F4F | Perry Noble Says Furtick is the One The Prophets Longed to See

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 it been said about your pastor or your vision casting leader, well,

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I'm not sure what that is. The Bible doesn't have such a category. Or, you know, if you've heard regarding Stephen Furtick, that Matthew chapter 13 where Jesus says, blessed are your eyes and blessed are your ears, that that text is actually referring to Stephen Furtick and that Stephen Furtick or your pastor or vision casting leader is the one whom the prophets long to see.

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I wish I was making that up. Yeah, go ahead and hit the subscribe button down below. Don't forget to like the video and and ring the bell so that you can be notified when we update the channel.

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Now we're gonna go back in time today. We're heading back to January of 2012.

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We are going to be going to the Code Orange Revival. It's night seven of the

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Code Orange Revival, and I want to remind everybody what was preached by Perry Noble at night seven of the initial

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Code Orange Revival in 2012. And the best way I can put it is that Perry Noble ascended the stage at this revival, and the message that he had to preach was he opened up from Matthew chapter 13, claimed that God himself told him to preach this message, and he read out the words of Jesus where he said, blessed are your eyes and blessed are your ears, that see and hear the things that you are seeing and hearing, and he made that whole thing, that entire text, about Stephen Furtick.

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I mean, talk about the the most egregious mishandling of the Bible ever, and we're gonna take a look at that text, we're gonna apply our three rules for sound biblical exegesis, and we're gonna remind everybody what is really going on there at Elevation Church and the complete inability to rightly handle biblical text by somebody like Perry Noble, who is back, restored himself to ministry and all this kind of stuff, and just demonstrate that if you're seeing this kind of stuff happening at your church, you need to run, because the

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Scriptures are about Jesus. They're not about you, they're not about me, unless of course you want to talk about how we're the problem, and we're the sinners that Christ bled and died for.

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You can talk about us in that sense. But this is just absolutely stunning, and a case of pastoral malpractice of the highest degree.

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So let's head on over to Elevation Church. It is January 17th, 2012,

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Perry Noble has been introduced and brought on stage, and let's listen as he...

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Wow, I don't even have words for what it is that we're about to hear. Here we go. Hey listen, if you brought a

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Bible with you tonight, go to the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 13 is where we're gonna hang out. If you didn't bring a

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Bible with you tonight, I'm sure they'll put some Scripture on the screen or something like that, because they're all high -tech here at Elevation Church.

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And while you're turning there, I gotta be honest with you, Pastor Steven called me, I don't even know when it was, but he called me and he said, hey

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I got this idea for Code Orange Revival, and he kind of walked me through it, and he said, what do you think?

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And I said, hey man, if you don't do it, we're gonna do it. In fact, I'm still not sure that we're not gonna do it.

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I mean, it's great, but our color is kind of green, so if we did like Code Green Revival, all the green people would show up and get some granola, and it'd be great.

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But anyway, I had no preconceived notions that he would ask me to speak.

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He was like, I'm gonna bring him, you know, Bishop Jakes, and I'm gonna bring in T .D. Jakes, by the way, is a modalist, and modalism is a heresy.

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We'll be talking about that in an upcoming installment of Fighting for the Faith in greater detail, but it's a denial of the doctrine of the

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Trinity, and when you deny the doctrine of the Trinity, you believe in a different God than the

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God who has revealed Himself in Scripture, the one true God who is three persons,

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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so T .D. Jakes, he's not a Christian brother, he's a modalistic heretic.

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Enough said, but we continue. Franklin, and I'm gonna bring in Craig Rochelle, and I was like, man, that sounds great, and he's like, and we're gonna have you up there one night, and I was like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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I mean, I was blown away, and so he called me, and he issued the official invite, and I'm gonna tell you something about speakers that speakers won't tell you about speakers, but I don't care what speakers think about me, so I'm just gonna tell you the truth about us.

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All of us have what we call a candy stick message, and it's a good one.

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Like, it's, like, it, like, I know how, I know where you're gonna cry, I know, I know where you're gonna laugh.

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Sounds like emotional manipulation to me. I know where you're gonna get saved. There's somebody in the church to get saved every week, and I know where that person's gonna get saved.

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I know, I know everything that's gonna happen in the candy stick message, and I got a few of those, and so I pulled out one of my candy stick messages, and God spoke to my heart, said, you're not preaching that one.

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I was like, all right, all right. I mean, you're God. I'm not.

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So he has a conversational direct revelation from God himself.

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All right. So I pulled out the second one, and I was, I was going over it, and God was going, you're not preaching that one.

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I pulled out the third one. He's like, you're not preaching that one. I was like, come on! Really, that's how you talk to God?

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Okay. God, that one's good!

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Come on, God, that one's good right there! That is good stuff! He was like, no. Now, note, the whole purpose of this point that he's making is to say that this comes all the way from the highest authority, the very throne of God himself.

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So this message, this is exactly what God wanted them to hear.

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No, it's not. Let me back that up just a smidge. God, that one's good right there!

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That is good stuff! He was like, no, it's not. And so I was like,

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God, what do you want me to preach? And I'm not even making this up. God took me to a passage of Scripture that I've never preached on.

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I said, God, I've never preached on that before. I said, to my knowledge, I've never preached a sermon on this particular text.

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And God laid a message on my heart specific... Yeah, if you were following a lectionary, you'd be preaching on it and its counterparts every year.

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...for Elevation Church. Now, a couple things, if you're watching... Now, I'm gonna back this up so you can hear that again, ten seconds.

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To my knowledge, I've never preached a sermon on this particular text. And God laid a message on my heart specifically for Elevation Church.

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Now, a couple... So God laid this on his heart specifically for Elevation. ...things. If you're watching online, man,

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I'm so glad you're watching online. And I honestly believe when the Word of God is preached, that it goes out and it produces a harvest.

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And so if you're not a part of Elevation Church, I do believe you're gonna get something out of this message. It's not really for you, but you'll get something anyway.

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Uh -huh. I believe that God is gonna speak your heart and minister to you. I believe if you're a pastor, you'll be encouraged by...

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You know, if you actually preached Jesus, then it wouldn't matter where anybody was.

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It would apply to them. ...this message. But I believe that if you're a part of Elevation Church, you're what is known as a elevator.

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I believe God sent me here tonight to encourage you, to challenge you just a little, and we're gonna have a lot of fun.

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So I want to read this. The title of my message is very simple. You are blessed. Okay, now before he gets to it, let's apply the three rules for sound biblical exegesis, which are context, context, and context.

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And in order to rightly understand this portion of the Gospel of Matthew, we need to understand a little bit of what happened in the

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Gospel of Matthew chapter 12. You know, it creates the foundation for why

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Jesus ends up preaching in parables. So in Matthew chapter 12,

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I'm gonna scroll down, down to near the end, near the end.

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Actually, I'm gonna grab a little bit of the context from 15, so about midway through Matthew chapter 12.

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Here's what it says, "...Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there, and many followed him. He healed them all, and he ordered them not to make him known.

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This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.

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I will put my spirit upon him. He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

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He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory.

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And in his name the Gentiles will hope." So again, note that if you haven't been listening to the series that we've been doing on A Pirate Christian's Guide to Understanding the

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Old Testament, it's a pretty good idea, if you haven't already done so, to go and listen to every installment that we've done on that, because you're gonna see the

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Scriptures are about Christ, and I would say doubly so when it comes to the

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Gospels. Matthew wrote his gospel so that you would believe in Jesus. And here in Matthew 12, you can see that the prophet

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Isaiah prophesied regarding Jesus, and it is quoted by Matthew, and Jesus is in his life, in his ministry, in the miracles he's performing, in the gospel that he is preaching, and the kindness that he is showing to those who believe in him, although they are sinners, we all are, that Christ is the fulfillment of these prophecies from the

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Old Testament. They were all pointing to him. So then in verse 22, it says, then a demon -possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus and he healed him, so that the man spoke and he saw.

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And all the people were amazed, and they said, can this be the Son of David? Which is basically saying, is he really, is this guy the

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Messiah? Can it really be? And the Pharisees are Johnny on the spot to try to put this down.

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They don't want people believing that Jesus is the promised Messiah, so the Pharisees heard it, and they said, well it's only by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that this man casts out demons.

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So knowing their thoughts, he said to them, every kingdom that is divided against itself is laid waste. No city or house divided against itself will stand.

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So if Satan cast out Satan, and he is divided against himself, how then will his kingdom stand?

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If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?

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Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

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Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?

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Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me. Whoever does not gather with me scatters.

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Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the

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Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the

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Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come. And so you note that Jesus then invokes what will come to be known as the blasphemy of the

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Holy Spirit, and you'll note that he's invoking this against the Pharisees who were claiming that Jesus performed the miracles and the exorcisms that he performed by the power of the devil, by the power of the demonic.

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And Jesus is basically saying, listen, you can't deny that I'm performing these miracles, but the sin that you've committed is a sin against the

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Spirit himself. And so you'll note that as you read the Gospel of Matthew, that what happens is that we are from the time of Christ's preaching of the

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Sermon on the Mount until this time, persecution is ramping up, and it really is exemplified and comes to a head then, at least a mini head, with the

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Pharisees saying, he's not the Son of David, he's not the promised Messiah, he performs all this stuff by the power of the devil.

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And from that point forward then, Jesus is going to change it up.

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But let's take a look at how the persecution and the drama and the trauma and the conflict continues in Matthew 12.

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So either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree and its bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

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So you brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

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The good person out of the good treasure brings forth good, the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth evil.

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I tell you, on the Day of Judgment people will give an account for every careless word that they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you'll be condemned.

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So then some of the scribes and the Pharisees answered him, Teacher, we wish to see a sign for you. But he said, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.

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But no sign will be given to it except for the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the

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Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So then the men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation, and they will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah.

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And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

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Behold, someone, something greater than Solomon, is here. And when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, but finds none.

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And then it says, I will return to my house, and when it comes it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.

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Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and they dwell there.

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And the last day the person is worse than the first, so also it will be with this evil generation.

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So while he still was speaking, behold, his mother and his brother stood outside asking to speak to him, and he replied to the man who told him,

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Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? And stretching out his hand towards his disciples, he said,

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Here are my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

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All right, so you can kind of see what's going on here. The conflict, the controversy regarding Jesus is really, really ramping up to the point where the

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Pharisees are given their official verdict, this man is demonized, he performs miracles through the power of the demonic.

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And we know from the Talmuds that they claim that Jesus performed miracles through witchcraft.

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And so all of this was to keep people from believing in him, and now Jesus is going to change things up.

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Rather than preaching openly, preaching clearly, Jesus is now going to change it up in the midst of this persecution, and he is going to preach now in parables, and he's going to explain the reason why.

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And you'll note then that Matthew 12 clearly focusing in on Jesus and who he is, and that he is the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the

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Messiah. So Matthew 13, So that same day Jesus went out of the house, sat beside the sea, great crowds gathered about him.

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So he got into a boat and he sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables, saying,

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A sower went out to sow, and as he sowed some seeds fell along the path. The birds came and devoured them.

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Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil.

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But when the sun arose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. And other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

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Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grains, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

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And then he said, He who has ears, let him hear. Now there are those who make the claim that,

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Oh, the reason why Jesus preached in parables was because he was the greatest storyteller ever, and he was trying to make his messages more relevant to the people he was preaching to.

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That is not true at all. Consider what follows next. It says, So Jesus tells his parable, and the disciples came and they said to him,

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Why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered them, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

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For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

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This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

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Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, You will indeed hear, but you will never understand.

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You will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.

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And then he says this, But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.

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And you'll note that Jesus is saying to his disciples that they are blessed, that although they hear, they do understand.

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Although they see, they do perceive, unlike those who are hearing his words, and are not seeing, are not understanding, are not comprehending.

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And so Jesus said, For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and dared not hear it.

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So you'll note that the prophets of the Old Testament, they longed to see what

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Jesus's disciples saw. This is the thing that they were looking to, and the disciples themselves, the eyewitnesses of Christ's miracles, those who heard his preaching and his teaching, and those whom the secrets of the kingdom of heaven were given, they were the ones who were blessed.

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And the focus is all on Christ, right? So then

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Jesus goes on to explain the parable. He says, Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.

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This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

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Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

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As for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word. For the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

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As for what was sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word, understands it, he indeed bears fruits and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and another thirty.

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So you can see the idea. This is all about Christ, and here in Matthew 13, where it says,

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Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear, it's all pointing to Jesus, not anyone else.

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But let's take a look at what Perry Noble is gonna do with this text, because remember he said that God told him to preach this message.

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You are blessed. In fact, turn to the person next to you and tell them you are blessed. Yeah, turn to the other person that you didn't like as much and tell them you're blessed too.

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Yeah, I just, I didn't say have a conversation,

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I just said tell them they're blessed. Good Lord. Here we go, Matthew chapter 13 verses 16 and 17.

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These were the verses that the Lord specifically, I'm telling you, specifically led me to. All right, so he's reiterating, this goes all the way to the top, to God Himself for this church.

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Here we go, Matthew chapter 13 verses 16 and 17 says, But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

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Now note, we're getting this totally out of context, which means by having it be out of context,

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Perry Noble can make this text about anything he wants to make it, because there is no proper referent.

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For I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

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So whom did the prophets long to see and hear? That's the question.

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Is it Stephen Furtick and Elevation Church, or was it Jesus? Elevation Church, you're blessed.

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Yeah, so apparently Stephen Furtick was the one whom the prophets longed to see. You are blessed.

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Matthew's campus, you are blessed. Elevators, watch it online, you are blessed. You are blessed,

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Elevation Church, and I want to, listen, listen, there's there's enough Baptist in me to pull out three points in this message, okay?

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I want to share three reasons, and there's more, but I want to share three reasons why

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I believe you're blessed, and then at the conclusion of tonight, I've got a special thing that I want to say to your pastor in front of everybody, so it's gonna be fun.

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Don't sweat, it's gonna be all good. I believe you're blessed for three reasons. If you're a note -taker, you can write these down.

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If you're not a note -taker, you should probably be a note -taker, because Pastor Furtick throws out some bombs. You should be writing that stuff down.

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Here we go. I believe you're blessed, number one, because of what you have seen. The text said, Jesus said, you are blessed, blessed are your eyes, because of the things that they've seen.

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Elevation Church, who's seen? The disciples, what they have seen, and heard, and understand, and perceived, talking about Jesus and the things he did.

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Church, I believe you're blessed because of the some of the things that you've been privileged to see.

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One of the things I know about a church like this, and one of the things I know about you, no matter what campus you attend, is if you've been attending

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Elevation for a month, or a year, or three years, or five years, you've gotten a little flack, maybe, from some good friends, or some family members, over, oh, you go to that church.

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I mean, you go to that church. I've heard some things about that church, and I've seen,

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I don't know, and they don't understand why you're so excited about your church. Your family reunion turned into a family rebellion.

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I mean, I mean, you showed up at Christmas, and you got aunts and uncles talking about dance recitals, and football games, you know, stuff that's gonna matter in a hundred years, and you got a smile on your face, look like you've been smoking crack, and everybody wants to know why you're so excited, and you're like, my

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God, 3 ,000 people got saved at our church in our Christmas services. Wow, so everyone on their feet, let's all praise to Stephen Furtick in the elevators.

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Blaster your eyes, because they've seen in years, because they've heard all the stuff that Stephen Furtick has said and done.

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Even Furtick's on his feet. I'm pumped up about what God is doing in my church.

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There's Furtick prowling the stage. Excited over what God is doing. Now that was before steroids and weightlifting.

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...in my church, and they called you crazy. Somebody say,

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I'm crazy. Somebody say, I'm blessed. Alright, y 'all may sit down.

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They're not blessed because of Jesus, they're blessed because of Stephen Furtick. Let me tell you why they think you're crazy, because they can't see what you see.

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Yeah, I'm blessed because of seeing her Jesus. I preach

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Jesus. I don't preach Stephen Furtick. I went to Outback one night, because I like Outback.

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Outback's gonna be in heaven. I got people in my church from other restaurants, they say, why don't you talk about our restaurant?

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I'm like, because I don't like your restaurant. I like Outback. Man, those cheese fries, man, when they bring those things out.

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And I was there with some friends, in fact, Jason Wilson, him and his family, he's our executive pastor at New Spring, and his family was there.

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And he has a little boy about my daughter's age named Branson. And Jason was sitting on the other side, we were sitting in a booth, and Jason was sitting here, and his wife

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Kelly was sitting here. Branson was sitting in the middle, and he's got the funniest laugh in the world. I'm pretty convinced that Perry Noble, you know, he studies stand -up comics, not sound exegetes.

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He emulates, you know, stand -up comedians. It's just one of those cute little laughs, and if you're an adult, you'll do stupids.

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Your IQ lowers 50 points just to make a kid laugh. And so I'm looking at Branson, and he's looking at me, and I just went...

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He thought that was funny. So literally, about every 5 to 10 minutes,

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I would look at Branson, and I would go... And he laughed so hard all night long.

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He just laughed and thought it was the funniest thing in the world. We were all cracking up. We got up from the booth, we were getting out, and this lady at the other booth was staring at me, and she saw

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Branson get out of the booth and walk away. She went, oh, thank God. I said, excuse me?

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I don't know what this has to do with Matthew 13, but then again, Stephen Furtick and Elevation Church have nothing to do with Matthew 13.

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She said, I thought you were crazy. I was like, why did you think I was crazy?

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She said, because I couldn't see him. And I thought every 5 minutes, you were looking at me going...

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People think you're crazy when they can't see what you see. Not talking about Jesus, talking about Stephen Furtick and the elevators.

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But when you see what you've had the privilege to see over the past 6 years, you've got to be just a little crazy about your church.

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They're not crazy about Jesus. They're crazy about Furtick and Elevation.

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Why in the world is it okay to be crazy over a basketball team? Why in the world is it okay to be crazy about a football team?

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Why in the world is it okay to be crazy over a 21 -year -old girl that shows up with an acoustic guitar named

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Taylor Swift that plays in arenas all over America? But we can't be crazy about something that's actually going to matter in 1 ,000 years.

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Notice we're not crazy about Jesus. We're crazy about Stephen and Elevation.

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Because blessed are their eyes, man. Blessed are their ears. We're not as blessed as they are, apparently.

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You should be crazy about what you have seen in this church.

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Hey, I started listening. I sent

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Chunks an email. He emailed me back. Now, I'm going to fast forward a little bit. Doesn't this all sound like they're worshiping

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Stephen Furtick there, too? It sounds like that. The Messiah himself is there.

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The Messiah isn't Jesus. It's Furtick. Let's fast forward a little bit and see what goes on next.

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Blessed are your ears because of what they have heard.

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Still misquoting Matthew 13. You may be seated.

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Maybe they're going to make Stephen the Messiah by force or something. I don't know. Some people might be wondering, is this pastor worship?

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Yes, it is. Yeah, because Matthew 13 is about Jesus.

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It's not about Stephen Furtick. It's blasphemous to say that Stephen Furtick is the one whom the prophets long to see and hear.

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No, no, no. It's honoring the man of God that brings forth the word of God.

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No, he twists the word of God and makes it about himself and about you. Just like you're wrestling

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Matthew 13 and making it about Stephen Furtick rather than Jesus Christ.

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In this church, your ears are blessed because you have a pastor that loves you and is more concerned about you growing in your relationship with Jesus than you liking him and being his friend.

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Yeah, then he would actually preach Christ to him crucified for our sins. Alright, let me fast forward a little bit more.

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We're just getting some samples here. I started thinking about this. When Jesus showed up in chapter 13 of Matthew, and he said, blessed are your eyes because of what they have seen and your ears because of what they have heard.

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The book of Matthew has 28 chapters in it. Yeah. Jesus wasn't even halfway through the book of Matthew, and he's starting to tell his disciples how blessed they were.

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Note here. This is apparently some kind of pattern that we should expect to see repeated now with vision casting leaders like Furtick.

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I mean, they hadn't even seen him walk on water yet. That happened in chapter 14.

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And remember, Jesus is the son of God, the one whom the prophets long to see. Stephen Furtick isn't.

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They hadn't even seen him do the thing with fish and chips where they stole the little boy's lunch. You know what I'm talking about?

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That was in chapter 14. They hadn't even gotten to see that whole crucifixion, resurrection, miracle, ascension,

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I'm coming back thing. That's a cool party trick. I don't know anybody else has pulled that one off. They hadn't even gotten to see the greatest miracles yet, and Jesus was telling them how blessed they were.

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You know what, Elevation Church? I think you're in chapter 13. Should we expect

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Stephen Furtick to rise from the dead three days after he dies? Are we expecting

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Furtick to be walking on water anytime soon? Raising the dead and stuff.

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I mean, this is so egregious, what Noble did. I mean, this is,

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I mean, on the day of judgment, this would almost be considered a war crime. A war crime committed against the body of Christ.

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I think you're in chapter 13 tonight. I don't even think you've seen the greatest things that God wants to do in this church.

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Some of you say he's building a great church. Uh -uh. For the first six years, all he's been doing is pouring the concrete.

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The walls get to start going up in the next several years. I believe this church is on the verge of seeing some of the greatest things that God has ever done in the church.

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Blessed are you because of where you are. Yeah, that's about all

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I can handle. But you get the point. Stephen Furtick preaches

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Stephen Furtick. He makes biblical texts about every, you know, about Christ, about himself.

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And Perry Noble there, you know, followed suit and took a text that was clearly about Jesus.

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The one where Jesus said that the prophets longed to see and hear the things that his disciples saw and heard.

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And Perry Noble has made that about, well, Stephen Furtick and Elevation Church. And he has yet to repent or apologize or correct himself at all for what he's done, which seems to be par for Perry Noble's course.

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But the reason I bring this up is because nothing has changed at Elevation Church. It's still all about Furtick.

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It's not about Christ. Furtick has not found a single biblical text that he has miraculously not found himself to be the point of that text, including all the ones about Jesus.

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So if you know anybody that is an elevator, attends Elevation Church, you need to warn them. Warn them that the

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Bible is about Christ, not Stephen Furtick, not Elevation Church, and that they are engaging in pastor worship rather than the worship of the

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Son of God. And that is a huge problem. But ultimately, what they're really engaging in is worship of themselves.

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The reason why Furtick is as popular as he is, is because he tells people what they want to hear.

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And by him making the Bible about himself, he teaches them to do the same so that they can think the

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Scriptures are about them, so that they can continue in their love and their narcissism and their worship and idolatry of themselves.

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And they need to be brought to repentance and shown definitively the Scriptures are about Jesus, not

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Stephen Furtick. Doubly so when it comes to the Gospels, especially Matthew chapter 13.

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I mean, do you really think that in Matthew 13 Jesus was pointing to Stephen Furtick and saying, yeah, he's the one whom the prophets long to see and to hear?

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It's unbelievable when you consider the magnitude of the hubris and the narcissism that is going on there in the name of Jesus at Elevation Church.

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