Sermon
083 The Fundamentals: Faith
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Do you know the Bible is God's Holy Word? Do you know it is
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inspired, in errant, and infallible? If so, like, share,
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subscribe and support this podcast. So we are Maranatha Ministries and now Reduction Draweth
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Nigh. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the program. We are
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your host, Mariah and Matthew. Tonight we are going to do the fundamentals
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this time faith by getting back to you know, this infamous verse that that
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faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love.
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And Mariah came up with this train's concept that well, these are obviously the
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pillars of the faith. How can they not be in the fundamentals and that
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kind of No, it wasn't was your idea, you're talking them all about
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it. How was it mom's idea? It was an idea. You came
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up with the idea to do love. Yeah, yeah, all right,
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so let's agree, Yes, yes, you did did what I didn't come
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up with the verse the faith, open love, God came up with the
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first of Okay, all right, anyway, so this is pretty important that
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we do it because I mean this, these really are the three pillars of
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Christianity. I mean there's there's no doubt that these three, these three are
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the big ones. Now, this document that we're going to go over,
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I didn't do it. These are all verses that you came up with,
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and they're pretty impactful. They're they're impactful. They they put things in such
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a way that, well, it calls into question many people who say things
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about their beliefs claiming to be a Christian. That obviously cannot be the case.
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I mean, there's a certain number of things that if you don't have
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the faith to believe that really happened, you're not a Christian. You're something
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else. So let's let's get through these. What's the first one you want
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to talk about? And there's so many verses in the Bible we could talk
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about concerning faith. There's there's no no shortage of verses. Mm hmm.
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Y. Wonder if we knew Jude. Okay, let's do Jude, all
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right. Jude, the whole entire book of Jude took me by surprise.
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I love that book. Just one chapter that said a whole lot of good
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stuff. But and I was going through my Bible and I saw it.
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I already had this one highlighted, so so you cheated. No, Like
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I'd read it before and had it highlighted already, and I was like looking
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for verses that I might find about faith, and I saw that one that
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I highlighted, and it was cool. Give it to this, okay,
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Jude one, seventeen through twenty three. But you, beloved, ought to
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remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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that they were saying to you, And the last time there will be
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mockers following after their own ungodly lusts. These are the ones who cause divisions,
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worldly minded, devoid of the spirit. But you, beloved, building
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yourselves up in the most holy faith, praying in the holy Spirit, keep
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yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously from the mercy of our Lord
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Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are doubting,
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save others, snatching them out of the fire, and on some have mercy
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with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now, the
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interesting thing I mean, at first you may just think, oh, that's
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just you know, you might just go over the worst faith that's used in
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here. But what does he use to separate the ungodly worldly minded devoid of
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the spirit, from those who are kept in the love of God waiting anxiously
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for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. But to separate
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those two is but you, beloved, building yourselves up in the most Holy
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faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. Those who are building themselves up in
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the most Holy Spirit, in the most holy faith are those who are keeping
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themselves in the love of God. And you know the the verse before it,
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It gives you the start start contrast that these are devoid of the spirit,
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and through our faith worst were to pray in the Holy Spirit. So
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these two groups are diametrically opposed. I mean, we can tell we can
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bring something right in that is very current to this discussion right now is first
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they take in the last time there will be mockers following their own ungodly list.
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These are the ones who clause divisions, worldly minded, devoid of spirit,
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causing divisions. Let's let's talk about eschatology a minute, right, I
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mean, that's our game, right is aschatology. It is really bothersome when
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you find out that the first three hundred years of church history all Christians were
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historic premillennialist. Everybody believed there was a literal millennial reign of Christ and that
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the rapture slash resurrection because it happens at the same time, occurred at his
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return, at the return of Christ. The dispensationalists are the ones that come
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and destroyed at They come in in seventeen hundreds. I take that back eighteen
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hundreds and completely destroyed that. They the age of Oh, I have an
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idea, right, and how much money can I make from this idea?
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Yes? Literally being I mean this is literally perfectly describing that. They're the
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ones that have shattered the paradigm and divided it into being. Is it a
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pre trip rapture, mid trip rapture or post trip rapture. They're the ones
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that did that. They created that divide that that was then that did it.
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And so this really puts this into context and the good verse to use.
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Like I said that that dichotomy there that without faith, if you don't
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maintain your faith and continue your relationship with the Holy Spirit, you're going to
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go way left or way right of center mhm. And you can't be devoid
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of spirit if you have faith, can you Yeah, that's that's an anathemal.
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That's that's no, that's obviously you can't no real reason to mention that
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are discuss it, do you? I mean you you'd have to say that
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faith is the the well spring and the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Faith,
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faith in a way divides us from the ungodly. I have a note here,
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and this is written by me, So these are these are my notes
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on this verse. And I wrote, so we are separated from the ungodly
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because we are godly. We are separated from the ungodly because we have a
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godly faith, a faith that is essential in keeping, in the keeping and
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the prospering of the Holy Spirit. It is that with this faith we are
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able to pray in the Holy Spirit and keep ourselves in the love of God,
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waving anxiously for the mercy of Him who gives us eternal life. People
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who do not want people who do not have faith, and therefore are in
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the church and among the church, but without it. This chapter says,
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specifically, it is speaking of those who are creeping in unnoticed. So how
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much does it matter to have faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit and in
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God. The person does not have faith, they are nothing but a facade.
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Faith is what makes us believers. There, Faith is what makes us
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believers. So then why would someone claim to believe and not have faith in
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God? You have found the wolf in sheeps clothing. So actually, that
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is what the Book of Jude is about. The Book of Jude is about
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the wolf in sheep's clothing. I read the whole book is only one chapter,
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right, and that's a good way to describe it. It is describing
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the dead among the living, really is what it's doing. So and it's
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actually a warning too for those of us in the last time. Yes,
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and so here here's my question. How important is it to have faith?
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How does faith separate us from lone believers? I mean, isn't it faith
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that separates us from none believers? Does that not make it? Does that
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not make it one of the most important things? I mean, literally,
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we another way of saying our belief is our faith. That's literally another way
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of saying you're a Christian is saying that you have faith, all right,
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And that's why these verses brought out praying in the Holy Spirit. If you
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don't have faith, you're not going to pray. If you don't have the
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faith to believe in whom you are praying. You're not going to pray yep.
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And I mean, doesn't it go back to the faith, hope and
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love? Can you pray if you don't have faith, hope anyone? No?
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I mean, because we've gone back to that each time we've done this
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all three times. I mean this was the third time we're doing faith.
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Now we've come back to that all three times. Can you pray without love?
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Can you pray without hope? Can you pray without faith? And?
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Like I said a few minutes ago, we had this conversation going back and
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forth to work a few times. Excuse me, really, you're talking about
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the difference between the living and the dead. You really are. If you
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don't have faith, hope and love, you find yourself amone the dead.
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There are just so many, so many things, you know, It's not
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just one thing. Love doesn't just give you one thing. Faith doesn't just
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give you one thing. Hope doesn't just give you one thing. It's all
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the things. There's so many things that you can't do without it. There's
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so many things that you can't be without it. You can't be a Christian
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if you don't have faith. I'm going to read another verse. It's an
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Ephesians three. Ephesians three sixteen through nineteen. It says that He would grant
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you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power
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through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your
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hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
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may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and
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the length, and the height and the depth, and to know the love
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of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the
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fullness of God seventeen. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
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Exactly. And this is part and partial with praying in the Holy Spirit.
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Without faith, Christ is not going to dwell in your heart. He
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can't. He can't. He can't dwell in your heart if you don't have
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the faith. That's right, first of all, that He will be in
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your heart in the first place. But second of all, if you don't
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have faith to take him from this point on to the end of the world,
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if you can't have faith in Him in everything you do, if you
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can't have faith in Him in every part of your life. What the heck
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makes you think he wants to live in your heart? How can you live
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in a heart that doesn't welcome you if you're living your life without faith?
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How can Christ live in your heart if you don't have faith in him?
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Period? Just like praying in the Holy Spirit, you can't. You can.
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And that's what these verses were saying that without faith you do not have
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the power through His Holy Spirit in the inner man. Nope, sorry,
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this is not sorry face right? I mean without faith you have a good
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one. Okay Theesians too four through ten. But God, being rich in
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mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when
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we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By
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grace, you have been saved and raised up with Him and seated us with
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Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, so that in the age
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is to come, He might show the surpasser riches of his grace and kindness
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towards us. In Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through
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faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God,
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not as a result of works. So that no one may boast, for
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we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus, for good works, which God
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prepared beforehand so that we could walk in him. Are you a Christian?
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If you don't do good works? How do you do good works without faith?
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Have we not been saved by grace through faith? So you understand where
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the grace is coming from? Right? Where's the grace coming from? Who's
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giving the grace? God, Jesus. Okay, we agree on that point,
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right, the origin of that grace by grace? So God gives you
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grace when you have been saved through faith. So you understand that you can't
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have the grace without the faith. You do understand, That's what it's saying.
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You can't have what's dropped at your feet if you don't pick it up.
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Well, it's saying that it's a reciprocation. You have the grace because
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of faith, because of grace. You have the faith. Because of faith,
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you have grace vice versa and interaction. For by grace, you have
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been saved through faith. I mean God wants us to believe. That's what
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this is saying. You must believe, You must have faith in order to
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receive the grace. It is only received into a recprocle of grace. You
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understand that. So it is outright coming and telling you that the grace only
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saves you through faith. Okay, take note, Christ died for all sinners,
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right fact, are all sinners saved? Nope? No, absolutely not.
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I'm gonna ask you this again. Did the Lord Jesus Christ die for
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everybody? Yes? Is everybody saved? No? No, this is saying
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you must in order to receive the grace, you must have the faith.
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Do you understand? So Christ died for everybody, but if they do not
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take a hold of that through faith, they're dead. They remain dead in
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their sins. There is no life in them. So I'm glad that you
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brought it up in that. Like many people don't realize this, this is
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where they get the free gracers. This is where they get the Antinomian heretics.
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Once saved, always saved. I understand. This is this is being
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very quite clear that, yeah, the Muslims are not saved because Jesus died
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for them. No, if they don't have the faith, they will receive
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no grace. It's that simple, so very very difficult passage here that that
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before we had faith in him he died for she realized that's what this is
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saying. But we receive the grace only through faith in it, so most
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people usually don't talk about that. That's a pretty important thing to cover.
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I have faith that Jesus died for my sins. I have faith that he
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loves me and he cares about me. I have faith that he's up there
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in the sky watching me right now. I have faith that he's in the
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room too. I have faith that he's everywhere. I have faith that he's
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all powerful. I have faith that he protects me every day. I have
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faith that I have breath and my lungs because of him. I have faith
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that when I die that's going to be because of him too. And I
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have faith that when I do die and I go up in heaven, that
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he's going to be there. I have faith that he is with me every
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single day, holding my hand, even when I don't see him. And
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then that probably regulates what you did today, right. It's that faith,
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that awareness that that he is lord over you, that he's obviously watching you,
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and that a lot of your activities right, probably you more so than
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most, But it's important that that you say that yes, it's because of
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that faith. That faith is giving you a connection to His grace. I
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mean, how can how can God speak to you if you don't have the
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faith to allow him to speak to you, if you don't believe. I
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mean, like, imagine this. You love me very much, I'm your
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daughter. Imagine if one day I just stop believing that you were talking to
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me, if I just didn't listen to you every time you talk to me,
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if I just walked away, you just ignored meal, would you start?
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Would you? Would you be able to communicate with me? I mean,
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I'm not going to say that God's going to stop talking to you,
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because he's God. He doesn't have to. But would you be able to
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communicate with me if I just ignored you, if I stopped believing you were
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there for me? Right now? There's no way because because communication is not
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one way. I have to have the faith that God's going to speak to
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me. I have to have the faith that God is there with me already
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before he speaks to me. I have to have the faith that he wants
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to save me. I have to have the faith that he's going to that
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he's there. It's not going to happen after. But you realize the language
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that you're using is very foreign to these people that have infected the church.
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Unfortunately you've met them, right. I think we don't spread the word for
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the people that have already heard it. We don't preach for the people that
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haven't affected the church. We preach for the people who don't know better.
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I mean, there are some in the church that don't know. But I,
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for one, I'm not. I'm not gonna be a dead horse.
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You're not going to be a dead horse. So you know, you and
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I've talked a pretty good length about some of the things that you have to
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have faith in is required for salvation. I mean, first off, we
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agree you got to have faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and
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God the son right, So that means you must believe in the virgin birth
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right, you must believe in his resurrection right. And if you don't,
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you're obviously you're obviously not a Christian if you don't believe that he can do
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everything he said he do, Like he said that he parted the Red sea,
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right he said even in the text three times it says that the water
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was like walls on both sides of them, says it three times. If
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you don't believe that they walked through the Red Sea just like that, you're
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not. If you don't have the faith to believe that, you you're not
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a Christian. You can't just know what was that we were just reading I
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don't know, something like not as a result of work, so that no
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one made both. Wait, that's not the right one. And to know
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the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up
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to the fullness of God. We can't be saved with knowledge. I had
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to break it to you right because you cannot know how the water stood up
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like a wall on both sides of them, creating a corridor through the sea.
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You can't know, Mariah, you can't know how he did that,
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because it's impossible. That requires faith, not knowledge. I don't care if
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someone didn't know, if someone saw it with their own two eyes and knew.
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If you don't have the faith in Jesus Christ, your knowledge doesn't mean
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anything. I mean, how many times have we talked about this. We
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are a creature of three. We are mind, body, and soul.
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Your heart can tell your head whatever it wants to. This is true.
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Your head can tell your heart whatever it wants to. Your body can tell
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your heart. I mean, you can't just know. Okay, it's not
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a science. You have to feel it. You have to believe it,
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and then you will know it. And that's a hard thing to explain,
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you know. I've had lots of people ask me. For example, the
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other day, I was talking about planet migration and the simple fact that you
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know, whether you like it or not, the Book of Isaiah says that
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the Earth is going to come out of its orbit. That's that's what it
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says. So people get confused whenever I said no, no, I believe
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these things because the Bible taught me. Yeah, but you know all this
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stuff about about astrophysics, you know all this stuff about science. So so
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how did that work? I said, no. I believed the Bible when
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I read it, and I went elsewhere looking for the answers to the riddles
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it presented, not the other way around. I believe what the Bible said
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first before I ever knew knew how to understand what it was saying. Science.
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No, science works by God. Yes, yes, this is how
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he governs things. This is how well we just mentioned our orbit orbit planet
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Earth is in the Goldilocks zone. That is a habitable zone around every star.
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Every star is different. Every star has different temperature, different size,
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So there is a window a distance from that star that water can exist in
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all three states. Understand, if it stays frozen, you're too far away
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from star. If it never rains and it stays in the gas of state,
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it's too close, it's too hot. The habitable zone is that place
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distance from a star, all depending on like I said, every star is
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different, that you can maintain liquid water. That's the habitable zone. God
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regulates that with the laws of science. The problem is they're not set in
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stone because he can do whatever he wants. He's the one that makes the
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rule. So we need water. Who made us? He does what he
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wants. Yes, he does what he wants, and I know that because
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I have faith, And that's that's pretty obvious, right, It's pretty obvious
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that it If it was not for him, we would not be alive.
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Because you know, scientists have proven this that at the moment of death,
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there's no reason for you to be dead. All the chemicals are there,
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right, right, your body is still warm, right, it's not cold
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yet, right, it's still producing electricity right, as exemplified by the heat.
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There's no reason why this body should not be alive. If it was
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alive one second before, it should be alive right now now. They poured
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all kinds of research into this trying to figure out what it was that creates
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Is it the electricity? No, you can run electricity if you're a dead
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body. Won't do nothing. It's quite simply dead. Because God took back
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his breath from his nostrils that he gave you. That's the only reason why
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why you die. This is exemplified with his power to resurrect the dead.
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Right. So it's these things that are fairly important that you have to really
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be taught this from a young age, right. I mean, most of
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these things are pretty difficult for people that's already an adults. It's possible,
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though, of course, because with God all things are possible. I think
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everyone has the ability to help they it's just our own sinful stubbornness. I
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mean, we've talked about this before. I mean you and I know this.
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The dogs know that. The dogs know God, the fish know God,
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the birds know God. Yes, it is in our it is our
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natural instinct right to know God. Yes, that's why some people who are
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atheists, they'll say, I know there's a man upstairs, but I just
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don't believe in him. Right, it's very it's hard to deny right because
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it is undeniable. Go outside and look around. It is way too complex
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of a design for them to be any other explanation, because remember, one
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thing could not evolve at one time. You have true things had to evolve
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at the same time, simultaneously, more than two things in the same location.
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And they had to evolve at the same time, not two days apart,
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not two years apart. They had to evolve at the same time in
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the same place, one being male, one being female. It's hard,
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that's not reasonable, that's not possible. It's hard to not believe in God.
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You have to go out of your way, Yeah you do. You
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have to go out of your life. I mean, think about evolution.
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I am not going to say the word, but how much BS do you
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have to think up to deny God? Yes, you have to. I
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don't care which fairy tale you believe. I don't care if it's evolution,
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I don't care if it's zeus. It is a fairy tale created so that
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you don't have to believe in God so that you can get out of judgment.
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That's the real thing we're talking about. This is why they don't want
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to believe in God, because once you do, you accept the simple fact
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that He is going to judge you, that it's his way, not yours.
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So that's what all this orchestration is for. That's what all this entertainment
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is for. But if you have faith, what happens when you what happens
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when you're judged, what happens when you die? You have faith, you
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have faith and just believe. Isn't that averse? I don't have that written
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down. Isn't that averse? Yeah? That's that's pretty much Genesister revelation.
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But yes, I mean, if you have faith, you avoid all these
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things. I want to read a different verse, which one we haven't read
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Second Corinthians yet, have we? Yeah? Second Corinthians, by verses five
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through seven. Now, he who prepared us for this very purpose is God,
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who gave us the spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of
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good courage, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we
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are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight.
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We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be
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absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. For we
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walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage and prefer
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to be absent from the body and to be at home the Lord. Ay
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Man, I've said that publicly. First of all, the first point in
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that passage are we not of good courage? Because we know the Lord?
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I mean basically what he's saying, I mean, God prepared us for this
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very purpose. So what he's saying is, we are not afraid to die
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for God. Right, we want to be home anyways, We're not home,
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right, we don't write exactly. We have a faith, and that
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faith is taking us home a sense, for weal, for we walk by
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faith and not by sight. If I walk by faith and not by sight,
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do you think I care by being thrown in the lions den, I
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walk by faith. I was probably supposed to be there an hour ago.
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Right. You know you're exhibiting a very simple faith. But yes, that
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faith has to be childlike. I mean, is not the best faith simple?
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Indeed it is. Indeed it did And I would say, do you
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know as much as me when it comes to I don't know, electricity or
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maybe structural design. No, then that means you have more faith in me,
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and that's a good thing. And so you're saying I have more faith
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because I have less knowledge. That's right. That's exactly what I'm saying.
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That's that's exactly what I'm saying. And I've got different responses from when I
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said that in the classroom over the years. So I've had a lot of
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different responses, Like people were shocked when I said that, when they realized
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that that's true. Yeah, look at this. This This is the schematic
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that I made of the Book of Daniel. You'll take note it is not
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kind of Nope, it's not gonna You'll take note that it's Hebrew and Aramic,
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right, and the first six chapters are an exact inversion of the last
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six chapters. Right. You can see this in the schematic. See the
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first six chapters or the court proceedings, the last six chapters of the Apocalypse
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Visions. In the first set, the very first chapters in Hebrew. The
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other five are Aramaic. In the second set, the exact opposite is the
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truth the first chapters Aramic, the other five is Hebrew. Do you know
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how much it took to come up with that? Yet you didn't know that,
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did you? You had no idea that Daniel was that complicated, Yet
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you read it and believed it. Right, You believed it not knowing the
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schematic. I just showed you. Right. Therefore, your faith is greater
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than mine. The more you know, the more your faith is diminished.
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That is right than the blessed or you. Because you believe Daniel even though
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you didn't know all those things, and obviously that was written by God,
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right, no human could do this, and yet you believed it anyway.
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You believed it before you knew all those complex things. And the amount of
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kiasms that is a Greek literary device, the amount of kiasms in Daniel will
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just it is God's fingerprint. But you believed it way before you knew any
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of that. Right, and it is better for you to have believed it
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than to know all the mechanical reasons for believing it. I mean, I
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know it's difficult for me to say, like, you know, I'm the
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one to talk right, because I was raised believing this. I read Genesis
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and I was like, oh yeah, but I understand that other people who
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were not saved at a young age. They read Genesis and they have to
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calculating their brains, they have to make a mathematical equation, and said themselves,
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Okay, this is true because I believe it. They can't just they
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can't just trust it. I mean, I trust this. I always have.
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It's a part of my history. I was raised on it. I
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was shown it when I was too little to read, and I was told
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Mariah when you're older, just so you know this is true. So I
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know that it's true. I never had to make the decision in my mind
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to decide whether or not it was true enough for me. This is my
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ABC's so I know it's It's kind of hard because who am I to say.
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You know, for other people it would be a lot harder to believe
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it. But I promise you, if you have faith, you just look
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for that faith, then you will be able to read any number of Genesis,
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any number of Revelation, any number in between. If you just have
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faith, you will believe it and you'll understand it. As difficult as it
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may be. You know, it's amazing how I can open it anywhere I
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can open it. You just have no idea. You just have no idea.
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And you know I'm the same as you. That's how I was raised
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too, So there was there is no point in time that that I have
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been separated from God's work, just like you. I mean, it was
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literally my ABC's. So how do you think this is? This has affected
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you? I don't know. I guess I just I've always known that God
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was there. So remember when I would talk about it as a little kid,
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as a little baby, God's with me. So let me ask you
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something. What makes you believe it so fervently? I guess that a lot
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of things. I just know it. I mean, there's no other way
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to live. What's the point if I don't have this? What's the point
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of living? What's the point if I don't have God, I don't have
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my best friend, if I my savior, my God, if I don't
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have him, if I don't have this book, what is the point?
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I'm here to tell you there is no point. That's all that there is.
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That's the most important thing to me is this book. So if you
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were someone else, I would I would be forced to ask you this question.
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So, so your parents tried to convince you what it meant. What
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do you mean did your parents try to convince you of what it meant?
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Or did they just give it to you? Taught it to me like math.
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You know that's a startling thing for people to hear. But yes,
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it was given to you like it was a textbook, right, I was
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taught out Jesus like it was math. Like if you didn't teach a first
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grader kindergartener that two plus two is four, you're probably not a good teacher,
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because that for your or that that five year old better know what two
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plus two is be pretty odd if they didn't better know that yellow thus blue
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equals green. So, so, what did your parents say whenever you caught
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them contradicting what it said? What would they say if they caught me and
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contradicting it? Now, if you caught them contradicting it, what would they
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say? If you were to counter your parents and say, hey, the
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Bible says you shouldn't be doing that, what would your parents say? Would
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they say they are right and it is wrong. No, they'd either apologize
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and go, oh, you're right, or they would say something like let's
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go look together, you know, like how you would do with a math
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book. Yes, as a matter of fact, I'd do. So.
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Let me ask you this, So, how does your parents treat dictionaries and
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encyclopedia as compared to the Bible. When I was a little girl, I
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was not allowed to put something on top of the Bible. I was not
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allowed to put an encyclopia on top of the Bible. You better see the
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Bible first. You better not cover up the Bible. And did they ever
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say that what an encyclopedia said if it contradicted the Bible, the encyclopedia was
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true. No, you better not contradict the Bible. How about a dictionary.
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Dictionary contradicts the Bible. Someone stupid probably wrote it a man to that
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someone stupid definitely didn't write the Bible because it wasn't a person. That's right.
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I mean, the Bible is basically the dictionary of dictionaries. Like comparing
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the Bible to the dictionary would be like comparing me to the person of the
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United States of America, who's the most important American citizen. What you're saying
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is that it is the wellspring of knowledge. It's where knowledge comes from.
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I'm saying no knowledge can contradict it. If any knowledge contradicts the Bible.
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It's not knowledge. And this has borne in you great faith, right,
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I mean, no one can take this from you, can they? Nope.
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If anyone were to ever tell me, hey, Mariah, the Bible
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is just like wrong, I'd be like, oh that's cute. They walk
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away, tell them that was cute. Uh like, oh, it's funny,
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funny joke. I don't believe that way. So let me ask you
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this. So you're saying you had faith before you become a Christian, that's
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a hard question. It is a hard question for you. And I,
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like I said, people have drilled me about this before. I have no
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memory before God's word. I mean, I really don't. I mean,
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if I scroll back as far as my memory can go, even then,
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my mother was reading the Bible to me. Okay, let's put it this
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way, is we've gotten out of the way that faith is not March right.
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So from the time I was a very little girl, I knew that
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God was real. I knew that Jesus was there. I knew that he
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was my best friend because Mom told me. I knew that God always protected
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me from equal things because Mom told me. But could I have had faith
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in him before I accepted him in my heart and spoke to him. That's
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what I'm asking you, Yes or no, I don't think so. So
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this is quite the conundrum, right because it I think faith comes when you
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speak to him. Well, that's what we said that verse was talking about
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that we read earlier. Thesians sue, for by grace you have been saved
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through faith, you have to have faith that He's going to save you.
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I think so. So this is a crucible. The crucible is where is
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a finite point in time and space where these two things touch. So,
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I mean what you're saying is, I think is that grace is created for
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you once you have the faith, and like they they meet, they intersect
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in a moment in time. No, I think my faith caused me to
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be sucked. I think I had to have first. I finally had the
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faith to be saved. Now, for all these years of knowing, I
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finally got the faith. So let's read this list. Invert this Okay,
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can we do that for a second. We'll invert the Bible this verse Bible.
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Yes, okay, so it says by grace you've been saved through faith.
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Listenverted by faith, you have been saved through grace? Can this be
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written either way? Where these two intersect? What is it saying that this
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is where they meet? Where they meet it is the gift of God?
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What once they meet? I think it's saying. I think I know what
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it's saying. It says, for by grace, by grace, you have
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been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift
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of God. I think it's saying that God gives you the grace. God
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God's gift is giving you the grace and the faith. Well, it just
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it's bothering me because I know that phraseology is used elsewhere. Let me take
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a second and do a quick scan here. Let's do a regular expression search
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in the Old Bible. Take take for example, one Timothy, Chapter one,
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verse four. By faith. That's how the verse ends. By faith.
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Nor to pay attention to miss and endless genealogies, which gives rise to
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mere speculation, rather than furthering administration of God, which is by faith.
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As I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus,
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so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to
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pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which gave rise to mere speculation,
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rather than furthering the administration of God which by faith. But the goal of
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our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith.
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For some men straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion,
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wanting to be teachers of the law other than scientists, even though they do
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not understand either what they are saying or the matters which they make confident assertations,
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assertions. Don't laugh at me. Who is this talking about them?
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All of them? Them? There is them, and there's us. There
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are those of us that have faith, hope, and love, and there
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are those who do not. It was discussion, wanting to be chasers on
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the law, even they do not understand either what they are saying or the
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matters about which they may CONFIDENTI what were we just talking about? We're not
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we just talking about the excuses. Yes, it is difficult. You have
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to talk for a long time to come up with an excuse to say God
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is not real. Now it's time for us to go over this, so
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Hebrews, chapter eleven, Verse one. Now faith is the assurance of things
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hoped for, the conviction of things not seen for by it. Men of
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old gained approval by faith. We understand that the worlds were prepared by the
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word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things
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which are visible. What else do we need conviction for? Explain? I
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don't know. You have me at a loss? Do not? We need
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conviction to confess our sins and be saved? Yes, and you know everything
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that it's getting ready to list. You know. The first one off the
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bat is is able by faith able, So whatever it is able did,
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he was not able to do so without faith. The next one by faith
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Enoch. We don't have to read what was what was said. Whatever Enoch
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did, he did it, he was not able to do it without faith
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Verse six. Read verse six. And without faith it is impossible to please
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him or he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he
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is a rewarder of those who seek him. So here we go again back
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to this crucible. This is saying that in order to be saved, you
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have to have faith in him, right that when you reach out to him,
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when you cry out to him, he is a rewarder of those who
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seek him, So if you seek forgiveness from him, he will forgive you.
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This requires faith. So again we're here to this. It's this event
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horizon that he reward you with grace once you have the faith. But which
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one comes first. It's a point in space and time where these two come
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together. Faith and grace. That's what it's saying. That's what it means,
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doesn't mean anything else. You're not going anywhere without faith, because without
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faith, you are not going to get the grace. Without faith, you're
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not going to go to heaven. Without faith, You're not going to be
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saved. Without faith, you're not going to save other people, as is
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in the very next because you know what's the very next one. You know
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the next one is Noah, right? Read it? Read verse seven.
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By faith, Noah, being worn by God about things not yet seen in
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reverence, prepared an arc for the salvation of his household, by which he
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condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness, which is according to faith.
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He's his faith saved everybody. Eight people survived the flood, and it
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was because of Noah's faith. Oh boy, this is really or by grace
-
you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is
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a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no
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one may boast, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus,
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for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we could walk in them.
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We can't work ourselves. I can't just up and decide to go to Bible
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camp because I feel like that, you know, maybe since I'm a Christian,
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I could probably I probably should do that, and then you know,
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I'll probably be saved because of it. That's not how that works, you
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know better than that. I mean, I could up and decide that I
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want to go to Africa or you know, a third world country and you
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know, become a missionary and do all these good things, because I feel
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like all these good things would get me saved. Does God want me in
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Africa right now? Doesn't matter if he did or not. Going to Africa
-
wouldn't save you. Going to it doesn't matter. Whatever you think you're doing
-
that's going to save you, It won't save you. Yes, many people
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think that that if they give you know, if I just give this much
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money, I'll be saved. If I just do this if I help out
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this charity, all go to heaven or we are His workmanship created in Christ
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Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand. I'm going where God wants me
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to go in faith. I hear you all right. Time for you to
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take us out of here in prayer. Last time, you're going to pray
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this time, Okay to Jesus, thank you for everything that you've given to
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us. I agree that you would be with each and every one of us,
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and that you would teach us about your word and teach us to have
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faith in you and love and hope. And I pray that you would take
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each and every one of us and protect us, and that you would give
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us your word and teach us what we need to be taught. And I
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pray that you would be with us for the rest of the week, and
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that we would all have a good week we could learn more about you.
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And Amen, Amen and Amen. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen,
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God bless God speed. Thank you for listening to Marinath the Ministries with Matthew
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Miller. I appreciate you tuning in For more information. Stop by and visit
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us at patreon dot com. Backslash Matthew Miller, or you can correspond to
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us via snail mail by writing to PO Box zero two four reader, North
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Dakota five eight six four nine. Now, if you are a God fearing,
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Bible believing, Gospel preaching Christian, please repeat after me, I pledge
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allegiance to the Bible, God's holy Word. I will make it a lamp
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unto my feet and a light into my path. It's you words while I
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hid in my heart that I might not sin against God.