Sermon
Heaven Rules Anyway (God sees in secret)
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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You're listening to a message to go from acts church.
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We hope this message will light up your day.
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Jesus says, you who practiced lawlessness.
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But before he even said that, he said twice, you
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who call me Lord Lord, You who call me Lord
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Lord me. And he's talking to Christians. I know we
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hear a lot of messages on grace, and sometimes we
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forget that he's actually law. When he came, he didn't
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come to break the law. He came to fulfill the law.
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I think it's a good check this morning, even for myself,
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because but eight days ago, when I got this, I repented.
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He said, Lord, please forgive me if I've been lawless.
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Matthew seven, would you turn with me to your bibles?
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I don't think I put the scripture up, and that's okay.
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Sometimes it's good for us as leaders to turn to
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about our Bibles. And so Matthew seven, twenty one to
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twenty three, let's do that first, sir, Matthew.
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Chapter seven says twenty one to twenty three.
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I'll read Jesus said, not everyone who says to me
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Lord Lord shall enter the King of Heaven, but he
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who does the will of my Father in heaven.
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Many will say to.
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Me in that day, Lord Lord, is the second time
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Jesus using not just Lord, but Lord Lord, very passionate.
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Have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons
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in your name, and done many wonders in your name?
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In your name? Okay, there's a question mark there and
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the verse.
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Twenty three, and then I would declare to them very
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strong words that I will declare to them. I never
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knew you depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
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Heaven rules means Jesus sees.
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In Cantonese, sometimes we say ten yangaan means Heaven has eyes.
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Sometimes we think it doesn't have eyes. Sometimes, you know
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people who are going into areas that they shouldn't go
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into corruption, bribery.
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God sees, you know, God sees.
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Whether he takes a short time to rebuke a long
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time to rebuild, he still sees. And I think maybe
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it was in Psalm seventy three or seventy eight. I
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think seventy three. Uh that you know where the Psalmi is.
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Remember he said, I'm looking enviously as all these wicked
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men who are prospering, and I'm thinking to myself, I've
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washed my hands in vain, you know, because it looks
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like God doesn't see, and the wicked actually says no,
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no one sees, is he?
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So seven?
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Three?
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Yeah? Saying three?
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So so the Psalmist, of course goes on to say,
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until I went into your sanctuary and then I knew
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their end. You put them in slippery places. Blah blah blah,
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I ason use blah blah blah blah of God. But
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et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Maybe souths better. But
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you know that scripture also shows us that there can
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be attempting to think that God doesn't see, but he
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sees everything. He sees everything is this is important for
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us to understand. H. So let's go into the next
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slide that there's two thoughts I want to give you
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this morning therefore, actually but too short a time to
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do for so because Heaven sees, that's not in doubt.
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What's in question or in doubt is whose side are
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you on them?
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Mm hmm who side are you on?
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Because whether you are righteous or not righteous, he sees,
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so you rather be righteous?
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Uh?
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And this is very important. So let's look at the
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next slide. Let me explain some more so uh, I
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draw out two quick thoughts from what we just read.
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A Jesus says, you who practice lawlessness.
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But before he even said that, he said twice you
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who call me lord lord, you who call me lord
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lord me. And he's talking to Christians, and that means
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that Christians practice lawlessness. Matthew five seventeen to eighteen. Do
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not think that I came to destroy the law or
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the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
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For surely, I say to you, till heaven and earth
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passed away one jot or one tital, we don't use
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loscut words anymore. Jot and titeal will by no means
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passed from the law until all is fulfilled. So I
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just want to remind us all that God is a
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law abiding God. I know we hear a lot of
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messages on grace, and sometimes we forget that He is
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actually law.
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When he came, he didn't come to break the law.
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He came to fulfill the law.
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Now I can remind you here this morning that if
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God was in law abiding, he didn't have to send Jesus,
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because he who created the law that life for a
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life right, and all who have sin has fallen short.
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The glory of God and the wages of sin is death.
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He who said that and required life for life and
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life or death rather for sin, he said it could
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also have changed it if he were some of our politicians,
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if God was like some of our politicians or some
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of a corporate bosses who said one thing today and
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then say another thing the next day. Oh I said
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the five years ago, but I don't mean it today.
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Oh God, something like that. He's the same yesterday, today, forever.
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He who said the law had to pay the price
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for the law because he knew that we couldn't pay,
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so he settled his own law. He paid his own bill.
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He set the price so high, and he had to
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be the one to pay because no one else could.
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But he pays it. He doesn't change the law. The
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most law abiding God you'll ever know is our God.
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And yet he's a God of praise too, So I
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want you to understand he's not lawless, and he doesn't
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like lawless people. But Christians can practice lawlessness with our mouth,
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our backbiting, our gossiping, the things that we do, the bribing.
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You know, I'm so thankful by the grace of God.
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I can stand here in my fifties and tell you
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I've never bribed a policeman ever in my life.
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So the key is to know God that we not
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know God here.
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So we had to go into a dialogue for two
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and a half hours because he says, no, everyone does it.
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I said, but who are you? Who are you.
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Pleasing everyone or him? You mean he's going to look
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down and you bribing a policeman. I say, well done,
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my good and faithful serving Is he going to do that?
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And so after two and a half hours he repented
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right there at my dining table in the same house
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I'm staying at.
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He says, I think you're right. I said, I am right.
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I am right because I'm going by the word.
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Christians do practice lawlessness, and we have to be very
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careful because he's giving you are now the ultimate. Have
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we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons your name,
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and done miracles in your name? But he's giving you
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the ultimate. That means that now you can almost add
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all the feeling the blanks. Have we not planted to
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any churches in your name? Have we not gone to
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London in your name?
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Gon to? So what.
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If you're going to live a lawless life. And you
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know where we usually live a lawless life, in the
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secret place, not always at the front, because at the
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front we all know how to act Christian HM.
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We know, we know the jargons, we know the hand movements,
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we know the smiles.
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We can be arguing with our wife and the car
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come out only at church and say hi, hore you brother,
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God bless you. You know we've got all this we
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put on, but this real life. I understand it, I
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understand it. But the fact is that we just know
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what to do.
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Uh.
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And I'm going to show you a few more things
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later to just can't get us to a place whereby
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we get our lives right with God. Uh and and
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and and know that the Lord sees things very differently
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from we do. I think it's a good check this morning,
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even for myself, because but eight days ago, when I
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got this, I repented. I said, Lord, please forgive me
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if I've been lawless. So let's let's look at the
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second point here. So two points from that scripture, Lord Lord,
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Lord Lord, he says, I never knew you depart, So
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I never knew you means I was never close to you.
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You know, this, This knowing is intimacy. This knowing is close.
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And sometimes you can be in a church for a
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long time and you know a person, but you're never close.
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You can never really talk to that person. And sometimes
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it's said. It's said also if I say you have children,
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and children will say, yeah, my dad has been with
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me my mom as will be with me for the
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last twenty five years of my life. But I'm not
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close to him. Have you ever heard that before. I'm
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not close to my grandfather. I'm closer to my grandmother,
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not closely, as you can't talk. When does that that
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mean that go and speak to your neighbor. I'm not
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really close. My father is closer to my neighbor. What
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do you mean by that? When you say not close
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means you're not You don't have a relationship, You don't
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even dare talk to the person. And I was never
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close to you because maybe we were never close to him.
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We will never close, So James for eight. Of course
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some of you memorize it ready. It says draw near
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to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse
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your hands, you see us, purify your hearts. You double minded?
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Right?
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So uh sorry, b Okay, So James for eight right,
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means that to say that God draws near to them,
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that draws near to him, it is really our choice
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first to want to know him, and then he knows
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us draw near to him, that he draws near to us,
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draw closer to him, that he draws close to us.
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So when he says I never knew you, it probably
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means that because you never took time to know him.
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So by calling him lord, lord is a name, it's
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a religion, it's a practice. It's like, okay, hey, you know,
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but he's not looking at these things. So let's be
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reminded this morning, he's not looking at external things. We
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are reminded that prophet Samuel radio was about to choose
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the next king, saw the first son of Jesse, you
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know that he had all you know, externally together, and
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said he said, no, as a prophet, surely this is
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the one.
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Okay, he said, I'm not the one. I don't call
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me surely, no, No, I'm just kid that.
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He's sure surely, surely, surely he's the one. And then
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God had to say to him, don't say that because
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man looks at the out appearance. But I look at
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the heart. So I'm here to remind us all, including myself,
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God sees things very differently. Heaven rules, and he sees
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things very differently. And if only more of our politicians
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know God and know what He really sees, their allies
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will change immediately because he sees very differently.
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Okay, So let me go on to the next point.
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There's always a higher law and a better way for
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doing anything and everything. Okay, we talked about the Exodus
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a few times that we did yesterday again, A please me,
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let me let you know so that you know my heart.
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I can you imagine a church plunter against church planting,
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So you gotta understand that I'm for church planting.
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I'm only not for the ways that.
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I'm for dialogue, but not those secret meetings that talk
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down on leadership.
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You with me, It's okay to discuss talk.
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You know. Meanwhile, when you're talking so that you are
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talking to help rather than to talk to hurt. God
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sees things very differently. There's always a higher law and
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a better way. I try to live like that. I try,
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you know, I try to live like that. And you
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know who else lives like that. Let's go and look
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at it. It's like, first Samuel twenty four forty seven. Okay,
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we can turn to that. You know by now it's David.
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But I think it's good to read this because it's
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really really solid what David did. We refer to it
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many times, but sometimes we don't read it. So first Samuel,
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twenty four, let's read. Let's read it. This is so good,
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twenty four forty seven. Let's be refreshed by what David did.
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And don't forget David was considered a man after God's
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own heart. He was after God's heart. He wasn't after religion,
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he wasn't after just anything. He was after his heart. Okay,
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and so twenty four four to seven, let's read it.
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It says here, then the men of David said to him,
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this is the day.
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Of which the Lord said to you.
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Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that
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you may do to him as it seems good to you.
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And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of
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Saul's rope. I want you the words secretly, because I'm
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going to tell you in a while. God sees in secret.
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And David did this secretly, and many of us do
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very different things in our secret places and the talks
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that we have around the table. Secretly, David cut off
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a corner of Saul's rope. Now it happened afterwards that
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David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's rope.
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Didn't kill Saul, just cut his rope, and are really
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not comfortable. And he said to his men, the Lord
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forbid that I should do this thing to my master,
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still calling Saul his master, the Lord's anointed the man
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who wants to kill him, to stretch out my hand
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against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed of the Lord.
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So I want us to read this because can you
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see this. It starts by saying, the men of David
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told him the Lord has delivered.
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Your enemy to your hand.
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And this is what we are surrounded with as CPC's
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We're surrounded by men who sometimes think they know what
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the Lord is doing, and they're trying to convince their
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leader that the Lord.
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The Lord.
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And actually it sounds very reasonable. If there was no
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other verses of that, I think all of us would accepted.
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This was a man who's a crazy king, man who
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threw the spear against his servant who was ministering to
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him on the half while ministering, so you can strow spear. No,
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while we are ministering, you can strow spear. Okay, mad men? Right,
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And David was almost convinced. And so he's secretly and
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this is where we need to understand that what do
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we do in secret?
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He's secretly cut off part of the rope.
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And then immediately almost the scripture says that he was troubled.
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It doesn't matter about the people around you saying whatever
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they think. The Lord is saying. You must know in
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your heart what's right and what's wrong, and you must
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get up in the morning do your quiet time. Go hey,
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why am I trouble? He was trouble, not of things
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done in the open. He was trouble or things done
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in the secret. A lot of people like to complain
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by my Facebook, but not my favorite was not secret.
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Do you understand I'm speaking to the open compared to
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people who are speaking the secret. I would be judged
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for what I'm doing openly. A lot of people have
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judged me already by branning before the Lord. But a
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lot of people who are going around unaccountable for things
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they are saying in a secret and watch out, guys.
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If there's any sin in this room like that, you
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better repent.
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But you also disciple the people to think like that,
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because they are in trouble if they don't.
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You understand.
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And I love our people enough to say it, whether
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you like me or not, I'm going to say, because
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there's a discipleship, and it's for your good, it's for
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my good.
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And so he.
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Says, he turns now to the very men in his
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group in his Mama session and.
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Says, the Lord forbid, I tell you what the Lord says.
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Okay, you don't have to tell me what the Lord says,
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because I know in my heart what the Lord said.
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The Lord forbid, because at the end of the day,
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he is the Lord's anointed.
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You cannot deny the fact that that the Lord anoint
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us all called him chosen. You can't deny the fact.
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You can't say he's crazy. But you can never say
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he didn't.
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Know he was not called by God. You cannot because
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that's truth.
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So I said, Wow, you know, at the end of
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the day, you cannot go before God and say, oh,
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but the men told me you got to go before
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But said God, you told me this and I obeyed
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it no matter what these Christians, and I tell you
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it can be me with other pastors, right and the
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other pastors you will you will think that they have
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a stand. But I have to go away, you know,
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knowing what's right and what's wrong. So let's move on.
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It's not really about but look their fruitfulness in ministry
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because living prophesy in your name, living castle demans your name.
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Didn't we no, no, no.
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When you're looking at things right and you're looking at
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Facebook and you look at Instagram, but please don't just
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look at fruitfulness on the outside, because God is not
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so interested. He is more interested than have we done
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what's right? Have we spoken what's right? Have we fellowship
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and converse and discuss what's right? In his side? You know,
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just have a sense. It's called the fear of God. Love,
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Just you know what the fear of God is? I
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told you before this is my definition. Every time I
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think about something, whether I should do it, not do it,
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think it, not say it? Whatever I think, what does
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God think? What does God think about this? What does
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God think about this? What does God think about That's
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the fear of God? And I tell you what I
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can very easy. Like God is not thinking very good
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about this. God is not happy with this. If you
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know your father God, that's what the world no, I
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never knew you do you know him? If you know him,
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you know what he likes, what he doesn't like. That's
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why David was after God's own heart. You know, when
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I'm after your own heart, I say I'm after my
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wife's heart, not just after my wife, really after her heart.
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I won't just buy her a present on Christmas. I
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buy her what she really likes. And if I to
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buy what she really likes, that we've got to go
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shopping and I've got to see what she sees, yah,
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because if I'm blind like that, right, and then just
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look at my own thing, I want to see. And
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then when she looks at something, but she said, oh
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the price so high, and I went by, but I
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saw it right, I saw it got like okay, I said,
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a nice way.
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That's why are you also expensive? And then are you
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going to to go out there to buy what's on
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her heart?
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See a lot of times that we buy Father's gay,
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they give it's either tie socks underway, I don't know,
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you know, it's the same old thing.
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Father's Day after Father's Day.
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So because you know why, you want to satisfy just
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the traditional requirement. But when you're really after a person's heart,
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you go after even the color.
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That they like.
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So Davy was not just another guy or let's give
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him a thirty minutes worship. No, he was really after
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God's owner. What's really on your heart, Goud? And what
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was really on God's heart was that even if my
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servant soul it's like this, don't And so he ends
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up saying, God forbid that I do this, you know.
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So sometimes it's conflicting.
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Lord said, No, this guy said, Lord said, I say,
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Lord said, And in your heart, you know you're going
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to just know what the Lord has said to you.
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Is this important? Very very good?
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Okay, let me draw towards the last lap. Mother's the
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reason I said, I wasn't caught to be successful. I
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was caught to be faithful. So it's not just about
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success in ministry. And I know a lot of us
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have come up and I you know, we clapped and
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we rejoice with you about how our ministry's growing souls
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are being saved.
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All this wonderful stuff. But back up a little bit.
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This morning and go like, it's not just that it's us,
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because I don't think we're going to be judged for
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or just the fruits. We're going to be judge for
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our hearts. And we learn at thought that even every
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word has to be accounted for. Do you think those
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words accounted for? Are just the public words that everybody
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here or the secret words that nobody hears. I think usually,
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if not mostly, it's going to be the words that
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nobody else. But you know, when everybody heard earlier, then
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it's an account for. Already there's the words that nobody heard.
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There's no accountability there. He's going to ask you. So
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I just want to be fitful on I just want
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to be faithful.
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We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more
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information on our church, please visit as church dot org.
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We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing
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that this week is going to be a good week
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ahead for you. God bless
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M