Hello, and
welcome to Heart Lift.
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I'm Jill Morikone,
and I'm so glad that you
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have joined us today.
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We're in the midst of a journey
toward hope, toward healing,
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toward the transformation that
the Lord Jesus wants to work
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in your heart and in mine,
as women, as daughters of God.
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Right now we're in the
middle of our discussion
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on transformation.
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We talked about the
washed heart, the pruned heart,
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the Spirit filled heart,
and last program and this one,
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we're discussing the
heart that witnesses.
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Our last program we talked
about the first way that we can
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witness, that we can be Gods
ambassador; that is to pray.
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Prayer brings unity.
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Prayer changes us, or
allows God to change us.
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Prayer changes others, or allows
God the opportunity to get in
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there and to work
in someone else's life.
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Today we're going to discuss
the next two aspects of how
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we can share Jesus; how
we can be God's witness.
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Our Scripture is:
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The Bible says: Therefore
if anyone is in Christ,
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he is a new creation...
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Or we could say
she is a new creation.
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...old things have
passed away; behold,
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all things have become new.
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Verse 20. Now then we
are ambassadors for Christ,
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as though God were pleading
through us: we implore you
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on Christ's behalf,
be reconciled to God.
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Let's pray. Father we come
before You right now in the name
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of Jesus, and we thank
You that You have called us
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to be Your witnesses.
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We thank You that even
though we are unworthy,
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You want to pour the light
of the gospel of Jesus into our
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hearts so that we can go out
and be Your ambassadors to our
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brothers and sisters, to
those who are lost and alone,
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and dying without knowing You.
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Right now I pray for
Your special anointing,
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for Your Holy Spirit.
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And we thank You in
the precious and the Holy
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name of Jesus, Amen.
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It had that feeling of
Christmas: woodsy smell of the
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pine tree, carols on the radio,
the floor strewn with colored
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paper, and most importantly,
the excited laughter and joy
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of little kids running
in circles around the room.
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My sister... We were at
my sister and her husband's
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house in North Carolina.
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My sister was sitting there in
the chair, and supervising the
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boys, as they were very
excited about Christmas.
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And now the boys started
distributing their presents.
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They went underneath the
tree and they pulled out,
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it was maybe a star that
Stephen had put some glitter on,
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or a tree that Jonathan
had colored, or made himself.
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Such are the presents of
children: cute, heartfelt,
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and oh so precious!
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All of a sudden Stephen
was back underneath the tree.
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I turned
questioning eyes to my sister.
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Weren't all the kids
presents distributed?
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Why was he going
back under the tree?
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She merely shrugged, and I
turned my attention to Stephen.
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He picked up a package, and
this one looked like it wasn't
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wrapped with Mommy's hands.
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It looked like little hands had
struggled to fold that paper.
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He came from under there, under
the tree, right across the room
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straight to my spot as I
was sitting on the piano bench.
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And he said, Auntie
Jill, this is for you.
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And I said, What Stephen?
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I didn't know I
had another present.
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You already gave me presents.
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Did you make this one yourself?
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And he shook his head, no.
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But he said, Open it!
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It's from me. So I pulled
off the many strips of tape,
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and I dug, and I dug in all
of that wrapping paper until
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I pulled out this
yellow Post-it Note paper.
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Two pieces of paper, two pieces.
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In that instant my mind traveled
back to the stories my sister
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had told me about Stephen.
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The time he'd wrapped up his
favorite pencil to give to his
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Dad when he got home from work,
to the time he picked out a toy
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from his own collection to take
to a friend's birthday party.
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How could one five year
old heart be so unselfish?
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I hesitated just a moment,
because I was thinking these
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thoughts, and
uncertainty began to show on
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little Stephen's face.
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Do you like it? Oh,
Stephen, I said, I love it!
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How did you know that I always
need paper to write stuff on?
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I gave him a hug. He
ran underneath the tree.
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He pulled out another package,
ran to another family member,
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and they opened it,
and it was two little
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squares of yellow paper.
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He did the same for each
member of the family until there
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was one package left.
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That was for my
sister-in-law Janelle.
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He pulled that out
from underneath the tree,
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took it to her, and by now
we knew what was in the package.
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It was going to be two squares
of yellow Post-it Note paper.
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Well, she opened,
and opened, and opened,
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and there was
nothing in the package.
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He had forgotten to put
something in the package.
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He looked embarrassed, and
discouraged, and he ran back to
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his Mom, and then after just
a moment he ran to the kitchen.
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He took the little present.
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He came back to Janelle and
he said, Open it, it's from me!
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And she opened it,
and there were two squares
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of yellow paper inside.
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After that we turned to adult
stuff, but my mind remained
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on Stephen and his gifts.
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Of what value were his gifts?
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After all they looked
like simple scraps of paper.
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In reality though
infinitely more lay behind,
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for Stephen had
given something he valued,
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something he
treasured, something of himself.
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It didn't matter whether
the package was professionally
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wrapped, neither did it matter
whether anything was even in it.
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All that mattered was
that Stephen loved us;
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that he cared enough to
give, that he gave himself.
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I think sometimes we
feel like, I can't witness.
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I'm not good enough.
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I'm not smart enough.
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I'm not brave enough
to be God's ambassador.
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You know what God says?
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All that matters is your heart.
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If God truly gets a
hold of us, we're going
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to love other people.
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We will want to give.
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We will want to give the
most important gift of all,
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and that's of ourselves.
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Last program we talked about
the first way we can be God's
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ambassador; that is to pray.
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The second way we can be
God's ambassador is to preach.
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I invite you to turn
with me to Romans 10.
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Romans 10, and there's a couple
of very interesting verses here.
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We're looking at
verses 14 and 15.
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The Bible says: How then
shall they call on Him in whom
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they have not believed? and
how shall they believe in Him
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of whom they have not
heard? and how shall they hear
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without a preacher?
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And how shall they
preach, unless they are sent?
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as it is written, How beautiful
are the feet of those who preach
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the gospel of peace, who bring
glad tidings of good things!
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How shall they call
if they haven't believed?
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How shall they
hear without a preacher?
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How shall they
preach unless they are sent?
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What are we supposed to preach?
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You might say,
Jill, I can't preach.
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And we'll get to that.
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But first of all, What in the
world are we supposed to preach?
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What are we supposed to share?
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I think two things:
first we share our experience.
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Let's jump over to 1 John,
1 John, we're going to look at
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chapter 1, the
first three verses.
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John's writing. Now before I
read it, I want to see if you
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can identify how many senses,
how many of the five senses,
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that John
mentions in these verses.
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Verse 1. That which was from
the beginning, which we have
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heard,...
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...which we have
seen with our eyes,
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which we have looked upon,...
That's our eyes as well.
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...and which our hands have
handled,... The sense of touch.
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...concerning
the Word of life;...
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He says, That which we
heard, that which we've seen,
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that which we've touched.
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The life was manifested, and
we have seen, and bear witness
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and declare to you that eternal
life, which was with the Father,
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and was manifested to us; that
which we have seen and heard
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we declare to you, that you also
may have fellowship with us:
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and truly our
fellowship is with the Father,
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and with His Son Jesus Christ.
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You know that I enjoy looking
into the original language
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from which the Bible is written.
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So in the New Testament
it was written in Greek.
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And if you look up those senses,
remember there were three
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of the five senses
that John mentioned.
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He mentioned hearing.
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He mentioned eye sight.
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And he mentioned touch.
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There were three of
them that were mentioned.
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If you look in the Greek
at what those verbs mean,
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it kind of opens it up
and unpackages that story.
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Let's look at the first one.
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That which was from the
beginning, which we heard.
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In the Greek heard means to
hear, which is the same thing.
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And then it says: to
give in the audience of.
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What's John saying here?
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He's saying, I am not sharing
with you something that I heard
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from my neighbor, and
they heard it from their mom,
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and they got it from
their cousin, and their cousin
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actually heard it from Jesus.
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He's saying, I listened.
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I sat underneath Jesus.
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I heard it in the audience of.
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It was given. I was
there in the audience.
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I was in the boat when
the waves were rolling,
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and I heard Jesus'
voice say, Peace, be still,
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and there was a great calm.
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I was on the side of
that hillside there by the
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Sea of Galilee when
Jesus spoke the Beatitudes,
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and He said, Blest
are the poor in spirit,
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for theirs is the
kingdom of Heaven.
00:12:14.50\00:12:16.83
He said, I have
first hand experience.
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I sat under Jesus. I heard Him.
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What about the eyesight?
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Which we have
seen with our eyes.
00:12:24.67\00:12:27.54
Seen means to stare at,
to gaze with wide open eyes.
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He's saying, I didn't just
look at Jesus, and I turned away
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and went back to my nets.
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I didn't look at Jesus
and then do my own thing.
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I gazed at Him. I stared at Him.
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What about the other eye?
00:12:47.13\00:12:49.33
Which we have
seen with our eyes,
00:12:49.36\00:12:51.80
and which we have looked upon.
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That means to look closely at.
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That's really the same thing.
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What about the sense of touch?
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He says, Our hands have handled.
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In the Greek it
means to verify by touch.
00:13:03.51\00:13:07.78
To verify by touch.
00:13:07.82\00:13:09.98
He's saying, I
actually reached out physically.
00:13:10.02\00:13:12.65
I touched Jesus. He
said, That which I knew,
00:13:12.69\00:13:17.26
that which I experienced,
that's what I'm telling you.
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I believe that's important.
00:13:22.50\00:13:24.50
When we preach, when we
share Jesus, what are we to do?
00:13:24.53\00:13:28.64
We are to share our experience.
00:13:28.67\00:13:32.97
How can we share with Jesus
if we have never experienced?
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If we don't know what
it's like to walk with Him?
00:13:38.81\00:13:41.88
If we don't know what it's
like when we're in a hard time,
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and in a hard place, and
we don't know what it's like
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for Him to come alongside us,
for Him to pour into the broken
00:13:49.26\00:13:54.10
places of our hearts,
for Him to transform us?
00:13:54.13\00:13:57.53
If I don't know that
Jesus can help me in my trial,
00:13:57.57\00:14:00.60
how can I share
that with someone else?
00:14:00.64\00:14:02.87
If I don't know that Jesus
can turn my sorrow into joy,
00:14:02.90\00:14:06.21
how can I share that?
00:14:06.24\00:14:08.01
If I don't know that God
can fill the broken places of my
00:14:08.04\00:14:12.11
heart, how can I
tell someone else that He
00:14:12.15\00:14:15.72
can heal them as well?
00:14:15.75\00:14:18.35
We are to share our experience.
00:14:18.39\00:14:20.99
2. We share what
God instructs us to.
00:14:21.02\00:14:25.66
I'm jumping back to one of the
minor prophets; this is Jonah.
00:14:25.69\00:14:30.43
Interestingly enough, we won't
go over the story of Jonah,
00:14:30.47\00:14:34.04
but you know the story of
Jonah, or you might be familiar
00:14:34.07\00:14:37.84
with the story of Jonah.
00:14:37.87\00:14:39.47
Remember God told
him, Go to Nineveh.
00:14:39.51\00:14:43.85
Nineveh was the
capitol city of Assyria,
00:14:43.88\00:14:46.25
and it was a hard place.
00:14:46.28\00:14:48.52
Do you know, I used to be hard
on Jonah, because instead of him
00:14:48.55\00:14:51.89
going to Nineveh, he
went the other direction.
00:14:51.92\00:14:55.92
He boarded a ship and sailed
as far as he could from the
00:14:55.96\00:15:00.76
call God had placed on his life.
00:15:00.80\00:15:03.57
He was trying to
run from the call.
00:15:03.60\00:15:06.50
And I used to be hard on him.
00:15:06.53\00:15:08.74
What's wrong with Jonah?
00:15:08.77\00:15:10.31
Why did he run away?
00:15:10.34\00:15:12.54
But if you study what
the Assyrian people were like
00:15:12.57\00:15:16.34
at that time, they were
warlike, they were fierce,
00:15:16.38\00:15:19.91
they were probably the
most cruel and bloodthirsty
00:15:19.95\00:15:23.82
people during that time.
00:15:23.85\00:15:25.55
So if God called you to go to a
place where you would be killed,
00:15:25.59\00:15:31.89
would you want to obey?
00:15:31.93\00:15:33.66
I'm being honest. I wouldn't.
00:15:33.70\00:15:36.10
So now that I understand
that I think, Okay, I kind of
00:15:36.13\00:15:39.23
see what Jonah is doing here.
00:15:39.27\00:15:40.60
But remember,
God got ahold of him.
00:15:40.80\00:15:42.54
He ran away. They
had the big storm.
00:15:42.57\00:15:45.41
The sailors threw him overboard.
00:15:45.44\00:15:47.41
God prepared a gigantic
fish that swallowed him up,
00:15:47.44\00:15:52.18
kept him alive
for those three days.
00:15:52.21\00:15:54.32
He was spit out on the shore.
00:15:54.35\00:15:56.22
And we're in Jonah
chapter 3 right now.
00:15:56.25\00:15:58.45
The word of the Lord came
to Jonah the second time,...
00:16:01.09\00:16:04.93
Remember the
first time he ran away.
00:16:04.96\00:16:06.90
Now after he's spit out of the
fish, it comes the second time.
00:16:06.93\00:16:10.03
And He said, Arise, go
to Nineveh, that great city,
00:16:10.07\00:16:16.27
and preach to it the
message that I tell you.
00:16:16.30\00:16:20.78
He told him to preach.
00:16:20.81\00:16:22.18
But not only did He say,
Just preach what you feel like,
00:16:22.21\00:16:24.85
preach what you want to preach,
He said, Preach what I tell you.
00:16:24.88\00:16:30.69
1. When we preach we
want to share our experience.
00:16:30.72\00:16:35.16
2. We preach what God
has instructed us to do.
00:16:35.19\00:16:41.56
How do we
preach? How do we preach?
00:16:41.60\00:16:44.40
There's many different ways.
00:16:44.43\00:16:45.77
You might say, Jill, there's
no way I can go out and preach.
00:16:45.80\00:16:48.90
You don't have to get up
in church and do a sermon,
00:16:48.94\00:16:51.54
although that is
one way to preach.
00:16:51.57\00:16:53.41
You don't have to go to
your neighbor and give them
00:16:53.44\00:16:55.84
Bible studies, although
that is one way to preach.
00:16:55.88\00:16:59.15
You don't have to share
with someone on the street,
00:16:59.18\00:17:01.92
although that
is a good way, too.
00:17:01.95\00:17:03.72
You could share on the
phone, praying with someone,
00:17:03.75\00:17:07.29
encouraging someone.
00:17:07.32\00:17:08.66
You could write
someone a card of encouragement
00:17:08.69\00:17:11.29
and include some Scriptures.
00:17:11.33\00:17:13.19
Those are all ways
that we can preach.
00:17:13.23\00:17:16.87
Who are we
supposed to preach to?
00:17:16.90\00:17:19.37
I think we preach to everybody,
at all times, and in all places.
00:17:19.40\00:17:25.31
We preach to friends,
and family, to neighbors,
00:17:25.34\00:17:29.31
strangers on the street.
00:17:29.34\00:17:31.25
My husband, Greg,
was out pumping gas.
00:17:31.28\00:17:36.58
This was when we were dating.
00:17:36.62\00:17:38.62
And all of a sudden I was
like, Who's he talking to?
00:17:38.65\00:17:42.59
Oh, the guy at the pump.
00:17:42.62\00:17:44.99
So he gets in the car
and I said, Do you know him?
00:17:45.03\00:17:47.76
No, Jilly, I don't know him.
00:17:47.80\00:17:49.40
But he's just reaching
out and being friendly.
00:17:49.43\00:17:52.13
God has given him a gift
of reaching out to strangers.
00:17:52.17\00:17:55.20
Now that's a little
more uncomfortable for me.
00:17:55.24\00:17:57.57
But whatever your comfort
zone is, reach out and preach.
00:17:57.61\00:18:02.14
What are our
reasons not to preach?
00:18:02.18\00:18:06.15
Why would we not
want to share Jesus?
00:18:06.18\00:18:09.78
I think the biggest reason,
at least for me, would be fear.
00:18:09.82\00:18:12.85
I was in Wal-Mart. I was
rushing getting my groceries.
00:18:12.89\00:18:17.43
I was in the shampoo isle
and I saw a lady, and I smiled
00:18:17.46\00:18:21.43
and said Hi to her.
00:18:21.46\00:18:22.80
She had a kind looking
face, hair kind of swept up
00:18:22.83\00:18:25.60
and away from her face.
00:18:25.63\00:18:26.97
I passed and all of a sudden
a Wal-Mart employee asked her
00:18:27.00\00:18:31.41
about her hand, and I thought,
That's funny, I don't remember
00:18:31.44\00:18:34.91
seeing anything
weird about her hand.
00:18:34.94\00:18:36.75
And I looked at it, and
there was a loose bandage
00:18:36.78\00:18:39.08
wrapped around her hand.
00:18:39.11\00:18:40.45
And instantly I felt an
impression from the Holy Spirit.
00:18:40.48\00:18:43.28
Go talk to her! And so I
said, Okay, Lord, Here am I.
00:18:43.32\00:18:47.96
I want to obey. And I
stepped forward and I said,
00:18:47.99\00:18:50.79
Hey, my name's Jill.
00:18:50.83\00:18:52.16
What's your name? And we
struck up a conversation.
00:18:52.19\00:18:54.76
We'll call her Jan.
00:18:54.80\00:18:56.36
Pretty soon the Holy Spirit
came, the second prompting,
00:18:56.40\00:19:00.77
Jill pray with her.
00:19:00.80\00:19:02.67
And I said, Absolutely not!
00:19:02.70\00:19:04.37
We're in the middle of
a store; I'm embarrassed.
00:19:04.41\00:19:08.24
I'm afraid of what other
people are going to think of me.
00:19:08.28\00:19:11.81
We parted our ways.
00:19:11.85\00:19:14.52
I was disobedient
to the Lord Jesus.
00:19:14.55\00:19:18.12
I ran across the woman
again in the candle isle.
00:19:18.15\00:19:21.42
And again the Holy
Spirit said, Pray with her.
00:19:21.46\00:19:23.69
And I said, No! I ran across
her again in the chip isle.
00:19:23.73\00:19:27.56
And the Holy Spirit
said, Pray with her.
00:19:27.60\00:19:29.36
And I said, No! Three times
God brought her past my path.
00:19:29.40\00:19:35.17
Three times I refused.
00:19:35.20\00:19:37.77
I was in the flour and the oil
and the sugar, the baking isle,
00:19:37.81\00:19:43.14
when God broke through my
rationalizations, my defenses
00:19:43.18\00:19:47.35
to my core, and He said,
How many times do I have to ask
00:19:47.38\00:19:50.95
you to do something
before you're going to obey?
00:19:50.99\00:19:54.36
And I said, God, forgive me!
00:19:54.39\00:19:56.99
Please, if it's in
Your will, could you cause
00:19:57.03\00:20:00.26
me to find her again?
00:20:00.30\00:20:01.83
And you know what God did?
00:20:01.86\00:20:03.47
I went to the end of the isle,
I peaked, and there she was
00:20:03.50\00:20:06.80
at the back of the store.
00:20:06.84\00:20:08.17
And I rushed down with my cart
and I came to her and I said,
00:20:08.20\00:20:13.31
I wanted to come back and
pray with you, if that's okay.
00:20:13.34\00:20:16.95
And, Oh, honey, she
said, I'd love that!
00:20:16.98\00:20:19.71
And she held her
good hand out to me.
00:20:19.75\00:20:22.05
And we held hands there
in the middle of Wal-Mart,
00:20:22.08\00:20:24.92
in the middle of
a major thorofare.
00:20:24.95\00:20:27.09
We petitioned the throne
of grace, and we found grace,
00:20:27.12\00:20:30.86
mercy, and help
in our time of need.
00:20:30.89\00:20:34.43
Sharing Jesus and witnessing
to other people doesn't just
00:20:34.46\00:20:38.03
come from a Bible study.
00:20:38.07\00:20:39.40
It doesn't always come
from the preacher in the pulpit.
00:20:39.43\00:20:42.17
And it doesn't come from
knocking on a strangers door,
00:20:42.20\00:20:45.34
although all of
those are good ways.
00:20:45.37\00:20:47.41
Sharing Jesus is simply walking
with Him, and obeying His voice
00:20:47.44\00:20:52.95
when He speaks to our hearts.
00:20:52.98\00:20:54.62
It's being willing to
say, Here am I, send me.
00:20:54.65\00:20:58.65
The size of the job doesn't
matter, neither does it's
00:20:58.69\00:21:01.89
importance, or the
publicity it brings,
00:21:01.92\00:21:04.39
or the pain it might cause.
00:21:04.43\00:21:06.26
What matters most is
my willingness to hear
00:21:06.29\00:21:10.43
His voice and to obey.
00:21:10.47\00:21:12.83
I think fear is a big
reason we don't want to preach,
00:21:12.87\00:21:15.97
we don't want to share Jesus.
00:21:16.00\00:21:17.44
Another reason
could be insecurity.
00:21:17.47\00:21:19.61
I'm not good enough.
00:21:19.64\00:21:20.98
Maybe I don't
know my Bible enough,
00:21:21.01\00:21:22.91
or I don't know what to say.
00:21:22.94\00:21:24.95
Or like Moses said in Exodus 4.
00:21:24.98\00:21:28.22
What did he say? He
said, God, I can't speak.
00:21:28.25\00:21:33.32
I can't speak. Exodus 4:12.
00:21:33.36\00:21:37.69
This is when God called
Moses to lead the children of
00:21:37.73\00:21:40.96
Israel out of Egypt.
00:21:41.00\00:21:42.33
He said, I am slow of
speech, and of a slow tongue,
00:21:42.36\00:21:45.87
and I can't do it.
00:21:45.90\00:21:47.27
And God said, Who made
man's mouth? who makes the mute,
00:21:47.30\00:21:50.41
the deaf, the seeing, the blind?
00:21:50.44\00:21:52.04
And then Verse 12: Now therefore
go, and I will be with your
00:21:52.07\00:21:57.35
mouth, and I will teach you
what you're supposed to say.
00:21:57.38\00:22:02.88
Now therefore go,
and speak for Jesus.
00:22:02.92\00:22:07.06
The other reason
besides fear and insecurity,
00:22:07.09\00:22:10.46
I think is just plain busyness.
00:22:10.49\00:22:12.46
I don't know about you, but
life is hectic; life is busy.
00:22:12.49\00:22:17.17
And sometimes we get too
busy to really reach out.
00:22:17.20\00:22:21.64
You could ask God to
re-prioritize your day.
00:22:21.67\00:22:25.87
You could go to Him.
00:22:25.91\00:22:27.24
Sometimes I'll do this in
the morning, and I don't do it
00:22:27.28\00:22:29.38
often enough, and I should.
00:22:29.41\00:22:31.05
You could go to Him and say,
God this is Plan A for my day.
00:22:31.08\00:22:34.92
I need to do this. I
need to take care of that.
00:22:34.98\00:22:37.62
And then this project when
I'm done with everything else.
00:22:37.65\00:22:40.76
But God, I don't know
what Your plan is for my life,
00:22:40.79\00:22:44.46
so if You choose to
alter Plan A to Plan B,
00:22:44.49\00:22:47.76
I'm willing to accept that.
00:22:47.80\00:22:50.50
First we pray. We discussed
that in the last program.
00:22:50.53\00:22:54.30
That's the most primary way
that we can witness for Jesus.
00:22:54.37\00:22:57.77
2. We preach. We share
what we have experienced.
00:22:57.81\00:23:02.31
We share what
God instructs us to.
00:23:02.34\00:23:04.71
3. Practice. A
sermon is only as powerful
00:23:04.75\00:23:10.39
as the life behind it.
00:23:10.42\00:23:12.25
Have you ever heard a
great preacher who had no power?
00:23:12.29\00:23:16.49
Maybe you've seen a simple,
humble preacher who maybe
00:23:16.52\00:23:20.70
was not as eloquent,
yet there was great power.
00:23:20.73\00:23:23.63
The difference is,
of course, the anointing
00:23:23.67\00:23:26.53
of the Holy Spirit.
00:23:26.57\00:23:27.90
But in addition to that,
it's the connection with God.
00:23:27.94\00:23:31.74
It's whether they
actually walk the talk.
00:23:31.77\00:23:34.94
Francis of Assisi said,
Preach the gospel at all times,
00:23:34.98\00:23:38.78
and when necessary use words.
00:23:38.81\00:23:42.52
There's a poem song I love that
talks about this very thing.
00:23:42.55\00:23:50.26
It says, Many now are watching
the footsteps that we take.
00:23:50.29\00:23:54.66
Many soon will follow
in the choices that I make.
00:23:54.70\00:23:59.23
Let us then be faithful
to be what we should be,
00:23:59.27\00:24:03.71
and leave a good example
that others can clearly see.
00:24:03.74\00:24:08.78
Be an example of the believers
in word and in conduct.
00:24:08.81\00:24:13.42
Be steadfast in faith,
and life, and purity of heart.
00:24:13.45\00:24:18.65
For those behind us,
let us stand within the gap,
00:24:18.69\00:24:23.86
and make a
difference in their lives.
00:24:23.89\00:24:26.39
Be an example to follow Christ.
00:24:26.43\00:24:29.53
Let us then be watching
though weary day by day,
00:24:29.56\00:24:34.27
looking to encourage,
and to lead them in the way.
00:24:34.30\00:24:38.94
To run the race with patience,
and on Jesus fix our eyes.
00:24:38.97\00:24:44.85
Let's challenge them
with excellence that they
00:24:44.88\00:24:48.48
might win the prize.
00:24:48.52\00:24:50.79
Be an example? Be an
example to follow Christ.
00:24:50.82\00:24:56.32
In 1898 Cuba and Spain
were at war with United States.
00:24:56.39\00:25:04.10
The Spanish were guarding the
harbor, and the American's could
00:25:04.13\00:25:07.60
not enter the harbor into Cuba.
00:25:07.64\00:25:10.11
And because they
couldn't do that,
00:25:10.14\00:25:12.57
they could not win the war.
00:25:12.64\00:25:14.21
Richard Hopsin, he was a
27 year old Naval engineer,
00:25:14.24\00:25:18.81
he laid a plan. He would
commandeer the Merrimack,
00:25:18.85\00:25:23.39
which was an American coal ship.
00:25:23.42\00:25:25.75
He would line
it with explosives.
00:25:25.79\00:25:28.02
They would detonate it.
00:25:28.09\00:25:30.46
They would sink the ship,
and that would give them access
00:25:30.49\00:25:35.60
coming into the harbor.
00:25:35.63\00:25:37.47
It was a suicide mission.
00:25:37.50\00:25:39.30
No matter which way it went,
everyone who was going to be
00:25:39.33\00:25:42.74
onboard the Merrimack
would probably lose their lives.
00:25:42.77\00:25:46.11
They asked on
three different ships.
00:25:46.17\00:25:49.04
Over 700 men were asked.
00:25:49.08\00:25:51.38
They all knew they would be
blown to pieces if they went.
00:25:51.41\00:25:55.78
All 700 volunteered.
00:25:55.85\00:25:59.25
They were between
the ages of 21 to 33,
00:25:59.29\00:26:02.42
the 7 men who were selected.
00:26:02.49\00:26:04.39
Amazingly every
volunteer survived.
00:26:04.43\00:26:09.33
Today Satan is at
war with God's forces.
00:26:09.36\00:26:12.50
God is extending a call to
you and to me, and He says,
00:26:12.53\00:26:16.57
Will you go to work for Me?
00:26:16.60\00:26:18.44
Will you go to war for Me?
00:26:18.47\00:26:20.31
Will you go witness for Me?
00:26:20.38\00:26:22.14
Will it cost us
something? Absolutely.
00:26:22.18\00:26:26.78
Will it cost us
everything? Perhaps.
00:26:26.82\00:26:32.15
Will it cost us
life itself? Maybe.
00:26:32.19\00:26:37.39
They answered a
call for their country.
00:26:37.43\00:26:40.56
Will we do it for God?
00:26:40.60\00:26:44.20
There's a song I like: Lord
I'm giving back to You the Life
00:26:44.27\00:26:48.60
that You've breathed into me.
00:26:48.64\00:26:50.71
As a living
sacrifice I lay it down.
00:26:50.77\00:26:53.38
I am placing at Your
throne all desires of my own
00:26:53.41\00:26:57.55
as I run the race to
win the victor's crown.
00:26:57.58\00:27:01.22
At any cost I will
follow where You lead me.
00:27:01.28\00:27:04.89
And anywhere you
send me, I will go.
00:27:04.92\00:27:08.02
What was gain I count but loss,
for the glory of Your cross.
00:27:08.06\00:27:12.43
Lord I seek to do
Your will at any cost.
00:27:12.46\00:27:16.36
I want to leave you at the
conclusion of our Heart Lift
00:27:16.43\00:27:21.04
series with a
couple of questions.
00:27:21.07\00:27:23.67
If we don't live
for Jesus, who will?
00:27:23.71\00:27:27.08
If we don't love
other people, who will?
00:27:27.14\00:27:30.65
If we don't speak
for Him, who will?
00:27:30.68\00:27:34.18
If not me, then who?
00:27:34.22\00:27:37.02
If not here, then where?
00:27:37.05\00:27:40.39
If not now, then when?
00:27:40.42\00:27:43.69
I pray that the Lord
Jesus Christ equips, empowers,
00:27:43.73\00:27:47.70
and stands you up to be
all He's called you to be.
00:27:47.73\00:27:51.60
Now may the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace
00:27:51.63\00:27:55.80
in believing, that you may
abound in hope by the power
00:27:55.84\00:27:58.44
of the Holy Spirit.
00:27:58.47\00:28:00.21