F4F | Jeremy Foster: How is Your Vision?

Fighting for the Faith

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

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. Now if you've ever heard a bad sermon on Ezekiel 37, you know the

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Valley of the Dry Bones? Yeah, go ahead and hit the subscribe button down below. Don't forget to like the video and ring the bell, ring the bell.

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Yeah, all of these will help you out in the next installment of Prophecy Bingo. Just trust me. Plus they help us out a little bit too.

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So today we're going to be heading over to Hope City Church and we're gonna listen to Jeremy Foster, the vision casting leader there.

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We've never reviewed him before and I'll note this is that this is going to be a very convoluted twisting of Ezekiel 37 and the

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Valley of the Dry Bones. And if you followed this channel for any length of time, then you know that, well, we cover with some regularity guys who biff it when it comes to Ezekiel 37.

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Ezekiel 37, the Valley of the Dry Bones. God gives the vision. God gives the interpretation of the vision in the exact chapter.

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In fact, we'll review that again before we get too far into the sermon. Jeremy Foster is one of the latest guys who's the up -and -coming star within the seeker -driven vision casting, purpose -driven, attractional church movement.

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And boy, I tell you, this sermon gives me anxiety. And the reason it gives me anxiety is just because the things he's saying that God wants from me, number one, they're not in the text.

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But number two, they really kind of paint God out in a way that makes it seem like it's very difficult to figure out,

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A, what he's up to, and two, what he wants me to do as a Christian. I'll explain it along the way.

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So let's whirl up our desktop and let's take a look at our web browser here.

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And the name of the sermon we'll be listening to a portion of is titled, How is Your Vision? We're gonna listen to a long stretch of this one and see if we can make any sense of it.

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We will be in Ezekiel 37 if you want to open up your Bible and get ready, but let's get to it. I believe

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I've got a word for you this weekend. I'm gonna preach straight strong and not too long, but I believe that God, if you allow him to, will shift the way you think.

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This is a slogan. God, if you allow him to, he's gonna shift the way you think.

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Okay, all right. So I understand what repentance is.

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Repentance, metanoia, the Greek, is to change your mind. And so there is a right way as Christians that we recognize that God changes our mind.

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How does he do it? Through his word. Rightly preached. Rightly handled. So okay.

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Here's the truth. God has a vision for our world, but it's not just a vision for our world. He has a vision for our city.

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He has a vision for our church. Okay, now immediately I just have a question.

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Where in Scripture does it say God has a vision for our world, for your city, and for a unique vision for your church?

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Now my first master's degree, I have two. My first master's degree is in business administration.

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I have an MBA from Pepperdine University with an emphasis in leadership and organizational change.

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Yeah, I spent a long time in the corporate world. That being the case, over and again what we've seen over the past few decades is the church mimicking the practices of the corporate world, where a corporation needs to have a very, very focused and well -defined mission and vision statement so that they can stay on task, and that they can thrive and earn profits.

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Where there is mission creep and organizations, corporations, drift away from their core competencies and the vision for which they were created, oftentimes those corporations will find themselves on the rocks and then disappearing and going the way of the dodo and the dinosaur.

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Now that being the case, I'm gonna point out that there is one church, one church, and that one church has the same marching orders from Jesus Christ.

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And so we're gonna go into our biblical text here, and we're gonna look at two passages respectively.

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First, we're gonna look at Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. Oh, what did

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I do here? No, I misspelled it is what I did. I hate when I do that. Creeping decrepitude.

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Okay, let's see here. I do need to tell it that I want to look for verses, and I do need to spell this correctly.

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Let's try this all over again. Matthew 28. There we go. Now, in Matthew 28, we have that portion of Scripture where we recognize what we call the

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Great Commission. And so the Great Commission, consider this to be, you know, Jesus's mission statement for the church.

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Matthew 28, 16. Now, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

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And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came to them, and here's what he said.

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First words are actually quite important. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. He's the guy calling the shots in heaven and earth now.

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So here's our marching orders. Go therefore. And go is a participle. Many people think that's the imperative.

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No, it's actually the making disciples part that's the imperative. As you are going, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then listen to the last part, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded.

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And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So teaching them to observe all that I have commanded, which basically tells us, okay, so the only thing the church is authorized to teach is the commands and teachings of Christ.

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Where are we going to find that answer? That only exists in the written Word of God. And so the church, all of us who are

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Christians, are to be about the business of making disciples, baptizing in the name of the

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Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching all that Christ has commanded.

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Being a Christian, being a disciple of Jesus, as learners then, we have to be learning the same thing, and all of that's found in Scripture.

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Seems pretty straightforward. So that's what your church should be doing, that's what my church should be doing, and note here,

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I'm using the word church now when we're talking about local congregations, as smaller congregations within the wider body of Christ.

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The entire body of Christ has been given the job of making disciples and teaching all that Christ has commanded, which requires sound doctrine and things of that nature.

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Now the second part of this, then, is gonna be found in the Gospel of Luke.

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And in the Gospel of Luke, we have Jesus giving his own version of the

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Great Commission. And in those words, it's actually quite fascinating that you can kind of see how the two go together.

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And so here's what Jesus says. It's in Luke chapter 24 starting at 45, so then

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Christ opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

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And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I am sending the promise of the Father upon you, and so you get the idea.

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So you can kind of take the two together. Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching all that Christ has commanded, which means rightly preaching and teaching the written

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Word of God, and then you'll note then that this is affected through the proclamation, the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Christ, which means you have to properly distinguish between law and gospel, and your church, my church, all churches that are

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Christian churches are under these orders, and your church doesn't get to opt out.

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My church doesn't get to opt out. We are all to be about this business, and no smaller congregation within the broader body of Christ has a unique vision for it, and there is no single text that one that says anything or even remotely approaching this.

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So one of the major tenets then of the seeker -driven movement is that God has a unique vision for individual churches, and so if you attend a church that believes this nonsense, and it is nonsense, then with some regularity, at least once a year, you're going to have what's called

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Vision Sunday, where the vision -casting leader is going to again cast for the congregation what they believe to be the individual vision that God has called this particular congregation to achieve.

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No. We're all under the same orders. Period. There is only one church.

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Yeah, that's right. One. Not a whole bunch of them, there's only one. And all sub -congregations of the one church are under the same mission and vision statements given by Christ, making disciples, baptizing, teaching all that Christ has commanded, proclaiming repentance and the forgiveness of sins in his name.

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Period. If your church isn't doing that or about that, then they have bucked

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Jesus, who is the one to whom all authority has been given, and they're gonna have to explain why they're not with the program, why they have a competing vision than the one that Christ has given to the whole church.

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Just saying. All right, so let's go back here as we listen to Jeremy Foster, kind of spew this weird seeker -driven, purpose -driven stuff, and then he's going to apply this in a weird way to Ezekiel 37, and I'll note how he's twisting

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Ezekiel 37 here. And more uniquely than all of that, God has a vision for you. In fact, he cannot, he will not accomplish what he wants to accomplish in the world without using you.

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You were a part of this plan. Where in the Bible does it say that? God has accomplished a whole lot of stuff without me, and after I'm gone it'll accomplish probably even more.

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Which biblical text says these things? So you know, going back to our episode where we talked about quad non es biblicum, non es theologicum, this is the

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Activating Angels episode we did a couple of days ago. If it's not in the Bible, it's not theology. So he's putting forward these doctrines that cannot be found in the

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Bible. They're not found anywhere, and these false doctrines, these man -made doctrines are front -loaded in the beginning of the sermon and are going to impact how he handles the

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Word of God. How many believe God wants to do something unique through you? The challenge is sometimes we get our vision off of what

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God is doing, and we ask God to bless what we are doing. We get our vision off of what

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God is doing, and then we ask God to bless what we are doing. One of the first people

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I heard this hot mess from was Dan Sutherland. In fact, years and years ago we did a series of episodes on fighting for the faith called, you know, the

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Purpose -Driven Hostile Takeover of Your Church kind of thing, and the Hostile Takeover Tactics of the

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Purpose -Driven Movement, something like that. We'll put a link to the podcast episodes down below.

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And Dan Sutherland basically was saying, listen, God's not going to bless what you want to do. You've got to find what

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He's doing in the world and then join Him in it, because He's only blessing what

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He's doing. I mean, this is nonsense. Not only that, it's like, well, how do I find what

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God is doing in the world so I can join Him in it? And what do you mean God's not going to bless what

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I want to do? I've got to find what He's doing because that's what He's blessing. Again, no text says this, and you're gonna note then that this kind of preaching creates all kinds of anxiety within the person believing it, because there's no clarity to it.

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How do I find what God's doing in the world and join Him? How do I do this? So let me back him up a few seconds, and I want you to hear again.

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Again, the statement is not found in the Bible, but it makes you just go, well,

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I got to find what God's doing then, I guess. Listen to what he said. Without using you, you were a part of this plan.

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How many believe God wants to do something unique through you? The challenge is sometimes we get our vision off of what

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God is doing, and we ask God to bless what we are doing. What would happen if we as a church, if you as an individual, if you as a family, you said,

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God, what are you doing? I want to do what you're already blessing. I tell you this, if you're at Hope City, if you're watching

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Hope City, God, what are you doing? Because I want to do what you're already blessing. Where is this taught in the

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Bible? It's not. This is nonsense. And again, people sit there going, how does one practically apply this?

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Yeah, it takes Christianity, and it just makes it so vague and unclear.

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So I better ask God, so God, what are you doing? Because I want to do the things you're currently blessing right now.

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No Bible text talks like this. No disciple or apostle ever talked like this. No prophet of God spoke in this way.

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You listen to Hope City, you're somehow connected to Hope City, then God has called you to accomplish the purpose that God has called us to accomplish.

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Okay, now that's kind of an important bit. I'm gonna back this up again, listen to what he says, and pay attention.

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He really is of the belief that Hope City in Texas, this is a seeker -driven multi -site, that they have a unique vision, and that the job of the people who are there is to accomplish that unique vision.

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But their unique vision is different than the Great Commission, and that's a problem.

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Christ doesn't give unique visions to individual congregations. All congregations within the one true church are called to make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the

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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching all that Christ has commanded, and to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His name.

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Every single church, there are no unique visions given to individual congregations.

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That's a flat out man -made lie from the pit of Saddleback Church.

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If you're at Hope City, you're watching Hope City, you're listening to Hope City, you're somehow connected to Hope City, then God has called you to accomplish the purpose that God has called us to accomplish.

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No, that's not right. That's not taught in the Bible anyway. God doesn't just sit you out there and say, hey, I'm gonna do something unique just through you and you alone.

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No, it's a collective purpose of all of us, but if we're not careful, we won't see clearly what

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God's trying to do. So we got to be careful. Otherwise, we won't see what

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He's trying to do. How does one see what God is trying to do?

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I mean, this is really, really vague and ambiguous. Now, I've had a problem for a long time.

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Some of y 'all could probably name a few of them, but with my right eye, my right eye, since I was a little kid, it was just not really good.

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In fact, a few years ago, I went to an eye doctor and she said, actually, people that I see with the condition that you have in your right eye, they go blind before the age of 20.

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And she was like, you shouldn't be able to see. And I was like, thank you, Jesus, for a miracle that I received. I didn't even know

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I received, because I can still see y 'all. Y 'all look better than you've ever looked right now. I'll just tell you right now. You can come up and sucker punch me on this side like once, and then it's gonna be on.

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I got about a good 30 seconds. It'll be like pop, pop, pop. Like, that's all I got after that. I'm too old. It's Texas Church.

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God bless you. But something happened this year that has never happened before. And some of you have experienced this.

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I opened up my Bible, and my arms weren't long enough. Some of y 'all youngsters are like, what?

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I don't even know what you mean. And so for the first time, you boy, I had to get some glasses.

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Now, I've always wanted to have glasses while I preach, because I feel like they make you preach better.

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You know, like the bishop reads, and then he says, now, what I'm trying to get you to see. So y 'all be ready.

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The glasses anointing is on me. The challenge with some of us is you need spiritual glasses to see what

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God's trying to show you, because you're... I need spiritual glasses to see what

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God is trying to show me. Hi, this is the

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Holy Spirit, and you know, I'm trying to show you something. I know you think

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I'm almighty and stuff, but I'm really not that almighty. And so all of my efforts to try to get you to see this have failed.

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What on earth? The vision has gotten blurry, and this weekend I want to clear it up a little bit, and we're gonna put some glasses on you and show you what

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God wants to do in your life. He wants to show me what God wants to do. If God wanted to do it, he'd be doing it.

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We're gonna be reading out of Ezekiel chapter 37. Now, I'm gonna just quickly walk through this.

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This is since, you know, I seem to collect these Ezekiel 37 sermons. We've done a few of them over the past year.

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I'm just gonna remind you that this is a vision of the resurrection of the dead. The text actually says that.

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So we're gonna go to Ezekiel 37 and just let the text tell us what it's all about.

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So the hand of the Lord was upon me, Ezekiel writes, and he brought me out in the spirit of Yahweh and sent me down in the middle of the valley.

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It was full of bones. He led me around among them. Behold, there was very many on the surface of the valley.

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Behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, you know.

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And then he said to me, prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh.

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Thus says Yahweh Elohim to these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live and I will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that I am

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Yahweh. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound and behold, a rattling and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

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And I looked and behold, there were sinews on them and flesh had come upon them and skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them.

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Then he said to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy, Son of man, and say to the breath, thus says

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Yahweh Elohim, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live.

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So I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

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Now oftentimes bad sermons will end here, but the text itself tells us what this means.

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So then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say our bones are dried up and our hope is lost.

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We are indeed cut off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says Yahweh Elohim, behold,

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I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel and you shall know that I am

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Yahweh when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and I will put my spirit within you and you shall live and I will place you in your own land and then you shall know that I am

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Yahweh. I have spoken, I will do it, declares the Lord. So real quick, you can see what's going on here.

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The vision is like a parable, and God interprets the parable, and the interpretation is that this is the resurrection that's being pictured here.

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It's kind of that simple, and when you let the text tell you what it's about, then you don't have to worry about being manipulated and deceived.

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So the question then comes up, what is Jeremy Foster gonna do with this text?

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And this is something that we need to pay attention to, because this is a very slick

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Bible -twisting tactic. What he's going to assume is that God giving

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Ezekiel the vision of the dry bones is a pattern that is going to be repeated, and is being repeated in our time for individual congregations and for individual people.

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So he's not going to read the text for what it says and what it means.

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What he's going to do is read the text as a pattern, and then say, here's what you should expect, and when you do this thing, this is what's gonna happen.

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So it doesn't really matter what the text says. It's all about this pattern that happened in Ezekiel 37, that's supposed to be happening today.

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And by doing this, he doesn't care what the text actually says or means.

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No, because it's now about me, and me going through the Ezekiel 37 pattern in my life, and you going through the

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Ezekiel 37 pattern in your life, which is not why God had Ezekiel 37 penned.

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This is not some normative pattern, a vision that God gives that you should see happening in your life or mine.

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That's not it, what's going on at all. So we continue, and I've got it on my iPad, and some of you are like, okay, because how you gonna read without glasses?

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I've got 20 on my iPad. But before we read

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Ezekiel 37, we got to go to 36. We're a contextual church, and I want to show you the context of what

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God is doing here. What God is doing with Ezekiel is He's showing Ezekiel, He's telling Ezekiel all of these incredible things that He's gonna do.

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I'm gonna restore the nation, I'm gonna rebuild the families, I'm gonna rebuild the homes. It's all awesome.

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It's incredible. You ever had that moment where God is speaking, and you're like, man, it's gonna be amazing.

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That moment when God is speaking? The only time

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I hear God speaking is when I'm reading His Word, or somebody's preaching the

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Bible to me accurately. That's when I hear God speaking. What are you talking about?

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We get to chapter 37, and it is not what God said.

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In fact, it looks the opposite. I want you to prepare for that. Have you ever... It's about the resurrection.

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The text says so. Had a moment where you thought something was gonna be great. You're like, it's gonna be the best you've ever seen.

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It's gonna be amazing, and you get there, and it's not amazing. Like you recommended the chicken taco somewhere, and somebody's sitting there chewing through the chicken.

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You're like, it's good, and they're like, mm -mm. This is what happens. Chapter 36, it's gonna be good.

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Chapter 37, it ain't good. That starts good. Notice he didn't read a single verse from 36.

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One says, the hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord. How many of you want the hand of the

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Lord on you? That's an awesome thing, but notice when the hand of the Lord is on you, He will take you where He wants you to go.

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This is nonsense. This is not what this text is about. This is not some repeating pattern that we should expect to see in our lives.

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So again, it doesn't matter what the text says. He just is looking for some pattern, and now

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He's reading your life into this pattern. Have you ever had this happen to you? No, I haven't.

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Where you want to go. He takes me by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley.

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But God, like this is cool, and I appreciate you being with me, but I kind of didn't want to be in the valley.

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Like if the hand of the Lord is gonna be upon me, take us thou thine servant, up us to us thine mountaintoppers, so as I can see us what is thou as would like us.

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Sass -talking God, really? And again, you're not Ezekiel. I'm not a prophet of God.

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What are you doing here? And again, it's all in the assumption. The assumption is, well,

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Ezekiel's a prophet. He heard the voice of God, gave him a vision. I can hear the voice of God talking directly to me, and God's gonna give me a vision, so what

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Ezekiel went through, I'm gonna go through. But note here, Ezekiel never makes this complaint.

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Not once. Yeah, so now he's like adding words into the mouth of Ezekiel. So the hand of Yahweh was upon me.

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He brought me in out of the spirit of Yahweh, and out in the spirit of Yahweh, and set me down in the middle of the valley.

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It was full of bones, and he led me among them. And behold, there were very many on the surface and the valley, and behold, they were very dry.

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And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Yahweh Elohim, you know. And so those are the only words that, you know, in this initial part that Ezekiel speaks, none of the sass -talking that Jeremy Foster's engaging in.

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This is weird. It's for me as Todoist. Some of y 'all think that's how God talks. King James. Like, Lord, take me to the mountain.

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Why would he take him to the valley? Because if I want to give you vision, I have to take you to the valley. Where in the

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Bible does it say that if God wants to give you vision, he has to take you to a valley? You know,

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I think of Ezekiel. He received vision from God on the top of Mount Horeb, actually in a cave, you know, up on the slopes of Mount Horeb.

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Where did Moses get the Ten Commandments? I know, on top of Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai. Weird. There is no biblical text that says if God wants to give you vision, he's got to take you to the valley.

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So has God taken you to the valley yet? Again, this is a major twisting of Ezekiel 37, but it's in the assumption as to why it's written.

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I want you to have sight, I'll take you to the mountaintop, where you can see, oh wow, look at the expanse.

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But sometimes vision only happens in the valley, because that's where I see beyond what

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I can see. Ezekiel 37 is not a pattern for God giving you a vision in your life.

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Some of you wonder why you've been in a valley for so long, and I'll tell you why. Because when you're on the mountaintop, you're so distracted by all the great things around you that you can't see what

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God's trying to show you. Okay, so we got

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Narseh Jesus. I'm not sure which word to use for this. At the moment, this is absurd

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Jesus, but the idea of reading yourself into the biblical text by assuming that the text is a pattern that you should see repeated in your life, not sure what the right word for that is yet.

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In fact, if you have a suggestion for what maybe word we could use for this type of Bible twisting,

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I'm open to it. Leave a comment down below, let me know what you think would be a good idea to call this type of Bible twisting.

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You get on a mountain, you know what I'm talking about, when your marriage is good, y 'all hadn't fought in a few days, and you don't want to jinx it by like, what's wrong with you?

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Like, this is amazing. It's just like, okay, you're back. Good to see you. Okay, never mind.

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I just got a rousing amen from a lonely man right here in the middle. No, but you know what

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I'm talking about, when the kids are good, business is good, life is good, relationships are good, and guess what?

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You don't pray as much then, because you just don't need God as much then. Some of us need

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God every day. What are you talking about? Good or bad, I need him every day. You wonder why you're in a valley? Because you're better in a battle than you are when you're not.

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Is the reason why God took Ezekiel to the Valley of the Dry Bones, which was a vision, a parable if you would, was because he's better in a battle than when he's not?

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No, not at all. This doesn't make any sense. Some of us need to get in a valley to see what

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God can do. We need to get in a valley. I live on like one of the flattest places on the planet.

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There's no valleys here. There's no hills here. It's so flat you can watch your dog run away for two weeks.

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How am I supposed to find a valley? This is what God's doing to Ezekiel, and he sees that the valley is full of bones, and he led me back and forth among the bones, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, and the bones were very dry.

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God doesn't sugarcoat the situation. God doesn't say, hey, listen, I just want to... God doesn't sugarcoat the situation.

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That's what you think this means. Again, read the chapter. It's very clear the vision was a picture of death and resurrection.

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That was the point of the vision. God gave us the interpretation of it. What you're talking about makes no sense at all.

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I'll show you, like, it's kind of gonna get weird. God's like, no, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, death everywhere.

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And then God asks him the weirdest question. God asked him, verse 3, he says, son of man, can these bones live?

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And Ezekiel answers the most tactful answer in the

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Bible. He says, oh, sovereign Lord, you alone know. I'm gonna put that back on you,

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God. Can these bones live? Hmm. You know,

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Lord. You ever had somebody ask you a question, and you think you know the answer, but you know whatever you're not the right answer?

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And so you don't know what to say. How many of y 'all were raised by a strict mama? Just raise your hand. And you're in church right now, so just be grateful for that strict mama.

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How many of y 'all, your mama, and maybe you're a mama, and you say this. How many of y 'all have ever either looked at your kids or your mama looked at you and just said, what's wrong with you?

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And they never just say it once, do they? It's always followed up with, like, and they enunciate everywhere. The first thing they say, what's wrong with you?

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And then they go, what is wrong with you? And you want to say nothing.

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I'm fine. I came from you. All that I have is your legacy. But you also know your mama's a ninja, right?

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My mama's a ninja. She's watching right now. I love you, mom. Note, high entertainment value as far as this.

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It's not a sermon. The speech that he's delivering is concerned. Oh, I mean, people are laughing and thinking his delivery is great.

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His and yet he couldn't X's jeet his way out of a paper bag if you gave him a concordance, a

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Greek New Testament and a flashlight. I love you, mama. You could hit me. I don't even know she hit me.

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Like I felt it. I was like, what was my mom's like? Like, like you wanted to say nothing, but you like you had too much fear and respect to say nothing.

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So you were like a lot like a lot's wrong with me, because if I say the wrong thing, then something else is gonna be wrong with me, too.

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Ezekiel answers such a good answer out of fear or honor and respect for God.

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Here's one, because Ezekiel respects God's ability to see something that he can't see.

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Where which biblical commentary did you consult that says this to know something that he can't know how arrogant of us to always answer the questions that God asks us if so, as if somehow he's asking us for the answer.

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What questions is God asking you, Jeremy? I have no idea what you're talking about.

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Apart from the written word of God, God has never asked me a question directly.

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What are you talking about? When was the last time you just said,

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Lord, it's up to you, whatever you want to do. Can I just can't help you with something when the answer asks you a question.

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He's probably not looking for your wisdom in that moment. Again, God hasn't asked me any questions directly.

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The only questions he's ever asked me are through the written word of God. What are you talking about? He's actually trying to figure out where your head is because he wants to do something through you.

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But if you are unwilling to yield your will to his, then that's allowing him to know you're not ready to do what he wants you to do.

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So, so, so far, I mean, I've got to figure out what God is doing so I can join him in it because that's the stuff he's blessing.

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So I got to figure out how to see that. And then I've got to yield my will to him so that God can do the things he wants to do and stuff.

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But he's not talking about God's will anywhere laid out clearly in the written word of God.

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It's this vague, ambiguous thing that assumes that God's going to be talking to me directly, asking me questions directly and stuff.

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And this is just so frustrating because, you know, if this is your first exposure to this kind of preaching, you're sitting there going, what's wrong with me?

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Because, I mean, God doesn't talk to me directly. And how am I supposed to find what he's doing so I can join him and he'll bless me in what

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I do? And how come God hasn't taken me to a valley and stuff yet and things?

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And what ends up happening is, is that, and I hate to say this, this creates a two -tiered

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Christianity. Those who hear the voice of God and are taken to valleys and they see dry bones and stuff and God asks them questions and thingies.

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And then everybody else who's sane, who God never apparently talks to. And the people who

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God doesn't talk to or hasn't talked to yet, they sit there and go, what am I doing wrong?

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Why hasn't God been talking to me yet? And stuff. Here's the thing. Note he's twisting

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God's word here. This is all designed on purpose to create the two -tiered

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Christianity rather than the one -tiered Christianity. The one true church, everybody's the same.

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Sinner saved by grace. In this two -tiered

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Christianity, you have the privileged who have earned the right to have

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God talk to them directly, take them to valleys of dry bones and stuff and ask them questions directly.

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And they've done everything right. They've yielded enough. They've done the right things in order to attain to this elite status and everybody else, they just haven't gotten their act together yet.

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And you and I are apparently part of that second group. We haven't got our act together. And this creates all kinds of anxiety within people.

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God will put you in the middle of a valley of dry bones and ask you, can these bones live? No, he won't.

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I'm going to back that up. This is absurd. God's not going to put me in a valley of dry bones and then ask me if the bones can live.

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That's not why Ezekiel 37 is written. Then that's allowing him to know you're not ready to do what he wants you to do.

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So God will put you in the middle of a valley. I'm going to back it up even further because it's all about your willingness to yield and stuff.

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And once, if you're not ready to do that, then you're going to be thrown into the valley and things actually trying to figure out where your head is.

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God's trying to figure out where my head is. Got it. That's why he asked me questions apparently because he wants to do something through you.

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He wants to do something. But if you are unwilling to, but if I'm unwilling to yield, yeah, see, there is that, that, that unwillingness to yield step.

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But I'm, what am I yielding to? The vague and the ambiguous. Yield your will to his, then that's allowing him to know you're not ready to do what he wants you to do.

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So if you're not ready, if you're not ready to yield yet, and you'll know, God will know when he asks you, can these bones live when you're in a valley of dry bones?

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This is absurd. This is the kind of stuff that makes you feel like, you know, there's something wrong with Christianity because these people are incapable of like lucid thought.

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So God will put you in the middle of a valley of dry bones and ask you, can these bones live? No, he won't.

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That's not why Ezekiel 37 is written. The question is not about the bones. It's never been about the bones.

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Cause if the, no, this is not good. This is absurd. The question is about the bones. The dead, they're very dry.

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There's a lot of them. You've rolled me all up in the middle, all back and forth. I've seen the bones. No, but the question is not about the bones.

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Here's the problem. Here's the problem. Now listen to me. I'm trying to teach you. Notice how frustrating this makes God. What is it going to take to please

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God? I don't know. How do I find out his will? I'm not sure. Um, you know, you start throwing this all together and it's like, yeah,

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I don't know, you know, and, and God becomes very elusive, you know, and very difficult to figure out.

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Nothing he says makes any sense to something today. I'm teaching and I'm preaching. I'm preaching. I'm trying to help.

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When God asks you a question about your circumstance, the problem with us is we look to our circumstance for the answer.

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This isn't good. This is nonsense. This is utterly non -lucid gobbledygook.

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When God, when, when literally you're looking at your life and you say, can this marriage survive? Well, if I look at them, if you're having problems in your marriage, it is not a parallel to the

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Valley of the dry bones. Again, the Valley of the dry bones is a vision, a parable of the resurrection.

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God himself interprets it later in the tax marriage. No, it's enough.

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Like nah, nah. And these bones are dead. Like it ain't, it's dry. This thing ain't working.

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Can this body be healed? Can this barren womb bring forth a child? Can this miracle happen?

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Can the business, none of this other stuff has anything to do with Ezekiel 37. Can this succeed? Can I finish the education?

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Will my kids ever stop being crazy? God, can you do something with my finances? And you keep looking at the reality and the totality of the destruction and your situation.

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The answer is always no. Why is God asking Ezekiel this question? Same reason I'm asking you the question.

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Same reason God is asking you the question because the question is never about the circumstances. The question is about the God of the circumstances.

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God isn't asking me if these bones shall live. Can these bones live? He's not asking me that.

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He's never asked me that. He asked Ezekiel that question. He's trying to assess and I'm trying to assess and I'm trying,

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I got a word. I got a word for this weekend for every campus. I'm trying to help you assess what you see.

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I see confusion. I see ambiguity. I see complete lack of clarity.

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Now, all being put on God is a question is not about your situation. Look at me. Many of you came in here and some of you are just passing the time.

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You just came because it's Sunday and it's what you do and you're just here. Some of you are coming to your front foot and you're like, I need a word from God.

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Others of you, you're trying to stay awake. Yeah. If you need a word from God, don't go to Hope City. He ain't talking there.

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Apparently, I can see you literally. I can. And if you sleep through my sermon, sleep on, you need the rest.

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I'm just, I'm just resting in the rest in peace. Um, it's a joke called man.

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Some of you though, here, here's what I'm trying to get you to get. I'm trying to let you see, man.

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I hope I get this. I'm trying to help you see beyond what you see. I have no idea what he said.

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Hey, I'm trying to get you to see beyond what you see. Okay. How far beyond 200 meters a mile?

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How far beyond what I seeing? Do I need to see what you're seeing that you want me to see?

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Cause that's where vision is. No. Again, this is just nonsense.

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This is pseudo profundity. And this is the kind of stuff that just breaks your brain because in order to play along with this kind of Christianity, you got to turn off like normal common sense and logic.

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And you've got to play the, the game of make believe stuff. Cause that's what this is.

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It's just a game. My dad started a church in North Carolina. Whenever I was a kid, we were in Winston -Salem,

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North Carolina. And my dad, if you've ever met my dad, he's the most positive, upbeat, little short guy, red hair, cowboy boots on.

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He usually has a jacket on, sticks his chest out all the time. And he will find something positive to say about you. Be like, Hey, how you doing? God bless you.

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I like your beard. And that's the lady he met last week. I was like, okay, that was weird. I'm playing. I should not have said that. I won't say it in the next service.

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Dad's always positive. He just finds positive things to say about folks. My dad, and I'm so grateful for my parents and for the sacrifices that they put in to build a church.

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And my dad, when he built this church, he was, he was teaching 13 small groups a week. Like if you open your house, my dad would be there.

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And one of these houses he walked into, he went into this house and it was just crazy. I remember him coming home and telling mom, he was like, mom, he was like,

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Hey, it was like these people, they just, you could tell they had rough lives. You could tell just hard times. He said, but there was a bunch of them.

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They brought all kinds of their friends. And he said, the power of God moved into that place. He said, people begin to give their lives.

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Jesus is incredible. What God's going to do in this family's life. Now, no, if he had just read the text in context,

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Ezekiel 37, one, and then all the way to the end, when God interprets the vision, he wouldn't be able to get away with what he's doing.

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This is why context, context, context is one of the most important lessons that you can learn as far as rightly handling

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God's word, because everything he's saying right here has nothing at all to do with what

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Ezekiel 37 says. And so we are off roading into Looney Looneyville.

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I mean, that's where we're at right now. Almost like that was awesome. He was like, also you would love their house. And she was like, why?

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He goes, they have plants everywhere. He said,

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I don't know if they're horticulturalists or what, but there's literally plants on every surface and there's little lights on the plants.

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My father to the beer, all things appear. My dad had no idea that this man was the supplier of marijuana for the hell's angels for the state of North Carolina.

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But my dad didn't see the plants. My dad saw seeds and that man gave his life to Jesus. Gave up that whole lifestyle.

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His dad was able to see past what he saw because that's where vision is.

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Right. Became a Sunday school teacher because dad was able to see beyond. Listen, that's how

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God looks at you. He doesn't see the pain and he doesn't see the hurt and he doesn't see the sin and he doesn't see the shame.

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He sees the grace and he sees the mercy and he says you can recover. He says I can redeem. Yeah, this is a verdict like screaming and yelling and stuff.

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This is emotional manipulation here. And again, my question is what on earth is he even saying?

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He has not said anything lucid yet. That's vision. I want to see how

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God sees. That's what our church is about. We're a life giving church. You're never going to come in here and get beat up.

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I will preach the word to you. No, clearly you don't.

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But I will tell you, you can make it. Yeah. Can you see beyond what you see? Do you realize?

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Are you going to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins like Jesus said to teach all that he's commanded by rightly handling the word of God?

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Clearly not. See, he's off the mission and vision that Christ has commanded the single church to be about the business of doing.

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Plus, two people can look at the same thing and see different things. How many are good at math? Every campus just raise your hand.

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That's when we have a strong church right there because we got a lot of nerds at our church. Welcome. Hope City nerds, small groups starting next week for the nerds.

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We're glad the nerds are here. We love y 'all. When I see math problems, I see problems.

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I'm like, gosh, I don't know. I need Jesus right now. Discernment. It's like that one kid that he had a problem and said, find

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X. And this is what he put right there. Like he said, Hey, Hey, here it is right there.

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I don't know why y 'all had such a problem finding X. It's right there. He failed that class, but he should have been teaching it.

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That's a smart kid right there. This is the problem with some of us, though. We try to common sense a miracle.

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So it's a problem when you try to common sense a miracle. What is he talking about?

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And when God's asking you a question, he's rarely asking you to look at what you see. He's asking you to see beyond what you see.

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He's trying to teach us faith. I'm gonna give you the formula for faith. The formula of faith is simply this. If you're not taking notes, write this down.

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All right. The formula of faith. Okay. Take a note. Okay. If I say what he says, then

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I'll see what he sees. What?

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Okay. Quad, not as biblical, not as theological. If it's not in the Bible, it's not theology.

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Real quick. Give me a biblical text that says, if I say what God says, then I'll see what

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God sees. There's your homework assignment. I guess you might want to bring some water with you.

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You're going to be traveling through a really vast desert. You're not going to find a biblical text that says this. What on earth?

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I want everybody to say that. If I, why no biblical texts that you just made this up out of your head.

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I say what he says, then I'll see what he sees.

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I need you. If I don't say anything else this weekend, I need you to get that. Why it's not in the

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Bible. It's not even true. It's not even lucid here. Here's why, because the power of your words, the power of what's in your mouth cannot be overstated.

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Is this guy a word of faith guy? My words create reality. Apparently God wants to give you power.

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Did you know that he does? He really does, but he's clearly limited. Apparently. How many of y 'all know

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God wants to make you power? Let me prove it to you in scripture. All right. All right, go ahead. Let me put on second attempt now at trying to handle the reward of God correctly.

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He's failed miserably with Ezekiel 37. Turn in your

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Bibles to the book of Acts chapter number one.

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Okay. Acts chapter one. All right.

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I'm there. I, yeah, I made it all the way to Acts chapter one. There we go. Okay. So let's come back to him, see what he's going to do here.

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The reason it takes so long is because I can't find it. So Acts chapter one, verse eight, here's what it says.

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But you, this is Jesus talking. You, everybody say me, but you shall receive power when the

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Holy Spirit has come upon you. Okay. You then say me. I have a sneaking suspicion about something.

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Okay. So let's take a look at Acts chapter one. Our three rules for sound biblical exegesis are context, context, and context.

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Let's apply them here. Shall we? I mean, he's only up to verse eight, so let's pay attention and then we'll pay attention to the grammar as well.

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So Luke, who is the author of both the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts writes in the first book,

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O Theophilus, which by the way, that's an interesting name because it means lover of God. I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the

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Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

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And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said, you heard from me.

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For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

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So they had come together. They asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

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He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the father is fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power.

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And yeah, so here's the interesting thing here, but you, the Greek word here is whomas, uh, which is, uh, the pro the second person, plural accusative y 'all, it should be all y 'all and all y 'all will receive power when the

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Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

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So the, all y 'all there, that's the, you, uh, that's the disciples. And they were the ones who were to stay in Jerusalem and they were the ones who initially received the

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Holy Spirit. Yeah. So what Jeremy's doing here is when he said, it says there, you shall receive power.

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Say me. No, no, no. You can't do that with this text. Cause the, you there is a plural.

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It ain't a singular and me as a singular. Yeah. Bad grammar and pronunciation.

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Uh, on purpose we continue. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

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He said, I won't give you power. He said, listen, I got to go away, but don't worry. When I go away, I'm sending the comforter, the

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Holy Spirit. He will undo you with power from on high and you will be witnesses.

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Everybody said, I want to be a witness. I can proclaim the gospel, but I'm not a witness of the resurrection of Christ.

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We got a problem here. A big problem. Big, big problem. How do I become a witness?

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It changes what I say. What? Yeah. This was all in the context of say what

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God says and you'll see what God sees. So I become a witness. It's all about in what

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I say. Huh? Changes how I talk. And I want you to notice this.

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And when I don't have time to jump into the whole study, you can read Acts chapter two, just read Acts chapter two, the whole thing, because it's very powerful.

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What happens next? Jesus ascends into heaven. They go away. They wait for 10 days in a prayer room.

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They're praying. And suddenly the Acts chapter two verse one, suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.

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Yeah. That's when Christ sent the Holy Spirit, right? Yeah. That's what the day of Pentecost was, the kicking off of the church, the receiving of the spirit.

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And they proclaim the wonders of God. And Peter preached that amazing text called people to repent, you know, and stuff filled all the house where they were sitting and divided tongues like as a fire set upon each of them.

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And they were all baptized with the Holy Spirit. Remember, he said, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. It's going to be powerful. And then they began to speak with other tongues.

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Everybody say tongues as the spirit gave utterance, not as they had the ability, not as they learned a different language.

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Right. God, the Holy Spirit gave them the ability to proclaim the wonders of God in languages they had never studied.

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And there was a whole bunch of people from foreign countries who spoke different languages in Jerusalem at the time.

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Now, why would God do that? Here's why. Because when God changes your mind, he wants to change your mouth. What he wants to change what you say, how can we change the world if we talk just like him?

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This is so frustrating. I mean, what on earth are we listening to here?

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How can we impact society if we sound like society? Do you know why so many people are disheartened with the church right now?

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Because of bad preaching like this. That's the reason why, because nobody can make any sense of it.

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This is not rightly handling God's word. It's not preaching and proclaiming God's word rightly handled, making a proper distinction between law and gospel.

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This is just pure insanity and absurdity. Yeah, I think you get the point.

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So if you found this helpful, at least confusing, yeah, all the information, you can share the videos down below in the description.

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And a reminder, Fighting for the Faith, we are supported by the people we serve. So all the information on how you can support us financially is also down below in the description.

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And let me thank you for your support. We truly can't do what we're doing here without it. So until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and His vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.