A WOW Moment - July 23rd 2020

Whitten Baptist Church

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We don't have a lot of people that watch at the time. We have a lot of people that watch after the fact.

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Because they know that we aren't, um, we're not interactive.

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And because we're not interactive, most people catch it after dinner or something like that, which is perfectly fine.

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I actually prefer that. And somebody can watch them all. Well, trying to read all those comments is distracting.

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Yeah. It really is. Like one time, Elena started telling us about how she was redoing her bathroom, and then...

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Peggy's just looking at me like, what are you doing? I was like, Elena said she was redoing her bathroom. We got way off.

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Okay, no more comments. So that's why Mercedes form is the one that we sent over there.

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Eight. Let me find this real quick, then we'll get started. Luke goes into a lot of detail between Mercedes.

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Luke was a doctor. Very detailed one. Yeah, he taught them everything. John was a storyteller.

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Yeah. Matthew was a tax collector, wasn't he?

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Uh -huh, I believe so. He's probably the one that doesn't give any details. Very cut and dry. Not a lot of heap of hubbub.

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Yeah. Alright, well, I can't find it, so we're just gonna go ahead and get started.

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Okay, good evening, everyone. I know y 'all have been sitting there staring at us for a minute, but I'm sorry.

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I was looking for something and I didn't find it, so it'll be alright. Welcome to our

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Bible study tonight. I believe that's the bat call.

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I don't know. Anyways. The red phone's ringing and flashing.

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Isn't that what they have? Anyways. So, sorry.

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We've been sitting here chatting for a while and we may have been a few minutes late getting on, but it's okay. I'm Vicki, as I hope you remember in Mercedes down there.

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Tonight we have the wonderful and beautiful Miss Jackie Stewart with us. We are also coming to you from Whitten Memorial Baptist Church.

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We are in the workroom slash lounge slash workroom.

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It's kind of nice in here, though. It's a double workroom. There's a lot of work that's happening in here, too.

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Nap room. That's my favorite kind of room. But we want to thank

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Jackie for coming up here tonight and meeting us to do Bible study tonight. From taking time away from your family.

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Because I know you just hate that boat so much. Coming up here hanging out with me and Mercedes for a little while.

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So, Miss Jackie, if I might ask, what is the verse that you have chosen for us to study tonight?

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Is it your go -to verse, or is it just a verse that you've chosen?

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It's a verse that I keep with me all the time. Mark 9, 24.

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Immediately the father of the boy cried out, I do believe, help my unbelief. If you want me to say that.

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Go ahead. Is that the homily?

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Yeah, that's the homily. So, if you're like me and you were raised in the church, you've been told all your life that God can do anything.

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Just pray and God can do anything. But then when it's time to put that belief into action, it's really hard sometimes to believe that he can really do it.

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It's like a head knowledge that it's difficult to make it a heart belief.

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I was thinking the same thing. I was thinking heart knowledge. Yeah. Head knowledge.

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Easy. Heart knowledge, heart. Yes, very. Because we like to be in control.

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Yes. It's very difficult to not be in control. Because we like to say what happens.

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Because we think we've got everything. We think that our way is the best way.

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And then I've heard people say that when you pray, you know,

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Lord please do this, that your will be done, that that's a cop -out and it means that you don't actually believe it.

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Which could possibly be the subject for another day, I don't know. Well, that alone, I mean, if people think that that's a cop -out, then you're denying the fact that he saw that.

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Yeah. True. Because, you know,

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I've been told the story a hundred times about how I was praying all through the years of my husband and his drinking until that one day

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I realized that I was praying for what I wanted and not for what the

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Lord wanted in my husband's life. And then I had to pray for that and believe that the

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Lord would follow through with that. Yeah. And he has. Because it takes faith.

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It takes obedience in prayer. It takes obedience, period.

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Not just in prayer. So, Mercedes, I know you've got another verse to go to.

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Well, if you go up one, to verse 23, then Jesus said to him, if you can, everything is possible to the one who believes.

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Well, that throws me. First thing my brain went to when I saw that was Philippians 4 .13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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Because as long as you have Christ, those things, you know, whether or not, like she said, whether or not it happens in the way of what you want it to or you think it should, you know, things will be handled.

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You still have to believe. You still have to believe, yes. Absolutely. And have the faith.

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Right. What if you don't, though? Well, then you've got a problem.

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I mean, honestly, let's look at it. I mean, seriously, the thing is, is that, I mean, we are sitting here in the midst of, which we were talking about this

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COVID thing. And, you know, I know nobody wants to. I know that we're not supposed to be talking about it and this, that and the other because it's just a bunch of hoopla hoopla.

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But my daughter has been testing positive for a solid month.

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And she don't have it no more. So my thing is, is that there's a problem somewhere.

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And if I were in her shoes, I would get to the point that I just don't believe. Yeah. I mean, let's think about it logically.

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I've been there where you've been hit so many times with crap over and over and over and over.

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You get up and you start running and you hit the same brick wall. You get to the point where you start shaking your fist.

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Yeah. And you get up again and you run into the same brick wall over and over and over again.

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Over. Or no matter which way you turn, you run into a brick wall. The same brick wall gets moved, you know. Yeah. That's not fun.

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It is not. Mercedes. Yes. Will you read for me Matthew 17, 14 through 20.

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When they reached the crowd, a man approached and knelt down before him. Lord, he said, have mercy on my son because he has seizures and suffers severely.

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He often falls into the fire and often into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him.

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Jesus replied, you unbelieving and rebellious generation. How long will I be with you?

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How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me. Then Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him.

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And from that moment, the boy was healed. Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, why couldn't we drive it out?

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Because of your little faith, he told them. For I assure you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain move from here to there and it will move.

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Nothing will be impossible for you. 21. However, this kind does not come out of.

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However, this kind does not come out of, out except by prayer or fasting.

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Same story. Same thing in the

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Lord. A little bit more of it though. The disciples didn't have enough faith.

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Is that what y 'all got? Yes. When I first read it, it seems like he's talking to the father.

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And my first thought is, what is he doing that's rebellious and unbelieving?

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Because he brought the boy to them. I mean, he obviously believes. But then, when you go down a little further, it's obvious that he was talking to the disciples.

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And that had to be, they had to feel a little slapped by that.

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A little slapped. A little. That was a turn of your head slap.

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You know, I joked earlier when we were talking about this about, you know, I'm wondering if anybody's read that and ran up to the mountain and yelled at it to move.

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She did say that. I did. But it's more of like, you know, every time

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I've read that, it's one of those metaphors for like an impossible, what seems to be an impossible task.

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That it's not impossible as long as you have faith in God and even if it's out of a mustard seed.

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Well, let me ask you this for a second. And Jackie.

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I'm not here on this. If they didn't, they didn't have, if their faith was as small as a mustard seed, did the disciples not have that much faith?

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Well, and he was there with them all the time. He was normal to them. You know, it's, you know.

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That's okay, I pray for it all the time. You know, it's like they probably saw him so much that they didn't think anything about it.

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Yeah. Well, I know that my faith has not always been the strongest.

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But I'll tell you one thing in the past two years. What I have seen with my own two eyes, the

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Lord do right in front of me. It's, it's incredible.

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It's amazing. It's, it will leave you speechless.

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And there is nothing, honestly, nothing that I have prayed for that he has not shown favor in me in my prayer.

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Nothing. We as humans, we doubt.

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But how can you have faith without doubt? Well, that's, yeah. I mean, it can't be faith unless there is some element of doubt involved.

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It's just like, I used to, you okay? My hair was getting in my hand and my glasses.

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I'm sorry, go ahead. It's like I used to tell my son, you can't be brave if you're not afraid.

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Well, in the same way, you can't really have faith if there's not some element of doubt. Because if you have the proof so that there is no doubt, then there's no need for faith.

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That's just like when Jesus was talking to, who was it? Told him to step out of the boat and walk toward them.

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They were on water. Beautiful. Peter! Thank you.

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I knew it was a Peter. You know, and I walked on water. Oh, sorry. It's been a long day. Anyway.

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We will do that discussion another night. But, you know, he told Peter to get out of the boat and walk towards me on the water.

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And Peter started out strong and then, you know, started losing it. And he started doubting.

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He started sinking. It's when he took his eyes off the Lord is when he started falling back into the water. That's why they say don't ever take your eyes off of him.

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You take your eyes off of him, you're going to start going. But then again, he's the only one that had the faith to get out of the boat in the first place.

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True. But, you still got to keep your face that way.

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And R .C. stands over there. He's just like, keep your face that way. Also, like in 23,

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Jesus said to him, or well, he says, the Father said to Jesus, if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.

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And Jesus said to him, if you can, everything is possible to the one who believes. I always pictured

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Jesus going, if you can, if you know who you're talking to.

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Excuse me. Do you know who this is? You brought him to me for a reason. Right. I'm not a disciple.

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Right. You know, and Luke, it doesn't, I thought

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Luke would really knock it out of the ballpark, but he didn't. Because Luke just says, but Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, cured the bully, and gave him to his father.

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Luke, you let him down. Well, you know, all of this, and you know, a lot of our, 85 % of our

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Bible studies have been directed towards faith. Faith and grace.

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And it's two of my favorite things to talk about.

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I love talking about the grace of the Lord. Because he has shown me mountains of grace.

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But, my faith has grown very much, a whole lot, like I said, in the last couple of years.

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At the age I am, I hate to say that. With your senior expenses.

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With my senior expenses. I got a phone call right before I started y 'all.

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Somebody wanted to help me with my senior expenses. Like. She did just get done saying she was old.

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General cost. She's old.

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Anyways, I wanted to tell them, I'm not leaving this earth until the Lord says so. And, even at that,

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I'm having another church. So, I did tell Pastor Jeff though, I said,

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I have to die before you do, because you have to do my funeral, and I don't want to speak at yours. I said, so that's the deal.

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But, you know, faith is so hard.

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And, Mercedes is, I'm going to use you as an example, because I have watched your faith be like a rollercoaster ride.

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So like a rollercoaster ride. Curl back and all. She will go up, then she'll come back down.

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Then she'll go back up, then she'll go back down. And, everybody does it.

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Nobody is excused. As long as you're doing this.

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And not doing this. Or. If you're going in a straight line, you're dead.

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Well, you know, but she was doing this. And she was digging deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. But, I had a wise person tell me, let her dig her ditch, because she now knows how to get out.

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And she did. She did. So, now I've told her, no more heading in that direction.

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We're just going to keep doing it. Even if it's just little small waves upwards. We're going to still keep going upwards.

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But again, it is difficult sometimes. Especially with today's world. I do believe that there are a lot of people that they're holding on to their faith and that's all they got.

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I also believe that there are lots of people out there that.

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Sometimes they question their faith. Y 'all both have done that.

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Haven't you? Stop it. Me too. But, you know, it's just the human.

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It's the flesh. It's the sin that we have lived in that allows us or that makes us question it.

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Because, in all honesty, I used to sit back and think, because I'll be honest with y 'all.

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My 20s, I was roaring. I was roaring.

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There's a reason why I call them my young and stupid years. The Lord definitely was watching out for me.

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I should have ended up dead several times in several situations I was in.

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But, I didn't. I sit back and I think about this stuff.

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And then I start thinking, why would He even consider me a child?

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Then that's when the faith starts getting smaller and smaller. Because then you start looking at yourself instead of you looking at yourself the way that the

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Lord looks at you. So, I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one.

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Jackie, you had some fun times in your past? I'm glad it was before the internet.

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Girl, tell it. Say it again. I'll tell you what, I remember when Myspace came out.

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I was married. Yeah, I remember Myspace a little bit.

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I didn't like it. I was like, this is not much fun, but okay, I'll do it. Because, you know, that's the thing that everybody was doing.

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That was back in the early days. What? You're just a baby.

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You had a Myspace? Yeah. When you were what, eight? No. She said five.

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It was middle school. It was middle school. Okay, well

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I did say it was my second marriage. Probably with my third child.

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I never used it, but I always kind of don't do. You just sit back and, but you're right.

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I'm so thankful that I got all of that behind me before the internet.

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Girl, all these phones. I'm all alone. I'd be in so much trouble. And you're

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Google sitting there in your house and you're Alexa sitting there in your house listening to every word you say? I don't have one of them.

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I don't want nobody hearing me. I keep trying to explain to my daughter that it's not just listening to you when you're talking to it.

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She doesn't get it. I don't even think I want a smart TV. I don't. I don't want a

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TV that can look at me. I need to look at it. My laptop has a

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Band -Aid over the camera. Yeah. So, Mercedes, I guess we're showing our age.

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Look at Mercedes! When you sit there and think about stuff that you've done in your past, and how in the world can

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God look at me as his child, I mean, look at David and what he did.

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He's called all through the Bible a man after God's own heart. Look at Peter.

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He denied him three times. Judas betrayed him. Paul killed Christians before he became one.

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But still, I did all those drugs. Saul. I mean,

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Saul was not that great of a king. He did some crap things. He started out good. He started out good and then tried to kill

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David for a few years. And then Solomon ended up being enticed by other women that worshiped other gods.

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After being specifically told, don't do this. Well, I guess you're right.

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I guess it's been done all throughout history, huh? Eve. Eve. Adam and Eve.

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Where was Adam when the snake was tempting Eve? Not doing his job saying, hey Eve. Don't do it.

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Probably not the dishes. Probably not. Brightness, name, and the snub.

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That's a good one, Jackie. She's coming.

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She's late. It's been a long day. She's just a baby.

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I love these wow moments. I really do.

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I've always said it. It says she turned to Adam who was with her.

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There's a reason. And the reason is, we take pride in showing him glory.

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And we take pride, or we should be taking pride, into honoring his commandments. And I know that we don't do it as we should daily.

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Trust me, I fall on my face every day. And you know as a chore. Yeah, I'm like Mercedes electrocuting herself.

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That was not fun. But, I mean, you know.

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We're supposed to at least give it our good old gusto. And repent.

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So do y 'all repent daily? Try to. I find myself sometimes, like,

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I'll be at work. And I'll be thinking of something. Or, like, I had a thought.

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Or I was in a conversation with somebody else. I find myself sometimes doing it, like, a couple times a day.

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Is that too much? Never, never, ever. There are some times where I'm like, you know,

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I'm going through it and I go, Yeah, I'm sure I've screwed up today at some point.

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And probably so much that I don't remember everything that I screwed up on. So, you know. Forgive me for all of those things that I may not remember.

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Or notice. You're not supposed to not be able to remember. That's my job. Because you're old.

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I'm old. Remember they're trying to plan my funeral. I remember that.

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And I'll think I'm having a good day. And then I hear one of my children or my husband walk down the hall.

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And I immediately have to repent. Because of the thoughts you have? Jackie, Jackie, Jackie.

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Hey, I know I'm not the only one. No. My kids are grown now, though. But I went through those years.

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Yes. Yep. And they'll get better. Yep. It's getting better. At the moment.

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Yeah. You have lovely children. I do. They are awesome. And I have to remind myself daily that they're bad is really, really good for a lot of kids.

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Right. Right. Yes. And you can thank the one above. Oh, yes. Yes. That is so true.

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Because there's some bad ones. Y 'all, I don't know about y 'all. But if y 'all haven't noticed already,

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I'm the only one with my hair color. Your hair color?

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I feel really left out. You can wear the silver. Yeah. You can go see

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Miss Debra and she can help you join the Kool -Aid Brigade. Kool -Aid Brigade. I show up here one week with some off -colored hair.

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Don't say nothing. I was really trying just to let it all go silver. I've tried to color it silver.

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It didn't work. Well, I have really, really enjoyed this 30 minutes.

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We've actually been here an hour. Not live for an hour, but we've actually been here an hour and a half chatting.

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Jackie, I have not ever read Mark 924.

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I mean, I've read it, but I've not zoned into it. So, I want to thank you for bringing that to my attention, to our attention tonight.

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It is one that I think during this time, many people need to look at.

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Because the faith that you have is going to show in how you live.

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And if your faith is this big, that's not the right words.

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If you have this much faith, it's going to show.

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It's really going to show. And in all honesty, I believe we're coming close to a time, just as Pastor Jeff feels the same because he preaches it all the time, that there's going to be a day that we're just going to have each other.

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And we're all that we're going to be able to lean on, look to for anything. So, you'll keep your faith going this way for me.

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Don't let it go too far, Jeff. Yeah, if we didn't have each other, we wouldn't be able to bear all of this by ourselves, lift ourselves up.

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That's really hard to do when you're already in a rut. There's one good thing about hitting rock bottom.

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Only one way to go. Back it up. That's if you bounce.

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I would. I would bounce. You did down the stairs. I did.

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Getting ready for the wow dinner that night. Jackie, we went upstairs to get the stuff to come back downstairs to prepare for our first wow dinner.

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And I couldn't. It was dark. They came down these steps and I came down those steps beside the pastor's office.

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And there weren't any lights on. And I just missed two steps. And I went flat down.

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It was okay. Because I bounced down those two steps. I went down flat of stairs the hard way one time.

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I didn't bounce. I just broke lots of stuff. So, that just makes me cringe. Oh, I bounced. I wish

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I had bounced. I have a lot to bounce off of. I think my head bounced off the floor. Oh, I didn't do that.

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But, I mean, at least none of the dishes and stuff got broken. Oh, that's good. That's what's important. And the dinner went off like a bang.

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It did. None of us even know about it. Right. I was just kind of walking away the next day.

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But, anyways, thank y 'all for coming. I'm sorry we got a little sidetracked chat. That's okay. That's what we do.

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We're women. That's a sexist stereotype. Whatever.

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I'm a woman. So are you. And I'm proud of that. I want to thank y 'all for coming tonight.

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So am I. Oh, that's right. I forgot you were here for a minute. I forgot you were here. You were so quiet.

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What was you doing over there? Just reading. Zooming. Zooming out.

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Reading. You know. Thanks for coming tonight. Jackie, thank you so much for coming.

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Thank you for having me. Maybe we can have you back again. Possibly.

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I have lots of verses that I like. She has lots of verses. It's a plan.

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So thanks for coming tonight, guys. See y 'all later. See you next Thursday. Bye. This has been a wild moment.