Still Present. Still Worthy.

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I was telling them in first gathering, in first service,

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I could just sit and listen to Michael and just

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go exactly where you need to go in your spirit to worship because

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of what he carries. So I'm just going to ask you to play

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for just a second while I share that with him.

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I will exalt you, my God, the King.

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I will praise your name forever and ever. Every

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day I will praise you and extol

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your name. Great is the Lord and most worthy of

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praise. His greatness. No one can fathom. One

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generation will commend your works to another. They will tell

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of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious

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splendor of your majesty. And I

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will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell

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of the power of your awesome. And I will proclaim

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your great deeds. They will celebrate your

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abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

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The Lord is gracious and compassionate,

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slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all.

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He has compassion on all he has made.

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All you have made will

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praise you, O Lord. Your saints will extol you. They will tell of

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the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might

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so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the

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glorious splendor of your kingdom.

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Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your

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dominion endures through all generations.

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His kingdom. His kingdom. The Lord is

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faithful to all his promises and loving toward all

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he has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall

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and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of

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all look to you and you give them their food

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at the proper time. You open your hand

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and satisfy the desires of every living creature.

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The Lord is righteous in all his ways

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and loving toward all that he has made.

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The Lord is near to all who call on

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him. To all who call on Him. In truth, he fulfills the

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desires of those who fear him. He hears their cries and

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saves them. The Lord watches over all who love him.

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And all the wicked he will destroy. But my mouth.

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My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.

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Let every creature praise his holy name

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forever and ever and ever and

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ever and ever. And that is why we are

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here this morning. We have come to worship

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a holy God. That's why I'm here.

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Thank you, Michael. Father. God, I thank you so much.

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You know how to recenter us. You know how

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to bring us back to what is important. You etched it through the

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pages of eternity, Lord. And you released it to us.

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This is about you, Father. May it always be

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about you. We love you, God. And

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we Will sing of your great love and your greatness and your

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goodness and the way that you open your hands. We will speak

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of your kingdom, God, because it all belongs to

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to you. Thank you Lord for letting us be in your field for a

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while. We will bless you and give you all of the glory. Let my stuff

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fall and your stand in Jesus name. And

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the people said, amen. God

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is so faithful. God is so

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faithful. You know, I don't think any of us plan to

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be here like this. The last two weeks have been very

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interesting and

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I've had my own struggles, I'll be honest. But this is

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what I know. This is what I know. God is

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good. God is good and he is faithful.

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They just said he opens his hand and satisfies the

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desires of every living creature. God is good. And

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nothing changes that. Nothing changes that. Ro and

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Kai, our five year old grandson, walked into the.

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Hal and I were sitting on the porch and Rowan walks in. He and

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Nora are playing in the grass and Hal and I are talking

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and Rowan walks up on the step up on the porch and he goes,

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hey, good news. The bees

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have pollinated your front yard.

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And he said, that's always a good thing. Listen,

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good news is anything that comes through his hand. Amen.

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Anything that comes through his hand is good news. So good

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news, the bees are pollinating your front yard right now as

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you speak. Because you know what? The work of God continues.

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It's his kingdom, it's his field. And I'm so

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grateful for that. Do you know how much pressure that takes off?

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You have no idea.

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You know, when I took this job about

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25 years ago, however long, and

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God, yours is kind of like dogs. I think I've been here two centuries.

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But anyway, I knew

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what the Lord had assigned me to do. Hal and I both felt that the

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Lord had called us to hold up Pastor Ronnie's arms and support

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him as he carried out the ministry that the Lord had given him. And

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I was 110% certain that I

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was going to leave when past Ronnie retired. And I told

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Pastor Ronnie that for the last 10 years that I served with him.

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And when Pastor Kevin came into this position,

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I actually started to pray

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and felt like the Lord told me to stay.

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And Hal felt that too, that we were to stay and we were to support

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Pastor Kevin. And I went to Pastor Ronnie and I said, pastor

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Ronnie, I've lied to you the last 10 years. And

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because I told you I was go when you left. And

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that was my heart's desire in all honesty, And I said, but

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I believe the Lord's told me to stay. And he went. I

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knew that. He said, the first

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time you told me you were leaving, I knew you hadn't prayed about it.

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Oh, that gift of discernment can come back to bite you from time to time.

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And. And, you know, so it didn't end with Pastor Ronnie the way

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that I expected. And when I began to serve with Pastor

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Kevin, I thought I knew how that would end. And this was not it,

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because I'm 61 years old, and

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I know. I just made the

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assumption. Boy, you get in trouble when you assume anything with God, isn't it? Except

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for his goodness. And so my assumption and, you know, to share with Kevin,

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you know, my heart's desire is to pour

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into this house. As long as you have me, pour into this house. And then

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when it's time for me to go, my prayer would be that the Lord would

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raise up somebody behind me to serve and lift your hands and all of

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those things. But see, that was my plan.

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And at some point, God has to giggle, you know,

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don't you think? God has to go, I so trust him, guys.

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I just trust him. I just trust him. And it

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didn't seem like I trusted him as I was weeping and wailing in my car

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driving home the other night. And the Lord just began to minister

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to me. God is still present,

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and he is still worthy. God is present,

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and he is worthy. He hasn't changed his mind.

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And I said, lord, what do I do? God,

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what do I do there? I've got about 100 voices coming at me

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right now, things I should do or shouldn't do or should be or, this is

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a good idea. And why did you ever do that? And I'm like, lord, what

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do I do here? And he took me back. See, the Lord taught me to

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dig wells a long time ago in the Spirit. And

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so he took me back to my first well. And my first well that he

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taught me to cultivate in my life was this. Seek

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the Lord, trust the Lord, obey the Lord,

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seek the Lord, trust the Lord, obey the

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Lord. And I wasn't in any of those categories. In my car that day,

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I was in Lamentations. And

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he said, pick another book.

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Seek the Lord, trust the Lord,

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obey the. Is that not the most simple thing you've ever heard?

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It's easy to read, it's hard to do, but it is

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the truth. And that's the first well he allowed

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me, even as a child, to learn. Okay, Lord, if I will seek you

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If I will find you in your truth and dig

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myself into that place in you, I will come to a

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place that I can trust you. No matter what. No matter what.

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And when I can trust you, Lord, I can be set free to

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obey you. And see, that's my heart for this body,

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always has been. That we would seek him,

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that we would trust him, and that we would obey him. Because

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it's about Him. It's not about who's standing on the

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platform. It's not about me. It was never about Pastor Ronnie, and it wasn't

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about Pastor Kevin. It's not about the elders. It's not about any of it.

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It's about him. It is about him. And you know

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what gave me great comfort? I'm like, lord, this was an un. You did not

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tell me this was coming. All the days

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ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

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Even the unexpected ones. All of the days ordained for

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you were written in his book

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before they happened. Here's the thing. God is never surprised,

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confounded, caught off guard, or taken aback by our circumstances.

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I do not see anywhere in the Word, or would it be consistent

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with the Lord's character for him to go? Man, I did not see that coming.

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Uh, we might not have seen it, but not only

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did he see it, he prepared us for it. Do

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you know how many amazing pastors you have in this house?

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Let's see. Pastor Will. I'm so scared to do this because I'll miss

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somebody, and there'll be somebody new standing up here

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next week.

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Seriously, man, there's, like, nine of us. You are

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surrounded. If God didn't have you surrounded. Well, if God didn't have you surrounded,

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there would be no need for the nine. He's got you.

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Pastor Will. Pastor Jonathan, Pastor Allen, Pastor

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Justin, Pastor Carol, Pastor Doug,

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Pastor Robert. I mean, all of them. If I missed

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you, please just stand up and shout. Do it now in front of everybody. Go

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ahead,

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Pastor kurt.

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Oh, Lord, help us.

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I appreciate your boldness, my brother. I

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love that, though all the days ordained for us were written in his

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book. And so, as I decided to start moving out of

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Lamentations, I was like, lord, what do I do?

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God, what do I do? Because I don't have answers on all of this. The

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Lord has given me great vision for about three weeks going

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forward, and then I'm trusting him for the next one. Okay, but he's good. But

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you know what he said about this? This next, like, two to three weeks

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is this worship anyway.

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Worship Anyway, when he gave that to me in the car,

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my first thought was, I gotta get a T shirt.

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Did you know that this is a thing? Did y' all know this? I went

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to look for a T shirt. And it's a whole webpage. I can buy a

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30 by 60 flag if I want to

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that says worship anyway. And that is my heart,

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guys. It should never be about a human. It's about

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him. And he is worthy. He is

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worthy for us to anchor ourselves in worship and get to

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the other side of this, whatever that looks like. Worship

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anyway. And you know what else? And guys, I'm just taking you down this path

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and trying to be as transparent as I know to be. Cause that's all I've

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ever known to do with you all. And. And I just want

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to be honest. And so as I was, you know, struggling my way through it,

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Lord, you know. Cause what are you going to do about this? How are you

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going to fix this? What are you going to do about this? And you know

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what he said? I love when the Holy Spirit speaks. So

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shepherds do not own the field. They merely tended under the direction

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of the owner.

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We don't own it. I'm basically working a 7 11.

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And if you've got problems, I'm going to refer

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you to the owner.

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I'm like, you're gonna need to see the owner about that.

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I have such peace in that, because I know the owner,

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and he is good, he is faithful,

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and he has never, ever, one time in 61 years

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let me down. Not one time. And I don't expect him to.

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That's just who he is. He's that good. And not only is he good,

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he knows how to humble you, too. If the field's. If this was not

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enough, I said, lord, you know, what if I need to do

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this? Or, lord, what if I need to do that? Oh, my gosh,

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guys, the word cracks me up in the way

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that it just pierces straight to the heart. And I said, lord, you know,

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what do you need of me? And here's his answer. I have no

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need of a bull from your stall or goats

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from your pens. For every animal of the forest is mine. And the

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cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains.

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And everything that moves in the field is mine. For the world is mine and

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everything in it. I am going to use that so

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often. I have no need

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of a cow from your stalls.

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We don't have anything to offer him that he

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doesn't already have. But he gives us the Privilege of

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bringing our worship, of participating in what he is

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doing in the earth. That's what I want. I want a

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sovereign God who needs nothing from me, but

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allows me to be able to work in his field. Allows me

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to walk with his sheep in the pasture. And if that isn't enough,

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know that the Lord himself is God. It is

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he who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are his

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people and the sheep of whose pasture

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His. It's all His. It's all his that

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should bring us great peace. Actually, I was real peaceful about

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that until Pastor Jonathan shared last week that sheep are flammable.

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And I'm having to ponder that one a little bit. But you know what?

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We are. And I've seen a few fires in the last two weeks.

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Cause sheep are flammable, but the

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owner of the field isn't. He is fire.

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He is. He is sovereign and he is good. So

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here, say this with me. His field,

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his sheep. Isn't that peace inducing?

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His field, his sheep. And let me tell you

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something. He is not an absentee owner. He just

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isn't. He isn't an absentee owner. His word

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tells me this. I will never leave you

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or forsake you. He will never leave us

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or forsake us. Elvis has not left the building.

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I mean, seriously, we sometimes. It's

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just one of the things the Lord told me many years ago

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was if it ever becomes about you, I will remove you.

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And I pray that he does. I pray that

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anybody, if it ever becomes about anybody or

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anything other than him, that the Lord would just

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watch over his church, cover his church,

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minister to his church, regardless. Because it

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can never be about anything but that. Now I had a couple people

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going. I'm really struggling to, you know, sense God's

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presence. Doesn't matter if you sense his presence.

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Presence is not about a feeling. It is a promise. I will

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never leave you or forsake you. And he took me to the best passage of

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scripture. After the last one, are you looking forward to the next one?

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The sheep and pins and bulls and things. I love that. The

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Lord took me to this passage and I know it's familiar. The King Nebuchadnezzar

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leapt to his feet. Did we not cast three men bound into the

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midst of the fire? I see four men loose

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walking in the midst of the fire and they are not hurt. And the form

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of the fourth is like the Son of God. We have read that passage. We

Speaker: 00:18:05

know that story. Ch. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they were told that

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they would bow to the king, and they refused to bow to

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the king. And so the king had the furnace heated up

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just all so powerfully that even the men that were

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taking them up there were killed. You know, died because of the heat

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of the flames. And so they throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

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into that fire. And this is what happens after a

Speaker: 00:18:32

period of time. King Nebuchadnezzar, he looks in and he

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sees four men walking in that

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fire. They are loose and walking in the midst of it.

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And for some reason, it just struck

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me, nowhere in scripture,

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nowhere does it tell us that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego

Speaker: 00:18:55

saw him. Nowhere does it. They.

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I'm making some suppositions here, but like if you were thrown in a fire and

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there was a fourth man in there who loosed you and looked like the Son

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of God, don't you think that might be the first thing you said when you

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came out? Did any of you see what I saw?

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Now, they might have, but that wasn't what they came out with. Or it wasn't

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important enough for God to have it put in the Word. Because sometimes you're

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not gonna see him. Sometimes you still gotta carry the

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testimony of God's goodness and his faithfulness. When you don't

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even know he's been walking through it with you,

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it doesn't say, I would have told somebody, did you see

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him? Did you see him? But God doesn't give

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that portion to us. Because sometimes we're called to walk by

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faith. Because God's presence is not determined by our

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awareness of him, but by his promise to never leave

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us. It's his

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promise. It all goes back to him.

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Whether you feel him, whether you see him, whether you're sensing

Speaker: 00:20:04

his presence or not, he is here and he is

Speaker: 00:20:08

with you, and he will not leave you. Whether you are at

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Springhouse or Lifepoint or wherever it is that

Speaker: 00:20:15

God has for you, your assignment is to seek the Lord,

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to trust the Lord and obey the Lord. That's all.

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I believe that would be all that any pastor would ask of you.

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Seek the Lord, trust Him and obey Him. That's what we do.

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His presence is not a feeling, it is a promise.

Speaker: 00:20:35

And here's something that I think if we can

Speaker: 00:20:39

grab hold of, it is super important. Because sometimes

Speaker: 00:20:42

we so expect the woo hoo moments and, you know,

Speaker: 00:20:46

deliverance from fire moments. But you know what one of the greatest gifts in the

Speaker: 00:20:49

fire was? Sometimes our deliverance looks like

Speaker: 00:20:52

companionship. We want out of our mess, but he wants to

Speaker: 00:20:56

walk into the middle of it. God deliver me.

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This is not what I wanted to do, Lord. This is not where I wanted

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to be. This is not my decision. Aren't you so glad it wasn't?

Speaker: 00:21:08

Aren't you so glad it wasn't? We went out and he could have

Speaker: 00:21:12

just delivered the guys out of the fire, but he walked in it with

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them. He walked in it with them. And I'm so grateful that

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we have a God who does that. A famous

Speaker: 00:21:22

philosopher once said, Barbara Jean Price, my

Speaker: 00:21:26

mother. God ain't scared.

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God ain't scared of this. He knew it

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was coming before we did. He planted our

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feet deep in faithful soil.

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And he is sovereign and he is good, and God ain't scared

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when life shifts and God's presence remains. The

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faithfulness of God is not subject to the fluctuations of our

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circumstances. It just doesn't. And this is going to. I mean,

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I know this is going a little bit quick. I'm just trying to share with

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you what he shared with me. Okay? Though the

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clouds obscure the view, the sun is still right where it

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is supposed to be. He hasn't changed.

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Now let me give you the paraphrase of yet another

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philosopher, my papaw. It don't matter

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what the clouds are doing. The sun's still exactly where it's supposed to be.

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It doesn't matter what's going on around us. It does

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not matter how distracted we are and how many things that the

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enemy would love to get our eyes on instead of what's important.

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The sun's still exactly where he's supposed to be.

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God is still sovereign and he hadn't changed.

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And you know what one of the things about clouds is? They change from day

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to day. The sun remains stable. And

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he is still worthy. He is still worthy

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of worship. He's worthy of praise. And my heart's

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desire would be that when we come together, that would be the focus.

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To worship him, to exalt him, proclaim

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him, to magnify his name, and then to go out and do

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it outside the doors, tell people about the goodness of

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the Lord and what he's done.

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This is the God we serve. For the Lord, your God is the

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God of Gods and the Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty

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and awesome, who shows no partiality. He defends the cause of

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the fatherless and the widow. He is he. He

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is your praise. He is your God. Now

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to the King, Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God.

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The only God. Be honor and glory forever

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and ever. Amen. Then I Heard

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every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the

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sea and all that is in them, saying to him who

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sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be praise and

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honor and glory and. And power forever

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and ever and ever. We don't worship because our lives

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are consistent, but because our God is.

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If we're waiting for our lives to have no change, there to be

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nothing that's inconsistent in our lives. We gonna be waiting a while. That

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sounds like another philosopher. I know we're gonna be waiting

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a while. We do not worship because our lives are consistent, but because God

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is. And he is worthy. And you

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know what else he reminded me of? We're just going down this path. Worship that

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depends on blessing is worship that has not yet dropped its anchor into

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trust. If you can only worship

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when things are good, then there's an issue. Do you know

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how much in the last two weeks I have drugged the anchor behind

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me? But we're not designed for that weight.

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Drop that anchor into a place of trust. That

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says the God that I just read to you about. That's the God

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we're going after. That is the God who is worthy of worship and

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praise. That is why we are here. Worship

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anchored. Worship says the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.

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Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's not about Kevin,

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that's not about me. That's not about Ronnie, and it's not about

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you. Whatever comes into your life is a blessing of the lor,

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whether you have it or you don't have it. Blessed be the

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name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

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That is the call in my heart. That is what the Lord

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has worship just planted in me because that was the

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first place I met him as a child. That was the

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second well, the second well he allowed me to dig in my

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life was to learn to worship him in spite of what was going

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on in the world. To go. God, you are good. I don't understand any of.

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I don't even like any of this. But God, I love you and I know

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you are good and know that you're going to work this out. I know that

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you are going to give us beauty for ashes. I know, God, that you are

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sovereign and you are faithful and this is your field.

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May I hear your voice so that I can work it well.

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And that's not just for me, guys. That's you. We're all in this field.

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We are all in this field. Worship team.

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Here's another thing I might want to mention to you, we're probably not going to

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last until 1230 most of the time. Because I feel like God is

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pretty concise. One of the things that I feel like he has birthed in my

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spirit is for the next three weeks, I want us to

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press in worship. I really do. He allowed me to write a song

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this week, and the line in the song that is pivotal for me was, let

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worship start its healing. Let worship start its

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healing. It worked for David. When David lost his son, and he

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mourned, and he threw ashes on his head and he mourned

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for a season. But the day came when he had to get up and

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wash his face. And his first act was what? Go worship.

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Go and worship. And that's what I believe the Lord would have

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us plant in for the next three weeks. That's as much as I got, guys.

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And we're going to trust him beyond that. But fortunately for you, I

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need no bull from your pen.

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I have a feeling I'm going to hear that back at me many times.

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I told him, I said, that's going to be my quote this week on social

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media. It's not unless

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Courtney overrides me. But anyway, here's

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the thing, guys. True worship remains

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anchored in who God is. Who God is.

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Not on how we feel. Not on how we feel.

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It's about him because he is present

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and he is worthy. He is present

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and he is worthy. So here's

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the thing. Yet another transparent moment. Just

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because this is how I work things out with the

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Lord, I just said God, I'd really like

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to do a fast song at the end of service, but

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some people might not be in a fast song kind of place.

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And you know what he said?

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Worship. Anyway.

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Worship. Anyway, so I'm

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gonna read you one more passage. And as I'm reading this

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passage, I want you to grab it in your spirit

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as you make your way toward the altar space.

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Cause you know what we're gonna worship through? We're gonna worship

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because he's worthy.

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The hundred and third Psalm.

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Guys, here's your weapon right here.

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Praise the Lord. O my soul, all my inmost

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being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul. And

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forget not all of his benefits, who forgives all your

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sins, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from

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the pit, crowns you with love and compassion, satisfies

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your desires with good things. So. And I need this one so that your

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youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord is

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compassionate and gracious, slow to

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anger, abounding in love, and he will not always accuse nor will

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he harbor his anger forever. He does not treat us as our sin

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deserve. Can we hear an amen

Speaker: 00:30:07

or repay us according to our iniquities? For as high as

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the heavens are above the earth, so great is

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his love for those who fear Him. As far as the east from the

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west, so far has he removed our transgressions

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from us. As the Father has compassion on his

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children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

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Jump down to verse 17. From everlasting to

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everlasting. The Lord's love is with those who fear him

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and his righteousness with their children's children.

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A little further. And his kingdom, his

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kingdom. His kingdom rules

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over all his kingdom. And so would you join me

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and. Can we just worship him for a minute? Because the thing is, is we

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got a thousand reasons to worship him and we need to

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draw from those wells just a little bit and. All right,

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you, let's go. Let's go.