F4F | Guess the Text with Sarah Jakes Roberts!

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseborough. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. So have you ever been to a church?

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I have to say that nowadays. You have to kind of do this because so many places that call themselves churches, they're not.

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You know, I don't know a proper description for them. I mean, they claim to be churches, but the people there are overtly disobeying the

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Word of God. Okay. So for instance, men are the ones God has ordained to be pastors, not women.

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But then when you have somebody who's shouldn't be preaching and they're preaching, which there are a lot of people, this is not just, this is not just a woman thing because then there's a lot of people who haven't even studied and showed themselves approved as people who can rightly handle the

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Word of truth. Therefore, the job of a pastor is to preach the Word, help somebody understand the

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Word. But then this thing happens and see if this sounds like it's happened to you.

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The person reads a biblical text, okay, make it look like, oh, we're going to be taught the

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Bible here today. And then as soon as they're done, they put the Bible away and it doesn't make a reappearance for a long time in the sermon.

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They just go, you know, five, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 minutes and you have no clue why they even read that passage.

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Yeah, that's a thing. And that's actually made it partly more difficult nowadays to put

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Fighting for the Faith episodes together because they'll read a biblical text and I can't exactly accuse them of twisting it, at least in the immediate short term, because they don't even talk about the text.

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Text gets tucked away handily until it makes a reemergence near the end of the sermon.

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That's a thing. So, what we're going to do today, we're going to head down to T .D. Jake's church, the

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Potter's house, and we're going to listen to one of his daughters preaching. And we named this episode,

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Guess the Text. And so, play along with us, if you will. We will reveal the text and talk about what it really means before the end of this episode of Fighting for the

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Faith. But based upon what she's saying immediately after she reads the passage that she's supposedly preaching on, see if you can guess which passage of Scripture she's preaching on.

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This is going to be a hard game. Difficulty level 11, okay? It's kind of that crazy, but the whole point of playing the game here is to help you to think along so that you can spot if this is happening at your church.

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Because if you're not in a sound church and you're not hearing God's word rightly taught, you are in danger.

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That's legitimately the case. So let's whirl up the desktop and let's open up my web browser.

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And this is Sarah Jakes Roberts, and I don't know what she's wearing.

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Wow. And what we're going to do is hit the play button. She has just read the text that this sermon is supposedly based on.

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And her job, although she shouldn't be doing this, noted twice now, is to preach this passage, to help people to rightly understand what this text means.

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See if you can guess which biblical text she initially read.

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And no cheating, just no cheating. So I'll hit the play button and let's listen in for a little bit, shall we?

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Is one of my most prized possessions. I wanted to say that, although I knew that most people would think because it's just the

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Bible that is my prized possession, but I have to be honest with you that it is really the story of how

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I got the Bible that makes it the most prized possession that I own. So I won this

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Bible October 31st, 1996. I won it in Children's Church at a

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Spelling Bee. Yes ma 'am. Thank you so much. The mic is all ready. Amen. Okay.

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We're going to try this. I won it in October 31st, 1996 in Children's Church at a

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Spelling Bee. And I have to tell you, as a preacher's kid who grew up in church, when you read, when you win a

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Bible at Children's Church, it's not like, I don't know if there's any children's ministry people in here, but I just want you to know specifically for the

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PKs, specifically when y 'all give us the Bible, it's like, Ooh, more word.

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That's because I'm Monday through Sunday, I'm up here and this is exactly what I need. And I don't know what I did with this

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Bible. I probably put it somewhere and I never, I had never seen it. Honestly.

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I won it in 96 and I just never. So she read the text and you're supposed to guess what the text is.

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Okay. What text did she just read before we wait, we hit the play button here. And so she's telling a story about a

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Bible she won at church as a PK. I never saw it again. I'm like, the last thing I'm going to need is to ever figure out where a

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Bible is in my household. They got them everywhere. Uh, thank you. Sean is here. She understands. And when you come see now, everybody's got, uh,

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Bibles on their phones. But when we were coming to church, if you didn't have a Bible, they give you one. They say, if you don't have a Bible, raise your hand. We'll pass one to you.

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I'm not going to never need a Bible. Like I love the Lord. He's been good to me, but I just figured like a karaoke machine, some lip gloss, something like that would have been something

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I would have never won where, you know, some mascara. So I just put the Bible up. Wasn't until man, 2013 when

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I found this Bible. All right. So she's going to go on and talk about how finding this

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Bible and in the midst of difficult times in her life, including a divorce, uh, you know, uh, that, uh, this is, uh, um, it's, it's, it's what a

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God sent, right? Okay. Have you figured out which biblical texts she's preaching on yet?

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I wouldn't be able to. No cheating. No cheating. All right. Let's, uh, let's fast forward a little bit, um, and see where she goes next.

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Available. I'm still open. I'm still ready whenever you're ready. And let me tell you how good God is, is that he front and loaded me with something before I knew that I would need it.

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So that when it came to the point where I actually needed it. Talking about the Bible that she won when she was a kid.

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That Bible was already there waiting for me. See, most of us are waiting for God to bring something to us. And God is mostly saying to us,

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I wish you would discover that I already front loaded this moment with what you needed for your breakthrough.

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You don't need anything to come for your breakthrough. You just need to take better inventory of what's already in your world because what's in your world has the key to the breakthrough that you're looking for.

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Stop looking around you and stop looking at what's in you. The breakthrough is already there. The breakthrough is already inside of me.

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All right. Do you know which texts she read at the beginning of this sermon? Keep going.

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So what most people call the breaking point is what I actually call the listening point.

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Because when you're at your breaking point, a lot of people think that that is the moment where everything shifts. That's not necessarily the moment.

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Breakthrough and shift. I feel prophecy bingo words buzzing around here.

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Some people go through a breaking point and they stay shattered. Some people go through a breaking point and they never pick their pieces back up again or they only pick up the pieces that they can bear to look at because everything else has so much shame connected to it.

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But something powerful occurs when you see your breaking point as your listening point. That breaking point that becomes a listening point is actually where God begins to download his perspective, his wisdom, his vision.

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That breaking point becomes a listening point where God begins to download. She ain't saying nothing here.

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Now which biblical text is she preaching on? Have you figured it out yet? I know which one it is, but just based on what

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I'm hearing here, I wouldn't be able to figure it out. Vision for what can happen from here. Some of us need our breaking point because it actually gets us to our listening point.

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I'm reminded of Hannah in the Bible who kept getting provoked over and over again by a woman who could bear children even though she couldn't.

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All right. So the Hannah in the Bible story is a supporting text to the primary text that this thing is supposed to be about.

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So, all right. Have you figured out what the original passage she read is yet? And the woman kept provoking her and making her feel insecure until all of a sudden she got up from the table and it looked like maybe she had reached her breaking point, but instead she went to the temple because she understood that if I am at my breaking point,

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I have one or two options. I can let this thing win or I could get into the presence of God and say, God, I need you to speak a word to me at this breaking point.

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Why do I feel like she's winding up like a top? She's about ready to spin out of control here.

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It changes the way I see everything that's happening in my life. I'm thinking about Jacob who started wrestling with God and he said,

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I will not let you go until you bless me. It looks like a breaking point from the outside looking in, but it's actually the moment in which

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I insist on hearing from God. It's not my breaking point. It's my listening point. I don't know who you are in this room, but you feel like life is trying to break you, but I want you to understand life is just trying to get your attention because God's trying to whisper something in your ear that can only be whispered if you break it down out of your ego and out of your pride and out of your shame and out of your insecurity.

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There is something that happens when we get desperate to hear from God and most of the time it only happens in our breaking point and that transformation that takes place is when

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I say this breaking point cannot break with God. Okay.

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So while she's a really wound up and whipping the crowd up into a frenzy outcomes, the donate button, the donate information, quick donate.

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Now while you're feeling the spirit talking to you about downloads and breakthroughs and thingies, no, this isn't manipulation at all.

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Oh man. All right. Let's keep going here. Put on the inside of me.

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You start praying stuff like God, if you really hear me, God, if you really see me, God, if you really got a plan for my life,

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I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to obey. I'm ready to grow. I'm ready to move past this point.

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You can call it a breaking point, but I hear God saying that's when the tomb becomes a womb. Has your tomb become a womb?

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What a bunch of vapid, completely meaningless, worthless statements. All said in a very emotionally manipulative frenzy here.

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Have you figured out what the original text is that she's supposedly preaching on is yet? Any guesses?

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Any, any, any? Let's continue. That's when the breaking becomes the blessing. That's when what you went through becomes the weapon.

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That's when the breaking point builds you up. You're looking at other people's lives.

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People are standing. Why are you folks standing? She's not saying anything. Sit down. Thinking that they were built into this moment.

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No, baby. I wasn't built into this moment. I was broken into this moment. I got broke down and I started listening.

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And anytime I started building and it was off filter, I get broken down again so that God can show me what did

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I do wrong? There's something powerful about somebody who keeps listening, even when I keep getting broken, because I'm crazy enough to believe that if God allows it to break down, it's because he wants me to rebuild it stronger than it was before.

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So do you know what the original passage she was preaching on is yet?

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Let's talk about our sponsor. Uh, the word of the Lord endures forever. You do not have to have a problem figuring out which text pastor

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Will Whedon is teaching on. And, uh, and if you are looking for a resource where you can learn sound biblical exegesis, hear

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God's word, rightly taught, have it connected back to Christ, no matter where you are in the biblical text, this is the podcast you need to be listening to.

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You need God's word, rightly handled, rightly taught without any of the skim, scam, flim, flam, nonsense, and emotional manipulation.

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I've never heard pastor Will Whedon do that. You gotta have a breakthrough. We're going to have a process that's going to create the breakthrough.

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That's going to download the, the, the stuffy stuff. And he never does any of that.

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If you're looking for just good, sober minded, good exegesis with a proper understanding of church history, with a great understanding of, uh, of, of a proper understanding of sound biblical exegesis and how every passage of scripture is connected to Christ, this is your resource.

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And you'll note, you have lots of stuff to go through here. Now he's just recently started his, um, he's just recently started his book of Acts, uh, uh, study and, uh, it's just fantastic.

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And, and so you can, you can easily catch up if you haven't been listening to that, or you go back into the archives, uh, into the book of Genesis, Amos, Hosea, Joel, uh,

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Matthew, Mark, John, Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Thessalonians. You get the idea here.

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This is, this is a growing, growing archive of great sound biblical exegesis.

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The episodes are not long, but they will feed your soul with God's word rightly handled.

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So we'll put a link down below the word of the Lord endures .org. And if you're not listening to this, uh, this podcast, you're missing out.

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And if you're hungry for God's word, this is a beautiful resource for you to begin to rightly understand

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God's word. Back to this. All right.

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Next, I just dropped the play head at, at another future point here in this, uh, sermon and, uh, have you figured out what the original biblical text is that she read at the beginning of the sermon?

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This sermon supposedly based upon, have you figured it out yet? Let's keep going. I told you a difficulty level out of one, a 10 at one out of 10 difficulty level.

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11, the great commission. Now she's this great commission is not the text that she's preaching on.

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I just want to let you know, it tells them to go into all of the earth, to Judea, to Samaria, to all of the earth and spread the gospel.

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Yep. And right when I'm sure they were ready to take off and do exactly what Jesus told them to do.

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He says, but don't go yet. You've watched me now

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I've told you what you can do, but the in between stage between watching and doing requires that you wait for the promise.

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Be sure to send that money in. Yeah, that boy, they keep throwing that up, don't they? All right. Hang on a second here.

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I muted her. Let's keep going. The disciples into a waiting posture, but he doesn't tell them exactly what they're waiting for.

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Now the, the account of the Holy spirit arriving on Pentecost is not the text he's preaching on.

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He doesn't tell them to wait until the angels come wait until someone else. He doesn't give them specifics on what they're waiting for.

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They just, he just says, wait for the promises of the Lord. So they stay in the upper room and they're praying and they're waiting and they're listening.

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They're listening for the moment where the promise of the father is revealed. And what

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I loved about when the disciples are in the upper room and they're waiting for the promise of the Lord to be revealed is that they had to be sensitive enough to listen for something that could only sound like God.

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What? They had to be sensitive enough. I recall any biblical texts at all, especially the ones in the early part of Acts that talk about the disciples being sensitive, listening for a sound that could only be

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God. Uh huh. That's why. Yeah.

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This, this shows something here. She grew up under her father's preaching and it shows. The Bible really will always be relevant because it is the only full book that gives us insight into the heart posture of God.

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What the heart posture of God. Okay. When we see the way God has shown up in the lives of other people throughout history, literally thousands and thousands of years ago.

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And we realized that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. I recognize that when that same heart is turned towards me,

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I can expect the same level of covering. I can expect the same level of results. I can expect the same level of.

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Uh, that sounds like works righteousness that you earn these things from God.

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Oh, strength. I can expect the same level of pieces, the same yesterday, today, and forever more.

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That's why a shepherd boy thought he could take on Goliath and you think you could take down the criminal justice system.

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It's the same God that whispered in his ear that is telling you couldn't break that generational curse.

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It is the same God that rose Jesus from the dead that says, I can raise you up out of the death of what you're going through.

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I can raise that child up out of the death of what they're going through that same God. Have you figured out what the original passage that she is supposedly preaching on is yet told you this is not, not easy.

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And so they're waiting in the upper room for the promises of the Lord to be revealed. And they're waiting for that moment.

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And they knew that moment had come because there came a sound. X two is not the text that she's preaching on.

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It's a supporting test, like a mighty rushing wind. It was a sound that broke through the.

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Holy smokes manipulation. Like you wouldn't believe. Hold on. I just got to back this up a little. She's they, they, they turned on a hairdryer and put it next to a microphone or something.

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It was a sound that broke through the atmosphere. It was a sound.

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They knew even she laughed because she knows it's stupid. What was God? Because the sound disrupted the atmosphere.

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That's how you know it's God. Because when God sends you a word, it disrupts the atmosphere.

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You always know it's God. Cause when God sends a word, it disrupts the atmosphere. What is the cash value of that statement?

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The answer is zero. That's a completely worthless statement. Have you figured out which biblical text she's supposedly preaching on yet?

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This is a supporting text that she's making allusion to. They were waiting in the upper room and they were listening for something.

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They didn't know what they were listening for, but they knew that it was the moment that they were waiting for. I feel like moving forward.

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I must refer to Sarah Jakes Roberts as Sarah windbag because this is just a windbag full of nothing disrupted their atmosphere.

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You see, there's going to come a moment at some point in this service where somebody gets a breakthrough and it'll be because they received a sound that disrupted the atmosphere.

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I was feeling depressed and they got breakthrough because they received a sound that disrupted the atmosphere.

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This isn't Christianity. I don't know what this is. Wow. Hazy. But all of a sudden there was one word that disrupted the atmosphere.

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You want to talk about disruptive thinking that disruptive thinking started with God, the disruptive thinking that said,

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I know what the enemy is trying to do in the world, but because I will not let the enemy have the same, the final say,

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I'm going to disrupt the atmosphere of doubt. I'm going to disrupt the atmosphere of anger. I'm going to disrupt the.

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Disrupt the atmosphere of anger and doubt. If the God is supposedly saying that now, a little bit of a note.

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We're 26 minutes into this sermon. 26.

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She read the text that the sermon is based on at the very beginning. Can you tell me what that passage was yet?

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All right. Wait till you find out when she finally gets back to it. At what minute point do you think we're going to be at, at this point?

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And when I disrupt the atmosphere, you'll know it's me because all of a sudden you will receive power when the atmosphere is disrupted.

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I don't know whose word this is, but I feel like the, why are you people raising your hands?

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Like you're going to receive something from her. She's not saying anything.

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Blue sleeps faster than Tuesday. She's not saying a word to blow in this place.

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I feel like God is about to release a sound in this room. Sound of flatulence being released.

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That disrupts the atmosphere. Yep. Flatulence disrupts the atmosphere for sure.

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It's been disrupting your peace. That disrupts the atmosphere. That has been disrupting your calm.

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The musicians are there to accompany these pre -planned emotional manipulation moments.

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I'm surprised that the, the, the thing on the screen saying send money hasn't shown up. Disrupts the atmosphere that has been disrupting your ability to move in the things of God.

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And I hear God. Oh, this is sad. I mean, these people, some of these people are showing up. They're desperate. They need

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God's help. But God, God isn't here. Wow.

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Saying, I need you to listen for the sound because all of a sudden there's going to be a sound like a mighty rushing wind and it's going to change everything that you've been thinking.

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You better listen for it. You better listen for it. If you're listening to the rumors, you may miss the sound.

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If you're listening to the he say, she say, you may miss the sound. You don't want to miss the sound.

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Yeah. Whatever you do, don't miss the sound. Uh huh. All right. So it's time for the big reveal.

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What was the passage that she was preaching on? Have you figured it out yet? Okay. In order to, uh, just hope you're sitting down.

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You're not, you're not going to see this coming. I told you it was a difficulty level 11 here.

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All right. So I'm fast forwarding to the 45 minute, 37 second mark in the sermon.

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45 minutes after reading this text, the text now makes a reappearance.

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And I just, just watch family. We have a responsibility and walking out the purpose that God lays ahead of us.

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It is not to get so caught up that we think that we have the final total plan that we miss out on when

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God unfolds another layer of the plan. That means I got to have one hand on the plow, but the other ear connected to what

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God may have for me to do next. That means, yes, I'm going to work what is in front of me, but I'm going to work it with the knowledge that at any given moment,

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God could change the plan. All right. So this is her making the transition where she's going to reintroduce the text that she's supposedly preaching on.

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And it sounds to me, I am not a trained ear, but it sounds to me like the folks there at the

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Potter's house, the leadership is trying to assist the folks there that are attending for a different day coming.

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They got different plans coming. Maybe T .D. Jakes is going to retire. Okay. He's not been, he has not been preaching very often.

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No, no, no, no, not very often at all. Just here and there. Um, makes you wonder, you know, are they in transition there?

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Are they getting ready to announce his retirement or something? This, I, I could only speculate because all

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I know is that the biblical text she's preaching on had nothing to do with anything she's saying, and she's been emotionally manipulating these people all along for the last 45 minutes.

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And if God changes the plan, I want to make sure that I'm on the right side of the plan because I don't want to be working off of an old sound when

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God could be giving out something new every day. This is exactly what happens with Saul.

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Saul is working off of an old sound. Now, Saul who?

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Saul who becomes the apostle Paul. I I'm not making this up.

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Okay. This is the, the, this has to do with the texts that she was supposedly preaching on this entire time.

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Saul was not always a bad guy. There was a time when he was a devout Jew on the right side of what was happening.

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But then when the Lord released a new sound, he was so carried away with what

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God did that he missed what God was doing. Now, that means that you got to stay connected to who

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God is in this very moment and not who God was in the last moment, because God may have a different purpose for you now than he had back then.

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And so you got to stay within earshot, constantly asking God, what is it that you need from me now?

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How can I serve what you're doing in the earth now? Saul found himself on the wrong. Yeah, this, this is all straight out manipulation.

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There are big changes over at the potter's house, brewing. And they haven't announced them yet, but you can tell they're coming.

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They're preparing everybody for it. Side of what God was doing, but he sends

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Ananias to break through the noise. The whole reason why

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I chose this message. She chose it. And are you ready? This is the big reveal.

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The text that she was preaching on the entire time was

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Acts chapter nine, verses 10 through 18, halfway through the account of the conversion of, of Saul of Tarsus to the apostle

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Paul. Yeah, it's, uh, let's, let's let her explain a little bit.

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It's because between verse 10 and 18, we see something powerful happen.

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We see the Lord come to Ananias in a vision. We see

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Ananias express his fear with the vision. And then we see him then transform into someone who backs what

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God is doing. I chose this text and I wish I could explain it in a way that wasn't.

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So that was her explanation. Let's listen again to her exegesis of this passage.

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Express his fear with the vision. So Ananias expresses his fear of the vision that God gives him to go and preach the gospel to Saul of Tarsus.

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And then we see him then transform into someone who backs what God is doing. I, he, he transforms into somebody that backs the new vision of God.

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They are legitimately twisting the scriptures, manipulating these people. Wow. I chose this text and I wish

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I could explain it in a way that was in sequence, but the Lord got ahead of us. And so I guess this is how I'm supposed to explain it.

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The, um, time had come for the

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Lord to amplify the vision and accelerate the pace on earth is she talking about of the gospel spreading and because it was time for the vision to be amplified, for that sound to be amplified, he chose

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Saul, the least likely person because the least likely person always amplifies the loudest.

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Who knew? Are, you know, are you amplifying poorly? It's because you were the, you were not the least likely person.

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Are you the least likely person? Well, you are, you are an amplification device of, of magnificent proportions.

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Okay. They're clapping for this.

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She didn't say anything. The least likely person always makes the most noise.

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Okay. Before I blow up, let's take a look at the text in question. See if we can figure out what this thing is about, right?

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She starts at verse 10. We'll just apply our three rules for sound biblical exegesis, which are context, context, and context.

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And, uh, let's, let's see what's going on here. Now, you'll let me add just a little bit more context, shall

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I? Uh, in fact, let me go this direction. What we'll do is we'll just throw in Acts chapter seven, right?

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In Acts chapter seven, we have the account of the very first Christian who was martyred for their confession of Jesus Christ.

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And that's Stephen. And in, yeah, Stephen gives this amazing speech while he's on trial and he doesn't even defend himself.

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Just he flat out just gives a wonderful recounting of the great acts of God in the old

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Testament talks about Jesus Christ, uh, holds his accusers accountable for being stiff necked and resisting the work of God and persecuting those who are for righteousness.

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And, uh, and so in Acts seven 54, it says, now, when they heard these things, they were enraged, they ground their teeth at him, but he full of the

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Holy spirit gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

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Yeah. Jesus wasn't sitting down for this first martyr of the Christian faith, Jesus is standing.

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And he said, behold, I see the heavens open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.

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And then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named

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Saul. He called out, Lord, Jesus received my spirit and falling to his knees.

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He cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

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So Saul of Tarsus will become the apostle Paul. And he was there when the very first Christian martyr was being martyred and everyone laid their cloaks at his feet, which means he's kind of the guy in charge.

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Right? So when we get to, um, Acts chapter nine, it says this,

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Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, the way is the first name for Christianity, by the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

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Now, as he went on his way, he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him and falling to the ground.

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He heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

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Note the red letters. It's Christ talking. You, you persecute Christians. You're persecuting

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Jesus. That's not a wise move, right? So he said, who are you,

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Lord? He said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city that you will be, and you will be told what you are to do.

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The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.

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So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days, he was without sight.

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And neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias.

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The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, here I am, Lord. And the Lord said to him, rise and go to the street called straight.

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And at the house of Judas, look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying and he has seen in a vision, a man named

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Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered,

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Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.

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But the Lord said to him, go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

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So Ananias departed and entered the house and laying his hands on him said, brother

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Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the

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Holy spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight and then he rose and was baptized and taking food, he was strengthened.

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And you're going to note here, the great enemy of Christianity is now an eyewitness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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And he is called by Jesus to be one of Jesus's apostles, not one of the 12.

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Oh no, no, no. He's the apostle to the Gentiles and the 13th apostle, if you would.

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And he's the one who's written the large bulk of the, of the new Testament, keep that in mind.

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Okay. And so, uh, so Saul then gets to, gets to work for some days.

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He's with the disciples at Damascus and immediately proclaim Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the son of God.

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Right. Great stuff. In fact, Paul writes about, you know, writes about his conversion and how

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God showed him mercy. A couple of passages come to mind right off the bat. First Corinthians 15, where Paul tells us what the gospel is.

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Paul says, I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you, which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved.

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If you hold fast to the word that I preached to you, unless you believed in vain, for I delivered to you as a first importance, what

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I also received that Christ died for our sins. That's the gospel. You want to know what the gospel is?

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That's the gospel. He received that from Jesus Christ himself, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas and to the 12.

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Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time. Most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

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And then he appeared to James and to all the apostles. And last of all, to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

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Note that God, that Jesus had mercy on a man who was murdering Christians and by doing so persecuting

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Christ. That's it. Those were the words of Jesus, but note the great kindness, the mercy, the grace of Jesus by choosing his most insolent enemy and dragging him into the kingdom, forgiving him of his murders and his transgressions and his evil and making him the apostle to the

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Gentiles. Ah, the mercy of Christ. If you're thinking that you are beyond God's help, that there's no way that God can forgive you for the things that you've done in your life, you're wrong.

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Absolutely wrong. In fact, Paul will have something to say about that in a second, but let me keep reading. I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church.

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But by the grace of God, I am what I am. That's right. That's for all

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Christians. It is by God's grace that we are what we are. And his grace towards me was not in vain.

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On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

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Hmm. And then another passage, 1 Timothy chapter one. Great text, by the way.

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Paul writes 1 Timothy chapter one, verse 12. I thank him who has given me strength,

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Christ Jesus, our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly

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I was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, I was an insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our

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Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. So the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom

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I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me as the foremost,

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Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

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You see, Paul was shown mercy in part so that you and I might take comfort that if Paul, the chief of sinners, the foremost of sinners was forgiven by Jesus Christ, that means you can be forgiven too.

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If Christ takes a persecutor and a murderer of Christians, a blasphemer and brings him into the kingdom and forgives him and showers him with the forgiveness of sins, guess what?

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There's hope for you as well. Christ bled and died for your sins as well.

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You get the point? I don't know what this woman was preaching about, but it had nothing to do, nothing whatsoever to do with the text that she was supposedly preaching about, um, she was manipulating the people there at the

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Potter's house. But then again, isn't that what the Potter's house has really been all about the whole time? Indeed, it has been.

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So until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace of mercy, won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.