When the Rubber Hits the Road...

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- Well, good morning, Springhouse.

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Aren't you grateful to be in a place

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where the Holy Spirit chooses to reside?

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He is already here this morning.

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He's already been meeting with us,

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and he's gonna continue to this morning.

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And I'm just so excited about what God has for us today.

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And I'm glad that you're here for it.

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I'm glad that you're here.

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This God, this incredible God of the universe

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sure does love you, sure does see you,

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sure does know you.

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And God is so faithful.

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Before we get kicking right along here with the message,

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this is Christmas week, it is here.

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And this week on Christmas Day,

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we have a Christmas Day service.

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And let me just encourage you,

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if you've never attended the Christmas Day service,

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I encourage you to do so this year.

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I promise you, if you choose to attend,

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you will not walk out of here regretting that you came.

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It is a wonderful moment in your day

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to really exalt Christ and to worship with your friends

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and the community and the believers here.

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So it's one service, 11 o'clock,

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we'll be done right at noon.

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And then you can go about your plans.

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But please come and worship with us on Christmas Day.

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And then because we do know some people travel

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and there's some things happening,

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we wanna make sure everybody's aware,

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our midweek gatherings are gonna return January the 8th.

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And that is because January 1st is New Year's Day

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and Barbie's gonna be partying all night, New Year's Eve,

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and she's not gonna be awake enough to present on the 1st.

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No, Barbie has a terrific series lined up for us.

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And so come and be a part of that.

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And then of course, the kids are gonna be at full swing.

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The youth is gonna be back in motion.

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And so as you're making your plans for 2026,

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if you've got capacity Thursday nights, it's really rich.

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And we invite you to come and be a part of that, amen?

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All right, and so we have been talking

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about the greatest stories ever told.

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And man, how humbling it is for me to be able to present

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today on our last real Sunday of the series.

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And I'm not gonna actually pull a particular story.

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Today, what I wanna do is I wanna look at a little bit,

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we're just gonna look a little bit at the story

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that we've been celebrating all season long,

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the story of Jesus and his birth

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and how it collides with our story,

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how it collides with our story today.

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And so that's kinda how we're gonna end this thing.

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Now, today, I really do believe that the Holy Spirit

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of God is here.

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I really, I really do.

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And so that tells me that it's going to be your choice

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whether or not you receive what he has for you.

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It's gonna be your choice whether or not, but guess what?

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The message is for everyone today.

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Would you look at your neighbor and say, it's for you.

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It's for you.

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It is, it really is.

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There is a message here for everyone.

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So I'm gonna ask us to turn on our Pentecostal,

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Baptist Pentecostal selves this morning.

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And so if you hear something that just resonates

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with your spirit, I'm just gonna ask you

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to audibly say, amen.

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Amen means so be it, okay?

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So let's practice together, okay?

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Pastor Kevin is a great looking pastor.

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Amen, okay, so we got that out of our system.

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So we got to practice in there, okay?

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Now, I'd like us to stand this morning.

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We're gonna read two scriptures this morning,

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hopefully familiar scriptures to you.

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And yeah, somebody said, amen,

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only two scriptures this morning.

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And I really do want you to read them with gusto.

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I want you to read them as if you believe in this God

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you say you believe in.

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Let's read together from the book of Hebrews.

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Without faith, it is impossible to please God

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because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists

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and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

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And then one verse from the book of Mark.

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All things are possible for the one who believes.

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Let's read that again, that's so good.

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All things are possible for the one who believes.

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And Father, we so believe that.

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Whether it is in the middle of the night

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at the midnight hour, whether it's in a hospital bed,

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whether it's the middle of everything abundant

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on the mountaintop, God, we believe that all things

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are possible if we just believe.

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So Lord, may our belief meet you and your power this morning

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and may your word resonate in our hearts

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and transform us for eternity.

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In Jesus' name, and the saint said.

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- Amen. - Amen, amen.

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You may be seated, you may be seated.

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Well, if you are on social media at all,

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which I know most of you are,

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and you've looked at my social media lately,

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you probably know that I have become one of those guys.

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Yes, those guys, we had Eliana Hope two weeks ago,

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and I've become one of those people that, yes,

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I'm posting every three seconds my daughter and her picture.

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You're probably sick of seeing her, but I'm not.

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And so I'm posting her pictures left and right,

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and man, she has just been so beautiful

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and is continuing to just bless us with her sweet presence.

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And so I just love posting, but look at that.

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I mean, she's just adorable.

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And I mean, I just picked, I mean,

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you can't get any better than that little chubby cheeks.

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I mean, that's her sleeping.

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I mean, look at this one.

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I mean, come on, guys.

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I mean, I could stare at her all day long,

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little sister, just sweet and cute.

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Come on.

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I mean, little Eliana.

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And so, you know, here's the thing.

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If you look at my social media,

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you are getting a filtered version of Kevin O'Dea's life.

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You're getting a filtered version of Kevin O'Dea's life

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because anything you see on my social media,

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I have endorsed for the world to see.

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Anything that I put on my social media,

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I'm saying it's okay for everybody in the ethos

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and the universe to see everything that I've posted.

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But here's the thing.

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There are beautiful moments in our life,

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and then there are not so quite beautiful moments.

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Is that true?

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So, you know, getting this baby picture,

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it's surrounded by, you know, baby crying,

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kids fighting, baby crying,

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poopy diapers,

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baby crying,

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laundry everywhere.

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Did I mention baby crying?

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Shari exhausted.

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I got permission to show you that.

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Baby crying.

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Man, we live such filtered lives,

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or let me just say, we post such filtered lives.

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We post out there, we project out there,

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just what we want everyone to see.

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And the reality is, is that there are beautiful moments

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in the middle of our chaos,

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but there's also chaos that surrounds the beauty sometimes.

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And so we don't always post all of the,

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we post the good, but not always the bad and the ugly, do we?

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No, the chaos doesn't cancel the beauty,

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and the beauty doesn't erase the chaos.

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In fact, some of the most beautiful moments

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are happening right in the middle of our mess, amen?

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And that's not just true about parenting,

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it's true about life, and it's true about faith.

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Because if we're honest, we've learned how to filter

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more than just our photos,

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we have learned how to filter this thing called Christmas.

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We've learned how to filter this thing called Christmas.

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We reduce Christmas to a quiet night,

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a peaceful manger, a cute baby laying down in some straw.

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But when you remove the filter,

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Christmas is anything but calm.

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It's risky, it's disruptive,

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it's God stepping into a broken, chaotic,

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and volatile world.

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Christmas invites us all to slow down,

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to remember, and to feel wonder again.

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Have you lost your sense of wonder?

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Have you lost your sense of wonder?

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Christmas was never meant to stop what we can see.

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Scripture tells us this, it says,

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"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

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and we have seen His glory."

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We have seen His glory.

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God didn't just reduce it to sending us a message,

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God came in flesh and bone and dwelt with us.

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Guys, that's an amazing thing.

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It's an amazing thing that God decided

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to come and dwell with us.

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And when those angels appeared to Mary,

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to Joseph, to the shepherds,

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what was the first thing out of their mouth?

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Do not be afraid.

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I'm gonna tell you right now, I know myself well enough,

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if a host of heavenly angels appeared before Kevin O'Dea

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and said, "Do not be afraid,"

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my first response would be, "Too late."

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(congregation laughing)

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But these hosts of heavenly angels appear before Mary

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and appear before Joseph and before the shepherds.

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And they say, "Do not be afraid,"

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because the moments were not gentle.

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It was because the presence of God carries weight.

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Holiness carries weight.

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Glory carries weight.

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Christmas is not God, listen to this,

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Christmas is not God stepping into our manufactured,

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beautied, feltered life.

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It's God stepping into our messy chaos to redeem us.

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See, we love Christmas when it feels warm and familiar.

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And dare I say, we love Jesus

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when it doesn't cost us anything.

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We love Jesus when it doesn't cost us anything.

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And so I present to you this morning, this idea,

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this notion that I believe that we have filtered our faith.

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I believe that we have filtered,

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we have learned how to filter.

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We say out loud that God is good.

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God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

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And that's a true statement.

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But we only really say it when things are going good.

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We say we believe that God provides

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when the provision makes sense.

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We say that God is with us when it doesn't cost us anything.

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And what we've often done is apply our faith

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only in the places where it's easy,

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where it's comfortable, where it doesn't expose us.

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We keep the parts that look good

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and filter out the parts that look messy.

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But faith was never meant to be filtered,

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it was meant to be tested.

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Faith was never meant to be filtered,

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it was meant to be tested.

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And can I tell you guys,

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I was laying in bed about four weeks ago

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and I was struggling with some things here

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going on here at the church.

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I was struggling with some people,

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struggling with some personal things.

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I'm just tossing and turning in bed.

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This is before the baby.

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I was tossing and turning in bed

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and I'm just wrestling with the Lord

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and I'm asking the Lord these questions

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as I couldn't sleep and I'm wrestling

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and just sharp as an arrow.

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I mean, just as illuminating as the angels appearing

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to the shepherds, the Lord said to me,

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"Kevin, let me ask you a question.

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"When the rubber hits the road,

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"do you believe what you say you believe?"

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And can I tell you, after that,

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there was no other word that could have come out of my mouth.

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It was a stark, halting, stopping question

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that said, "Kevin, when the rubber hits the road,

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"do you believe what you say you believe?"

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And friends, I'm asking you today,

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do you believe what you say you believe?

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Do you actually believe what you say you believe?

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I wanna briefly look at two stories in scripture today

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to kinda build a foundation of where we're going.

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And the first is gonna be in the book of Mark.

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And so if you have your Bibles today,

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you can open to the book of Mark chapter nine.

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And I wanna read a story that's kinda hidden in here.

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We don't talk much about this story,

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but I want to read this story

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and I wanna tell you before I read it,

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the reason I'm drawing from this story

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is because I believe that the humanity

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in this father's heart, the humanity in his response

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is something that all of us can relate to.

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It's something, I'll tell you, there's nothing,

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there's nothing more that speaks

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when the rubber hits the road

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than when somebody messes with your kids.

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There's nothing more, when somebody messes,

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I was sitting with somebody just yesterday

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and they say, "Listen, if somebody hurts my kid,

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"another human being comes out of my body."

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When the rubber hits the road,

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if somebody messes with your kid,

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well, this father has a kid who is on the verge of dying.

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Let's read, it says this.

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"When they came back to the disciples,

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"they saw a large crowd around them

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"and scribes questioning and arguing with them.

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"Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Jesus,

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"they were startled and began running to greet him.

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"He asked them, 'What are you discussing with them?'

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"One of the crowd replied to him,

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"'Teacher, I brought you my son possessed with a spirit

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"'which makes him unable to speak.

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"'And whenever it seizes him, intending to do harm,

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"'it throws him down and he foams at the mouth.

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"'It grinds his teeth and becomes stiff.

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"'I told your disciples to drive it out

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"'and they could not do it.'

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"He replied, 'Oh, unbelieving, faithless generation.

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"'How long shall I be with you?

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"'How long shall I put up with you?

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"'Bring him to me,' says Jesus.

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"So they brought the boy to him.

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"When the spirit saw him," meaning Jesus,

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"immediately, it threw the boy into a convulsion

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"and falling on the ground,

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"began rolling and foaming at the mouth.

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"Jesus asked the father,

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"'How long has this been happening to him?'

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"He answered, 'Since childhood.

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"'The demon has often thrown him both into fire

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"'and into water, intending to kill him.

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"'But if you can do anything,

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"'take pity on us and help us.'

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"Jesus said to him, 'If you can,

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"'all things are possible for the one who believes.'

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"And immediately the father of the boy cried out,

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"'I do believe, help my unbelief.

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"'I do believe, help my unbelief.'"

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Guys, can I tell you, this father,

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it says that this boy was wrestling with this spirit

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since he was a child, since he was young.

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He's contending, and I wonder how many of us

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have been wrestling with things for years and years and years

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not bringing it to the one who can do anything about it.

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This father is here, and he goes to the disciples

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and says, "Cast this demon out."

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And Jesus says, "Bring him to me."

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And he brings them to Jesus, and the response to Jesus is,

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"If you could do something, would you do it?"

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And I wonder, even when we get the strength enough

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to bring our situation, to bring our problem to Jesus,

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if it's laden or cushioned with, "If you think you can, God."

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But anything's possible.

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Everything's possible for those who believe.

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That's what the word of God says.

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That's what Jesus says to us.

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And then the father responds

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with such a humanistic response.

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He says, "I believe, but help my unbelief."

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And I don't believe that that was a contradictory,

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or hypocritical statement,

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because I believe that was a human statement.

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It was saying, "I believe, but there's areas of my life

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"where I don't believe.

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"Would you help my unbelief, Lord?"

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And I wonder if there are people here

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who believe just yea far, and if you would just cross over

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to the other side of belief,

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if your faith would just increase and strengthen today,

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I believe God would meet you in the middle of your mess,

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in the middle of your chaos, and change your situation.

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I believe, help my unbelief.

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Help my unbelief.

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Oh my goodness.

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It's not weak faith to pray this prayer.

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The father doesn't pretend.

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He doesn't perform.

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He cries out, "I believe, help my unbelief."

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This, I believe, friends, is honest faith.

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The father, listen, the father doesn't say,

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"Hold on a minute, Jesus.

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"I'll come back when I've got faith enough."

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He brings what he has, and sometimes,

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I want you to understand, sometimes we just need

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to have the courage to bring what we have.

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There's not this bucket of faith over here that it says,

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"Now God says you better have your bucket of faith full

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"before you come to me."

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No, he says, "Come and bring me what little you have,

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"and I'll take care of the rest."

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And let me tell you, in moments when my faith

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is like a mustard seed and I show up and God does something,

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it bolsters my faith bigger than anything in the world,

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and guess what, it tells me that my God,

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the God who breathes stars, the God of the universe,

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will do what he says he will do.

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He accomplishes what he sets out to do,

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that his promises surely are yes and amen.

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Amen?

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Do you believe it today?

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We have this false idea that faith requires us

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to have our act together, but faith requires us

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to lean on a holy God.

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Real authentic faith says, "I believe,

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"but I'm struggling right now."

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Authentic faith says, "I believe, but I'm scared."

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Can anybody relate to that?

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The real faith says, "I believe, but God, this is hard."

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I remember when Shari was in the hospital with Hadassah,

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and we were having Hadassah, and Hadassah came out,

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and the doctors came in, and I heard the doctor say,

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"I heard a word," and it said,

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"I don't think she's gonna make it."

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And when the rubber hit the road in that moment,

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I can't tell you, it was not my flesh that kicked in,

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it was the Spirit of God that kicked in

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that allowed me to go, "God, you're sovereign.

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"God, you're sovereign.

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"Whatever happens in this moment, you're sovereign,

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"and I trust you."

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Let me tell you where that type of faith comes from,

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by spending time in God's word,

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by knowing that I have a faithful God,

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a God of the universe, a God who breathes stars,

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by spending time in knowing that this God

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actually knows my name, and even if he doesn't answer

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on time, I know that he is still good.

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Even if he doesn't answer when I want him to,

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he's still good.

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He is sovereign.

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I remember the moment in the service here,

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when I thought that I legitimately thought I had cancer,

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it was on a paperwork that I had,

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and I stood right here talking about Elijah,

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right in front of all of you,

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and I poured water out on the floor, and I said,

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"I'm believing that God is going to take this cancer away."

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And here I stand before you, and I don't have cancer.

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God is a faithful God.

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He is faithful.

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He moves, but boy, it takes a step of faith

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to go in front of people and say,

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"Hey, I believe that's what God says."

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But here's the thing.

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This is where the rubber hits the road.

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Even if I had cancer today, he's still good.

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Even if I was in heaven with him today, he is still good.

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Just, his goodness is not determined

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based on whether or not he answers you

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in the way you want him to answer.

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He's good regardless.

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He's a good God.

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So somewhere along the way,

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what we've done is we have separated the chaos in our life,

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the mess in our life, the problems in our life,

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and we put them in a category over here,

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and then we walk over on the other side,

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and we put the Lord over here on this other side,

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and the two become separate and disconnected.

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And what that does is produce a fake life.

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When we walk into a place like this,

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and we smile, and we have everything together,

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we put that filtered version of our lives out for everybody,

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when the truth of the matter is we are wallowing

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in the chaos, in the mess of our lives.

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And God wants to get ahold of that.

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God wants to get right in the middle of that,

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but we don't let him because guess what?

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All we're willing to present

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is the filtered version of ourselves.

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Let's turn over to Luke chapter three.

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(paper rustling)

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We separate our problems and our chaos from the Lord.

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And I don't know if it's because we don't believe

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that he's a part of it.

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I don't know if it's because a lot of times,

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at least in my life, the chaos and mess,

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a lot of time is the genesis of it starts with me.

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It starts with my stupidity, or me being an idiot,

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or me doing something wrong.

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And so we separate it because we're saying,

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"God, I don't believe you can touch this

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"because it was something that I did."

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But can I tell you, I believe that God wants to be

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in the middle of all of those things.

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And sometimes, sometimes God is prepping you beforehand

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because he knows all things.

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He's prepping you beforehand to engage the chaos

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that's surrounding your life.

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Let's look at chapter three of Luke, starting in verse 21.

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"Now when all the people were baptized,

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"Jesus was also baptized.

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"And while he was praying, the heaven was opened.

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"And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form

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"like a dove, and a voice came from heaven,

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"you are my son, my beloved in you.

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"I am well pleased and delighted."

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Jesus has been baptized.

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Have you ever been here at a service

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where we baptize someone and they come out of the water

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and they do this motion right here?

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It's because God has done something incredible

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in their life.

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They are dead to the world and alive in Christ.

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I want you to picture Jesus coming out of the water,

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but not only has he come out of the water,

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the audible voice of his dad came down and said,

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"I am so proud of you, son."

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Can you imagine what type of cloud nine,

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what type of faith foundation,

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what type of Superman moment that was for Jesus

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coming out of the water?

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I mean, it was like, let's go time.

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I mean, he was ready to roll, so full of the Holy Spirit.

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And you have had that experience before

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if you've been baptized.

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And then for some reason, it loses its luster.

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But boy, every day we can wake up with that type of momentum,

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that type of power,

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because the Holy Spirit of God dwells inside you.

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So Jesus comes out of the water.

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Can you picture it?

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He's there and his dad, it wasn't,

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I believe, I think maybe God is saying,

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I think maybe my dad's, no, the voice of God.

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This is my son with whom I'm well pleased.

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So let's see what happens next.

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What is he about to do with this?

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Boy, I bet he's about to, man,

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to me, it's like, let's go feed the multitudes, right?

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Let's see what happens.

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Where does God lead him next?

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Let's see chapter four, here we go.

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Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,

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would you say full of the Holy Spirit?

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Full of the Holy Spirit.

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Very important.

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Returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit,

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say led by the Spirit.

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Led by the Spirit.

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Into the wilderness.

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Into the wilderness.

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Oh, it doesn't stop there.

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Into the wilderness for 40 days,

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being tempted by the devil.

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Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,

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was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

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You know what this tells me, guys?

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Sometimes the Holy Spirit of God is leading you

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into those dry places

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because he wants to do a work in your life.

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But I want you to notice something about Jesus.

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He was full of the Holy Spirit.

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God never sends us ill-equipped.

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He never sends us empty.

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He never sends us alone.

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And some of us need to stop looking at our situation

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and start putting our gaze on Christ,

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our graze on the Holy Spirit,

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and start listening to what he's telling us to do.

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Listen to his words, allow his truth

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to eradicate the lies we bought into

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and to go into that wilderness situation

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ready for the temptations that are gonna come

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because you're an overcomer.

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With the Holy Spirit, you're an overcomer.

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So Jesus was tempted.

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What was he tempted with?

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He was tempted with fleshly.

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He was tempted in his flesh.

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He was tempted to eat when he said,

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man won't live on bread alone.

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He was tempted with worldly treasure.

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He was tempted with power.

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Any of this sound familiar?

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How do I overcome all of these temptations?

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Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.

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The Word of God, my Bible says, draw near to God

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and he draws near to you.

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How do I become full of the Holy Spirit?

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Holy Spirit, would you fill me up?

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Is it this the God who says

Speaker: 00:25:24

a father who loves a child would not turn away?

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Like if he's asking for bread to give him a stone?

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No, you have a God that says, ask and you shall receive.

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Fill me up, Holy Spirit.

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I'm in the middle of this thing.

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Fill me up, Holy Spirit.

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I don't think, I think, I think,

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I think all of heaven probably rejoices

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when a believer says, fill me up, Holy Spirit,

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because game on.

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Game on.

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But you can't be full of the Holy Spirit

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when you're full of yourself.

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Yeah, I didn't hear an amen on that one.

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I was gonna let it, gonna let it resonate.

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The Spirit of God did not lead Jesus into comfort.

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See, we have this misnomer,

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I don't know where this comes from.

Speaker: 00:26:19

Get saved, give your life to Jesus,

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and everything's gonna be a basket of roses,

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a field of tulips, sunny days and bright rays.

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It's gonna be good.

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Sweet baby rays barbecue sauce.

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It's gonna be so good, sweet and tasty.

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Oh no, salvation is the first step.

Speaker: 00:26:43

Boom, death to life, praise God.

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Now let's call off all of that stuff

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that's been leading you the wrong direction.

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And that takes a lifetime.

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That takes a lifetime.

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A great teacher never gives a test

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without first equipping the student to pass it.

Speaker: 00:27:09

Jesus wasn't in the wilderness empty,

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he was full of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:27:12

He had what he needed before the test ever came.

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And when God draws us to the wilderness seasons,

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and some of you right now are in a wilderness season,

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where the pressure is real, where your faith is tested,

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where your obedience will cost you something,

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he never sends you alone, ill-equipped or empty.

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And this, my friends, is the true essence

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of Emmanuel, God with us.

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We sing that song, Emmanuel, God with us,

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and in my mind I picture a little cute baby laying

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in a manger and it's, oh God is coming,

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he's here and he's crying, oh he's so sweet.

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No, Emmanuel, the king, God with us

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in our situations and in our chaos.

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God with us does not mean God rescues us from hardship,

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it means God meets us in the hardship.

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When the rubber hits the road,

Speaker: 00:28:10

what we are full of is what will come out.

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And I've talked to some of you and I have squeezed you

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and what came out was not the Holy Spirit.

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Am I telling the truth?

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And some of you have squeezed me and guess what?

Speaker: 00:28:26

It's not always the Holy Spirit.

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And when we do that and when we encounter that thing,

Speaker: 00:28:33

depending on your relationship with the Lord,

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you'll be able to suss out, this is not the Holy Spirit

Speaker: 00:28:37

coming out in your response.

Speaker: 00:28:39

Justin is building a lot to his house,

Speaker: 00:28:44

Justin and Jessica, they are just piling on the bricks

Speaker: 00:28:48

and all of that stuff.

Speaker: 00:28:49

And I was having lunch with Justin the other day

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and he was telling me he had to meet the plumber

Speaker: 00:28:54

and they were telling him that the plumb line,

Speaker: 00:28:57

the water line was so thin that he kinda laughed

Speaker: 00:29:00

and the guy laughed and said,

Speaker: 00:29:01

you're adding all this square footage,

Speaker: 00:29:02

there's no way that that small pipeline

Speaker: 00:29:04

is going to sustain what you guys are adding on to the house.

Speaker: 00:29:08

And so Justin was faced with a decision,

Speaker: 00:29:10

continue to move forward with a small pipeline

Speaker: 00:29:14

or bite the bullet right now and unearth that pipeline

Speaker: 00:29:17

and get something bigger, get something bigger.

Speaker: 00:29:20

What do you think is the better choice?

Speaker: 00:29:22

Get something bigger, bite the bullet now.

Speaker: 00:29:25

Here's the thing, some of us are praying for God

Speaker: 00:29:27

to do more while refusing to increase our capacity

Speaker: 00:29:30

for him to move.

Speaker: 00:29:33

See, faith has a pipeline.

Speaker: 00:29:35

And the question isn't can God pour out more,

Speaker: 00:29:38

the question is can you actually contain

Speaker: 00:29:41

what he's pouring out?

Speaker: 00:29:42

Pressure doesn't create the cracks,

Speaker: 00:29:45

pressure reveals where the lines are too thin.

Speaker: 00:29:48

And so here's my question today, saints,

Speaker: 00:29:50

what might it cost you later if you're not willing

Speaker: 00:29:53

to increase your faith right now?

Speaker: 00:29:55

What type of cost are you passing off or deferring

Speaker: 00:30:01

to a later moment, 'cause I'll tell you right now,

Speaker: 00:30:03

if y'all would have done those pipelines,

Speaker: 00:30:05

something's gonna happen in the future

Speaker: 00:30:07

and that's a lot more mess to unearth

Speaker: 00:30:10

once you've built something on top of it.

Speaker: 00:30:12

Can I tell you that God wants to do something big

Speaker: 00:30:16

in your lives, but he is demanding an increase in your faith.

Speaker: 00:30:20

He's demanding an increase in your faith.

Speaker: 00:30:26

James tells us faith without action is dead.

Speaker: 00:30:31

Faith without action is dead.

Speaker: 00:30:33

Listen, everyone wants to see the Red Sea split,

Speaker: 00:30:37

but don't nobody want to be right there at the water.

Speaker: 00:30:39

Everyone wants Jericho to come tumbling down,

Speaker: 00:30:44

but nobody wants to be the one that has a shout.

Speaker: 00:30:48

Everyone wants a Goliath to be defeated,

Speaker: 00:30:50

but don't nobody wanna be the one running out

Speaker: 00:30:53

with the stones.

Speaker: 00:30:55

Everyone wants a resurrected experience,

Speaker: 00:30:59

but we're not willing to be crucified with Christ.

Speaker: 00:31:01

Faith is not proven after the miracle takes place.

Speaker: 00:31:07

Faith is proven when your belief leads to action

Speaker: 00:31:10

and is met by the power of a star-breathing God, amen?

Speaker: 00:31:14

But what stops us is that when we come upon obstacles

Speaker: 00:31:18

in our life, we end up running to everyone

Speaker: 00:31:22

and everything else, despite the Word of God.

Speaker: 00:31:28

I've learned something about running the school.

Speaker: 00:31:31

We get about 15 minutes to meet new kids

Speaker: 00:31:34

who come into our school.

Speaker: 00:31:35

We sit down with them, we tour the school,

Speaker: 00:31:38

we ask them some questions, but do you know

Speaker: 00:31:40

where I really find out about the students at our school?

Speaker: 00:31:43

Is when I let them go eat lunch in the cafeteria.

Speaker: 00:31:45

Because what happens is it's a brand new kid

Speaker: 00:31:51

in a brand new environment in a brand new season,

Speaker: 00:31:53

and within seconds, the troublemakers find the troublemakers.

Speaker: 00:31:59

Isn't that interesting?

Speaker: 00:32:01

They don't know names, they don't know history,

Speaker: 00:32:03

but instinctively, they end up at the same table.

Speaker: 00:32:06

When the pressure hits, we don't drift toward what's right,

Speaker: 00:32:12

we run toward the familiar.

Speaker: 00:32:14

Spiritually, we do the same thing.

Speaker: 00:32:16

When the rubber hits the road, we don't run to the Word,

Speaker: 00:32:19

the gift of the Word that we've been given,

Speaker: 00:32:21

we don't run to this Word, we run to the crowd.

Speaker: 00:32:24

We run to the group text.

Speaker: 00:32:26

We run to the people who will agree with us

Speaker: 00:32:28

because it feels so much better to get a pat on the back

Speaker: 00:32:30

than to hear what God has to say about a situation.

Speaker: 00:32:33

Scripture says in Romans 10,

Speaker: 00:32:35

faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ,

Speaker: 00:32:39

not the Word of your group text,

Speaker: 00:32:41

not the Word of your friends,

Speaker: 00:32:43

not the Word of the social media post.

Speaker: 00:32:45

It says it comes by the Word of Christ.

Speaker: 00:32:49

I love the phrase, let's put truth on the table.

Speaker: 00:32:53

In every situation, when you're in a conversation,

Speaker: 00:32:55

I invite you to interject,

Speaker: 00:32:57

okay, let's put truth on the table.

Speaker: 00:33:00

What does the truth say about this situation?

Speaker: 00:33:03

What does the truth of God's Word say about this situation?

Speaker: 00:33:06

Let me tell you something,

Speaker: 00:33:07

nothing will shut up gossip more than saying,

Speaker: 00:33:09

let's put truth on the table.

Speaker: 00:33:11

Let's put truth on the table.

Speaker: 00:33:14

When belief is tested,

Speaker: 00:33:16

the question isn't what you say you believe,

Speaker: 00:33:19

it's where you run when it costs you something.

Speaker: 00:33:22

Some of you know this story, this is a boy named Ryan.

Speaker: 00:33:26

And Ryan is a student at LCA

Speaker: 00:33:28

and he is in kindergarten readiness right now.

Speaker: 00:33:31

He's been with us for about three years.

Speaker: 00:33:33

And Ryan two weeks ago was diagnosed with leukemia

Speaker: 00:33:37

at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in ICU.

Speaker: 00:33:40

He's laying there and his parents are there with him.

Speaker: 00:33:43

Parents are in that room

Speaker: 00:33:44

and Ryan starts to mumble something on that hospital bed

Speaker: 00:33:48

and they can't quite make out what he's saying.

Speaker: 00:33:50

And so they go over to him and it's,

Speaker: 00:33:52

Ryan, are you hungry?

Speaker: 00:33:53

Ryan, are you thirsty?

Speaker: 00:33:55

What is he saying?

Speaker: 00:33:56

They're just mumbling, he's mumbling some words.

Speaker: 00:33:58

What's going on?

Speaker: 00:33:59

And right there in that hospital room,

Speaker: 00:34:03

on that hospital bed, this little five-year-old

Speaker: 00:34:06

with leukemia is mumbling this,

Speaker: 00:34:08

even when I don't see it, you're working.

Speaker: 00:34:12

Even when I don't feel it, you're working.

Speaker: 00:34:16

Oh, that God would increase our faith.

Speaker: 00:34:25

That up out of our spirit in situations

Speaker: 00:34:29

that we don't understand, that are not familiar,

Speaker: 00:34:33

the first thing out of our mouth would go,

Speaker: 00:34:36

God, even though it doesn't look like it,

Speaker: 00:34:38

it doesn't feel like it,

Speaker: 00:34:39

I believe you are who you say you are.

Speaker: 00:34:42

It's not just a lyric, this,

Speaker: 00:34:45

even when I don't see it, you're working.

Speaker: 00:34:48

It's surrender, way maker, miracle worker,

Speaker: 00:34:54

promise keeper, light in dark places.

Speaker: 00:34:57

I believe he is.

Speaker: 00:34:59

But when you're standing at the crossroads

Speaker: 00:35:02

and you don't see the way,

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when the only way out is a miraculous move of God,

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when every promise of God seems to be in question,

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and when you find yourself in the darkest places

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you've ever been, that's when your belief is exposed.

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Faith isn't believing God will do what I want.

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Faith is believing he can, even if he chooses not to.

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So this is how I wanna close.

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I want us to get real for a minute.

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Can you guys come into my kitchen table right now,

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metaphorically?

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Come have a seat at the table.

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We're gonna talk real.

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We're gonna get real honest right now, okay?

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And here it goes.

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'Cause I believe this is for everyone.

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Christmas has a way of exposing the pressure points.

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(gentle music)

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And I want us to understand today,

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if you forget everything I say,

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I want you to understand this.

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The world has advice.

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The word has direction.

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Do you believe what you say you believe?

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Some of you in this room, you're sitting next to somebody,

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somebody in this room,

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you're dealing with grief this season.

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What does that mean?

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There's an empty seat at the table this year.

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There's a familiar voice you no longer get to hear.

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There's a name that you no longer get to text.

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And when the rubber hits the road,

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the question isn't, do I miss them?

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The question is, do I believe God is still near

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when my heart is broken?

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And this is what the world says.

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Numb the pain, distract yourself,

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move on as quickly as possible.

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But this is what the word says and gives direction.

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It says, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted

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and saves the crushed in spirit.

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So the Lord says, sit with me, bring it to me.

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Let me heal what you can't.

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Some of you in this room, you're sitting next to each other,

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your marriage is unraveling.

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And it may be plastered with a smile in front of all of us,

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but you know your marriage is unraveling.

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There's problems at home.

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There's arguments that have been unsettled.

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I'm getting real with you guys this morning.

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And when the rubber hits the road,

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the question becomes, do I believe God can heal

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what seems irreparably damaged, or do I quietly give up?

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The world says, protect yourself.

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Walk away when it's hard.

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Do what makes you happy.

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But this is the direction from the word of the Lord.

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It says, is anything too hard for the Lord?

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Is anything too hard for the Lord?

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Some of you are dealing right now in this room

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with fractured relationships.

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And when the rubber hits the road, the question becomes,

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do I believe obedience still matters

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even when reconciliation's gonna cost me something?

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The world says, cut 'em off.

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Be distant.

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Protect your peace at all costs.

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But the word says, Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers.

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Some of you in this room right now, literally, I know,

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at least two people, are carrying a medical diagnosis.

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You've been carrying an ailment for a long time, some of you.

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And you're sitting there going through Christmas

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with a smile on your face,

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but you've got this looming, weighty thing.

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And when the rubber hits the road, the question becomes,

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do I believe God is still with me in the valley,

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or do I just believe it when I'm on the mountaintop?

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And the world says, panic, spiral out of control,

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assume the worst.

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But the direction from the word says,

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even though I walk through the valley, you are with me.

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Some of you are under financial strain this morning.

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And you got up here and you heard Barbie mention

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about tithing, and you questioned whether or not

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you could give, some of you just said,

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I'm not even gonna try to go there

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because my bills are too high, my credit cards are maxed.

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I don't know how I'm getting gifts for the kids this week.

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I don't know, I don't know anything.

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I've been trying different ways,

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I've been moving stuff around, I lost my job.

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Financial strain is a real thing for some of you

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in this room right now.

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But when the rubber hits the road, the question becomes,

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do I believe God's my provider,

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or do I live like everything depends on me?

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The world says, hoard it, worry about it,

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and control everything.

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This is what the directive of the word says,

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seek first the kingdom of God,

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and all of those things will be added to you.

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Do you believe what you say you believe?

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Do you believe what you say?

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Some of you, listen, some of you,

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none of those things relate, but this one's gonna hit home.

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Some of you are just plain exhausted.

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Because you have been running and running and running,

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you've been chasing them kids, you've been going places,

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you've been running to try to prove yourself,

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work is demanding, the pressure is so big,

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and when the rubber hits the road,

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the question becomes,

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do I believe God actually renews strength,

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or do I just keep pushing until I break?

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The world says, push harder, keep proving yourself.

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Don't slow down, the directive from the word says this,

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those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

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Some of you need to enter a waiting season.

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Rest is not weakness, waiting is worship.

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Now let me talk to another,

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I'm getting real real today, right?

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Can I keep going?

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Let me talk to another very real struggle in the room.

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Some of you are just tired,

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you're not just tired and hurting, you are uncertain.

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You don't know what decision to make,

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you don't know if you're in the right role somewhere,

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you don't know if it's the season, the assignment,

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the position is where God wants you,

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and the insecurity creeps in and you say,

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what if I mess up?

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What if I miss God, what if I'm not enough for this?

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And the world says, trust your instincts, follow your heart,

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choose the next opportunity that comes along.

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But the directive from the word says this,

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trust in the Lord with all your heart.

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Stop leaning on your own understanding

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and all your ways submit to Him and guess what He'll do?

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He'll make every straight, every path straight.

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And what about this?

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Some of you have been praying and praying and praying,

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and God has either been silent

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or God's just flat out said no.

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What if God's answer is no?

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What if He is silent?

Speaker: 00:41:47

What if His answer looks different from you?

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Some of you are here, listen to this,

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some of you are literally watching God answer

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the same prayer you have for other people

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that you're connected to,

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and He's not answered that prayer for you.

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And you're sitting here going, what about me?

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And you're carrying this quiet prayer inside you.

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There is a faith that trusts God when He opens doors,

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but can I tell you there is a deeper faith

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for those who will trust God when He doesn't open the door.

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Who has greater faith, the one who prays and receives

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or the one who prays doesn't receive

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and still keeps showing up

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because they believe that God is still good?

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(gentle music)

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Paul prayed and God said no, my grace is sufficient.

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Habakkuk didn't get the answer he wanted

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and he still rejoiced.

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Job lost everything and still trusted God.

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Listen, faith isn't trusting God because of the outcome.

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Faith is trusting God in spite of the outcome.

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And so this morning, would you stand with me this morning?

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This morning, this is what we're gonna do.

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(gentle music)

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If you are struggling, faith without action is dead.

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Say that, faith without action is dead.

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Today's call is an increase in faith.

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Without faith, it is impossible to please the God

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you say you believe in.

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And so if you are here and you are struggling with grief,

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I want you right here in front.

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If you're here and your marriage is on the rocks,

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I want you right down here, right here.

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If you're struggling in a relationship,

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come on down right here.

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The God of the universe wants to meet you today.

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If you're fearful at this Christmas time, get down here.

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If you have a medical diagnosis, come on down right here.

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If your finances are all in shambles,

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come on down right here.

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Meet this great, glorious God.

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If you're exhausted this morning, come on down.

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Meet your glorious God.

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If you're uncertain today,

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come down and meet this great, glorious God.

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If God has been silent, if he's not answered a prayer

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that you've been believing for,

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come on down here right now.

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I believe that this way maker, this miracle worker,

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this promise keeper, this light in the darkness

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will literally meet you right now.

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Now let me tell you something.

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Let me give you the truth.

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I'm gonna use the financial group as an example.

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You may walk out of these doors as broke as you walked in,

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but the God of the universe will render to you a peace.

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And he will say, the truth of the matter is,

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is that I own the cattle on a hill

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and I'm gonna take care of your need.

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All you need is to have faith enough to believe.

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And you can apply that across the board

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to any one of these situations.

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Now let me have your eyeballs up here for just a second.

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I know you've been given something.

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I want you to just hold it in your hand for a second.

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Look right here.

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And those out there who are not up here,

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you can begin to pray.

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Jesus came to earth at Christmas

Speaker: 00:45:05

to save us from the problem of sin.

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That was our issue.

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We had sin, we were separate from God.

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That was the first coming.

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But can I give you a promise that the word says?

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Somebody here struggling with grief, uncertainty,

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relationship things, tears, all this stuff.

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Can I give you a promise that the word says?

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Look at the screens, guys.

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This is a promise that we get to rejoice in

Speaker: 00:45:29

because he's not just coming the first time,

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he's coming a second time.

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And this is what he says.

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I'm gonna wipe every tear from your eye.

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There's gonna be no more death or mourning

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or crying or pain for the former things have passed away.

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Now let me ask you something.

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Do you believe he's gonna do it?

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Do you believe that he's gonna come back a second time?

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Do you believe that all of that's going to happen?

Speaker: 00:45:50

And here's the thing,

Speaker: 00:45:51

this great glorious God can give you a peace this morning

Speaker: 00:45:54

that matches this verse in the situation

Speaker: 00:45:57

and the chaos that you're in.

Speaker: 00:45:59

Increase your capacity to receive.

Speaker: 00:46:03

So here's what I want us to understand.

Speaker: 00:46:05

You say you're walking through grief,

Speaker: 00:46:08

you're walking through a marriage problem,

Speaker: 00:46:09

relationship fear, medical diagnosis.

Speaker: 00:46:12

Go ahead and turn off those lights.

Speaker: 00:46:13

I want you to understand something.

Speaker: 00:46:19

This is a glow stick and it does nothing.

Speaker: 00:46:23

It serves no purpose unless what happens,

Speaker: 00:46:28

unless it's broken.

Speaker: 00:46:30

Go ahead and break your glow stick.

Speaker: 00:46:33

(gentle music)

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(gentle music)

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Do me a favor, Rich, hand me that glow stick that's there.

Speaker: 00:46:55

I want a good glow stick.

Speaker: 00:46:56

I have another one on my seat you can have.

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You got one up there, okay, I got a glow stick, okay.

Speaker: 00:47:02

Hold him up.

Speaker: 00:47:03

(gentle music)

Speaker: 00:47:06

Listen clearly, guys.

Speaker: 00:47:10

The light of the world, which you've been called,

Speaker: 00:47:13

the light of the world is Christ meeting you

Speaker: 00:47:17

in your brokenness.

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Out of your chaos and your brokenness,

Speaker: 00:47:23

he creates something beautiful.

Speaker: 00:47:26

So understand, listen to this, this is good, okay.

Speaker: 00:47:31

The God of the universe has trusted you

Speaker: 00:47:36

with the chaos that you're in.

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Are you with me?

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Because he says, I am with you.

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He hasn't forsaken you.

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So count it all joy when you face tribulations

Speaker: 00:47:51

and trials of any kind, because he's doing a work in you.

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Why?

Speaker: 00:47:57

So that the light of Christ could be proclaimed

Speaker: 00:48:00

to a dying world.

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And he only can do that if you're willing to be broken.

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Amen, amen, is that good?

Speaker: 00:48:08

So today God wants to be your way maker.

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Listen, real quick, and I'm done.

Speaker: 00:48:14

You can turn on the lights.

Speaker: 00:48:16

Christmas isn't a story about people

Speaker: 00:48:22

who had it figured out.

Speaker: 00:48:24

It's a story about people who believed God

Speaker: 00:48:26

when the rubber hit the road.

Speaker: 00:48:27

Mary believed God when her reputation was on the line.

Speaker: 00:48:32

Joseph believed God when he had to be obedient,

Speaker: 00:48:35

when he wasn't obedient, when he wasn't sure.

Speaker: 00:48:37

The angels declared truth and fear and in darkness.

Speaker: 00:48:40

The shepherds believed God even to leave what was familiar.

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Do you understand what I'm saying to you?

Speaker: 00:48:46

None of them had certainty.

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None of them had control, but all of them had one thing.

Speaker: 00:48:52

They all had great faith.

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And you have a great big glorious God

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with whom it is impossible to please without faith.

Speaker: 00:49:03

And so my prayer for you, my friends,

Speaker: 00:49:05

is that your faith in this season would increase,

Speaker: 00:49:08

that you would begin to truly believe God

Speaker: 00:49:11

for all of the things in the chaos,

Speaker: 00:49:13

that you would not separate God from your mess,

Speaker: 00:49:16

but you would just say, God, here I am,

Speaker: 00:49:18

messed up from the floor up, come into my life,

Speaker: 00:49:22

and change everything.

Speaker: 00:49:24

And so today as a testimony of faith,

Speaker: 00:49:27

as a statement of faith, we're gonna declare

Speaker: 00:49:31

that he truly is in every one of your situations

Speaker: 00:49:34

a way maker, a miracle worker.

Speaker: 00:49:37

Is he a promise keeper?

Speaker: 00:49:38

He sure is.

Speaker: 00:49:39

He's a light in the darkness.

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Come on, let's worship.

Speaker: 00:49:41

Church, let's worship.

Speaker: 00:49:42

Come on, let's worship like God's gonna move today, okay?

Speaker: 00:49:45

Let's go, come on.

Speaker: 00:49:46

you