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Jeremiah: The Weeping Prophet

Pastor Kevin the importance of shedding tears for the lost. Learn how distractions, counterfeits, and complacency distance us from true compassion. Don't mistake God's patience for approval—salvation is still within reach.

Scriptures Referenced

Jeremiah 6:14, 9:1, 12:5, 29:11, 29:13, 31:31; Lamentations 3:21-23; Romans 10:13-15; 2 Corinthians 11:14-15; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Revelation 21:4-5

Key Insights

  • How distraction keeps us from caring about the lost
  • The danger of accepting spiritual counterfeits in place of real faith
  • Why shallow faith leads to lukewarm living and missed opportunities
  • Jeremiah’s example of boldness and compassion for a dying world
  • How to respond to God’s call with both urgency and hope

Prayer Targets

Please join us in prayer for:

  • A hunger for the Word.
  • Tears for the lost.
  • Testimonies to share.

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We would love it if you would consider joining us in person for one of our Sunday gatherings.

Gathering Times

  • Sundays, 9:00 AM
  • Sundays, 11:00 AM
  • Thursdays, 6:00 PM

Contact Info

Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167

615-459-3421

Additional Resources

CCLI License 2070006

Transcript
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Pastor Ronnie, if you would come. And there's somebody I want to recognize today.

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This wasn't in the plan, but what do I

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do with the plan? I always. But is. Is

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Ms. DJ in here? She was sitting back there.

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No, she was here. She was. She was. She was here.

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Well, Praise the Lord. D.J. matthews has served in children's

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ministry for 16 years, and here she is.

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Okay. She doesn't have to come down here unless she wants to. Oh,

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you want to come down here? Come on. Come on down here. Okay. Come

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on.

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Ms. DJ has served Children's Ministry for 16 years

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and is stepping down after many years of

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faithfulness to our kids ministry. And I've asked Pastor Ronnie to come and share a

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few thought.

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I. Yeah, I'll give you a hug here.

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I want to say thank you. From. The

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bottom of my heart for what you mean and

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have meant to my family.

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Margaret was here. You were the most faithful person

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she had in the children's ministry.

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And I know that it wasn't easy. I know that there were times when it

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was hard to get the money together for the gas, and there were

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times when the car didn't want to start, and there were times when

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you didn't feel well, but, oh, my goodness,

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she could always count on you. And then

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my little ones. I'm only sad that

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you're doing this because June's not going to get to

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have you as a teacher. But Jack and Bo,

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oh, they would talk about Ms. D.J. all the time. She

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meant so much, so very much to them.

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And, you know, what God rewards

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and what man considers to be, you know,

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big and important, has nothing to do with what God rewards.

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God rewards faithfulness. And

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there's a. When I. When I think of you.

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Kevin asked me as I walked in the church this morning to say

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something, and I said absolutely. The

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first verse that came to mind for me, though. Here.

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Did I leave my phone with you? Michelle.

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Michelle will bring the verse. The first

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verse.

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I know you've not had children of your own,

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but I'm also very confident

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that one of these days on the other

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side, you're going to find out how many children you've got.

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And the verse that came to mind is Isaiah

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21. Then you will say in your heart,

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who has borne me these? I was bereaved

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and barren, but who has brought up these?

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I was left alone. From where have these come?

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They've come from your faithfulness. And there's going to be a

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multitude of young men and young women. I don't know how young

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they'll be. Maybe they'll look old. I don't know. Maybe. But

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they're going to be coming up to you and going, thank you. You really meant

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so much in my life. And I just want you to. Just

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want you to know that. I don't know what, Kevin, I hope he's giving you

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a house or a car or something, but

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that's up to him. But. Yeah,

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I love this woman. She's been faithful. Amen.

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Yeah.

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Well, Stan, let me give you a blessing.

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God is so good. And not just because Hal got a hole

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in one on the golf course yesterday, but

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because he is who he is. God is faithful.

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And, man, I'm just so grateful. Well,

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today's going to be one of those messages, and

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I just pray that your hearts are open today.

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Okay. I'm not going to say what I was thinking to say there. Before

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we get started, I want to remind you we started midweek this past week, and

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if you are not here, you missed a treat. Pastor Barbee opened her series, the

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Eye of the Needle. And really, truly, if you haven't seen it, you can go

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online and watch it. But I invite you to come and be

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a part of it. It was so rich, and it's going to continue to be

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rich. The youth ministry met, children's ministry is up and going. Young

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adults following that. So really, if you have capacity Thursday night, six o', clock,

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come and join us. And then today, we have open tables right after

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service today. So it's. Open tables is an opportunity for you to connect

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with people here in the church. And all you need to do is go to

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the app. You can sign up there for a restaurant. They're listed there. You can

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see Cole. She's right here. And she'll get you pointed in a direction,

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because if it's one thing I know about church folk is we like to eat.

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Okay? So let's do it together. All right? Today we're

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continuing the greatest stories ever told. And we're going to talk about a man

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named Jeremiah who's known as the Weeping Prophet.

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And so we're going to stand today, and you guys are going to read this

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to convince me that you're awake and ready to receive what God has

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for us. Okay? So with gusto. Are we ready? Here we go.

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Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

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How then can they call on the one they have not

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believed in? And how can they believe in the

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one of whom they have not heard? And how can they

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hear without someone preaching to them. And

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how can anyone preach unless they are sent

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as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those

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who bring the good news. And one verse from Jeremiah,

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if you've raced,

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how can you compete with horses? Father, thank you for your

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word. Thank you that it brings life. I pray, Lord, that you would pierce

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our hearts today. And Lord, that you would remove the distractions today

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so that we can lean into the eternal thoughts and purposes of of your

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plan today. We love you and we thank you for this great gift. In Jesus

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name, amen. You may be seated. This morning,

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we're going to talk about Jeremiah today. And one of the main

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reasons I put Jeremiah 12:5 up there, because that's actually a life

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verse of mine. I love

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the book of Jeremiah and I believe that it conveys some real important

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reminders and truths for us. Going to do a little bit of a flyover of

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Jeremiah and get kind of to the crux of what I want to talk about

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and draw from Jeremiah's story,

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Jeremiah's book. But before I do, I've got to give some historical context

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to kind of set up where I want to go. So Israel, the nation

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Israel was really divided up into 12 tribes. And you remember we

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learned about King Saul. The people said, we want a king. And the Lord said,

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all right, I'll give you a king. And he gave them Saul. And Saul actually

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started out as a pretty good king, but he went

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downhill pretty fast. And his son David took over the kingdom and

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then King Solomon. And so these kings ruled The Israelites,

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the 12 tribes, Israel. And then Solomon

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died and his son Rehoboam became king. Now when

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Rehoboam became king, the people went to him and said,

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hey, we want you to lessen the taxes and lessen

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the burden of work you're placing on us that your

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father did. And instead of listening to the people and doing that, he

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listened to some friends of his. And his friends said, no, you should

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multiply the taxes, you should multiply the work, make it harder. And that's what

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he did. And what that did is it caused a division with.

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And what happened is they divided into two different sections.

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The 10 tribes broke away, 10 tribes

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rebelled and broke away and went to

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created the northern kingdom, which was Israel. And two tribes, Judah and

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Benjamin stayed and were the southern kingdom.

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So at this period of time, we've got two the divided

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nation. We have Israel and we have Judah. And this is the makeup of

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the tribes. And Israel in

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the north, as is in keeping with rebellion, Israel in the

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north started to walk away from the Lord started to

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dabble into sin, get into sin, get into false gods, and get

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into some things that they obviously shouldn't have been getting into. But they

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basically walked away from the Lord. Now in the southern kingdom, that's where Jerusalem

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is. And that's where. So they disconnected from everything. They moved away.

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And guess what? What happens when we rebel is we.

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We lend ourselves to destruction. And so in 722 BC, Assyria

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conquers Israel because of their sin.

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Israel is destroyed at this moment. These people are destroyed.

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They're conquered because of their. Because of their

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sin. Sin lends to

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destruction. And the tribes of Judah, the two

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tribes of Judah watched it happen.

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And the reason I wanted to set this historical context is for this

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point right here, the tribes of Judah watched

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Israel be taken over by the Assyrians because of their

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actions. And in the context of today's message,

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I would like to suggest that in our world and the

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people we see and walk alongside every day, I believe that the church

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is watching it happen too. The church

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is watching it happen too.

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So this downfall happens with

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Israel. The two tribes are watching it. And all

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of a sudden what starts happening in Judah is

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that they start to. They start to dabble their toe into some

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sin. They start getting comfortable and complacent and. And they

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start to listen to some false prophets. It wasn't that Judah stopped

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believing in God, but they got real comfortable

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that they started to listen to some voices that paraded around

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as if it was coming from the Lord, but it wasn't coming from the Lord.

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So the Lord raises up a true prophet by the name of

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Jeremiah. And I love how the book starts in Jeremiah because

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he. He looks at Jeremiah and he calls him, and he says, jeremiah,

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I want to use you. I knew you before you were

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even created. I knew you in your mother's womb. And

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I believe that. I want to use. Lord says, I want to use you

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to be my mouthpiece. I'm gonna put my very words

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in your mouth and I want you to be obedient to speak them. I love

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how the book starts, because here's the thing. When God calls you to something, when

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he raises you up for something, he always equips you. And he will give you

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his word. He will always. He will always provide the foundation

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that you need to walk on. And because it comes from him. And he raises

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up a Jeremiah who's going to car the very

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heartbeat of his God, who's going to carry the very heartbeat

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of his God. And so he raises up

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Jeremiah. And Jeremiah goes around and he begins to proclaim

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the word of God. And he says to the people of Judah, he says,

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listen, turn from your wicked ways.

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Turn to the real true God. Don't

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dabble in this sin or you're going to be exiled.

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This is going to happen. And some other false prophets

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were conveying a different message, an opposite message.

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They were saying, there's going to be peace. There's going to be peace.

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Jeremiah, moved to tears, continued to

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proclaim what God was saying to the people of

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Judah. Move toward God. Look at God. God

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doesn't want you to be exiled. But this is going to happen if you don't

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turn from your ways. Well, lo and behold, just like people, they continued

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in their ways. They continued in their ways

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and they were exiled. In 586 BC they were exiled

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to Babylon, just like Jeremiah foretold.

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So that gives us a flyover of what we're dealing with here with

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Jeremiah. And we're going to focus in on Jeremiah

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and his heartbeat and his posture toward people and the people. In

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Jeremiah 6 it says this. They dress the wound of my people as though it

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were not sin serious. Peace. Peace, they say, when there is no peace.

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This is coming from the mouthpiece of the false prophets.

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There are people who are parading around as if they knew Jehovah,

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God, and they were proclaiming this false word. Can I

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tell you, it's dangerous to listen to false prophets. It's

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dangerous to listen to people who are proclaiming a

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gospel or a truth that does not line up with the word of God.

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But whose responsibility is it to know the difference?

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It's yours. It's yours. Jeremiah 9

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says this. Oh, that my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain

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of tears. I would weep days and night for the slaying of my

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people. Jeremiah, weeping, crying,

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heartbroken over the condition of the

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people, the condition of the people

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of God. And so this brings us to the crux of what I want to

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talk to you today about. And it is this.

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Do you have tears for the lost?

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When was the last time

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you shed tears over someone's

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eternity? When was the last

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time you shed tears for someone

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who was lost? When was

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the last time you even thought that there were people who were lost?

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There's coming a day when God is going to split this sky open

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and he hasn't done it yet. Why do you think he's relenting to do so?

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Why do you think he's not in the heavens yet? Why?

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Why do you think he's not open the skies because there are people, there

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are still people who need to hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus

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Christ. And so today I want to

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examine three possibilities of why we may not carry tears

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for the lost. The first reason is this.

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We are so distracted.

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We are so distracted. And many times the

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biggest distraction in our life we carry around

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because we will open our phone, we will look at our phone, we will talk

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on our phone mo more mo mo

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talk on our phone more than we will open the word and talk to the

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Lord. We will be

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devastated if we lose this thing. Some of us are trying to find where the

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last place we put our Bible was so we can make sure we have it

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for church.

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We are so distracted. Culture, society

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moving so fast. Distraction, distraction, distraction,

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distraction. Constant things in front of us

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that just take our focus off of the things that would allow

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our hearts to break for what breaks his. We

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are so distracted. My wife and I took our kids to the Grand

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Canyon a couple years ago. If you ever get a chance to go to the

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Grand Canyon, I highly recommend it. I was so excited for my kids to see

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the Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon is vast and

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majestic and beautiful. And so we were driving out there. And if you ever made

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that drive, it's a drive. You gotta plan your day to get out there.

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So we got out there to the Grand Canyon, and I'm so excited to show

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Hadassah, Lucy, Ruby and Nora. I'm so excited to show them the Grand Canyon.

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And we get there, and my breath was literally taken away.

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And I just wanted them to see this moment, to remember

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this moment. And they were so excited

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when they got there and saw this squirrel.

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They spent our entire two or three hours chasing this squirrel

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and paying zero attention to the wonder that was right

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before us. Can I tell you that you

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have a God who's standing right before you? But we pay too

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much attention to the squirrels all around us.

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Some of us are too distracted that the pastor didn't say hello to us this

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morning, that we can't listen to the word or worship or get through it. We

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are so distracted by the things that don't matter. We're so

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distracted by things that come by so fast and move us so

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fast, by the text messages and the sounds and the phone

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and the ads and the reels and the Instagram and the Facebook and

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all of the things that we're so distracted that we can't focus

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enough to really hear the voice of God, let alone carry the

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heart of our sovereign God. We are so

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distracted.

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And what happens in the distraction? I want you to go with me for a

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minute here. What happens, I believe, in the distractions

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is we only pick up from fragments of what the Lord

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is actually saying to us. But when we are in a

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mode to project or to share or to rend what God's

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given us, we speak fully from a fragmented position.

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And what happens is the truth begins to get diluted and

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shallow because we only present the gospel from a

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shallow perspective. Because we take a fraction and we make it the whole thing.

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Can I tell you, this is what happened in Judah, this is what happened in

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Israel, is that generation after generation is getting

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fragment of who this glorious God is. And so they begin to tip their

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toe into sin, but try to keep their toe in the kingdom. And I want

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to say we're not too far from that, folks. Can

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I tell you today that Satan, our

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enemy, he is after your kids. He is

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after the generation to come. And this little

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booger of a devil, he is the most. One of the

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most patient beings on the earth. He will just

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wait. Because if he can plant a seed,

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one little seed in your life to distract

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you enough, he doesn't have to do any destruction. You'll destroy yourself.

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You'll destroy yourself. The enemy is after

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our kids. Why was Moses put in a

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basket? Why was he literally put in a basket? He

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was put in a basket because he was. They were trying to save his life.

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Kill the kids. Why did Jesus have to flee to Egypt?

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Kill the kids in our society,

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in our generation, what is the enemy

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doing to attack the next generation so that the word of God doesn't go

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forward? Well, let's make sure divorce happens in the homes so that we

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lose the sanctity of marriage and we pollute

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marriage so it's not attractive to kids to get married.

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So let's have broken homes. Let's distract

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them enough and numb ourselves enough that we don't even know how to have a

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common conversation and shake somebody's hand and say hello, let's get

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distracted enough. Why? So that there's no connection

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between individuals. They just hook up.

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Abortion, let's kill the kids.

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Identity issues in our generation so that there is no

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procreation, there is no supplying the

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next generation, because guess what? He wants to kill off the generation.

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Are you following me? You have a responsibility,

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parents. Because here's the problem. And in pews across

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America, parents come and sit in sanctuaries in the

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pews, will shout hallelujah and amen and show their kids something

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different when they get home, we're part of the problem as well,

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because we will come in here and we'll put on a smile. I love you

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so much. It's so good. I love you. Oh, you're so great. And then we

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will get home and we will gossip, we will chatter, we will slander, we will

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watch things, we will do things. And we are painting for our children

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something completely different than we are projecting when we're around the things of the

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Lord. What does your life look like? We are so

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distracted. Why don't we have tears for the lost? Maybe it's

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because some of us are lost ourselves.

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Tears for love. We are so distracted. It's one of the reasons why you cannot

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convince me that children's and youth ministries are the most important ministries of a church.

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It's the most important because we are investing into

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undeveloped minds every day as parents

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and in the church, raising kids up who are

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hearing the word of God's truth and man. I can

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tell you, in that undeveloped state as an educator, in that undeveloped

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state of. We are training them by our actions when we render

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some type of truth. They are watching you to see if you walk out. What

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you say you believe

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the enemy's out. The enemy's out to kill generations.

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And the people of Judah were distracted because they had one foot in the

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kingdom and the other in the world. The second reason I believe that we don't

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have tears for the lost is because we accept the counterfeit.

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We are willing to accept the counterfeit.

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Let's look at some counterfeits today, shall we? If it's not Mountain

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Dew, it's got to be Mountain View.

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If you've not seen the Lion King, check out the lion thing with

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Chufasa.

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Looking for something to dip in your milk? Try cream between.

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Now, I love me some Adidas, but I'm not too fond of AIDS.

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And I've washed my body with Dove. But I'm not so fond of washing it

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with Dave.

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I can't believe it's not butter. Well, how about I think it tastes like

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butter

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and if it's not Sony, it must be phony.

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Listen, the enemy's greatest talent is creating

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counterfeits that look like the real thing. The

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enemy's greatest talent is creating counterfeits that look like the real

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thing. I used to. This is no shame, what I'm about to say, so let

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it fly out. Don't be offended. You know, I

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used to go to Kroger or somewhere and I

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would be buying chicken. I like some Chicken. And I would

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just go and get the cheapest chicken. And then one day Ronnie

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said, have you ever actually had real chicken? He actually said,

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have you had like real chicken? And I'm like, why eat chicken? You know? He's

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like, no, no. Have you had no injection, like actual, like real

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chicken? And so I went out and got some $30 chicken piece

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and I put it in a fry pan. It's

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the best chicken I've ever tasted in my life.

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But I had become so accustomed to counterfeit.

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I become so accustomed that I didn't even really know that

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there was something better. I believe that in

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our lives we can get to a place where

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we so lean into the counterfeit that we actually take

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God's label and we slap it on the counterfeit. We say, this is my God.

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Counterfeits are dangerous because they keep you comfortable until

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it's too late. Over in Second Corinthians, Satan

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himself masquerades as an angel of light. Is it

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not surprising, then his servants also masquerade as servants

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of righteousness? Their end will be what their actions

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deserve. And I tell you that the

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enemy of your soul knows how to put on a shirt that says I love

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Jesus. He knows how to smile. He knows how to speak

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the lingo. But here's the thing,

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when it comes to counterfeit, they actually employ people

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in this country to look for counterfeit dollar bills,

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okay? If you get employed to look

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for counterfeit dollar bills, you don't spend time

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with the counterfeit learning what the counterfeit holds. You spend time

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with the real thing so that when the counterfeit comes, you can recognize this

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is real. And can I tell you, the way that

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you recognize a counterfeit is by spending time with the real

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God, by spending time with truly who he is, by getting

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in his word. Because let me tell you, the counterfeit

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sounds very familiar. This is why when you go

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to that store and they, you give them a 20 ounce counterfeit, they have to

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hold it up to the light because they're trying to make sure. Why? Because it

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looks just like. Looks just like it. And

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some of us will order our entire lives based on a

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counterfeit because we don't know the real thing.

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Reason we don't have tears for the loss is because we settle for the

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counterfeit. And the people of Judah accepted the counterfeit.

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Might I suggest today that counterfeits don't just live on shelves, they live in

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pulpits, playlists and priorities.

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We turn on the TV and we just hear somebody, as long as they say

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Jesus Whatever else they're saying, we just buy into it and believe it. In fact,

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some of you have mailed checks for 1999 to people that have just said Jesus

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and the rest of it was garbage.

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Playlists that we have in our ear, lies just feeding into us. And we just

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buy into them and we just live our lives with the lie.

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Priorities. Now, I'm all about some

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boundaries. You read that book, Boundaries. I'm all about some boundaries, okay? But sometimes we

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use that as an idol in our life to not do the things we're supposed.

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Supposed to do. Your

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priority is what the God of the universe tells you to do.

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That's your priority. And for Jeremiah, it was go share my word and

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they're going to throw you stones at you, they're going to spit at you.

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That was Jeremiah's priority because it was God's calling

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in his life.

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And lastly, I believe it's because we settle for the shallow.

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We settle for shallow.

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A deluded truth. This is what 2 Timothy

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tells us. @ the end of times, there's going to

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be terrible things that happen. People will be lovers of

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themselves, lovers of money,

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boastful, proud, abusive,

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disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

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without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self

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control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash,

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conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

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Having a form of godliness but denying its power.

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Do you know any of these people?

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And then he continues. He didn't stop there, does he? He says, don't have anything

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to do with these people. The people

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of Judah,

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rubbing elbows with people who are all of these things,

:

building strong friendships and relationships and marrying the people who

:

are engaging in all of this stuff,

:

and it leads to their exile. Might I suggest to us

:

that we need to have our eyes open to the areas in

:

our lives that this might describe.

:

Why is this important? Because we need to have tears

:

for the lost. We need to

:

shed tears. Why should. Why do we need to. Why should I cry for the

:

lost? Because we're talking about a matter of life and death.

:

We're talking about a matter of life and. Can I, guys,

:

Can I just.

:

If my kid runs out into the road and a Mack truck is

:

coming at one of them, there is nothing on this

:

planet that would stop me from jumping as far as I can into that street

:

to push them out of the way. And Jeremiah's heart,

:

his heartbeat, and the love that he had for the people was to say,

:

destruction is coming at 100 miles an hour.

:

And he's willing to jump out in front of that Mack truck to push them

:

out of the way. What about you?

:

What about you? What about us?

:

It's the same heart problem as Judah's day.

:

And as surely as. And just as surely as Babylon came for

:

Jerusalem, Jesus is going to return for his church.

:

He's going to come back. Here's the good news. The gospel is

:

this. Jesus Christ came and he lived an impeccable

:

life, a perfect life. Why? Because God the Father

:

told him to go. And he said, yes, I'll do it. He came down, he

:

lived a perfect life. And guess what? We sin. And

:

there's a penalty for our sin. There's a penalty for all these things, and that

:

penalty is death. And Jesus came. Jesus Christ came to this

:

planet to pay the death penalty because

:

only he could pay it. And so he pays this death

:

penalty. But here's the power behind the story. He told us that

:

three days later, I'm coming back to life. And guess what? He did. He

:

came back to life. Today he's sitting by the right hand of God. I believe

:

he's alive and well today. And because of the power of the

:

resurrection, you and I can now have eternal life with Jesus

:

Christ forevermore. And that's something to be excited about. That's

:

something to. If you want to praise him for something, don't praise him because he

:

met your water bill. That's a good thing to praise him for. Praise him because

:

there's food on the table. That's a good thing to praise him for. Praise him

:

because you went from death to life. And not only from death to life.

:

The promise is, is that he's coming back one day for you. He's coming

:

back. And there's somebody here. I believe there's somebody here today.

:

All in my spirit. There's somebody here today that you feel as if you have

:

gone so far that you have no way back. Can I tell you, this verse

:

is coming up later. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.

:

His mercies are new every single morning. And I believe that

:

today, if you are here in a place and you're. That this guy could have

:

anything to do with me because you don't know what I've done. Let me tell

:

you. He knows everything you've done. And this morning he said, I want you. This

:

morning he said, I love you. This morning he said, come to me. Come to

:

me. I will change your life and show you things that you can.

:

Indescribably extraordinary things. And it's available for you today.

:

Let me tell you, there's a dying world out there that also needs to hear

:

that message. And there's a dying world out there that you are passing by

:

every single day. Guys, do you have tears for the lost? Do

:

you have tears for those whose eternity is going to be separated

:

from the Lord? It is dangerous to walk a lukewarm

:

lifestyle. It is dangerous when you've got one foot in the world and

:

one foot in the Lord. It's a dangerous thing because you taint the gospel

:

when somebody's looking at you and say, do you really model what you're saying, what

:

you preach, what you're wearing on your shirt where you say, I love the Lord?

:

Jeremiah was rendering actual truth because who he was

:

listening to was the mouth of God.

:

The God you've created can't save you from the hell you ignore.

:

See, we like to believe because. And we do, we serve this

:

glorious God who is a promised, abundant life, and we lean into that so

:

much. But, guys, I just have to tell you as your pastor,

:

there's coming a day where those who have not acknowledged the

:

Lord Jesus Christ are going to be separated from Him. Now,

:

will there be a lake of fire and all those things? That's what the scripture

:

says. But let me tell you what hell is. Hell is separation from God. Hell

:

is separation from God if God is

:

love, joy, patience, peace, if God is all. I mean, none of that.

:

And we create many gods all the time,

:

and he can't. They cannot save you from the hell you

:

ignore. And so I would suggest to us this

:

morning that we not mistake God's patience for God's approval.

:

Because if you're wallowing in sin and you're living a lifestyle and you're doing

:

this thing over and over and over again, and you've just decided God is so

:

patient with me, I'm just going to continue to lean into it. Do not mistake

:

in God's patience for his approval. His patience is there

:

because He's. I believe that he so is. Is pursuing

:

you and wanting you to come home. But there's going to come a point where

:

he says, that's enough. And the reason

:

we have the story of Israel and Judah and the

:

exile is because there comes a time when God, when he says, enough

:

is enough. It's going to be enough. When he splits the sky. It's really

:

going to happen. It's not a myth. It's not a fairytale. It's the truth.

:

And so there is an urgency. Why is there an Urgency because

:

people are dying. Why are people dying? Because we live in a sinful world.

:

The urgency also comes because we don't know the hour or day. We could decide

:

to go to open tables today. And glory to glory. The trumpets are sounding.

:

Will everybody at your lunch table be going with you?

:

Lord, would you break our hearts for what breaks yours?

:

God, would you put something in us that gets our

:

mirror out of our face? Where every decision, everything we do has to

:

start with how this makes me feel, how this makes me look.

:

Tears for the lost. It's a matter of life

:

and death. Look at your neighbor and say, it's a matter of life and death.

:

Went shopping yesterday, and I got this fish.

:

He matches my blue here. It's a blue

:

fish. I didn't know that God created fish that look like this.

:

And it's pretty cool. Do y' all see them back there? You see them over

:

there? Let me help you.

:

I'll just kind of pull him out here.

:

Let's see here. Come here, little buddy. This is Max, by the way.

:

Max, let's see here.

:

He's got a little leaf in here. Come here.

:

All right, now I got him. All right, who wants to see him? Oh, stop

:

wiggling. All right, anybody want to see him?

:

Want to see him now? If he flies out in your dress, don't be mad.

:

See a blue. Look how this blue. I didn't know he made blue fish. This.

:

This blue. Look how blue that is.

:

Max landed in somebody's dress last service. Yeah.

:

Oh, look at him. Oh, he's kind of convulsing like something's wrong. Okay,

:

let's see here. Oh, he's shaking. Come here.

:

He must be nervous to show Charlotte. Come here. Oh,

:

Melanie, look at this blue fish. Oh, come

:

on now. Yeah. Oh, he's

:

kind of moving slower now. Wonder what's going on with that. See,

:

it's a blue fish. You see? See the blue fish?

:

Huh?

:

What? Oh, you want me to put him

:

back? Oh. Oh.

:

Now, Tina, why did you come and take that fish out of my hand?

:

Because the fish was dying. There was an urgency in you because the fish was

:

outside of the environment that it's supposed to live. Guys, we care so much more

:

about fish than we do the people around us.

:

And you have got to have the boldness and confidence to do

:

whatever it takes to introduce the dying

:

people to the world and the kingdom to which they should belong to.

:

Are you bold enough to actually even say the name

:

Jesus at the supermarket to your

:

waitress or waiter? Are you? I

:

mean, while you're cutting that person off the road,

:

right? Or why they're cutting you off

:

when you get overcharged?

:

Because here's the thing, I don't know why it is. Barbie, have you ever expected

:

a non Christian to act like a Christian?

:

I mean, so here it is. We get offended

:

as Christians who are supposed to be bringing the truth, expecting

:

non Christians to act like we're supposed to act. But then we return the favor

:

without acting like a Christian. Now where's that going to lead us? Let me tell

:

you. To exile. That's where it's going to lead us.

:

I believe somebody said, turn the other cheek. Now, he

:

wasn't just talking about when you get punched in the face, turn the other

:

cheek. When somebody wrongs you, turn the other cheek. Guys,

:

do our lives look like him? Do our lives look like him?

:

The part of having tears for loss isn't just about streams of water

:

coming down your face. It's about doing something about it. Listening to the

:

Holy Spirit, being willing to be a Jeremiah in

:

a world that needs to hear the truth of God's word.

:

We are a people who have hope. In Jeremiah

:

31, I have a chick fil a story I'll tell you sometime. It's not going

:

to happen today. Jeremiah 31, it says this.

:

The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a

:

new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of

:

Judah. Now I want you to pay attention to this. Remember

:

we talked about Israel at the top of the message? This

:

tells me that God doesn't forget about anybody.

:

Israel was destroyed. It was captive, it was taken by

:

the Assyrians. Guess what? God has not forgotten about Israel. And God has

:

not forgotten about you. He's not forgotten about that person who did

:

X, Y and Z. He's not forgotten. He says, I'm going to make a new

:

covenant, a new promise. We lament, we cry

:

because judgment is real. But we hope because salvation

:

is still available. Salvation is still

:

available. It's available right now. It's available today.

:

And so Jeremiah 29:11 says. For

:

I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for you to

:

prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a

:

future. Let me tell you something. Driving down the street, this was the

:

chick fil a story. Driving down the street and I'm in a car with another

:

guy. He sees a billboard. And the thing that was on the billboard led to

:

his salvation. If God can use a

:

billboard, he can use any scripture in his word

:

to speak to people. I Understand that we talk about how the word of

:

God is written for us and not to us in some instances.

:

But don't tell me God can't take a verse and minister to you with it.

:

His word is alive and active. He has plans for you people.

:

He has a hope and a future for you. I can lean right into that

:

scripture and claim it all day long, but guess what? It makes

:

me want to learn more so I know the entire context because there's much more

:

to be learned. I don't just take that as a

:

fragmented verse and stand my whole life on it and say, well, there's nothing else

:

for me to do. It encourages me to grow more.

:

13. You will seek me

:

and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.

:

Guys, we just come with that half. Little piece of my heart.

:

Little piece of it. No, all. All of our

:

heart. But this

:

I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord

:

never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every

:

morning. Great is your faithfulness.

:

Worship team. You can come back.

:

I cried so much in the first gathering

:

because I'm asking the Lord to break my heart for what breaks his.

:

I want to be a church who sees the lost

:

that we're not. Guys, we have. We have a beautiful

:

facility. We have great

:

programs here. We have wonderful things you can

:

participate in and be a part of. Somebody told me today that the Kate

:

is doing an amazing job in the cafe as they ate that gooey cinnamon roll

:

this morning. Got some hot coffee out there. We got all of these

:

wonderful things. But, guys, none of that is the purpose. Purpose. All

:

of it has to do with this essential truth that there are people dying

:

and there's life available to them.

:

And so our lives must model Christ.

:

And if you don't get anything right. Listen, if you don't get all that religious

:

stuff right, you don't do everything. Let's do that. How about we love, right?

:

Let's just start there. Let's just. Let's just lean in. If you can't think, oh,

:

man, I'm not supposed to do this. I'm caught up in this. Okay, forget about

:

all that for just a moment. Let's just lean into love. Let's just examine

:

and learn. What does God say about how to love?

:

Lean there. And I think that rest of that stuff will start to just creep

:

in there because guess why. Guess. Here's the thing. This is cool how this works.

:

You start to learn about how to Love others. You're going to start learning you're

:

actually loved by the creator of the universe as well. And then

:

your identity is no longer in question. Right? He

:

begins to move. Guys, we are at war,

:

and we win the battle in the end. There's some

:

casualties on the way, and you might literally

:

be sitting next to one of the casualties just because you were

:

not obedient to introduce them to the God of the

:

universe.

:

And so today, this is what I want to do to close the service. I

:

have some chalkboards. Would you roll those out for me, Pastor Barbie?

:

I have some chalkboards here, and we're going to turn them around because there are

:

already some things written on them from the early gathering.

:

I chose chalkboards this morning for a reason.

:

We're going to put names up here of people

:

that we're believing for salvation for. And

:

I put them on chalkboards because we're going to believe that the names are going

:

to be erased off these boards and written in the Lamb's Book of life.

:

And when they're written in the Lamb's book of life, they ain't going anywhere, okay?

:

So here they can be erased. We're going to erase them off of here because

:

we're going to believe the Lord. If you came today and you've got somebody on

:

your mind, maybe it's somebody that you were supposed

:

to minister to. Maybe it was somebody. Maybe you missed it. Maybe it's. Maybe it's

:

somebody, and that's okay. There's great. Hey. The steadfast love of the Lord never

:

ceases. His mercies are new every morning.

:

But today I'm going to invite you to come and add a name to this

:

board, okay? If you've got somebody who you believe

:

needs salvation. But. But there's

:

more. If you're a leader here and you're planning to pray with

:

people today, would you come on up right now before I have everybody standing?

:

I believe that sometimes it's easier to believe for somebody else

:

rather than. Or more so than it is to believe for yourself.

:

And I. You know, I sometimes miss the Holy Spirit,

:

but I believe this morning the Holy Spirit told me there is somebody who's

:

eternity is going to change in this room.

:

And all of these people behind me have laid down their lives

:

not so that we can have wonderful programs and coffee and all that.

:

They've laid down their lives because they want to introduce people to Jesus.

:

And so if you're here this morning and you have never

:

asked Jesus to be in your life, today

:

is the day of Salvation. Salvation. He who calls upon

:

the name of the Lord will be saved. Will be saved.

:

And the Holy Spirit of God knew that you were coming to church this morning.

:

I'm talking about the one who had to rush out to the car. The kids

:

were screaming, you were in a bad mood. You ran the red light. He knew

:

you were coming this morning in your mess.

:

He knew it. And in

:

knowing that, he's saying, come,

:

leave the life. It's okay, come.

:

Doesn't matter what you come is what he's saying.

:

And so if that is you today, I'm going to invite you to come this

:

morning and pray with one of these people up here. And it will

:

be the greatest privilege and joy of any one of these people's lives

:

to lead you to the God who breathes stars.

:

And so we're going to come for three reasons. Number one reason is to

:

write names on this board of people that we need to be believing for.

:

Number two is if you want today to change everything, let me also say this.

:

I'm going to really step on a toe here. Are you ready? Some

:

of you say, oh, I'm saved because I've been in church all my life.

:

Some of you say, I'm good. I'm good because my parents have faith enough for

:

me to believe. Let me tell you why you can't ride on the

:

coattails of your parents, because your parents aren't Jesus.

:

So I'm saying to you this, and I'm gonna get real Baptist on you. There

:

needs to be a point in time where you point back and say, everything

:

changed. There needs to be a point. He says, whoever confesses

:

his sin, then he's just to forgive. Forgive his sin. So today may be

:

a day where you've been, you've been walking around and you've been participating in the

:

things of the kingdom, but you, you've never acknowledged him as Lord with someone.

:

You never had that moment where you said, God, I'm

:

a sinner and I need your blood. Would you forgive me?

:

I need your blood. I accept you into my life. I want to live for

:

you. If that's you, today's the day of salvation.

:

So that's number two. Number three, some of you are sitting

:

here, some of you are crying right now because you know somebody right now that

:

either needs to hear this message, it's not saved. It's probably the same person. You're

:

gonna put their name on this board, come to one of these

:

believers, and let's believe together for the people's

:

names. We're Writing on the boards, there's somebody you want to pray with. And,

:

guys, this is. If you're. If you're praying with people, let me have your eyes

:

for a second. Here's the prayer. We're gonna pray for salvation,

:

okay? But you're gonna pray that the Lord gives that

:

person the courage and the confidence to be the conduit of grace for that

:

person's life, okay?

:

Once all of that happens and we start moving here, the

:

prayer for the church that I have this morning that I need for my life

:

is break my heart. God, give me tears for these names. Give

:

me tears for Josh and Tasha and Caleb and Chris and Rich and John

:

and Michaela. Give me tears for these people. And so as you go

:

back and worship, it's not the time to suck down your. Your latte. It's time

:

to lean in. Lean in and carry and

:

ask the Lord. And maybe you don't feel anything. Maybe you're emotionless toward it. Then

:

just stand there and go, Lord, would you break my heart? Lord, would you break

:

my heart? Well, Lord, would you tender up my heart so I can see them

:

the way you see them? I believe Jeremiah, he wasn't coming at them like

:

this. He was coming at them broken with tears.

:

So, Lord, would you break our heart as a church to the

:

names that we're going to render before you today. Would you stand with me? We're

:

going to worship three reasons to come forward, to write names on the board,

:

to pray for people who need to hear salvation. And if you

:

today want to change your eternity forever, come and

:

pray. Let's worship.

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