Attracting God's Presence

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Welcome to A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and friends.

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We share good news and godly wisdom to empower you to be salt and light in every season of life.

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Doug shared at Inspire Church on the four H's that attract God's presence.

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Holiness, honesty, humility, and honor.

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Listen as Doug shares testimonies of God's goodness

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and reminds us that as we keep our gaze on the S-O-N, we can retain peace in the midst of the storms.

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After the episode, consider leaving a review and follow us on your favorite streaming service.

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If you've gleaned anything from this podcast, consider paying it forward with a gift at somebodycares.org.

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Now let's join our host, Doug Stringer.

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Come Holy Spirit, as your manifest presence is here, Lord,

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I pray for the tangibility of your presence,

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that not one of us can leave this place the same, including myself,

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but that every time we gather in your name, we come with a deeper sense of expectation in you

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and a deeper level of consecration.

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The Spirit and the Bride say, come.

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We invite your presence in a very real and tangible way, Lord.

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In Jesus' name, Amen.

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It's very humbling. I texted Pastor last night.

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As long as we've been friends and known each other, we've actually worked out together at the gym,

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on Richmond in 610, and my office was over right there.

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When I think about the landmarks and the defining moments of people and places

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and the legacy that has literally impacted not just our city,

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but the nation and the nations from Christian tabernacle and, of course, Inspire.

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I look at Marcella, and I think about my early days as a young minister

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going through her discipleship material, and, of course, the foundations that have been laid,

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sacrifices made, the price paid, Pastor Hurd and your family,

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and the legacy that goes on and very close friends, Irvin Clark and, of course, Steve Miller

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and so many others. I look around and I think about what an amazing corporate anointing that rests here,

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but it didn't just happen overnight.

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It had an atmosphere that was inviting of the Lord's presence, and that's never changed.

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I have a friend who has the largest church indigenously in the southern hemisphere out of Fiji,

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and I remember when he was just going door to door on the 300-plus islands

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with a band of young people telling people about Jesus to every home and every village

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and every city and every island of Fiji and surrounding areas,

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and their passion was just to tell people about Jesus.

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And I look at him today and he has the largest church in the southern hemisphere

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and churches all over the world, and you know what I really appreciate?

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He's never changed.

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Stewardship might look different, but the core never changes,

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and that's what I appreciate about Inspire and, of course, your leadership.

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Pastor Hurd, thank you so much. It's so humbling to be here,

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and I think about all the legacy that I'm stepping into,

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and I pray the pulpit won't split on me today,

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but I do think about people, places, times that do leave a lasting impact,

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and that's so true of this congregation.

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So thank you, and thank you for continuing to go deeper in the Lord

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and higher in desiring His presence than ever before

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so that the nations will know that Jesus Christ is Lord.

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You know, we see in the book of Joel, where is your God?

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Well, the atmosphere of God's presence is so real

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that the nations won't be asking that.

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They're going to come and say, the presence of God is real. Amen?

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At the end of 2022, I was just processing and kept hearing over and over,

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you know when you hear a dream or words or even, you know,

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you can hear God through His Word in your dreams, even audibly,

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and there have been very rare occasions, but I have heard the Lord speak to me

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to get my attention audibly dug, you know, and at the end of 2022,

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I kept hearing three specific words, and it kept getting reoccurring,

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and so I knew the Lord was speaking, and He kept saying,

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the season is coming of greater exposure, implosions, and explosions.

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Of course, there's a two-edged sword to each of those words.

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Exposure is that God was going to put a spotlight, expose things done in darkness

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at every level, and it usually starts within us in the house of the Lord.

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And the second thing would be implosions of institutions and things

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that we put our security in when God says the only security,

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the only unshakable kingdom, it says in Hebrews 12, is His kingdom,

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the kingdom of God. And we've put our hope in so many things and people

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and even politicians to, you know, even preachers, and I remember years ago,

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really because I've been around a long time, that I was invited to speak

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at a large gathering of 17,000 delegates for a political party,

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and I would have said the same exact thing to anybody who invited me,

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but just because as a leader in the city, they needed someone to kind of open up

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an invocation, I prayed about it, I agreed to do it, but on the way there,

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I really sensed deeply in my heart that there was a word that God wanted me

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to share that they may not want to hear. And I thought, but I'm a man under

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authority, so I've just been given a few moments to do an invocation,

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but Lord, if this is really you, not the pizza I didn't have last night,

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then open an opportunity. And I remember being in the green room,

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and the person in charge, the chairman of that political party,

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came up and said, I am so sorry, but Senator so-and-so is not ready.

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Can you stretch your time? I went, really? So I knew that was my open door

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to say what I needed to say. And I won't get into everything I said.

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But I felt it was strong. I said, you know, there was a great king

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named Hezekiah, and he said that this is a day of trouble and distress

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because the children are ready to come forth, but there's no strength

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to bring them forth. I said, there was another great king named Solomon

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who said, hope deferred makes the heart sick, but he also said,

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a merry heart does good even better than medicine. I said, this generation,

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this coming forth needs strength to come into its destiny.

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But it's going to take preachers and politicians and all in between.

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In fact, what we need from the pulpits of America to political offices,

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from preachers to politicians, is a revival of character so that we can

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give hope to the next generation. I really do sense that we're in that

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culmination moment where we can look at it the ways in the eyes of the world

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and listen to the news of the world, or we can begin to really go deeper

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in the Lord and focus and fix our eyes on the brightness of the SON,

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fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

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God has moved in significant ways through your congregation that has

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touched the nations and continues to do that. As I said earlier,

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I'm a beneficiary of many of those relationships and pastor for over 30 years

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and Marcella and your material and what a great legacy you're leaving for all

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of us and continue to do. Of course, all my friends that are here and others

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that have gone to be with the Lord that have been a part of this congregation

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that have had a huge impact, an indelible impact in my life.

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And so I am appreciative of that. So I feel like in many ways when people

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say to me, how did you end up in that situation? How did you meet that person

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or pray for that president of that Muslim country or meet with that person?

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I said, look, it's not because I'm anything special. It's because a long time

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ago in 1981, when the Lord said, don't call me Lord, Lord anymore unless you're

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willing to live for me. And even professing to be a Christian, I remember the Lord

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spoke to my heart and I said, Lord, if I've done anything, forgive me if I have

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brought shame to your name and if I have brought in any way just a slander to the

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gospel in any way because I profess to be a believer but I'm not living for you,

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that I make myself available to you the rest of my life and I want to walk in

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simple obedience, which I've come to find is the highest form of worship.

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In fact, one of the wealthiest men throughout Asia, known all over the world,

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found the cover of Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, and all these other

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things. And when I first met him, I was coming out from working with underground

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churches in Vietnam and I had stopped into Malaysia and they said, could you

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stay an extra day and speak at Full Gospel Businessmen? And I said, sure.

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And this was in January of 1990. And so I stayed an extra day and went to speak at

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Full Gospel Businessmen's lunch. A man comes up to me and says, I'm so and so.

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He says, I've been given the title that can only be given by the prime minister

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or the king of my country. And so they call me Tan Sri, which is the highest

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title I've been knighted in that country. And he begins to tell me all about

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himself. And I said, well, sir, why are you telling me those things? I'm thinking

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now, why are you telling me this? Are you trying to impress me? And he finally says,

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he says, the reason I'm telling you all these things about me is not to impress

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you but because I've become a Christian and I don't know who I can trust. Would

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you disciple me? And I said, sir, I can't disciple you from Houston, Texas.

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And we began to develop a friendship. I just said, let's just journey together and

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be friends. And over the years, I had no idea just how well known he was all over

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the world. But he's opened up opportunities to pray for ambassadors of

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China and from England and for others. He gets business leaders together when I'm

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visiting and he'll bring them together and say, you need to listen to what he has

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to say. It's doors that are open. I could have never opened on my own. And there's

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people far more qualified than me. But God's not looking for perfect people.

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He's looking for available people who are yielded to him. So when people ask me,

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how did you end up in these kinds of situations, I go, you know, my mother was

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Japanese. I'm just the Asian Forrest Gump. I just showed up in the picture. And it's

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so true even to this day. It's just being available every day and walking simple

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obedience. I remember one time I went back to Malaysia and my friend invited all

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of his managing directors of all of his corporations and has a conglomerate of

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businesses and he brought them all to his penthouse at the top of the floor of

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one of his buildings. And he said, I want you to listen to what Doug has to say.

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I'm thinking, oh my goodness. And he says, and I want you to know that simple

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obedience is the highest form of worship. I said, Tan Sri, that is so good. Can I

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borrow that? He goes, my brother, I read it in your book. I go, oh, I better read

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my book. But it's true. And the first time the word worship is ever used in

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Scripture is not in the context of singing or instruments, but it's in the

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context of obedience to God. It's when Isaac was offered by Abraham that was

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called an act of worship. That was the first time in Scripture the word worship

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is ever used. God is looking for people to make themselves available and to be

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living worshipers, offering ourselves on the altar of God as living sacrifices,

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as holy and acceptable unto God, which is the least we can do for all of what he's

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already done for us. And I believe we're in that place right now that God is

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wanting us to come back to that place no matter how long we have been working

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with serving God or living for God, that we don't live on the laurels of yesterday.

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We don't make altars to what God has done, but we look at these great landmarks

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that we can build on. I tell the young generation that you limit your future

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with all your passion, vision, and zeal. You limit yourself and your future if you

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disregard the foundations that have been laid for you by the former generation.

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We need to show honor even if we do things different. We need to show honor

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and respect for those who have gone before us. And that's what I appreciate

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about this congregation. I see a multigenerational prophetic generation.

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It's not just one, but it's a multigenerational. I see a Micah chapter 4

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that all peoples have been gathered to the mountain of the Lord to worship

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together, putting aside our weapons of warfare against each other for

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harvesting tools together. And out of that it says, the outcasts of Laman the

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Six shall become a strong nation, or in this context, a strong church of influence.

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To look around and see the beautiful mosaic of crossing racial, denominational,

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generational lines, meeting at the cross together, that God could do something

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in a corporate context that's far beyond what any one of us can do alone.

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With one fishing pole, I catch a fish. But as a net working together, being cast

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by the Lord, we can catch a whole lot more fish together. Amen?

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So anyway, these three words that God was speaking to me back in the end of 2022,

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and then immediately after that in January, I remember just waking up at night,

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I couldn't sleep, I was grieved about what I sensed was about to happen in an

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accelerated way. It's not that it hasn't already been happening, but it just,

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I saw it coming to pass, and more and more shakings, and more and more

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exposures of things, and things done in darkness coming to the light, and God,

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we need your grace to be poured out upon your people in the midst of these

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shakings, in the midst of all this going on, in the midst of the exposures,

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but you also spotlight what you are doing in a way that the world will see

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what God is doing rather than what the world is up to. And then in the middle of

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all that, all the shakings and the implosions of institutions, and then

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ultimately the explosions, the things that we would see happening that maybe

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would cause our hearts to be overwhelmed. But the Lord's reminding me the

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explosions aren't just what's happening in the negative sense, it's where he

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wants to be explosively showing up in the midst of it all. That God wants to show

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up with the dunamis power of God. That God wants to do one of those sudden,

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you know, over 88 times or 80 something times in Scripture we see the word

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suddenly, but it's never suddenly to God. It was suddenly to us, like in Acts

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chapter 2, but God already had it all set together. It wasn't a suddenly to him.

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He already had every nation known in the known world at the time in Jerusalem at

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that moment for Pentecost, so when he showed up in a suddenly moment, not to

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him, he had already planned it all. And when he showed up, it became a suddenly

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to us, and in one day thousands were added to the church. I think we're ready

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for a suddenly moment again. God did that in 1996. It inspired Christian Tab. God's

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done it over the years, and God's done a deep and wide work through this

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congregation, but I believe God's about to do another suddenly moment. Those

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where God just steps down from heaven, and God does a work in those divine

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moments. We see that even in the 1990s and the 80s, and there's been pockets of

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every decade or so that God's been doing something in this city. Doing things here

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in this congregation, doing things in my life in the realms of influence and

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relationship that I have, but I'm waiting for that corporate outpouring anointing

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that transcends any one of us that God just does that we go, wow, that's God. How

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many are waiting for that to happen? But I believe because you have attracted God's

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presence, and I'm not going to go into all those, but the first service I talked

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about the four things that attract his presence, holiness, not an external piety,

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but a deeper consecration of the heart that says, God, my life is not my own.

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Second is a place of humility, and that's not self-defacing, but humility is

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understanding that we can have a confidence in God, but it only comes in him,

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not in our works of our flesh. Because too many people can become self-righteous,

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self-absorbed, self-centered, take selfies. I mean, everything's self, self, self,

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and A.W. Tozier said that self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God

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from us. We need the face of God more than ever, and as you've heard it preached

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here over the years, more than a handout, we don't need God's hand, we need his

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face, to see him face to face. And how many know that that's what this world is

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looking for? And sometimes there's a lot of voices, the noise pollution, but God's

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voice is louder than the voices of this world. I was helping to put together a

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national prayer gathering in Philadelphia back in 2012, and I've been a part of

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these kinds of things, and Psalm assemblies, and so in 2012 I was asked to

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go to Philadelphia back and forth and meeting with people. One businessman who

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was retired from Wall Street was telling me a story. He said his son, when he was

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in high school, was really good at crew and doing, you know, the boats and stuff,

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and he was, a major regatta was coming up, and all these university scouts were

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going to be there to see his son Brandon. And so there were thousands of people

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screaming, and he told his son, he goes, son, I hope it's not going to embarrass

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you, but every time that you're out there doing your crew and you're doing

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regatta, he goes, I'm so proud of you son that I can't help but scream and cheer

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and run down the things, praying, I mean, screaming for you and cheering for you.

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He goes, dad, I love it when you do that. You don't get it. I don't care about all

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those other voices. I don't even hear all those other voices. All I hear is the

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voice of my Father encouraging me. And when I heard that I said, God, there's so

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many voices out there. I just want to hear the voice of my Heavenly Father. I just

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need to hear you saying, well, you know, and this is how God speaks to me sometimes,

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but, you know, in Forrest Gump, run, Forrest, run, I hear the Lord's voice saying,

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run, Doug, run. I mean, God is encouraging us. You know, when I think about when

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Jesus got baptized in the Jordan River and John the Baptist was saying, you

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should be baptized in me, not me, you. And Jesus said, suffer to be so now, for

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thus it be come with us to fulfill all righteousness. And when he was being

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baptized, it says, the heavens rend open, and the voice of God said, the voice of

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the Father said, this is my beloved Son, and who I am well pleased. But when you

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think about it, it's like God's saying, that's my boy, that's my boy. But if you

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look at Colossians chapter 1 verse 12, it says, we give thanks to the Father, not

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just one day as Pastor Hurd said, we should be thanking God every day, but

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giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to receive the inheritance

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as the children of the light. And it goes on to say, because of the Son of his

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love by which all things are made, two through four, and by him, the things seen

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and unseen, every principality, rulership, kingdom, and rulers of this world are

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subject to him, the preeminent one. That means there's nothing greater than the

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name and power of Jesus. It's not using him as the man upstairs, God, it's Jesus.

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It's Jesus. Remember when Jesus was in the crowds and he says, who touched me? And

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people were thronging him, and his disciples said, Jesus, everybody's here to

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see you. Can you imagine being in crowds and like a parade or a carnival and you

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have all these people and all of a sudden there's an attention on one

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specific person. Well, Jesus was the specific focus of everyone that was there,

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and so he said, who touched me? And it was the one with the issue of blood who

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touched the tzitzis, the very dangling tassels on his robe. And it wasn't even

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touching him face to face, it wasn't even touching his shoulder, it was just if I

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could get through the crowds to get to the lowest, lowest part of his garment. He

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can tell the difference between those who were there to see him, to get

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something from him, to those who really touched him. We can go to Christian

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concerts, we can go to celebrations, but there's a difference between touching

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him. I believe God's about to do a suddenly so he can touch us. So holiness

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is attractive, humility is attractive, honor is attractive, to honor those who've

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gone before, to honor other people, to honor your spouse, appreciation releases

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something because when you appreciate and are thankful, it releases blessing

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back. When we diminish people, when we demean people, when we depreciate

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people, then there's a resistance put up. There's a way to get to the heart, even

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in our disagreements. You know, I've always learned that the best way is to

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touch people's hearts instead of arguing the mind. If they can see the

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tangibility of Christ, it draws them to see Christ is real in us. I remember a

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time years ago there was a disc jockey on a secular radio station. He hated

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Christians. He hated me because he would come out and I'd be on the streets

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talking to people about Jesus and he'd try to disrupt me and try to get me to

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respond in the flesh. And back in those days in my 20s and 30s, if somebody

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punched me, I'd probably punch him back even as a preacher. I said, take my

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coordination card for a second. But God wouldn't let me do that. That one guy

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who's twice my size, a former gang member, I was trying to minister to, came in

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and tried to disrupt one of our meetings and he was standing in front of me.

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One of his girlfriends from the streets was standing behind me saying, just

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leave me alone. I want to hear what they have to say. He goes, I respect you, Doug,

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but you're going down if you don't get out of the way. She's my property. Now I

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remember that he came at me and I just tried to protect myself, just pushed him

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back, just to chill out. And that was a mistake because next thing you know he's

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throwing punches. You know, I used to be a Golden Globes boxer in high school. Now,

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I have to say, I only boxed twice, won both times in quick because my nose was

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already too flat. But I was also a wrestler and I was a wrestling champion

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in the Far East in 1974 in First Japan, Second All Far East in my weight class.

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So I kept thinking, Lord, let me punch him. He was swinging. I felt like punching

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him and the Lord wouldn't let me punch him. But he kept swinging. I was like

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slow motion, like, huh, blocking the punch. Wow, that's pretty cool. Like Bruce Lee

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kind of a thing or Jackie Chan, you know. So I didn't even ask the Lord. I figured

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at least I can defend myself. So I took him down, threw him to the ground, yanked

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him out. He goes, dude, you're bad. You're bad. I was thinking, yeah, I am kind of

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bad. I don't know. But I remember this guy used to always harass me, this

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disc jockey. And finally I was on a two hour live Christian talk show and he

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started calling, changed his name, harassing me on the radio show. He was

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obsessed. And finally I said, is this so-and-so? He goes, yeah, how did you know?

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I said, well, I can tell it's by your voice and your attitude towards me. I said,

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but let me ask you a question. Where are all your friends when you really need

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them? He goes, what do you mean? My friends, we stick together. We cut for one

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another. I go, really? Where were your friends last month when you couldn't pay

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your rent and your light bill? He goes, how did you know about that? I go, it

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doesn't matter. You know, I'm part ninja, right? It doesn't matter how I found out.

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But my little team, we found out. So we took up our personal offering out of our

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own pockets and we anonymously paid your rent and your light bill. And he got

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really quiet. I said, I never thought we were ever going to have to tell you that

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because, you know, we just did it because God said to do it. Well, later when I

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found out I was at Phoenix speaking at a Mission America gathering and I found

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out that he was back in the hospital full-blown AIDS. So I called another young

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man that had come to the Lord through our ministry who had also had HIV and I

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said, Bill, would you go and see him in the hospital? And when he got there, the

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first thing this person said was, why would you do what you did for me? He goes,

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that's what Christians do. He goes, yeah, but you would never have got any credit.

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I would have never known. He goes, that's not the deal. We just simply obeyed what

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God said to do. He was so touched by that, that that night he gave his life to the

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Lord and he passed away the next day. I shared that story at a large church in

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Conroe between services and I never say his name, so I shared the story before

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the second service. A woman comes up to me and says, can I ask you, was his name

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such and such? I said, yes, did you know him? She goes, that was my son. I had been

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praying, God, would you bring people along the way to reach my son? See, the

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power of the name of Jesus but also the tangibility of coming with an opposite

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spirit. Mamas, don't stop praying. Grandmas, don't stop praying. God hears

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your prayers. God hears your tears, amen? So, holiness, humility, honor, and also

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being honest with God and with ourselves. Now, those three words, I want to just

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touch on one in the last few moments we have. Exposure. On Easter of this year, I

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decided to go play some pickleball afterwards because some young people have

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been saying it's non-contact, go with us to go play and I said, okay, so my wife

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and I went. We went to play, it was a concrete thing and I'm thinking, okay,

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pickleball, but I'm still very, I turned, you know, 50 for the 17th time last month

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and I'm still very competitive. I still like to go work out, you know, Steve and I

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work out at the same gym sometimes and I still like to work out at my age. I mean,

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I can't run very good anymore but I wanted to work, I like to work out so I

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thought, okay, pickleball, you know. We get out there, I got so competitive. I did a

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few football rolls, you know, and I couldn't stop. My mind says stop, my body

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says can't do it and finally one time I went to do a backhand and my body

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couldn't stop and the concrete decided it wanted to meet my face. Ended up

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breaking some bones in my face and so some friends of mine, some doctors said,

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you need to go with that checked and all this other stuff, I won't get into all

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the details, x-rays and they said, send us the x-rays, send us the scans. So I

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sent it to them. They said, Doug, you need to go get checked. One for concussion

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also, we also need to get checked because we found what looks like an aortic

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aneurysm. So my hardheadedness, which seemed to be a bad situation, turned into

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an opportunity for them to expose something you normally never find out

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until after it's too late. God is trying to get our attention to expose the

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hidden things, to expose things that maybe circumstances and experiences we

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have in life that maybe we thought were terrible are opportunities for God to do

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a work of healing. I kept waking up and hearing the Lord speak and I remember

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back in January, I was getting to that story and I kept waking up and Lisa was

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already asleep and I kept hearing a Keith Green song and he was singing the

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rendition of Psalm 51 verse 10, created me a clean heart, oh God. Kept getting

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that in my mind, so I turned on my phone and played it softly over and over and

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over and just began to weep. That's it, God. All these things that are happening,

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all the voices out there, we need to hear the voice of the Father, we need to hear

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God speak to us that you've got this, I'm with you. And just like Colossians 1, 12,

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that because of the son of his love that now God is speaking to every woman and

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every man and saying that's my boy, that's my girl. Because of Christ, his son,

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now he can look at us and say that's my boy, that's my girl. That God is

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encouraging us that no matter what we hear, no matter what circumstances we go

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through, God is working on our behalf. That we're living in a time where Luke 21,

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where all the things are happening in the world, all these different wars and

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rumors of wars and racial division, political division, things happening. My

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wife and I just literally came back from the Ukraine in a war-torn area and we

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see things happen in the Middle East, things are happening everywhere that we

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don't understand. Our hearts are overwhelmed, it's being perplexed by the

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things that are happening on the earth. And yet God is reminding us this is not a

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time to fall asleep from sorrow, be drugged by grief, but it's a time to

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recognize, to fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

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Because in him we have authority, we have his authority to speak into the seen and

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unseen realm. There's a power in the name of Jesus to save, heal, liberate,

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deliver, and bring freedom. We have this great resource. Jesus said in Luke 21,

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13, in the midst of it all, he says, but church, this is an opportunity or the

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occasion for your testimony. When the world is a mess, the world needs to know

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there is hope in the midst of the storm. The world needs to see lighthouses that

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bring light in the midst of fog, in the midst of the storm, in the midst of the

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darkness. They need to see us now as we say, Lord, we want to join in Psalm 110,

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verse 2 and 3. We want to be a part of the army of volunteers for the day of

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your power. This is our moment. This is our time. Creating me a clean heart, oh

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God. Renewal right spirit within me. And then we see all these things happening,

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and even the prophetic drama of what I went through became, I always like to get

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a message out of it, right? So I go, okay, my hardheadedness, God's trying to

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expose the heart to protect us, to heal us, and I realized God was doing just

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that. So thank God that that was exposed even through the experience so that God

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could give us a message of getting back to our first love. God wants the heart of

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his people back. God wants to, you know, when we talk about the house of God,

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Bethel, Bethel, it means house of God, but God is saying, I don't want you to

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worship just the institution. I want you to worship the God of the institution.

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We need the incarnational presence of God. That's what God did in the 1990s,

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right here in 1996 with the pulpit splitting. It wasn't because about the

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pulpit, it was because of the manifest, tangible, suddenly presence of God that

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came. But one thing I noticed about every great move of God is what I noticed even

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the leadership of this congregation. Holiness, humility, honor, and honesty.

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There was an authentic sense of, I remember times that Pastor Hurd may not

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remember, but I'd be at places, we were at TBN somewhere and we were doing,

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getting interviewed, and I just noticed that one thing was so prevalent to me.

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It wasn't about telling the stories, it was about the presence of God. The

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humility that was all over Pastor Hurd. I said, God, that's what I need in my

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life. I want to walk in that kind of humility that brings the presence of God

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without even saying a word, you can sense the presence of God. 2 Corinthians 2

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14, God always leads us to victory or triumph through Christ Jesus so that we

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could become a dispenser of the fragrance of heaven. There's something

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about before we even speak, if we've been in the presence of God before we

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even speak, God begins to move. Now let me encourage those of you here right now

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that are going through personal things in the context of being overwhelmed by

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the things that are happening in the world, don't let grief and sorrow become a

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drug. Discouragement is a powerful drug. Don't be discouraged in the journey

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because God is still bigger than the giants, bigger than your circumstance. He

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is the God that keeps his promise. We have a word in Japanese, I had a

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Japanese wrestling sensei used to always say to me, when I felt like my back was

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about to get pinned, I felt like there was nothing I could do, I had no strength

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left, I hear the voice of my sensei saying,

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Gambate yo, gambate yo. That means you got this, you can do this. And all of a

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sudden all the instinctive training of being in training is like even in the

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Word now, all the training of being in the presence of God, seeking worship,

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worshiping him in spirit and truth, all these things, when our moments of

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challenge come, instinctively we hear the voice of the Father saying, you got this,

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you got this. And in that moment we get up off our back, get off that situation,

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and stand up and go by the power of the Holy Ghost in the name of Jesus.

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Salvation, healing, liberation, and deliverance. Now let me conclude with this,

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I'm never finished, I'm just gonna quit. I thank you Holy Spirit for being here.

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How many here have a need of a miracle in your life? I'm not even talking about

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the miracles that was happening around the world, I'm talking about in your

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personal life. You need a breakthrough, you need a healing in your body,

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spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, you need a

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breakthrough right now. Before I pray for that, because God's gonna do a

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corporate anointing, I just said the first service didn't share this, but just

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like with Hannah in the tabernacle of Shiloh, out of her desperation, she heard

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a word that became a word from God for her from a faulted menace priest named

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Eli. But she took it as the word of the Lord, but he said, go in peace, and may

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the God of Israel grant you the petition you have asked of him this day.

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In a moment, I'm gonna pray over this corporately, and I've seen God do literal

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miracles, I've seen literally a woman with issue of blood in Australia, I went to

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pray for her, I was leaving town, the pastor wanted me to go pray, and all these

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years later she's still alive, and they didn't expect her to live but a few

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hours. By simply saying what Eli said to Hannah, but I say it this way, go in

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peace, and may the Lord Jesus Christ grant you the petition of your heart

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today. And I say it three times, and not because I say it, it's because it's in

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the word that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So in a moment I'm

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gonna pray for us to walk that kind of breakthrough. I've seen in a church here

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in Houston a few years ago, I prayed that just in a generic way, and a woman comes

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up just crying saying I had this huge tumor on my throat, it's gone. So I don't,

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you know, I don't, every, God knows and everybody's story is different. God did a

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process in healing me of stage four cancer in 2015, but I decided not to make

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the focus on the cancer but on serving God even through my circumstance. I lost

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all my hair, but I never stopped traveling, I kept preaching the word, and

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people say how can you preach for miracles when you have that in your

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body? I say because my circumstance doesn't change who God is, but God changes

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my circumstance. In fact, I got some messages from some friends here in this

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congregation said that my wife's book, God Did Not Do This To Me, tells a story

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about what I went through ministering to them. So thank you for encouraging us

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that we did the right thing to put that book out, to tell the story, but from her

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perspective rather than mine, because how many of those spouses experienced the

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challenge in a different way than the person going through the challenge

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themselves. But before I pray for that corporate anointing, because the anointing

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is already here, not because of me, it's already, it's in a corporate sense, it's

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been a part of this congregation. We're stepping into a well. But before I do

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that, because I believe God wants to expose our own hearts, because we could

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say we're Christians, but for a long time we've gotten away from our first love.

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And He wants to expose our own hearts by being honest with Him, which is

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attractive to Him. There are five sins that kept Israel out of the promised land

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for 40 years. 1 Corinthians 10, you can read it for yourself later. One is lust.

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Scripture says that lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, pride of life. The second is

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idolatry. What is that? Anything that masters our affections more than Jesus.

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And three is sexual morality. What is that? It's not just fornication or adultery,

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but what are we allowing into our eyes, into our ears, into our spirit? The

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shahar, the gateway to our heart, as a man thinketh in his heart so easily. Not

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what you think in your mind, but what you've allowed in your mind to get to

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your heart. Sexual morality. What are we allowing, watching on the computer,

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thinking, what are we putting into our eye gate or listening to that goes into

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our spirit that then puts a bondage on the temple of the Holy Spirit? The fourth

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is tempting Christ. What is tempting Christ? It's like me back in 1981 when God

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finally got a hold of me. It's to say I'm a Christian, but I'm not living as a

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Christian. Maybe around Christians I know how to say the Christianese, but I

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wasn't living for him out there. Tempting Christ to say we're one thing, but

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living another. It's the greatest form of hypocrisy. The ancient Greek word for

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hypocrisy just meant stage actor, pretender. And then the fifth is what stops

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all of us from growing in this corporate, suddenly anointing God wants, and that's

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called murmuring. Great moves of God have been inhibited because of people who get

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offended and they begin to undermine one another, begin to talk down behind our

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backs. How many of you know that everything you speak they may not hear,

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but it's still out there in the spirit realm, in the unseen realm? When I send a

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text, and some of you that have been texting this morning while I'm preaching,

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just kidding, or sending pictures, you don't see it going through the air, but

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doesn't mean it doesn't exist because in a moment it goes across the world. Or

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wherever you want, an email, a text. We don't see it because it's a realm that's

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real that we may not see. But nonetheless there are all these words and all these

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text messages and all these emails and all these pictures flying through the sky

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that we can't even see, but it's real. It's the unseen realm that we have

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authority over in Jesus' name. But murmuring is like a spiritual immune

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deficiency disease. Cells of the body destroying cells of the body. Great moves

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of God have been inhibited when we need to be focusing together on something

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bigger than ourselves, than on the things that we might be going through

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personally. I have a friend that was locked up in prison in Pakistan by his

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dad who was a general because he became a Christian. Today he travels all over the

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world doing all kinds of crusades and he wrote something from his prison

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experience. He said, I could have become bitter or better. He became stronger and

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the Lord became better, not bitter. And as a result was able to lead

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thousands upon thousands to the Lord. So on the count of three, I'm going to ask

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us to be honest with God. If there are things in your life you know that are not

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pleasing to the Lord, lust, idolatry, sexual morality, tempting Christ,

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murmuring, the Holy Spirit's convicting you, then let's start right here. On the

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count of three, I'm just going to ask you to be honest with me. If there's

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something in your life, better to expose yourself to God than to be exposed. So

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on the count of three, if there's things in your life you know that are not

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00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:02,000
pleasing to the Lord, just stand with me. One, two, three. Thank you for your

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honesty. We weren't able to do this in the first service, but I'm going to ask

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those that are standing, I know as many of us, would you just come and stand with

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me? I'm going to pray for us, we're going to pray together, and then we're going to

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pray for the corporate anointing, for the breakthrough healings that we need, the

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healing and the breakthroughs that we might need. If you're not coming up, if

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you're still standing, but you say I need a breakthrough or fresh anointing, you

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need a fresh drink from the wilderness journey, then you join in on this prayer

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as well. Would you put your hands on your heart and pray with me like you really

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mean it? Say with me, Lord Jesus, do it like you mean it. Lord Jesus, forgive me

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of my sins and the things I've done that have broken your heart and brought shame

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to your name. Right now by faith, I give you the right to change my life the way I

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think, change my heart, help me to be what you want me to be. Right now by

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faith, I receive in my spirit forgiveness and sins and a fresh anointing of the

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Holy Spirit in Jesus' name. Now listen to me, I'm going to pray this prayer over

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you like Eli said to Hannah, but I want you to receive it in Jesus' name and

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receive your miracle breakthrough physically, spiritually, mentally,

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emotionally, financially, whatever, marriage. How many can trust God to do a

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work for you right now that only God can do? God does a battle for you. Now listen

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to me go three times. Thus saith the Lord. Go in peace, and may the Lord Jesus

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Christ grant you the desires of your heart today. And again

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I say to you, thus saith the Lord, go in peace, and may the Lord

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Jesus Christ grant you the desires of your heart today. And again I say to you,

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go in peace and may the Lord Jesus Christ grant you the desires of your

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heart today. Father I thank you now for all my discovery.

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Thank you now for all my brothers and sisters.

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I thank you Lord that the name of Jesus is above every name.

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There's power in the name.

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00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:30,320
Power in the name of Jesus.

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So I'm praying for salvation and healing and liberation

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and deliverance and freedom for the unsaved loved ones

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that we've been praying for.

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I pray that even this week,

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you would give us a word of encouragement.

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God, I thank you for physical healing,

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for financial breakthroughs.

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I'm praying Lord, whatever the heart cry is right now,

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you know what it is, you hear.

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You hear the prayers of the tears.

547
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You hear the prayers of tears God.

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So right now I'm asking for the manifest presence

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of the power of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus.

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In the name of Jesus.

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And everyone said.

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Amen.

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00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:04,280
Amen, amen.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode of A Word in Season

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00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:10,480
with Doug Stringer and friends.

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00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:13,040
And ask you to prayerfully consider supporting the ministry

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00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:15,080
at somebodycares.org.

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00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:20,080
Or by texting your donation amount to 805-422-7348.

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00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:23,720
Please join us again for A Word in Season

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00:43:23,720 --> 00:43:45,720
with Doug Stringer and friends.