Sunday Morning Sermon Series - Date: 02/21/2021

Whitten Baptist Church

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you do not sit there and go, okay, I understand you're tired.

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Why are you tired? Why are you worn out? Why are you so downtrodden? Why are you always eeyore instead of tiger?

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Why are you constantly seeing everything negative? Because a person who has the power of the

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Holy Spirit of God in him, when they look at life, you cannot always see negativity.

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And if you're one of those people, you need to get involved in their life because something's not wired right in their heart anymore.

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Hey Michelle! We got something going on on the 21st, don't we? You mean March 21st?

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Yes, I do. Oh, are you talking about the Spring Break Block Party? I am. Where on earth am I going?

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You're gonna be at Witton Baptist Church, which is 6773 Macon Road. It's right on the corner of Witton and Macon.

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Across from the Walgreens, we're gonna have free hot dogs. I like free. Popcorn, snow cone machine, and cotton candy.

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Also, it's not just food. We're also gonna have games. All games. So, you know, little hoops, and we've got some other games going on.

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The first 100 families to come to our Spring Break Block Party on March 21st from 4 to 7 p .m.

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will receive a free gift bag, and that's actually what I was just working on right now. Do we have a slide? We do have a slide.

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Should I post it right now? Yes, post the slide right now. We're gonna be in 1

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Samuel chapter 15 this morning. 1 Samuel 15. But before we begin,

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I have a confession to make before the people. Something I didn't realize, but something that has been made apparently has been laid bare.

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I want to apologize for being a racist. I did not know

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I was, but I have come to find out that I am. I'm a racist, and I can tell you the definitive, absolute, breathtaking truth that has brought this to my soul.

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It is this. I heard it on the news. Am I doing something wrong, Mike? Yes, sir.

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Hello? Is anybody in there? All right. I was watching the news.

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I was watching the news over the Snowmageddon in the last couple of days, and I was told this, that mathematics believing that 2 plus 2 equals 4 is racist.

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So if you are in this room, and you believe that 2 plus 2 equals 4, you are a racist.

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Y 'all think I'm joking, don't you? Go look it up on Google. It's insane. Have any of y 'all heard this besides me?

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Okay, so I'd never heard this one before, and I tell you what, it infuriated me.

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I'll be honest with you. It infuriated me, and here's why. It is not because the world has come up with another plausible reason to divide us again.

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Guys, let me explain something to you. When we are divided, the politicians, the news media, the forces of this world win.

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When God's people are united, not based upon denomination or the color of your skin, but based upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the gospel that declares it, they can't win.

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We win. But we've come to a point in our life where we find division in every little thing.

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Now, the world, acting like the world, does not infuriate me. I'm sorry. When they take down the

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Ten Commandments in courtrooms, I think it's atrocious, but I don't get all bent out of shape. When they take down the, what's it called, the little

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Christmas, yeah, nativity scenes, I don't go, oh my gosh, let's boycott Bartlett City Hall.

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I don't get that way. But here's when I do get fired up. When Reverend, gosh,

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I memorized his name so I could bring it to you today, Reverend something, they had a split screen, and they had a liberal heathen, they had what was apparently a centrist, and then they had the conservative, quote unquote,

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Reverend something something. And this is what he said. He said, I don't necessarily agree that mathematics is inherently racial, but I do agree that God's people are racist.

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And then he didn't qualify why he said that. In my mind's eye,

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I could see the throne of heaven, and I could see from what

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Revelation says, a multitude that no one could number, from every tribe and every nation, from every people were gathered under the throne of God, and there was not mentioned a division among them.

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And yet today, Christians, people of God, this morning, are learning that this group of people are hated because of a color of a skin.

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Let me tell y 'all something. When we of God's people are divided, we cannot stand for Jesus Christ.

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If you're in this room today, and I'm talking to every single ethnicity, if you are a white person and you cannot stand someone because of the color of your skin, it's not that you're a racist.

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You are a godless, backslidden, heathen in need of repentance, but let me finish.

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It is not just white folks. I was told this, that a black person cannot be a racist.

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I didn't know that. Once again, you woke millennials are teaching me so much about philosophical truth that I didn't know.

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That is absolute hogwash. Sin is sin. Total depravity covers everything and everyone.

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Now, I want you to know that I went up. We got to do something here, men, because I feel like I'm screeding.

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Hello? Oh! Y 'all need to get something done back there.

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Put it on. Put it on. Oh, my gosh.

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I know what I'd be in debt or in jail. All right, guys. Sorry, men.

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Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Yeah. Why does everybody was like this?

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Like, God, why is he yelling at us? Now, I lost where I was.

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Anyways, so here's the deal. Guys, we need to be homogenous.

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One people in one call. Now, here's what's happening. We are sort of saying, well, because I'm not gay or because I'm not having an emotional affair or because I'm not stealing,

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I am OK. Listen to me this morning. Partial disobedience to God's word is still total rebellion.

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You need to remember that. Guys, instead of looking amongst you and saying, well, that girl's pants doesn't look good or this guy,

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I know he's done this or I don't like the way that. I want you this morning to not look at anyone else in the room, including the world.

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If they want to say two plus two equals four is racist, let them be stupid. OK, what I want us to do today is look at ourselves.

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Let us, each one of us this morning, in this next 25 minutes, put away everything else that's distracted you and say this to God.

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God, search my heart and know me. And if there be any wicked thing in me, reveal it to me.

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And then God, today, let me repent. 1 Samuel chapter 15. Let's begin. It says this, verse 1.

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Samuel told Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people

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Israel. Now listen to the words of the Lord. This is what the

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Lord of hosts says. I have witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them along the way as they were coming out of Egypt.

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Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have.

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Keep reading. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.

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Let me give you the backdrop to what's going on. Now, for some of you liberals in here, you need to grasp that this is the word of God.

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You need to wrap your little holly hobby hippie mindset around that God just gave instructions to His people to totally obliterate, the colloquial word today, genocide an entire people group.

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Yes, God said to do that. But we'll get to that in a second. But here's what had happened.

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Early on, as the children of Israel, who had been slaves for 400 years, were walking out of Egypt, they came to a place where they were hurtin', where they didn't have much, and the

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Amalekite people who were related to Israel. It'd be like distant cousins.

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It's kind of like Brighton area. Even though they get married, they're somewhere in the back, they're all still related, right?

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Okay, that's who the Amalekites were. When they came in, they saw, well, Israel's kind of weak. They're kind of hurtin' right now.

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This is easy pickings for us to get a little bit of wealth. And so they attacked the

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Israelites. And they didn't spare anybody. And this is what God said. Not now. Not now.

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Because I want you to stay focused on what I told you to do. Go into the promised land.

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But I'm telling you this. Justice will be served. Israel went through a time, and now they have a king.

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Now they're a nation. And now God told the king of Israel, this is what

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I want you to do. It's time for you to be the tool in my hand to execute justice upon the

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Amalekites. Let me just say this to you, Christian. There are certain things that we need to defend.

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We need to defend God's Word. We need to defend the unborn.

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We need to defend those who do not need to defend ourselves. But the insults that are against God and His people, don't worry about that.

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Because I promise you, justice will be served. People who sit there and say there is no God or make fun of you for believing in a

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God, there is coming a day where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess

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Jesus Christ as Lord. And you will bear witness. The scales will balance. There is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

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And without the blood of Jesus Christ covering your sins, you will be in that line to receive justice.

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Justice will be served. So God told Saul, Hey son, go down and kill every living thing.

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If it breathes, kill it. So let's keep reading here. So Saul summoned, verse 4, the troops and counted them at Telum, 200 ,000 foot soldiers and 10 ,000 men from Judah.

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Judah, if you ever read that in the Bible, you wonder why they're separate. Well, it's because Judah were kind of like the heavy shock troops of Israel.

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These were the studs of Israel. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and set up an ambush in the wadi.

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It's just basically a small, think of an oasis kind of area.

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In a wadi and he warned the Kenites, since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came out of Egypt, go on and leave.

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Get away from the Amalekites or I will sweep you away with them. So the Kenites withdrew from the

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Amalekites. Guys, I tell you what, this is some of my best work that I do as a pastor is warn people of this.

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Hey, if you lie down with dogs, you're going to come up with fleas. I promise you, you may be enjoying the sin of mixing with this worldly group right now, but God's people need to warn

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God's people. You keep walking and talking and lying with dogs, the judgment that falls upon them will fall upon your head as well.

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You need to walk away. Then Saul struck down, now read with me, verse 7,

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Then Saul struck down the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is next to Egypt.

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And by the way, you can still look up on Google these little areas. He captured Agog, the king of Amalek, alive, but completely destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword.

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Saul and his troops spared Agog and the best of the sheep, cattle and choice animals, as well as the young rams and the best of everything else.

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They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted things.

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Now, if that is not an indictment upon God's people today, I don't know what is.

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Let me just stop for a second and say this to you. I am neither Republican or Democrat.

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I literally am an independent. I have more libertarian views than I have anything else. Here's my political index.

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Guys, I don't care what party you belong to. If you're for abortion, I cannot be for you.

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And here's why. Because you are just like... And there are people who call themselves

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Christians. There are people who will vote with a political party for the expediency or the habit of their fathers.

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But they're not thinking logically. And I'm not here to voice my support from one party or another.

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Here's what I'm here to voice support to. When you vote, you've got to vote with the Holy Spirit of the living

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God. And if you vote for a candidate who is destroying worthless and unwanted things, according to the world, i .e.

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abortion, you are voting with sin. Abortion is an abomination to God.

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Absolutely an abomination to God. God will not bless... I tell you this.

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Stop saying, God bless America. You need to start saying, America, you need to repent. We keep thinking that our country is so this and this.

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We have legalized the unwanted wholesale of children being butchered alive for nothing more than the expediency and the whims of self -centered people.

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And we've made laws protecting it. I'm here to tell you, if God does not judge America, He owes

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Sodom and Gomorrah an apology. The judgment of God is going to fall on this country. I'm telling you, it's going to happen.

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And the only hope you have is the blood of Jesus Christ and the remnant of God's people who are still willing to stand up for truth.

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But now keep going here just a little bit. Keep going here just a little bit. So Saul keeps all the worthwhile things.

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God said, I want the donkeys and camels killed. I want the camels killed.

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I want the snuffleupagus killed. I want everything obliterated.

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Saul went in there and he captures the king and he keeps all the most expensive stuff for himself.

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I want to give you three things. I know that was a long lead in, but hang with me. This will go quick.

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I want to give you three things today in obedience to God. First of all, you have to ask yourself this question.

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Listen to me. When you're looking at yourself and saying, what do I need to change? Here's the first thing you need to do.

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Change your view. You either have a world view today or you have a scriptural view today in obedience.

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It's one or the other. Look back at verse 1. Look what it says. Samuel told Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you over His people

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Israel. Now listen to the words of the Lord. If you're obeying a pastor, a preacher, a denomination, a church, a political party, if you're obeying anything else other than the

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Word of God, you are putting yourself and your family in jeopardy. The wrath of God is going to descend upon those who refuse to obey

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Him. I know you're sitting there going, oh, this is a hell -fine brimstone preacher. This is the

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Word of God. What is your world view? Are you one of those people that use your philosophies, your feelings, your upbringing, and your culture to decide what is right or wrong?

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Or do you use the Word of God? If God's Word says this is sin, don't rationalize it away.

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Understand it as sin. Some of our folks still do not grasp the idea that living together outside the bonds of matrimony is sin.

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It's not a halfway thing. It's not a, well, you've got to understand it from my perspective thing.

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You have got to understand that it is good for a man not to touch a woman.

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That's what Scripture says. It is good for a man not to touch a woman. And I'm not talking, and don't take it to the legalistic extreme.

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Understand it scripturally. And if you need help understanding what it means it's good for a man not to touch a woman, go ask someone else besides me.

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Go ask Marty and Karina. They'll help you understand what it means. You know what it means. It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

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I did a revival, and I had a young, I had a couple, I'm sorry. I had a couple come forward and say,

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Pastor, we need to repent and we want you to marry us. Okay, you're not married?

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They were in their 60s, their late 60s. Here's what the idea was.

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It wasn't like they were young kids sitting around playing Mario Brothers, drinking wine and smoking weed.

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It was the fact that if she married him, she would lose her husband's social security.

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Something like that. And so what they said was, well, you don't understand our position.

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That's what they're basically telling their pastor all these years. Well, you don't understand our position. Guys, when

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God's Word says something, it's relevant to your situation or your circumstances.

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Either you are obeying or you're not. And so we sat there, they came down, and I said,

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I can't marry you because I have to do six months pre -marital counseling. But six months later, they sent me an invitation and they got married.

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Guys, when you come to a point where you stop looking at the circumstances of obedience through a worldview or for your feelings, and you go back straight to what

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Scripture says, you're going to get in line a lot better. Notice the source of this sovereignty is the

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Word of God. Now, number two, I've said this earlier. Partial obedience is total disobedience.

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Look at verse 11. So watch this. It says, well, start in verse 10.

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The Word of the Lord came to Samuel. I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.

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So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night. I have a young man who is very centered on understanding right and wrong.

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And we all went to see Pastor Josiah and some other guys, and I had to do some pastor work yesterday.

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We had to go see a young man and kind of help him get back on track a little bit, as we all need sometimes.

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But I heard Pastor Josiah say this to this young guy. He said, why is it that I see more grieved over your sin than you do?

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And that was one of the most poignant things I've ever heard that young pastor say. And it was true.

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Pastor Josiah was in tears. During that meeting, there were some moments of anger.

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There were some moments of anger. Because there was a sense of betrayal, not only to God's word, but the fidelity of being a part of this fellowship.

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You've stabbed your family in the back. You have publicly slandered the testimony of Jesus Christ and the reputation of God's people here.

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There is a sense of righteous indignation that should accompany our spirits when we observe open sin.

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If you can see a brother and sister in Christ and go, well, that's their life, and it makes no difference to me, you don't love those folks.

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If you're moved to grief, and yes, sometimes anger, Galatians 6 .1 tells us,

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If a brother be found in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering ourselves, lest we also be tempted.

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Remember this, that meekness is not weakness. Understand that there should be an absolute breathtakingly pause and pausing of a child of God willing to enter into open sin, not just because of the fear of God, but because of the disunity and the disharmony it will bring to God's people.

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It is so easy for you to shame God's people, to shame

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God's house, to shame God's word, if you can sin that openly and that easily without any fear of letting your brother and sister in Christ down, of letting those who look up to you, letting them down,

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I need you to look at your heart and find out where your focus is, because it's not just a world focus, it's a self focus, because the pleasure of your sin means more to you than the discipleship of a younger brother and sister in Christ.

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Some of y 'all's Facebook posts are atrocious. They're atrocious.

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Not because of what you're doing, but because your posts speak nothing about the power and love and grace of Almighty God.

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They're celebrating things that don't mean anything in life. If all of your Facebook posts have to do with drama and drinking and clubbing, where's the passion of your heart to see the young people of this church grow up with an example of what it means to be a man or woman of God?

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Are you going to be the reverend so -and -so sitting there going, well, I can see it both ways?

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Are you going to be the Christian rationalizing people's sin into their oblivion and their failures of not only themselves, but the families they lead?

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Repent. Repent today. Stop looking at everyone else and look at yourselves.

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Next thing, watch this. Watch how Saul, when he's busted, watch how he reacts.

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Look at verse 13. It says this. It says, When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said,

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May the Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord's instructions. Can you hear a little

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Baptist right now? God bless you. Oh, it's so good to see you this morning.

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I'm living in sin. I don't care whether you live or die, but let me have that image of loving you today.

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God bless your heart. When's the last time you got involved in someone else's life,

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Christian, Whitten church member? When's the last time you invested that most precious commodity of time into actually asking how are you doing and actually meaning it?

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Well, Pastor, what's the difference? In other words, don't take this. If someone constantly says to you,

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Well, I'm tired. I'm tired. Especially guys, if you're under the age of 25, do the rest of a favor.

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Shut up. Shut up. You're not tired. You think you're tired, but you're not tired.

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Trust me. Okay. If you do not sit there and go,

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Okay, I understand you're tired. Why are you tired? Why are you worn out? Why are you so downtrodden?

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Why are you always Eeyore instead of Tigger? Why are you constantly seeing everything negative?

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Because a person who has the power of the Holy Spirit of God in them, when they look at life, you cannot always see negativity.

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And if you're one of those people, you need to get involved in their life because something's not wired right in their heart and their brain.

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I have followed the Lord's instruction. Now look. Look at the answer to it. Samuel pries,

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Then what is the sound of sheep and cattle I hear? Busted! Busted!

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It's like the old joke from that comedian, you know? The kid goes to the cookie jar. The dad comes in and says,

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What are you doing in the cookie jar? He goes, I was getting the cookie for you. He sits there and says,

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Oh, you've done everything the Lord has set for you. Then why is there cattle and sheep right over there? Now watch how he answers.

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If this applies to you, you've got some repenting to do today. Notice this. Notice this.

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He says, Saul answered, The troops brought them back from the Amalekites and spared the best sheep and cattle in order to offer a sacrifice to the

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Lord your God. But the rest we destroyed. Now notice the pronoun changes.

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Now this is a leader. Husbands, if your family is in rebellion and you say,

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Well, they did this. Boy, you better change that pronoun. I mean, quick, fast, in a hurry.

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If you're going to be a leader, you're a leader in good times and bad. You are the one responsible for helming that household.

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Men, listen to me. If you say your wife is nagging you, okay, there are women who nag, yes.

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But I've also heard men nag too. But understand this. Here's probably the reason why.

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Let's all be honest for a second. Because you need to put the remote control down, get up off your backside, and be the man and the father

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God has called you to be. That's probably what it is. Women have a natural intuition that us men don't have.

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Women serve their families. Now, there are women who are bums. I get it, right? Like my wife the other day, it was snowing.

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There was only like three inches of snow on the ground. I said, Baby, we need some more firewood. She's like, I don't want to go cut...

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Get out there and cut that firewood, woman. Go put another log on the fire. Some of y 'all get that.

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Never mind. Guys, listen to me today.

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If you're the leader, you can't blame others for the failure as the group as a whole.

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Saul sits there and goes, Oh, let me explain this to you. The troops?

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Not me. I'm just the king. The troops? Well, they are the ones who didn't follow the

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Lord. But then notice how he rationalizes his sin. Oh, well, the troops spared that cattle so that we could come and give it to the

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Lord. Do you do that with sin?

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Do you rationalize your sin? And you try to have the means to an end equal the disobedience to God?

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Guys, some of you young people, I tell them, you know, we have three young couples that are engaged right now.

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I tell them, this is the most dangerous time for you. Well, we're going to be married anyways.

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We're going to be married soon. So give me a little kiss there, mama. You know, guys, when you start rationalizing your failures because you're using a worldview and you're using an infantile, childish, immature

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Christian attitude to rationalize your sin. That's what Saul the king was doing.

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Watch this. Understand this. Look at verse 30. It kept going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

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Saul said, I have sinned. Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel.

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Come back with me so I can bow down and worship to the Lord your God. Guys. If we don't get to anything else today,

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I want you to hear me this. Confession does not equal repentance.

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Let me say it to you again. Confession does not equal repentance.

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Oh, I'm busted out. I know I shouldn't do that, baby. I'm so sorry. Church, I'm so sorry.

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Brother, I'm so sorry. But then you go and do it again and again and again and again.

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Guys, the Word of God tells us to confess our faults one to another.

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Do you know why it says to do that? So that there can be a level of accountability to help you from going back and doing it again.

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If you're one of those Christians that say, well, my personal life with God is personal and private. It ain't no one else's business.

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You are the one who is either in failure or going to fail. I promise you that.

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But stay focused with me on this. What was Saul the most concerned about in verse 30?

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You know what the most thing he was concerned about? Was his image. That's what he was concerned about.

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There are people in this room who are going to hell in a hand basket.

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In a hurry. But they are so afraid of losing that well -cultivated cultural religious standard.

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They're so worried about what people will think. They're willing to remain in sin and bust the gates of hell wide open than to repent and call upon the name of the

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Lord. Guys, it's to you I'm speaking today. Listen to me.

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The word of God says, if you are ashamed to confess me before men, Jesus said,

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I will be ashamed to confess you before the Father. Your private life, there nothing exists privately.

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Do you really think God's like, well, I wonder what Vicky's doing this week. No. And understand this, that hidden sin comes out in other ways.

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And I'm not fussing at you in here. Listen to me. I'm warning you. And I know this from personal experience.

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And I still have the scar tissue to prove it. If you have hidden sin, it will come out in other ways.

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There is nothing hidden before the eyes of God. Learn the lessons now.

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If I could get all of the old, which they're very few. If I could get all the older Christians to talk to you younger kids, this is what they would tell you.

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I guarantee it. Confess and turn it around now. Because sin comes with interest and will take farther than you wanted to go and keep you longer than you wanted to stay.

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Please repent. Notice what he said, though. I want,

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I know that I've done wrong. I know that the hammer's fixing to fall, but let me at least go before the elders of Israel that I can bow down and worship so they can see me worship.

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How's your worship today? There are two aspects of this. Number one, there are those people who show.

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I remember there was a lady used to sit back there. We would start worshiping God and she would run down the aisle going.

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You know, and then she would run back. I don't even know what she was saying, but she would run up and back.

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And finally, after the second week, I kind of pulled her aside. I was like, hey, do me a favor. If I can't understand what you're saying in English, be quiet.

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If someone else doesn't understand what you're saying, be quiet. That kind of disorder is not of God.

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I think it has more to do with you saying, hey, look at me. You know, there are entire churches today that are more concerned about the image and the emotions of worship than the reality of worship.

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Now, here's the other side. There are people who are afraid to worship, once again, because they're afraid of what people will think.

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If you're actually focused on what people will think of you, then when you're worshiping, you're not worshiping.

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Because worship is the central idea that my mind, body, and soul is all focused on the

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Lord God Almighty. If you're looking for an emotional pull, that is not worship.

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Go watch a Hallmark movie. If you want to give God the glory and the praise for saving a heathen like you by the grace and the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and it's the joy from understanding that, that is worship.

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Last thing and I'm done. Read verse 22 with me. Everybody look and read verse 22 with me.

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Then Samuel said, Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the

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Lord? Look. To obey is better than sacrifice.

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To pay attention is better than the fat of rams. Wow. Pastor.

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Man, I am a great Christian. I read my Sunday school quarterly every week.

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I tithe. And my church attendance record is... I mean, you could be the poster child for Baptist today.

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Because you're just all that and a bag of chips. Except when no one else is around, your obedience level becomes absolutely non -existent.

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Grinder. What's the girl one? What's the girl hook -up thing?

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Tender. That's the other one. Well, where did you think

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I found my wife? Guys. Listen to me for a second. Listen.

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If you are disobeying God and wallowing in sin in private and you're not convicted, you have some serious problems this morning.

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But here's what's even worse. If you think by coming to church on Sunday morning you're good to go even though you're living a private life of sin, you've got huge issues.

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You see, it's not just hypocrisy. It's that you don't care.

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And either the conviction of the Holy Spirit in you is not there and children of God, or, excuse me, church people, if you don't have conviction of your sin, guess what?

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You ready for this? You're not a Christian. Let that soak in for a second. Okay? I know you walk down the aisle and pray

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Jesus' heart in your heart and Lord and Savior, and you got baptized and joined the church.

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Forget looking through that worldview. Conviction of the

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Holy Spirit is one of the most beautiful things about being a child of God because not only does it keep you on the right track, but it is the blessed assurance that you belong to God the

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Father. The book of Hebrews tells us God chastens those whom He loves.

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If you're not a child of God and you live a life devoid of the conviction of the

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Holy Spirit, you are not a child of God. And I don't care what your mama, your preacher, your deacon, the baptismal waters, or your stupid little sinner's prayer, or what

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Billy Graham has said to you in the past, I'm not talking about anything. Thus saith the Word of God, if a man claims to know the truth yet continues to walk in darkness, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

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That's the Word of God. It doesn't matter what your mama or your preacher said.

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Listen to me today. I beg you by the mercies of God. If God has revealed something to you this morning, don't hold on to the back of the chair, look at the screen, and sing just as I am.

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Make a repentive act today. Don't just confess it.

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Be willing to surrender to it. I'm going to ask the music peoples and pastors to come up.

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Listen to me. Has God spoken to you today? Not by the words of Pastor Jeff, because Pastor Jeff is an idiot.

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I'm just one sinner showing another sinner where to find grace. There's nothing special about me. You don't get forgiveness from me.

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Okay? If you are in this room today, and you are living in a sin that is destroying you, the joy of the

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Lord is not present in you, the conviction of the Holy Spirit is not present in you, you need to make that right today.

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And all of what you do on the outside, all of your sacrifices, your worshiping, your praise, means nothing, because to obey is better than sacrifices.

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This is a time for us to respond to the Word of God. Don't let it be just another

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Sunday school moment. Don't let it be just another sermon. Let it be a moment in time where you are transformed by the power of God Almighty to be sure of your salvation, to be cleansed from your sins, and to live your life differently than you did an hour ago when you walked in.

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I'm going to ask you to stand, and if God has spoken to you today, you come as He has called you.