Book of 2 Corinthians - Ch. 6, Vs. 1-15 (04/22/2001)

Park Meadows Church

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Corinthians, the sixth chapter. Pam, we're glad to have you with us this morning.

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KK, you're going to have to keep quiet. Corinthians, the sixth chapter.

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Well, third or fourth or whatever. Last Corinthians, six.

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We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.

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Men do not only need the ministry of God before they receive salvation, but they also need it after they have received salvation.

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One to acquire it, another to continue in it. For he saith,

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I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have

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I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

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Richard, do you see two instances of salvation in that verse?

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Yes, sir. In a time accepted. May he help thee. Giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed.

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The word signifies a stumbling block in general, or anything over which a man stumbles or falls.

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Here seems to mean any transgression or scandal that might take place among the ministers or the

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Christians themselves, whereby either Jew or Gentiles might take occasion of offense and vilify the gospel of Christ.

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It behooves all of us to live the Christian life. Every day.

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Some Christians, you will find, are Christian on Sunday, and on Monday they're a different sort of breed.

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Makes you doubt their Christianity on Sunday. But in all things, approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distress, in stripes, in imprisonment, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings,

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How much patience is needed for a

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Christian? Deborah? How much does

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God give you, Joy? What is patience?

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Dennis? Endurance? All right.

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Greg, what is patience? It's remaining focused on a goal.

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It's remaining focused on a direction. That was a great definition.

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I think the root of patience and the circumstances around you don't matter.

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Would it also be enduring calmly? Yes, enduring calmly.

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The goal that is set before you. Patience is not looking at adversity.

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It is not becoming discouraged. It is not a passive verb. It's active.

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Bill, what do we mean by patience is active? Patience is not just waiting for things to happen.

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Patience is sticking with a past that you haven't even mentioned.

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We do understand it. You do understand it. Then I'd like to see you all practice it.

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That's why you weren't answering. It says, in the ministries of God, in afflictions, in necessities, in distress, in stripes, in imprisonment, in tumults, in labors, in watching, in fastings.

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How many of these do you partake each day? How many of them do you not partake each day?

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Is everybody awake? Do we know what?

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Do we know firsthand the meaning of patience?

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No. Not like they do it. What? Not like the apostles do it.

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All right. Richard. His name is

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Richard. Yes. I mean, they were not in my job or this last nine months.

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All right. Is there patience exhibited in any other way? Brother, I wish there would be patience with your fellow people around you, waiting on them, not being demanding of them.

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Love. Faith.

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Faith. That you're trusting

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Him that it is going to work. All right.

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You're trusting Him. Is there any other connection between sovereignty and patience on our part?

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Well, you think about it. By pureness, by knowledge, by long -sufferings, by kindness of the

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Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned. What's unfeigned mean,

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Richard? Pure.

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All right. Unfeigned holiness. Love of unfeigned.

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By pureness, by knowledge, by long -suffering, by kindness, by the

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Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by pureness. Burge, what's pureness mean?

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To be without blemish for those. All right. Richard. Richard.

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David. By knowledge.

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All right. Clarence, by long -suffering. Say it again.

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All right.

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By kindness. Burge. All right.

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Jesse, by the Holy Ghost. All right.

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By love unfeigned. Dennis. By love unfeigned.

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So by all of these means, we promote the gospel.

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By pureness, knowledge, long -suffering, kindness, the Holy Spirit, by love unfeigned, all of that promotes the gospel.

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By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by the power of God.

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Bill, what's that mean? All right.

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Any decision we make, anything that someone else does, things that we do, things we do not do, is by the power of God.

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Is that true? Say that again.

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Yes. I did. Because I'm a guy. And it was

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Pharaoh. Pharaoh's position was that he was a guy. He didn't try to say that.

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Satan did it. God does it all. He allows it all. He didn't say anything unless God said it.

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God doesn't allow, but he does it all. He does it. I just kind of got a little...

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It's hard for us to understand. I think he allows it.

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From our viewpoint, it looks like he allows it. From our viewpoint, it might look like it, but I want you to get to where it's not from your viewpoint.

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It's from his. He did it. Now, Richard, I can't understand everything he does.

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In fact, very little that he does. Be careful, because this is part of our issue.

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God's chosen... That's part of our issue.

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Perhaps, in the walk of life, the understanding of the world...

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All right. David? Because if you ask you personally, in other words, for whatever reason, in Ephesians 6, it says, we battle not against flesh and blood, that here will be what we meet.

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So few Christians have faith in patience.

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You can face it, but you don't really have it. A man can stand anything if he knows it has an end.

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Now, don't we know that all of this has an end? I'd like to digress just a moment now that you're all here, and give you an assignment for next week.

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In Galatians 5, 19, 20, and 21, let me read that for you.

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Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murderers, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of the which

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I tell you before, as I have told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

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Do a study on these scriptures, come back with an explanation of the word do.

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Those that do such things. Any questions?

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All right, let's continue. By honor, by dishonor, by evil report, good report as deceivers and yet true, the apostle is still illustrating the proposition that he and his fellow laborers endeavored to give no offense and to commend themselves as the ministers of God.

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We all are ministers, some with more responsibility than others.

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As unknown and yet well known as dying and behold we live, as chastening and not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.

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Now that seems to be a study in contradictions. Sorrowful and yet rejoicing.

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Greg, how is that possible? We're going to be sorrowful. All right, as dying and behold we live.

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Dennis? Well, knowing that Jesse is chastened and not killed.

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Chastened means corrected. All right.

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As unknown and yet well known.

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Clarence? Chastened, Christ and the world.

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All right. We're known to other Christians. We're known to God. As poor yet making many rich.

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Deborah? As poor yet making many rich.

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All right. Having nothing and yet possessing all things.

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Dennis? As having nothing yet we possess all things.

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All right.

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Since Christ owns everything, we do too. That really necessity to the preservation of our life.

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For the wants under which we labor for a time are supplied again by a bountiful providence.

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The man who possesses a contented spirit possesses all things.

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Now, a man who possesses a contented spirit, how do you attain a contented spirit?

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David? All right.

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Bill, you want to elaborate on that? Probably if you want to, but that spirit is never going to be comfortable except in the presence of God.

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All right. So, any time we're not in the presence of God, the spirit is disconnected and therefore we are.

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All right. Jesse? I think that's the greatest thing in all of the world to know the assurance that God has everything worked out, that he's already done it, our going through it is beside the point, yet we cannot sit down and do nothing.

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We have to make decisions. You decide to buy a house. What if you hadn't?

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What if everybody just sits down and does nothing? Dennis, what happens then?

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It falls apart. You won't do that. There's no way that you can sit down and do nothing.

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If you could, it'd fall apart. Diane, if you could do nothing, if you could do nothing, which you can't, it would fall apart, wouldn't it?

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This morning in my study, he showed me that he who is faithful keeps me faithful in doing what he would have me do.

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It's not me doing it. So, the fact that I'm able to come every day to the children, he has helped me to do that, not me running up here.

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That's right. And I said, how wonderful to know that he is the one that's kept me faithful, not

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Diane. That's right. And I said, that means if I'm not here, then you are the one that is not putting me here.

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Isn't that exciting? That's just it. So, we are faithful because he is faithful, not because we are.

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That's right. And in knowing that, I'm thankful that he's keeping me faithful.

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Our heart is enlarged, that there is no stranger, stronger love, nor more enduring affection between any relation upon earth than between such ministers of Christ and their beloved people, whom they have been happily instrumental in converting to God.

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O you Corinthians, our heart is enlarged toward you. You are not straightened in us, but we are straightened in your own bowels.

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Now for a recompense in the name, I speak as unto my children, but ye are also enlarged.

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Being not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness?

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I want to talk about this a little bit. Being not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

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What does that include, Greg? Or Jesse?

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All right.

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Yes. Does Billy Graham know that he thinks this?

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Then are we not also subject to the same thing? We have to continually go back to the well, every day, all of the time, forever.

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You might as well look the other way on all of them. Clarence? He had six daughters, and he explained this scripture to each of us.

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If you are in love with a man, and he's not a Christian, either you bring him to the

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Lord, or if he wants to marry you, either you bring him to the

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Lord. He was raised in the

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Church of Christ, and that is the heart and shell of righteous

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Catholics. But I guess the fellowship was love at first sight, in the way he asked me to marry him, two weeks after I married him.

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And I talked to him about becoming a Christian. Two weeks later, they had a fresh harbor meeting down at Blankford, and he surrendered his life to the

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Lord. He told them that, and I let him know that I committed to the

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Lord. He was baptized, a week after the revival, with 17 more young people.

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At that time, our Sunday school down there was about 135, in a church that was almost 100 years old at that time.

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That stuck with me, what he taught me. Well, I have a sister that lived in Kenya, and she never, she has had, she's lived in hell, let's put it that way, all her married life.

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Still living in hell. So it's, that is one of the most positive things that I think this group around here can do.

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And my dad taught young people. And he was a light preacher,

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I guess you could say, but he helped young people. He went back to Alamos, Texas, when the population was scarce, when we were growing up out there.

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And when I read, when I said something, like I heard this lesson, all those things come back to me.

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And another illustration, I think, those of us that was living in 1929, when the stock market crashed.

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I wonder how many believe young people, because you're so young.

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How many of you? How many of you have attended the year of John F. Kennedy? 24th or 5th?

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Well, story of Linda, to their dad, because they lost all the money they got. We had a sawmill business in Mississippi.

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When it happened, and it goes to the bank, he tried to jump in one of those big saws, the workers caught him, just cut his arm off.

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But how many of you have heard of the tragedy that took place there? Well, a lot of you.

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So, I think this is where to this point, that we're studying right now, should open our eyes to know.

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That's true. I remember when the stock market crashed, the workers told me.

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Oh, I forgot that you were here. Yes, Clarence? Well, I didn't come back tonight. David's comment,

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I guess, but, and Jude were, Michael wasn't even child -safe over the body of of Moses.

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And I think the reason that was is that it was a triumphant step in our way that we think we could do it on ourself rather than calling our

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Lord. And we had an evening of yoke. We we take it upon ourselves to be able to solve the situation and rely on our

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Lord and Savior. And to do that is exactly what Satan wants us to do. That's right.

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We're sure to fail as he did in the Michael Arch. That's right.

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Whatever your name is. Like what Clarence said in the Bible. Yes. And we yoke ourselves communing with them every day.

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Well, Satan knows for sure you're going to eventually be influenced by those people. And you have to watch yourself.

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Yes. I want to add something to what I'm saying. Very briefly.

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I began this as Jesse Bonner two months and ten days after I met him. Okay. And everyone said,

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Oh, it won't last. So he backed off on the West Texas trip that I had. Arthur?

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And I kind of wasn't blessed in 60 years. I remember Billy Graham most 50 years ago.

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And he preached to make a decision. Instead of preaching receiving the spirit.

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He left it up to you to make the decision. And leave it up to the Lord to make the decision.

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That's right. And that's close to 50 years ago that I heard him preach that.

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And I didn't believe it then. And I don't believe it now. That's right. Dennis? Didn't you have your hand up?

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Bert? I think so many times when we're backstage we cannot change somebody else.

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If we are uneven when we go we get this idea we can go in and I think we discussed it today with your father's students that the good

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Christian person can go in and change the people in bars and places like that. It don't happen.

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No. And we've heard people say that. They don't like the word change. And usually what happens is it goes right to the person.

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We cannot change somebody without the power of God. That's right.

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Yes, Diane? My dad said unequally yoke also took you into the business realm.

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That if you have a business that you're going to expand or do anything the very first thing as a

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Christian you should do is see that he honors and believes the word like you do.

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If he says well I'm not sure and you're not then you know right there that you're not to be in business.

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That's right. So my dad kind of took me into the world of business.

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It belongs in the world of business. It belongs in our life. Period. Someone else had their hand up.

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David? I was just going to add at some version you can't go into it about anyone who presented in hiring a certain staff that were thinking that because they were young I could change them.

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Yes. That I could take them and teach them how to minister what the

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Bible teaches about. It didn't happen. It didn't happen.

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I've been married what 55 years? 56 years?

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60 years? And I haven't changed her one bit. I'm saying you know you'd be an old guy.

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I'll have to go some to be as old as you are.

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Yes. Yes. That's right.

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Absolutely. We have to be ready to do it.

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But if we think we're going to go over to your house and do it that day he said I can tell you right now that it's

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Christ. That's right. If they called you after your burden and you're waiting and waiting and want to go and want to go and all of a sudden you get the call then he said for goodness sakes don't forget it.

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Yes. That's right. Fifteen. And what accord has

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Christ with Belial? Meaning the devil. Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

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What agreement has the temple of God with idols and God's temple with nothing in common with the idol temple so the saints are to be separate from idolaters?

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We need to stop here. But it says and what concord or what concord have

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Christ with the devil? What connection do they have?

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What do they have in common? They're both in the spiritual world but that's all.

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All right. This has been a good discussion. I begin to think when we first started you were all asleep but you're not.

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So Dennis would you stand and dismiss us please?