Latest / REZ CHURCH Podcast / That Voice You Keep Ignoring - March 1, 2026

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That Voice You Keep Ignoring - March 1, 2026 · REZ CHURCH Podcast

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Good morning church. My name is Daniel.
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I'm the lead pastor here at Res. I'm excited to be here and
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preaching today. I'm excited.
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If you're joining us for the first time or you're pretty new
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here, haven't had a chance to connect, I'm excited you're
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here. I'm going to.
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We're going to have a chance to connect with you right after
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service at this meet the team that we do over here with
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brownies that you should come and have.
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Otherwise I will eat far too many of them.
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So come and save me from some brownies.
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Listen, I have a question I want to start out with because we're
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we're like week 5 into this series.
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And if you knew that you were going to die on Friday, what
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would you do with the time that you have left in those last
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couple days? In fact, as you start to think
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about all the ice cream you would eat, what particularly
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would you do to prepare the people that are closest to you
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for the fact that you're about to leave them?
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What, what, who are the people and what would you, what would
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you be doing? Like, what do you want to leave
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them with as kind of the last things you need them to know or
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you want to express to them before you leave this world?
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And I'm asking you that because it's it's kind of what's
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happening in our story today. Jesus is in the last few days
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before he's going to go to the cross.
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He's right before he's going to end up dying for our sins,
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coming back to life and then and then ascending to the Father.
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And so we're right at the end in in John chapter 12 or so, this
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whole story of John begins to slow down.
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And by John 13, and we're all the way into 16 today, that
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entire segment of Scripture is 1 dinner.
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That's a long dinner. And it's Jesus preparing his
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disciples, the closest people to him for the fact that he's going
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to leave them. And so the reason I think it's
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just so particularly interesting is, man, if there was one point
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you should really pay attention to, you'd think, well, well, as
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Jesus is in this last moment with his disciples, I wonder
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what's important to him. I wonder what he thinks that
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these people need to hear. And that's been so we're in week
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5 as we've begun to do this. And so if you go all the way
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back to week 1 of this series in John, it starts with Jesus
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telling his disciples, listen, you're going to need to lose
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your expectations. And then John 13, what we
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covered a couple weeks ago, you need to learn to lose your
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status. And then the next week you we
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really need to learn how to lose our desire for control and the
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last week lose yourself reliance.
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And so we're we're in this the whole series is called losing
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this week, week 5 of this series, we're going to be at the
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very end of John 15 and into John 16.
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And I have titled this the very deep, very philosophical title
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of Lose Your training wheels. Lose Your Training wheels.
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Because Jesus is actually about to explain that, that the
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Christian life for his disciples is going to go from very
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simplistic to a little bit more complex.
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He's going to turn on expert mode.
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And, and the reason is Jesus is not going to be there to teach
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them everything. It's going to look a little
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different. About 6678 years ago, something
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like that. A few years back my wife and I
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had an opportunity to go on a cruise around the Mediterranean
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and and stop in these ports along the way.
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And then the cruise stopped. It finished in Venice, Italy and
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apparently I visited Venice or we visited Venice at the perfect
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time. It was raining and I didn't know
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that was good, but apparently it's really smelly except when
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it rains. So anyways, we had a great time.
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Part of the reason that is now it's my favorite city that I've
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ever visited was we accidentally stumbled upon a tour that was
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lead. We got a tour guide assigned to
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us who was a young lady, a very young lady, like in her young
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early 20s, who was born and raised in the city, the city of
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Venice. And she knew when I say she knew
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Venice, like she really. So we're we're, you know,
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following her around and she's just, she'll be walking and then
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she just check her right turn down this little alley.
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We're like, we're following her down.
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And then she knows everybody by name.
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She's like saying hi to the Baker and they're giving her
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bread. And I was like, I thought that
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was a Disney movie. She's like, hello, Philippe, you
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know, hello, Giuseppe. And we're just like, what is
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happening? And so she's just taking turns
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greeting everyone. This is a big place.
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And we're just getting this is this lady's.
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And at one point she stops and there's a door.
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There's a door about this big. I mean, it looks like I think
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she's going to get out a mop or a broom.
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And I'm like, this, this thing is about to get weird.
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She opens it up and it's a secret passage.
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And I was like, we are getting our money's worth.
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And so we all, we all walk through this thing you can
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barely fit through. And it comes out and there's a,
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there's a restaurant like hidden between these two buildings and
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they've already laid out a table for us and they know her by name
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and they're pouring wine and they're putting cheese and all
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this stuff. And we're like, what is
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happening? I was like, this is like Belle
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from Beauty and the Beast, you know, now I was waiting for
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music to just start up and she was going to dance or something.
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We had a phenomenal time, but but we experienced more in like
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a two or three hour tour that we we would have ever experienced
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spending weeks in Venice not knowing what we were doing.
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Because it is a very confusing place.
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And my point is simply that the difference between having a
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guide who knows what they're doing and where they're going is
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very different than stumbling around life.
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Amen. And so if you leave today.
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And. Only remember one thing.
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I want you to remember this. The Christian life is about
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trusting the guide and that's what Jesus is about to explain
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to His disciples before He goes to the cross.
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Join me in the reading of God, God's Word in John 15 verse 26.
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I'm going to read from the ESV. Here's what it says.
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This is Jesus at the at the dinner table.
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But when the helper comes, helper is probably capitalized
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in your Bible because it's a name.
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It's a proper noun for the Holy Spirit.
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When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the
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Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he
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will bear witness about me. So here's Jesus at the dinner
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table teaching these final lessons, saying they haven't
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heard about this yet. Hey, the Holy Spirit is going to
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come and he's going to play a very specific role in your life.
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And I'm going to explain what it looks like, verse 27.
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And you will also bear witness because you have been with me
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from the beginning. I am missing a page.
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All right, that's fine. And I have said these things.
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This is chapter 16. I've said these things to keep
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you from falling away. They will put you out of the
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synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when
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whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
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And they will do these things because they have not known the
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Father nor me. But I have said these things to
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you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told
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them to you. Now He's going to explain in
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this next section exactly what the Holy Spirit's going to do.
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I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I
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was with you. But now I'm going to him who
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sent me. And none of you asks, where are
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you going? But because I have said these
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things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
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Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage
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that I go away. For if I do not go away, the
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Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to
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you. So Jesus is saying, listen,
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follow, following. Jesus, being a Christian so far
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has been on easy mode for the disciples.
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Here's why. They didn't have to make any
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decisions. They just followed Jesus.
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What am I supposed to do today? I'm just going to follow this
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guy. What's he doing?
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He's making, he's going to feed 5000 people.
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All right, because that's what we're doing.
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If they don't understand something, do they figure it
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out? No, they go, hey, Jesus.
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Well, what did that parable mean?
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If they're confused, he rebukes them.
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If they do something wrong, he tells like so.
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So life so far has actually been not that difficult to figure
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out. You have Jesus standing next to
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you. That's either really helpful or
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really terrifying when you think about it.
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But but he's going to leave and he's saying, no, it's going to
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work different now. And I'm going to send you a
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guide. And here's what the guide's
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going to do. Pick this up in chapter 16,
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verse 8. Here's what the guide's going to
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do. Here's what the Holy Spirit's
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going to do when he comes. He will convict the world
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concerning 3 things, sin and righteousness and judgement.
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OK, so if you're reading your physical Bible, I want you to
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just underline the word convict and then underline those 3
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words, sin, righteousness, judgement.
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And Jesus explains concerning sin because they do not believe
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in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and
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you will no see me no longer concerning judgement because the
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rule ruler of this world is judge.
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We'll explain that in a minute. I still have many things to say
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to you, but you cannot bear them now.
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When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the
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truth. That is another underlying
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worthy statement right there, for he will not speak on his own
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authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will
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declare to you the things that are to come.
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I'm going to stop right there. May God bless the reading of his
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word. When when as Jesus is explaining
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what it's going to look like for the Holy Spirit to come and be
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the guide in their life. I was thinking about when I
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taught my has anyone here ever taught their kid how to ride a
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bike? Couple.
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Oh, yeah. OK, good.
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OK, so when I taught every kid that I've taught, we taught the
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same way. You put them on the little bike
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with the training wheels. You guys, we've all done this,
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right? And here's what happens is
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they're like riding around and when they lean too far, he goes
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Dick and he just hits the training wheel.
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And they and actually when they're really bad, they just
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bounce training wheel, the training wheel the whole way
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down the road. It looks terrible, but you know,
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they're figuring out how to balance.
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But there's a point where they begin to mature and physically
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develop. And you're like, I think they're
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ready. And you take the training wheels
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off and then you get them on there and you strap their
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little, little Princess helmet. I had a lot of girls Princess
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helmet on. And you get them on the little
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bike and you and, and you hold the back of the seat.
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You guys know what I'm talking about, right?
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Some people are looking at me funny, like, you're going to get
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there, OK. And you go, you go riding around
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the neighborhood. And then what do you do?
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At some point, you let go, but you don't tell them.
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And you just keep running next to them.
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And then at some point, every one of my kids does this.
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They GoDaddy. I think I'm ready to go on my
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own. And I'm like, you have been for
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10 minutes. I'm just here for the jog.
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What, what are we doing in that moment?
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We're training them how to be sensitive to, to stay on the
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course and not need the bumper rails in the same fashion,
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right? So keep that in mind because
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we're going to look at what it looks like for the Holy Spirit
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to guide us. And you're going to see a lot of
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similarities here. Verse 8.
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And when he, the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world
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concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.
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Now, if you've been around church at all before, heck if
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maybe if you just heard about church, then when I say the word
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convict, you have like a, a pretty negative connotation,
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right? Convict is like, you know, you
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do something wrong and you you feel horrible about it.
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You know what I'm like, like when my wife goes, Daniel, did
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you eat the last cookie that I was saving for myself?
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I hope you feel convicted. And I say I don't feel
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conviction. I'm paying for all those
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cookies. Not that kind of conviction.
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OK. The actual word that's being
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used here is a different kind of convict.
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In fact, this, this Greek word in, in Konya Greek is, is
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elancho. And so this, this word means a
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little something different. It doesn't have as negative of a
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connotation. It's still a very strong word.
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But what it means is to to take this evidence, think of a
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courtroom, almost take some evidence or some truth and to
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clarify it like so well that you that no one can mistake it.
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No one could, could, could miss it to place the truth so clearly
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before something that it must be seen and acknowledged.
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Now that evidence could be good or bad or what have you.
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So it's not always negative, but it means that it's like
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undebatable, like it's just man, it's very clear.
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It's unavoidable. It's impossible to miss.
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Now I was thinking about that, like, what does that look like?
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And, and I know some of you guys are visual learners.
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And so I was thinking through like, what does it look like to
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to have a truth placed before you like so well that you can't
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avoid it. And I remember the video I saw.
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I want to show it to you did. You did you eat my?
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Burger. I just don't understand.
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This is crazy to me. Did you eat?
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Did you enjoy it? You just ate an entire chicken
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barn and bought chicken. Do you have any idea what you've
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done? It was $20.
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Who did this mess? Cody?
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Did you make this mess? Elancho?
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There you go. OK.
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Now, why would humanity in this in this text?
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Why would humanity need spiritual truths to be presented
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in such an obvious fashion like this?
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Because hopefully what they're presented to you is not that
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you've been in the trash eating, eating the food.
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Like what? What is it that that the Holy
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Spirit is going to bring to light and put in front of us
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that we cannot avoid? Well, he told sin, righteousness
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and judgement. Those are these, these next 3
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verses concerning sin, concerning righteousness,
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concerning judgement. I don't want to break each of
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those down in this sequence because they're actually in a
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sequential order for a reason, because it's the problem, the
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solution, and the consequence. The problem, the solution, the
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consequence. So Jesus explains that the
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presence of the Holy Spirit is going to be all that we actually
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need to live this Christian life, to spread the gospel of
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Christ and to live confidently until the end.
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So let's start with the first one, The, the, the, the, the
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word here that is used for sin. And in your Bible at different
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times, different words are used that we then translate into
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English as sin. And so sometimes they're
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actually different words. This is a Greek word, hamartia.
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Hamartia. It's in your handout, I think,
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and it's in classic Greek. This, the actual definition and
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the use of this word was about missing the mark.
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And so if you want to think back to when they would have used
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this word before they were talking about sin, it would have
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been an archery. So if an Archer lines up to to
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hit a bull's eye and they let that arrow go and it misses the
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bull's eye, we would have used this term hamartia.
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You missed the mark. Now here's the thing.
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Imagine though that there's no target or that you can't see the
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target. That has not been made clear.
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If there's no target, then you know, I can take my bow and my
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arrow and I could just be like, lodge that bad boy in the
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ceiling and be like, looks like a bull's eye to me.
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And, and, and, and we chuckle. But do we not live in a culture
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that defines right and wrong that way?
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Have you not heard someone tell you, whether it's in person or
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on social media, like, well, that's just your truth.
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It's not my truth. That's just your bullseye.
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It's not my bullseye. What humanity, this this fallen
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world has been trying to define right and wrong on their own
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since the fall of creation. They're the very first humans
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wanted to be gods so that they could justify their rebellion
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and their failure, and they could call a bad thing good.
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And we do too. I had AI had a a really
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beautiful and impactful conversation with a young lady
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about two or three months ago and she'd been raised Christian.
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Walked away from the faith, ended up moving in with five
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atheists as the only person with a Christian background.
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And so somewhere along the way, as she's living with these
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people, four of the roommates turned against her.
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And they started to create a lot of a lot of turmoil, a lot of
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drama in the apartment. They belittled her, started to
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gossip about her and slander her.
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They made-up lies about her. And she gets to the point where
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she doesn't want to go home like she doesn't want to.
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It's unbearable. And she's telling me all about
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this, right? And it's, it's bad.
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She's very emotional. She's telling me about this.
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And I listen, I get we get to the end and I go, who says
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that's wrong? And she she's like, well, no,
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no, they did all these things. I go, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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But who says that's wrong? What if I asked them and they
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don't think it's wrong? Who says it's wrong?
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And she's like, what do you mean?
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What? Of course that's wrong.
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So listen, if there's no objective morality, if there's
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no objective right and wrong, who's to say that all that lying
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and that horrible behavior is actually even horrible?
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If you get to invent your own right and wrong, if you can't
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even look at something that's obviously wrong and call wrong,
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listen, if you don't believe in God and you make up your own
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truth, you treat someone terrible and be like, yeah,
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well, that's my own personal truth.
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That's how I feel. Maybe you're here today and you
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don't believe in God. You're like, I don't, I don't
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think any. I don't think it's wrong.
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I think it's a God. It's just us trying to figure it
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out, right? Just checking it out.
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Maybe one of your friends drug you here.
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Thank you, friend. Do you realize that you you
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can't even call anything right or wrong unless there's someone
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greater than us, unless there's some power that has more
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authority than we do that that has established A cosmic right
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and wrong, a universal right and wrong.
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Because without that, morality is just whatever flavor of
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behavior that I can justify today to, to believe in a real
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right and wrong is already to begin to believe in a God of the
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universe because someone had to establish that.
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And so verse 11 is he's saying, listen, the Holy Spirit's going
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to come and he's going to convict, make clear.
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This standard, these truths that everyone has to see.
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And so, so the the first part of that is, is that the Holy Spirit
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is going to help us understand that there is an objective right
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and wrong. God does have a will.
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He does have a character. He does have express purpose.
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The second thing that the Holy Spirit does when he convicts us
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of this sin is that he removes our blinders so that we can see
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it. He removes our spiritual
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blindness so that we can actually tell that we're falling
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short. In fact, later after the story,
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there's another disciple that will come along.
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His name is Paul, and he will write almost this same thing to
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a church, and he will say it this way.
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In one of those famous passages in the Bible, in Romans 323,
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Paul will say, for all have sinned and fall short.
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There's that, Miss the mark, fall short of the glory of God.
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And the crazy thing here is, in the Greek where it says all, it
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actually means all. Say me.
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Yep, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
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And so it's actually the very first steps toward a
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relationship with God. The God who loves us is
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realizing the desperate state we are in without him.
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And so when I was when I was in college, the first time I really
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begin to see this, I began to realize I was I did nothing.
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I ever I was always falling short.
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I was always making a mess of my own life.
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And I began to realize. I need something more than what
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I can provide. In fact, it wasn't just when I
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was in college. I see that now every single day
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I wake up. And I realized, man.
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I need God, oh, I need him. So it's more than just seeing
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it, because then there's another thing in this text.
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It's righteousness. So, so we see it.
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There's a sin, I'm falling short of the glory of God.
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I'm falling short, I'm missing the mark.
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And then righteousness. Righteousness is this next step.
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So, so once people like you and I begin to see we're convicted
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of this sin, we're going to see that we're missing the mark.
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We need a solution so. Not enough to know you.
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Have a problem? That's a wonderful first step.
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Because listen if. You left me only with the
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knowledge that I was falling short and no solution.
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That's not very encouraging. Hey, you're hopeless.
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That's depressing. I'm going to need more than
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that. I need help.
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So I've realized I'm not righteous.
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That's the falling short part. And Jesus says there is hope.
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Even though Jesus is going to go to the Father.
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When we place our faith in what Jesus is about to go do in this
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story, when he goes to the cross, he dies for our sins.
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He rises again. We will be granted the very
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righteousness of Christ, the sinless Son of God.
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Righteousness is more than good character or good behavior.
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In this sense, the way it's being used, you kind of go back
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to that courtroom. It is the legal status of being
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called right, being declared right in God's eyes.
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There, that's that. Is very good news for a couple
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reasons. The 1st is it means that when
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God looks at me because I've given my life to Christ, he
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doesn't see me anymore. He's all my mistakes and all of
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my failures and the ones that I have made, the ones that I am
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making and the ones that I'm going to make.
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He sees. Christ's righteousness instead
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of mine. Lack of righteousness.
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That's good news. Listen to the.
24:18
Same Apostle Paul in that same section of verses Romans 323.
24:22
If we expand it and read the whole section from 22 to 24, it
24:25
says it this way and you'll hear it.
24:26
This is the second part, The righteousness of God through
24:30
faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no
24:34
distinction, for all that's you and me have sinned and fall
24:38
short of the glory of God, missed the mark and are
24:41
justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is
24:45
in Christ Jesus. That's good news because see, if
24:53
Jesus just got me off the hook, cleaned me up and then kicked me
25:00
out the door and said go and sin no more, I'm pretty sure I'd
25:08
make it about 32 1/2 minutes. Before I was back in the.
25:15
Mire in the mud again and I only say 32 1/2 minutes if no one
25:20
talked to me for about 31 minutes.
25:25
That wouldn't be very. Good news.
25:29
See I need a. Power that would actually change
25:33
the way I live. A power that would change the
25:35
things I wanted. I need something that's ongoing
25:38
and active and alive in my everyday life so the Holy Spirit
25:42
comes up, convicts me of sin, then doesn't just leave me
25:46
there. He shows me righteous.
25:49
Living. And he compels me to grow into
25:52
those things. And the Holy Spirit does that
25:54
through Scripture. That's why the Bible is alive
25:57
and active and pierces. Not because the words are magic.
26:01
Because the Holy Spirit takes God's word and does God's work.
26:09
We don't read. The Bible to get smarter, we
26:11
read it to expose ourselves to the Holy Spirit, can come in and
26:14
go. Got some work to do.
26:18
The Holy Spirit works through. Christian community.
26:20
It's why we're talking about small groups like every week
26:23
someone's up here. Through worship through.
26:28
Our prayer life, that's Holy Spirit work to change the very
26:31
desires of our heart. But.
26:35
You got to trust the guide. I was listening to a.
26:40
Debate between like two or three people I was watching online and
26:43
they're, they're going back and forth.
26:44
It was about like men and women and stuff.
26:46
And, and one of the guys had like all these scientific
26:47
studies. It's actually fascinating.
26:49
And he begins to explain that that that we have enough
26:52
surveys, enough studies at this point to biologically prove that
26:56
in general, men are wired to care more about things and women
27:00
are wired to care more about people.
27:04
And he's walking through all these.
27:05
Studies. Yeah, a lot of evidence and I
27:07
and I, here's what I remember thinking.
27:08
You probably. That's fascinating.
27:09
I thought that's fascinating. That's why I'm not gentle.
27:15
That's why. People think that sometimes I'm
27:18
a jerk. It's because I'm a man and.
27:24
The Holy. Spirit I'm talking about
27:26
immediately. The Holy Spirit's like Jesus was
27:28
a man. He didn't seem to to.
27:34
Struggle with any of that. Maybe it's not.
27:39
That you're a man? Maybe it's that you are a
27:41
sinful, selfish, insecure little creature who just happens to be
27:47
a man. Well, there's that.
27:53
Thanks helper. The Holy Spirit.
27:58
Lets us see clearly, even when we don't have Jesus in the
28:02
friend group, even though Jesus was going to going to leave and
28:04
not be walking with the disciples, He's going to leave
28:06
and he's telling the disciples, got you fam, I got something for
28:10
you. The Holy Spirit's going to come
28:14
24/7. Access never takes naps, sin,
28:22
righteousness and then third judgment, judgment and the
28:26
judgement part is kind of interesting because Jesus
28:28
explanation for judgement when he explains it in verse 11, he
28:30
says concerning judgement because the ruler of this world
28:33
is judged. That's kind of interesting.
28:37
The ruler of this world, He's referring to Satan.
28:41
Is judged. Now the the word, the Greek word
28:44
here for judgement is krysis. KRISIS is where we have
28:49
developed our word crisis. So what's the crisis here?
28:54
We'll see. The crisis is there's a problem,
28:55
sin. There's a solution in the life,
28:58
death, burial and resurrection of Christ to grant us
29:02
righteousness. But not everyone will.
29:05
Partake. Not everyone will believe.
29:10
Not everyone will surrender. So, so Jesus said during.
29:14
His ministry, he casts out demons and he's he's binding,
29:18
he's in spiritual warfare. And then when he ultimately goes
29:20
to the cross and defeats Death, he binds up Satan and he puts
29:24
him in a corner for the final judgement.
29:32
Because the devil. At that point has no claim over
29:35
Jesus, who's now conquered death being blameless.
29:41
And what what the point that? Jesus is trying to make here,
29:44
even though it seems a little obscure.
29:46
He, Satan, has been vanquished and put in the corner.
29:50
To what Jesus is about to do. And, and, and, and, and he's
29:53
referring to it. And here's what he's saying.
29:55
Listen, if, and I just want you to think about this, if someone
30:01
as powerful as Satan stands no chance against the inevitable
30:08
judgement of a holy God, how much more would you or I stand a
30:12
chance? If we waste our lives living
30:14
like Satan, you've got to live like Satan, choosing our own
30:22
goals. Defiant in the.
30:25
Face of the Creator who desires to save us.
30:29
Every moment my. Sinful flesh rises up in me and
30:32
tells me that I should be in charge, that I'm owed something,
30:35
that that I should make my own decisions, that I should please
30:38
myself. You know, life's not fair.
30:39
I think God owes me something. In every one of those moments, I
30:43
am living like Satan. I'm modeling behavior after
30:48
Satan. That's exactly what he did after
30:49
a fallen Angel that God flicked out of heaven.
30:59
If you are a Christian. If you've met Christ, if you've,
31:01
if you've, if the Holy Spirit has allowed you to see your own
31:04
sin, Elanto, if you've grieved the mess that you made of your
31:09
life and rejoiced in your own salvation and, and, and the
31:12
righteousness of Christ, if you, if that's the case for you, then
31:16
the coming judgement that's being referred to here, that is
31:20
good news to our ears. That's not negative.
31:24
Why? We're covered.
31:28
Here's what that means. That means that every wrong that
31:30
you're going to face in the rest of your life, every insult,
31:33
every grievance, every trial, every evil, will one day be put
31:37
right. You and I, if you put your faith
31:44
in Christ, get to live in the supreme confidence that nothing
31:47
that happens in this world will escape the attention of the
31:50
judge. You don't have to have.
31:54
Justice here, because justice is coming.
31:57
And that's either good news or bad.
31:58
News depending on who you follow, that should encourage
32:05
you in the toughest moments of your life.
32:07
And as a Christian, there are going to be some tough moments.
32:09
People are going to betray you. You're going to work hard and
32:12
feel forgotten. You're going to sacrifice and
32:14
feel like you're taking advantage of.
32:16
And that is OK because the judge sees all and knows all.
32:25
But that same judgement, it's coming for all of us.
32:32
When you walk in that courtroom, you're either covered with the
32:35
righteousness of Christ or you're answering for your own
32:37
sin. So if if.
32:45
Satan himself had no defense before a holy God.
32:50
You and I certainly don't either.
32:55
Sin. Righteousness and judgment.
32:57
Now we, we try to always leave you with application points,
33:02
things that you can use on Monday.
33:04
When we, when we, when we go through the text, we want you to
33:06
be able to wake up on Monday and use something that's in here.
33:08
And you know, what are you supposed to do with this?
33:12
What do you, Christian, what do you, what do you do with sin,
33:14
righteousness and judgement when you wake up on Monday?
33:17
I want you to think about this. You don't have to.
33:21
Manufacture encouragement from any source.
33:27
Because God has. Indwelt you with His spirit to
33:30
encourage you in all of these different ways.
33:35
When you get up. On on Monday and and you open up
33:38
your Bible. This is the this is the primary
33:41
way that God speaks to us. God will speak to you through a
33:43
lot of different ways. This is the primary ways through
33:44
His word. His word is.
33:47
Active and alive because the Holy Spirit is taking it and He
33:51
is getting into your heart and He is doing work, and what
33:54
you've got to do is give Him the time to do it.
34:03
And here's the question. I want you to ask yourself and
34:05
I, and I think I put it in your, in your handout because I want
34:07
you to think about this. If you're a Christian, I want
34:08
you to think about this. As believers, one of the
34:12
questions that we're going to someday answer is not how many
34:14
times did you hear the gospel? It's not how many times did you
34:16
read your Bible? It's not how many times did you
34:18
go to church? It's going to be this.
34:20
How did we respond to the convicting work of the Spirit in
34:23
our lives? Every day the Spirit is trying
34:27
to do work. How are you responding to that
34:29
work? Because if.
34:33
If you will. If you will.
34:37
Obey the Holy Spirit. When He convicts you, you will
34:40
change. Through, through.
34:44
Through. Through.
34:44
Scripture through accountability and Christian community through
34:48
worship, through prayer. Like if you, if you'll be
34:51
sensitive and as the Holy Spirit convicts makes it clear, if
34:54
you'll be active in obedience and your heart will change, your
34:57
life will change that. And that's going to look
34:59
different at different times. It might look like accepting
35:02
encouragement that he brings you.
35:03
So, so maybe you have a daily Bible reading plan.
35:06
I, I, I highly recommend being on a plan of some sort.
35:09
It doesn't even usually matter what it is that you're opening
35:12
the the Bible and before you open the Bible, you go, God,
35:14
will you speak to me through this?
35:15
And then you, you begin to read the text.
35:17
If you don't have a Bible reading plan, let me help Take
35:19
out your phone. Download the most downloaded app
35:22
in the history of apps, the Bible.
35:27
Go to. Plans.
35:29
Pick one, do it. And as you read, stuff's going
35:36
to stand out. I don't know how to explain it
35:39
other than stuff's going to like, they're going to be these
35:40
little letters, they're going to pop up and they hit you in the
35:42
head. You can be like, was that always
35:43
there? And when that happens?
35:46
Don't just move on. Stop.
35:49
Why does that stand out? Write it down.
35:51
Highlight it, underline it. Tell somebody about it, and then
35:54
as God begins to make clear why it's standing out, you go and
35:58
respond to it. It might mean listening.
36:02
There are times right now in my life, probably in the last year
36:04
or so, where like all day long, God will just put a person's
36:08
name in my head. And so I try to stop unless I'm
36:10
driving and. Then it's 10 and. 2 And I pray
36:15
with my eyes open. I stop and I just start praying
36:19
for them and I don't know why I'm just trying to be sensitive
36:21
to the Holy Spirit. And so sometimes it's 567 times
36:23
a day, someone's name will pop my head and I start praying for
36:25
them. Sometimes I text them, Hey, I'm
36:27
praying for you. I don't know why, but I and then
36:29
they'll call back or they'll send me a thing like, oh, I was
36:31
going through this thing. I'm so glad.
36:33
And I'm like, I don't know any of this.
36:34
I'm just trying to be sensitive or I'll call them like I don't
36:37
know why I need to call you, but I just feel like I need to call
36:39
you. I'm trying to be sensitive to
36:42
the work of the Holy Spirit. And listen, you can do the same
36:44
things too. If you'll respond.
36:50
If you'll trust the guide, it might be work to the beautiful
36:54
community of this church. Like you.
36:57
Underestimate what a healthy Christian community will do in
37:00
your life. I'll just tell you right now.
37:03
In November. I was sitting with my wife and
37:04
she looked at me and she gave me one of those looks.
37:06
OK men don't say this out loud. You.
37:10
Ever get one of those looks where you know?
37:11
You're in trouble. OK, Yeah.
37:15
I was like, Oh no, take the trash out.
37:18
It's like what? She's like, when are you going
37:21
to take a break? What are you talking about?
37:24
Take a break. It's like you've been going hard
37:27
for way too long. When are you going to take a
37:28
break? It's like, let me tell you what
37:30
my spirit said. Break woman I don't need.
37:35
To break, I was built for this. And she's like, uh huh, when are
37:38
you? Going to take a break.
37:42
It's like, oh, it's not going to work.
37:45
And people on staff go, hey, when are you going to take a
37:48
break? I was like, Oh no, what's that
37:49
word again? And.
37:51
Here's the thing, I. Here I didn't feel like taking a
37:54
break, but I took a break. Why would you surround yourself
37:58
with wise counsel and ignore the wise counsel?
38:03
So people were like, why'd you take?
38:05
A break? You're tired.
38:05
I was like, no, I took a break because people around me said I
38:07
should take a break. Listen to me.
38:11
There are people around you that have been saying some stuff and
38:14
you have been making excuses. And I know because.
38:19
I am really good at it. So here's what I want you to do.
38:25
On your on your handout, you got a little little section that's
38:28
open. That's for your input right now.
38:31
I want you to write down one thing.
38:33
It is the first thing that pops into your mind that God has been
38:37
pressing in on in your life. Write it down.
38:39
I don't know what it is, but you do.
38:41
It's in fact, I would bet that this is not the first time that
38:44
you're thinking about it. I bet he's been talking to you
38:47
about it for a little while and you've been fighting it.
38:49
Write it down. People have been telling you, or
38:52
you've been seeing it in Scripture or you've been hearing
38:54
in your prayer life. You know, you just been fighting
38:57
it. Put it on paper.
38:58
Tell somebody about it. Respond to the work of the Holy
39:02
Spirit. Trust the guide.
39:05
Trust the guide. Guys, some of you have studied
39:10
the Bible for decades. And you can't walk.
39:13
In the spirit because you've become callous to conviction.
39:17
You've gotten so good. At disregarding the work of the
39:20
Spirit. And here's what I want to tell
39:22
you. I don't, I don't want you to
39:22
feel ashamed about that. What I want you to know is a
39:24
little bit of FOMO. You are missing out the the
39:31
Christian life is actually full of joy.
39:35
And that happens when you follow the Spirit, not when you make
39:37
your own decisions. Jesus is inviting.
39:41
You to follow the Holy Spirit in this life and it is so much more
39:44
satisfying than the way you would choose.
39:46
Now there there's another side to judgement.
39:48
There's a flip side to this coin because anyone on trial for this
39:52
judgement who's not covered by the righteousness of Christ has
39:55
to answer for their their own sin.
39:57
And the only acceptable answer is that Jesus paid for me.
40:02
So there. May be some of you here today
40:04
that are visiting. There may be some of you that
40:06
are watching online who have never surrendered your life to
40:09
Christ. The Bible says you must.
40:12
Believe in your heart and declare with your mouth.
40:15
That Jesus was. Raised from the dead, that he's
40:17
your Lord and your king. Let me.
40:20
Tell. You something I believe with my
40:21
whole heart, my whole life. Everyone in this world will one
40:26
day bend the knee to Jesus, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
40:30
Everyone, everyone. And the only question will be
40:32
how happy are you when you do it?
40:37
Either you're going to be. Overjoyed because the king is
40:39
back to make all things right, or you're going to be mortified
40:42
because he has come to punish the guilty.
40:46
And I have stuck my. Nose up and shaken my fisted
40:49
God, and He was loving and merciful enough to outlast my
40:54
rebellion with His unending grace.
40:57
And if you will let. Him, He will save you too.
41:04
Will you all bow your heads? For just a moment as we close.
41:11
If you do not. Know Jesus as your Lord.
41:15
If you've never given your life to Him, I beg you come to the
41:19
Father and taste and see that He is good.
41:25
I'm going to lead you in a. Prayer of surrender and if you
41:28
are ready to follow Christ as King.
41:31
If the Holy Spirit has. Shown you your sin.
41:34
I simply want you to repeat this after me.
41:39
Jesus, I know I'm a Sinner. And I can't save.
41:47
Myself, I want you to save me. I surrender everything to you.
41:58
Be my Lord. Please, Jesus.
42:03
If you prayed to. Surrender your life to Christ
42:07
for the very first time right now.
42:09
Would you be brave and raise your hand for me to see?
42:15
Thank you, thank you. Put your hands down.
42:20
Amen in Jesus name, Amen. Real quick right here.
42:27
If you just gave your. Life to Christ, welcome to the
42:31
family. We want to help you walk as you
42:42
follow Christ in this decision. And so will you stand.
42:46
We're going to sing a song to close.
42:47
There are tables in the back. They say I raised my hand as we
42:50
sing. If you made a decision to follow
42:52
Christ, we want you to go back there.
42:54
If you made it recently and you just haven't told anybody, go
42:56
back there and tell them we have a gift for you.
42:58
We want to talk about what it looks like.
43:00
We want to celebrate with you. Our prayer team is going to
43:04
come. Up right now we're going to sing
43:05
a final song. We're going to pray with you.
43:07
Anyone that any of you need prayer for any reason.
43:10
We we actually love to pray with you.
43:12
We're going to be up here doing that.
43:14
You guys move as the Lord leads you.
43:16
We love you.