Sunday Morning Sermon Series - 03/07/2021 (Date: 02/28/2021)

Whitten Baptist Church iconWhitten Baptist Church

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I've heard preachers say this, that if you have doubts or you have fears, you're not trusting
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God. That is the biggest load of rubbish I have ever heard. Hey, Michelle!
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We got something going on on the 21st, don't we? You mean March 21st? Yes, I do. Oh, are you talking about the spring break block party?
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I am. Where on earth am I going? You're going to be at Witton Baptist Church, which is 6773
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Macon Road. It's right on the corner of Witton and Macon, across from the Walgreens. We're going to have free hot dogs.
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I like free. Popcorn, snow cone machine, and cotton candy.
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Also, it's not just food. We're also going to have games. All games. So, you know, little hoops and we've got some other games going on.
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The first 100 families to come to our spring break block party on March 21st from 4 to 7pm will receive a free gift bag.
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And that's actually what I was just working on right now. Do we have a slide? We do have a slide. Should I post it right now?
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Yes, post the slide right now. We're going to be in Exodus chapter 14 this morning.
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Exodus chapter 14. And we're talking about victory. I've learned this. In fact,
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I had this painted on our MMA gym, which I'd like to thank Hannah and Evans are working so hard for to get that done.
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But it says losing can be a habit, but so can winning.
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Guys, understand this today. That God's Word calls us more than just simply winners.
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We are victors in Jesus Christ. The problem is we live in a world today, and we alluded to it earlier, that everything is negative or everything is pessimistic or everything is bad.
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It's amazing to me how I see a concerted effort in this gender dysphoria garbage and in this racism garbage going in our world today.
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The world, Satan, the powers of the evil want us to be divided and fearful.
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That's what they want. You cannot defeat God's house. Jesus said that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the people of God.
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The only way for us to be defeated is when we are divided and disassociated with the power of God's Holy Spirit.
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So this has been a tactic, and this has been a trial for God's people all the way back.
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Now, in Exodus chapter 14, we see a couple of really cool things. During this time, this is the first time that God's people were called the nation of Israel.
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You know the story. If you don't, look up Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner and you'll be able to see it.
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I know this side of the room does not get that. But the Ten Commandments, the fleeing or the leaving of God's people out of Egypt, God's people had been in slavery for over 400 years.
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They had been serving the nation of Egypt as a whole for 400 years.
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And God finally said, it is time. And he sent a guy named
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Moses out to help lead the people out of Egypt. And I won't go through everything that happened, but it's really cool.
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God showed his sovereign power. And that's something Christians, y 'all need to embrace more of.
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God is sovereign in his grace as well as in his judgment. But we'll get to that another time.
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Understand this, that when God called his people out, it was a fearful thing.
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Even when you are stuck in adversity and stuck in a rut and stuck in fear, that freedom you've gotten so used to your chains, leaving that behind can be a little fearful.
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So God's people were let out and they got to the Red Sea. And when they got there, they looked back and they saw the
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Egyptian army chasing after them. And we pick it up. Thank you so much.
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Yes, thank you so much. I've got the suit on today. We're going to pick it up.
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Exodus chapter 14, starting in verse 10. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the
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Egyptians coming after them. Then the Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help.
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They said to Moses, Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness?
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What have you done by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn't this what we told you in Egypt?
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Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the
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Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. But Moses said to the people, Don't be afraid.
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Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation. He will provide for you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.
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The Lord will fight for you. You must be quiet. The Lord said to Moses, Why are you crying out to me?
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Tell the Israelites to break camp. What is fear? Guys, every one of us in this room today have experienced fear.
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We've only born with two fears. We learn everything else. And we have learned to live in a society of fear.
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And what we as God's people have done is what the world's done. We cover it over with a fake facade, a fake veneer.
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And we act like everything's okay. How are you doing this Sunday morning? Oh, I'm just blessed in Jesus.
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How are you? God bless you. And that's how we live. I mean, let's be honest.
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Some of us in this room are a hurting unit today. But instead of confess our faults one to another that we may be healed, we cover it up.
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I'm going to go through four stages of fear. And I'm going to skip deniability. I'm going to move right on into this.
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Here's where the seedbed of fear comes. It comes within a sense of doubt.
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Look at what it says, verse 10. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the
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Egyptians coming after them. The Israelites were terrified.
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I've heard preachers say this, that if you have doubts or you have fears, you're not trusting
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God. That is the biggest load of rubbish I have ever heard. When you sit there and say, well, you're not supposed to be afraid and be a
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Christian, I point you to the garden of Gethsemane, where the son of the living God who spoke into existence, the entire universe was sweating so bad, was so afraid that sweat like drops of blood fell from his brow.
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It is not wrong to be afraid. It is not wrong to have doubts.
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Look what they did. Even though they had doubts, look what they did. They cried out to the
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Lord. Let me tell you something. There will never be anything to get your prayer life right, quick, fast, in a hurry.
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Than when you're terrified. You know, you'll sit there and you won't pray or you won't read your
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Bible and something will hit you right between the eyes. You hear the C word from the doctor.
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You get that cancer. You know, your marriage is in a ruin. You get fired. Something bad happens.
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What's the first thing a Christian does or should do? Go to the Lord. Guys, remember this.
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You cannot have faith unless you have doubt.
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There is no such thing as faith in the absence of doubt. Remember, you can't have courage without fear.
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It is a necessary thing. Now, here's the problem though. If you don't direct that fear and you don't direct that faith in the right way, you know what doubt becomes?
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Doubt becomes discouragement. Doubt will become discouragement.
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I see the problem. I cry out to the Lord. But my problem is I kept my eyes on the problem instead of turning to the
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Lord. And your doubt will make you discouraged. Look what they said here in verse 11. There are no graves in Egypt.
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Now, some of us today won't really understand that. You have to understand that three -fourths of the occupied lands by Egyptians were given over to graveyards.
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Egyptians were famous for tombs and graves and preserving people. You know, like King Tut.
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Walk like an Egyptian. You know, that kind of thing. Come on, man. A courtesy chuckle is something.
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Thank you. The idea that they sat there and they let their doubt turn to discouragement.
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They looked back to Moses and they said it's because there are no graves in Egypt. You know when
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I notice I get the most sarcastic? Is when I'm the most afraid.
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Have you ever had someone try to help you when you're discouraged? And you'll sit there and go, oh, you just don't understand.
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Hey, if you've ever been an addict, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You don't feel what
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I feel. You don't understand the trouble I'm going through. Guys, let me give you a lesson here real quick.
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Nobody has to understand. It's amazing to me. People come up to me and go, hey, I got someone who's a drug addict.
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I think you could really help them. Same spirit of God's in me. Same spirit of God's in you. What do you mean?
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You got to be a crack smoking hoe before you can go help someone? No, if the power of deliverance is found in the blood of Jesus and you claim that by faith, open your mouth and let the
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Holy Spirit of God use you where you're at. You don't have to experience the sin to experience the same kind of deliverance.
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Don't let your doubt turn into discouragement. Now, here's something else.
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It'll turn from discouragement to despair. You ever seen a despairing Christian? It is the most pathetic sight you've ever seen.
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Oh, my gosh. It makes me want to smack somebody. I remember when we used to go play putt -putt.
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Now, you have to understand in the Shipley family, you got no mercy, OK? We actually have a tradition that if you left to go on a trip and come back to the house, we would jump you back into the family.
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It means you were thrown on the ground and kicked and punched to get back into the household.
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That was kind of the household we had. Miss Gwen had a lot of weird traditions. But little
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Jeff, we would go to the putt -putt on Summer Avenue. And little Jeff was,
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I don't know, 16, 17. I mean, he was like three or four, right?
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He was like three or four. And we'd play putt -putt. And of course, he had no eye -hand coordination.
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And so we would all sit there and putt, you know. We're like, woo, yay, we won. And little
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Jeff would hit it. And of course, you know, it would go like two inches or he'd miss it or whip it.
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And we would walk to the next hole. And it was so funny because Jeff would be the last one in line, dragging his putter behind him doing this.
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And of course, what did we do? You're a loser. You can't even hit it.
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He'd be crying. It got no mercy. Guys, let me tell you a second.
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If you're one of those people that have to be encouraged by being patted on the head all the time, it's okay when you're three or four.
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But if you've been a Christian for 20 -something years, and one little thing causes you to doubt
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God and to be a poor example to the young Christians in this room, shame on you.
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Grow up. Grow up. If you take a lick, take the lick.
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Toughness in the kingdom of God is shown by how many licks you can take and keep still moving forward.
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Don't let your discouragement turn to despair. Stand up.
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Last thing. Here's what despair will turn into. It will turn into depression.
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How many of y 'all struggle with that depression? Hi, my name's Jeff. Look what it says.
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Look what the Israelites sat there and said. It would have been better for us to serve as slaves in Egypt than to die in the wilderness, wilderness, wilderness.
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I mean, you can hear Black Sabbath in the background. Some of y 'all don't. Never mind. Israel, now listen to me.
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Israel had been delivered from bondage for a week. For a week.
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Now, some of you guys in this room, listen to me. You've been to Christians. We have a lot of first -generation
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Christians in here. A bunch. And it's amazing to me how well they're doing them.
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That's because you people disciple them. But I love watching young Christians because they're so stupid sometimes.
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I mean, half my job is walking around this place going, dude, you can't smoke that anymore, man.
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OK, give it to pastor. Right? I mean,
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I wouldn't be surprised to walk into one of our deacon meetings and some of them are doing, you know, I mean, it's amazing. But guys, that's not the problem.
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You see, young inexperience leads to a reality that you're going to mess up.
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Christian, let me let me explain something to you. God's grace is so powerful.
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God's mercy. We just sang about it is so wealthy. He included in his saving grace by the redemption and the propitiation of his blood.
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Your stupidity, even after you were converted. You see, your sins weren't just paid for from when you confess
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Jesus in your heart back. They're paid for eternity. In other words,
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Christians, your depression is misleading. Your discouragement is unwise.
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Your doubts, although normal, are a nothing more than a testing ground to mature you and grow you in your sanctification.
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That's the second thing I want to tell you is when you come to a place of fear, when you come to a place of doubt and discouragement and despair and depression.
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Understand this. That's the time where you need to recognize the test.
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How many of you in here are struggling with something right now? The rest of you are a bunch of liars or you're unsaved.
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Either one. OK, if you're unsaved, you're going to hell. Good luck. God's God's speed.
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But if you are Christian, you're struggling with something you are. Well, pastor,
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I'm not struggling. Then you're not witnessing. You're not doing something. You're not a target because you're not a threat to the forces of this world in the evil one.
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If you are born again Christian, you're going to be facing trials. The key is not to look at the trial and get all depressed.
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The key is to look at the opportunity, see the test of faith and the growth and the possibility you have for ministry.
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I know a brother in Christ who recently fell off the wagon and he was just so absolutely humiliated and shamed and rightfully so.
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But my words to him were this. My brother, don't you understand that the testimony you have is that there's redemption as the
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Word of God came to Jonah a second time, as God's Word came to Israel time and time again.
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Come unto me, Jesus said, all you that are heavy laden. A broken Christian, a broken vessel is the hallmark of a trophy of God's grace.
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Understand that the test that is before you in that struggle is to give glory to God.
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Look what they said here in verse 13. Moses said, don't be afraid. Now let me talk to you about Christian leadership just for a second.
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If you read this passage very carefully, Fathers, men, and yes,
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I'm sorry, I'm a male chauvinist pig. Men are supposed to be leaders. Some of you girls are so insecure because you have daddy issues still and you didn't have and you didn't see good leadership in your home.
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I apologize for that. But don't find a codependent relationship to try to find something to assuage that hole in your heart because you're just going to end up repeating the same stupid mistakes that your mommy and your daddy did.
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I hope some of y 'all understood that because some of you idiots out there sitting by that ugly dude next to you are doing that right now.
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Oh, yes, that's good, pastor. I'm talking to you, stupid. Okay. I know it's scary.
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I know it's scary to let go of that security bond. I know it's scary. But you're adding up wrath unto your household and to your children.
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But I'm getting off. Let's get let's get back focused. Understand this. Moses was a stud because if you look at this narrative, it's up here on the screen.
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Here they are all walking. They're all walking. Moses is leading them.
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They come to the Red Sea. They're like, how are we going to do this one? Well, I don't know yet, but we're not in danger.
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And they all turn around and off in the distance, they see a sandstorm cloud with the height of military technology chariots at that time bearing down on them.
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And there is nowhere they can go. Now, notice what Moses did.
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Moses, we want to think that at this point right here, Moses said, let's get together and let's have a prayer time.
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Let's lay hands on this in the name of Jesus. We will climb down to five feet.
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Moses hadn't talked to God yet. Moses hadn't heard from God yet. But Moses, as a leader of God, looked to the people and said, hey, it's going to be
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OK. Leadership in the face of adversity, even when you don't know what to do, you're going to trust in God that it's going to be
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OK. Guys, I'm telling you right now, if you want your children to be insecure and rebellious, keep running in the face of fear.
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No one wants to follow someone who runs down the street waving their arms in the air going, oh
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God, we're all going to die. That doesn't inspire any confidence at all.
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Well, pastor, I don't know what to do. Neither did Moses, but he knew in whom he should trust.
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Faith is not always having the answer. Faith is moving forward no matter what, and trusting in God.
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It says right here, he recognized the test and he told them people, do not be afraid.
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Then he said this, verse 13. Look what he says. He says this, stand firm.
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Mercy. I remember when I was a kid, we lived in Whitehaven during the school year with my mother.
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And then the summer, we moved to Sharpsburg, Georgia, and we lived in the country.
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And yes, I fed cows and slaughtered cows.
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I'll tell you a story about my dad wanted to save money butchering his own cattle. We had to build a new barn.
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But anyways, I remember being out there. We would drive to other people's house.
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And if you ever lived in the country, when you drove up that gravel driveway, you would hear, if it was a good old boy house, you would hear.
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And usually there was a small horse masquerading as a dog. They would come somewhere out of middle of nowhere and come right up to your car before you would even stop.
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They'd tell you, I'm going to rip your heart out. Now, as a little boy,
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I'm immediately like, ooh, dogs stay in the car, right? My dad would say this, get out of the truck.
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Because he's going to make a man out of me. And we would get out of the truck. And I remember they'd be right at the door.
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And here's what my dad would do. My dad, I swear, he was the meanest guy in the world.
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There could be 32 dogs that he had never seen before wanting to rip his soul out. And my dad would walk straight at him.
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And it was funny. It's hilarious. No matter what. And I've heard people, oh, my dog would shoot.
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I heard all those stories before. The dog would sit there and start barking louder, foaming at the mouth, growling.
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But then the dog would start doing this. And he'll keep barking and growling.
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But he'd start backing up. Guys, one of the things we
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Christians do a lot is we get confused in our little brains.
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When you get afraid, you get stupid. You just get stupid.
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You start grasping at straws. You grasp at the faintest of hope. Even though that hope in something is killing you, you'll want to stay with something you know, even though it's not good.
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Here they are. They're sitting there. Their backs are up against the ocean. Here comes the
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Egyptian army. And Moses' advice to them is stand still.
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You know how hard it is to be quiet and be still when you're absolutely afraid?
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You ever watch National Geographic and the 5 ,000 gazelle who are all drinking at the little water?
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One of them goes. And 5 ,000 gazelles start running.
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They have no idea where they're going or why they're running. But Bob decided to run.
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So I'm going to decide to run. And it spreads throughout the whole group. And the lions know this.
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Because while Bubba's up there going, Kentucky Fried Chicken, right?
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And they all start running from Bubba. Well, John and Billy Joe are over there in the woods going, yeah, come on in.
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And they're just waiting for him. Because fear will make you do stupid things. Notice this.
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That the test of trust comes when you don't know what to do, but it comes into making a decision sometimes.
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And sometimes that decision is stand still, be firm, and even though you're afraid on the inside, don't let them know it on the outside.
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Last thing on this is it says, see, verse 13. It says, see the salvation of the
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Lord. This is so beautiful. Guys, the word salvation here in the Yiddish and the
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Hebrew has nothing to do at this time with how we hear salvation or saved.
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In other words, when I say, are you saved? You immediately understand that I'm talking about a spiritual idea.
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But here when it says, see the salvation of God, that word had not taken on that meaning of spiritual salvation.
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It was having the meaning of a physical rescue from violent, imminent danger.
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But here's what's really cool. That word, as you travel throughout the
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Old Testament, that word stops being referred to from a physical sense and starts being used in the spiritual sense.
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And by the time you get to the New Testament from the Hebrew to the Greek, the word sozo has taken on the idea of a total encapsulation of safety, the removal of self from danger, the removal of one from danger.
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Once again, it is a beautiful illustration of what we need to learn. Guys, some of you in this room, you really are
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Christians, but your faith and trust factor is so small.
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You trust God for your eternal soul, but you don't trust God yet for your day to day needs.
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And you sit there and go, well, yeah, but I have a roof over my head. I'm not talking about a roof over your head or food on the table. I'm talking about trusting that God knows what's best for you and to let go of some of the things you're holding on to now that are really bringing you down rather than lifting you up.
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Guys, you've got to come to a place of vulnerability for you to learn faith. You've got to come to a place of destitution before you can understand what it is to trust in God.
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The last thing is this. If you look there in verse 13, you have to understand what fear is.
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You have to see the doubt. You have to see the opportunity for a testing. But then here's the last part.
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You have to recognize and realize the victory. Look at verse 13. I love this part.
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Verse 13, Moses looks to the people and says, hey, I know all y 'all are tired.
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I know all y 'all are broken. I know all y 'all are trapped. I know you don't see any way out, but I want you to understand something.
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This is before Moses even prayed. You see those guys coming to kill us? You ain't ever going to see them again.
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I don't know how God's going to do it, but he's going to obliterate those people. If you don't hear anything else today, hear this.
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Some of y 'all still live in the past regrets of your sin. And what
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I mean, you live in them. You're not doing them anymore. But in your brain and in your heart,
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God can't possibly, there's no way he could love or choose you.
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There's no way. Your regrets are too big. Your failure is too great. I want you to understand something.
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This is the power of God's grace. It's not that he forgives me.
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Guys, do you realize within the realm of soteriology, forgiveness is one small doctrine in the overall understanding of what it truly means to be saved.
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You have grace and mercy, propitiation, sanctification, justification. You have adoption.
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You have redemption. You have ransom. You have all these beautiful things that your salvation is not just singular of,
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I'm not going to hell because I'm forgiven. That is so myopic and so childlike. Understand this, that when you realize the victory, you realize that it's not just the presence of sin that no longer stains your soul.
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It's the power of sin over you. Before you're a Christian, you have no choice.
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You are a totally depraved, godless heathen. And you will always default towards sin because you are dead in your sins and your trespasses.
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But one of the most beautiful things about being converted, to being regenerated, to truly being a child of the living
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God is this, is that now for the first time in your existence, you have something other than your will.
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You have the power of the Holy Spirit of God living inside of you to look at that pipe and say, no more.
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Guys, I was a crack smoking pig. I went to rehab twice.
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I was under psychiatric care for seven years because I had a mental problem, right?
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No, man, I just liked the rock. I was bad on powder. But when they invented that rock, dude, it was so awesome.
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Right? And everyone tried to help me. Everyone tried to help me.
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My grandmother, God rest her soul, tried to help me. But on August 27th in 1988,
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I prayed this prayer. God. And I couldn't even get the word
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God out of my mouth because I was broken in reality for the first time. Oh, I had smashed the pipes and flushed many a times.
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And some of you guys out there understand exactly what I'm saying. I've done that many times.
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But you see, I never had the power before. Oh, I went to N .A. Trust me,
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I went to N .A. I got you. And I'm not knocking A .A. or N .A. What I'm telling you is from the life of Jeff Shipley on August 27th in 1988, when
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I prayed that prayer, I have not touched it since. You see, because it's not just the presence of sin that is broken by the power of God.
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You will never see them again. The power of God in your life can cause you to understand and say to your failures, say to those regrets, say to those woulda, coulda, shouldas, you no longer have power on me.
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I am a redeemed child of the living God, accepted by God, a member of the beloved, and destined to sit at the right hand of God one day.
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You have that. Not because of anything you have done, but because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
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Look at this. The Lord will fight for you. I've run way out of time.
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I'm just going to say, that's cool. Last point is this. Verse 15, and I actually like King Jimmy here.
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King Jimmy, if you have King James Version, it actually says, go forward. Here in verse 15, it actually says this.
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The Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to break camp. One of the things
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I did in raising my children, I taught them how to play chess, and I taught them how to play poker.
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I made, I taught them those two things that helped their strategic ability. I made my children carry knives with them, and to take care of that knife.
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You know, when they were four and five years old, I gave them a pocket knife. I said, if you lose it, it's a thousand pushups.
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If you lose it, it's a thousand pushups. And everyone, I know they were going to lose it, but it was great because that's why they were able to fight and play football.
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But my daughter, she's a stud. But anyways, the other thing I did with this,
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I gave them contravening orders all the time. And I know this sounds cruel to some of you dorks, but I would say this, boy, go over there and get me a 9 16th wrench.
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And I would have put that 9 16th wrench in my pocket. There was no way he was going to find it.
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And I could hear him over there, and he was like, and I would sit there and go, hey, where's my wrench?
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What are you doing over there? And they're looking, and they're looking, and they're looking.
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Hey, I need my wrench. Sometimes I would sit there and go, go stand over there.
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Yes, sir. What are you doing? I said, come here. Now, I know that seems mean, but the thing
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I was getting to do is not to try to understand logically what I was doing, but I was trying to teach them one thing.
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Obey, obey. I thought God was speaking.
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Obey, obey. Christian, listen to me. Some of your lives are so weak because you want to do everything else.
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I want to go to church. I want to pray. I want to do my devotion. I want to do that. I want to do that. Oh, I love Jesus.
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You want to do everything else except obey. Come here. That is a recipe 100 % of the time for failure.
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Obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust
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God. The dork just came out all over this room. Moses said, stand still.
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God, in the last part of verse 13, King James says, go forward.
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Some of your other bibles will say, break camp. Moses just told us to stand still,
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God. Great, move. Well, where? Towards the ocean, but it's water.
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Right. Guys, if you come to a place where you start rationalizing and questioning
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God on whether it's right or wrong to obey, you're going to fail every time.
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Is it right to have an abortion? Well, except for the case. No, I'm sorry.
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There's no exception. Thou shall not. Well, but you don't understand.
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No, dummy. You don't understand. Oh, bang. Well, brother
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Jeff, I'm a homosexual, and I want to have a relationship built in love.
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OK, great. His name is Jesus. You fall in love with him first. He'll help you with everything else. But you don't understand in today's times, guys,
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God's word does not every hundred years stick his finger up the air and get cultural permission to define right and wrong.
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Guys, sin is sin. It's not going to change. It don't get better picking at it.
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You have two choices to do. Move towards something you don't understand because it's exactly what
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God told you to do or stand and get butchered from the back. You must choose this day whom you are going to serve.
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I'm going to ask brother Andrew and the rest of them to come up. I'm going to ask him to come up. And I'm going to ask you this morning.
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Look at me. I know it's been a long service, but look at me. Look at me. Are you 100 % sure you're a
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Christian? Now, Wednesday night I asked this question and five people raised their hand and said
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I know I'm not a Christian or I'm struggling with doubts. People, do not leave this room and not get that taken care of because you're afraid.
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Here's what you're afraid of. Number one, I'm afraid of the changes it's going to cost me. Number two, I'm afraid of what other people will think.
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Number three, I am so petrified. I'm like a deer sitting in the headlights just waiting to get hit.
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Guys, you have never known the freedom and the power of almighty God until you submit and come to a place where you actually trust in all of your life with him.
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If you're not sure how to do that, that's why we have fat bald pastors to help you or young, good looking men.
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But either way, and ladies, but either way, your destiny is hell.
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Let me say that to you real quick. Well, brother, I don't believe. Look at me real quick. This isn't a
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Sunday morning sermon. This isn't Baptist. This is the word of the living God.
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Matthew chapter seven, many will come to me that day saying, Lord, Lord, Jesus will say to you, who are you?
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Oh, Lord, I cast out demons. I fed the poor. Jesus said to them, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I never knew you.
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You might have a more religious understanding, but until you come to a submissive regeneration by the power of the
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Holy Spirit, and know Christ personally, you are not a
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Christian. I don't care that you grew up in church. I don't care that you prayed a prayer. I don't care that you walked an aisle.
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I don't care that you got in a baptismal pool. None of that garbage saves you. No stupid prayer is ever found in God's Word that says, dear
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Jesus, come on my heart and save me. But some of you are looking into the eternal flames of hell, relying on a prayer that's not even scriptural.
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And nothing in your life proves, nothing says that you are a child of God. But because of some stupid prayer, you're actually trusting in religion rather than the power of the
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Holy Spirit of God. Now the question I have for you today is this, if you know that applies to you, what fear is so great that you're going to stand there and not get the help you need?
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Number two, some of you Christians truly are saved, but you're still struggling. And you don't want anybody to know you're struggling.
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That kind of silent arrogance is going to cost you more and take you further down the road in the rabbit hole than you want to go.
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The Word of God says, confess your faults one to another that you may be healed. Accountability goes hand in hand with the
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Christian life. If you're one of those folks that say, I, my life is private between me and God, that is a recipe for absolute failure.
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Failure. Oh no, Brother Jeff, I'm not trusting God. Right, God made this tool called the church to help hold you accountable and to help move you down the road.
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If you don't have that today, come up here. We will sign you into an accountability group today.
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Today. Last thing, if you're not a member of a church and I'm not talking about a stupid letter,
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I'm talking about where you are sold out to ministry. A church is not here for you.
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You're here for the church. See, where are you serving?
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This is the vehicle for you. This is a stupid gymnasium.
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That's all it is. This is not a church. This is the church. And we are here for you to join with us to actually do something else with your life other than work nine to five and wait for Christmas.
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That's the total experience of your life. How pathetic. Don't you want to be in God's army where you can invest in a young man or a young woman where you can sit there and actually get involved in a place where you can snatch their souls out of the fires of hell, as Jude says.
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Don't you want to see the thing that I'm now addicted to? You mean
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I'm saved? Man, there's nothing that fires my soul up better than that.
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When someone actually has been told their whole life, you're worthless, you're a pig, you're nothing. And they come to understand the privilege and the power of being a child of God, seeing you can almost hear the chains drop off their soul.
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If you want to be all about worship and going to church and your life is not filled with investing with the gospel of Jesus Christ, you are fake and a liar.
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No matter how well you sing or how hard you do it. No matter how raising your hands, oh, praise the
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Lord. And you don't do jack the rest of the week. You are a hypocrite and a liar and a lukewarm, worthless
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Christian. Come to a place where you submit and obey, not just because you don't smoke, cuss or drink, but because you're actually doing what
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God created you to do, serve. If you need help with that, come forward.
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Sorry, man, I've left him up there enough. I'm going to ask you all to stand with me today. And if God has spoken to you today, don't just sit there, do something about it.
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You Christians that are perfect in every way, don't sit there and sing some stupid song. Go find someone who needs ministry and do it right now.