Sermon
"Yes, I Am Coming Soon” | Revelation 22:1–21
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a
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couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in
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practical ways.
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Hey, good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Bible guys. Today
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is Friday. Friday. Yeah, Friday is great and I think.
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You should start singing the Friday song.
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Well you mean that real song like it's Friday.
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It's like you sing good morning to us. Yeah, so
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if you made Friday by one.
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Except for that's the most irritating song in ye.
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But good Morning's not.
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No, it's not.
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I love good morning because it is a throwback to
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one of my favorite.
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Eras nineteen forties.
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Yeah.
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By the way, an old movie that I just watched
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with my family with Gene Kelly, so same guy and
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Judy Garland is called for me.
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And my gal.
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Have you ever seen it? I don't know.
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The bells are ringing.
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For oh yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that song.
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Yeah, so that's that's from that movie and it's great.
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Good for you.
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It is great for you. Black and white.
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You love the black and white.
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If you if you're.
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Out there and you are just thinking yourself, you know what,
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I'm gonna check out an old black and white film
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watch for me, my gall it's wonderful.
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I went on a black and white old movie binge
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a while back. Really yeah, I don't know, probably January February,
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so six months ago, and it was all Humphrey Bogart movies.
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Oh wow, yeah, so Maltese Falcan and yeah, yeah that's cool.
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Hey, so we are about to read a statement from
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Jesus that says, yes, I.
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Am coming soon.
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There seems to be a theme this week.
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Yeah, there certainly is, yes, And but before we get
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into that, we have a segment that desires paced together,
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piece together, I think is a.
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Brand new Oh yeah, we've never done this one.
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Before, and it's called the survival Clever scenario. Imagine you
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are both stranded on a desert island.
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Greatly is it only the two of them?
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I guess, So thank you for that.
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And it says, imagine you are stranding on a desraland
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with only a kazoo and a can of beans.
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Let's hear you debate how you make it out alive.
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Well, Desiree, this may not go the way that you
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wanted to go, because I would die in a week, yes,
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within a couple of days actually, And the end of.
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The end, and here's how it would happen.
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I would not survive.
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Here's how it's how it would happen. Yes, I know.
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You would start playing the kazoo.
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Well, there's no question would and you'd be like, if
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you can enjoy?
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No no no, no no no no, and I would
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go And that's how you die.
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Oh that's how I die.
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That's how I died, right down your throat. Yeah. Yeah,
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and then i'd eat the beans.
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So you told me after years?
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Yeah, the oh boy. Okay, but we got we have
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to get off of the island.
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So what you're saying, we have to get off of
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the kazoo before we even ate.
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I think so, well, we'd save it, all right, we'd
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save it, and I get angry, real hungry. I couldn't
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help it at that point. You ever, you ever just
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say mean things and you think why was that being
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so mean? You just realize you're being hungry. Yeah, that's
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what happened. So we'd be saving the beans in order
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to Okay, So here's here's what I think we should do.
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Okay on the desertland.
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Yeah, I think we should uh, we should eat the beans.
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Your best part of that is you go I kill you,
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you go and then I.
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Eat the bees.
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Well you're going down anyways, so you know, it's just
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I don't want you worrying. You're fretting and worrying. Yeah, uh,
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I think. So we're on an island. I think what
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we'd have to do is get some some branches and
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stuff because we have to escape the island. That's all
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we're trying to do is get off the island. Well yeah,
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make it out alive.
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Sure, yeah, it doesn't say where.
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Yeah, so we're gonna have to. We have to get
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some some logs. We have to put them together. So
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I think what we'll do is we'll take the can.
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Can you plant beans and get more beans.
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No not not from the can? No, no, no, they've
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been cooked. Okay, they make it there. So that's a
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good idea though.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. So then uh, well we'll use the can uh
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or make nails out of pieces of can so we
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can put that in Huh.
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How do you cut a can with rocks? Okay?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah all right, So so then we make
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some some nails out of that, and then we'll nail
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it together into a raft. And then you can be
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like Jack and I'll be like his girlfriend on the
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on the raft.
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Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll just I'll just be floating along, right,
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and then eventually you're playing your canoe, playing your kazoo.
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Eventually you're to say, never, let go, let me sink.
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That's right, just let you go. And then just like,
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because that's how it works in the movies, the raft
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was big enough for both of them, right, yeah, but
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he's for some reason not on the raft.
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Well, it was a door. It was a floating door.
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Yeah, exactly. I don't know. I don't know how you
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escape with Again.
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They did MythBusters and they actually figured out that there
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actually was enough room for both of them on the door.
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I totally when I watched the movie, it ruined the
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movie for me. Well yeah, I was like, are you
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flipping serious? This is how the movie ends? Yeah? Right, yeah.
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You know, one of the greatest movies in the history
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of Rotten Tomatoes in terms of, like, you know, the
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scores they give it a perfect ten is The Shawshank Redemption.
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Oh have you seen the Shawshank Redemption.
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No, we talked about that before. Okay, yeah, you got
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mad at me about it.
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Okay, Yeah, that's it's pretty crazy that you've never seen it,
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it's actually wow anyway, But there's a there's a part
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at the end of the movie for the listeners who've
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seen it. There's a part of the end of the
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movie where I was watching, you know, you just sometimes
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come across clips, and there was a clip like on
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TikTok or YouTube or something where where there was a
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guy that said he was interviewing Tim Robbins, and he
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said it was a cartoon and he said, hey, every
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question he goes, how did you pull the movie posters
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so tight? Where you made it so taut that a
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rock can go through it after getting inside the tunnel?
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He goes, how did you do that?
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And and if you know the movie, you know, like,
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oh my goodness, Like he's correct, and he goes, what
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what you didn't enjoy the movie, Tim Robbins says, and
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he goes, yes, he goes, I very much enjoyed the
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movie up until that part, right, And so it's like
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it's like what he's really implying is like it ruins
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the movie, right, And so yeah, I definitely think, uh,
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what were we talking about? We're talk about getting off
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the island, Okay, So yeah, I would die desiree. I
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would die just so that's it. I would I'm not
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a survivor outdoorsy.
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I think I think you would do it. I would
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feel obligated to keep you alive because we got to
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make it back to the show.
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That's that's why, that's why not our not our wives, but.
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Show to the show. Yeah, yeah, which that was my
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subtle way of say, hey, we should get back to
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the show.
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Yeah.
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I don't know. I don't know how you live with
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a kazoo and the cannabeans. I don't do you how
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do you get off the island. I don't know that
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the cannabeans or the kazoo actually gets you off the island?
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Right, Well, I mean the nails out of the can
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was pretty brillian.
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Yeah, I don't know that that would work, but yeah maybe.
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Well, I mean, but what you said was pretty awesome.
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Okay, and then you could be playing a kazoo like
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like with Iya the Tiger for our theme song.
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Is where I would totally be able to provide that.
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Yes, yeah, you wouldn't get sick of that and then
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did I Yeah? Okay, all right, so you know what.
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It's ridiculous that that that segment was a long time coming.
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It was very long timing coming.
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Yeah. And you know what is also a long time coming?
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What's that?
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The second coming?
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Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, that was a rough one there. Yeah,
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there's rough I don't even know.
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But we are going to launch into Revelation chapter number
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twenty two, verses one through twenty one.
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Yeah, which these are good ones.
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Yeah, these are good ones.
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Revelation Chapter twenty two should be exciting for people.
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It's by the way, for those who don't know, there's
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only twenty two chapters in the Bible.
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I think actually the relation.
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I'm sorry, in Revelation. I think the other day I
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actually said twenty one chapters. I think I messed that up.
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Oh yeah, twenty two chapters, twenty two yeah, yeah, And
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here's what it says. This is the last chapter yep,
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in the last book of the Bible.
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From the last surviving disciples.
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Yes, so it seems like this is a sit up
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and pay attention kind of moment.
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Yeah.
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Sure, in the Bible, it's kind of a big deal.
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It says, then the Angel showed me a river. So
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this is an the angel that's been leading John through
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the entire Book of Revelation, and me is John. So
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then the Angel showed me a river with the water
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of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the Throne of
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God and of the Lamb. He's describing heaven. Yes, So
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just imagine there's the throne. The throne is the center
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of eternity essentially, and there's this river, the river that
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has the water of life flowing gray symbolic, flowing from
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the Throne of God, clearest crystal flowing from the Throne
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of God and of the lamp. It flowed down the
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center of the main street. On each side of the
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river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit,
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with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used
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for medicine to heal the nations. No longer will there
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be a curse upon anything, for the Throne of God
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and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants
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will worship him, and they will see his face, and
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his name will be written on their foreheads. And there
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will be no night, there no need for lamps or son,
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for the Lord God will shine on them and they
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will rain forever and ever. Then the Angel said to me,
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everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true.
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The Lord, God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his
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angels to tell his servants what will happen soon. Look,
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I am coming soon. Blessed are those who obey the
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words of prophecy written in this book. I John am
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the one who heard and saw all these things. And
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when I heard and saw them, I fell down to
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worship at the feet of the angel who showed me.
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Showed them to me, But he said, no, don't worship me.
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I am a servant of God, just like you and
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your brothers, the prophets, as well as all who obey
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what is written in this book. Worship only God. Then
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he instructed me, do not seal up the prophetic words
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in this book, for the time is near. Let the
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one who is doing harm continue to do harm. Let
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the one who is vile continue to be vile. That
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the one who is righteous continue to live righteously. Let
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the one who is holy continue to be holy. Look,
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I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to
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repay all people according to their deeds. I am the
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Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning
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and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes.
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They will be permitted to enter into the gates of
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the city and eat the fruit of the Tree of Life.
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Outside the city are the dogs, the sorcerers are sexually immoral,
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the murderers, the idle worshipers, and all who love to
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live a lie. I Jesus, have sent my Angel to
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give you this message for the churches. I am both
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the source of David and the heir to his throne.
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I am the bright morning Star, the Spirit and the Bride.
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Say come, Let anyone who hears this, say come, Let
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anyone who is thirsty, come, Let anyone who desires drink
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freely from the water of life. And I solemnly declare
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to everyone who hears the words the prophecy written in
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this book. If anyone adds anything to what is written here,
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God will add to that person the plague's described in
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this book. If anyone removes any of the words from
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this book of prophecy, God will remove that person's share
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in the Tree of Life and in the Holy City
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that are described in this book. He who is the
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faithful witness to all these things, say, yes, I am
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coming soon. Amen, Come, Lord Jesus. May the grace of God,
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or may the grace of the Lord Jesus be with
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God's holy people. There you go. That's how he ends it.
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Yeah, that is how he man So, hey, let's start
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at the beginning.
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Jeff, Okay, I'd like to start even before the beginning
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and jump into the chapter head because it's you know,
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there weren't any chapters and verses for John.
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Correct.
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John didn't say, Okay, I just finished writing chapter twenty one.
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Now I'm going to write twenty two. Right.
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So we took the letter that John wrote, and we
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have actually all the letters of the Bible, and we
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divided them up into sections to be able to.
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What yeah, about nine hundred years after I identify, Yeah,
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after the Bible was done being written is when we
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started breaking it into chapters and verses.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, So if you go back further, he's got this.
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This angel is showing him and in verse fifteen and
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chapter twenty one says, the angel who talked to me
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held in his hand a golden measuring stick to measure
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the city, its gates, and its wall. When he measured,
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he found it was square as wide as it was long.
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In fact, it's length and with a height were each
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fourteen hundred miles. And he measured the walls upon them
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to be two hundred and sixteen feet thick. The wall
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was made of jasper in the city pure gold as
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clear as glass. The wall of the city was built
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on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones. The first
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was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,
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the fifth onyx, the sixth Carnelian, the seventh chrystolite, the
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eighth burl, the ninth topaz, and the tenth chryso praise,
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the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates
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were made of pearls, each gate from a single pearl,
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and the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.
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I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord
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God Almighty in the Lambar its temple, and the city
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has no need of sun or moon, for the glory
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of God illuminates the city, and the lamb as its light.
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The nations will walk in its light, and the kings
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of the world will enter the city and all their glory.
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Its gates will never be closed at the end of
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the day, because there is no night there, and all
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the nations will bring their glory and honor into the
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city nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone
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who practices the shameful idolatry and dishonesty, but only those
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whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of life.
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Then the angel showing the river flowing from the throne
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down the main street. Yeah right, how cool? Yeah, I
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mean that's amazing, dude.
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And you know what's amazing is so there's a statement
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about heaven in the Bible that says not the half
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has been told. Oh right, right, So it's interesting how
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Jesus talked more actually ten times more I think about
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Hell than he did about heaven. And even though he
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didn't necessarily describe Hell in great detail, there's still more
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written about it than there is heaven. And so we
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only have a few pieces of information about heaven. But
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what's interesting about everything you just read was those were
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dimensions that was actually measurements.
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Yeah right, so fourteen hundred miles.
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Cub cubed, which is an incredible right, and which is
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pretty crazy.
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And then also he talks about think about this.
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So, so, first of all, a couple of things that
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we grabbed from your twenty one. You broke the rules
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and read chapter twenty one.
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Yeh yeah. Yeah, I'm going to read another verse from
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twenty one and the Yeah.
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So here's what we know for a fact. Number one,
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there's no sun in heaven. God is the source of
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light in heaven, right, and so he is the one
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who sits in the center and light flows. Secondly, water
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flows from the throne, right, So he's the source of life,
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of light and drink and.
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The water of life. Yeah.
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And in the water of life which gives life right
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to the trees and which are on either side of
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the street. And it actually does say street, which was cool.
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Yeah, and those are the trees of life.
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Okay, so here's another thing about heaven. Let's have a
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little fun talk about heaven. Did you know. I'm sure
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you did.
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But there is an entire rainbow around the throne of heaven.
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So there is an entire rainbow. So think about this.
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When God set the rainbow in the sky in Genesis
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chapter nine for Noah, and he did so as a
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reminder that he's no longer going to flood the earth, which,
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by the way, is a promise that God keeps until death,
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which means it's a constant promise, which is why here
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it is thousands and thousands and thousands of years later,
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we still have a rainbow after the rain. You think
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it's pretty, but but just keep in mind, it's a
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it's a promise that God made a long time ago,
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that says, just as a reminder, it's raining, it's gonna
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stop right anyway. So there's a rainbow around the throne.
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And then there are angels that swarm around the throne
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that they're Cherubims and seraphims and with two they cover
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their eyes with two, they cover their feet with two.
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They fly so with six wings and there and they're shouting, Holy, Holy,
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Holy is the Lord God almighty. The whole earth is
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covered in his glory.
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According to Isa, right so even.
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Right now, and they're singing is so loud it shakes
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the foundation of the temple. Yes, it's pretty impressive. Yes,
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smoke fills the temple. It's pretty pretty impressive.
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So right now there's a river flowing from the throne.
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There's a rainbow around the throne God, God is providing
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the light source of heaven, and there's angels singing and
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declaring God's glory.
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I believe that this city is the place Jesus said
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he went to prepare that's what I believe. I believe
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that this is the city. Remember when we just talked
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about that. Yeah, like I go to prepare a place
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for you. I think this city is it. But if
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you go to Revelation twenty one, the very first verses,
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he said, then I saw a new heaven and a
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new Earth. This is after God brings final judgment on
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this planet. He destroys this planet. Everything is wiped out,
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and then God makes a new heaven and a new
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earth for the old heaven. And the old Earth had disappeared,
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and the sea was also gone. So this is now
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all land. There's no sea. And I saw the Holy City,
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the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven
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like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And look,
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I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look,
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God's home is now among his people. He will live
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with them, and they will be with his people. God
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himself will be with them, and he will wipe every
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tear from their eyes, and they'll be no more death
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or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are
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gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, look,
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I'm making everything new, right then we get into the
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description of this incredible all these gems that are the
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foundation of the building. You got this this city that
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is fourteen hundred miles cubed. That's from here to from Michigan,
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from Detroit to Orlando, well even beyond it's almost to Miami.
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Fourteen hundred miles, right, cubed cubed, Yeah, cubed. So you
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can't crash a city like that into a planet, right,
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even a planet our size?
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Yeah? Right, what's that? John the revelaide or saw Jerusalem coming.
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So I think what you have is you have the
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spiritual place that Jesus went to build for us crashing
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into or coming into the physical place of this new Earth.
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Right, So the spiritual.
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He's bringing the spiritually back back to the physical. Right. Right,
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we were dead spiritually, we were alive. Adam and Eve
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were alive spiritually. They could see God walking in the
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in the garden, and they could see the elephants in
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the palm leaves. Right, they were in both realms, the
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spiritual and the physical. And then they died spiritually and
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they lost that ability. So on occasion, angels would pop
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in and out of their visibility. Right, the angels guarding
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the garden. Uh uh, Noah heard from God out loud.
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Abraham saw angels right, those kinds of things. So there
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were Joshua, it was servant who eyes, yeah, and and
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they could the angels all surrounding protecting them. At those
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that are with us are greater than the army that's
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coming against us. So there's this spiritual realm, we just
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don't live in it. And I think what's happening here
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in Relation chapter twenty one is that God is bringing
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the spiritual back to the physical for us where we're
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experiencing both. So heaven for us, I believe, is that
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new Jerusalem. How you think of heaven. After you die,
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you're going to go to heaven. But when it's all done,
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God ends time, and now it's just we're moving into eternity.
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He makes a new Earth, and he brings the New
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Jerusalem down. He brings Heaven to Earth right, the two
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come together. And then the description that you get is
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people always ask what's happening going to be? Like what's
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he turned? I like to go beyond heaven, the city,
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the new Jerusalem. I like to get into what's eternity
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going to be? Like God's going to be our king.
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Like you said, there's no need for a sun, moona stars.
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But there's food, right, there's a tree of life, there's crops,
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there's nations, there's kings, rulers, but there's commerce. They're coming
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in and out. They don't need to close the gates
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of the city because it's pure safety and security all
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the time. There's no night time, there's no more disease,
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there's no more death, there's no more tears. It's the
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perfection that God always planned for us in the Garden
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of Eden. Now finally there's no sin and there's no
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consequence of sin anymore. And so we go back to
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the perfect human society that God had always planned with
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him at the center and us in perfect relationship with him.
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But there's an economy happening. There's kingdoms that happen, there's
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rulers that happen, there's nations that happen. All the things
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that are necessary in human culture and society. That's what
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it's going to be like. So remember a couple days ago,
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we were asked, Hey, I wonder if you'd be able
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to pick where you live or where you go and
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all that kind of stuff. All the adventure that you
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feel like you're going to miss out on in this earth.
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You're going to have a trillion years and then some
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to work it all out, to go do the thing right,
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to learn the things. I think that there's hints in
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scripture that we will continue to grow, continue to develop,
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that will continue to learn to know all these things.
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Only now it's the perfect version of what God had
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planned for us. And so he says, hey, look I'm
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coming soon. So this is why I look forward to heaven.
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I'm not afraid of dying. Dying is just the transition
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from here to there, and then there's another transition when
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it's all done and he destroys this planet, makes a
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new one. It's no longer groaning or broken under sin.
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It's an incredible thing. We should yearn for it, we
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should desire it, and then we should want to take
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everybody we know and everybody we meet with us.
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Yeah, that's amazing and whow So we covered a lot
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of twenty one, a lot of twenty two, and one
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thing I was going to want to talk about is
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you know the dominant color of Heaven. Well I shouldn't
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say that, I should say the dominant color used to
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describe heaven.
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That we know of green green.
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Yeah, so it's it's yes, is that right? And huh
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Son of God. I didn't know that that's that's.
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Uh yeah, that's the dominant that that would be a
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primary color.
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Sounds like what you're saying is wicked is biblical not wicked?
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Uh So he didn't Frank Frank wahum didn't right, wicked.
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Yeah.
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So anyway, the bottom line is is, yeah, they talk
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about trees, they talk about jasper, they talk about emeralds.
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Uh.
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And so the dominant color grass, of course, is used
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to describe heaven as actually green. People may think whites
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are clouds, right yeah, uh you know, but gold that
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is as clear as glass is pretty cool.
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Well, it's it's kind of neat because all of these
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you know, when you talk about onyx and burrow and
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tope has chrystallite, uh, amethyst, these are all jam that
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light shines through and sparkles. It's cool because the light
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emanates from the city. It emanates from God. That's not
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we're not waiting for the sun. So my wife and
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I were just at uh In in uh Okra in
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what is it called. Yeah, in India, the taj Mahal. Yeah, yes, yes, yes,
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so uh. The taj Mahal one of the most beautiful
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human structures ever. It's magnificent. It's this beautiful white marble.
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But in it he carved in millions and millions and
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millions of gemstones. And around the tomb of his wife
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there's this, uh, each panel all the way around is
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carved marble, and it looks like a like lattice work,
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but it's all just one giant piece of marble. And
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then in that marble he has embedded in it, uh,
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what they call a firestone. And it's it's one of
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the stones that's mentioned here. It's bright red. It's it's red.
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It's beautiful to see. It's kind of an orangeish color.
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But when the sun flows through it, it just lights
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up like fire, right, And so he has it set
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so that every morning when the sun comes up, it
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comes through there, the light comes in just right, and
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the whole room just glows in this beautiful red. So
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you can imagine if the light of Heaven is emanating
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from God's throne and the foundations in the walls of
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this of this city are all these beautiful things, just
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the beautiful glow, the stunning visuals of this. We can't
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fathom how magnificent, how magnificent, how magnificently spectacular this place
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way you tripped, I couldn't get it.
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Magnificently spectacular.
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Yeah yeah, yeah, we can't even fathom it.
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So there's a lot of tripping in heaven.
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Yeah yeah, Oh I can't see yeah yeah, yeah, this
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is just incredible.
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Yeah, there's bright lights shining everywhere.
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Yeah. So this is now now when we keep calling
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it heaven, but this is eternity. So heaven comes to earth,
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they blended, we move into eternity from there. So I
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believe that that heaven is the new Jerusalem that comes
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down in that.
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Yeah, that's that's really cool.
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It's exciting. But it says nothing evil will be allowed
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to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful, idolatry dishonestly, but
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only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book
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of Life.
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Lamb's Book of life.
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So your name needs to be in the Lamb's Book
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of life, right, and how do you how do you
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get in the salvation by gay through faith? You trust Jesus.
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That's right, everyone who calls them the name of the
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Lord will be saved Romans ten.
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Are you all right all right, buddy.
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That's a good place to end, so we will see
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you hopefully on Monday on the Bible guys.
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H