God WITH Us In the Past

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- Well, good morning.

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I said good morning.

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There you are.

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If you're joining us on live stream,

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we wish you were here,

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but I'm glad that you're joining us nonetheless.

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A few things as you guys are coming

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and giving this morning.

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First of all, just something noteworthy.

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Josh McCloud, where are you?

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Oh, he's coming.

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Come here real fast.

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I'm putting him on the spot.

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I'd like you one minute.

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I just want you to share what you shared a few moments ago.

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I think it's predominant today's 20 years.

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Come here, come here.

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- Sure.

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This is a place that produces exponential kingdom

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and that's just what it is.

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The kingdom of God is without end

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and of his kingdom there will be no end.

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So this is a super significant day for me.

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20 years ago today, I stood on this stage

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as the first day of Watermelon Ministries.

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And that significant, the 20 year mark is to me

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is probably the most significant mark

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because I learned that it takes an oak tree 20 years

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to create from one acorn to produce another acorn

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takes 20 years.

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And we often in ministry, we think like,

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why isn't this like what happened?

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It's three years, like it's five years, it's 10 years.

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Why this struggle?

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But when God creates something

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that's going to multiply greatly,

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he often has to season for a long season.

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And so this is the 20th year of Watermelon

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and so I'm grateful to this church.

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You have been exponentially kind to my family

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and that has allowed us to be exponentially kind

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to the world.

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I mean, Instruments of Joy was started

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because of Watermelon Ministries,

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1400 musicians in 71 countries

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given a quality musical instrument in Jesus name.

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Picture the Nations was started

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because of Watermelon Ministries,

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like more than 10 nations represented

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by the beauty of their people

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instead of the stigma of their poverty.

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We had a gallery at the National Airport this year.

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Countless sermons and teachings and leaders equipped,

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but it would not have happened without this congregation.

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And I just, I'm super excited about the next 20 years.

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So thanks brother.

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- Amen.

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Joshua would be happy to meet you

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and tell you about his ministry after the gathering.

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They don't harvest watermelons

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for those who have not been with us for 20 years,

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but he's got a real powerful ministry.

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He'd love to tell you about it.

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A couple other things.

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Next Sunday is gonna look a little different here.

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Next Sunday, we're gonna have

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our Springhouse Christmas party

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and we're excited about that.

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So here's what's going on next Sunday.

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At nine o'clock, for those of you who want to come

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and be a part of worship in the word,

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we're gonna have a nine o'clock gathering.

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It's gonna be the 12 Sunday school class moved in here.

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We're gonna have worship in the word.

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And then during this gathering at 1030,

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we're going to have a special guest

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who's going to be with us,

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followed by a Christmas party between the hours of 12 and two.

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We're gonna feed you.

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We've got games, a rock climb.

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We've got a candy bar, candy bar, candy bar.

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It's gonna be great and delicious and all of the things.

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We want you to come and be a part of that.

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Bring a friend next week.

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We're gonna celebrate the Lord

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and celebrate our community together.

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Does that sound good?

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All right, and then mark your calendars.

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December 20th is our 37th annual Carols by Candlelight.

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And we want you to be a part of it.

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I have kind of gotten a glimpse or heard a couple of things

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that are happening in there

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that's gonna make this one super special.

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Make plans to be here.

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Bring family, bring friends.

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It really sets the tone as you're leaning into the week

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for Christmas Day.

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Speaking of Christmas, things have changed around here.

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And we are into our Advent series, God with us.

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Emphasis on the word with

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because the miracle is that He is with us.

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So we're doing a three-week series today.

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We're gonna talk about God with us in the past

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leading up to His birth.

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The next message will be God with us in the waiting,

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in the present waiting.

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And our last message of the series will be God with us

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as He's gonna come back and get us.

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And we're gonna be with Him for all eternity, amen?

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Today, bringing our first message in the series

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is Pastor Justin, would you please welcome him?

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(congregation applauding)

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Hey, all right.

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I was gonna say something and then this messed me up.

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So that's totally, oh, I know what I was gonna say.

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Hey, a couple of weeks ago, I preached a sermon

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and it was a closeout series for the church.

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And I preached a sermon called Wake Up

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and I shared about how Paul preached all night long

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and a guy fell asleep and he fell out of the window

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and the guy got resurrected and then they went back upstairs

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and he kept talking because Paul had a lot to say.

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I got a lot to say this morning.

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So prepare your heart now.

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If it hits 1201 and I'm not done, Paul went all night.

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I promise I won't keep you here too long,

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but I feel like that God has a word for us

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as we prepare in this waiting season.

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So just go ahead and prepare your heart

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if we run long this morning, amen?

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Amen.

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If you're able, go ahead and stand

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and we'll get into the scriptures.

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We're gonna read one passage.

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This is out of Isaiah chapter seven.

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Okay, here we go.

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Are we ready?

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Read with me.

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Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign.

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Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son

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and shall call his name, Emmanuel.

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Father, we thank you so much for this day

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that you've given us.

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We thank you for the many blessings you poured out on us.

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God, we ask that you would be with us now,

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that your anointing would rest on me,

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that our hearts would be open to an encounter

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with your Holy Spirit,

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and that we would see what you want us to see,

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hear what you want us to hear,

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and we'd be changed and transformed more

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into the image of your son Jesus

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through the power of the Holy Ghost.

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It's in Christ's name I pray, amen and amen.

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Did you need something for me, brother?

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You need a pack?

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You need to make sure it's on.

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Golly, wouldn't that be something?

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It was off, now it's back on.

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Hey, can you hear me?

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Look, see how they blame me for that?

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It's like, it's your fault.

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It's been in your pocket for two hours.

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You know what, life's like that sometimes, right?

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You just gotta own it.

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And part of humility is saying,

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yeah, it was my bad, I was wrong,

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and being able to accept it and move on, amen.

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That was free, it's not in the notes.

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Here we are, folks, it's December, okay?

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It's the first week of Advent.

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So what is Advent?

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And why do we observe it?

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Well, the Bible doesn't say anything specifically

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about observing the tradition of Advent.

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This tradition has existed within the global church

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for centuries.

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In fact, this tradition can be dated as far back as 380 AD

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to the Council of Saragossa,

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and that is a council that met in Saragossa, Spain.

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Advent means the arrival of a notable person

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thing or event.

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I hit it twice.

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Look, see, this is me messing this up, ain't it?

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Here we go.

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Advent is the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.

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The word Advent means coming.

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It means coming.

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So the tradition of Advent is waiting

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for the Messiah to arrive,

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and this has been an integral part of the lives

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of God followers for thousands of years.

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Our early brothers and sisters were waiting

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on the Messiah to come,

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and then He came,

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and now we are waiting for the Messiah to come back.

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The earth is in this perpetual state of waiting on the King.

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Since the very first prophecy,

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waiting has been the faith-defining hallmark

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of patience and hopefulness in God's people.

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For us, we wait not on His coming, but His return,

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and what a glorious and terrifying day that will be.

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It will be glorious for those who are prepared

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for their King to come back and get them.

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It will be terrifying for those who have fallen asleep

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and are not ready when the King comes back.

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Keep your lamps burning.

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But we, mankind, humanity,

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haven't always been waiting and watching.

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In fact, there was a time in history

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where man communed with God in a perfect and harmonious state.

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I wanna let you guys know

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that man was created for a purpose.

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Man was not created and then given a purpose.

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Man was created for purpose.

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Everything that has ever been created and made

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was created for a reason.

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Created for a reason.

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You don't just make something and then give it a purpose.

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It's made for a purpose.

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That chair was made for a reason.

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Could be several reasons,

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but mankind was created for purpose on purpose.

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Adam was created as a regent of planet earth

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and a member of God's cosmic family.

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He was made to rule and to fellowship with the family.

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He was made to rule and to fellowship with the family.

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Genesis chapter two says,

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"When no bush of the field was yet in the land

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"and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up,

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"for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land,

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"and there was no man to work the ground.

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"And a mist was going up from the land

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"and was watering the whole face of the ground.

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"Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground

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"and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

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"And the man became a living creature.

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"And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east

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"and there he put the man whom he had formed."

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The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden

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to work it and to keep it.

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And the Lord God commanded the man saying,

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"You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,

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"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,

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"you shall not eat for the day that you eat of it,

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"you shall surely die."

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Then the Lord God said,

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"It is not good that the man should be alone.

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"I will make him a helper fit for him."

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Now out of the ground,

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the Lord God had formed every beast of the field

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and every bird of the heavens

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and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.

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And whatever the man called every living creature,

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that was its name.

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The man gave names to all livestock

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and to the birds of the heavens, to every beast of the field

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but for Adam, there was not a helper found

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that found a helper fit for him.

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So the Lord God caused the deep sleep to fall upon the man.

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And while he slept, took one of his ribs

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and closed up its place with flesh.

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And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man,

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he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

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Then the man said,

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"This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

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"She shall be called woman

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"because she was taken out of man.

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"Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother

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"and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.

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"And the man and his wife were both naked

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"and they were not ashamed."

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They were not ashamed.

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Mankind communes with their maker

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who walked among the trees in the cool of the day in Eden.

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The word Eden actually means delight.

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This is emblematic of the father's house

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and represents the fellowship of the divine family.

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There was, God had created the earth

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and he didn't have a man in place to tend it and keep it.

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He created a man.

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He realized it's not good that this guy's out here

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all by himself.

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So let's find him a helper.

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He brings all of the animals, all of creation

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and not a suitable helper was found for him.

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So he took one of his ribs and made a woman for him.

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Adam said, "At last, you've brought all these things

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"before me that were not suitable helpers.

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"And at last, you found me someone who can help me

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"that is suitable for this task that you have given us

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"to rule and subdue the earth and commune with you."

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And so what did God do?

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He created a family and he placed him in Eden.

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The man was made in the wild and placed in Eden.

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So parents and little boys, when they act wild, this is why.

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They were made out in the wild.

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And we come alive in the wild, we're like,

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"Let's go outside and do something."

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What? It doesn't matter what we're doing.

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Let's get out there.

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And then for me, I got a jestling and you know,

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and she's just as wild.

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I'm like, "This is not how it's supposed to be.

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"You're supposed to go to the garden."

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And, but God placed man and his wife in the garden.

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Why?

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That has very symbolic meaning.

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That was the place where God communed with his family.

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He said, "Outside of this garden,

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"it's wild and it needs to be tamed and subdued,

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"but inside of this garden, there's peace and tranquility.

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"And this is where I'm gonna meet with you

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"in the cool of the day.

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"I'm gonna meet with my family.

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"We're gonna spend time together.

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"We're gonna have a relationship.

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"You've got work to do out there,

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"but in here you get to rest in my presence

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"and we get to hang out."

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There's work to do and rest is holy.

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And God made them both for the man and his wife.

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Mountains and gardens are very symbolic in scriptures.

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Eden, Paradise, the Father's house, these are all synonymous.

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In ancient Near Eastern culture,

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a lot of kings would create these elaborate gardens

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where they would bring their family

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and they would bring loved ones in

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to that special place that they were reserved.

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You ever heard of the hanging gardens of Babylon?

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These were gardens created inside of temples and palaces.

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Okay, they were very important.

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Not only was Adam created to rule the planet,

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but he was created to enjoy the fellowship

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with his father as one of his sons.

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Adam was created to enjoy fellowship with the father.

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Are you hearing me?

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He wasn't created just to rule as a regent,

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rule the planet, subdue the earth.

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He was created to have fellowship with his father.

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God is our father and he desires to commune

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with his sons and daughters.

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And there's three important things I want you to know

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about fatherhood that we can see very early on

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right here in this passage.

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Fatherhood means access.

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Fatherhood means access.

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Adam and Eve had access to God.

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He was accessible to them.

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Fatherhood means acceptance.

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Did you notice they were welcomed in his presence?

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The scripture says they were naked

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and they were not ashamed.

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They were not ashamed and they were naked.

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Why?

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Because I'm just being who you created me to be.

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Anytime you start walking in who God created you to be,

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you're free.

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You're not held down by expectations

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or unmet qualifications that someone or somebody else

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or even yourself have put on you.

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A lot of the expectations we put that are put on us

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are put on us by ourselves, not by God.

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And you're not living up to them

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so you feel some sense of failure and disappointment

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when God's like, listen, you're accepted in my presence.

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There are things that are not acceptable in your life,

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but you are accepted in my presence.

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Are you hearing me?

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So when you're accepted in his presence,

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he begins to work on those things

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that are not acceptable in his presence.

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But that's not you.

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You understand what I'm saying?

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You can only get that around your father.

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Also fatherhood means attention.

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When they fail, who went looking for who?

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Who went looking for who?

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If you don't know, you'll find out in about 30 seconds.

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It's the next passage.

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Okay, you can read three chapters of the Bible

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before you get, you know, move on, okay?

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He went looking for them.

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He said, Adam, where you at?

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When our shame and sin comes in,

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most of the time we want to run and hide

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and who goes looking for who?

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God says, hey, where you at, Cole?

Speaker: 00:17:18

I hid, I was afraid, I was ashamed.

Speaker: 00:17:20

I'm right here.

Speaker: 00:17:23

God, what if I do this same thing again?

Speaker: 00:17:25

I'll still be here.

Speaker: 00:17:27

I'm still coming and looking for you.

Speaker: 00:17:30

Why?

Speaker: 00:17:30

Because you have access to me.

Speaker: 00:17:32

You have acceptance in my presence

Speaker: 00:17:34

and you have my attention.

Speaker: 00:17:36

Why?

Speaker: 00:17:36

Because you are sons and daughters.

Speaker: 00:17:39

He created a family.

Speaker: 00:17:42

He didn't just create workers to do stuff for him.

Speaker: 00:17:45

He created a family.

Speaker: 00:17:47

And this early revelation of the Lord

Speaker: 00:17:51

is one of the most foundational for us as believers.

Speaker: 00:17:54

And we can trace this throughout scripture.

Speaker: 00:17:56

If we can just get this, that God is a good Father,

Speaker: 00:18:01

then a lot of other things will work themselves out.

Speaker: 00:18:04

Well, so what happened?

Speaker: 00:18:06

So if they've got this, they've got a great thing going,

Speaker: 00:18:09

they've got a good job, okay?

Speaker: 00:18:12

They're experiencing fellowship with each other

Speaker: 00:18:15

and with God in the garden,

Speaker: 00:18:17

walking among the trees in the cool of the day.

Speaker: 00:18:21

They have intimacy and fellowship.

Speaker: 00:18:22

They got a really good thing going.

Speaker: 00:18:25

There's birds flying, nobody's killing nobody, right?

Speaker: 00:18:29

They hadn't.

Speaker: 00:18:30

So what happened?

Speaker: 00:18:34

Our first parents were deceived

Speaker: 00:18:36

by the serpent and the haush.

Speaker: 00:18:38

And as a result, fellowship and communion with the Father.

Speaker: 00:18:42

Took a hit.

Speaker: 00:18:43

This is Genesis three.

Speaker: 00:18:46

Now, now, this is right after what we've just read

Speaker: 00:18:50

in Genesis two, where they were naked

Speaker: 00:18:53

and they were not ashamed.

Speaker: 00:18:54

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast

Speaker: 00:18:58

of the field that the Lord God had made.

Speaker: 00:19:00

He said to the woman, "Did God actually say,

Speaker: 00:19:03

"you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?"

Speaker: 00:19:10

This thing is, I'm about to go to the scriptures.

Speaker: 00:19:14

Genesis three, it's three pages in, here we go guys.

Speaker: 00:19:20

So why about you knew it wasn't gonna take too long, okay?

Speaker: 00:19:22

Listen, it's not on them.

Speaker: 00:19:24

They've had some technical difficulties as well.

Speaker: 00:19:25

If it's up here, it's up there.

Speaker: 00:19:26

If it's not, it's not.

Speaker: 00:19:27

Here we go, just listen along.

Speaker: 00:19:29

Now the serpent was more crafty

Speaker: 00:19:31

than any other beast of the field that the Lord had made.

Speaker: 00:19:35

He said to the woman, "Did God actually say,

Speaker: 00:19:37

"you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?"

Speaker: 00:19:41

And the woman said to the serpent,

Speaker: 00:19:42

"We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,

Speaker: 00:19:44

"but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree

Speaker: 00:19:47

"that is in the midst of the garden.

Speaker: 00:19:49

"Neither shall you touch it, lest you die."

Speaker: 00:19:52

But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.

Speaker: 00:19:56

"For God knows that when you eat of it,

Speaker: 00:19:58

"your eyes will be opened

Speaker: 00:20:00

"and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Speaker: 00:20:03

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,

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that it was a delight to the eyes

Speaker: 00:20:07

and the tree was desired to make one wise,

Speaker: 00:20:09

she took of its fruit and ate.

Speaker: 00:20:11

She also gave some to her husband who was with her

Speaker: 00:20:13

and he ate.

Speaker: 00:20:14

Then the eyes of both were opened

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and they knew that they were naked

Speaker: 00:20:20

and they sewed fig leaves together

Speaker: 00:20:22

and made themselves loincloths.

Speaker: 00:20:25

Then in Genesis 3 14, it says,

Speaker: 00:20:30

and I'm just gonna keep reading, Genesis 8.

Speaker: 00:20:33

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking

Speaker: 00:20:35

in the garden in the cool of the day

Speaker: 00:20:36

and the man and his wife hid themselves

Speaker: 00:20:38

in the presence of the Lord God

Speaker: 00:20:39

among the trees of the garden.

Speaker: 00:20:41

But the Lord called to the man and said to him,

Speaker: 00:20:43

"Where are you?

Speaker: 00:20:44

"Where are you?"

Speaker: 00:20:46

That's obviously a rhetorical question.

Speaker: 00:20:50

We're talking about the creator of the universe,

Speaker: 00:20:52

maker of heaven and earth, asking Adam, "Where are you at?"

Speaker: 00:20:56

I know everywhere my kids hide.

Speaker: 00:20:59

I didn't realize until last year

Speaker: 00:21:03

that my parents knew exactly everything I was doing.

Speaker: 00:21:06

I thought I was smarter than them.

Speaker: 00:21:08

And we got the first dad and the first son on earth, okay,

Speaker: 00:21:13

hiding from God, hiding from him.

Speaker: 00:21:18

He said, "Where are you?"

Speaker: 00:21:21

And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden

Speaker: 00:21:23

"and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself."

Speaker: 00:21:27

He said, "Who told you that you were naked?

Speaker: 00:21:30

"Who told you?

Speaker: 00:21:31

"Have you eaten of the tree

Speaker: 00:21:33

"of which I commanded you not to eat?"

Speaker: 00:21:35

The man said, "What?"

Speaker: 00:21:36

So dumb.

Speaker: 00:21:42

And if you listen, he didn't even blame her, he blames God.

Speaker: 00:21:46

He blames God, look at his back up there.

Speaker: 00:21:48

He said, "The woman you gave me to be with me,

Speaker: 00:21:56

"she gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate.

Speaker: 00:21:58

"Then the Lord God said to the woman,

Speaker: 00:22:00

"what is this that you have done?

Speaker: 00:22:01

"The woman said, well, the serpent deceived me and I ate.

Speaker: 00:22:04

"The Lord God said to the serpent,

Speaker: 00:22:06

"because you have done this,

Speaker: 00:22:08

"cursed are you above all livestock

Speaker: 00:22:10

"and above all beasts of the field.

Speaker: 00:22:12

"On your belly you shall go

Speaker: 00:22:13

"and eat dust all the days of your life.

Speaker: 00:22:16

"I will put enmity,"

Speaker: 00:22:18

this is the very first prophecy of the coming king.

Speaker: 00:22:21

This is the very first prophecy we see

Speaker: 00:22:24

concerning the Messiah in scripture.

Speaker: 00:22:27

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

Speaker: 00:22:31

between your offspring and her offspring.

Speaker: 00:22:34

And he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

Speaker: 00:22:39

The virgin birth is actually predicted in this.

Speaker: 00:22:42

There are some translations that say the seed of the woman,

Speaker: 00:22:47

the seed of the woman.

Speaker: 00:22:48

I don't know if you guys understand biology,

Speaker: 00:22:50

but that's not how seed works.

Speaker: 00:22:52

That's not how seed works.

Speaker: 00:22:55

So if you have a divine father and a human mother,

Speaker: 00:23:02

you would have the seed of the woman.

Speaker: 00:23:03

And I wanna tell you something even crazier than that.

Speaker: 00:23:06

When the baby is in the mother's womb,

Speaker: 00:23:09

the baby's blood and the mother's blood don't mix together.

Speaker: 00:23:12

They don't.

Speaker: 00:23:15

So now you have a baby whose blood is not mixed

Speaker: 00:23:19

with his mother with no biological earthly father.

Speaker: 00:23:23

His blood is completely divine.

Speaker: 00:23:25

It's completely divine.

Speaker: 00:23:32

Then he says in verse 24, is this working again?

Speaker: 00:23:35

I don't know today.

Speaker: 00:23:37

We're just gonna, oh, praise the Lord.

Speaker: 00:23:39

"He drove out the man,

Speaker: 00:23:42

"and at the east of the garden of Eden,

Speaker: 00:23:43

"he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword

Speaker: 00:23:45

"that turned every way to guard the way

Speaker: 00:23:48

"to the tree of life.

Speaker: 00:23:50

"Paradise had been lost along with access

Speaker: 00:23:53

"to the father's house."

Speaker: 00:23:54

Paradise had been lost along with access

Speaker: 00:23:59

to the father's house.

Speaker: 00:24:01

But God in his sovereignty provided a way back to the house.

Speaker: 00:24:06

And unfortunately, it would require

Speaker: 00:24:08

a cosmic level sacrifice, incredible long suffering,

Speaker: 00:24:12

and patience for the plan to unfold.

Speaker: 00:24:15

And this is where we get into prophecy.

Speaker: 00:24:17

So why prophecy?

Speaker: 00:24:18

Why prophecy?

Speaker: 00:24:20

Well, I don't claim to know God's reasons for prophecy.

Speaker: 00:24:23

But we can extrapolate some reasons

Speaker: 00:24:30

that I believe the text revealed to us.

Speaker: 00:24:33

So these are some reasons,

Speaker: 00:24:35

but they may not be God's specific reasons for prophecy,

Speaker: 00:24:40

but they're here.

Speaker: 00:24:41

The first one I believe is,

Speaker: 00:24:44

I believe God uses prophecy for this reason.

Speaker: 00:24:48

God's plans are often veiled and nuanced.

Speaker: 00:24:50

God's plans are often veiled and nuanced.

Speaker: 00:24:54

How many in this room, believers, have ever prayed,

Speaker: 00:24:58

God, what is your will for my life?

Speaker: 00:25:00

Seven of y'all, the rest of y'all need to get to praying.

Speaker: 00:25:04

What a joke, only seven of us wanna know

Speaker: 00:25:08

what God's will for our life is.

Speaker: 00:25:10

Okay, you seven guys.

Speaker: 00:25:14

Most of the time what we're saying is

Speaker: 00:25:20

when we ask God for his will,

Speaker: 00:25:22

God, tell me your will for my life,

Speaker: 00:25:24

we really wanna know what's the plan.

Speaker: 00:25:26

God, I just need to know the plan.

Speaker: 00:25:28

And sometimes it's from selfish reasons,

Speaker: 00:25:30

sometimes it's a control thing.

Speaker: 00:25:32

Sometimes we wanna know what the plan is

Speaker: 00:25:34

so we can start figuring it out

Speaker: 00:25:35

and how we can get there quicker

Speaker: 00:25:37

or how we can completely avoid it.

Speaker: 00:25:39

Depending on which way your life is gonna go,

Speaker: 00:25:41

you're like, I don't wanna do that.

Speaker: 00:25:42

Don't wanna do that.

Speaker: 00:25:45

That one involves sacrifice.

Speaker: 00:25:49

My two oldest kids just moved out.

Speaker: 00:25:54

I've got one and a half 'cause we got split custody.

Speaker: 00:25:57

It's quiet around here.

Speaker: 00:25:59

Well, how about you take four more?

Speaker: 00:26:02

If you guys don't know, I'm in the process

Speaker: 00:26:09

of adopting four kids out of foster care.

Speaker: 00:26:11

There's some new people there, it's not a pat on the back.

Speaker: 00:26:13

I'm just saying I had it figured out and God was like,

Speaker: 00:26:16

well, I'm not gonna tell you all the steps of the plan,

Speaker: 00:26:18

I'm just gonna tell you follow me

Speaker: 00:26:19

and trust me in the process.

Speaker: 00:26:21

And he kept giving me breadcrumbs along the way, okay?

Speaker: 00:26:25

I didn't wanna know the plan

Speaker: 00:26:26

not so I could control it.

Speaker: 00:26:29

But sometimes we don't know where the plan

Speaker: 00:26:30

so we can avoid it.

Speaker: 00:26:32

So I can avoid it.

Speaker: 00:26:35

God's plans are often veiled and nuanced.

Speaker: 00:26:41

Here's further proof.

Speaker: 00:26:42

If he had come out, if he had come right out with it

Speaker: 00:26:46

and said, here's the plan,

Speaker: 00:26:47

here's how I'm gonna destroy you Satan.

Speaker: 00:26:50

Here's how it's all gonna go down.

Speaker: 00:26:52

Then all the forces of darkness

Speaker: 00:26:53

would have been converged at ground zero.

Speaker: 00:26:55

Yahweh gives him a glance of how he's gonna do it.

Speaker: 00:26:58

He said, the seed of the woman is what's gonna be used

Speaker: 00:27:01

to destroy you ultimately.

Speaker: 00:27:03

He gave him a hint, a micro hint

Speaker: 00:27:06

and just a few chapters later,

Speaker: 00:27:09

there's a plan in full effect to corrupt the genome

Speaker: 00:27:12

and the bloodline of the Christ

Speaker: 00:27:13

by the Genesis six incursion.

Speaker: 00:27:15

Just three chapters later, he's like,

Speaker: 00:27:16

well, I'll just corrupt all of the blood of mankind.

Speaker: 00:27:22

Example number two of why prophecy.

Speaker: 00:27:27

Prophecies are clues for those who are looking.

Speaker: 00:27:31

So listening to something by Mike Winger a few days ago,

Speaker: 00:27:35

how many people in here have ever seen the Karate Kid?

Speaker: 00:27:39

More than first gathering.

Speaker: 00:27:40

There was two people in first gathering.

Speaker: 00:27:42

I thought to myself,

Speaker: 00:27:43

whoa, this is gonna take a lot longer than,

Speaker: 00:27:45

if you've never seen a Karate Kid, okay.

Speaker: 00:27:47

There is a Karate Master, his name is Mr. Miyagi

Speaker: 00:27:51

and there is a student, his name is Daniel's son

Speaker: 00:27:54

and Daniel wants to learn karate.

Speaker: 00:27:56

He wants to get the Cobra Kai bullies off his back

Speaker: 00:27:59

and Mr. Miyagi is a Karate Master

Speaker: 00:28:03

and he asked Miyagi to train him and Miyagi says, no,

Speaker: 00:28:06

but instead you can help me paint my fence.

Speaker: 00:28:11

And so he teaches Daniel how to paint his fence

Speaker: 00:28:13

and nobody paints a fence like this.

Speaker: 00:28:15

Look, if you come to my house and you're painting like this,

Speaker: 00:28:17

you're leaving immediately.

Speaker: 00:28:18

You're immediately leaving.

Speaker: 00:28:19

This is not how you paint teenagers.

Speaker: 00:28:22

Y'all go on these mission trips

Speaker: 00:28:23

and paint these children's homes

Speaker: 00:28:24

and they're over there like this, right?

Speaker: 00:28:26

Okay, so he teaches him to paint

Speaker: 00:28:28

and he has him painting like this and painting like this.

Speaker: 00:28:32

And then he's like, hey, Miyagi, can you teach me karate?

Speaker: 00:28:36

He's like, absolutely not,

Speaker: 00:28:37

but you can help me wax my cars.

Speaker: 00:28:39

He's telling me, you gotta do it like this.

Speaker: 00:28:41

You gotta wax on and you gotta wax off, okay?

Speaker: 00:28:44

And then he's like, you gotta wax on, you gotta wax off.

Speaker: 00:28:46

You gotta wax on and wax off.

Speaker: 00:28:48

So Daniel gets fed up with this

Speaker: 00:28:50

and he goes to confront Miyagi, the karate master, right?

Speaker: 00:28:54

He starts yelling at him, "Dad, come to Miyagi.

Speaker: 00:28:56

You said you were gonna teach me karate."

Speaker: 00:28:58

And Miyagi doesn't even say that.

Speaker: 00:28:59

He just starts attacking him.

Speaker: 00:29:00

He starts punching at him.

Speaker: 00:29:01

And Daniel's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop trying to fight me.

Speaker: 00:29:06

What are you doing, right?

Speaker: 00:29:07

And he starts, you know the movie.

Speaker: 00:29:09

You know exactly what I'm talking about

Speaker: 00:29:12

'cause he had been learning karate the whole time

Speaker: 00:29:15

and didn't even know it.

Speaker: 00:29:17

Why did I just tell you that?

Speaker: 00:29:18

Why did I just tell you that?

Speaker: 00:29:21

Prophecies exist as a way to teach us before we need it

Speaker: 00:29:28

so we recognize it when we see it.

Speaker: 00:29:30

There were so many, there were so many

Speaker: 00:29:37

that when Jesus finally came, they said,

Speaker: 00:29:40

"That's him," right?

Speaker: 00:29:45

When he picked his disciples,

Speaker: 00:29:46

they went and told their brothers, they said,

Speaker: 00:29:47

"Come, find the one, this is the one we finally found him,

Speaker: 00:29:50

the one that the scriptures have been telling us about,

Speaker: 00:29:53

the one that our parents have been telling us about,

Speaker: 00:29:55

the one that our ancestors told stories

Speaker: 00:29:58

around the campfire.

Speaker: 00:29:59

He's finally here."

Speaker: 00:30:01

How did they know?

Speaker: 00:30:04

Because for centuries,

Speaker: 00:30:05

they were passing down these prophecies, these specifics.

Speaker: 00:30:09

Here's what it's gonna look like.

Speaker: 00:30:10

Here's what he's gonna look like.

Speaker: 00:30:12

Here's exactly where he's gonna be born.

Speaker: 00:30:13

Here's some of the things he's gonna do.

Speaker: 00:30:15

Here's some of the things he's gonna say.

Speaker: 00:30:16

Here's who's gonna proceed him.

Speaker: 00:30:18

Here's how this is all gonna look.

Speaker: 00:30:19

Here's how it's gonna all work out.

Speaker: 00:30:21

But he veiled it and nuanced it in scriptures

Speaker: 00:30:24

where you think he's talking to somebody,

Speaker: 00:30:26

but he's really talking to someone else.

Speaker: 00:30:28

Are you following me?

Speaker: 00:30:30

And they're learning karate the whole time

Speaker: 00:30:32

and don't even know it.

Speaker: 00:30:34

Scholars estimate, this is a weird number,

Speaker: 00:30:41

that Jesus fulfilled between 300 and 500

Speaker: 00:30:45

and something prophecies.

Speaker: 00:30:47

Now, why the discrepancy?

Speaker: 00:30:49

Well, you gotta take into account,

Speaker: 00:30:51

there are double prophecies in scripture.

Speaker: 00:30:53

So for example, when someone in the New Testament

Speaker: 00:30:58

is citing an Old Testament prophecy, that counts as two.

Speaker: 00:31:03

You see what I'm saying?

Speaker: 00:31:04

So it's not like he may have done 300, he may have done 500.

Speaker: 00:31:08

It depends on how many nuances and actual double countings

Speaker: 00:31:12

you're doing, but I'll break it down

Speaker: 00:31:13

a little bit closer for you.

Speaker: 00:31:14

This is statistically impossible for someone to do.

Speaker: 00:31:19

Like there's no odds on how can someone do this?

Speaker: 00:31:23

And here's proof.

Speaker: 00:31:24

The odds of one person fulfilling eight, just eight,

Speaker: 00:31:30

can you say eight?

Speaker: 00:31:31

Of the 60 major messianic prophecies,

Speaker: 00:31:35

the odds of one person fulfilling them

Speaker: 00:31:38

are one in that number.

Speaker: 00:31:41

10 to the 17th power.

Speaker: 00:31:46

It's actually called a quadrillion, sounds made up.

Speaker: 00:31:50

I think they did make that up.

Speaker: 00:31:51

Well, obviously somebody made it up.

Speaker: 00:31:53

Who's the villain on awesome powers?

Speaker: 00:31:57

One quadrillion.

Speaker: 00:31:59

If you don't understand, like if you can look at that number

Speaker: 00:32:03

you're like, I don't even know,

Speaker: 00:32:04

that doesn't make sense to me.

Speaker: 00:32:05

Let me try to break it down a little further.

Speaker: 00:32:07

You take one quarter, quarter, 25 cent piece,

Speaker: 00:32:10

American currency, and you write Jesus

Speaker: 00:32:13

with a Sharpie on it, okay?

Speaker: 00:32:15

And you put it in a pile.

Speaker: 00:32:17

And this pile is quarters laid side by side,

Speaker: 00:32:20

two feet deep over the entire state of Texas.

Speaker: 00:32:24

Are you tracking?

Speaker: 00:32:26

That's that number.

Speaker: 00:32:27

Ask one person to put on a blindfold

Speaker: 00:32:30

and just pick that quarter out.

Speaker: 00:32:31

That is the odds of one person fulfilling eight, say eight.

Speaker: 00:32:35

And he fulfilled every single one.

Speaker: 00:32:39

Every single prophecy concerning the Messiah

Speaker: 00:32:45

was proven true in Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:32:48

And that's eight, that's the odds of eight.

Speaker: 00:32:51

Don't shoot me guys.

Speaker: 00:32:53

That's the odds of eight.

Speaker: 00:32:56

So what are some of the prophecies concerning Jesus?

Speaker: 00:33:01

It says he will be born in Bethlehem.

Speaker: 00:33:06

But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah,

Speaker: 00:33:10

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

Speaker: 00:33:12

from you shall come forth from me,

Speaker: 00:33:15

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

Speaker: 00:33:17

whose coming forth is from days of old,

Speaker: 00:33:20

from ancient days.

Speaker: 00:33:21

Isaiah says he be preceded by a messenger.

Speaker: 00:33:25

Isaiah 40, verse three.

Speaker: 00:33:26

It says,

Speaker: 00:33:29

please work.

Speaker: 00:33:32

Flipping, here we go.

Speaker: 00:33:36

There it is, you guys know, listen.

Speaker: 00:33:39

It's gonna take me a little longer.

Speaker: 00:33:40

If you don't hear them right spaces, pages turning,

Speaker: 00:33:42

you don't know what are you even doing?

Speaker: 00:33:43

Here we go, all right.

Speaker: 00:33:44

Your word I have hid in my heart

Speaker: 00:33:49

that I might not sin against you, right?

Speaker: 00:33:51

If you're just relying on the screen,

Speaker: 00:33:57

or if you don't have access to the book,

Speaker: 00:34:00

where is the word?

Speaker: 00:34:01

Where is the word?

Speaker: 00:34:05

Do you even know there are prophecies concerning Jesus?

Speaker: 00:34:09

Do we even know what the word says about him?

Speaker: 00:34:12

Are we reliant on external sources to tell us?

Speaker: 00:34:17

Parents, it is your responsibility

Speaker: 00:34:20

to tell these to your children,

Speaker: 00:34:21

and their children, and their children,

Speaker: 00:34:23

until you pass from here and cross over Jordan,

Speaker: 00:34:26

and then it's their responsibility

Speaker: 00:34:27

to carry this on into the coming of our King

Speaker: 00:34:30

so that they are ready.

Speaker: 00:34:31

A voice cries in the wilderness,

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prepare the way of the Lord.

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Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

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John the Baptist fulfilled that, he even said it.

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I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness,

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prepare the way of the, he literally quoted it.

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Second Ryan nine, he went into Jerusalem on a donkey.

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Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion,

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shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem.

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Behold your King, your King is coming to you,

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righteous and having salvation as he,

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humbled and mounted on a donkey on a colt,

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the foal of a donkey.

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He was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.

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Then I said to them, if it seems good to you,

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give me my wages, but if not, keep them.

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And they weighed out as my wages 30 pieces of silver.

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Then the Lord said to me, throw it to the potter,

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the lordly price at which I was priced by them.

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So I took the 30 pieces of silver

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and threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter.

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How many pieces of silver did Jesus betray Jesus for?

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All right, and then what did he do?

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He felt bad, went back, threw it back at him,

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threw all the silver back in there.

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This was written a long time before that happened.

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And there's so many more, there's so many more.

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He was hated without cause.

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He was silent before his accusers.

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He was executed by crucifixion.

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And this one gets me because at any point in time,

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the Messiah could have been born.

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But he chose the time period where the most brutal

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and excruciatingly painful and length of time

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of a death that could occur was in that time period.

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He said, I'll come take the most amount of pain

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for the longest amount of time,

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if that's what it takes for my family

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to be restored back to me.

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God said, I don't care how long it takes,

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I will do whatever it takes,

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whatever it takes to have my family back.

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He was given vinegar to quench his thirst in Psalm 69.

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He was executed as a thief, among thieves.

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Isaiah says, he was raised from the dead.

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And the prophecy which started it all,

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the one to be born of a virgin that we started with,

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Isaiah 7, 14, that says this,

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"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign,

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"behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son

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"and shall call his name, Emmanuel."

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God with us.

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So much different being on this side of prophecy.

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It's so much different being on this side,

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because we can look at the scriptures,

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we can look at the historical record,

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we can understand that Jesus came

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and he did all of these things.

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He fulfilled these prophecies and promises.

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So what does this teach us about God?

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I just said it, there's no length he won't go to

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in order for his family to be restored.

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There's no length he won't go to

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for his family to not be restored.

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And what does that tell us?

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It tells us that we can trust him.

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He is trustworthy.

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He said, "I'm gonna give you some veiled promises

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"and when they come true, you'll believe me

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"that I am who I said I am,

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"that I'm gonna do what I said I'm gonna do

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"and that I have not forgotten about you."

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Some of us have grown impatient in our waiting.

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Ask me how I know.

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How many of you have gotten on your phone

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while you're waiting on whoever's at the restaurant

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waiting to come back from the bathroom?

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Can you wait two minutes?

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Get impatient at a convenient drive-through.

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You don't have to buy coffee out, you know that, right?

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Let me let that settle for a second for you.

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This pool of water I've created here.

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Some of us have grown impatient, does he even see me?

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Has he forgotten me?

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No, God has not forgotten you.

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These promises and prophecies teach us

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and invite us to trust him and to trust his plan.

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We're being restored back to the family.

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Isaiah 41 is a promise that he was with us

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even now as we wait for his return.

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Isaiah 41, eight through 10 says this,

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"But you Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen,

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"the offspring of Abraham, my friend,

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"you whom I took from the ends of the earth

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"and called from its farthest corners,

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"saying to you, 'You are my servant, I have chosen you,'

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"and not cast you off.

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"Fear not, for I am with you.

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"Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

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"I will strengthen you.

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"I will help you.

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"I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

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God was with them as they looked for redemption

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and redemption has come, his name is Jesus.

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Emmanuel, God with us, and God is with us now

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as we wait and we do so with joyful expectation.

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Worship team, you guys can come out.

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It worked out like this.

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I promise you I'm not trying to manipulate you.

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I try to prepare you just the same way

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I tried to prepare the first gathering.

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I told you guys beforehand that it was gonna run long

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and I was gonna go over, right?

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And here we are and we're right on time.

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You were prepared.

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You had prepared your heart to wait for a reason.

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You prepared your hearts to be okay in the waiting

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for however long it took.

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And some of us have grown impatient

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because it's taken 20 years, God.

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Why am I not over that thing?

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Why is it still coming back into my life, God?

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I'm tired.

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Why do I still have to walk through this?

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And we get impatient in our waiting.

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But when you prepare your heart in advance to wait

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for whatever it takes, for however long it takes

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for God to show up and move and you don't stop praying,

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you don't stop looking, you don't stop praising,

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but you're okay in the waiting.

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You're okay in the waiting.

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This is from my devotional today,

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Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth again,

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whether you believe it or not.

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The question is, have we done more to prepare

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for the celebration of a past event

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than we have for a future one?

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We may be all ready for Christmas,

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but are we ready for the return of Christ?

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Spend all this time celebrating the birth

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and the incarnation and we have to.

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That's when God stepped out of eternity

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and into our planet to become with us,

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literally human flesh, took on flesh.

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But are we doing more to prepare for this

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than we are for Him coming back to get me again

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and take me to a place I long for,

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take me back to somewhere I've never been?

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Are you hearing me?

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Take me back to somewhere I've never been

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and I want you to go with me.

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And sometimes it's hard, I lose trust in His plan.

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Sometimes I feel like He's forgotten me

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or He's lost sight of me.

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And then I remember between the end of the Old Testament

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and the beginning of the New, it was 400 years of waiting.

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And I get frustrated waiting two, three, 15, 20.

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So this season, as we enter into this Advent season,

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yes, let us remember the Advent,

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let us remember the Christmas season,

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let us remember that Christ came to be with us,

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but understand that we can trust Him

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even if we don't know the plan.

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We're active in our waiting.

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We ask Him to restore our hope and trust

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as we walk through this season,

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a season of expectant hope and active waiting.

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I'd like the elders and anyone that has been called to pray

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for our people to come on down.

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And if you have a need, what if you have a need?

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What if you're sick in your body?

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You need somebody to anoint you with oil

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and lay hands on you according to the Scriptures

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and believe in you with faith, that's available.

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What if you say, God, I feel like you've forgotten me,

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I'm frustrated, I don't wanna wait on your healing anymore,

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I don't wanna wait anymore on you

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to show up in this situation,

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I'm tired of waiting for this relationship to be fixed.

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Now I'd like you to come.

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Because if these prophecies have shown us anything,

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it's that God can be trusted.

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You don't have to understand everything to trust.

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Part, there's a major faith element that says,

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God, I don't get it, but I'm gonna trust you.

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Not blindly, I've acknowledged the reality

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that I've tried to do this on my own

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or I've went a hundred different ways,

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but at the end of the day, they've all failed.

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'Cause I've failed to realize

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that you're the one in control.

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So if you have any prayer need

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or God has stirred your heart in any way,

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the altars are here for you to come,

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and if not, then let's praise.

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Let's run to the Father

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'cause we have access to the Father now,

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even though we're still looking for that day

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where we get to be in His presence for all eternity, amen.

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So if you have a need, then come.

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And if not, let's worship with our brothers and sisters.