God Wants Your Limp!

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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

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life.

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The devil wants our vision, but God wants our limp.

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Listen as Doug shares about the importance of the days we are living in as we are entering

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the first of Tishri of the year 5784.

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God is raising up a multi-generational leadership team that is preparing as a prophetic generation

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to prepare for an outpouring of the dunamis of God and ultimately for the coming of the

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Lord.

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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

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somebodycares.org.

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Now let's join our host, Doug Stringer.

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Some of you know that the year 5784 in the Hebrew calendar started this past Friday night

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at sundown, which is the first of Tishri, and also their Rosh Hashanah, which is their

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new year.

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Now we see Tishri's mentioned in Genesis, in multiple scriptures, Nehemiah chapter 8,

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as well as in Haggai, and all in the month of Tishri, but it's very significant because

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it's the first day of their civil year and also their first day of their seventh ecclesiastical

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year.

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The Lord speaks, for example, in Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 1 and 2, Nehemiah has Ezra stand

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before all the people, all the people gathered around on the first day of the seventh month,

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the ecclesiastical month, but the first day of Tishri being the civil year, the new year,

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also in the Hebrew calendar.

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This past Friday was 5784, Tishri and Rosh Hashanah, and they celebrate Rosh Hashanah

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for two days until sundown tonight.

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So all over the world there are millions of people joining in, Jews and Gentiles, Christians,

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looking at this time of celebration.

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It's also the beginning of this past sundown Friday night, going into Saturday, the 10

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days of awe, which in preparation for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish tradition

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in Hebrew calendar.

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And so I believe it's a great example to us of preparation for the holiest of holies,

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for God Himself, the Holy God, to show up.

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And it's these next days of the trumpet being sounded, the next few days of being in awe

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of God.

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You know, in Hebrews it says, never lose the awe of worship.

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God's raising up a multi-generational leadership team that is preparing as a prophetic generation

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to prepare the way for outpouring the suddenly the dunamis of God in preparation ultimately

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for the coming of the Lord.

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There's no coincidences with God.

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God has put things together.

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If you look at scripture, there's over 80 plus times, I think over 88 times that the

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word suddenly is used in scripture.

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Acts chapter two is a suddenly moment.

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But what is suddenly to us is not suddenly to God.

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If you look in retrospect, He had already put all the pieces together so that when His

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Holy Spirit shows up in a suddenly to us but not to Him, God had already put relationships

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and connections and pieces together.

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Many of us probably think, what am I doing in Houston?

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How did I end up here?

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And yet God in His providence has put us all together at a moment for a time such as this

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because who would have known even decades ago we are declaring, give us Houston, give

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us the nations.

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Who would have known back then that we'd be the most diverse city in America and be such

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an international city that if God does a dunamis outpouring on His corporate body, it literally

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already touches the nations.

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So we are here not by chance but by providence.

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And even as a congregation crossing racial, denominational, generational lines, coming

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together as a prophetic generation.

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In Nehemiah chapter eight, one and two, Nehemiah gathered Ezra and Ezra spoke the word of

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God.

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He brought out the law.

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He began to declare the law.

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He didn't pontificate.

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He just began to declare God's word.

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And the people gathered in a public gathering as He stood before them reading the word.

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And they began to recognize how far they become untethered.

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And for us, it's to realize how far we've left our first love.

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So when God's about to part His spirit, He's getting us ready.

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At the end of 2022, I felt like the Lord kept waking me up in this reoccurring thought and

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process and dreams.

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It was very prophetic even as God was speaking some things.

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And I kept hearing three words and I began to develop it, wrote about it, preached about

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it.

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And we look back now how significant those moments are that didn't seem understandable

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at the moment, but we have to declare what God says.

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And then we look back in retrospect and we see all that God is doing.

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We can't be afraid to speak the word of the Lord in season, right?

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And so in December of 2022, I kept hearing over and over these three primary words, exposure,

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implosions, explosions was coming.

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Meaning that the exposure was the spotlight of God first in His people to expose things

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even in darkness, but also to spotlight the things that we're doing right.

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Judgment starts first in the house of the Lord.

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God was getting us ready for what we were about to enter into so we can be a part of

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what He's about to do.

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The second thing was, and not just in the church, but then the world we begin to get

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exposed in every realm of the culture, we see an exposure.

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And then secondly, that would be implosions and implosions of the things we put our trust

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in.

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We've all put our trust in politics or in institutions or in all the things we thought

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we can trust is letting us down because the only thing that will last is the unshakable

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kingdom of God.

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The kingdom of this world shall be shaken, right?

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And so there'll be an implosion of so many things we put our trust in so that our only

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hope is in the Lord so that when the explosions happen, and the word explosions to me meant

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the dunamis of God.

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God was about to, in the midst of all the shakings and all the exposures and all the

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implosions, we put our eyes back on the Lord and He would pour out His Spirit in a dunamis

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moment, a corporate outpouring of His Spirit, and we see the fire of God begin to move across

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our city and across the nations of the world and upon a generation that many have given

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up on.

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God was going to take the blessings and the wisdom of the elders and part it to the next

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generation, empower them, encourage them, equip them, and that the new generation would

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realize we need the former generation because we need the blessings to move into our destiny.

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So it wasn't a disconnect, it was a multi-generational connect.

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It's the dunamis of God's being about to pour it out.

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When Ezra began to speak on the first day of Tishri, they began to weep because they

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realized how far away they had gotten from their first love, from the word of the Lord.

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So when we begin to pray the word, speak the word, declare the word, people's lives begin

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to get impacted.

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It's not all the pontificating, it's not all of our stump speeches, it's about just be

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willing to let the word live in us because the living word that dwells in us as we declare

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His written word that has life because the Holy Spirit gives direction and light to the

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living word Jesus, as we're able to share the word, people's lives begin to get impacted.

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And as a result, it says that the people began to get restored to their covenant relationship

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with God.

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It was on the 21st day of the month of Tishri that we read in Haggai.

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And similar to what God said to Joshua, He was saying to Haggai to speak to Zerubbabel,

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to Joshua, and all the people of the land.

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In other words, speak into the authorities of the governmental authorities, speak into

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it.

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Speak into the priesthood.

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We're a royal priesthood.

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Speak into the priesthood.

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Speak into all the people and say that when I shake heaven and earth, sea and dry land,

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He says exactly what He said to Joshua.

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He said, be strong and keep working for I am with you.

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Remember my promises.

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Do not be afraid, do not fear for my spirit remains in you.

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And what He's saying to us is, look, you're about to see some things come down in your

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personal life.

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Maybe you're going through some difficulties.

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Maybe you're going through some storms.

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Maybe you've been through some situations.

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Maybe you got a bad report from the medical professionals.

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Whatever the situation, remember this, that in the Lord declare His word over you because

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His word is true.

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When Solomon dedicated the temple and he took the best of the cedars of Lebanon, he took

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the best of the gold and silver of the land, he took the best of everything, even the leaders

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of other nations were blown away by this incredible global wonder.

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We call it the seven wonders of the world.

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This was one of the great wonders, if not the greatest wonder of the world at the time.

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He built this incredible monument for God.

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But even in that, he recognized in being the wisest man at the time, he was wise enough

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to recognize, I might have built this incredible thing by the hands of men, this beautiful

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financial, beautiful oedipus.

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We built this incredible temple as unto the Lord, but who do I think I am, he says before

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he dedicated and had a sacrifice on the altar, before they dedicated the temple, he says,

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who do I think I am?

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To think that the heavens of the heavens can't even contain God.

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So why do I think He's going to be contained in this thing I built?

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And even though, because he humbled himself in the temple, God took the fire of God, consumed

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the sacrifice on the altar, and it says the glory of God filled the temple.

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How much more valuable are you and me?

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Because we've not been built by the hands of men.

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We were beautifully, wonderfully made by God Himself.

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And even in what we think is imperfections, God is doing a perfecting work in every one

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of us.

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You know, the ones that God wants to use the most, the devil tries to distract the most.

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So maybe we have a past, but we can't change our past, but the decisions we make every

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day have now determined our future.

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We can't live according to where we were.

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Let's live who we are today in Christ and in Christ who's doing a work of perfection

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and who's the very one that gave His very blood for us to purchase these temples of

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the Holy Spirit, not built by the hands of men.

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But we are the living, breathing temples of the Holy Spirit.

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And when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, as living worshipers

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on the altar of God, if God's fire consumed the sacrifice on the altar and the temple,

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and we're more valuable than Solomon's temple, how much more does God want to when we give

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Him our time, our talent, our resources, our lives, and unto the Lord, how much more does

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God want to consume us and His glory fill our temple?

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And so when we come together, God is doing a corporate anointing at a time such as this,

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I believe that dunamis suddenly of God, as we come into agreement together to part of

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something bigger than ourselves and greater than ourselves, God wants to do a work.

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So it was in that context on the 21st of Tishri, the 1st of Tishri, Ezra declares the word,

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the people recognize we need to get restored, get that place of first love again, that hunger

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for God's word, God's presence, the 21st of Tishri, that He's speaking to the governmental

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authorities, to the priesthood, to all the people, and He says, remember, do not be afraid,

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be of courage, be strong and keep working.

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And remember, because I'm with you, remember my promises, don't be afraid, my spirit remains

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with you.

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If we know that, then no matter what goes on, the news, the global challenges, political

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unrest, we see all of those things, but if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author

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and finisher of our faith, it doesn't matter what's going on around us, we're cognizant

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of it, yes, we're aware of it, we're not ignorant of it, but we realize our hope is not in those

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arenas, our hope is in the Lord, the hope of glory Christ in us.

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So as we recognize that, he says, so that when I shake the heavens and the earth and

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the sea and dry land, you have that to hold on to.

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The end is not what you see because circumstances doesn't change God, God changes circumstances.

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He has been faithful to me.

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You know, I'll be 50 for the 17th time in October, and I realize the frailty of my humanity.

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I've been trying to stay young a long time and I know that time is catching up.

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I was with TD Jakes and I were ministering at a conference in Dallas about three or four

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years ago and said something that I want to share right now because I think it's pertinent

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for us.

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When we're going through these things, he says, he looks in the mirror and he goes,

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TD, you can't do what you used to do.

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You're not the man you used to be, but that doesn't mean you can't be today's man and

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tomorrow's man for God.

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And I realize I may not be able to do what I used to do and be who I used to be.

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I have landmarks along the way of God's faithfulness, but I can't make an altar to it because I

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want to be God's man today.

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I may not be as strong as I used to be, be able to do what I used to do, travel like

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I used to do, but I can do this.

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I can be today's man by the grace of God.

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I think it's important for all of us, regardless of what we're going through, to realize that

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first and foremost, God's purpose is good and a future of hope and not of evil for us.

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That the enemy is trying to devour and rob us of our strength, to rob us of our vision.

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He's trying to take away from us what God intends for us.

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So in the month of Tishri, on the 1st of Tishri, the word has been declared, then on the 21st

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of Tishri, God says to Haggai, speak to governments, speak to my priesthood, speak to all the people,

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that when all these circumstances may come, individually or corporately, don't forget,

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don't be afraid, be strong, keep working for I am with you.

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My spirit remains with you.

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Do not be afraid.

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But when I shake heaven and earth and sea and dry land, you'll know that the only unshakable

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peace in Hebrews 12 is the unshakable kingdom of God.

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Now there's something about the power of praise and the power of worship.

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Amen?

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Worship and the voice of praise is a tool for battle.

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God brings life in the midst of difficult situations.

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And I'd rather be in the will of God doing something that seems uncomfortable than to

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sit back on the sea of comfort and apathy, soaking on the beach of comfort, so shipwrecked

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in the sea of despair.

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In the midst of what we're going through today, be it individual or corporate, God wants to

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bring us to that place of renewed revelation of the living word in us, declaring the word

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over our lives, but there's something about worship and praise and the voice of praise

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in battle.

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So worship attracts God's presence.

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For example, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, as I was writing this down a couple of days

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ago thinking about this, that all the times in my life when I was going through difficulties,

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I praised Him through it.

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Praise is a power.

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There's a spiritual battle going on for your life because God has a purpose for your life

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that is greater than the devil has tried to stop.

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And those of us who've had hiccups along the way, those of us who've maybe got addicted

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to drugs or other kinds of things, God didn't leave us there because God's purpose for us

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was greater than what we were going through.

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And the ones that the devil wants to destroy or distract the most are the ones that God

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really wants to use the most.

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So if we fix our eyes on His purpose and who God is in us, we can overcome anything.

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So just like with text messages, you don't see them when you text.

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When you send a picture, do you see pictures going through the sky right now?

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Do you see text messages?

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Do you see emails going through the sky?

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No, but you know that it's real.

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There's a spiritual dynamic or dimension that we don't see, but it doesn't mean that it's

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not real.

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It's there.

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We are in a battle, a spiritual battle.

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So when we begin to audibly begin to worship God and praise, and just like when Jehoshaphat

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says, under this immense pressure in going into battle, he sought the Lord and he says,

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God, is this you?

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What do I do?

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And God tells him, don't be afraid because the battle is not yours, it's mine.

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In fact, he took a posture of humility.

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He says he bowed his head to the ground and then he began to worship God and says the

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Levites in a corporate sense began to sow what he was doing in humility and humbling

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himself before God, talking to God.

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And the Levites began to worship the Lord and the people joined in worshiping the Lord.

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And then it says that they began to praise God with a loud, exuberant voice.

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It's something about the posture of private and corporate humility and worship that turns

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into exuberant praise that releases a corporate anointing who we are in private coming together

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in a corporate context releases the power of God's presence through humility, worship,

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and praise.

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Some of the darkest hours of my life, even in ministry, I remember walking and pacing

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in my apartment.

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I had to go down the streets all night ministering to street kids and runaways and prostitutes

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and gang members.

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And it was just a rough night.

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And I remember going to my room all I had was a mattress on the floor because I had

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given away all my furniture, gave away my cards.

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I didn't even have a car.

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People had to drive me around here.

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I'm traveling the world, but the Lord had told me to give everything away.

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And then I had a mattress on the floor.

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So I walked over to my mattress, turned the lights off, fell to my knees over the mattress,

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having a pity party.

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God, this has been a rough day.

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I'm trying to serve you and this is...

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I have nothing to show for it.

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How many have ever gone through a pity party moment because of circumstances?

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And all of a sudden the Lord said, give me a drink.

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And I remembered the woman at the well, the submerged one, who am I to give you a drink?

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I need a drink right now.

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And the Lord just said, I want you to praise me.

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I want you to worship me because the one asking you for a drink is the one that gives you

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life.

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And of course I knew all the religious stuff.

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I know, I know.

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So I got up in simple obedience because obedience is the highest form of worship.

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The first time the word worship is ever used in scripture is not in the context of singing

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or instruments.

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It's in the context of obedience to God.

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We are the living worshipers who get the privilege of worshiping in song and in dance and in

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music and exuberance and instruments, but it starts with a simple obedience by the worshipper

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themselves that attracts God's presence and releases his favor, anointing and blessing.

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So I stood up in the dark in my, probably about two or three in the morning, I'm walk

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pacing my room by the mattress.

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Didn't feel like it, but just doing it because God said, give me a drink.

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Praise the Lord.

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Hallelujah.

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Shalom HaMah.

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Hi.

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Thank you, Jesus.

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Praise the name of Jesus.

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I mean, I would just, it was all motion.

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There was nothing with it.

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But just out of simple obedience, as I began just to do it in obedience because the joy

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of the Lord is my strength, all of a sudden what turned into just sheer obedience turned

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into this overwhelming sense of God's presence.

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And as I began to worship God, I began to praise God.

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Hours went by because I knew it was hours because now the sunlight is coming into my

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room.

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And I'm realizing it seemed like a moment, but as I just began to get lost, I was crying

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and I was calling on God.

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And pretty soon it was like, why am I complaining?

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It's like King David, you know, and through the Psalms, it's a lot of times he begins

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to ask questions and he begins to question God and why this?

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And all of a sudden he answers his own question before God even answers him.

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It's like he already knows the answer.

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And so the prince of God came and I realized that praise and worship is a breakthrough.

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Many times on the streets when we're having rough times back then, I would just get a

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few people, get a guitar, get out on the streets when nobody would listen and just start a

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little small group and just start worshiping God right in the midst of the darkness or

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at mighty grow outreaches.

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People would gather around us on the beaches of Galveston, the beaches of other cities.

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We would start just going on the beach and we do dramas and then we do worship and people

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would gather by the droves to gather to see what we were doing.

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And in the midst of that, God began to minister to people.

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There's something about the corporate presence of God through humility, worship, and praise.

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Authentic desire to restore the altar of worship and a desire to express that place of relationship

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in praise.

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Praise from your words, praise from the things that you do and say and word, gesture, and

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thought to honor God, to declare the word of the Lord.

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And because of that, we have this promise to hold onto that no matter what goes on,

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God is going to do a breakthrough in our lives.

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Amen?

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So he bows his head, they begin to worship, and then it breaks out into praise.

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There's something about worship and the voice of praise that God wants to bring in battle.

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God wants our limp.

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The devil wants your vision and wants your strength.

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You see, if the joy of the Lord is our strength, if the devil can take our strength, he can

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take our joy.

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The devil wants your vision and wants your strength.

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God wants our limp.

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The limp of God is greater than walking in our own strength.

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Let me go back to 1 Samuel chapter 11.

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It says, Nahash the Ammonite had come against Jabesh-gilead.

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It was so bad, there was a famine.

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They were literally surrounded.

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The men of Jabesh-gilead could not get out, and Nahash, which means the serpent, the cunning

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one, the devil, was surrounding them.

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They couldn't get out.

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It says that they even were so desperate, they began to eat bird dung and donkey brains.

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It was so desperate that then they began to say, we can't survive.

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We need to make a compromise with Nahash.

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So they went to Nahash and said, Nahash, would you sign a treaty with this?

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We can't do this anymore.

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We need a compromise.

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And here's what Nahash said, the cunning one, the serpent, I will make a treaty with you.

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I'll make a compromise with you under one condition.

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Give me the right eye of every man.

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Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

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Why just the right eye of every man?

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Back in those days, men learned how to fight with a shield in their left hand and their

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weapon in their right hand.

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And how they would see their enemy as they marched in ranks was with their right eye

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around the shield.

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Nahash knew that if I could get the right eye, because boys from the time they were

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young learned to fight with a shield on the left, a weapon in the right, and using their

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right eye to peer around the shield.

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So they instinctively knew how to be valiant warriors and fighters with their right eye

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being their vision.

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Nahash knew, if I give me the right eye of every man, they will not be instinctively

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able to fight like they used to fight.

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Give me their strength.

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Give me their vision and take away their strength.

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The devil wants to take our vision from us because he wants to take our strength.

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And so they're willing to compromise, and the compromise was to give me the right eye

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of every man.

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How many of us, when we go through discouragements, are willing to compromise our biblical convictions?

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The enemy tries to put pressure and pressure magnifies.

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The devil tries to cause us to be under such pressure that we begin to forget the promises

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of God.

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That's why God had to speak to Joshua.

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God had to speak to Zerubboh.

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God had to speak through Nehemiah and Ezra to the people.

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Don't forget, don't be afraid, be of courage.

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Know that I'm with you, says the Lord.

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And if I'm with you, no matter what you see in front of you, you can get past this.

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When the 12 spies of Israel went to the promised land, we know they weren't atheists because

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all 12 came back and said, the land is exactly as God says it is.

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It's a land flowing with milk and honey.

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But 10 of those spies said, but, how many of there's always the but some doubters?

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But the giants are so big, they're so huge, the circumstance is so big that we're like

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grasshoppers in our own sight.

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But if we see our circumstance is bigger than God, then we'll act that way.

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But if we see God is bigger than the circumstance, we'll act appropriately that way.

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It doesn't matter what the circumstance looks like.

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God is still bigger than the circumstance.

402
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God is God and we are not.

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He says in Colossians chapter one, that all things are made two through four and by Him.

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Every kingdom, principality, rulership is subject to Him.

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That means in the seen and unseen realm.

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If we recognize who He really is, then we can walk as the champions for Christ, the

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ambassadors of Christ He's called us to be.

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Now here's some practical things I do in my own life because as Nahash is trying to take

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our vision and our strength, God reminds us of the story of Jacob, who was running from

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his past, running from his brother Esau and he crosses a ford called Jabak.

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And I learned this from David Wilkerson.

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And Jabak means the place of total surrender to the will of the Father.

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As Jesus said, not my will, but the Father's will be done.

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His kingdom, not my kingdom.

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And so he's crossing the ford of Jabak before he wrestles with the angel of the Lord.

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And it's that place of all this haunting of his past.

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He has to totally surrender in human impossibility of what he can do and all of his doubts and

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questions and vain imaginations and all these things he's wrestling internally in his own

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life, his internal conflicts.

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He comes to the ford of Jabak, that place of letting go and surrendering so he can wrestle

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with the angel of the Lord and prevail.

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He came in his own strength, but he left with a limp.

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Better to walk in the limp of God than come in our own strength, wisdom and knowledge.

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If we come before the Lord and surrender, then the Lord can put us in our destiny and

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give us a new name.

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We might walk with a limp in the natural, but the reality is we're stronger with the

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limp of God than it would be to walk in our own strength.

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I used to be in wrestling.

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I lived in a military base and did that for the United States.

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And during the 1974 Far East Wrestling Championships, I was considered number one in two different

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weight classes, a seeded number one.

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The first day of the Far East Wrestling Championships, my sensei, Noriki Guchis, in the Wrestling

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Hall of Fame, he was the inventor of Shuto, a precursor to MMA.

434
00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:38,840
He was my coach and taught me a lot of things back then and how to get an advantage.

435
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:43,560
I remember the first day of the Far East Wrestling Championships, I busted my left elbow.

436
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It was in pain and swollen.

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That night, my sensei, Noriki Guchi, wrapped it up, put ice on it.

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The next day, and he was Mr. Miyagi before there ever was a Mr. Miyagi, he said, Doug

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Son, you sure you want to continue?

440
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,720
I said, Sensei, I've come too far to quit.

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You see, my desire to win had become greater than my moment of challenge.

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So he took the bandage off of my bad arm, my left arm, put it on my good arm, my right

443
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arm.

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I said, Sensei, what are you doing?

445
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And that Mr. Miyagi moment, Doug Son, everybody know you were injured yesterday, but they

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will not remember which arm.

447
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And so they were in for a rude awakening.

448
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My hair was on the middle of my back back then.

449
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I used to put in a ponytail.

450
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I dare anybody to touch my hair.

451
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I wasn't even a Christian, but I was like Samson.

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And they were in for a rude awakening.

453
00:28:33,940 --> 00:28:37,120
When they came to that arm with the bandage, they thought they were going for the hurt

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arm.

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00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:39,120
They were in for a very rude awakening.

456
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But they still took First Japan, and I lost the Far East Wrestling Gold Medal by one decision

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point with a broken left elbow, busted left elbow.

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That has become a life lesson for me all my life.

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That regardless of what circumstances may look like, regardless of the pain, regardless

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of the circumstance, regardless of the challenges, that God is still bigger than the circumstance.

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If it's cancer, financial challenges, marital issues, the things we see on the news every

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day can be very overwhelming, but God is bigger than all of that.

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00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:14,000
He's bigger than the giants.

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And if God has given you a promise, then it doesn't matter what the journey looks like,

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00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:23,680
it doesn't matter what the giants look like, He's still the God that keeps a promise, and

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00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:26,560
He's still the God that's bigger than the circumstance.

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00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:27,560
Amen?

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00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:32,880
Another thing I learned from my coach, my sensei, I could be literally wrestling.

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00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:35,480
I felt like my back was against the wall.

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00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,200
I was on the mat, and you learn to wrestle.

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00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:42,960
In fact, our friend Elias Flores, his son, is the head coach of Vanguard University now,

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00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,920
and I had them on one of my Zoom calls and one of my podcasts.

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00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:51,120
Elias used to teach his son, who's the head coach of Vanguard University Wrestling now,

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00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:56,640
not to win in wrestling by how aggressive you could be, that's important, but how to

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be on your back.

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00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,960
In other words, if you can learn when you think you're about to be pinned how to get

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out of being pinned, that's how you learn to be the greatest, to be a champion.

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It's not always being the aggressive one, it's learning how to get out of difficult

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00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:16,280
situations and knowing that there's something in you intrinsically that's there that we

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00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:17,480
didn't have on our own.

481
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:21,040
I remember being all flat on my back, about to get pinned on my neck, trying to stay from

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00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:27,280
being pinned, and I'd hear my Japanese coach say, ganbatte yo, ganbatte yo.

483
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:31,000
It means you got this, go for it.

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00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:32,560
And something would well up inside me.

485
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:33,560
I mean, it was impossible.

486
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:35,320
I'm about to be pinned.

487
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:40,800
And yet I hear those words and all the training, all the things he taught me, all that motivation.

488
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,520
All of a sudden, something would stir up inside of me and I get out of it and I end up pinning

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00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:46,680
the other person.

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00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:52,160
A lot of times we think that when we're up against the wall, we're about to give up,

491
00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:53,640
the discouragement comes.

492
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:57,760
It's in that moment we need to hear God saying, you got this.

493
00:30:57,760 --> 00:30:59,440
Why?

494
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:00,640
Don't be afraid.

495
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,440
Keep working for my spirits with you.

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00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:06,120
Be of courage.

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00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:10,240
Keep working for my spirit remains in you.

498
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:13,880
It's in the most difficult of times you find out what's truly, what character, what you

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00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:18,320
really have is when we go through difficulties and pressures, that's where God shows up in

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00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:20,120
ways we never would have thought.

501
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:25,520
God wants to pour out his dunamis presence in a suddenly moment.

502
00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:30,840
The world will never know what it means to be united because there'll continue to be

503
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,120
racial division, political division.

504
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:37,920
People will be divided because that's the way the world is.

505
00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,600
But in the house of the Lord, Micah 4 is a beautiful picture.

506
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:46,280
In the latter days, all people gather at the mountain of the Lord, the house of the Lord.

507
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,520
Put aside the weapons of warfare against each other.

508
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:51,120
Turn them into harvesting tools together.

509
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:55,760
It gives us a greater purpose than what we think that we have.

510
00:31:55,760 --> 00:32:01,000
And from that will become the outcasts of lame and the sick shall become a strong nation.

511
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:04,400
Let this place continue to be a place to gather all people.

512
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:09,000
A place where we come as an eclectic group that the world would have given up on.

513
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:10,960
People have said you'll never amount to nothing.

514
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,320
Those are the ones that God wants to use the most.

515
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:17,280
And the more you gather together and you put aside those differences out the door and come

516
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:21,880
together as one, as one body, putting aside weapons of warfare against each other into

517
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:26,040
harvesting tools together, God is about to pour out His Spirit because that's what attracts

518
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:27,040
His presence.

519
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:32,280
Authentic worship, the place of adoration and exuberant praise, and the place of humble

520
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:35,160
posture that says I don't have to have my way.

521
00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:42,020
I want to come the way of the cross so I can handle the power of the upper room.

522
00:32:42,020 --> 00:32:47,320
Many of us want the power of the upper room, but we're unwilling to take it through the

523
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:49,960
crucibles of the cross.

524
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,760
It's the cross first, then the Holy Spirit outpouring.

525
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:56,600
I believe God wants to do something fresh in all of us today.

526
00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:02,320
I'm just going to close because as we've talked about tissue and I believe we're in a very

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00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:07,480
significant moment historically, and if God's a God of pattern and principles and we see

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00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:13,660
over and over from Genesis throughout scripture, tissue to the 21st of tissue, we see this

529
00:33:13,660 --> 00:33:18,860
time of the Holy days that God has done something historically throughout history.

530
00:33:18,860 --> 00:33:24,520
What happens if we truly kept our focus on the Lord and declared His word and praised

531
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:30,200
Him if He were to show up again like an axe to outpouring, like a dunamis moment?

532
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,020
What would happen to our city?

533
00:33:32,020 --> 00:33:33,880
What would happen to us?

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00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,760
What would happen to the nations?

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00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:41,120
We hope you enjoyed this episode of A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and Friends,

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00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:46,280
and ask you to prayerfully consider supporting the ministry at somebodycares.org or by texting

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00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:52,320
your donation amount to 805-422-7348.

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00:33:52,320 --> 00:34:07,960
Please join us again for A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and Friends.