Sermon
Heaven is Higher || Pastor Adam Mesa
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Welcome to the Lesse podcast. Here at Lesse, we seek the loss,
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teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by
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this week's message. Pastor Diego called me this week said, Hey, what
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are you gonna talk about it? I said, I really feel led to
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talk about heaven, like, what worship looks like in heaven, what some
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experiences are like for us in heaven, and then my das a man that's
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strange. I'm literally working on a message that is gonna be on heaven too,
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potentially during the month of July, so you know what to see,
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but it may be a series that we go into heaven. Right, So
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that's what we're gonna talk about today, and Lord willing, if God continues
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to Holy Spirit continues to get Pastor Diego that word, we'll have more conversations
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this month talking about heaven, because Heaven gets mentioned a lot, but very
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little times does it get in depthly talked about. There's not a lot of
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Bible passages that give us a ton of in depth, but there's definitely enough
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that there's room for a long conversation on what heaven looks like and how do
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we respond in the worship in heaven. And so if you have your bibles,
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would you turn the Revelations chapter seven, verse nine to seventeen. And
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as you're finding that in your Bible or maybe up on the screen Revelation seven,
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nine to seventeen, may drink this tea in between. First service made
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me lose my voice because those rascally little critters got excited during first service and
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people standing on their chairs and waving, you know, handkerchiefs. So I
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lost my voice first service, but I rested it in between. So I
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think we're good to go today. So if you have your Passage of Revelations
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chapter seven, would you stand on your feet for the honor of reading God's
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word this morning today? And as I see that you guys are there in
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your Bible or on your phones, will continue to read it says this Revelation
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seven nine. After this, I looked up and behold a great multitude that
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no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and
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languages, standing before the throne of God, and before the lamb, clothed
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in white robes with branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice.
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Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the
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Lamb. And all of the angels were standing around the throne, and around
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the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell on their face before
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the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen, Blessing and glory and wisdom
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and thanksgiving and honor and power, and might be to our God forever and
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ever. Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, who
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are these clothed in white robes? And from where have they come? I
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said to him, sir, you know, And he said to me,
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these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their
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robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are
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before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple.
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And He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They
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shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall neither strike them
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nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will
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be their shepherd, and he will guide them to the spring of living water.
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And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Let's pray this
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morning. Amen, Lord, we thank you for this word today. Lord,
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we could really just pack things up here from today. Your word has
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said enough for us, but God has pray as we endeavor to understand this
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passage more and understand your heart, God and your desire for us to know
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you, to love you, and to serve you. God, I thank
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you we have the opportunity one day to stand in your presence and be in
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awe of your glory and your wonder Lord. I pray that we never take
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that for granted. And today may this be a glimpse of what Heaven's eternal
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reward looks like because of your goodness and your mercy that's found in your son
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Jesus. And Jesus, we pray, Amen and Amen, you may be
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seated. Thank you so much. You know, as we understand, understand
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and uncover this passage today talking a little bit about revelations, you know,
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it's very easy for people as we read the Book of Revelations, it's really
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easy to get caught in this wild goose chase in the passage, which is
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just to look for little notes and little little little u We call him Easter
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eggs when is Jesus gonna return? And I'll tell you this, if if
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we only read the Book of Revelation just to look for Easter eggs on Jesus's
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return, we do Revelations a disservice because the Book of Revelations is not just
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about giving us cultural context clues on when Jesus's return is actually in those passages
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that is but a blink of an eye. Jesus, when he returns,
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the Bible says that he'll return like a heaf in a night. It'll come
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fast and swiftly. Jesus also says that no man knows the day and hour
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of his return, only the Father who was in heaven. And so you
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and I could read the Book of Revelations all day, and we could have
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the newspaper on one side, and we can have the TV station on the
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other side, and you can read Revelations all day and try to do that
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type of Easter egg hunting all day. But I'll tell you this, if
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you are looking outrospectively more than you're looking introspectively, than you are reading Revelations
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wrong. Because revelations in this book that is a collection of a letter written
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by the apostle John to seven churches of his day just under two thousand years
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ago. This was a real letter written to real churches who were really going
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through persecution. And each of those seven churches were experiencing different things, and
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God had given John a vision, which was a message in those letters written
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to those churches. And so Revelations is not written to you, it's written
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for you. Revelations was written two seven churches back in John's day, but
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Revelations is written for us so that we can see that this is still a
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prophetic message of what God is still yet to do here on earth. And
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as we look at this, it's meant to ask you one question and hopefully
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answer it. Am I ready for Jesus's return? Are you ready? Have
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you allowed God's word in a relationship with Christ to transform you in such a
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way that if Jesus were to come today, you'd be ready. So whatever
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the news says tomorrow, whatever the news says next week or next month,
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it ought not to change your preparedness. And so from this question that says,
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am I ready should Jesus come back or his bride, it should also
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cause me to say, then, what does that future look like when I'm
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in God's presence, what does heaven look like? What does worship look like?
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What do we look like? And so I'm gonna offer a little bit
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today through what we read today about what worship really looks like in heaven and
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who really gets all of the credit. We read Revelations chapter seven. This
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is a moment of victory for God. We're after the Great Tribulation period,
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and wherever your theology is, whether you believe in pre trib post trib pre
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millennial, millennial, post millennial, not to go into any of those things
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today. And if those went over your head today, that's fine, because
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we're not gonna go into those today. If you do know those words,
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then you're really smart and I give you a high five on that. But
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today we're gonna simply talk wherever you're at, all of us do believe there
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is a day, no matter or what millennial thing you believe in, we
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believe there is a day we all will be in heaven, will all stand
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before God, and we all believe that there is a day of victory where
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God says and puts a stamp and says, I am done with this era
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of human history, this era is done, and now the eternal history begins
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with my people who will be with me. That is the moment that we
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anticipate, and that is the moment we wait for. Revelation seven is a
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statement of victory where all those who would believe in Jesus, all those who
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would be redeemed, we all stand in Heaven before Jesus in a great victory
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moment to know that Jesus has redeemed us all. What does that moment look
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like, Well, here's some moments in human history what they've looked like.
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When World War One ended. When France had announced to the country in November
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nineteen eighteen that World War One was over, it said that people in France
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began to make makeshift flags that resembled the French flag as best as possible,
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and they went out to the streets and they waved it back and forth to
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represent the freedom in World War One and the into the war. In World
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War Two. Great Britain had announced May eighth, nineteen forty five, would
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be the day that they called Victory Day, which was the end of World
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War Two. It was said that Winston Churchill personally called the Ministry of Food
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and made sure that they increased their supply of beer because what they did was
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they would give out free beer in celebration of victory of World War two,
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even so much so as many businesses would make Victory Day mugs that they would
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pour the beer into, and they would celebrate the fact that they had won
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World War Two in the war was over. Many of us know the name
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of Spartans, the great warrior tribe from Greece. The way that they would
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celebrate their battles being won was really much more stranger than waving a flag or
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pouring a beer. And what the Spartans would do is it would feature each
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generation. They would get males, and they would get older men, and
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they would get younger men. And what those men would do is they would
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get naked and they would dance a war dance, and they would sing choral
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songs. And what it would represent was each generation had a part to play
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in the victory. The older men had the wisdom of battle intelligence, and
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the younger men had the youth and the strength to win the war. And
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so it was important for the Spartans that they would gather all generations of men
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and they would dance in the street and sing songs naked, which was much
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more weirder for us. I don't think we have any victory dance like that
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in the modern era, and I'm okay with it not coming in to fashion.
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However, you celebrate your victories, or you seen victories be celebrated.
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Many football teams and basketball teams will do parades, They'll go on buses and
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drive around. But what does the victory look like when God culminates his entire
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church being you and I and all those that would come after us, and
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all those that would come before us that would follow Jesus. What does that
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moment look like where God gathers his church in heaven. This is the moment
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that we see in Revelations chapter seven, and I want us to go a
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little deeper into it. Here's the first thing that happens that you see in
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Revelation that worship begins to do when you and I are standing before Jesus in
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heaven. The first thing it does, if you're taking notes, worship recognizes.
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Worship recognizes recognizes what what does? Worship recognizes. Worship recognizes who gets
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the credit. Every victory and battle tends to display who the victor was,
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and so Revelations, chapter seven, starting verse nine. What we just read
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is says this, after this, I looked and behold a great multitude that
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no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, and all
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peoples and all languages, standing before the throne of God. And that statement,
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there's not a statement of diversity. It's a statement to say that God
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welcomes anyone into his throne and his kingdom. Doesn't matter what your socioeconomic state
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is. It doesn't matter what your skin color is. It doesn't matter what
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your race is. It doesn't matter what culture you grow up in. It
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doesn't matter whether you speak Ebonics or Old English. It doesn't matter what dialect
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of Spanish you speak. It doesn't matter whether you're from the Middle East,
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South America or South of Asia. God looks at every human with the equality
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and the ability that all could be saved by Jesus. That's what this moment
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resembles. There is no one too good for God or too far for God,
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and there's definitely no one that's unworthy of God's love and his salvation.
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That's what every tribe and every nation and every people language represents. And then
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it says, and they were standing before the throne and before the Lamb God,
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clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with
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a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne,
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and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne,
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and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their face
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before the throne and worshiped God, saying Amen, Blessing and glory and wisdom
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and thanksgiving and honor and power might be to our God forever and ever.
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Amen. You see this moment that you see is a moment of recognition of
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who gets the credit for you being in the room. And I'll tell you
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this, nobody is going to be standing on that day who doesn't know why
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they're there. I'm gonna say that again. No one is gonna be standing
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that day in heaven confused on how they got there. No, no,
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no, you can't be familiar with God. Just familiar with God and be
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on that day of celebration. Familiarity will not get you to that point,
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that day where God brings his entire bride before him to celebrate the accomplishment of
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the purpose to defeat Satan. The fact that they defeated death and sin and
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put it in his place by the power of Jesus, and someone sit there
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and not know that Jesus gets all of the credit for that moment. There's
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no familiarity. I can see that before you ever walk around them, all
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looks at you and say, you look familiar? Do I know you?
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Here's the short answer if you ever get asked that, no, you don't
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know me. Do you know me? You know my name? You are
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familiar with me? And I'm fami. Did we go to high school together?
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I don't know, but you look familiar. Does that mean that we're
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best friends? Know? Does that mean that you know me? You ever
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look at your phone before look at someone's contact name? How did this person
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get in my phone? I don't even know who this is. But then
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if I showed you a bit all familiar with I think I met them at
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a conference like four years ago. Familiarity does not cut it. So to
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be with God and be like, oh, yeah, I remember this guy.
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I think one time. I think one time that my car wouldn't start
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and I might have talked to this guy. I think one time my marriage
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might have been in trouble, and I might I might have read a verse
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this guy wrote, maybe for me. I don't. I'm here, but
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I don't really know he's for me. You passed by Jesus like that guy
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looks familiar, familiar. I don't cut it. It's what you reckon when
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when you go to heaven and you passed by Jesus. You're not gonna be
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like, Oh, I think I know that. You're gonna say, this
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is the King of Kings and the Lord of lors, this is the one.
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I'm here because of him. I've lived my whole life so that I
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can meet you. I live and breed today because you gave your life for
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me. You're not just familiar, You're just not recognizable. You're my king,
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You're my Lord. I lived my life so in fact, I'm not
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just gonna walk by you and give you a high vibe. I'm gonna get
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on my knees and I'm gonna say, this is him, this is the
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one who redeemed me, this is the one who saved me. This is
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I live because you died. I wouldn't be up here without you, Jesus,
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I'd be in hell if it wasn't for you. So you're not familiar.
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You're everything to me. I recognize who you are. This is Jesus.
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No one's gonna walk by me when I'm doing that and think, oh,
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that guy's weird. He's worshiping Jesus too hard. If you don't get
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on your knees next to me when we're in heaven, you ain't supposed to
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be up there. You don't know how. If you don't know how you
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got there, then you don't know why you're there. It's because Jesus.
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You paid it. Oh, he's not only recognizable, he's Lord familiarity.
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Don't cut it. That's why on this earth. Don't let nobody's speculation opinion
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of you, gossip of you. And he mattered to you. If you're
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gonna live your life for God, if you're gonna worship God. That's why
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when people sometimes will come and maybe that will come from our culture of church
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and they think, man, that Daniel Johnson, he's show both where he's
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making all this attention. He wanted all of him. I'll tell you this
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right now, Daniel does not care what you think of his worship. He
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ain't doing it for you. I know, Daniel. I've seen him.
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Y'all could leave the room and he will do that the same way with nobody
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in the room because he's not doing it for you or to you. He's
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doing it because he knows this is what worshiped to My God looks like you
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don't have to go to that level of extravagance, But believe you mean that
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day that you do see him face to face, you are not going to
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be able to contain your emotions. You may thank you got it all together.
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You may button your collar up all the way to the top button like
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an O G. I don't care who you are that day, if you're
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in that multitude standing before God in heaven, you are gonna be weeping and
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crying like a baby because you know you ain't do nothing to deserve that moment,
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and you're not gonna be able to Okay, so you're gonna say God's
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salvation belongs to you and the lamb of God who sits on the throne.
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I recognize God, this is all you. This is all you. Many
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of you guys don't. I don't ever get this excite when I talk about
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it. But I'll tell you this, when I talk about that day that
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God's gonna call me into heaven. It brings out all my emotions because I
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know that day's gonna come and I'm gonna lose myself. I'm gonna lose myself
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and say, God, it's all you. It's not enough to be familiar.
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I wanna I wanna put I'm gonna put some people up on the screen
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now. I want you to I want you to name them for me.
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If you know their name, I want you to check out the first one.
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You know who that is? That's Uncle Denzel Washington right there, that's
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who that is. I want you to look at this next one. Who's
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this an? You wanna know that guy? I don't know he kin,
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I don't know. He might have done some movies. That's Brad Pitt.
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What about the next one. If you don't know her name, shame on
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you. That's my aunt seven seven times removed. That's Viola Davis. That's
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who that is. What about this next one? One? Come on,
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mister never age himself except for his starting just starting to come time. But
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he's aging now. But that's Morgan Freeman, all right? What about this
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next one? What about his next one? Anybody know his name, anybody,
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no name, Let me at does he look familiar? Show him your
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hand if he looks familiar, as his name is Wayne Knight, Seinfeld,
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Jurassic Park. Come on, y'all, what's going on? What about?
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What about the next one? What about next one? You guys know this
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guy? Does he look familiar? You from a lot of Marvel movies?
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He's like the evil doctors names Toby Jones. That's his name? What about
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it? What about this next one? Come on, y'all. The guy's
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holding an Emmy. For god's sakes, y'all don't know his name. Guy's
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got an award. His name's Richard Jenkins. That's his name for a lot
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of different movies. But a lot of people know from Step Brothers and stuff
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like that. What about this next one? You guys know this one a
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lot of great movies and TV shows. His name's Jeffrey Wright. That's his
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name, Jeffrey Wright. That's the thing. We look at that and just
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because you're familiar, we're familiar. But if you ever see them in public,
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please, if you don't know when movie day was on or so they're
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on, don't go ask for a picture. Don't ask for an autograph.
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I think you're famous. Can I get a picture? Could I get an
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autograph? Can't name a single thing you've been in, But I just want
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to say that I know you. And that's people that's gonna be people that
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day of Jesus. Hey, Jesus, Hey, Jesus. You up there,
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you realize that everybody giving him the glory because there are there's a multitude
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of his redeemed, and then there's a multitude who will be rejected because they
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rejected the Sun on Earth, and there's gonna be a lot of people.
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Jesus says, you're gonna stand before me. You're gonna say, but Jesus,
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I did this in your name, and this in your name. This
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is your name, he'd say, depart from me. I never knew you.
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In other words, you were familiar with me, but I ain't even
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know who you were. Familiarity doesn't cut it. But when I'm there,
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I'm not asking, Oh, man, that guy Jesus, what work did
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he do? What was he famous for? Come on? Come on?
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He died on the cross for me. Three days later he resurrected from the
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grave. Right now he sits on the right hand of the Father. I
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don't need none of y'all to tell me what Jesus did for me. I
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recognize and guess what my worship and my life and my habits. Even in
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my imperfection, it resembles the recognition, which is, I know Jesus did
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it all. I know Jesus gets all this credit. Worship recognizes and guess
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what we can do. And when there's that great multitude there, there's only
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one thing you can be. You can bring with you. Pastor Rick Warren
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said it bit best this way. He said that the way you store up
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treasure in heaven is by investing in getting people there. That's the only treasure
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you could store up when you're in heaven one day, you're not gonna get
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up there. You're not gonna get done. You know, can get off
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your feet and you're gonna be done worshiping for a second. Maybe get some
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water, starts to stretch a little bit because you've been worshiping. You're not
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gonna be like, oh dang, where's my car. They didn't make it
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up here. Where's my handbags? They're not up here darning? Where's my
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bank account? And you're not doing that. The only thing that you can
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actually look around in the room and see that you brought with you is people.
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That's the only thing that you can bring up to Heaven with you.
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So for me, got two sons, I'm working. I'm gonna bring Mathias
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and Thomas with me. They got a choice they gotta make, but I'm
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gonna do everything I can. I'm bringing my boys with me. I'm gonna
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tell them who Jesus is the moment they can wrap their head around it,
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They're gonna learn who Jesus is. I could bring my family with me,
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I could bring co workers with me, I could bring my neighbors with me.
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How does that room get diverse by a reason? You imagine if only
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one race said it was ours, but Heaven in Revelation says it's diverse.
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How does it get diverse is from you and I getting out to the highways,
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to the byeways, bringing people to Heaven with us, teaching them the
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gospel, showing them that there's more hope than today. There's more hope than
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what you can face today and what you can encounter today. So what worship
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does is it recognized. The second thing it does, if you're taking notes,
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is worship rinses it rinses. It's a cleansing process. It's a purifying
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process in heaven. That moment that we stand before Jesus we begin to go
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through that rinsing process is finally completed. All of it is past now,
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and so we begin to be washed by the blood of Jesus. There's a
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famous song that I grew up listening to, and I'd hear it in the
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church often. It was this, what can wash me? Why as snow?
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Nothing but the blood of Jesus? Anyone know? The next night you
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know what I say, There we go, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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Give yourself ant clad man. You gotta sound good. Even if you
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didn't know it, you counted as it being known right there just by you
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listening to it. That's it. What can make me white as snow,
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nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's what Revelation says. Verse thirteen.
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It says this. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, who
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are these clothed in white robes? And from where do they come? I
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said to him, this is John speaking, sir, you know, And
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he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation.
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They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
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Lamb. We know this is also during the tribulation period, but this is
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also a letter written to those seven churches which we're experiencing their own tribulation period.
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So it's reason to believe that in this culmination of heaven, where all
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those who have lived and gone through their own tribulations are now here in heaven
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and remained faithful to Jesus on earth, what you do is the scriptures talk
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about we can talk about another time. We've talked about in past sermons.
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You have a crown. This crown represents your faithfulness to God here on earth.
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But there's another element that we see is we see that the church us
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we get our white robe. You get a white robe. I got this
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right here, in a nice little bathrobe. You know, it didn't say
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what kind of robe we're gonna get, but you know, got my bathrobe
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right here. So match you you get. You get this uniform in heaven.
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And just because everything in heaven and everything God doesn't symbolizes things, and
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it represents things. And so you have this piercing white robe that represents Jesus
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has purified this and cleanse this with his blood, the blood of Jesus.
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So you know you're wearing this, and hey, how do you look good?
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Yeah? So do you? You look good? You're walking around and
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you know what it is that you're wearing. What it is that's clean and
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properly. I can rub in mud and dirt with this thing in heaven.
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It's gonna stay purified. It's gonna stay clean because you know, you look
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at it, you go, oh, I know that person was washed with
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the blood of Jesus. I know that person was cleansed with the blood of
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Jesus. So you wear this white robe to know Jesus you have cleansed me.
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You're purify me. Your blood has sanctified me and washed me. Your
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work on the cross. It makes it white as snow. So you could
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look at someone else say, may your robe looks good, and you could
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say what are you wearing today? People love to wear Gucci and VERSACEI and
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Louis Baton and everything else, and those things are nice, But at the
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end of the day, when you're in heaven, you're gonna say, oh,
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what am I wearing nothing but the blood that well, I'm wearing that
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that that whenever you got saved. So if you get saved this year,
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you say, oh that twenty twenty three summer, nothing but the blood addition.
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I got saved in two thousand and seven, so my robe would be
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that two thousand November, two thousand and seven, nothing but the blood addition.
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You may got saved in nineteen eighty one, you got that rope into
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heaven that nineteen eighty one December, nothing but the blood addition. You know,
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this worshiped, It wrenched me, and it cleansed me. But on
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earth it was a process. In heaven, you can see the culmination of
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Jesus's work in your life. Couple a couple of months ago, about a
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year and a half ago, our master bedroom got a flood, and so
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we're dealing with insurance who still COVID stuff, so to get a contractor all
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these things. We're a mess. So a couple of months ago, we're
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still looking to fix our bathroom. So our bathroom had like flooring taken up
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because they had to dry the flood and all this stuff. Well, our
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master bedroom is kind of an original nineteen eighty master bedroom because now we're finally
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going to be able to renovate it, and so it has a three foot
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step because it's a tub slash shower, so it's got a three foot step.
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And then on the step, because you can close the door for the
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water not to run, there's like a metal grading so that the sliding door
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comes three feet, so order to get in the bathtub, you gotta take
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a three footstep get into bathtub. And then the showers turned on. So
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I walked my boys and my wife. It's it so much looks like a
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safety hazard that every time me or my wife got to take a shower,
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we always tell each other to be careful on the way. That's how silly
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it is. So on this day, I walked my boys and my wife
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to the car and I put them in that she's going to work, they're
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going to school, and Okay, I'm gonna take a shower and head into
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work. So I go to take my step into that three foot shower and
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as I go to put my weight on this leg, my heel slips in
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the tub, and so the back of my foot goes into the metal grate
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just slices my foot open. My knee goes into the bathtub, and just
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completely hear a boom, And so now I can't move my knee, blood
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is coming out of my foot, and I'm laying in the bathtub but naked,
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with the shower hitting my head like this, I cannot move and I'm
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just screaming, Lord Lord, it could in now. What I was not
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asking for was death. What I was saying was God, because even if
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I died, I ain't want no one to cover me like that. I
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wanted Jesus just to return because I know at first, before we get the
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rope, you're gonna be naked. So I'd rather deal with nakedness in Heaven
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than nakedness on earth. So so I said, Larde, just take us
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now, Marinasa. I'm yelling, yeah, yelling. It's just I'm screaming.
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I'm crying. And so I'm there for like thirty minutes. Camble my
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leg, my knee. My phone's in the other room on the charger,
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so I don't know what's gonna happen. So finally I muscle up the courage.
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I step out the bathtub, I put the twel on and everything like
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that, and I say to myself, I'm never taking a shower again.
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I'll never touch that shower again. Now, even in my point of pride,
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how many of you guys know, I could only withhold from a shower
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for so long, right, So at some point I had to put my
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pride aside and take that shower if I wanted to be clean. Don't matter
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what I but God, my fuck got cut my knee last time I did.
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No, if I wanted to be clean, I'd have to get to
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a point I get back in that shower and get cleansed again. You see
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that robe that you wear in heaven represents your faithfulness on earth, where you
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got in that shower and you let Christ work and his blood covered your sins
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through the uncomfortable nature, through the embarrassing nature, through the prideful nature you
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got in that shower. So when you're wearing this, it's not pride in
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yourself, it's pride in the work of Jesus that you remained faithful to follow
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Jesus and let him wash you. The elder tells John how those get white.
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John says, I don't know. He says they were washed by the
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blood of Jesus. So you need to look at someone today and say,
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you look good in your robe. You look good in your robe, or
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look at the other person next to you and say get back in the shower.
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That's why the apostle Paul says, you cover your wife with the water
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of the washing of what the word of God, because the word of God
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washes this relationship with Christ. It washes us, and so our white robes
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represent on this earth. You remain faithful even in your imperfection. When you
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are imperfect, Christ's blood is ever more applied to your life. Christ's work
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is ever more applied to your life. Charles Spurgeon put it this way.
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He said, there are no crown wearers in heaven who were not cross bearers
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here below. There will be no crown wearers in heaven if you can't be
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a cross bearer on earth. That's what Jesus calls us to. The last
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point is this, as we begin to close, is worship restores. It
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restores those last couple of verses. He says this, therefore the throne of
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God. Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and
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night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them
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with his presence. They shall hunger no more, they shall thirst no more.
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The sun shall not strike them, excuse me, nor any scorching heat.
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For the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
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and he will guide them to springs of living water. And God will wipe
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away every tear from their eyes. What is God's plan for our lives?
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To restore us where there is no more tear, and there is no more
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sorrow, where their food is bountiful, and there is no one who thirsts
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anymore, where no one will be stricken by the sun. You gotta imagine
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that in their day, of what they're talking about, in their day,
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of what they're talking about in a natural day. In a person of John's
-
day, it's a person who not every day knows where their food is going
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to come from. It's a person every day who doesn't necessarily have fresh,
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clean, drinking water. It's usually a person who has to work outside their
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whole life and get beaten down by the sun. It's a person who cries
-
over the pain of life, losing people's sickness, disease, death, and
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war. That's like if we wrote it today for John, that's like if
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you're in your fifties and sixties, that's like in this scripture being written to
-
say, there's a day you don't ever have to worry what's in your four
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oh one k. That's what that would say. There is a day that
-
you'll not have to worry about whether you can pay your rent or your mortgage.
-
There's a day where you don't have to look up online what the cost
-
of milk or eggs is for that day. There is a day where that
-
cancer will no longer exist. There is that day where that ms no longer
-
exists. There's a day where that depression no longer exists. There's a day
-
where that anxiety no longer exists. There's a day where that broken home no
-
longer exists. There's a day where that broken marriage no longer exists. There's
-
a day that's the day that God restores, restores. That's the day we
-
long for. So when people are asking where is God, and when people
-
say why hasn't God come yet, it's because God is still filling heaven.
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And so if I want to partner with God in the gospel, what I
-
can do Marinaza Jesus returned, It's to say, Jesus, let me help
-
you come alongside of you. Even though you don't need help, even though,
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even though it's not necessary, You have allowed us to be partakers,
-
ambassadors of your message, to share the gospel with others. And so God
-
says, I will not return until heaven is full. When it's that day
-
or hour, we don't know. What we do know is when that day
-
comes, we'll be in the presence of the Almighty, and you and I
-
won't be getting the credit for it. You and I won't think that we
-
earned our way. There's a lot of religions who teach that stuff, particularly
-
Islam. Islam teaches that if you have more good works in your life that
-
outweigh your bad works, then you can make it into heaven. And at
-
no point can you know whether your good works or outweigh your bad works.
-
That's why you have to hopefully offset your bad works with good luck's works.
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And you'll find out one day when you stand before a law. But I'll
-
tell you this, if that was the case, when you get into heaven,
-
the only thing you'd be celebrating is yourself. And I'll tell you this
-
me knowing Adam, there's no way I could get into heaven by myself.
-
I know me too much to think that that was even believable. If someone
-
came up to me and said, Adam, you don't have to just submit
-
to Jesus. I have a way where you can secure yourself into heaven.
-
I'd be like, buddy, spend one day in my thoughts, and you're
-
not gonna believe that real fast that I can get me into heaven. There's
-
no way. So that day that we're in heaven that we celebrate God's goodness.
-
It's the fact that God was gracious and merciful to us to send his
-
son down, and so we're in heaven, we recognize Jesus. You deserve
-
all of the glory and all of the honor, and then we believe that
-
Jesus's blood has rensed us and cleansed us. You belong there. You may
-
believe here on earth you don't belong anywhere. You don't belong in your family,
-
you don't belong amongst your friends, you don't belong amongst your community.
-
One place I'm here to tell you you do belong in heaven. Because Jesus
-
paid that price, and when you said yes to him, God's purpose was
-
for you to be in his presence. Your soul is longing for the presence
-
of God. That's why I love the way Jonathan Edward said it as we
-
close. He said, to go to heaven fully to enjoy God is infinitely
-
better than the most pleasant accommodations here. I don't know what you think you
-
need. I don't know if you think you need one week paid vacation to
-
Tahiti on a bungalow in the water. I don't know if you believe you
-
need five days at a rich Carlton. I don't know if you believe you
-
just need three days for someone to watch your kids, or whatever it is.
-
I don't I don't know what you think you need, but I'll tell
-
you this. What we really need is we need the accommodations of heaven.
-
That is what our soul truly longs for. And you know, the way
-
you can give your soul rest here on earth is by worshiping God. Is
-
your time spent with God, because that is what your soul desperately longs for.
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It is a relationship with God, and Jesus is the way, and
-
Jesus is the truth, and we must cling to that truth to one day
-
celebrate God's eternal celebration in Heaven. Let's pray this afternoon. God, we
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thank you for your word today, Lord, and I just pray it ministers
-
to us today. Lord, I thank you, Jesus that you have given
-
us away to restore us back to the Father. The greatest desires the Father
-
is that we would rest in him, is that we would know him,
-
and that we would worship him because his goodness and mercy is eternal. Your
-
patience is incredible, Lord, your patient towards all of us. There's somebody
-
right now that may be in this place or someone that we know that you've
-
been patiently, patiently waiting for for them to come to Jesus. So God,
-
I pray in this moment you'll speak to them and minister them. Lord,
-
I pray in this moment that if it's a family member, you may
-
use us, or a friend, you may use us to reach them.
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Lord, and I pray that the Spirit go forth and totally, radically,
-
radically impact us all, because none of us would be there on that day
-
in the multitude if it were not the work of the spirit. We thank
-
you for that, Lord, in Jesus's name, Amen and Amen, we
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really hope you enjoyed the message and if you said yes to Jesus, we
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just want to say congratulations and give you a free devotional to help you walk
-
out your faith. Click the link in the description or head over to grow
-
dot Faith to download your devotional. Oh and be sure to subscribe and share
-
this podcast with your friends. Thanks for listening to ALSC podcasts and we hope
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you tune in again