F4F | John Gray: When the Ravens Come

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 program that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. One of the terms that we use here at Fighting for the

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Faith is Narcissus. It's reading yourself into the biblical text where you become the hero and the the trials and the travails that the different people of Scripture went through somehow are a pattern that you're supposed to be following in your life, and the thing that they did to achieve victory is is the thing that you've got to do to achieve victory in your life.

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So narcissism is the is the love of yourself. Eisegesis is the reading of things into the biblical text that are not there, and then you take the two words, smoosh them together, and you got

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Narcissus, and if you've ever heard Narcissus, and believe me when I tell you, you have, go ahead and hit the subscribe button down below.

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Don't forget to like the video and ring the bell. Case in point, we're gonna be heading over to Relentless Church.

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This is where John Gray has been the pastor now for a year, and yeah, he still preaches over at Lakewood for Joel Osteen, and the name of the message, it's unbelievable when you think about it.

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This is jaw -droppingly bad, Narcissus, by the way. The the name of the message is, When the

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Ravens Come, and he's gonna take a descriptive text that is describing a historical account and somehow read you into it as it relates to the prophet

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Elijah from 1st Kings chapter 17, and how God fed him using ravens at the

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Brook Caryth, and what he does with this, it's a circus.

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It's pretty bad. So let's get to it. Here's John Gray, When the

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Ravens Come. Here we go. 1st Kings chapter 17, starting at the first verse,

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And Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, As the

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Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand. Now, a little bit of a note here. It's a good thing to begin your sermon with the biblical text.

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This is most certainly true. The job of a pastor is to preach the Word. So we will award

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John one point because he's reading a biblical text at the beginning of a sermon, which should be what's going on here, because you got to exegete the text.

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But the problem is, you have to exegete it. Tell us what's going on, what's really happening here, and what

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God has revealed there for us to believe, to confess, or to do. And so he correctly reads the text, and that's the most of the

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Word of God that you're gonna hear in this thing. No sooner does he read it, I mean, he takes his church four -wheel driving off into the wilderness here, but we continue.

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And there shall not be dew nor rain these years except at my word.

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Then the Word of the Lord came to him saying, get away from here and turn eastward and hide.

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Everybody say hide. That's an emotional manipulation technique. So when a pastor says, now everybody say hide, or say this, or say that, the purpose of this particular emotional manipulation technique is to lower your brain's natural defenses, so that you, rather than having skepticism, if you obey the command of somebody like John Gray.

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John Gray said this, and you did it. Do it, and you do it. Then your natural ability, your natural warning system psychologically goes down, because, well, if I'm obeying this guy, clearly

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I can trust him. Yeah, that's how this technique works. By the brook Kerith, which flows into the

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Jordan. And by the way, that's not a bad pronunciation, Kerith. Yeah, you gotta get, you gotta roll your

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R on that. Not bad. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.

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So he went and did according to the Word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the brook Kerith, which flows into the

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Jordan. The Jordan is a river. It's something you have to cross over in order to go from where you were to where you're called to be.

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What? Where are you getting that?

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So the narcissus has begun, and this is really awful narcissus. This is like a really bad fan, you know, copy.

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If you, you know, when you mimic somebody of like Stephen Furtick and T .D.

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Jakes combined, this is what he's doing. Let me back that up, because wow, he immediately went off into the weeds.

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Let's relive the moment, shall we? Which flows into the

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Jordan. The Jordan is a river. It's something you have to cross over in order to go from where you were to where you're called to be.

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The Jordan is a place of decision, death, and destiny. Who says?

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Jordan, a place of decision, death, and destiny. You got to decide to cross over. You got to die to who you were, and you got to be determined to walk into the thing you're called to be.

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But before you cross the Jordan, you might need to drink from a brook. Oh no,

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I'm not doing that. I've heard you can get giardia that way, you know. No way.

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Not unless I have some way of like purifying the water or something, you know. And so I've commanded the

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Ravens to feed you there, and the Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

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And it happened after all. That's right, because Elijah drank from a brook. You too might have to drink from a brook.

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This is nonsense. Wow that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

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Yeah. And I want to speak prophetically not only to this church at the one -year anniversary.

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So this is a one -year anniversary of John Gray being the lead vision casting leader out there at Relentless Church, and I think they changed their name when he got on the ground there.

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Yeah, okay. I think Ron Carpenter was the pastor there before him.

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I also want to talk to any mothers that might be raising children trying to figure out how you're going to meet all of the needs of your household.

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Perhaps you are coming from a marriage and there's a two -parent household and children, and you're still trying to figure out how to pay bills.

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Or perhaps you're a single mother and you're trying to figure out how to meet the needs of your house and to do the things that are in your heart to do for your children, but you don't know how

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God is going to do it. This word is for you. I believe this word is for any entrepreneurs and business owners.

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What? Hey, hang on a second here.

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I would like to re -examine the text in question to see how it applies to entrepreneurs.

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All right, so we are in 1 Kings 17. Man, this is bad.

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So Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbe and Gilead said to Ahab, as Yahweh, the

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God of Israel, lives before whom I stand, there shall be neither dune nor rain in these years except at my word.

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And the word of Yahweh came to him, depart from here, turn eastward, hide yourself in the brook

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Kerith, which is east of the Jordan, and you shall drink from the brook that I have commanded, and I've commanded the ravens to feed you there.

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So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. Okay, so he went and lived by the brook

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Kerith, that is east of the Jordan, and the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

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And while the brook, after a while the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land. I'm an entrepreneur.

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I don't see the application at all. I also believe this word is for anybody who feels and knows that they are called to a significant place of authority in the kingdom of God.

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So if you're suffering from delusions of grandeur regarding authority in the kingdom of God, this thing's for you too.

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There are moments when God has to hide you and provide for you via supernatural resource.

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So those of you with supernatural authority on your life, God may be hiding you right now.

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You need to find your your brook, and don't worry the ravens are on their way.

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Right. And so I want to tell you that God's about to send provision from unexpected places, and the title of my message is,

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When the Ravens Come. Thank you for the nine people that are enthusiastic about the word.

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Because it's absurd! Now the question is, how many people there are gonna start to give in to the pressure to embrace this as some profound message?

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These are pearls falling from a portal in heaven. There on the people there at Relentless Church, and when he announced the title,

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When the Ravens Come, like nine people went, yeah.

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Because they don't understand a thing you say, because this is not lucid. This is not exegesis. This ain't what the

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Bible says. What is this? No, it's alright. No, no, no, it's cool. So you're like, that's good.

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I don't know what you're talking about, but it's... Right, that's pretty honest of you. I'm glad you're able to read the room like that.

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Good. I'm glad, because I want you to grab this, and I want you to write these things down.

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Writing it down ain't gonna make it lucid. I'm just saying. When the Ravens Come. We are a one -year -old...

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Oh man, so When the Ravens Come. Now he's gonna go on a multi -minute tirade regarding something going on there at Relentless Church.

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So I'll fast forward a few minutes to where he actually gets back to the biblical text.

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From minute three to minute ten, it's kind of an in -house discussion there, and I thought

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I'd spare us that. They can deal with that internally. We'll come back to the public preaching of the

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Word here, and so here's John Gray again taking a crack at this text.

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God appoints a voice, and Elijah was that voice. So Elijah speaks this word and says, it won't be any rain, except at my word.

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That's right. That's what the text said. The Bible says, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said, head east to the brook called

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Kerith, and I want you to sit there, and I am going to provide for you.

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I'm going to provide for you, and here's what's deep. He was there about a year. Everybody say about a year.

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The text doesn't say how long he was there. What anniversary is this for us? So it's the one -year anniversary of John Gray arriving at Relentless Church, and see

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Elijah, he was at the brook Kerith. Some say.

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We don't know who those some are, but some say for a year. I mean, this is divine providence, clearly.

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This is total manipulation. Been about a year since we started this journey, a little over a year, and some theologians believe it was about 14 months, maybe, that Elijah was fed by ravens.

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Everybody say ravens, and he drank from a brook, and why is this important?

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Yeah, that is a good question. Why would that be important? I don't see that application here, at least not the way you're working it.

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Because once Elijah spoke the word, he offended so many people that they wanted to kill him.

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Well, let's explain in what way Elijah offended people, shall we?

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So here's kind of the idea, is that Israel has fallen into idolatry, hook, line, and sinker, and Jezebel is queen,

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Ahab's king, and Jezebel is killing the prophets of God, and the prophets of Baal are all the rage, you know, in Israel at the time, and Baal isn't even a real god.

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Nope, he's, yeah, the lights are on, no one's home, in fact, he hasn't even paid the bill, so we're not even sure how the lights turned on.

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We think that somebody snuck in and made it look like he's there, but he's not. You know, read chapter 18 regarding the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, but as the mythos goes,

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Baal is the god who brings the rains. Baal is the one who brings the rains and causes the crops to grow, and he is the one who blesses the people with food.

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And so you'll note here that Elijah, as Yahweh has commanded him, says, it ain't gonna rain till I say so.

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And this is to prove a point, and that is that Baal is powerless.

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Baal ain't a real god. And so it's not that he offended people in the sense where, you said something scandalous!

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How dare you, Elijah! No, no, that's not what went on here. What went on here is that he was claiming that Yahweh is the one who brings the rain, not

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Baal. That's the point. And so, yeah, you kind of get what's going on here.

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So what John Gray is doing, this is narcissist, but this is absurd narcissist.

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This is ridiculous when you really consider how he's doing what he's doing.

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There are people who don't like you, and it's not because of anything you've done, it's because of what you said. It's because of what you represent.

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You represent a prophetic move of God. It's not that you... You represent a prophetic move of God.

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Okay. They just don't like you on your job. They know now that you're there, something has to shift, and the spirit that was in the building before you got there can't stay there now that you're there.

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What? Oh, so some of the people at your church are like prophetic kryptonite for the demonic realm.

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Right. Uh -huh. Yeah, that's what this text is about. Sure. When you walk down the hallway, demons have to leave the building.

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Yeah, he's filling these people's heads with utter nonsense. Like I said, delusions of grandeur.

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Yeah, this is just feeding people's narcissism. When you step into the meeting, that demon spirit can't stay in there, so you offend people by your presence.

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Wow, it sounds like the people there at Relentless Church are a lot better at spiritual warfare than Jennifer LeClaire is, because,

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I mean, they just walk into a building and the demons flee. Yeah, poor Jennifer LeClaire, when she fights the

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Jezebel's daughter spirit, it takes a year. Yeah, bummer for her.

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And I don't want you to get upset because people don't like you. It's not they don't like you.

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It's not that they don't like you. They don't like the God that's in you. I need you to take a few seconds to just worship the

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Lord. What am I worshiping him for exactly?

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Because of how amazing I am? Uh -huh. Something's got to break in this 11 o 'clock service right here.

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Oh yeah, this theology is already broken. Yeah, that already happened, dude. Yeah, something broke already.

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Yeah, as soon as you talked about the Jordan, yeah, this whole message got broken.

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There are people that just genuinely, every time they see you, it's almost like they want to hit you, but it's not you.

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You haven't done it. All you did was say hello. How do you?

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There is something about your spirit that makes devils nervous. Man, no repentance, no forgiveness of sins, no

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Christ in him crucified. The whole story of Elijah, especially chapter 17 and 18, are about idolatry and calling people to repent of their false gods and the things they worship.

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Yeah, the God that's being worshipped there at Relentless Church, and relentlessly so, is the

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God of your ego. Mm -hmm. Something about your spirit that makes principalities unhappy, and you are exactly where you need to be.

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You're sitting there like, well, should I quit? Should I move? No, you're right there. Stay by the brook.

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Stay by the brook. What if you don't live anywhere near a brook?

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I've never drunk from a brook either. What is this? Stay right where you are, because God's about to send the ravens.

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Well then, yeah, God's gonna send the ravens. Isaac, I need some help in here.

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I need a couple people to push me through. There's, there's a supernatural provision.

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They need people to push him through. Is somebody giving birth to him? Oh boy.

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Coming for the people who are placed by God in strategic locations.

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Many of us have been medicating our pain, fighting with things that have been literally holding us hostage, and I need you to know that the wound that you wish

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God would heal is the exact thing he's allowing to keep you close to his heart, and so stop asking him.

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I have no idea what he's talking about, but there are people on their feet, and they're just, oh, he ain't saying nothing.

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He's just saying it with passion, man. He's not gonna heal it. He's gonna work through it.

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A little theatrics there. Mic drop, mic drop, some kind of a mic drop there. He's walking away from the podium after dropping the mic on it, man.

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Oh, he's wringing his hands now. He said, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. You've been asking the

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Lord to take that addiction away, take the taste of liquor away, take that away. He says, I love you too much to take it right now, because if I took it right now, you think you could do it in your own power, and if I took it and you and you functioned in your calling, you would think that you were good, but I need to work through you even while you're broken, so you know that I called you even in your mess.

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I called you even while you were broken. I called you even before you were finished. I called you, and I haven't changed my mind.

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I'm sending the Raven. Quote the

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Raven, nevermore. I don't know what that was.

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Nothing he said has anything to do with what that biblical text is about.

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I mean, he read the text, and then off he went into oblivion.

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He took everyone with him as they dove over the cliff and careened into the fires of hell, but they were quite excited on their way down, so quote the

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Raven, nevermore. Okay, so not sure if that was helpful, except for by way of like a warning, and the warning is, if this is what your pastor's doing, or if you think

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John Gray is like, oh, the next best thing that God has raised up, or you know somebody who thinks he is, you might want to send him this video, because this guy's a false teacher extraordinaire.

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He's quite gifted in saying nothing, nothing that the Bible really says, but doing so with good delivery and passion, and in a way that whips up the crowd into a frenzy, and they're not getting nothing.

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Yeah, that's just a whole big nothing burger right there. So yeah, and you'll note, no one is being confronted with their sin.

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Christ and him crucified for our sins isn't being exalted, isn't being proclaimed or anything.

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This is just gone, this is just nothing. Yeah, waterless rain clouds is how

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Jude describes false teachers, and that would be an example of a lack of rain, if you would, and I think that kind of fits, at least somewhat weirdly with the text there.

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It's not gonna rain, it ain't raining there, relentless. Nope, they're in the drought there because of their idolatry.

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Something to consider, pray that they repent. So if you found this helpful, please share it with other people, all the information on how you can share it down below.

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