelihood here on earth and for eternal life hereafter that the Father
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birthed promises.
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How did he birth promises?
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He birthed promises by speaking to them and saying, this is what I bequeath to you.
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He birthed these promises out of his love for me, for you, so that we may know how to
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partake in his divine nature here on earth and in the future.
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After he birthed these promises in love, his son goes ahead and through love, his son pays
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for it so that it can be ours.
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He pays for it because sinners or those that are enemies of God cannot appropriate that
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which is of God.
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So the son goes and makes everyone God's friend by dying on the cross.
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So the Father birthed these promises in love.
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The son pays for these promises in love.
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This is why when he says it is finished, it's a completion of all the promises that God
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had for his people.
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These are love promises.
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They are not hostile promises.
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They are not reluctant, grudgingly given promises.
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The Holy Spirit then brings it into my life with love.
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The Holy Spirit brings it into my life with love.
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The Holy Spirit's one desire is, can I take what Jesus said?
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Can I take what the Father said?
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And can I help Jacob taste, realize, rejoice, recognize, enjoy it?
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This is the Holy Spirit's desire.
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His desire is to reveal the fullness and the goodness of Jesus.
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His desire is to reveal the fullness and the goodness of God.
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His desire is to take what God has said through the ages and then bring it to pass in my
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life.
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He does this with a degree of eagerness, yearns jealously to bring to pass what God has birthed
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in his love and the son has paid in his love.
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Given that these things have happened out of love, it is best that they are appropriated
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as ones who are in love with the one who did all this.
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When faith is without love, it's ugly.
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It becomes a strenuous exercise.
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It becomes contractual.
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It becomes work.
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But when faith is appropriated as this is what my Father has promised, this is what
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my elder brother has paid for, this is what the Holy Spirit yearns to reveal in my life,
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then I as a son approach my Father knowing that, oh God, this is not a transaction that
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is contractual.
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This is the heart of the Father towards the son and the son goes towards it rejoicing
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with simple trust that comes easily.
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Remove love from faith and you've got nothing.
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We usually take faith and hope and we hold them together but the one element missing
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is love because if this is not something that originates from a relationship, it becomes
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contractual and once it becomes contractual, it becomes ugly.
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Where the faith movement lost a grasp on faith was when it became contractual and when
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the idea of relationship and the father-son aspect was removed from it, it became ugly
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because the moment you think that faith is some kind of a covenantal bond that God has
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now tied himself to and must perform, then you will measure things by whether you receive
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the object you're standing in faith for instead of measuring it by the relationship that you're
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presently engaged in.
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The reason Hebrews chapter 11 towards the end in verse 38 and 39 speaks of people who
Hebrews 11 chapter mention
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never got what they stood in faith for but hails them as heroes is because they saw something
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that their father showed them that is far better than the material possessions that
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they could have gotten even though they stood in faith for it till the moment they died.
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May some of you stand in faith and not get what you want and we will still say you're
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a hero because you stood in faith and died.
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That's an aspect we never touch.
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Hebrews chapter 11 ends at 33 and yet it says many stood in faith and did not see their
Hebrews 11 chapter mention
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promise come to pass.
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That which was promised by God did not come to pass.
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Why?
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Because they saw something greater.
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That kind of faith requires relationship.
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It's born out of love.
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If we forget this we lose everything guys.
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Every promise of God was birthed for me out of love.
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Every promise of God was fulfilled on the cross by Christ out of love.
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Every promise of God is brought alive into my life out of love by the Holy Spirit.
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And it requires that Jacob now reach forth and appropriate it as a son not as a Christian
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not as a man of faith.
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When faith is viewed as a contract God makes with you that he is bound to keep the object
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or the object of faith becomes a focus.
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When faith is viewed as a promise that a loving father makes to his son goodness and the faithfulness
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of God becomes the focus.
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The goodness and the faithfulness of God becomes the focus.
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Guys I'm telling you if we don't think like this faith becomes so strenuous God becomes
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ugly.
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God becomes a tease who tells you to jump higher and higher and keeps lifting up his
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hand higher and higher.
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So it doesn't matter how much you jump up like a dog you never get the piece of meat
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and you begin to have to theologize saying there must be some greater reason behind him
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lifting his hand higher.
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It just gets so ugly.
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Any questions before we go on?
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Doesn't matter whether it's the Holy Spirit whether it's the healing whether it's deliverance
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whether it's provision whether it's Hebrews 11 35 to 37 whether it's advancing the kingdom
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in everything you lose this aspect if lose this aspect I have lost it all and the God
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I believe in turns out to be ugly.
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Because all that has to happen it's time the time that it takes to get to the finish line
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will make you resentful against God.
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Any questions?
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The mission is never complete without appropriating things by faith because it was done it was
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restored it was finished 2000 years ago.
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It is an invisible thing that you have to bring into the visible.
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Go ahead.
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Kind of and we'll go there.
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The thing in the spirit sounds like very scary but it's actually very simple.
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Thank God for these simplicities.
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The first guys faith first names a journey or an outcome faith first names a journey
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or an outcome faith.
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It is not faith if you don't name what you are expecting as an outcome or you are starting
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out on a journey.
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Many nowadays do not name the journey or the outcome because they are scared that if things
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fail people will think are shucks so they do not name a journey or an outcome.
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But throughout the Bible you will see that unless God specifically told someone to be
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quiet there was always a naming of a journey or an outcome.
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There was a naming of but I will have a son Isaac.
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There was a naming of I'm important but I will change my name to Abraham.
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There was a naming of you take my bones and put that in that tent there and doesn't matter
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how many years you're stuck in Egypt when you leave you will take my bones with you
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and you will bury it in another land.
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There is always a naming of a journey or an outcome when it comes to faith and if you
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don't name it then you are playing it safe.
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One of our greatest enemies, one of my greatest enemies when it comes to faith is pride.
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Pride wants to protect Jacob.
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And humility causes faith to thrive and humility is transparent.
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Faith first names a journey or an outcome then after that it recognizes the impossibility
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of what you have just named.
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The impossibility of the journey or the outcome.
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This is impossible.
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It recognizes that.
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When you read Romans chapter 4 verse 16 to 20 you will see Abraham going through this
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process.
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He names it.
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You have called me father of nations.
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I got to change my name from Abraham to Abraham but there's a problem.
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I recognize the importance of my life at 75 to 99.
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It recognizes the impossibility.
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After it recognizes the impossibility then dares to trust God joyfully.
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It dares to trust God joyfully.
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I pray God that anybody who is missing in church today go listen to this.
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This is a wrong day to be missing but some had really good reasons.
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Dare to trust God with joy.
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I'll tell you why joy can kick in later.
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Just remind me why does joy have to kick in?
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We'll talk about it later.
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Then it grasps the journey or outcome as your present possession.
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It grasps the journey or the outcome as your present possession.
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That's why joy kicks in.
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One knows that one is standing in faith when one is thankful and joyful even though the
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outcome hasn't come through.
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And the reason one is joyful and thankful even though the outcome hasn't come through
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is because one actually believes that it is done.
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Like I told Don that for his birthday I'll give him a ticket to Victoria.
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He is so joyful and thankful for the last two years he's been talking about it.
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Because he's so sure that he's going to Victoria.
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I said that to him two years ago.
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One of these birthdays he will end up going to Victoria.
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He doesn't know which one.
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So he's waiting in hushed anticipation.
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Will it be this one?
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Will it be this one?
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But there's joyfulness and thankfulness in his heart.
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And his brother is even more thankful because that'll be two days without Don.
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The point is this.
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At the end of the day, once you name the outcome, once you dare to recognize that it is impossible,
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then dare to trust him, then you must grasp the outcome as your present possession.
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And that is what brings in joy.
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It's a very evident sign when I'm not trusting God in that I feel afraid that it won't come to pass.
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I feel restless, irritated, frustrated, sometimes resentful, doubtful.
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It's because I'm not able to hold as my present possession that which God has said is yours, Jacob,
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because I promised it.
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Romans 4 instead says,
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Knowing that his condition was hopeless, he began to rejoice ridiculously,
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absolutely convinced that what God has said he would do.
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This is critical to us if we want to be a restored community.
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A restored community doesn't rejoice after restoration happens.
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A restored community rejoices while restoration is happening because they're absolutely confident
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that restoration actually happened 2000 years ago.
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It's a very odd way of living.
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It's looking to the future by looking at the past.
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It's a change of our thinking.
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If our minds are not able to wrap around it, it is simply because one,
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it is not something we can grasp with our gray cells,
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and two, because our minds don't think like that.
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We live in a world that is real, right?
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But this world is realer than the real world.
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It is.
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Once you think you've received it as your present possession,
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it might take three minutes, it might take one day, it might take four years
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for it to show up as touchable, tangible, smellable.
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It might take time, but it is during that time
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that you are proven as either a man or a woman,
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during that time that you are proven as either a man of faith
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or as one who is not able to stand.
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Oh my God, I pray that everybody here gets to a place
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where we know what endurance looks like.
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There's only one caveat really.
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In this is seeing in the spirit fulfilled.
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When I ask according to his will, it is the only caveat.
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When I ask according to his will.
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Most of it is revealed in the written word,
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and some of it is revealed through what God speaks.
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Most of it is revealed through what God speaks or shows you.
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But most of it that we need for life and godliness here on earth
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is already revealed in the written word.
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We're taking an extreme position.
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We are saying that if Jesus has said it,
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then we can trust it and it shall come to pass.
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It is an extreme position.
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It is a position without Greek or Hebrew.
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It is a position of self-assertion.
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It is a position of self-sufficiency.
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It is a position of self-fulfillment.
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And it's a position where I have to trust Jesus.
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When you ask according to his will,
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the strange thing is when you ask according to his will,
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one of the things I'm trying to train myself up in is
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if I know that I ask according to his will,
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I expect a response ASAP.
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as in I know when I ask according to His will that I can expect an answer from God in my spirit.
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That part I'm very sure of. It is biblical. It's how Jesus operated. It's how everybody in the
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Bible operated. They immediately knew in their spirit that God is saying yes or God is saying
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go this way. They always knew. I expect an answer. I'm not saying I expect the outcome to immediately
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show itself. I'm saying I expect an answer. I know now that God has assured. I know now that God is
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saying yes. I know now that God is saying okay Jacob you asked I heard. You asked according to
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my will. I have released it into your spirit. Now begin to gestate. The answer is immediate.
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If you don't think like that then you won't be able to walk in His will.
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When you ask according to His will, train to hear and receive His answer in your spirit
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immediately. Why does He respond immediately? Why does He respond when you ask? Because He
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said it. He said hey I'm the one who wants to release these things into your life.
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When you ask anything according to my determination, according to my choice,
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according to my purpose, according to my delight, why would I hold it back from you?
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I'll release it to your spirit. You may need stronger hands to handle it so it might take a
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year but I release you into this promise that you asked for. Now begin to walk in it as if you
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already possess it. It's not easy but it is absolutely doable. Thousands and thousands and
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thousands of people have done this. You are no exception.
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Then I begin to nurture, gestate, grow this promise in my heart that I know will come to pass.
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Whether it takes a day, three minutes, or four years, I'll nurture it and give substance or
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evidence to that which you and I cannot see. I will nurture it so that I can give substance
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and evidence to that which you and I cannot see but that is the definition of faith.
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Sometimes we do it with rest-filled faith. Sometimes we do it with start and stop struggling
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faith. Hey, go with whichever you can get and then work towards a better option. Sometimes it's
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rest-filled. You just have this absolute assurance. Other times it's the stop and start faith which
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is fine too because God will assure you when you stop so that you can start again.
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This is not a God who's trying to block your way. This is a God who's standing by the sideline and
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saying, run, run, run or a parent who really doesn't want to put up that picture that your
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two-year-old drew but will stick it up on his wall though everything in that picture is wrong.
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That's the kind of father we are talking about who's encouraging us in faith, not opposing us.
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It's during the time that it takes for it to go from that which I know in my spirit to that
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which I feel and touch that doubt kicks in. Doubt comes from a word distazo which simply means
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two-minded, two-minded. Between two minds and it is during the time while you wait for what has
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been said to you either in your spirit or because you read it as a promise, now it's been said you
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have the assurance but it's taking time and as it takes time you begin to doubt. You begin to be in
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two minds. What will God do? How will he do it? How will he work it out? Why couldn't he stop it?
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Where is he? And those are legitimate psalms that you can write to God while you wait.
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You have to not take out the element of relationship and love out of this.
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God can handle a heart that laments without resentment. And by resentment I mean enmity and
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hostility against a father. He can handle it. He can even handle your hostility.
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He's got broad shoulders. My dad could handle my hostility and he was earthly.
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My brother-in-law who had his eye, iris shattered and his retina punctured had a surgical process
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recently and it would be highly painful because they left a tiny air bubble in the eye so that it
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seals the retina. And so when he would move his head one way or the other it would cause
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tremendous pain. And so he would have to be very careful about his eyes. He would have to be very
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careful. And so one night last week he got up and he started in tremendous pain. He started crying out
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the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want the Lord is my shepherd. And he started reciting Psalm 23
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in extreme pain, crying it out. And at one point he stops and he waits for a while and the pain is
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not gone. And he says where are you shepherd? And when I heard this I sent him Psalm 42 and 43
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where David writes why are you so sad my soul? Why so distressed within me? Put your hope in God
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for I will yet praise him. Lament is okay with God.
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Haven't you seen your children do it in pain? What do they do when they are in pain?
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Haven't you seen parents who tell their boys you're a boy? It doesn't matter how much it pains. You
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just stand there and you don't cry. You think that's parenting?
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You read the Psalms and you will see the heart of God.
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Strange, you read the Psalms and you will see the heart of God even though it's
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David lamenting. But during his lament something begins to turn.
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May you get to a place where you don't have to write any more Psalms.
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But if you aren't there start writing Psalms.
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While you're waiting questions will come. Why can't he? Why didn't he stop this in the first place?
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Why couldn't he do this faster? Why is he doing this? Why is it taking so long? Why is he? Why is
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he? Why is he? And that's when two-mindedness comes in. At the end of the day what doubt does
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is doubt affirms that God is able but questions God's character and willingness. What doubt does
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is doubt affirms that God is able. When Christians doubt they are not able to do anything.
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What doubt does is doubt affirms that God is able. When Christians doubt they never doubt that he is
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not able. They always know he's able and powerful. That's never in question. Doubt affirms that he is
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able. Doubt questions his nature and his character and his willingness. Doubt questions his nature
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and willingness but it affirms. That's why it's two-minded. It's caught in this place where you're
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saying, yeah, yeah, my God is able but I'm not sure of his nature as a father or his willingness
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to help and therein lies doubt or double-mindedness.
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That's why it says in Hebrews 10 that faith and patience must work together.
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Faith and patience must work in tandem. Faith and patience must work in tandem. There's this idea of
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immediacy and expectation that have to clash, that doesn't have to collide. Every time you take a
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stand in faith, guys, if you are looking just for immediacy there might be days when it happens and
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you feel like you're on top of Mount Everest or if you think it's only going to be expectation,
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patient, enduring expectation, you might die before you get there. What you have to do is allow
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immediacy and expectancy to collide, faith and patience to do its good work and when that
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tandem does its good work, Hebrews 10.35 says you are rewarded.
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These are not natural to us. We either live in a society that always promises delayed gratification
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after 65 years of working or immediate gratification where you can take coffee powder,
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put it in hot water and drink it and call it coffee. It's neither.
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It's a collision of both. I read this beautiful verse in 1st Thessalonians 1,
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verse 3. 1st Thessalonians 1, verse 3 and it says it brings together three beautiful things.
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It brings together faith, it brings together love and it brings together hope and it says that
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love it. I've read it before but today it stood out like crazy. I just read it this morning.
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That's why it's not in a sheet. 1st Thessalonians 1, 3. It doesn't matter which version you read it from.
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It still sounds good. It says, where's verse 3?
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It says, we continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith,
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your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. What
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a way to live. We continually remember before our God and Father your work inspired by hope
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produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope
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in our Lord Jesus Christ. All three put together. So I just want to take a few verses and look at them
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and take them at faith's value and see where we go from there. So the first one I want to take is
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Mark 11, 23 and 24. Sheldon, watch for the piano man.
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Mark 11, 23 and 25. I've just expanded what, I've just added words in trying to explain what Jesus
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said. Here's what Mark 11, 23 and 24 say. Surely I say to you, this is Jesus speaking,
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surely I say to you, if you Jacob, if you Jacob say, I mean just think of it, surely I say to you,
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if you Jacob, if you actually say to what? I left out that. To this mountain or to this obstacle,
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to this mountain or obstacle. If you say to this mountain,
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or in other words an obstacle or hindrance or something that is in the way or something that,
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if you say then speak, if you say to this mountain be removed as in be loosed, be lifted up,
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be removed. And if you say to this mountain be cast out or thrown away.
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And look at what happens next. And if you don't withdraw in terms of your boldness and your saying
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and your faith, if you don't oppose that which you have just said because you know your rationale
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begins to kick in, if you don't hesitate as in take two steps back and forth and if you don't
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doubt as in become two minded but have faith. One entrusting whatever you're dealing with to Christ
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and two crediting God as able and willing. Then those things that you said
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shall come to pass and you will have whatsoever you say.
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I wish there was a way we could explain this away. It'd be easier to believe if there was
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some Hebrew or Greek explanation that diluted this whole statement Jesus made and makes it iffy or perhaps.
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This is how scary faith can be.
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And then as if that isn't frightening enough, he takes it a step further. Therefore I say to you,
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pardon? Sure. Well that's what you were trying and that's what people were trying to do.
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Pardon? Sure. Well that's what you were trying and that's what people were...
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Are you a member yet? Only members are allowed to move the board. You are, right? Okay.
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Pardon? Yeah.
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And then as if it isn't bad enough that he said this, he now takes it a step further and he says,
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therefore I say everything as in all, anything, everything you desire or ask,
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trust that you have received it, seized or gotten it and you shall have it. Jesus' words, eh?
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And all this happened after the fig tree experience where Peter saw what happened and then he, Mark records this.
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Yes, and we'll talk about that next. I thought of doing the caveat first but then I thought no, I'll do it after.
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Because remember scripture is tapestry. You have to see how it works and weaves its way through.
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Because remember scripture isplicit. You have to see how it works and weaves its way through.
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There's just no way to work around this guys.
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I've been looking at this for the last one week. I've been trying it out.
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not because I want something but because I want this to be normal. If you say Jacob
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to this mountain or this obstacle and we'll go to the caveat next, if you say
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to this mountain or this obstacle be removed as in be lifted up, be loosed, be
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cast off, be thrown away and if you Jacob don't withdraw from what I have promised
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in my will, if you don't begin to oppose with your mind and your heart with your
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thoughts and your feelings because you don't know how to tangibly see it in
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this physical world. If you don't begin to hesitate, go two steps forward, two
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steps backward like a tortoise. If you don't doubt where you become too minded
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about can God do it, yes he can but will he, is his nature good? If you don't go
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down that route but instead if you have faith and what does faith require and
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trusting it to the anointed one and trusting it to the King of Kings. Psalm 37
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commit, roll over things and trusting it to him and crediting God as able and
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willing, crediting him. This is what Abraham did. He credited God as able and
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willing and God credited it back to him as now you are right with me.
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Abraham credited God with you are able, I know you will do what you said, you are
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willing because you are not man that you should lie. He credited to God ability
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and willingness and God credited to Abraham you are my friend and you have
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been made right.
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Then those things you said it goes back to you said my God has Canadian culture
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put a spell on us. Maybe refuse to say, refuse to speak, refuse to speak.
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Maybe refuse to say, refuse to speak.
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Then those things you said shall become or shall come to pass. Those things you
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said shall become or shall come to pass and you will have whatsoever you say.
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Therefore I say everything as in anything and all things that you desire
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or ask and we'll go to the caveat next. Trust that you have, trust that you have
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received it. Have faith that you have received it. It's in the past you have
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received it. Jacob begin to walk like I'm a man who promises and I don't break my
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promise. Begin to walk like I'm a father who loves you and does not tease you
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around or lift the bar higher. Trust me, believe me that way and then you can
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begin to walk as if you have already received it. As if it's your present
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possession. As if you have already seized it. As if you've already gotten it.
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You're willing to trust a goda with your hotel booking and turn up in Hawaii and
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expect them to give you a room if you can trust something called a goda or
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Trivago and go absolutely happy to Hawaii with a hat and a pair of silly
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looking shorts. Surely we can do better. I haven't been to Hawaii so I can take
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potshots at how people go to Hawaii yet. Therefore I say everything you desire or
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ask, trust you have received, seized, gotten it and you shall have it. Any questions on
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that? What a way to live if we get here.
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Very hard man to think like this. That's the problem. Okay so the caveat.
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It's in the Bible you know. You want to turn it around? I don't want to take away
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those privileges from you.
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Okay caveat is first John 5 14 15. First John 5 14 15. That's the only caveat.
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First John 5 14 15. This is the assurance or confidence. This is the
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assurance or confidence you can have in me. You can have in me.
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This is the assurance or confidence that you can have in me. That if you take up,
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ask anything according to my will, choice, purpose, determination.
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I hear you and given that I hear you and given that I hear you and given that I hear
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you, whatever you ask, given that I hear you, whatever you ask, you know then, you
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know then that you have, hold, possess the thing you ask for. The thing you ask
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or desire. First John 5 14 15. The only caveat. This is the assurance you can have
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Jacob. Like this is me God speaking. This is your father. This is me your father.
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This is me God who remember what I said to Moses that am I a man that I lie or am I
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the son of a man that I say something and don't come through with it? This is me
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speaking to you. You're your father who you know quite well. I'm saying to you that
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this is the assurance Jacob but this is the confidence you can have Jacob. That if
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you ask anything, anything Jacob, anything, it covers a whole lot. If you ask anything
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according to my will and if you don't understand will let me explain it to you
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Jacob. According to your will, according to my will as in according to my choice,
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the choices that I make and the better you know my nature the better you know my
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choices. According to my determination, according to my purpose and I've revealed
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most of what you need for life and godliness in the word anyways. You ask me
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anything according to my will in these areas, I hear you. Not just listen, I hear
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you. And given that I hear you, since you're confident that I hear you because I'm
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telling you I hear you when you ask according to my will. If I hear you then
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you can have this absolute confidence that whatever you ask, whatever you have
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desired according to my will, you know then that you have it right now, you hold
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it right now, you possess it right now. Possess what? The thing you asked or
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desired. And then begin to walk in it with such thankfulness and joy.
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How do you find a way around this?
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How do you find a way around this?
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How do you find a way around this?
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How do you find a way around this?
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How do you find a way around this?
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How do you find a way around this?
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How do you find a way around this?
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If it says whosoever then I will pray for the family.
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And I realize that their wills are involved and God will not violate their will.
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But when it comes to things in my life I can change my will.
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But thank God someone prayed for me the whosoever prayer and even though I was very much
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against giving my life to the Lord, God orchestrates, so I would still hold out
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on that promise. Yeah, sorry. Yeah.
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But sometimes we won't know, eh? Sometimes we won't know till the first shall be last
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and the last shall be first. Yeah.
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But through you and for you may things happen like this.
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Through you and for you.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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See, most of the things that I need are in the Word.
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Most of the things that we need are in the Word. The other things require
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asking and hearing and that we are at different places.
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But most of the things we need are already in the Word.
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It's when it comes to shall I take this job or this job? Shall I go to this country or that country?
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Shall I buy this house or that house? Those are the things that we might have
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struggles with in wanting to do what God wants. Not because we are afraid,
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but because we want to do well. Sometimes people ask questions
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of which one? Not because they want to do well, but because they are afraid that if they take the wrong,
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make the wrong choice, all hell will break loose. That again takes love out of the equation.
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That is where we begin to
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ask. That's where we go to others who may be able to help us. Here better.
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This part is
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so important. This is where we struggle, guys.
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That you
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have, hold, possess.
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That you have and hold and possess. Right now you have it,
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even though there's nothing to show that you have it.
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Some other scriptures you can take note of
-
is Psalm 37, verse 3 I think or 4, where it says,
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delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Why does He give you the desires of
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your heart when you delight in Him? Because as you delight in Him, His desires become your desires.
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So He finds it very easy to give you the desires of your heart.
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His desires become your desires. So He finds it very easy to
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give you what you ask because you ask according to His will.
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Let me say that again. Delight in the Lord for He will give you the desires of your heart. How come?
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How come all it takes is delight and He'll give me the desires of my heart? Why? Because
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every time I delight in Him or pursue Him in great delight, His desires
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become my desires. His likes become my likes. His tastes become my tastes.
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And as I begin to do this, I'll find that it's easy
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for Him to grant me my desires because I'm asking according to His will.
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Which takes us back to 1 John 5, 14-15. What doesn't this cover?
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Your physical body, your marriage, your family,
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your children, your provision, your future,
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your purpose. What doesn't this cover? The only thing it doesn't cover
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is the nitpicking that we
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necessarily have to do. Is it this or that?
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That's when we may have to ask Him. But otherwise, everything is covered.
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God doesn't mind your nitpicking. He likes it. Children do that with their parents.
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So Psalm 37,
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3 and 4. And then I think verse 4 says, commit,
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roll over, hand over to Him and trust Him.
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Commit, roll over, hand over things to Him.
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And then be bold and confident because He'll make your righteous reward. He'll make His
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favor shine upon you. The reason I'm scared of rolling over
-
things to Him or, you know, I'm not scared of rolling over things to Him but once I roll it over,
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to Him, I might take it back for a little while because He isn't doing anything with it.
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That's where I mess up. I give it to Him and then I say, give it back. You're not doing much with it.
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I
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scared Mike. He'll talk to me about it later.
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So that's what happens when the rolling over things
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happens, where I take it back. Any questions before we conclude?
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Go ahead Nick and then Charlene after.
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