RABBI: Lessons From THE Teacher 4

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You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Boy, I tell

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you what, I am so grateful for the

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resource of being able to live stream when

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we're not here. But I will tell you, I would never want my.

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I just would not want my life to be one where I.

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That's, you know, that would be it. There would be no other option. And for

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some people that's the only option that they have. Maybe because of an ailment or

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something like that. And I get that. But boy, if I have the ability to

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be in the house, I would much rather be here. It's different when you are

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in person with people. And so thanks for being here tonight on

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this chilly night. And man, it's so good to see your

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faces. Don't we serve an amazing God? Isn't he just

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incredible? And man, I'm so thankful for the

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patience that he has with me when I think I've got it all together, but

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I learned that I really don't. My blind spots, as many as

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they are. The Lord graces them and covers me and

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teaches me gently. He's such a great shepherd. He's such a great

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shepherd and I'm so grateful for him. Guys, it's

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good to be together in the house of the Lord. We're going to continue our

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series tonight with Pastor Barbie. And it's been rich, hasn't it? It's been really

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good. And I just am so excited about what she has. So let's just stretch

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our arms out toward her and ask the Lord to. To cover

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her this evening. Father. We thank you Lord, for Barbie,

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the gift that she is to this house, the gift that she is to our

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lives. I'm thankful for my friend. And I ask, Lord, that you would cover her

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tonight. I thank you for her preparation for this evening. I pray

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Lord, that her words that just come from wherever

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fall short nor few. I know that would be her prayer, God. But Lord, the

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words that you have for us that would change us for eternity, Lord, we want

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to hear those loud and clear. And so Lord, use our sister

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tonight, Lord, to nudge us along in this journey. Words from

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the rabbi in Jesus name, Amen.

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Is it wrong that when you said

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the word, you know, were you talking about blind spots?

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How fun would it be if we see that in

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somebody and we're just like blind spot?

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Subtlety has never been my strength.

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Can I do that? I think the phone would not be the hatchet if I

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would just. Blind spot.

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I gotta do it with a British accent.

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It's less harsh Anyway, I'm so excited about what the Lord has

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for us tonight. I'm so glad Ronnie and Michelle are back. I don't know where

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you were, but I missed you. I look over there and there's this encourag.

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Most of the time encouraging until he starts

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looking up scripture and then I'm like, oh no, what did I do?

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Anyway, we're going to jump in tonight. I believe the Lord has something for us.

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I know that he had something for me as I was studying it out and

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I trust that this is a corporate thing. I have to

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tell you when we were recording

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for Sunday, it is so

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true guys, when the word says that wherever two or three are gathered

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together in his name, that he's right there in the midst of us because

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he just, he was here. And I believe that that

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translates, you know, you can have an amazing

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livestream and be technically savvy and

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the Holy Spirit not be welcome in it. I'm so

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grateful that the Holy Spirit has touch to these

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things in this house and I'm just grateful. All

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righty then, let's see. Let's start with scripture. Isn't that a

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good place to start? Okay, we're going to start. This string is really

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bothering me. I bought it. Looks like I have a whip up here.

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You guys better listen.

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Actually, the tape's coming off.

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I have. Well, I'm no longer bound and

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I'm sorry guys, I had way too much coffee anyway.

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That bothers me. Okay, we're going to Matthew. It is the first book

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in the New Testament, chapter 22. And I'm going to

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read a brief section and then I am going to bring

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you in to the rest of it. Let me set it up for you.

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Father God, I thank you so much for your word and your truth. I thank

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you for the clarity that it brings. I thank you that your anointing is in

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it. Your breath is over it, Father God. And so we're gonna lean in,

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Father, into that breath. The breath of the word, Father. The God breathed

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word. That's where we are with you tonight, Lord. So we lean in and we

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trust you. Let my stuff fall in your stand in Jesus name.

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Matthew 22, it's talking about. It's

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when the Pharisees and the Sadducees are trying to trip up Jesus

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basically. And so the Sadducees bring these story about, you know,

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well, what if this guy's wife dies and, and what if this

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happens? Whose wife is she going to be when they enter into the kingdom?

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And Jesus speaking to the Sadducees, who were actually

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the wealthy and the elite of that time. They were

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basically two political parties for the most part.

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But he looks at them and he says the most wonderful thing here.

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Well, I'll jump into that. He says, you are in error because

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you do not know the Scriptures or the power of

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God. And he begins to share that in the Resurrection, people

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will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like

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angels in heaven, which is another issue for the Sadducees, because

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they didn't really believe in an afterlife. But we'll jump into that.

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But then he goes on down. So when the Sadducees could not trip him up,

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when he said, you know, Jesus goes on to say, God is the God of

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the living, not of the dead. And so it says, hearing that

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Jesus had silenced the sad, there's the

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competition, Pharisees and Sadducees. The

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Pharisees got together, and one of them, an expert in the law,

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tested Jesus with this question, teacher,

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which is the greatest commandment in the law? And Jesus

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replied, love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of

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your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and

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greatest commandment. And the second is, like

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it, love your neighbor as yourself. All the law

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and the prophets hang on these two

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commandments. On these two commandments,

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I don't know about you, but I like to know the bottom line.

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I like to know if this is the. If he is

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our rabbi and he is the teacher, wouldn't

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you want to know what he says the most

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thing to do is? Wouldn't that be fitting for us?

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However, first I have to grab hold of this portion because it really is

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just kind of right down the lane. You are in error. These are

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words in red, too. You are in error because you

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do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

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Translated. You don't know what you're talking about because

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you are biblically illiterate. You are scripturally

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illiterate, and you don't know what you're talking about. And because you don't know what

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you're talking about. Hey, guys, I'm not saying this to you.

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This is what he's saying. You don't know what you're talking about because you don't

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know the Scriptures and you are not familiar with the power of God. And

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because of those two things, you're asking the wrong questions.

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You're asking the wrong questions. And he begins to share

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everything as he goes forward. And when they try to trip

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him Up. And they say, you know, well, what's the most important? And he

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says these two things. It is that you love God and

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that you love your neighbor as yourself.

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To me, that's the foundation. That's where you start.

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If you are going to ask the Lord, Lord, I want to move

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further. I want to go deeper. I want to be more of this.

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And into this, Lord, develop me. Just pour

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into me in these areas. You cannot build a house

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without this. You cannot build something. You have to have.

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This is foundational. And sometimes the most clarifying thing we can do

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is to scripturally define the bottom line.

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And this becomes the spot that we stand in.

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And we go, this is the starting line.

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This is where we begin this journey. This is where we build the

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house. Because if you're not building with this as a foundation,

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you're getting the what, but you're not getting the why. And you have to have

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the why. You have to have the why. Sometimes the most

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clarifying thing you can do is scripturally define the bottom

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line. It becomes our cell or truth. It's the place where we stand.

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You know, when I began working for Pastor

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Ronnie 20, 25 years ago, however long it was,

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I needed to know where to stand. I needed the Holy

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Spirit to define for me in that season

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with my assignment and the calling at that moment in time, I needed the

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Lord to define a bottom line for me. Because if you

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don't, if he didn't. And I needed him to because

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I had a tendency to want to run after everything that seemed like a good

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thing, and it was exhausting.

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I remember Pastor Bruce coming by my office one day, and I'm just crying, and

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I've got the door shut. Okay, let's be honest. I was wailing,

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and he walked in and he went, what's going on, Barbie? And I said,

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I'm tired. I'm just tired. He's like, okay, what are you working on? What are

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you trying to do? And I said, well, there was this woman, and

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she's in this abusive situation, and I'm trying to find a place for her to

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go. I'm trying to find her a home, and I'm trying to find this. And

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I thought he would be moved with great. You know, greatly impressed. And

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he said, is that what God told you to do? And

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I said, but she needs a place. He said, I understand that. That's not what

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I asked you. What did God tell you to do? What did God tell you

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to do in this role? And I said, well, the Lord Told me to study,

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to teach, and to pay attention to Pastor Ronnie's plate, to see if there

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were things on it that I could take off so that he could more effectively

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do the things that God had called him to do. And he made me restate

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that. Okay? He asked me to, but it was Pastor Bruce, and he's tall. And

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he said, what was it? And so I restated that. And he said, how does

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this fit into this? Because, see, there's

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always gonna be something good that you can do. There's

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always gonna be a person in need. There's always gonna be something,

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and that's good. And the Lord will allow us at times to step out and

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do those things. But if you continue to step out of the

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parameters that God has laid for you in that time and in that season, what

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you'll find is that you will begin to try and birth in your flesh.

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Supposed to be done in the spirit. And we have to go with the spirit

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because our flesh will exhaust us. Right? So clarifying the bottom line

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allowed me to move back to center time and time and time again.

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Well, now, when I was hired to work with Pastor Kevin,

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it would have been foolish of me to go. Well, this was my

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assignment with Pastor Ronnie. So it's gonna absolutely be the same assignment with him.

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It's not. It's not. And I needed the Lord to clarify

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that for me so that I didn't make him miserable. And me mise.

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And I'm saying this to say to you, have you allowed the Lord to

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define your season? Have you allowed him. Have you asked him

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to show you the parameters of where you are now so that you are not

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physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted? We want you functioning

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in that place that the Lord has called you to in this season. Okay?

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Now that one that's not on there, and that's kind of free.

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But it's important. It is important. I know that it has rescued

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me time and time again and brought me back to center, those checkpoints where the

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Lord says, no, this is what I told you. You need to know what the

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Lord has told you for now, for this season. Okay? So

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right now, in this scripture, our launch point, the foundational place, because you

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may not know right now exactly what your assignment is in this season, and you

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may not know what your parameters are at this moment. So we're gonna start here.

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When it comes to loving God and loving our neighbor, it is our love for

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our neighbor that tends to suffer the greatest.

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Lord, I love you. God, I love you.

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You know, and we Sing it. And we say it and we tell

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them, you know, we love him. And somehow,

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somehow it has become funny

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or a standing joke to go, church is

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great, but then there's the people

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that's like going, hal is great, but man, his kids, oh,

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wait, those are my kids. Let's try somebody else. Kevin is

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amazing, you know,

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And I think God is asking more. I

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don't think our. I don't

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think it's a joke to him. Now listen, I am

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an introvert. And introverts and extroverts

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love differently. If you find me hiding behind a curtain, it isn't because I don't

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love you. It's because I love differently. Extroverts

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love loud. Extroverts love loud. If

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they love you, you are going to know that they love you. And probably most

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of the people in the room will know that they love you.

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Introverts love gently but just

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as true. And an introvert can love you like crazy,

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meet and minister to you behind the scenes. And

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people may think, oh, you know, what does Delaney really

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love? Yeah, she does, Does

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Delaney. I love pointing out introverts. They

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love it when you bring their name up in a message. But you see what

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I'm saying? It isn't a lack of love that

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causes introverts to sit back and extroverts to run

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forward. It's just the way God wired you. Bottom line,

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both of you are called to love his people. And if you

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don't love his people, why do you ever think he would call you

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into any form of ministry? We have to love his

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people. It's a non negotiable. There are negotiables and.

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And there are some that aren't. It says, if anyone

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boasts, I love God and goes right on hating his

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brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar.

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He won't love. If he won't love the person he can see,

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how can he love the God he can't see? The

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command we have from Christ is blunt. Loving

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God includes loving people. You've got to

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do both. You

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gotta do both. Have I wrestled with this one?

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Have you seen me limp? I mean,

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it's not always easy, but it's always right. It's

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always right. If I say, kevin, I love you, brother,

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I think you're amazing. And I passed by Shari and

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Hadassah and Lucia and Ruby and Nora and

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Eliana on the side of the road, and I don't stop to help them.

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Do I love him? So how can we

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say that we love God and His people

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are a footnote in the picture.

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They're not anyway. Okay,

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then it's just the truth.

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It's just the truth. Okay?

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And he says this. When he says this, he says, love your

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neighbor as yourself. And see, that's given

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a lot of people an ouch. Because a lot of people don't really love themselves.

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A lot of people don't have a great deal of respect for

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themselves. And that's, you know, the work of the enemy in the life that

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causes insecurities and pains and frustrations and shames

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and all of these things that the enemy puts on so that. That

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your esteem for yourself is not

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as strong as it should be. The way that the Lord would have it, the

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way that all parents wish their children felt about themselves.

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But then Jesus does this thing and he goes, okay, all right. Love

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your neighbor as yourself is the standard. And then he ups the standard.

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A new command I give you. Love one another

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as I have loved you. What?

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So must you love one another. By this, all men will know that you are

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my disciples. If you love one another.

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Jesus raised the bar from love your neighbor as yourself

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to as I have loved you.

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In doing this, our blueprint became his

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love rather than our own.

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The standard is higher. But see, the Lord is. The scripture

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tells me that his love has been shed abroad

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in my heart. So I have the capacity

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to love because of the love that Christ has given me and

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that he has poured into me. I have the capacity. I

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just don't always have the will to do it. And

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God is challenging both here. God is going, I have

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given you this great love that he has shown.

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And he's asking us to show that kind of love to one

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another. Now. Okay, here's the thing.

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You hear it. You know love like Jesus loved. You know love like

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Jesus loved. And we see how Jesus loved. He gave everything.

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He sacrificed everything. But that's a big ask.

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That is a big piece to take a bite of

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and chew up. And it's just a lot bigger than we are.

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And because God is faithful and because God is good, I

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believe according to everything that I read, that he has

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placed in Scripture everything I need

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in order to do the things that he's asking us to do, Right?

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Well, actually, it says this. All scripture is

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God breathed. It's God breathed.

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It isn't the work of a man. It is God

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breathed. It is Holy Spirit inspired. And it is

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useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and

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training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped

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for Every good work. So often we love the rebuking and

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correcting portion of that. Not for ourselves, but for others.

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In this teaching thing, guys, I can't get

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away from the fact that when the Pharisees addressed him and when the

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Sadducees addressed him, the two ruling

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sects, both of them addressed him as teacher,

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as rabbi. They recognized the calling. And

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so all scripture is God breathed and is

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used to train us and to teach us and to move us

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down that pathway. So that tell that

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I can trust that he has instructions for me in this word how to

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love. The Holy Spirit that He left for us will

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show us how we can do this a step at a time. Cause see, the

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disciples knew how Jesus loved on a daily basis. They walked with

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him. They sat at the table with him. They spent time with

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him. They knew his demeanor. They knew his character. They knew

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what he was like when he woke up in the morning. And they knew what

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he was like when he went to bed at night. Now, see, I can say

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that about how I know how Hal loves. Hal

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is a fierce protector. He is

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as faithful as the day is long. He will

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do anything for anybody he loves to help

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people. And he will.

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He and I will go to our graves loving each other. Because he ain't

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giving up. And I ain't giving up. That's how he

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loves. I know. I know his love language is

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words of affirmation. I know the things that speak to him. I know how

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he loves. The disciples knew how he loved, knew

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how Jesus loved. And I believe

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that the word was breathed into 1 Corinthians 13 to

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show us this is what Jesus love looked like. If it is the

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fruit of the Spirit flowing through a life. I believe that we can grab hold

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of this scripture and see

Speaker: 00:21:44

a progressive way to measure.

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Are we loving like Jesus loved? Because that's what he has just asked us

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to do. And so I believe that there's a bit of a blueprint

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in this for us. Now, here's the other part of this.

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Sometimes I believe we're better served by knowing what something isn't than what it is.

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Let me explain this to you.

Speaker: 00:22:12

Let's just say hypothetically, that you

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grew up in the country and you had a cousin

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named Marshall Ray. And Marshall Ray was about two years

Speaker: 00:22:24

younger than you were. And he knew those fields and those

Speaker: 00:22:28

hills like the back of his hand. And he ain't scared of nothing.

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And let's just say, just for the sake of argument, that Marshall

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Ray decided to walk into his mother, my Aunt

Speaker: 00:22:40

Maureen's, house, hypothetically, and carrying like a three foot

Speaker: 00:22:44

snake wrapped around one arm. And his mother, who had

Speaker: 00:22:48

arthritis, couldn't move as fast as she would have liked to that night. And

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the thing that struck me the most was that Marshall was

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going, but Mama, But Mama hit's head ain't even diamond

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shaped. It ain't poison. I mean, look at this.

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It ain't this, it ain't. It's long when it's

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skinny and it ain't well, see, he knew at the

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age of seven that his mom needed to know what it wasn't. And

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I believe when we look at 1 Corinthians 13, there's a bit of that in

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that. Because what we find is that it

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addresses two identifiers

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regarding love and what real love is, authentic love is.

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And then it gives us eight things that it isn't. And see, I believe that

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the Lord knew we were going to have trouble defining what love really was, whether

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it was in our personal relationships or when we started dating or whatever it might

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be. We were going to have a little bit of problem with defining what love

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actually looked like. And so he gave us some parameters that we

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can look at and we can judge the two

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original. If you go to First Corinthians 13,

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Verse 4, it says this.

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According to God breathed Scriptures, true

Speaker: 00:24:15

love has two initial authenticators, and they

Speaker: 00:24:18

are patience and kindness.

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Well, that already ruled out some relationships, didn't it?

Speaker: 00:24:27

Man, I wish the teenagers were in here tonight.

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Patience and kindness.

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Patience is the level of

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endurance one exemplifies in difficult circumstances before

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moving into negativity. Negativity.

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Are they patient or do they move

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swiftly into negativity with the slightest

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provocation? Are you

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patient or are you quick to

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slide down that Slide into a negative space?

Speaker: 00:25:31

Do little things set you off? Do you find yourself saying,

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that's just the way I am? No, it isn't. It

Speaker: 00:25:39

isn't just the way you are. It is evidence

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of a lack of the fruit of the Spirit,

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which is patience. And if that is you,

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your best recourse. And my best recourse is to go. God,

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increase your fruit in me. Father, I pray that your Holy

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Spirit have his way in my life so that this is not

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a marker for who I am. Is that something that people

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say about you, that you are patient?

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Now, what about kindness?

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Kindness? You are marked by good and

Speaker: 00:26:19

charitable behavior. You have a pleasant disposition

Speaker: 00:26:23

and you show genuine concern for others. See,

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these are descriptives of the way that Jesus loved. Right?

Speaker: 00:26:32

He stopped in his tracks to minister to People's needs.

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When he had needs of his own, he didn't go,

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no. You know, kindness,

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marked by good and charitable behavior, pleasant

Speaker: 00:26:47

disposition. Ask yourself

Speaker: 00:26:51

seriously, because we are so quick to start judging the people around us to

Speaker: 00:26:55

see if they have these behaviors. Ask yourself, if somebody

Speaker: 00:26:59

sees you coming down the hallway here at church, are they

Speaker: 00:27:03

all of a sudden on their phone? Are they ducking into the bathroom

Speaker: 00:27:07

quickly? Are they finding someone to talk? Or

Speaker: 00:27:11

are you avoiding people coming down the hallway?

Speaker: 00:27:18

Are you marked by kindness?

Speaker: 00:27:24

Love is patient and love is kind.

Speaker: 00:27:28

The love that Jesus displayed was patient and

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it was kind, and that's what we're being asked to

Speaker: 00:27:36

emulate. I mean, guys, I can tell you today,

Speaker: 00:27:41

places I wasn't patient and that I didn't act like

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this, but it's my heart to do it

Speaker: 00:27:49

now. Okay, so those are the two that we get to go. It is

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this and it is this. Well, it isn't this.

Speaker: 00:27:57

It is not envious or jealous,

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boastful or proud. It is not dishonoring or self seeking.

Speaker: 00:28:05

It is not easily angered, unforgiving.

Speaker: 00:28:15

What do you mean, love's not envious?

Speaker: 00:28:20

People who love you will not hold you back. They will

Speaker: 00:28:24

celebrate what God is doing in your life. They won't be

Speaker: 00:28:27

fearful in it. See, there's a root. Jealousy and

Speaker: 00:28:31

envy are two different things. Two different things. Jealousy has a

Speaker: 00:28:35

root of fear. Jealousy over someone else's life is

Speaker: 00:28:39

going, oh, oh, I could lose something here. Jealousy has a

Speaker: 00:28:43

root base where you're not secure enough in where you are

Speaker: 00:28:47

to allow somebody else to shine. And so this

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envious thing, and then the envy has a root of

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lust. Jealousy is a root of fear.

Speaker: 00:28:58

Envy is a root of lust. Envy wants what they have

Speaker: 00:29:02

because you think you deserve what they have. They're two different emotions, and they come

Speaker: 00:29:06

out and they both look like envy, but

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they're not. One is fear and one is the other. I'm only

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telling you that because it will allow you to

Speaker: 00:29:17

pray about the root. If you are someone who struggles with

Speaker: 00:29:21

jealousy, my encouragement to you

Speaker: 00:29:25

would be, lord, help me with this spirit of fear. God,

Speaker: 00:29:30

I ask, Holy Spirit, that you rebuke this spirit of fear that I'm

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walking in, that I cannot rejoice with somebody else

Speaker: 00:29:37

or celebrate with someone else who is succeeding or moving forward

Speaker: 00:29:41

or walking into a new place. And if it's envy, if you're

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not, if you're walking in that place where you think, well, I should have

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gotten that, you know, I mean, I want

Speaker: 00:29:52

Alexis, too, but I don't.

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Well, okay, that's a lie. But I do. But I don't. There's

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this black Lexus, and I'm pretty sure that Connie Hutchison has one, and it's a

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pretty one. And I'm like, oh, Lord, that's nice, but I got a beautiful car.

Speaker: 00:30:08

I've got a great. Anyway, I digress.

Speaker: 00:30:12

But you know what? And this is the honest truth. I can

Speaker: 00:30:16

celebrate with them what God has done. I

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celebrate with them what God has done,

Speaker: 00:30:24

okay? It is not boastful. Love

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is not boastful. It does not sing its

Speaker: 00:30:32

own praises.

Speaker: 00:30:36

It will not be. I'll just written. It will not have a

Speaker: 00:30:39

disproportionate view of its own accomplishments or importance. If

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you have someone who lets you know how lucky you

Speaker: 00:30:47

are to have them, there's a red flag.

Speaker: 00:30:51

And if you are that person, drop the flag.

Speaker: 00:30:55

Drop the flag and do it. Not be boastful.

Speaker: 00:30:59

It isn't. Guys, I love this because, man, if

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you had this when you were a teenager and started dating somebody and you thought

Speaker: 00:31:07

you were in love for the first time and this was your measuring line that

Speaker: 00:31:10

you got to run it up against, don't you think you might have saved yourself

Speaker: 00:31:14

a few heartaches? Don't you think you might have if

Speaker: 00:31:18

you could have? I mean, it was all right there. It says it

Speaker: 00:31:21

isn't proud. It isn't proud. It isn't full

Speaker: 00:31:25

of itself. It doesn't have an inflated sense of

Speaker: 00:31:29

personal status or accomplishments. It isn't proud.

Speaker: 00:31:33

Now, this next one, I think is so important. I think this one is

Speaker: 00:31:37

so important. It says it isn't

Speaker: 00:31:41

dishonoring. Love will never lead

Speaker: 00:31:45

you to feel shame or disgrace. Guys, if

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you don't remember any of this, I want you to remember this.

Speaker: 00:31:52

But love will not bring dishonor.

Speaker: 00:31:57

It will not cause you to feel shame or disgrace. It

Speaker: 00:32:00

will not remove your honor, diminish your worth,

Speaker: 00:32:05

affect your honesty, or compromise the

Speaker: 00:32:08

integrity of your personal values.

Speaker: 00:32:14

It just doesn't. If I love

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you, I will never ask you to do any of that. And I will

Speaker: 00:32:22

never lead you down a path that causes you to feel that or experience that

Speaker: 00:32:26

or lose that to. I will never ask you

Speaker: 00:32:30

if I love you. I will never bring you

Speaker: 00:32:34

into situations that cause you to be ashamed and feel

Speaker: 00:32:37

disgraced. Love doesn't do that.

Speaker: 00:32:43

It just doesn't. The love that Jesus is

Speaker: 00:32:47

asking us to display toward our God

Speaker: 00:32:50

and toward our fellow man looks like

Speaker: 00:32:54

this. We don't lead them

Speaker: 00:32:58

down that path. And when we are being led

Speaker: 00:33:02

down that path, in any way, we need to recognize it for what

Speaker: 00:33:06

it is and it is not. Love.

Speaker: 00:33:14

Is not love.

Speaker: 00:33:19

If your relationship does not meet this criteria, you

Speaker: 00:33:23

need to take a very hard look at what's actually going on.

Speaker: 00:33:27

And you need to invite the Holy Spirit into your

Speaker: 00:33:31

relationship, into your walk, into your world, to

Speaker: 00:33:34

clarify these things for you and right behind it. And it's so fitting.

Speaker: 00:33:39

Love is not self seeking. It doesn't just

Speaker: 00:33:42

pursue what it wants. It's not about

Speaker: 00:33:46

itself. It's not about its own

Speaker: 00:33:50

interests. It promotes

Speaker: 00:33:54

the interests and the advancement

Speaker: 00:33:58

and the engagement of the one that it's toward.

Speaker: 00:34:02

If you love me, this is what it looks like, and

Speaker: 00:34:05

this is what it doesn't look like. And if someone loves you,

Speaker: 00:34:10

this is what it should look like. Now, guys, listen, we're not

Speaker: 00:34:14

always gonna get it right. We're not. But at least we know what

Speaker: 00:34:18

right is. You know, we're not just going, well, Jesus laid down

Speaker: 00:34:21

his whole life. And if I'm gonna love like Jesus, then I'm probably gonna be

Speaker: 00:34:25

a martyr. Well, well, this'll cost you. This

Speaker: 00:34:29

is gonna cost you. When you decide to actually

Speaker: 00:34:33

attempt to love like Jesus loves, it's gonna cost you something.

Speaker: 00:34:37

It's gonna cost you what you want most of the time. It's gonna cost

Speaker: 00:34:41

you your ability to claim that you are right most of the

Speaker: 00:34:45

time. And very often, it's gonna cost you the

Speaker: 00:34:48

ability to go and do anything you want, anytime you want to.

Speaker: 00:34:52

Because love doesn't. Love considers.

Speaker: 00:34:56

Here's another one. Since y' all are so happy with me. Wait a minute.

Speaker: 00:35:00

I know you are, guys. Actually, I know you are. It isn't easily

Speaker: 00:35:04

angered. It goes back to negating the initial

Speaker: 00:35:08

identifier of patience. Because, see, that's what happens.

Speaker: 00:35:12

Anger takes away

Speaker: 00:35:16

kindness. Patience, or lack of patience,

Speaker: 00:35:21

will birth anger and frustration. And

Speaker: 00:35:25

anger and frustration will strip you of your ability

Speaker: 00:35:29

to be kind. And so this right here

Speaker: 00:35:33

goes back and takes away the two. These are

Speaker: 00:35:37

the anger. Quick to anger.

Speaker: 00:35:42

And it isn't unforgiving. It doesn't keep a record of

Speaker: 00:35:45

offenses. How many people do you see that are

Speaker: 00:35:49

keeping a record of everything that's been done wrong to them or

Speaker: 00:35:53

to each other? You know, you get in an argument with your spouse

Speaker: 00:35:57

and you can go back 15 years and go, well, on a Tuesday, you said

Speaker: 00:36:00

this, and you keep records.

Speaker: 00:36:04

I'm so grateful that God does not keep a record of my

Speaker: 00:36:08

wrongs. The scriptures that I really like say that he

Speaker: 00:36:12

cast them as far as the east is from the west, and he ain't looking

Speaker: 00:36:15

for them. That's a paraphrase. Anyway, it

Speaker: 00:36:19

isn't unforgiving. It just isn't those things. So,

Speaker: 00:36:23

okay, so if knowing what it isn't serves

Speaker: 00:36:27

to clarify what it is, we can know this. If it

Speaker: 00:36:31

isn't envious, it is content. What?

Speaker: 00:36:35

Yeah. That is the complete opposite of being envious is

Speaker: 00:36:39

being content with where God has you, with what God has given

Speaker: 00:36:42

you. For I have learned in what whatsoever state

Speaker: 00:36:47

therewith I am, I've learned in whatsoever state I am

Speaker: 00:36:50

therewith to be content. There's a contentment

Speaker: 00:36:55

that comes when you're not envious, when you're not wanting that and

Speaker: 00:36:58

you're not wanting this, and you're not wanting this. There's a contentment.

Speaker: 00:37:02

Another word that closely resembles it is you've become

Speaker: 00:37:06

comfortable with where God has you and what

Speaker: 00:37:10

he's doing in your life, what he's provided for you.

Speaker: 00:37:13

There's a contentment and there's a comfort. It isn't boastful. It is

Speaker: 00:37:17

modest. Now, to be modest isn't to go, oh,

Speaker: 00:37:21

no, no, no, no, no. It is.

Speaker: 00:37:25

Thank you. I appreciate that. When somebody's like, you know what that was? You

Speaker: 00:37:29

know what? You sang beautifully. You did a great job. Unless you're like Josh,

Speaker: 00:37:33

who used to go, I did, didn't I? And, oh, yeah, I did,

Speaker: 00:37:37

didn't I? Anyway, but to go,

Speaker: 00:37:41

thank you. God is so faithful. You're not diminishing what he's done,

Speaker: 00:37:45

but you're also not shining the spotl.

Speaker: 00:37:50

It. Is modest if it isn't proud. It's humble.

Speaker: 00:37:54

It's humble. It has a realistic view, not a low on the

Speaker: 00:37:58

ground crawling view. It has a realistic view. What's that

Speaker: 00:38:01

definition? Pastor Ronnie, he always shares

Speaker: 00:38:05

on what actual humility is. And if it isn't dishonoring,

Speaker: 00:38:09

it is honorable. It is filled with

Speaker: 00:38:13

honor. I love that you can just look at it. If it

Speaker: 00:38:17

isn't this, you know it's this. If it isn't self seeking, it is

Speaker: 00:38:21

selfless. It is selfless.

Speaker: 00:38:25

It is putting others first. If it isn't easily angered, it is

Speaker: 00:38:28

patient. It's patient, and God

Speaker: 00:38:32

is telling us that it isn't so that we can clearly

Speaker: 00:38:36

define it. If it isn't

Speaker: 00:38:40

unforgiving, I know it would make sense to say it is

Speaker: 00:38:44

forgiving, but it is compassionate. It

Speaker: 00:38:48

is compassionate. It is. Yes. You did this.

Speaker: 00:38:51

Yes. I know that this happened, and I'm, you know, upset,

Speaker: 00:38:55

but I'm compassionate. I understand. Having

Speaker: 00:38:59

fallen myself, having failed myself,

Speaker: 00:39:03

having come up short in so many Ways I can be

Speaker: 00:39:06

compassionate in this situation that requires forgiveness

Speaker: 00:39:11

rather than holding a standard that neither I nor

Speaker: 00:39:14

they can meet.

Speaker: 00:39:18

Jesus, love was content. It was modest,

Speaker: 00:39:22

it was humble, it was honorable, it was

Speaker: 00:39:25

selfless, it was patient, and it was

Speaker: 00:39:29

compassionate. Doesn't that sound like him?

Speaker: 00:39:35

I mean, doesn't that sound like him? He

Speaker: 00:39:39

wasn't in a hurry to get where he was going.

Speaker: 00:39:45

He wasn't putting spotlights on himself. He was

Speaker: 00:39:49

selfless and he gave. He was patient

Speaker: 00:39:53

even when he was denied three times overnight by his bestie.

Speaker: 00:39:58

He was compassionate. That's what his love

Speaker: 00:40:02

looks like. That is what his love

Speaker: 00:40:06

looks like. Is that what

Speaker: 00:40:09

your love looks like?

Speaker: 00:40:13

It isn't what mine looks like, but man, do I want

Speaker: 00:40:17

it to be. Man, do I want it to be.

Speaker: 00:40:22

Hmm.

Speaker: 00:40:26

In the end, the stamp of love's authenticity is

Speaker: 00:40:30

its willingness to surrender its own will

Speaker: 00:40:36

and in doing so, serve a greater good

Speaker: 00:40:40

that we sometimes cannot see or understand.

Speaker: 00:40:50

There are going to be points and times in your life when God asks you

Speaker: 00:40:53

to do something that you are not going to understand.

Speaker: 00:40:57

You are not going to get it. You're not going to be able to see.

Speaker: 00:41:00

Why in the world. Why, Lord, are you asking me to walk like this

Speaker: 00:41:04

with this person? Why, Lord, are you asking me to

Speaker: 00:41:07

take the hit again?

Speaker: 00:41:11

Because love takes the hit. And I'm not talking about a

Speaker: 00:41:15

physical hit run. If that's happening, come talk to me. But anyway,

Speaker: 00:41:21

love takes the hit, it seems like, over and over and

Speaker: 00:41:24

over again. It's like. And we are so quick to want to justify why we're

Speaker: 00:41:28

doing what we're doing. And we want to say. We want to say, but.

Speaker: 00:41:32

But in the. But

Speaker: 00:41:36

when really God's just going to just do it. And we don't have

Speaker: 00:41:40

to understand why he's asking us to do

Speaker: 00:41:44

it. We don't have to understand that. And we may not see in the long

Speaker: 00:41:47

run exactly what the fruit of that moment was

Speaker: 00:41:52

because we're not always going to get it. But you know what? We know this.

Speaker: 00:41:55

Love wins. Love wins. And the bigger picture is

Speaker: 00:41:59

always going to be about love. It's always going to be about compassion.

Speaker: 00:42:03

It's always going to be about loving God and loving each other

Speaker: 00:42:08

by his blueprint, not by

Speaker: 00:42:11

ours.

Speaker: 00:42:15

Its authenticity is marked by its willingness

Speaker: 00:42:20

to surrender our own will.

Speaker: 00:42:25

When you love big, you do. You do.

Speaker: 00:42:30

Because the Word tells us this greater love has no one than this.

Speaker: 00:42:34

To lay down one's life for one's friend.

Speaker: 00:42:40

So often when I was little, I would think, you know, that's Jumping in front

Speaker: 00:42:43

of a bus that is literally laying down your life. Would

Speaker: 00:42:47

I die for this person? Would I die for that person? And the

Speaker: 00:42:51

list of people that I would have died for were, you know,

Speaker: 00:42:54

consisted of about five people who lived in Walls Holler down in

Speaker: 00:42:58

Cofield. And I would have for them, but that wasn't

Speaker: 00:43:02

what this scripture's talking about. Yes, for Jesus, yes. But are you

Speaker: 00:43:06

willing to lay down your life?

Speaker: 00:43:11

You're walking around daily life

Speaker: 00:43:15

to serve a greater good, to love the children of God that are on

Speaker: 00:43:19

this planet, that he loves more than we ever even thought about loving

Speaker: 00:43:23

our kids. It's hard to imagine, isn't it?

Speaker: 00:43:28

Because I will take one of you down if you go after one of my

Speaker: 00:43:31

kids. Okay, I'll do it slowly, but, you know,

Speaker: 00:43:34

you get the gist.

Speaker: 00:43:39

That love that we have for our family and our kids

Speaker: 00:43:43

cannot even. It is not a breath

Speaker: 00:43:47

close to the love that God has for his children.

Speaker: 00:43:52

Yet he sent one to die for us.

Speaker: 00:43:57

No greater love. For God

Speaker: 00:44:01

so loved the world that he

Speaker: 00:44:05

gave his only begotten son,

Speaker: 00:44:08

that whosoever believeth in him

Speaker: 00:44:12

would not perish but have everlasting life.

Speaker: 00:44:17

For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world,

Speaker: 00:44:21

but that the world through him might be

Speaker: 00:44:25

saved. God so

Speaker: 00:44:29

loved. And finally,

Speaker: 00:44:34

just a gentle nudge and a reminder.

Speaker: 00:44:39

As I have loved you,

Speaker: 00:44:44

as he has loved you,

Speaker: 00:44:50

so must you love one another.

Speaker: 00:44:54

Father. God, I thank you for your truth. I

Speaker: 00:44:58

thank you for baselines that we can launch from.

Speaker: 00:45:01

Father, I thank you that you have given us a let's start

Speaker: 00:45:06

here moment,

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a blueprint of what the love of God

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begins to do in our lives.

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So I pray, Father, that we grab hold of it. Grab hold of it

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and move more deeply into it by the power of

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the Holy Spirit, and we will give you glory, Lord, in

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Jesus name, Amen. Amen.

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And so now when I say, I sure do love you guys. Mmm.

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I do go in peace to love and serve the Lord.