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Better Together LIVE | Episode 138

Better Together

November 4, 2020

25:24

When tensions are high; how can we use the "belt of truth" to discern truth from lies? | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000

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Better Together LIVE | Episode 138

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- God's full armor protectsus from any and all the sin,
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and when we put onthe belt of truth,
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He equips us witheverything we need to know
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to stand in victory becauseGod has already won the race.
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Come on, let's talk about it.
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(digital music)
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- You know I've been readingthrough Ecclesiastes this week
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and here's Solomon who isthe wisest man on the planet,
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he has had everything,
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he has had all the wisdom,
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he has had all the women,
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he has had the fame (chuckling)
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he has had all the wealth,
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he's had everything,
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and he starts talkingabout just the death
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and the life of humanbeings and humanity,
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and he finally comesdown and it's all vanity,
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all of it is vanity,
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and he says in Ecclesiastes,
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he's telling the youth.
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First of all, I will point outthat he says in Ecclesiastes,
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to hang on to your firstlove your first wife.
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So (chuckling) so he was...
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From all thosethousands of women,
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he wanted his wisdom said,pick one and stick with it,
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I thought that was awesome,
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but he says in Ecclesiastes 12,
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"Let us hear the conclusionof the whole matter.
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"Fear God and keephis commandments forthis is man's all."
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And Chrystal, I think thatwe need to rest and to relax
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in that if we fear God,
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and we walk according to hiswill and his commandments
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that that's all we need to have
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a beautiful eternal everlastinglife right here on earth,
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and to live in thefullness of God,
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what do you think?
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We need to shut out all thenoise and think on these things.
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(Laurie laughing)
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- Listen, there is a lotof noise, a lot of noise,
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if it is not what we wereseeing on social media,
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hearing from other people,
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if it's not what we'rehearing in the news,
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if it's not the opinionsthat are in the papers
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or the people eventhat are in our circle,
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there is just a ton of noise,
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and the only thing thatkeeps you grounded to truth,
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the only thing thatkeeps you grounded
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in what really matters
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and what will matterfor all of eternity,
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the only thing thatdoes that is God's word.
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God's word is timeless,
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God's word is time-tested
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and it has proven overand over and over again
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to build the foundation onwhich we can build a life
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with wisdom.
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The beginning of wisdomis the fear of the Lord.
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The Bible says,
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and so when you know that inthe beginning was the word
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and the word was God,
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and the word is God,
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when you know thatJesus is the word,
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the way you get to knowGod, who is the only person
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that has been here fromthe beginning of time,
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and who can see the future.
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The way to walk in wisdom
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is to fear the only onewho has the answers.
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And He has said thatwe get to know Him
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because He is the word.
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So when you pick up yourBible and you read it,
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and when you say, okay,based on what the word says,
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I'm gonna act as ifI believe it's true,
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not only am I gonna do that,
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but I'm gonna makedecisions based on the word.
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That cuts some, if not all, ifyou're obedient of the noise.
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And so many of usget so out of whack,
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because we are listeningto too many people,
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too many voices intoo many opinions.
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And I know I'm guilty of it,
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I'm guilty of, I needan answer right quick,
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and so I'm gonna jump onand Google the answer,
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or I'm gonna call a friend
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because it's easyto pick up my phone
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and just or justpick up my phone
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and I text somebody and I say,
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what can I do tofix this situation?
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And how many times am I guilty?
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But God is like, listen,
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you got this big oldBible on your desk, girl,
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pick it up, pickit up and read it.
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And even if what you read today,
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isn't a right now wordfor the practical thing
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that you're dealing with,
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maybe reading the word andtalking to me in prayer
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allows the Holy Spirit who'soperative on the inside of you
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to give you a right now wordfor the thing that you need
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to let the peace of God
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which passes all understandingto guard your hearts
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and your mind in Christ Jesus,
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to guard yourheart how you feel,
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to guard your mindhow you think,
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and as a man thinks, so he does,
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that's what our feet doing,
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and so you wanna change howyou're thinking in this world,
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and I've saidsometimes to myself
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of cause sometimes youhave to speak out loud
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and you say self (chuckling)what's wrong with you?
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Maybe you have you eversaid that to yourself,
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What's wrong?
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You're dealing with ahigh level of anxiety
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or the decision that you made,
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you knew that wasn'tthe right decision.
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And usually it comesback to the fact that
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I was not in a grounded placeand my relationship with God
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when I did that, so standingin truth, operating in truth,
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opening up the word ofGod to see what he says,
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and when you do that,
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and you know that you'reconnecting with God,
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the Holy Spirit can speak toyou about the smallest thing,
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that's what standing andtruth has meant for me
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'cause often I go,when I need an answer,
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- Yeah
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- And God is like, no,you don't need an answer,
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you need me, I am the answer,
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and when you come to me andcome to my truth you get me.
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- This year more than ever,
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I've realized, like Ican't make decisions
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based on what people are saying,
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because people are changingtheir minds all the time.
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And I can't even make decisionsbased on what I'm feeling,
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'cause God knows thoseare changing all the time,
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And so when people'sopinions are unreliable
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and my own emotions at timehave become unreliable,
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I need to go to a place
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that throughout time hasremained steady and sure,
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a place that has always givenme confidence and identity
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and isn't waveringand isn't changing
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it doesn't go based on trends
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and doesn't go based on seasons
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and doesn't go based on myown opinions or emotions,
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it is not trendy,it is not changing,
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I need to go somewherethat has certain insurance,
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so I actually haveto go out of my way
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to make sure thatI'm hearing truth,
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that I'm scrollingthrough these words
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more than I'm scrollingthrough my Instagram,
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that I'm listening to whatthe word of God says about me,
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more than that one person thatsaid that one thing about me,
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I actually have togo out of my way,
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because truth that giveslife and saves your soul
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may not be naturallyplastered on billboards
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as you're drivingdown the freeway,
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and it might notnaturally show up
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in cute square onyour Instagram,
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it may not be what isnaturally around you
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if you live yourlife on autopilot,
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you might have to goout of your way to say,
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I'm gonna claimback my mentality,
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I'm gonna claimback my decisions,
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I'm gonna claim back my life,
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when I wake up in the morning,
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I'm opening this first, I'mspending time here first,
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I'm talking to you first.
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And I think that weneed to be very aware
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of how much power we havein what we are listening to.
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We can tell it's howI'm so overwhelmed,
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I'm so overwhelmed bywhat everyone's saying,
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what everyone is doing,
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you don't have to necessarilylisten to all of that,
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If you had a soundboardof your life,
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where is God's volume at?
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Where are these people'svolumes that you could control?
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You're the mixer of thesoundboard of your life,
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and so I really hopethat everyone watching
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feels empowered totake back the power
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of what you're listening to,
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'cause what you'reused to listening to
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is what you willeventually answer to.
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So what truth areyou listening to?
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What do you think Jeannie?
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- So good, that's really good.
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I think especially in theseason that we find ourselves in
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first of all, we abide in truth,
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and in every end youwere talking so much
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about applying ourselvesand reading the word,
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every time you read the word
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you're putting the seedof the word of God in you
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that will replacethe negative thoughts
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and the negative stuffthat comes at you.
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And it's like, you'resaying, you may not get that,
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what we call a rhemaword for the day
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when you read it butevery day when you read,
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you're planting moreand more seed in you
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that will give fruitto the good things.
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But I think when we findourselves in the season,
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we have to actually say
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I can't always controleverything around about me
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but I will limitwhat comes into me.
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So what you do isyou limit the time
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that you spendwatching and listening
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to things that are indisconnect with the word of God
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and what the truth ofthe word of God says.
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And especially at night I avoidengaging in all of the noise
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of the debate and theopinions of other people,
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I don't let it mess with me.
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I come to understand this,I am my own media producer,
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I choose who, when andwhat I allow in my network,
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and we have a choiceto be able to do that.
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Philippians 4:8 says tothink on these things,
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if there be any truth,if there be any virtue,
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and I love virtue therebecause it's interpreted
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is if there be any strength,
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that's what virtue means there,to think on these things.
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And I think in this seasonthat we found ourselves in,
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we find ourselvesa week of mind,
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week of spirit andseemingly at our wit's end
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and well that's whatthe word of God does.,
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the word of God comes inand he sorts things out,
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the word of God brings truth,
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that divides the differencebetween the soul and the spirit,
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the word of God is that divider.
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And the scriptureout of Ephesians 6:1that we're studying,
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"Put on God's armor so thatyou will be able to stand firm
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"against all strategiesof the devil."
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Now stand firm is what we do,
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we don't have to go to fight.
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The Bible says we put on thearmor so that we can stand.
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The victory is already ours,
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but do we have thestanding power?
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And that's what theword of God does for us,
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it gives us theability to stand.
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I think about differentpieces of armor.
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Roman soldiers, when they wore
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to me probably one of themost important pieces of armor
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if I were to describe it,I'd say it's the helmet,
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because it's my mind, Ineed to protect my mind.
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And sometimes the Roman helmets
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would even covertheir ears slightly,
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so we're careful aboutwhat we let go in our ears,
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we're carefulabout the thoughts.
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In fact, your mindmay have a tendency
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to go down a certainpath, and guess what?
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I remember oneseason into my life,
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there was a very difficultseason that I found myself in
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and there was somethingthat I had wanted to change,
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and the circumstanceshad eclipsed me
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where I wasn't able tochange certain things,
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but I felt like theLord said to me,
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you've gone downthis path for so long
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in your mind youbore a rut there,
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you need to put a roadclosed sign there.
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And at some point down the road,
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you'll be able to go back andlook at that difficult place,
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but for now, don't go there.
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And so I made adecision to do that,
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to control the thoughtsthat I would allow
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to take residents in my mind.
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Well, in order tocontrol the things,
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you've got to putthe right things in
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so that the rightthings sprout up,
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if you want the positivereinforcement of God's word
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to come up when you'refacing a difficult time,
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you've got to put God's word in.
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And it's not complicated,but it's just a simple,
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and guess what?
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The more you readthe word of God,
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the more you fallin love with it,
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the more it brings life to you,it pushes back the darkness,
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that's what God's word does.
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But you put on thewhole armor of God
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and then you stand in truth.
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We stand, we don't getout there and battle
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'cause God said, I've alreadywon the victory for you.
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We stand still, and we seethe salvation of the Lord.
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- So good, I've beenthinking about this
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and as we're all talking,
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I had this really sillythought come to my mind,
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but I just kind of felt likeit's from the Holy Spirit.
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We're talking about this
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putting on truth andreading the word of God
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and talking about isit applicable to today?
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All the worries I have todayand all that I'm going through.
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I think about when weput on the armor of God,
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I think part of it is thatwe're preparing for battle,
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It's a preparation thing.
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And so then I thinkabout our habits
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and I think abouthow as a young child,
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I'm teaching my kids,this is my silly part.
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So go with me, I couldbe way crazy on this
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but I teach my kidseveryday, brush your teeth,
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brush your teeth in the morning,brush your teeth at night,
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and they don't see the benefitof brushing their teeth yet.
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But if they didn'tbrush their teeth,
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they would see the weightof not brushing their teeth.
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They would have cavities,
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they would have all this stuff
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that would be weighingon their teeth,
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that would be a problembecause they didn't do
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what was the preventative.
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And I think sometimes that'swhat the word of God is for us.
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And I know it's a silly analogy,
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but here's my thought on it.
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Oftentimes we might not seehow good it actually is for us,
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but if we live without it,and when the battle comes,
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we'll realize theweight of missing it.
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And I think insome of our lives,
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2020 has been that aha moment
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that we haven't beenprepared for battle
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that we haven't beenin the word of God
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as much as we need to be.
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And I actually have taken kindof a break from social media
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because I realizedI was striving there
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and I didn't wannabe that person,
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but just recently I was onand I saw someone post a story
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and they said, you can knowthe stories of The Bible
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without knowing thestory of The Bible.
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You can know The Bible stories
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without knowing thestory of The Bible.
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And I thought that's so true.
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You can be raised inchurch your whole life
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know about Jonah,
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know about all the funstories of The Bible,
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and yet never know the thread
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that goes throughthe entire thing,
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that is the actualthing that carries you
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in your moment of battleand your moment of trial.
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And I think that's whatwe're talking about
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when we say get dressed everyday in the armor of God,
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it's not because every day youthink you're gonna need it,
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and I promise you oneday, you'll go, aha
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I did not need that, thatwas a waste of 10 minutes.
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But one day you're gonnawake up and be like,
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I am so glad that every day Ihave put on the armor of God,
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I am so glad that every dayI have meditated on his word,
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that I know this becausewhen a moment comes,
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what's gonna surprise youis what comes out of you.
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and that will be theyears you've put into you,
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this word of God, The Bible,
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and so I think thatin this season,
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this is a habit we're creating,
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this is a...
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I'm gonna create a habit
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that every dayI'm with the Lord,
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and one day I'm gonnawake up and be like,
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this isn't a habitanymore, this is love,
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this is...
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I can't live without this.
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But when you're in thebeginning stages, it's a habit,
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It's a...
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No, I'm gonna brush my teeth
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'cause it's whatyou're supposed to do,
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I'm gonna read my Bible causeit's what I'm supposed to do,
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but then I'm gonnafall in love with it,
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I'm gonna go, I need this,I can't live without it.
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And so I think thatas we're leaning in on
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dressing in thearmor of the Lord,
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I think we need toremind ourselves thateven when it seems
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unreal, it seems like itdoesn't fit this moment of time
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that I promised thatin the day of battle,
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we'll be so gratefulthat we got dressed
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for what we're facing.
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- This is one thingI am concerned about
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is that people have allgone to their own truth,
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so we're supposed to beltourselves with truth,
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and that is truth from here,and there is no other truth,
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but this, this trumps all truth.
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So this is true and so it'snot your truth and my truth,
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and if...
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Then you're justall over the board
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and nothing isgoing to be stable,
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nothing is going tobe a firm foundation,
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nothing is going to berock solid like God says,
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my word is a fortress,it is a sure foundation,
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this is the truthof the word of God.
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So every other crystal, everyother piece of that armor
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hooked to the belt of truthand what we know to be true
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and right, and firm.
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And I love Jeannie thatyou were talking about
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that when you have yourbreastplate of righteousness
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and your helmet and your beltand your feet shod with peace,
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that is to stand,
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that's not to go out andjust fight everything,
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that's to stand, that'sto stand in the authority
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of who God says you are.
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That's what's true,that's what's right.
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And Chrystal, I love thatthis word is sure foundation
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for all of us to stand on,
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and you started out withthat, and I love that.
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- Well, I was thinkingabout 1 Peter it says here,
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and if I could justread this briefly,
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it says in chapterone of 1 Peter,
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"In this, you greatly rejoice,
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"even though nowfor a little while,
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"if necessary, youhave been distressed
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"by various trials, so thatthe proof of your faith
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"being more precious thangold which is perishable,
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"even though tested by fire,
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"maybe found to result inpraise, and glory and honor
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"at the revelationof Jesus Christ,
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"and though youhave not seen Him,
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"you love Him. and thoughyou do not see Him,
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"you believe Himand greatly rejoice
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"with joy inexpressibleand full of glory."
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And here it is,
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"Obtaining as theoutcome of your faith,
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"the salvation of your souls."
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And what's interestingabout this passage
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is that you're saved,
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so what does that meanto obtain the salvation?
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So, I'm a daughter of my father,
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so what does it mean toobtain my inheritance?
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Well, time has to go by,
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there is a translation ofwhat he can give to me,
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not just because I'm blood,
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but what I can learn fromwatching and being discipled
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the same as two of my children,
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there are so many thingsthat I want them to walk in,
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but that doesn't justhappen on day one,
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there's a process of growth,
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there's a processof sanctification,
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there's a process ofthem getting to know me.
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One of the gifts that my mothergave me was her presence,
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one of the thingsI say all the time
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is that while I wouldhave loved 2025,
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30 more years with her,
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we were expectingthat to be honest,
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because my grandmother andgrandfather her parents
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both lived well into their 90s.
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But what I say to all thetime, and I'm so grateful
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is that what I wanted was moreof what I'd already received.
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So when I go into the kitchenand I wanna cook that dish,
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that she alwaysmade, guess what?
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She imparted that to me.
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Now, she didn't impartthat to me on day one,
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it was over time.
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The another thing issometimes I'm thinking
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hay there's a challenging thing,
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maybe it's at the churchor it's in a relationship
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with a family member,and I'm thinking, man,
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I wish I could call my mother.
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And the truth of the matter is
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because I lived withher for so long,
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she imparted her wayof thinking to me,
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so I kinda knowwhat she would say,
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I hear my voice in her head.
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And so when we lookedat the scripture
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and it's talkingabout rejoicing,
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even though times are hard
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and it's talking aboutbeing tested by fire
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and choosing joy,
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and when it's saying that,even though He's not with you,
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you haven't seenHim, you love Him,
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and though He's not with you,
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you're not seeing Him,you believe in Him,
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that is what brings theoutcome of your faith,
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which is standing on whatHe's already imparted to you,
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but that you have toobtain by walking with Him.
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And so standing in truthand reading The Bible
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it doesn't mean thatyou're gonna read it,
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then everything isbetter today always,
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it doesn't mean thatyou're gonna read it
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and not have to walk throughthe process of growth,
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it doesn't mean thatyou're not gonna read it,
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and because you areclaiming the armor
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and walking with the armor
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that you're not inthe middle of battle,
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what it means is that you agreed
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with God's inheritance for you,
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you agree that he'salready won the battles,
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but that you participatein the development
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and then thesanctification of your soul
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so that standing on truth
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allows you to operate in truth
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which then allowsyou to experience
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the blessings oftruth in your life.
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And some of usshortcut that process,
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I know I have, I knowsometimes I still do
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where I'm not clothingmyself with the armor of God
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so that I can enjoy theprocess of sanctification fully
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with the protection andthe helmet and the belt,
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the truth, the righteousness,all of these different things,
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I'm operating and I'mout there on my own.
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So it doesn't mean
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that he hasn't givenme everything I need,
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it means I'm notengaged in the process,
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and it's the processthat allows us to obtain
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what he's already imparted.
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And I don't know aboutyou, but I don't wanna live
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or waste any more time whereI'm trying to figure things
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out on my own and in a battlethat he has not called me to,
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I wanna stand in the battlethat he's called me to
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with the armorthat he's given me
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that comes by the word of God
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so that I can obtain whathe's already provided.
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- I love that, that is so good.
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I think for a lot of us, peoplethat are watching online,
00:20:55.377 --> 00:20:58.413
you may have grown upin a Christian home
00:20:58.413 --> 00:21:01.817
and felt like reading TheBible was mandated to you.
00:21:01.817 --> 00:21:05.487
And so to you, it was justthis religious box to check
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as if it was somethingyou had to do to be saved,
00:21:09.424 --> 00:21:12.894
when in reality, it wasthis life giving fountain
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that the enemy wantedto keep from us
00:21:17.366 --> 00:21:20.569
and maybe kept from usfor are our busy schedules
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or kept from us thinkingthat this was just mandated
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and once we decided we knewbetter than our parents
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and we wanted to rebel,like we didn't need it,
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like I wonder what waysthe enemy has kept the life
00:21:30.812 --> 00:21:34.416
of the word of God from us,
00:21:34.416 --> 00:21:36.351
whether it's throughour busiest schedules
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or our presuppositionsof what it means
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to read the word of God.
00:21:39.488 --> 00:21:40.922
And I know for me, it wasn'tuntil I got much older
00:21:40.922 --> 00:21:42.891
than I realized,man, what my parents
00:21:42.891 --> 00:21:44.393
were just trying to tellme to do that I had to do
00:21:44.393 --> 00:21:46.762
was something I needed to do,
00:21:46.762 --> 00:21:48.930
I needed to live thestrongest life I could,
00:21:48.930 --> 00:21:52.934
I needed to live withthe most confidence
00:21:52.934 --> 00:21:56.471
in my identity in Christ,
00:21:56.471 --> 00:21:57.773
I needed to answer thecall of God on my life.
00:21:57.773 --> 00:21:59.941
And so what I'd loveto ask to you Jeannie,
00:21:59.941 --> 00:22:02.144
'cause I don't havekids, I don't have kids.
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So all I know is whatmy parents did for me,
00:22:04.780 --> 00:22:06.715
and how am I gonna pass onthe love of the word of God
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to my kids.
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And so I would love foryou to just give a tip
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to who is parenting kids,
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and you wanna give them apallet for the word of God,
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you wanna give them acraving for the word of God,
00:22:19.795 --> 00:22:22.597
I would love for youjust to speak to anyone
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and teach me 'cause one dayI'll have kids hopefully,
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and I would loveto know what to do,
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but would you just giveus a practical tool
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of how to encouragethe next generation
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to fall in lovewith the word of God
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so they don't just feellike it's mandated,
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but that they knowhow life-giving it is.
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- Yes, I love thatbecause here's something,
00:22:37.479 --> 00:22:41.950
I really really believe,
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I believe that moreis caught than taught.
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You can say to somebody,you need to do this,
00:22:45.520 --> 00:22:49.257
or you need to do that,
00:22:49.257 --> 00:22:50.692
or you can tell yourkids you need to do this,
00:22:50.692 --> 00:22:51.960
or you need to do that.
00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:53.328
But there's more that's caught
00:22:53.328 --> 00:22:55.230
than what we canever teach them,
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it's the way thatwe live our lives,
00:22:57.833 --> 00:22:59.734
and the example is likejust with everyday life,
00:22:59.734 --> 00:23:03.972
when you're having a rough time
00:23:03.972 --> 00:23:05.574
and you're snappingat your kids,
00:23:05.574 --> 00:23:07.342
or you're snapping atyour husband or whatever
00:23:07.342 --> 00:23:09.511
you stop and you say,you know what, I'm sorry,
00:23:09.511 --> 00:23:12.314
I'm having a difficult day,
00:23:12.314 --> 00:23:14.449
my behavior isn't theway it needs to be
00:23:14.449 --> 00:23:17.219
but I thank youfor understanding.
00:23:17.219 --> 00:23:18.987
So more is caught than taught.
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I know my oldest son, hecame in one day and he said,
00:23:20.522 --> 00:23:25.527
mom, I love it when I comein early in the morning
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and I see you reading the word,
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I know where yourstrength comes from,
00:23:29.798 --> 00:23:31.967
and that's something thathe's caught by my example.
00:23:31.967 --> 00:23:34.903
So I wanna pray for you today,
00:23:34.903 --> 00:23:36.705
for those of you that arewanting to walk in truth
00:23:36.705 --> 00:23:39.908
and to stand in truth.
00:23:39.908 --> 00:23:41.243
Father, I just thankyou for every viewer
00:23:41.243 --> 00:23:43.011
that is in our audience today,
00:23:43.011 --> 00:23:46.548
I just believe that you putlove in our hearts to know you,
00:23:46.548 --> 00:23:51.553
that your word really is abouta love story of who you are
00:23:52.988 --> 00:23:55.991
and your great love andyour concern for us.
00:23:55.991 --> 00:23:58.760
And I pray father, Lord,those that step out
00:23:58.760 --> 00:24:01.963
wanting to know you, that yourword will come alive to them,
00:24:01.963 --> 00:24:06.334
that your word will impartstrength and wisdom,
00:24:06.334 --> 00:24:10.205
your word will impartdirection to them,
00:24:10.205 --> 00:24:12.841
your word will bring lifewhere there's discouragement
00:24:12.841 --> 00:24:16.444
and despair and anxiety,
00:24:17.546 --> 00:24:18.547
Lord your word will bring peace,
00:24:18.547 --> 00:24:20.949
your word will bring truth,
00:24:20.949 --> 00:24:22.951
your word will bringeverything that we need.
00:24:22.951 --> 00:24:25.687
Lord, we wanna alove affair with you,
00:24:25.687 --> 00:24:28.256
we want to know how you think
00:24:28.256 --> 00:24:30.125
we want to know what you want
00:24:30.125 --> 00:24:32.327
and how you want usto live our lives.
00:24:32.327 --> 00:24:34.696
We commit ourselves to you,
00:24:34.696 --> 00:24:36.765
we commit ourselves withyour help to stand in truth
00:24:36.765 --> 00:24:40.569
and to be faithful to you
00:24:40.569 --> 00:24:42.571
as you have been faithful to us.
00:24:42.571 --> 00:24:44.606
We love you, and we thankyou in Jesus name, amen.
00:24:44.606 --> 00:24:48.910
- Thank Jesus, aman.
00:24:48.910 --> 00:24:51.913
We wanna pray for youand with you and for you,
00:24:51.913 --> 00:24:55.083
please connectwith our community
00:24:55.083 --> 00:24:57.085
on Facebook or Instagram@bettertogethertv.
00:24:57.085 --> 00:24:59.921
Let us know what'sgoing on in your life,
00:24:59.921 --> 00:25:01.856
and we'd love to joinour faith with yours.
00:25:01.856 --> 00:25:04.659
We'll be back tomorrow
00:25:04.659 --> 00:25:05.894
to talk about relyingupon God's strength.
00:25:05.894 --> 00:25:08.430
When things don't go the waywe maybe hoped or thought,
00:25:08.430 --> 00:25:11.766
or maybe envisioned he willcarry us through any season.
00:25:11.766 --> 00:25:15.637
So thanks for watching today,
00:25:15.637 --> 00:25:16.972
and we'll see youagain tomorrow.
00:25:16.972 --> 00:25:18.039
We love you all.
00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:18.974
Byebye.
00:25:18.974 --> 00:25:19.808

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Better Together LIVE | Episode 138

Better Together LIVE | Episode 138

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Menu Top

Better Together LIVE | Episode 138

Better Together LIVE | Episode 138

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