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All right. If you got a Bible, we're going to be in the gospel of Luke.

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This week we were talking about ministry stuff and heard of a ministry that actually ministered people from the cradle to the grave.

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They had a nursery for the babies. They had a senior care and a cemetery.

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I was thinking about senior care and being some of them.

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of us are getting a little older, we would start and our first patient would be Pastor Steve.

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He's getting old, you know.

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He's pushing 70 and a year. He'll be driving it. He's pushing 70 and a year from today, he'll be dragging it. So.

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Also, one other announcement.

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For those of you who have a bent towards cutting a rug,

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there's going to be a dance at the South Campus on the 22nd.

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And it's going to support rodeo bava camps.

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There's rodeo bavocanx of East Idaho that we, myself,

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and the Palmer family have been involved with.

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over the last five or six years, and they're doing a fundraiser dance for that rodeo Bible camp.

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We take a Bible camp and a rodeo school, combine them, share Jesus with them.

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And so they have a chance to get saved before a bull or bronc kills them.

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So it's a great cause.

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And I don't know.

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There should be maybe we might have posted a poster on our Facebook page.

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So you'll know what time they're on the 22nd of this month.

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So we're in the book of Luke.

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It's chapter one's very long.

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What is it?

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I think it's got 80 verses in it.

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Anyway, we've looked the last couple of Sundays at the busyness of the angel

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Gabriel and his announcements to Zacharias and Mary about these little boys

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that are going to be born.

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And what receiving a message from God does to a person, right?

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You have those aha moments when you feel like, wow, the Lord is speaking to my heart.

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The Lord is putting things there that I know is not there naturally.

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And that's what's happening with these people as they have encountered this message from

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via the angel Gabriel.

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And whether it inspires faith or fear and doubt,

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that's up to us, I guess.

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How we receive from the things that the Lord would speak to our hearts.

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Mary's reception of the angel's message is a bit inspiring.

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And for her, life changed forever.

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Right?

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After she received that message,

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she'll never be the same, simply because of Jesus. And so it is with us. When I came to the end of

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myself and I surrendered my life to Christ and I really, the gravity and the weight of the person

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that he is and what he has to offer me and what I don't have to offer him, to this day, it overwhelms me.

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My life has never been the same since I've had a genuine true encounter with Jesus.

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And which brings us to the title of today's message is responding to Jesus.

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He demands a response, Christ does.

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You either deny him.

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You're either against him or you're for him.

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There's no middle place.

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You can't be in the middle.

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You just can't.

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To not be for him is to be against him.

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that's just the way it is. And now the Lord did say count the cost, but while you are counting the costs,

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you are against him, while you are counting the costs. And because the Bible says that we're all

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under the wrath of God there, John chapter 1, all of mankind is under the wrath of God.

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Until he comes to that place of faith in the salvation of God. The salvation of God.

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So Gabriel is laying a foundation here of the coming king when he tells the father of John the Baptist

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that his child, this child that he and Elizabeth will bear will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

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It tells us there in verse 16.

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And in verse 17 it says, and he will also go before him.

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Him there in my Bible is capitalized.

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Speaking of Jesus.

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He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children

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and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

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And I mentioned last week that John the Baptist was that that prophet that kind of brought the two covenants together.

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The old covenant of the law, as he told the Pharisees to repent and bring forth fruits of repentance.

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In other words, proof.

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Like Granny, you used to always say, the proof's in the pudding.

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You say you're walking with Jesus, just let me watch you live your life.

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Has there been a change?

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Have you been changed?

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Now, God's not done with me yet, and I'm changed.

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I'm not like I was.

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I'm not what it should be yet.

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I'm in process, as we all are.

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But there was a change.

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There was a huge change.

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in my life.

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And then the angel's announcement to Mary, after he was doubted by Zecharias and Mary that we saw

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last week.

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And he gives her the down low on what Jesus will be.

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And he says, Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son.

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And shall call his name Jesus.

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and he will be called the son of the highest.

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And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David,

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and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

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And of his kingdom, there will be no end.

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And Mary received this, right?

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Her response to the message and her faith-filled life.

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It's like she reaches out with both arms and pulls the truth of Gabriel's, like, she reaches out with both arms

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words into our bosom goes, let it be unto me, even as you have spoken. According to your word,

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it's kind of been the theme this last couple weeks. According to God's word, it's, it's his word

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that's so powerful, right? That he spoke this thing into existence that we see and we live in every day.

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I was watching a little round table with some brilliant people.

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Jordan Peterson, Dennis Prager, there were others.

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And they were talking about Bible stuff.

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And they were talking about John chapter 1, right?

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That says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.

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And Prager asked a question.

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He says, I'm asking ignorance.

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What is the word?

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I don't get it.

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I'm thinking,

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I know I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.

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I graduated from Filer High School.

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Barely.

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But all you got to do is just keep reading.

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Right? Verse 14 says,

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and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

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The word is the Lord Jesus.

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Jesus Christ. Do I totally get it? No, but because it's so much bigger than our intellect can

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can grasp, you have to believe it by faith. And that's where they missed the mark. All these

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intellectuals, I'm just going to, you guys are so stupid. Well, Roman says, professing to be wise,

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they become fools. What do you mean you don't get it? The word became flesh and he

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He dwelt. The word dwelt means tabernacled. Jesus became one of us. You've heard that song.

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It's it's kind of a, I think it was a pop or a rock song. What if God was one of us?

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Young people. You've heard that song. What if God was one of us, a slob like one of us? Well, Jesus became like us.

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And yet without sin. That's what the writer of that song.

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didn't get, right?

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He became like us.

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And Mary was yielded to the Word of God.

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Let it be to me according to your word.

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I guess I have to ask you, how do you respond to the message of Jesus?

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right? How do you just, is he your everything? Jesus tells us right in John chapter 15,

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apart from me you can do. Nothing. Nothing of eternal value. And so I was reminded of being in the Christmas season. I was reminded in 1985. It was, it was,

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It's quite a year in my life and my brother Rick's life and in my dad's life.

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And I was in California on a horse ranch.

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And we, God was just rocking me and my little brother's world.

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And we talked to each other on the phone.

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He was in Vegas, right?

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He was in Sin City.

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And we got to talking on the phone and just both of us just had this passion to just run with Jesus.

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and follow Jesus.

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And Rick was going to a church called Dove Ministries.

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And I had surrendered my life to Lord about the first of November

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and began to go to a little church there in Hollister, California,

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called New Life Fellowship.

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And I started to listen to contemporary Christian music.

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Right?

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Back then, it was a resurrection.

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Resband.

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Anybody remember Resband?

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Oh, wow.

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They all died.

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That's a long time ago. This is 1984. 84, 85, excuse me. And I was, you know, they had Maranatha music.

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It was kind of a contemporary worship style of music. And they had striper band and white cross, all these big hair bands, you know.

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But they were all, they were all Christian. And so I was listening to this and I just couldn't get enough. I mean, Jesus was just doing a crazy work.

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in my life. And my dad was in Sacramento, shacked up with some gal. And so I went up and hung out with him

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and this gal he was shacked up with Mary for Thanksgiving. And it's about a two-hour drive from where I was up to

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Sacramento. And so, you know, I spent Christmas with them. We watched some football, ate some turkey,

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and didn't talk to him a whole lot about what Jesus was doing in my life. And he was totally

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backslidden. My dad was totally backslidden. And his second marriage, he'd been divorced from his second

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and he was totally just running amok.

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He's 47 years old, I think, at the time.

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And some of you know my dad, you know, and you're just thinking, Larry?

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Really?

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Yeah, really.

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That's where I got all my wickedness was from him.

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And so I called him and said, hey, dad, let's go to Idaho for Christmas.

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1985.

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We were, so we, we jumped in the car and we took off.

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And I had been listening to this band called Sweet Comfort Band.

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Anybody remember Sweet Comfort Band?

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Yeah, way in the back.

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Yeah.

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Really old people, way in the back.

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And their lead singer was Brian Duncan.

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And Brian was just a very gifted vocalist.

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And there was this song that had just kind of rocked my wife.

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world because I had experienced with the Lord when I was nine years old in a little Baptist church and

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asked Jesus into my heart. And I remembered that very vividly when I had rededicated my life to Lord.

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And the name of the song was, I never should have left you. I never should have left you.

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And I said, Dad, you got to hear this song. And we hadn't talked much about Jesus and stuff.

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And he said, okay, so I play this song. And I mean, for the name, for the name,

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next hundred miles. It was dead silence. Dead silence. And I think the Holy Spirit totally just

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put a finger right on the heart of my my father saying, what have you done? And so I want to read.

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This is the first verse of the song. It says, oh, how could I have hurt you? Living cold and

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what a careless fool I've been to have taken you for granted.

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Me, the man with all the answers, never stopped to notice.

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You are my savior and my friend.

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I never should have left you.

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And I know for me, that song rocked my world,

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but my dad's response was pretty incredible.

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Because in the next 14 months, he shocked up with another woman.

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named Denise. And within that 14 months, they got married and he started going back to church.

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And that's why Jesus came. John, I would just talk about it as she was doing worship.

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Jesus came to rescue us, mainly from ourselves. Because we have this tendency to abandon ship and do our own thing.

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And we should never leave him. Because he will.

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never leave us. Right? So if you don't feel close to the Lord, you know, who moved?

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I know pastors will use you that one to beat sheep up, you know, who moved? God didn't move.

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Where have you been? If I haven't seen people in a while, I try not to ask them where they've been,

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because I really don't want to know.

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And I had my own moments when I, you know, did my own little backsliding and was quite good at it.

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But Jesus is always requiring a response from you and I.

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And it's really true.

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We're either progressing with the Lord or you're backsliding.

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It's that escalator, man.

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You're either you're moving one way or the way or the way.

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the other. It's not, you're not standing still. And so here we are in this, in this passage where

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Mary had received this message, she hears, Gabriel is faithful to tell her that her cousin,

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Elizabeth, who was old, some think between 60 and 80 years old, is six months pregnant. And so

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Mary has got something to talk to Elizabeth about and thinking that Elizabeth might just understand.

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So we picked the story up here in verse 39. It says, now Mary rose in those days and went into the hill

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country with haste to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

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And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb.

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And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

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Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said,

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Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

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But why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

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For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears,

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the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

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Blessed is she who believed for there will be a fulfillment of those things,

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which were told her from the Lord.

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So Mary was obviously moved.

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Now we don't know.

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See, we don't know who Mary told.

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Right.

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And honestly, we don't know how far along Mary was.

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Many think that could be anywhere from 5 to 15 or 20 days pregnant at this time that she goes to see Elizabeth.

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But she knows that Elizabeth has made it clear to her that Elizabeth, or excuse me,

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Gabriel had made it clear to her that Elizabeth is experiencing the same thing.

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And we all know that girls like to talk.

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And if ever two girls had something to talk about, it was marrying Elizabeth.

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Amen?

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Jumping jehasa fat.

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I mean, these two, the fruit of their womb

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turned the world upside down in more ways than one.

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And Mary probably realized, man,

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there's not going to be too many people that understand what I'm going through,

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but I'm pretty sure Elizabeth, you know, has a clue.

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And so she traveled.

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It wasn't just an easy,

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trip. Some think it was between 70 and 90 miles to get to where Elizabeth was. And I don't know that it's clear

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that she told Joseph before this, before she went. Because we see in Matthew that Joseph is considering

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putting Mary away secretly because he did love her. And obviously, we know that the Lord intervened in

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that. But we do know however there was talk.

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about Mary being pregnant, right? In that town, because when Jesus does his ministry there

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around that area in John chapter 8, when he's bantering back and forth with the Pharisees,

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they say, you do the deeds of your father. He tells him, you do the deeds of your father.

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And they said to him, we are not born of fornication. We have one father, God.

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So they're kind of jabbing at Jesus that he was illegitimate.

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And so no doubt there was talk there because before they came together and consummated the

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marriage, Mary gave birth to Jesus.

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So in verse 41, we see it says, and it happened when Elizabeth heard of Mary,

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that the babe leaped in her womb,

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and Elizabeth was filled to the Holy Spirit.

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So here we have a child in utero responding to Jesus.

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Right?

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An unborn baby.

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Responding to Jesus.

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He leaped in her womb.

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And what does that say about the unborn?

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Right?

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Right?

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You know, I don't want to,

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get too far into this, but I mean, you got to address it, right?

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An unborn baby recognizes Jesus.

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And it says he leaped for joy, right?

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But there's joy, there's excitement connected to this, this action of this baby.

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And so he had a spiritual awareness.

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us and could respond to the spirit of God, a baby in the womb.

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The old preacher, John Trap said,

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such comfort there is in the presence of Christ,

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though but in the womb as it made John to spring,

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what then shall it be in heaven, think we?

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And so abortion is a hideous thing.

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I don't talk about it a whole lot, but it's not just a clump of cells.

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Right?

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And I remember being told that.

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It's not just a blob, but it's a viable life.

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At conception, you know, they're doing the studies now.

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And you can actually see it.

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When a child is conceived in the womb, there's a flash of light.

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Right?

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Which would go along with what John talks about.

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there in John chapter one.

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It was a light of men.

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And it's not just men.

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It's conception.

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When something's conceived in an animal, there's a little flash of light.

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It's life.

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It's nothing else other than.

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It's life.

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And some may be thinking, oh, really?

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Are you going to go there?

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I am, actually.

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Because this passage,

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is filled with life in the womb.

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Right?

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This passage of scripture is filled with life in the womb.

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And the church has been pretty silent and not stood up and, and call it what it is.

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And I haven't addressed it probably like I should.

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Proverbs 16, 6, excuse me, verse 17, says it that God hates.

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Listen, he hates the hands that shed innocent blood.

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God hates abortion.

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He hates it.

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Because that little flash of light, who's in control of that?

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He is.

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And how dare anyone less than him destroy that?

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Right?

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How dare anyone less than him?

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He makes that call, not us.

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And so,

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people say, well, the women will say, well, my body, my choice.

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Does this apply to all women?

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Well, of course.

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What about the ones in the womb?

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What about her choice?

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You know, the arguments all fall to the ground.

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Right?

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Because it's not a pro-choice.

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It's pro-death, pro-life. You're the pro-death or pro-life. One of the two. And it's obvious with what they have found, right, that the baby is not part of the woman's body. It's in the woman's body. Because babies can have a different blood type.

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different DNA. And so you call it what it is. So abortion is murder. And, you know, some are thinking right now,

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pastor, you're being so insensitive to those who have made this mistake. Now, I'm not saying it's not

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forgivable because it is forgivable. Praise you Jesus. Right. Thank the Lord that it is forgivable.

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But it does need to be repented of. And because there's so much shame associated with it,

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I've talked to women that's never told a soul.

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And I'm just like, no, you got to tell somebody.

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Right?

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That's too much to carry.

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That's weighty.

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And so I have to bring my own sin into this to not,

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I'm just not going to pick on the gals,

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but I've been guilty of adultery.

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Well, not against my wife Connie.

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Because I wouldn't be here right now.

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she would have killed me.

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Before I became a Christian, I was adulterous.

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Right?

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I wasn't married, but the other party was.

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So, and it's interesting that both of those sins, right?

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So I don't really have the right.

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I don't really have the right to come down on somebody who says that my adultery is wicked.

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Oh, you hurt my feelings.

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Well, if it hurt your feelings, I'm sorry.

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But what you have to do is you have to know I have to embrace the fact.

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You're right.

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My adulterous acts are wicked, evil.

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And in the Old Testament, both of the sins of murder and the sins of adultery were

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punishable by the same thing.

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You remember?

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What was it?

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Death, right?

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They chucked rocks at you to you quit wiggling.

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You know?

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Till you quit breathing.

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And so it just needs to be repented of and God can heal and God can use.

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I've seen women who have been through this and they're, they're so sensitive and able to minister to other women who are struggling with it.

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What's going on at the nest is a powerful thing.

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But it's a life. Listen, Jesus was days consistent.

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seeed in the womb. Days. And so for people to shout with glee when they pass these abortion laws,

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I believe it's demonic. I honestly believe it's demonic, especially because of what we know now.

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Right? With the advances in science and the things that the end.

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When born can absorb in the womb is absolutely amazing.

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They move, they suck and swallow, they hiccup, they dream, they learn and remember.

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They react to mothers' emotions.

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They respond to stimuli such as light, touch, and sound.

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I know, my youngest son, we would, at night, we would sit, and my wife would sit in this

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recline and I would watch her belly from across the room.

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He was, you know, he was over there playing a little son.

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soccer, football. And one night, we were sitting there because they say they learn your voices.

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It's wild. My grandson, we had him in our car here last year, and he was unconsolable.

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It's nothing like an unconsolable grandchild, right? Because you just don't have what it takes.

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And so we plugged in a song of his dad singing on the radio. Went right to sleep.

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because he sang to him the whole time.

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His wife was pregnant and Buster sang to little towns and eagle.

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And so they can hear these things, but we're sitting there and I'm sitting across the room.

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And I mean, there's no activity whatsoever.

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I'm going, what's up?

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That kid's not moving.

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So I walk over there and Connie's laying there and I go, hey kid!

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And I mean, talk about leave.

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may have damaged him, I don't know, but he came alive now.

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It's...

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But notice the response is John, the baby in Elizabeth's womb,

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leaps for joy.

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Elizabeth's response is being.

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filled with the Holy Spirit. And as you're filled with the Holy Spirit, the Lord fills your mouth.

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Right? And what did she say? She says, then she spoke with the loud voice and said,

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blessed are you among women? Notice she says, blessed are you among women, not above women, right?

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Among women. And blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why is this granted to me that the mother of my

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should come to me. How did Elizabeth just know all that? But it just fits, right? The mother of my

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Lord, Elizabeth, recognized the seed in Mary's womb was her salvation, her Lord.

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Pretty powerful. Because it tells us, right, that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit,

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that he will lead us into all truth and the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit leads us,

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Elizabeth into this truth of what the baby of Mary was going to be. Her Lord. Powerful.

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this is granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me. Right? She's, she's humbled. She's

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overwhelmed. Remember, she was a daughter of Aaron. No doubt a keeper of the law, which many of people that were in that,

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that place of ministry in the temple, they were so full of themselves and hypocritical.

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And yet because of the humility that God had brought to her life through being barren, she's now,

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filled with the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit.

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And so.

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And then Mary's response in 45, Elizabeth mentions it.

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She said,

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And blessed is she who believed,

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for there will be a fulfillment of those things

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which were told her from the Lord.

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Mary's faith is commended by her, by her no doubt mentor,

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her elder Elizabeth.

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And blessed is she who believes.

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Because listen, this is going to happen.

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This is going to happen.

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And so all these responses to Jesus are just powerful.

403
00:32:59,580 --> 00:33:03,280
And it can really just parallel the Christian life.

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When you come to Jesus, there's a joy.

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00:33:06,020 --> 00:33:08,800
There's a joy that it's almost inexpressible.

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I remember nine years old, tasting the joy of the Lord.

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As I asked Jesus to come in my heart with this Baptist preacher on his knees in a little prayer room

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00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:21,500
next to the baptismal in Beul, Idaho.

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And I remember the joy of the Lord.

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00:33:25,500 --> 00:33:27,160
We were driving home and my grandma looked back.

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She says, Scotty, what got into you?

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I said, Pastor Jack prayed with me.

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She goes, he prayed with you to receive Christ.

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And I said, yeah.

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She goes, oh, that explains it.

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00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:46,060
right? I was so full of joy. And then not really knowing I knew of the Holy Spirit,

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00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:52,560
but I didn't know this Holy Spirit intimately until this time that I was talking about with my

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00:33:52,860 --> 00:34:01,700
dad in 1985 and 86 when the Lord began to really just freight train me. I mean, he just overwhelmed

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00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:06,420
me with his Holy Spirit and began to reveal things to me about himself and about me.

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00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:17,679
and it was it was incredible when I had opportunities to testify that the Lord would bring scriptures to mind and

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I was going, wow, this is really cool, just like Elizabeth.

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And then learning to walk by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight, right?

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Believing that things are going to be fulfilled.

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Because she ends it there with,

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there will be. There will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord

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of what Jesus would be. Now, the angel didn't tell her everything. That's interesting.

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00:34:51,899 --> 00:34:58,620
When you look at this, the angel did not tell Mary that he was going to be, he was going to save

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00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:05,900
his people from their sin. Until after the fact. Right.

429
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:07,920
and we'll look at that later.

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00:35:08,540 --> 00:35:12,220
But she knew that he was going to be holy.

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00:35:12,580 --> 00:35:13,880
He was going to be the son of God.

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Right.

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00:35:14,780 --> 00:35:17,240
He was going to be set on the throne of David.

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And he was going to have a kingdom that would never end.

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She knew that.

436
00:35:22,820 --> 00:35:24,540
And Elizabeth is confirming it here.

437
00:35:24,860 --> 00:35:28,000
And these things are going to happen.

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00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:30,460
How are you responding to Jesus?

439
00:35:31,820 --> 00:35:33,860
Are you willing to believe like Mary did?

440
00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:40,660
if you're willing to believe, you're headed in that direction.

441
00:35:41,380 --> 00:35:41,520
Right?

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00:35:41,900 --> 00:35:43,680
Because some people say, I just don't know yet.

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00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:50,980
Well, if you're willing to look at it, right, and that's what Isaiah said, if you're willing,

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you'll taste the good of the land.

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00:35:53,660 --> 00:35:57,960
If you're willing to do things God's way, if you're willing to walk by faith, if you're willing to be

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00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:03,180
yielded to the Holy Spirit, if you're willing to be filled with the joy of the Lord,

447
00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:05,380
then you're on the right track.

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00:36:08,220 --> 00:36:15,080
But if you're not willing and you feel as though you need to keep the Lord at arms length,

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that's a scary place to be.

450
00:36:19,300 --> 00:36:19,420
Right?

451
00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:20,980
That's a scary place to be.

452
00:36:21,340 --> 00:36:22,620
Jesus encouraged us.

453
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:24,120
It's all or nothing.

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00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:28,920
He who would come after me, let him deny himself and pick up his cross,

455
00:36:29,180 --> 00:36:32,720
his instrument of death, and die to himself and follow me.

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00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:42,240
Now, this is a prophetic word because obviously these babies aren't born yet.

457
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:44,600
This is telling the future before it happens.

458
00:36:44,900 --> 00:36:50,680
And that's what's so powerful about the Bible is it tells the future before it happens.

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00:36:54,260 --> 00:36:57,340
So I'm going to shift gears on you real quick before we do communion.

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00:36:59,500 --> 00:37:02,740
Let me just encourage your first to let, to let the first to let the, to let the,

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00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:08,980
the joy of the Lord, be your strength, be filled with faith, and be confident that God's going to

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00:37:09,240 --> 00:37:19,760
complete what he has said according to his word. This morning, I saw a little blurb from a Mirsarfati.

463
00:37:19,900 --> 00:37:25,500
It was a little four-minute blurb of an update. Now, I haven't been getting these updates lately,

464
00:37:26,540 --> 00:37:32,720
but he, so he gets on and he says, hey, this was about 10 hours. This was about 10 hours.

465
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:43,620
hours ago, 12 hours ago from right now. He said, hey, they have tracked Balasar Assad, the leader of Syria.

466
00:37:44,460 --> 00:37:54,380
They have tracked his plane. And it was leaving Damascus on its way to Homs, right? He said,

467
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,920
and many thought that he was just going to go to Russia because him and Putin are kind of, you know,

468
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:02,180
in each other's pocket a little bit. He said that,

469
00:38:02,740 --> 00:38:11,680
It was on the radar and the plane turned, did a U-turn and was coming back towards either Homs or Damascus.

470
00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:12,560
I can't remember which city.

471
00:38:12,940 --> 00:38:14,280
And they disappeared off the radar.

472
00:38:15,620 --> 00:38:17,080
They don't know if it got shot down.

473
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:24,400
Many of you saw the headlines this morning that Syria, the Assad regime is over.

474
00:38:25,180 --> 00:38:25,320
Right.

475
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,040
And you say, well, what does that have to do with anything today?

476
00:38:30,060 --> 00:38:31,900
That has to do with prophecy, folks.

477
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:39,800
right? And the scripture is full of it. And that's what we're looking here is the prophetic word about

478
00:38:40,180 --> 00:38:45,600
Jesus and the John of the Baptist. But you and I, we're looking for the prophetic word. Not of the first

479
00:38:45,940 --> 00:38:53,920
Advent, which we're celebrating as Christmas, but the second, right, when Jesus comes again. And that is

480
00:38:54,740 --> 00:39:01,660
compartmentalized into two compartments. There is the rapture of the church when he comes and takes us out.

481
00:39:02,020 --> 00:39:08,380
And then there's the second coming of the Lord when he comes and establishes his kingdom here on earth.

482
00:39:09,260 --> 00:39:15,020
And so we're looking for the first one, the rapture of the church.

483
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:20,760
That seems to, it's going to have to happen before the second coming.

484
00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:31,420
But what is so interesting about this is the words that he used.

485
00:39:31,980 --> 00:39:34,560
He says, Damascus has fallen.

486
00:39:36,260 --> 00:39:37,800
Damascus has fallen.

487
00:39:38,380 --> 00:39:40,620
Now, Damascus is not destroyed, right?

488
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:44,800
So you have to be very specific when you talk about these things.

489
00:39:44,900 --> 00:39:52,880
I don't believe that this is the fulfillment of Isaiah 17 when it says that Damascus will be destroyed beyond recognition.

490
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:54,900
It will be in inhabitable.

491
00:39:55,520 --> 00:40:01,420
So does that mean there will be a chemical or some kind of a nuclear thing that will just decimate the city?

492
00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:02,600
We don't know that.

493
00:40:02,780 --> 00:40:04,280
But we know the rebels are there right now.

494
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:05,900
So Israel's preparing.

495
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:07,440
They don't know what to do, really.

496
00:40:08,420 --> 00:40:12,220
They don't know that the rebels are totally anti-Israel,

497
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:15,700
possibly because they're Muslim.

498
00:40:16,100 --> 00:40:21,240
And I can't remember if it's Shia or the Sunni Muslims that are in power with the rebels.

499
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:29,000
But it's just getting closer to what we would call the Gog-Megg war, right?

500
00:40:29,140 --> 00:40:30,740
Which is Ezekiel 38 and 39.

501
00:40:31,260 --> 00:40:37,840
which many believe that has to, they think it happens after the rapture of the church.

502
00:40:39,580 --> 00:40:47,180
But, and we know that from the north comes a coalition army that is Iran, Turkey, Syria,

503
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:53,180
or yes, scarceria is with them, and Russia are some of the main players.

504
00:40:53,720 --> 00:40:55,140
And they're all there right now.

505
00:40:56,700 --> 00:41:00,820
And so it's something that we need to be watching and paying attention.

506
00:41:00,860 --> 00:41:08,900
to. I'll just read this. This was a news real. It says on Saturday evening and Sunday morning,

507
00:41:09,340 --> 00:41:15,740
Syrian rebels streamed into their country's capital, Damascus, as the 24-year-old regime of

508
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:26,060
President Assad reportedly collapsed. And in his truth social post, Trump commented, commented. This is

509
00:41:26,380 --> 00:41:30,720
President-elect Trump. Assad is gone. He has fled his country.

510
00:41:30,740 --> 00:41:39,920
His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer.

511
00:41:41,900 --> 00:41:43,580
Doesn't that sound like, sounds just like Trump?

512
00:41:44,300 --> 00:41:48,240
There was no reason for Russia to be there in the first place.

513
00:41:48,520 --> 00:42:00,720
They lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead in a war that should never have spent.

514
00:42:00,740 --> 00:42:03,180
started, but could go on forever.

515
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:11,420
And so when you see these events, and you're just going, wow, are we getting closer?

516
00:42:12,540 --> 00:42:13,680
Well, of course, we're getting closer.

517
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:15,940
We're closer today than we're yesterday.

518
00:42:20,099 --> 00:42:25,800
But when you see these things happen, you're going, wow.

519
00:42:27,220 --> 00:42:28,220
Wow, that's pretty cool.

520
00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:39,760
And so in the attitude of Elizabeth, right, there will be a fulfillment of those things, which were told you from the Lord.

521
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:46,660
How many things have you and I have been told from the Lord in the New Testament and the Old Testament that haven't happened yet?

522
00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:52,380
Jesus talks about it at the end of the Gospel of Luke where he says, these things should be fulfilled.

523
00:42:52,740 --> 00:42:57,280
The things are written in the law and in the prophets and in the Psalms.

524
00:42:57,720 --> 00:43:01,480
and there's things in all three of those passages of scripture that aren't fulfilled yet.

525
00:43:02,100 --> 00:43:04,680
But they're coming. And they're coming like a freight train.

526
00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:15,300
It's an interesting time we live in. Amen. Amen. May we be found walking in the joy of the Lord

527
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:20,460
being filled with the Holy Spirit and full of faith. Let's pray. Father, thank you for today.

528
00:43:21,140 --> 00:43:27,280
And your word. And the life that you give us. And the Lord, the life that you give us. And the Lord,

529
00:43:27,300 --> 00:43:35,060
You call us to death, but you called us to life and to be a salt and light in this world.

530
00:43:35,260 --> 00:43:41,720
And to be a proclamer of the eternal life that is found in none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

531
00:43:42,380 --> 00:43:46,900
And so, Lord, I just pray for anyone today who has not come to that place.

532
00:43:47,380 --> 00:43:49,120
Lord, to just walk by faith.

533
00:43:49,780 --> 00:43:55,240
And Lord, maybe they just have a sense right now that they can't even believe they're sitting in this room here in this message.

534
00:43:55,780 --> 00:43:57,220
But Lord, you're speaking to their hearts.

535
00:43:57,280 --> 00:43:58,940
and I don't know who they are, but you do.

536
00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:04,220
And so if that's you, I just want to offer up a simple sinner's prayer that you can pray

537
00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:06,860
and you can know and have confidence.

538
00:44:07,460 --> 00:44:10,900
The Bible says these things are written that you may know that you have eternal life.

539
00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:13,960
And so you simply have to humble yourself and ask.

540
00:44:14,660 --> 00:44:20,700
And so just simply ask the Lord in your heart the words of this prayer and do it by faith.

541
00:44:20,940 --> 00:44:24,040
And the Bible says that you become a citizen of heaven.

542
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:27,040
And the prayer is to Jesus.

543
00:44:27,660 --> 00:44:31,000
And it goes like this, Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sin.

544
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:34,900
I believe in you. I believe that you died on the cross for me.

545
00:44:35,660 --> 00:44:39,620
I believe that you have a heaven for me and in eternity with you.

546
00:44:40,220 --> 00:44:42,380
That's full of your love and joy and your peace.

547
00:44:43,300 --> 00:44:48,780
Forgive me, Lord, and fill me with your Holy Spirit that I might be empowered to walk out this life

548
00:44:49,640 --> 00:44:51,340
according to your plan and not my own.

549
00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:54,180
And I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

550
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:56,960
Father, I just pray for those who have prayed that prayer, Lord,

551
00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:58,560
that you would fill them with your spirit.

552
00:45:00,060 --> 00:45:01,380
Lord, this week we're going to have,

553
00:45:01,700 --> 00:45:04,180
and this holiday season, we're going to have those opportunities

554
00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:07,400
to proclaim the name that is above every name.

555
00:45:07,900 --> 00:45:09,360
Lord, at the name of Jesus,

556
00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:11,960
every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

557
00:45:12,540 --> 00:45:15,580
Lord, help us to be winsome.

558
00:45:16,240 --> 00:45:21,440
Lord, not a stench per se, but to have wisdom,

559
00:45:21,900 --> 00:45:23,960
being wise as serpents and harmless as doves,

560
00:45:24,340 --> 00:45:26,620
as we would proclaim you this season.

561
00:45:26,740 --> 00:45:27,480
In Jesus' name.

562
00:45:28,020 --> 00:45:29,300
And everybody said, amen.

563
00:45:30,020 --> 00:45:32,160
Hey, the prayer team's going to be over here to my right.

564
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:34,300
Please, come be prayed for.

565
00:45:34,380 --> 00:45:38,020
If you've got some heavies going on in your life, know that the Lord hears you.