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Because we're professional hiders, we hide from the Lord, and this is a man problem.

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You see it right in, the third chapter of Genesis, as soon as man fell, what did man do?

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Hit. Where are they going to hide? But yet that's you. That's me.

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Hiding. Like we can hide from him. So the Lord is calling us to step into the light and to

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transparency, because that's where the healing takes place. Welcome to the City Light Church podcast.

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Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.

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If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com.

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That's citylightnyc.com. Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit

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is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching,

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remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by his grace,

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and that he has a real hope and a future for you.

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I got prayers like that, and the Lord actually said to the same thing, I flashed back to,

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and then I'd be reading Matthew, and before you know, I'd read the same passage,

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still don't know what it means, still confused. My mind zones out for five minutes as I'm reading it,

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then I read it, and it's like, I get teleported into the book, and you start,

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you know, you're reading the miracles of Jesus, and you get glimpses, and you start feeling the same

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anointing that was there in the Gospels. Hallelujah. See, there's levels to this thing,

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and a lot of people, they're not hungry for the next level, because they never ever progress

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in him, so they don't even know what's available. And the hungry people who ever meet is someone

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who's gotten a few touches from the Lord, then they realize, oh, I've been eating this soup,

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called Christianity, it has no salt in it, it has no pepper in it, not even a dash of hot sauce.

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But I'm eating it, it's better than water, and everybody tells me it's so good, but then the Lord

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comes up and goes, you have a little dash of Frank's red hot, it'll make the whole thing better,

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and you're like, wow, I didn't know soup could taste so good. He comes by and crackles a little

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pepper on there and you go, oh, there's levels to this thing called soup. Amen, I don't have to eat

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bland stuff. Praise God. I forgot how to think I was going to preach, but the interruption,

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the Lord highlighted them, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. You know God, this is an important

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foundation to lay, God is good. That should go without saying, but if you actually listen to

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most Christians, they don't in their core believe that, because they've been beaten up a few times

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in life, and they misattribute the beatings to God, as though God is a great puppet master in

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the sky who controls every facet of their life, sometimes stuff just happens, sometimes bad stuff

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just happens because we're living still in a fallen world, reaping the consequences of a fallen

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world. Now, ideally you're sticking close to the Lord, you're listening to his every leading,

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his every word. If you do that, you will be protected from a lot. But even then, sometimes stuff,

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stuff just happens. It doesn't mean God is bad because if you yield to him in those moments and go

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with faith and out doubt and unbelief and complaining, he'll come into that mess and to that trash

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heap that the world and that Satan created and he'll recycle that thing, it'll be a pile of gold

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instead of trash. But God is good. Too many believe that some of the time, but he's actually good

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all of the time. And he's good to you. And we have to be on this foundational fundamental

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same page that God wants to bless you. Not just God as a blesser, no, he wants to bless you.

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David didn't say the Lord is a shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd. Now, I'm so glad so many of

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are nodding, but I want to tell you honestly, when I really talk to believers, whether it's in

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city light or outside of city light, in their heart of hearts, they're not really convinced,

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they wonder. And some will actually adopt the mentality of why, no, God is good. And he's really

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good to some, but you know, he has his chosen and his favorites and to others, you know, you might

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get the short end of the stick or whatever. And life might be really hard and cruel, but eventually,

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you get to heaven and it all pays off. No, resist that mindset. What, you're going to relegate

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yourself and partner with that thought that you're a stepchild in the family of God and you get

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second best, the real kids eat at the table and you get the crumbs that fall from the table. No,

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God, he wants to bless all of his children. He wants to prosper all of his children, wants his

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children healthy, wants his children with peace. And so there are promotions from the Lord.

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The only way I can actually, it's not the only way, but it's the way I, because that's the way

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the Lord communicated to me when I was still in my late teens. And it really is like that in your

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walk with him. It's really, all of you have played video games of one type or another.

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What, what was your first video game console? Nintendo, because you're 10 plus years younger than me.

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What was yours? Nintendo. Now mine. The Atari 2600. In 1983, we got it.

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As nothing to what I'm preaching, I'm just reminiscing here in the presence of the Lord. No,

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but in a video game, you know, there's levels. And then once you beat the boss and you get the key,

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you can unlock the level, it gets you closer to saving the princess or whatever.

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And the Lord really does, I found function that way. And that's why messages that talk about

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promotion from the Lord are so popular because he can't appear that we're stuck in a certain domain

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in a certain level. And then somebody just gets a breakthrough and he takes you to the next level.

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Now, I know that I know from the word, from the character of God revealed in his word

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that God wants to consistently bless and exalt and promote his people. I believe that for myself

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personally, for my family, I believe it for you, but you have to believe it for you.

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But it then begs the question, how come some people get stuck at the same level?

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Most of you played Super Mario Bros. It's a great first level. But imagine playing that your whole life.

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I mean, that's going to get old pretty quick. You got advance in levels. Why are some people stuck

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at the same level? I am convinced this is the kind of stuff as a pastor I really look into. I study

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this. I monitor it. I want to know because it's my heart and I'm submitted to God's heart. My heart

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to see you increase and move and be promoted. Why do some people get stuck at the same level? I'm

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convinced it's because they never spend enough time in the presence of God and allow the Lord to do

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a deep healing work in them so God can't promote them to the next level because they would get

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blown up at that level. What would blow you up? The blessing would blow you up.

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I want to invite the presence of God to minister to us, to be with us, learn, become really good

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at cultivating the presence of God. For the sake of Him, but a great byproduct is

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you became to look more like Jesus and then He can promote you. He can trust you enough to promote

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you. I remember I was in Toronto. I was only saved then. I don't know. I was 20. So I was saved

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four years. And a big phrase there was becoming more Christ-like and becoming more like Jesus.

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And really as a 20-year-old, I mean, I didn't get the appeal of that. It seems like I should have,

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but it was like something nice to say, but like what's the benefit? And I understand why Jesus

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was Christ-like, but I'm 20 and I'm trying to figure life out and how does that apply to me.

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And this old man, I mean wearing like baggy clothes and had the wild beard look like a mountain man.

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He just turned to me and he goes, oh, that's it. Because to be Christ-like is a pleasure. And then it hit me.

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And I went, oh, that is the benefit. It's not just in then what I can give to the world,

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if I'm more Christ-like, but actually to be Christ-like is a pleasure. Then I won't have to deal with

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all of this stuff I'm normally dealing with because Christ doesn't deal with that. Amen. To be Christ-like

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is a joy. You said, free from bondage. You said, free from ticks. Hallelujah. It's a pleasure.

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It's a joy. So it is important to cultivate the presence of God. That's why by the way,

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you know, we had an amazing service last week. We just tweaked a few things and the Holy Spirit came

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and it was like billows washing over us. And the staff was so blessed and we were blessed and I

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said, we got a, I just want to pursue this. And maybe we adjust some things in our service order

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or whatever, but it is of the utmost importance that people be familiar with the presence of God.

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Because of our law, we still have Friday night, revival nights for nearly 20 years.

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But then we left Manhattan and then we tried it here in Astoria, but it doesn't work as well in

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Astoria because it's a weird train that goes here, whereas in Manhattan, we were near Central Hub.

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And so my concern is that there's people who could come to City Light for a year and never have

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an encounter with God, which is what a travesty that is, what a loss to come and you can get blessed

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and you enjoy the worship and you learn something from the preaching of the Word, but without a God

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encounter, you're just, you're not experiencing Him for yourself. You're learning about somebody that

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I've experienced that may be your neighbor sitting next to you as experienced, but you're still

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taking my word for it. You have to have an encounter. You, that's why you read through the Bible

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everybody that God used, starting with Noah, moving on to Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, Moses,

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they all have one thing in common. They had an encounter with God. A man with an encounter is

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never at the mercy of a man with a philosophy or a theory or a thought. We actually talked about this

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just on the way to church. We were singing in the car and one of my daughter's favorite songs

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is that song by Brian Lake, Brandon Lake. I've seen real life resurrections, I've seen miracles,

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I've seen cancer healed. She has this morning, what does it mean? I saw a woman receive

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arches in her feet. Is it things that in the song? And we started talking about that and I said to

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her, Vivi, you know, the whole song is basically the songwriter saying, I have first-hand knowledge of

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these things. I have experienced these things either personally or saw them with my own eyes. So

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because I've had these first-hand experiences, he's too good to not believe. Someone else might

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have a theory about how he's not good, but I've experienced him and he's good. So it doesn't even

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have an impact on me because I have a first-hand encounter. She kind of looked and looked in

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in the review mirror and then I said, hey, like now the kids are all eating Dubai chocolate

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apparently. How this stuff infiltrates, they're they're like they're banned from iPads, she doesn't

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have it, but yet it still comes in. She came to me the other night or the hand full of Dubai chocolate,

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like a giant clump. It's coming like Play-Doh out of her finger and she's like, Dad, would you like

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some? Like get that away. You're the one who shared it with her. And I said to her, you know,

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did you like that Dubai chocolate? Her face, she takes after me. So you mentioned it, no really,

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it's true. Victor takes a lot after his mom and she takes after me. So you mentioned a good

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dessert. She's like, yeah, I like that Dubai chocolate. Can anyone tell you it's bad? No.

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Because you've tasted and seen that Dubai chocolate is good. So when you've experienced the Lord,

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you taste and see that he is good. No one can take that from you. That's why encounters with the

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Lord are vital. And you qualify for one. The Lord will not hold one back from you. You need

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frequent encounters with the Lord. To be refreshed, to remember who he is, to not just believe, oh, he's

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the God of love and God is somewhere you get the bit midler doctrine of God is watching us

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from a distance. No, not from a distance. Up close and personal. And in love with you,

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wants to bless you. And if you allow a work of the Holy Spirit to take place inside of you,

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then he'll promote you, amen. Like I want my son to get promoted. I have rifles. I'd

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love for him to go to the range with me. But he can't. At least not in Long Island, he can't.

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So he has nerve guns. You know why dad doesn't give him a rifle? Because it blow himself up with it,

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amen. And maybe me. But this is why you might be saying, Lord, promote me, promote me. And he

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can't even promote you the way he actually wants to, which is more than you're even asking for,

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because he'll do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think. But he won't do it because

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he loves you so much because the blessing will blow you out of the water. So you ask him to do

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a deep work and you open up so that then he can promote you, amen. There's way too many people

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in the church. They actually got what they're praying for. They wouldn't ever come back to church.

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Hallelujah. See, one thing you can know about me right now, and this was, this was, I wouldn't say

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a big test, but it was something I had to, like, look at and confront. That this is the first year

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that I don't have to work for city light church. I don't need the salary. So I had to, it's not like

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it was a big temptation, but I thought, wow, you know, before I'd say it's the call of God, but really

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where else am I going to go? What am I going to do now? Submit a resume somewhere to accompany and

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be like, I'm going to start at the mail room and work my way up. Well, what have you been doing

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your whole life? Well, since I was in my 20s, I've been a full-time ministry. Can you use me? No.

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Besides, AI is going to take these jobs in three years anyway, so we really can't use you.

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Nobody likes AI jokes here. Okay. I guess the touchy subject.

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You stay close to Jesus. You are secure, amen. AI is not coming for you. You stay close to Jesus.

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And stay close to Jesus. It doesn't mean being ignorant and praying a lot either.

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It means stay close to Jesus in your prayer life and allow him to flood your mind with creativity.

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In case he says turn left, pivot right, you flow with him. Amen.

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Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

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Thank you, Jesus. So, yeah, I wouldn't give my son that because he would hurt himself.

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I'm also convinced that a reason, maybe a primary reason of why people don't allow a deep work

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of God's holy presence to take place inside of them is because they hide.

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You know, we as people are professional hiders. We hide all the time. You guys have a friend

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that everyone has one friend like this. They'll complain about someone else. I'll be like,

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I don't like Sally. Sally is, and the list, all the things they don't like about Sally,

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but all of those things apply to them. You know what I'm talking about. It's not you,

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it's your friend of yours. It can't be you.

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And you go, how come? Wow, they got like zero self-awareness. They don't even know that they

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just describe themselves. All the false, they don't like about Sally. That's more them than Sally.

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Well, what mean if this? What's happening in that cranium of theirs? What's happening is that we

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all have these egos and your ego is not your amigo. Your ego is always wanting to protect itself.

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Always wanting to show its best face and is extremely defensive. And you know,

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spiritual maturity can be measured in, in tandem with how defensive you are. The less defensive you

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are, the more spiritually mature you are. Amen. So because we're professional hiders,

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we hide from the Lord. And this is a man problem. You see it right in the third chapter of Genesis,

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as soon as man fell, what did man do? Hit. Where are they going to hide? This is God,

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but they hid themselves. I mean, it's, it's comical and preposterous for us because we're reading

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of psiliatum, hiding. But yet that's you. That's me, hiding. Like we can hide from him.

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So the Lord is calling us to step into the light and to transparency because that's where the healing

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takes place. You know, Jesus, did you notice he doesn't, what happened? Guys, this is a party.

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I'm trying to preach. There's like 15 Altoids on a chair. Mops are being taken out.

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We're, okay, son, you make me proud. You have the freshest breath in the church. And I want

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you to know that when I prayed for a son, I specifically said not one would stank breath and he

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gave me you. It's got two handfuls of Altoids. You know those are the churches Altoids.

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I want you to see you make that up in the offering. Where was I?

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Adam and Eve, do you notice Jesus doesn't like fig trees? Like he curses the fig trees. There's

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all these reasons. Why? But I got a better one. And then he says, if you'd say to this

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sycamore tree, a sycamore is a type of fig tree. If you say to the sycamore, be plucked up by the

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roots, be cast into the sea. It's like, Jesus, you don't like fig trees. What's your beef with fig trees?

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Fig leaves is what man uses to hide.

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A great part of the Bible from beginning to end is the Lord calling out, come out of hiding,

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come into the light. That's where the healing takes place. Healing can take place in the darkness,

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demons dwell in darkness. Healing takes place in the light. And most people, now don't think of

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your roommate, your spouse, your best friend, think of yourself. Most people are terrified of stepping

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into the light. Usually they're tricked by God, lovingly into stepping into the light. They're like,

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oh, that's why they break out crying. Oh, Lord, I'm so exposed, yet I still feel your love,

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how can it be? Does that compute? Does that compute? They break out crying? They think they'd be

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rejected if God actually saw who they were. Yet he knows you, knows every cell in your being,

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knows you every which way. He's not put off by you. It's still sin, it's still wrong. It's still maybe

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broken, but he loves you. God loves ugly. He's not put off by it. And one of the greatest examples

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of that in the gospels, though, there's many, because Jesus never went, oh, you're so broken.

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You're so messed up. Once you work on yourself, then come to me. I was just

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wouldn't instinct to somebody. And they used that in the classic, I'm going to come to the Lord

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because he was raised religiously. I'm going to come to the, I just need to work on myself first.

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You're going to work on yourself. And you're going to fix yourself up till you're presentable. Wow,

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you have a magic power. You are so strong. You can actually do the work of the cross apart from

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the cross. And then you'll come to the cross. So Jesus is ministering in a synagogue. And the

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Bible says there's this man with a withered hand. And it's illegal for him under Levitical law to

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have this deformity of a withered hand and be in the synagogue. So he's hiding. And the Bible,

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the way it phrases, it's very apparent that he's hiding because he's also out on the outskirts in

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the back of this synagogue. And Jesus is preaching. And then after preaching, what time is it?

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Miracle time. Because the spirit should always come and confirm the word, hallelujah. In fact,

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when I preach, it's not just so that you can take good notes, get a Christian education,

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it's that the seed of the word of God has to go into your heart and then God's spirit will come

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and demonstrate what was preached. That is a healthy church. There has to be a demonstration.

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It may not take place up here all the time, but there should be a demonstration in your life,

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the Holy Spirit confirming the word with signs following. That's Mark 16. He'll confirm the word

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with signs following. That's why Jesus, whenever you look at a crusade he had, it always says he

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went preaching and teaching and then performing miracles. First is the preaching and then teaching.

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The word has to go forth first, then the miracles. And that's why Paul said, my speech and my

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preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. You ever watch the history channel and

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history channels doing something? I'm like, Samson, I'm going to talk about the Philistines and then

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they show the egghead, theologian scholars with the swayed patches with the library behind them

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and Paul was saying, I'm not like one of these guys. I'm not an egghead theologian who's just

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going to talk to you about God. He said, my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words

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of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that has to be a demonstration.

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Amen. So Jesus finishes preaching and now it's time to demonstrate. And who do you think is the

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first one Jesus calls out, the man with the withered hand, who's in the back hiding that grotesque part

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of himself. And Jesus being Jesus, I mean, can you believe any preacher would do this? He says,

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you stand forth in the midst. He calls them out to stand in the middle in front of everybody.

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The guy's hiding. Jesus knows what he's hiding. And he goes, stand forth in the midst. The guys are

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going, they're going to see my hand. They're going to stone me. You didn't get to find back then.

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You got stoned. And if you're unsaved and you think that's the good kind of stone to you good,

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it's not that kind of stone. Then when the man, he comes in the midst, no one says anything,

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so he must be hiding his hand. Then Jesus says, stretch forth your hand. So show that ugly grotesque

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to everybody. Why? Why? Is Jesus being cruel? No. Healing cannot happen in the darkness.

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That's where the devil dwells. Healing happens in the light. And then the Bible very specifically

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with this language. And I don't have the passage up here, but read it when you get home for yourselves.

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It says, as you stretch forth his hand, probably coming out all deformed. As you stretch the

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fourth, it was made whole as the other. That is a picture of how God will deal with us.

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When we're honest with him, when we're not hiding, when we're so used to putting our best face forward

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to all of our friends or acquaintances, that then we take that same thing with the Lord like he

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doesn't know. So it's so much better to be honest to relax in his presence and to say, Lord,

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I come to you just as I am. No pretense. I can't trick you. I can't pump myself up in front of you

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know exactly what a wretch I am. And you love me anyway. Hallelujah. They say there's this thought

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also in the church that like if you sin, if you mess up, God takes his Holy Spirit away.

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And that usually causes nine out of ten times that causes the person to backslide fully.

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And you know if you sin, God won't take his Holy Spirit away. He's with you.

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But people feel like because one of the symbols for the Holy Spirit is adove that the Holy

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Spirit is as skittish as a pigeon. I was taught that when I first became a Christian. Don't sin.

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That's good advice. Don't sin. You've been empowered not to sin. But sometimes you don't have to

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mess up. But sometimes you still mess up. Then what do you do? Now I was taught the Holy Spirit.

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You know how adove gets startled if you mess up. He just flies away. Why do you get him back?

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Well now you got a fast. Now you got a beg roll around on the altar maybe. Oh God.

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Pray Psalm 51, but only with an old covenant mindset. Don't take your Holy Spirit from me.

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And you don't have to do any of those things. He didn't go anywhere. He's not some fair weather friend.

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He sticks with you through the ugly. And God loves ugly. We should excite us because we're kind of

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ugly apart from him. Hallelujah. Oh the ones who really agreed with that, they're getting the

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breakthrough first. The ones who can go through the low path of humility and say yeah Lord I'm

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really really ugly without you. Hallelujah. Well I want to read Psalm 63 to you this morning.

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We're focusing on the presence of the Lord. I think this is a good theme for Christmas because

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the very name Emmanuel means God with us. And that's what we're celebrating. The presence of God

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with us. Experiencing his presence. And David, he's very unique. Have you ever heard that term

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key of David? It's in Revelation. You just said I'll give you the key of David. What is the key

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of David? Theologians have speculated on what the key of David is. I personally believe it's

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intimacy with God because that's the one thing that causes David to stick out like a sore thumb

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compared to other Old Testament he rose in patriarchs. He had a friendship with the Lord and a yearning

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and an intimacy that I feel like you don't even see with Moses. You don't see with Elijah. You

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don't see with Elijah. He just loved the Lord not for what the Lord could do for him but just because

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he's the Lord and he's awesome and it's wonderful to be with him and spend time with him.

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And that's really bizarre because he was under the old covenant. You know, you're different

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under the new covenant. Jesus said something that really shows you how different you are. He said

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John the Baptist of all the prophets. There's no one greater than John the Baptist. So Jesus

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actually said, wow, John the Baptist is greater than Moses. He's greater than Elijah,

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greater than Elijah, greater than Habakkukukukukukukukukuk. Why is he greater? Well because he announced

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the way the Lord and prepared the way the Lord, he heralded the way of the Messiah

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but then he said something even more bizarre. He said, the least in the kingdom of heaven

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under the new covenant, the least, so think of myself the least. He said, the least in the kingdom

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of heaven under the new covenant is greater than the greatest under the old.

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Aren't you glad you were born AD? Now why? Why is the least under the new covenant greater than

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the greatest under the old? Because they didn't have the new creation reality. Under the new covenant

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you have a brand new spirit. You've been born again. There was no new birth. There was no born

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again experience in the old covenant. Also you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They

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didn't have that in the old covenant. Under the old covenant only three people, the king, the

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prophet and the high priest would be anointed and be covered by the Holy Spirit, but still know

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indwelling presence. So you're special. You've been separated. Hallelujah. But David, even living

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under the old covenant with all the things I just described, he still was like an old testament

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saint with a new testament heart. Because even though he didn't have the new creation, there was an

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intimacy that he had tapped into and a yearning for the presence of God. And the reason why all of us

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love David and can so often relate to David is because you realize his flaws. Even though he's

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such a great man, a true poet warrior. Hallelujah. That's what the world needs more of, by the way,

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poet warriors. I've told my son, we're raising you to be a poet warrior.

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Is there just warriors that great, they'll get the job done, but then their meathead

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can't think. The philosopher poet is wonderful. Developed mind you can think, but when the going

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gets tough, you hide behind a stack of books. But a poet warrior, like David, gets the job done.

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Hallelujah. Well, he tapped into something beautiful. I invite you, Psalm 63. Oh, God, you are my God.

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Listen to his heart's cry. Early will I seek you. My soul thirst for you. My flesh longs for you.

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There's segments of Christianity where if you say I want to feel the presence of God, they go,

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that's terrible. They only believe in walk by faith, not by sight.

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Is it legal? Is it okay with the Lord for you to say, Lord, I really want to feel your presence?

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Yes, it is. David said, I miss the presence of God. I want to feel the presence of God.

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I understand why there are some staunch people who say, well, no, I just want to be a frontal

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lobe in Christian. Just relegated to my frontal lobe and everything has to make sense and everything

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has to be logical. Maybe they ran into a few flaky pentecostals who always had to feel God.

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And when they didn't feel God that one day, the spiral into depression, that happens.

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And they think, oh, what's wrong? What did I do to upset him? What a fickle friend. I made one

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mistake. And so there's a truth right there in the middle. We do walk by faith and not by sight.

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And we're not moved by whether we feel them or not. But thank God that we can feel Him. Thank God

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for when we do. And it's totally fine to press into feeling Him because look how David is praying.

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Think by soul, it thirsts for you and my body, my flesh, longs for you. We're in this world

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which is a dry and thirsty land. If you don't have daily drinks from the Lord, you're going to

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wither up and dry up. Hallelujah. I hear this. Jesus saying knock and keep knocking and the door

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will be open to you. Seek and keep seeking. And I will be found of you.

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There has to be a tenacity. There has to be a persistence. Lots of people was out with

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persistent but then want to actually peek under the hood and interview them. What they mean is,

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well, I tried praying a few times and God just doesn't work me like that. That's our persistence.

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Keep knocking. Wait in His presence. I did for 20 minutes. I didn't feel anything. Awesome.

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Wait another 20. Then do something you haven't done before. Sing a song out loud to Jesus

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alone in your room for goodness sake. Then sing another one. Then open your mouth and begin

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to sing in other tongues. And as He fills you with His Holy Spirit of fresh.

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Then step out of your head and just begin to pray out of your spirit whenever He deposits

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in you. He'll give you the words to pray in English. Now you're moving into the realms of God.

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That's knocking. That's seeking. And there's a principle in the Bible. You cannot keep knocking

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without the door being opened. Hallelujah. I've never ever met someone who was consistently hungry

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for the Lord who said, you know, I've been hungry for 17 years. I still never had that God encounter,

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you talk. Have you? Have you met? I've never met that. I would love to meet that person.

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I have never met him. I mean, maybe they say that and I go, tell me how you were hungry. Oh,

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that's why. See what you call hunger. I call that a mild tummy ache. That's not hunger.

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You got to be famished. Hallelujah. Some of you, I'm provoking you this morning. You got to do

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something crazy. I shaved off all my hair once. I was 21, 2021. And I read in the book of Acts

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that Paul shaved off all his hair and took an oath. Now I didn't bother to study what Jewish tradition

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that was. Why he did that? Does it apply to me today? I was like, man, so I took, I went full

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on prison. I'm talking, ooh, that's when I discovered I do not genetically have a dome that

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needs to be displayed to the world. Some people got nice domes. Mine looks like you know,

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slalom skiing on it. I don't know where all the bumps came from. Maybe my mother dropped me.

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Now that was bad theology on my part. I might have been a little overzealous in my youth.

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But you know the Lord honored that. He said, look at this crazy kid. I'm not even doing that head

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shaving thing anymore. But he thought I was. So I'm going to get down with that. Do something you've

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never done before. Hallelujah. I was inspired by men of God. There's a man of God used tremendously

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in signs, wonders and miracles. He took a water jug into the closet, locked himself in the closet

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and said, do not to his wife. Do not let me out of here until you know that God has visited me.

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And he stayed in there for over two days with the one jug of water.

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Sometimes you got to, it's not that you got to get God's attention, but you got to step out of

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the norm and provoke yourself into a place of the miraculous. Doing something you've never done

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before. Be a wild woman. Be a wild man.

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What's the downside? Hallelujah. There is no downside. What would someone's going to say

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or think? Don't tell them. Keep your pursuit of the Lord private. That stuff shouldn't even

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be shared until years later, I believe. So when there's a work that's done and you can talk about it

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as something with a period at the end, not mid-process. You can subvert the process if you talk about it,

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mid-process. So my soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where

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there is no water. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory.

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My prayer for you is that you would experience daily the presence and the power of God and that

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you would grow in the glory and the presence and the power of God. Hallelujah. Because you're loving

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kindness, this is the same word for tender mercies, loving kindness, this is the word that David used

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when he was now. King of it all, he stopped running around through bramble bushes and hiding

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out in caves, he had now become king, he had the palace, and you know what he's doing? He's pacing

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the palace going, is there anyone of the house of Saul that I could show cassettes, that I could show

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covenant kindness to tender mercies or loving kindness. It's also translated that way.

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And the servant said, oh, there is one mephibishev, but he's lame in his feet.

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And David said, bring him, and he treated him like a son, he made him sit at the king's table,

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restored all the lands that he had lost, and it says every day, then mephibishev 8 at the king's

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table, who's mephibishev? I'm mephibishev, you're mephibishev, lame in our ankles.

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Yet God, in this case David representing God, is going, who is there that I can show covenant

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kindness to in spite of them? That's what he's talking about. He's saying, I've tasted of your

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covenant kindness, your tender mercies, your loving kindness. It's better than life. Hallelujah,

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do a little check. I really wish God would do us a big favor. I pray that all you have a vision,

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not just of God, but of what your life would look like, apart from God. Kind of like the Christmas

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Carol, except not the three ghosts, but just an angel of come and says, let me show you what your

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life would be like. If God hadn't intervened in visibly in your life a million times, it starts when

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you were two years old, and mom was crossing the street with a baby's drawer, and that mac

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truck should have hit you, but I prevented it. And then six months later you were going to eat that

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thing, it was poisonous, but I caused it to fall out of your hand. And take you through your whole

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life at how many times he saved our hide, we would go, oh, your loving kindness is better than life.

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My lips will praise you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thus I will bless you while I live. Here's a

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pedicostle verse. I will lift up my hands in your name. Hallelujah.

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I was delighted when I read that for the first time, because I was searching for scriptures

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about the late lifting up of hands, because I noticed there's this unspoken thing to lift or not to

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lift. And people, people tend to see lifting hands as, that's a little radical, bordering on

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fanatical. I could definitely be the hands in my pocket swaying to worship Christian.

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I could be the Christian that claps, that's easy, because we clap to all kinds of songs, but to lift

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up your hands, that's next level. That's the doctoral program. I'm not ready for that. Yeah,

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you are. It's how God designed the whole thing. In fact, the word yada, which means praise,

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comes from the root word you would inhibit, which means hand.

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They actually say, well, to praise him, there's a lifting up of the hand. There's something

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spiritual about it. I wonder why. It's been suggested, I think, because, hmm, feel the anointing on.

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You know, the Bible calls Satan the Prince of the power of the air. And there's something about

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when you lift up your hand, you're declaring to the heavens, to the air, to the atmosphere. God

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has dominion even here. Hallelujah. Next verse, please. My soul worship team, you can come up

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my soul. And this is why the presence of the Lord is such a delight, because we're less nasty

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when we're full of the presence of God. You ever have your own nasties come up? You need

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carpet time. You need to rest in the presence of the Lord, allow him to touch you,

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heal you of the pain that's making you nasty. You feel restless, irritable. Your soul is

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unsatisfied. The presence of God comes to satisfy your soul. My soul shall be satisfied. As with

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marrow, see, that didn't even make sense 10 years ago. But now, because of these health means

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trends and all that, everybody knows how good bone marrow soup is for you, right? Yes,

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no, is that just my wife? Everywhere she was making bone marrow before bone marrow was

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cool. Now everybody I told her, have you tried bone marrow? Yeah. And I'm from the Balkans. We're

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raised on the stuff. It's the choice is the part. It's where all the nutrition is. And he says,

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my soul will be satisfied. As with marrow and fatness, the choice is the part, the presence of God,

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the best. That's what will satisfy you. Like its marrow and fatness. And my mouth shall praise you,

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hey, another Pentecostal verse. Because it actually talks about mouth and lips. I'm talking about

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expressive demonstra when I jokingly say Pentecostal. Because some people, they won't lift their hands.

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They won't even sing out loud. They don't know it's city light. They think it's the first

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church of the chosen frozen. And so they stay. And that's fine in the beginning, but

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worship God, the way he prescribed to be worshiped and his word. My mouth shall praise you with

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joyful lips. When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches. How many of you

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go to sleep? You're thinking to the Lord. Oh, if you're not doing that, you're missing out.

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I know you do. And that was such a beautiful habit you developed on early in your life.

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To as you drift off, it's not even that you're praying to him, but you're just kind of

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thinking to him as you drift off in his presence. And there's a power there. If anybody suffers

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from night terrors or nightmares or any kind of assault while they sleep or even a lack of

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good, healthy sleep, you know how much the Bible talks about sleep where God promises you sleep.

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And it says he gives his beloved that's you sleep. And it all begins when you're

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communing with him as you drift off into that place. That place called sleep where the enemy loves

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to attack. Why? Because you're at your most vulnerable there. You're unconscious.

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And you know what the Bible says? He gives his beloved gifts

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in sleep. He talks about him giving you sweet sleep and gifts in sleep literally. And I know this

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has happened to me multiple times while you're sleeping in that state of openness and unconsciousness.

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So your monkey mind can't get in the way with the paralysis of analysis and the overthinking and

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the reasoning and the rationalizing your way out of a blessing. When you're in that receptive

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state, he gives you gifts. He gives you graces. He actually makes heavenly deposits into you while

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you're sleeping. I know I'd be falling asleep and then I'd wake up as deposit was going and I'd

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wake up like 20% wake up in the Holy Ghost. Oh, I feel like if I could see in the spirit of be

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shivers of golden waves over there, I'll go, oh, Lord, that's you. And then I'll go back and sleep

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wake up eight hours later, be like, oh, I got something. Yeah, I got something. I'm different

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than how I went to bed. He Jehovah's Niki. He came in and snuck something good that I needed in

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there. When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches because you have been

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my help. Therefore in the shadow of your wings, I will rejoice. My soul follows close behind you.

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Your right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life to destroy it, man, I got a flash of

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you, Pastor Brian, when I read that, that's, but those who seek my life to destroy it,

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shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword. They shall be a portion

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for jackals. But the king, that's you. Male, female, you're the king. God has made it so.

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The king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him shall glory. But the mouth of those who speak

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lies shall be stopped. Hallelujah. These are the blessings and benefits of a person with a hunger

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for the presence who's experiencing the presence. The first half of the psalm is him describing his

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hunger for the Lord. You can taste his hunger. And then the second half of the psalm is describing

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all the benefits of a person who engages in the presence of God. I pray that the Lord

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mold us and shape us where every single person here is radically head over heels in love with Jesus.

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There's just no other way to live. There's no other way to do Christianity. If there was another way,

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I'd be bored of it. I'd never be a pastor. It's either an adventure or it's nothing at all.

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And with God, it's an adventure because the things of God are bottomless. You can never figure him out.

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Amen. Well, we're going to go into a time of worship where you can drink of his presence.

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But before that, let's honor the Lord with the tides and offerings, shall we? Amen.

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Now, I want to make an announcement. I got great news. Most of you, I believe, were here last week

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when we had an impromptu special offering for Pastor Rob and Yari who are adopting

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to help alleviate some of the burden, the legal burden. Because, you know, those costs can be over

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$70,000. I'm very disappointed to say only $216 came in. No, I'm kidding.

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You won't believe how much came in. I'm so blessed by our church.

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$18,400.

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You know, those are like mega church numbers.

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Yet, we typically have about 320 people between the two services on Sunday, right around the size of

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Gideon's army. We said, we have a Gideon's army here that gives like an army of 1,000 or 1,500.

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I'm so blessed. And may the Lord, I pray for everyone. I don't know who gave to that special

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side offer. Oh, also what's good. By the way, let me just say this. I'm going to come back to my prayer.

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The Lord understands. As I was receiving it, you know, you have to understand, as a pastor,

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I'm also responsible for the finances of the church. When you receive a special offering like that,

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you can't help but think, man, I hope this doesn't affect the church times in offerings. You know,

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because like everybody will give to one and I'm just saying that's when the unrenewed mind,

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so that thought did come. So to combat that thought, what I said was, hey, if you don't know whether

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to give to first fruits or the adoption, give to the adoption. You remember me saying that's

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the combat that thought of, oh, man, I don't want every, because people get excited. They're not

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thinking about, you know, how we're going to pay the light bill or whatever. They're thinking,

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I give it all to the new couple. But what blessed me so much was that we more than made budget

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with the regular tax and offerings and then we brought in 18,400. Do you know, I could be pastoring

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some potent country church that's dead. I could be pastoring in Manhattan in the middle of the

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greatest city in the world, but also with the church of dead people. But instead, God found

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it good in His eyes. And I am blessed to be pastoring people who are alive, who love the Lord,

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and who back it up in a practical way with their generosity. So isn't that awesome? Hallelujah.

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And they're going to make the best couple. And I want to pray something specifically

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for their child. They're not even here, but in worship that this just came up.

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You know, when someone is adopted, one of the big things the enemy tries to do to them,

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I've seen it over and over again is to work in them with a spirit of rejection.

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Because they're little, they're a baby, they could be one minute old. But because in a way,

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they're being rejected. In a way or a total way, you know, they're being rejected by their

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birth mother and their father. And that spirit can attach itself to them. And then they can even come

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into a loving family, but they're always struggling with acceptance. They have a terrible

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insecurity. They have a huge wound in them. And they're always really fighting with a spirit of

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rejection. I want to pray that for their future daughter in the name of Jesus, because she has

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yet to be born. She's on the way. Father, that you see through the whole birth, that you see through

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it, healthy. And Lord, we just bless and we join with the prayers of Pastor Robin Yari,

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that that child be protected, that rather than the rejection by the birth parents, that they feel

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the acceptance and approval of you and their new parents, Lord, that that child would not have

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one emotional hiccup or stutter, that she'd be brought up in a house full of the Holy Ghost,

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in wholeness and in blessing, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. We'll give with a glad heart, give

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worshiping God. And if you want prayer, there's a ministry team that'll in about 10 seconds be by the

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Christmas lights to my left. You're right. And we'll see you next Sunday. How do you like this

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service with just a little bit of an adjusted flow? We're just going to continue like this. Amen.

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Enjoying the presence of God. And the main thing is, you can't, you can never try to repeat a

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service. The Lord doesn't like that. No cookie cutter stuff. Oh, yeah. First fruits.

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If you're wondering, now I'm going to do it differently. If you're wondering whether you should

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give to first fruits, you definitely should. Let's just look at that. This is the best we've

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ever done. 71%. You've been around for years. We've never normally, this is where we're like at 30%,

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and I'm like, uh, whatever, guys, give. And then the Lord still does it, but it's like some miracle

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at the end. It's nice to just frontrun the thing, you know? No, but this is, listen, it's not about

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the money, although the money is nice. What it is is the Lord amongst us, right? Because a church

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that's not generous, you will never see a church that's stingy and in revival does not exist.

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The Bible says people will give willingly, gladly, in the day of his power. So when you see the

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Lord moving on people's hearts with no guilt, no manipulation, it's a big thing. It's a beautiful

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thing. You can stay seated. I feel like this is a stay seated. Like you don't want to stand. You

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want to just baste. Be blessed in your baste. We'll see you next Sunday. This is the City Light

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Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message, or if you would like to find out more

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about Pastor Boyan Jansik in City Light Church, visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com.

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Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you.

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We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you,

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and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to

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City Light Church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.