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Check. Check. Check. Hey. Good morning, everybody.
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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Yeah? No? It does in here, though.
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Doesn't it look great? Don't you? Yeah. Thank you to those who who did that. What do you say we, stand up and worship together, just warm up to our savior this morning?
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Ye to bear the hand come and behold behold born the
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God. 'm the
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and sing choirs of angels sing choirs of angels sing in exaltation Amen.
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Is good to be back. Y'all can have a seat. I've got a couple of announcements this morning. So, I hear jingle bells up here in the front. Welcome.
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Glad that you're here. I'm glad to be back. I've actually been on two weeks. Some of y'all know this that I've been gone for a couple of Sundays and Carl, thank you for filling in, for doing that. I heard nothing but good things and I heard you wore a tie last week.
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What in the world? Yeah. Today is scouting Sunday. If you see up here in the front, we have lots of Boy Scouts dressed in their uniforms and their leaders. There are a few Cub Scout leaders that are with them kind of in solidarity and they spent the night in the church last night.
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There's coffee cake, banana bread, coffee, and all kinds of goodies down there that they made for y'all for the connect hour. So, please go and grab hold even during the shake hands time. Find yourself a Boy Scout. Shake hands and tell em how much you appreciate em. They have been meeting, not these particular boys.
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Actually, the boys who originally met at First Bee eighty three years ago, some of those people are all old, dead, and gone by now. Okay? Eighty three years ago, the Boy Scout started meeting at First Bee, and we've been sponsoring them since then. So, thank you for being here, fellas. Next week, we are gonna have one combined service.
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Now, they've been announcing this while I was gone. It's at 10:00. It's for Christmas play. It's called The Greatest Love. It's written, directed, and performed by our talented people from this church right here.
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So, the greatest love, next week, 10:00, one service. Now, if you get here at nine, we're not having a service at nine. We're having it at ten. There will probably be coffee but it's at 10:00 next week. One service.
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Ladies Christmas luncheon, you've seen these posters here and you've seen em around town. There's a ladies Christmas luncheon, December 16 at 11:30. Deborah, do you wanna say anything about this? It's up here. So, December 16, 11:30 to 01:30, ladies Christmas luncheon.
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Good morning. The luncheon is for the entire community, not just our Bible study. So if you have a friend or a neighbor who typically won't go to church, this is the time to invite them. It's just gonna be a two hour, fun filled fellowship, praise and worship, an encouraging word. And there's no charge, but if you wanna contribute, you're welcome to do so.
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So come and join us and RSVP today because we're filling up. It's at Snow King.
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Yep. And it is filling up. Yeah. So please, please, please let them know today. I know that typically here, we just wait till the last minute.
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Go ahead and let them know know today if you think you're gonna do it, okay? That's it. For the ladies Christmas luncheon, December 16, that's next Wednesday, not this Wednesday. Wednesday week, if you're from Georgia. 12/20/2015, we're gonna be Christmas caroling and having the annual Buzzard Breath Chili Cook Off.
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That's the twentieth in the afternoon, evening, 04:30. Renzi is typically in charge of that thing. He stands there with his arms folded. It's beautiful. It's wonderful.
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It'll be fun. We'll get together and we've got a couple of trailers. We'll go around town singing and then we'll come back and have chili after that. The angel tree. Now, literally, on the tree this year, we don't have the tags for needy families.
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On the tree, they're hanging on those cardboard heads back there in the vestibule but the angel tree idea, we've got families from Community Resource Center and we've got other families that have been put in contact with us. So, if you would like to do that, please grab a tag on the way out or a few and fill those needs. You can bring those gifts back into my office actually. Christmas threw up in my office. So, there's plenty of plenty of gifts already in there but please bring em on in and that would be great and we are very very thankful for your generosity.
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And this is the lighting of the advent candle. I'm going to invite our neighbors actually John and Dawn Lotshaw up to the front. They were greeting y'all as you came in this morning and they're going to read the second Sunday of Advent. Don, John, Lacho.
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Good morning. This Sunday, the second in Advent, we light the candle of peace. As we prepare to celebrate the coming of the prince of peace, we're reminded that God's timing is always perfect and his provision is always sufficient. Scripture says, second Thessalonians three sixteen, now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
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Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Now, would everybody stand up and give a high five, a hug, or a handshake? I don't care which.
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Find somebody. Tell em you love em and glad they're here this morning and we'll bring you back together with a song.
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Alright. We'll sing Joy to the World.
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Heart prepare him room. And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing. He comes to make his blessings flow. Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as far as the curse is found. And he rules the world.
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He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations Well, sing, come set your rule and sit and rule and reign. And our hearts again, increasing us we pray. Your power in our and we seek your kingdom first. We seek your kingdom first. Amen.
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Can we pray together?
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I'm so thankful to be able to just meet with you today. We're we're grateful. I'm I I can't help but think as we sing that song how you're unstoppable. I mean, you really will reach every person that you have chosen ordained from the very beginning. You're gonna grab hold of them.
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And I'm praying that you'll just continue to do what you do. Thank you for even using us in the process where, you know, we're we're sinners. We're imperfect, but we boast in you, our perfect savior. And we thank you that you have came for us, that you live for us, that you died for us, that you rose for us, and that you reign. And so, God, we just we're we're thanking you, and as we sing the song, I'm forgiven because you were saken.
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I'm accepted. You were condemned. It's true. And we just want to kinda pour pour out here and and and love on you this morning and and just say you're a good God and we're grateful. Amen.
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And
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I'm forgiven
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This is amazing love.
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From the top, I'm forgiven. I'm forgiven because you were forsaken.
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Y'all can have a seat and while you're sitting down, I'll invite the the front line to to come forward here as we participate in a worship through giving. Just another way to say thank you. Just another way to say, God, we do wanna honor you. So let's take a moment and just bow and pray. God, we are.
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Thank you. I think of the verse that every good and perfect thing, it comes from you, and it's true. And you're our you're our lifeline. You're our supply. Spiritually, think of of how you reconcile us to yourself and you save lost sinners like us and you draw us to yourself you have a new perfect life for our imperfect ones.
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Thank you, God, for that. And then thank you, God, also just for anything above that. Anything above nothing. Thank you, God, that you've you've you take care of your your kids. Thank you that you that you've given us what you have, but I pray, God, that you'd give us eyes to see when those who don't.
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And that these gifts and these offerings, they would go to help those who don't and who need who need to hear the gospel, who need their physical, needs met as well. Would you help us to be a light, God? You came as light of the world, and then you you pass that light to us, and you you tell us to be a light. And I I pray that we would, and we'd let that light shine. We give you thanks, and it's in Christ's name we pray.
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Amen.
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Amen. Yes, we do. We should have sung a duet. At Children's Church, Peak Children's Church is starting right now downstairs. Y'all are young folks are welcome.
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There's also a middle school and high school boys class that's going on in my office, I think and there's a middle school and high school girls class going on downstairs in the library. So, yeah and that leaves a lot of holes in here. If you wanna scoot closer to the front, you're welcome. So, I've got an interesting thing for the as Christmassy as it looks in here and with the whole plaid theme going, you might expect that I'm going to go straight to Luke two or the beginning of Matthew or somewhere for the beginning, a Christmas message but I I'm not doing that this week. We're going to stick with our scheme.
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I'm going ahead. Now, on the twentieth, I will do an actual Christmas sermon, I'm pretty sure but we're going ahead with second Corinthians ten and eleven and ten and eleven, Paul defends his ministry and then after I get through defending Paul's ministry for the first couple of chapters. Now, this is not just 10 verse 11. This is ten and eleven and he continues to do that through chapter twelve and thirteen and there is a marked, marked change in tone from chapters one through nine, a lot of people think and y'all heard me presenting it as Paul loves these people. You gotta know Paul loves these people.
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He's presenting things in a meek manner and he's encouraging them. He's comforting them. The God of all mercies and all comfort will comfort you so that you're able to comfort others and it's just full of rejoicing and encouragement and comfort and then, chapter 10 is like a almost a complete change of channel. Such a change of channel that some people even think ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen are a different book altogether. That that might even be the severe letter that Paul refers to several times.
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I don't think so. I think it's uniform. I think that he just expresses himself in a way that's a little bit more ticked off than normal. So, that's what we're gonna go through today. And I'm gonna do it at a pretty good clip, I hope, through his portion because I think that gets the intensity across of what he's trying to do.
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And then I wanna defend my mission trip to Nepal After that, 10 to 13 take all almost an aggressive, agitated tone. Now, he's not aggressive or agitated at the overwhelming majority of the Corinthian believers. He's agitated about a few meddlers. He calls him super apostles and then he calls him false apostles and I've mentioned him several times because he alludes to it in those first nine chapters. I'm nervous today.
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It does that when I'm not up here for a couple weeks. Pray for me. I, Paul, myself, entreat you by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ, he says. I love that he starts off that way because it's anything but meek or gentle for the next four chapters. I, myself, Paul, entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.
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I, who am humble when face to face with you, but bold towards you when I'm away. This is an accusation that they had brought. He's mentioned it twice already in this letter that his speaking skills were not very good. In fact, they're terrible. His oratorical skills were not good.
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And his letters, though, were weighty and strong. I beg of you that when I'm present, I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some. Do you get how harsh that tone is? He says, I hope that I don't have to get as bold with all of you as I will with some. Those who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.
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Those who are accusing us and meddling in what God is doing there. For though we do walk in the flesh, we're not waging war according to the flesh. It's not a battle of words. It's not a competition. It's not Corinthian idol where whoever has the greatest oratorical skills wins.
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He says, we're not playing that game. We are not waging war according to the flesh. That's not the way we do things but the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but they do have divine power to break down strongholds. How many of y'all have had a stronghold in your life before you met Christ that over the years, consistent application over time of his life, his blood, his work, and his way have seen that stronghold be broken down. I have.
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I have. God tears down strongholds and he does it through his good gospel, the actual sacrificial work of Jesus. The actual life of Jesus without sin offered for you, for me, to tear down strongholds. It works. The weapons of our warfare, no matter how bad we are at speaking, are not of the flesh, but they have divine power to tear down strongholds.
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We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion that is raised up against the knowledge of God. And we take every thought captive to obey Christ. We take every thought captive. We hear people say that from time to time. Take that thought captive.
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When you're wondering about something else or when your mind's wandering or when you're sinking back into whatever sin you used to be involved in, you'll hear people repeat that phrase back to you and go, take that thought captive. Yeah. Take it captive for what? To obey Christ. Taking the thought captive to obey Christ.
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The to obey Christ is a strong, strong thing. He wants what's good. He wants what's good for you. He offers his life that you could have it. Remember the great commission?
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I'm highlighting something in the great commission here. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them everything I've commanded you know. Teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. How do you teach somebody to obey? You live it out in front of em.
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You obey. You live out the gospel. Teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you. Surely, I'm with you to the very end of the age. Jesus says, I'm never going to leave you or forsake you.
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I'll be with you. My way works. Keep it up. Obey. And it's not cumbersome.
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His burden's light. There are 38 commands of Christ. I have them written right here. You can make a copy of them if you want to afterwards. Here are a few of them.
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Forgive everybody of all their offenses against you or forgive and be forgiven. Abide in me and allow me to abide in you. Don't hide your light up under a basket. Let people see your good works. End disputes quickly.
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Whatever causes you to sin, just get rid of it. Don't swear oaths at all. Let your yay be yay and nay be nay. Give what people ask of you and give more than is required. Go the extra mile.
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Love your enemies and those who work against you. Give to the poor to please God not to gain approval from other people. There are a bunch of these. 38 of em actually. Depends on whose list you're paying attention to.
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If you wanna cast your nets on the right side of the boat, that's fine with me. I don't think those are for all Christians of all ages but the 38 of em like this, they're about 50 of em if you include the ones that were specifically to the disciples or whoever individually at a certain time and there are 125 if you count all of em in the gospels separately. Teach them to obey. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised up against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. Being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.
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Now, once you become a Christian, there is something that Paul is saying, he can exercise authority about. He can exercise authority as the one who brought the gospel to them and he said, I'm ready to punish when it's necessary because when people get off track, they need to be brought back in the line. They really do. Now, for those of you thinking, oh, he's going to talk about drinking. He's going to talk about, you know, extramarital affairs, whatever.
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Nah. Yeah, maybe. What he's talking about specifically is bad doctrine. He's talking about people who are leading people astray because they're giving them a different gospel than the one that he preached that Christ died for their sins and that he makes his life available through the power of his Holy Spirit. Being ready to punish every disobedience is against those meddlers, those super apostles, those false apostles, those who set up every lofty opinion against the true knowledge of God.
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First section's over. Okay. Second Corinthians ten seven says, look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ, so also are we. We all come together at communion knowing that the blood of Christ is what draws us together.
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We're all sinful. None of us has anything over the other. Christ is the only one who is supreme. We come in as sinners equal at the foot of the cross. So, he's reminding them of that.
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I'm not saying anymore than you should be saying. If you know what's true, let it resonate with you. Let him remind himself that just as he is Christ, so also we. I'm not building myself up. For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord did give for building you up and not for destroying you, then I will not be ashamed.
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I'm not going be ashamed because I'm trying to straighten you out, people. That's the charge that God has given to me. He's given me a clarity and an understanding. This is Paul saying, a knowledge and I'm gonna do my best to convey that to you. I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters.
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You get that? He's, for they say, these are the meddlers. His letters are weighty and strong but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is of absolutely no account whatsoever. Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when we're absent, we actually do when we're present. We live our lives this way and in humility, it's hard to directly confront someone about how off they are on the doctrine.
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I know that. I realize that. You wanna be gentle and you wanna think the best for everybody. You wanna say, God can still use it even if that was terrible. God can still use it.
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Okay? Let's let your person understand that what we say by letter when we're absent, when we've had to analyze this, and when I've thought about it, and we've had a chance to write it down clearly and articulately, two thirds of the New Testament, Holy Spirit used Paul to write. We do that. We live it out when we're present with you. Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves.
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Those guys who put up their education and they put up their rhetorical skills and they put up everything else and say, we are deserving of your respect and your money. As a matter of fact, those guys were asking them to pay. Paul never received any cash from them. He made a point not to because he knew what was important to the Corinthians was money. He knew that.
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So, he just chose not to take it from them. He had the right but he chose not to. So, here we go. Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves but when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are completely without understanding because who is the measure of a Christian? Christ.
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Only we all fall short. If we're looking over and going, I'm better than him. So, We're striving towards Christ. Relative thinking will get you in trouble every stinking time. I'm just as mad as Paul is this morning, aren't I?
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This is pitiful. Second section over three, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Now, do bear with me. This is Paul. Paul actually wrote that, not me.
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I wish you would bear with me in a little bit of foolishness. Now, do bear with me. This is chapter 11 verse one. For I feel a divine jealousy for you, a divine jealousy. I am the one who came in and introduced you to Christ in the first place.
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Since I betrothed you to this one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ, stripping away everybody and everything else, every other lofty opinion, every other cultural norm, everything else. I presented you to Christ and I know that he accepted you and I know that you accepted him and I have a divine jealousy for that. I do, I get to do a lot of weddings. When I put two people together, I always tell em, you can always come to me. In fact, I make them promise that they will come to me.
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If they ever have any trouble, if you ever feel like you've fallen out of love, if you ever feel like you don't want this person, you have to come back to me. Look me in the eye, and I'm gonna try to put you together. Fair warning. Okay? I'm gonna try to put you back together.
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I have a divine jealousy because that is a that is an eternal commitment. So, Paul is talking that way to them. I have a divine jealousy for you because I betrothed you to this one husband, present you as a pure virgin to Christ but I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. The meddlers, the super apostles, the false apostles that snuck in with doctrine and maybe legalism, maybe license. We don't know exactly what it was because he doesn't go into it but it was off of the narrow way.
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May have been over there, may have been over here. He says, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed or if you receive a different spirit from the one that you received or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted and then, y'all can barely see this but this says, you put up with it readily enough. Do you get that? It's a little bit sarcastic.
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It's biting but he's saying, if you receive this because listen people, y'all are putting up with it. There are people who are teaching some errant doctrine in your midst and you're readily putting up with it. So, there's a chance if you keep on putting up with it, that you're eventually gonna accept it. If you receive a different spirit, if you accept a different gospel than you accept it, you put up with it readily enough. Does that remind you of this verse?
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We hit this one every once in a while. Even if an angel of from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Giving your life to Jesus is that. It is giving your life to Jesus.
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It's not mental ascent. It is not just saying a certain incantation. It is giving your life to Jesus. Amen. He has given his for yours.
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So, we're back to this. If you accept it because you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider, I'm not in the least inferior to these super apostles. These super apostles who have such great rhetorical skill that y'all look up to so much. These who are taking from you.
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Even if I'm unskilled in speaking, I'm not so in knowledge. I get what's going on. I know it. Even from a distance, I see what's going on. Indeed, in every way, we've made this plain to you in all things.
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I've never held back that which I know from you. Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted? What the people were saying about Paul was, of course, he doesn't charge anything. His teaching's worthless. Did I commit a sin by not charging you?
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Did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted? Because I preach God's God's gospel to you. The free gift of God's gospel, free of charge. I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you and when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone. For my brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need.
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So, I refrained and I will refrain from burdening you in any way. Does it, do you hear his tone? Can you hear it? Am I reading it in? Y'all, are y'all getting this?
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I'm not asking you for money. I'm not asking for that. I'm asking you to accept the truth of the gospel for what it is. It's real. It's good.
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As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Ikea. I am giving this to you free of charge. I don't want to have anyone ever cut my legs out from up under me saying, he's sneaky. He's actually taking. He's on the take.
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And why? Because I don't love you? Well, God knows I do. God knows I love you. I presented to you the thing that's the nearest and dearest to my heart and I trained you up as long as I was there and I've written you three letters since then, people.
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I repeat, let no one think me foolish but even if you do, accept me as a fool. You know why? Because they were accepting other fools. That's what he's saying. Even if you think I'm foolish, accept me as a fool.
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So that I too may boast a little. What I'm saying with this boastful confidence, I say, not as the Lord would. Paul even thinks it's a little bit shameful to talk like this but he's been drawn into their game. He's been drawn into this proud game and so he starts. I say this not as the Lord would.
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I feel a little ashamed to say it but I'm going say it. As foolish as it sounds, I'm going to say it. Since many boast according to the flesh, I too. I'm going to go on to boast. For you gladly bear with fools.
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Being wise yourselves. For you bear it, if someone makes a slave of you. So, that's legalists putting on you, legalists. Which way did I use when I was in Galatians over here, right? Legalists are making slaves of you or they're devouring you, taken from you, or putting on airs, or even they strike you in the face.
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To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that. I couldn't bear that. I couldn't put up with somebody putting me back in the bonds of slavery or pushing me towards license. I can't take that. Okay, are y'all with me still?
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It's getting quieter and quieter in here. Whatsoever but whatever anyone else dares to boast of. Now, I'm speaking as a fool. I'll say it again. Whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I'm speaking as a fool.
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I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? Yes, so am I. Are they Israelites? Yes.
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So am I. Are they the offspring of Abraham? Yep. So am I. I've got everything that they've got so far going on.
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So, it probably was legalistic Judaizers. That's the best indication we have right there. Are they servants of Christ? I'm a better one. I'm talking like a madman here with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death for the cause of the gospel.
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Five times I received at the hands of the Jews, the 40 lashes less one. Three times, I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times, I was shipwrecked. A night and a day, I was adrift at sea, treading water. On frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and in thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
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Wow. We've seen that list a couple times already. And apart from the other things, there's a daily pressure on me for my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak and I'm not weak? You see the list?
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Who was made to fall? And I'm not indignant. You're the ones that they're making fall. He says, their doctrine is leading you astray. They're saying it's either too hard or it's too easy.
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And I'm not indignant. That's righteous anger. I'm not upset about that. For crying out loud, yes, I'm upset about that. I'm going to talk about it for two more chapters.
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If I must boast, then I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and father of the Lord Jesus who is blessed forever knows I'm not lying. He's been as straight up as you can possibly be with people. That's unfiltered ministry right there for two straight chapters. So, 10:11, Paul's definitive ministry.
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Now, for the rest of the hour, Ray describes and defends his recent trip to Nepal. So, as we have been going along in this, I've been kinda dreading 10 through 13 because it's not generally my tone. I'm a big tent guy. I love the church, capital C Church, not just this church but the church. In this town, there are various churches, small C and I love all the ministers, all those churches and I know that they love me and some of em are further to the charismatic side than I am and some of em are further to the cessationist side than I am and some of em are different methodologically than I am but they're all servants of Jesus.
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I go with Paul and Philippians. Yes, some of em are doing it for that reason. Some of em are doing it for this reason. Whatever. The gospel is being preached.
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Let's go forward together. That's generally who I am. But I understand Paul right now because I just went on this trip. Now, let's go. I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness.
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Now, do bear with me. So, I started here in Jackson on a Wednesday evening. Went to Salt Lake City. Went to Chicago. Spent the night at the Quality Inn.
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Oh, that's that's a good one. Six foot six and an ERJ. Whoo. Yeah. Quality Inn near the airport in Chicago?
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I do not recommend it. Smelled like a football bus ran over a goat. Terrible. This is the Chicago Airport, O'Hare. This is Etihad Airlines line for the trip from Chicago to Abu Dhabi.
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It was just after the Paris attacks, left, I left, and there was a suitcase right here that someone had left behind because Etihad has very, very strict baggage policies for their overhead bins. And all of us, four forty of us were standing in line waiting to get on that plane, and there's an empty suitcase right there, and every one of us was concerned about it. It was just an empty suitcase. But all these folks are going over. Etihad.
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Right? Kinda sounds like jihad, doesn't it? I don't like that. Etihad means alliance or United Airlines for Abu Dhabi. So we went from Chicago to Abu Dhabi right on the boot, the big Santa Claus boot of the Arabian Peninsula there, Abu Dhabi.
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Then got on a thirteen hour flight from Chicago to Abu Dhabi. That's a long flight. And this flashes by just so we know where Mecca is. That's what that is. That's a directional indicator for you to know how to pray and which direction to pray on the on the plane.
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Then from Abu Dhabi, we had like twenty minutes in the boom boom boom, and we're on another plane after a thirteen hour flight to Kathmandu, Nepal flying across India. There we come into Nepal, landing Kathmandu. There's a fuel crisis in Nepal. I told y'all before we left that I had been blessed with an unusual facility with travel. I don't mind it especially for somebody my size on air travel.
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It doesn't don't bother me much and I told you that I've been blessed with a seminary education. Thank God, I love that and I love people. I have a passion for the word and so, I was asked by someone here in our midst to go there and to to check out a ministry. That's what he asked me to do. He said, I've been investing in this ministry and I'd love for you to check em out for me.
50:14
So, I didn't go into all that before I left with y'all but that's why I went. Get up the next day, had a super nice hotel. This is the view from up there, the mist on the mountains. It's gorgeous. The Himalayas are behind those clouds.
50:30
That's kinda cool. Jackson, you see that? It's a generator. That was what I woke up to. They're rolling blackouts because there's a fuel crisis right now.
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Since they changed the constitution in September, they have not had any fuel flowing into the country. It used to be 300 trucks a year from India. Nepal is landlocked. Now they're down to less than five trucks a day. There's no pharmaceutical supplies coming in.
50:56
Nothing coming in. So that sets a powder keg. Right? Imagine in Jackson, if the price of gas went up five times what it is today, tomorrow. And that's what happened in Nepal.
51:09
So black market gas is only gas available, black market diesel or jet fuel. So they're not even refilling planes in Nepal right now still. This is outside the door of my room. That's Shiva with his third eye and his fountain coming out of his head. One of the millions and millions and millions of Hindu gods, one of the more prominent ones.
51:33
The next day, when we land, we go into training. Because that's the Nepali flag right there. We go into training. In the training, I was thrown into an all day drama practice with 20 or so other volunteers. Me doing drama.
51:46
Oh my goodness. That was excruciating. That could be in my list. That's Paul's list. I had to deal with drama practice all day long.
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Practice in a mime skit that they called the rag man. I did have a part in it. There were four parts in the skit. One of them was a drunk, druggie, one of them was a thief, one of them was Jesus, and one of them was an angry man. Imagine which one I was.
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By the time we got to it, I was the angry man. We did that all day long and we talked about the logistics of how we would get from place to place and what we would do during the week. It was gonna consist of nets, they call them, where we go out into the streets and we go into schools and we do assemblies at schools and we present to them and then ask them to come to festivals, children's festivals, evening festivals, crusades. They said crusade all over the place. Sunday, we had a pep rallying church service at the hotel.
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It consisted of the people who came in for the second week but also the people who were there for the first week of this big Nepal takeover. The plan stated by this group was to double the number of Christians in Nepal. In a two weeks. And so the first week numbers he put up there. He gave the stats from that previous week.
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A 104,300 people had heard the clear presentation of the gospel. 65,000 had accepted Jesus for salvation. 295 documented miracles. You know, documented, if I write something down right here, it's then documented. You know that?
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The objectives for the following week when even greater things were to come. It's a very, very, and I mean, charismatic in the very emotional kind of way, not the charismata gifting but he was leading these people. We're going to take this country. Which country is doing pretty well? They're ninety, zero something house churches in Nepal.
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They're strong. They're doing the work of the gospel for themselves. Do I think we need to send people? Absolutely. Do I think they need to stay there and hang out for a while?
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Yes. Even greater things were to come. Then, they took up an offering from the team. Pledge cards, from the volunteers on the trip while they were at the emotional high of having shared and had 65,000 salvations. Sign on.
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Don't you want to be a part of this ministry? We're going to Singapore next year to do the same thing. They didn't leave an option for saying no. I just folded mine in the middle and send it on down the line. I had a I wanted to write something on it but I didn't want to write what I wanted to write.
54:28
Sunday afternoon, I got on Buddha Air to head towards Far Western Nepal. I've flown Buda Air before. I might be a frequent flyer on Buda Air. Nepal's longest domestic flight is an hour and ten minutes. It's from Kathmandu to Far Western Nepal.
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So going west, Dungari. Stayed at the Hotel Devotee, which was really nice. Not the Quality Inn in Chicago. It was really, really nice. No hot water, but that's alright.
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41% of the people in this area are flat broke. They're under the poverty line by Nepali standards. Okay? We stayed in that. This is Bubbles the clown.
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Bubbles was part of our evangelistic crusade. That is India. That white mark on that tree and that white mark on that tree tell me that's India. There's a dirt road on this side and there's a dirt road on the other side. And everybody who crosses that is crossing over and getting gas and bringing it back into Nepal.
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That's a brick factory run by indentured servants and slaves. We rode right past that. Y'all can't tell what this is. That's an ox cart. Since the equal yoking thing a few weeks ago, I thought I'd throw that together.
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Those are two oxes yoked together pulling that. We went to the first school. Okay. I'm gonna take more than that, the rest of the hour. This is the script that they sent me three weeks before we were to leave.
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And this is the exact this is all the ministry that we did while we're there. This written down script, exactly written down like this, bubbles of clown starts off to get everybody to pay attention. That's their headmaster standing up front. He translated everything that we did into Spanish because I mean, not Spanish. That wouldn't have done any good.
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Into Nepali. And this is we did the rag man skit, drunk, thief, angry man, Jesus comes out, and amazingly and miraculously from on high, it takes power and bam, they're made whole, just like that. Immediately, They weren't looking for it. In fact, the angry man was still angry. I was still angry.
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This is the extent of the gospel that they gave. The drama you've just seen is more than a drama. It's about real life. There are people hurting all over the world. Some are struggling with anger.
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Some are greedy and still. Some are sick with pain and disease. God didn't want us to suffer and be separated, so he sent a son to us. God sent his son Jesus to Earth. Jesus never did anything bad.
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He only did good. All this stuff is true, right? So far so good. These are Hindus. They got 37,000,000 gods.
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They don't have any idea who we are. We're just white. I'm hot. Can you tell? He healed the blind so they could see.
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He healed the lame so they could walk, but some men were jealous of Jesus and wanted him to die. So they put Jesus on a cross and Jesus died. This was God's plan so we could be forgiven of all the bad things that we've done. But boys and girls, something happened on the third day. Can you count three with me?
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And Bubbles, the clown. He rose from the dead and he's alive and he's still alive. Jesus made a way for us to be forgiven and go to heaven. Then they had three cards, enormous cards like this. Can you tell me what this number is?
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Two. Can you tell me what this number is? 10. What's this card in the middle? I don't know.
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It's the king of hearts. It's the king of hearts. Oh, that's cute in English. It's king of hearts. Lower it down.
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Little kid draws it out. Magically, it's not a king of hearts. It's Jesus. Woo hoo. Actually, it's an Anglo man with long hair and a beard.
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Looked a whole lot like me. Actually shaved. So, I didn't look like that card. Do you want Jesus to be king of your heart? Imma keep on reading it.
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Y'all mind? Y'all don't care if it's past the hour, do Who can tell me what the middle card is, boys and girls? Nobody. My friend, Bubbles will choose someone to come and take the card. Our question for you today is this, do you want Jesus to be the king of your heart?
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Jesus wants to have a relationship with you and give you eternal life. He does. That's true. Today, you can be sure that you'll go to heaven when you die. Of course, they believe in reincarnation.
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How many of you believe what we just shared to you about Jesus? Raise your hand. All you have to do is pray with me and say it with your own mouth. Be sure to say it with your own mouth after the translator so you know what you're saying. But say it with your own mouth because if you believe and confess with your mouth, God will save you.
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All you have to do is say it with your own mouth. All of us should be raising our hands right now, boys and girls, because this is the greatest gift we can ever receive. I want everyone to repeat this prayer after me, after the translator. Everyone bow your head and close your eyes. Dear God, I believe Jesus died on the cross for me.
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Forgive me for all the bad things I've done. I believe Jesus rose from the dead and is alive. Jesus, I ask you to come into life. I want to serve you. Be my lord in Jesus name.
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Amen. Immediately after that, actually, during that one time, he said, boys and girls, who can say this prayer louder? Boys or girls? He pits the boys against the girls. To pray the salvation prayer louder.
1:00:07
This is not the gospel people. This is wrong. This is very poor doctrine. I understand chapters 10 through 13. Much better this week than I did a few weeks ago.
1:00:18
Fifth part, healing. If you prayed that prayer, you just become a child of God. You can know today that you'll go to heaven for eternity. Not only did Jesus die for our sins but he also suffered so we don't have to be sick. Jesus healed while he was on Earth.
1:00:29
He still heals today. If you have sickness in your body, Jesus will heal you right now. Is there anyone here who's sick or is in pain? Do you have a tumor, a deaf ear? Put your hand where the sickness is and as we pray, Jesus will put his hand on your hand and he'll heal you right where you are.
1:00:43
Now, begin to do whatever it was you couldn't. Oh, wait a second. Here's the prayer. In the name of Jesus, we command every sickness and disease to leave these people's bodies right now. Tumors disappear, cancer wither and leave their bodies, ears open up in Jesus name.
1:00:57
From the tops of their head to the soles of their feet, be healed in Jesus name. Now begin to do what you couldn't do before. If you couldn't move your leg, begin to move it. How many of you can tell difference in your body? Raise your hand.
1:01:07
The people who raised their hand, they had come forward. They wrote down what was ailing them when they got there and what wasn't when they were leaving and they documented the miracle. Notable miracles. Two ninety five of them a week before. That is baloney.
1:01:20
I watched five of those documented miracles. They coerce the people into saying that they hurt in the first place. It's terrible and this is not the gospel, okay? I don't wanna be associated with anything like that. I do wanna be associated with the actual gospel that Jesus actually came and lived a perfect life and came and died that perfect sacrificial death and does offer that and his way to you.
1:01:46
It's fantastic. You know what viruses? Christianity is infectious, right? It's like a virus. It grows and grows and grows and grows.
1:01:55
Jesus said, he would build his church through carriers. People who have it, sharing it with people who don't yet have it. That's the way it grows. But you know what? What's happening in stuff like this is a dead form of Christianity that is inoculating people against the real gospel.
1:02:14
We don't do missions that way. That's not the way that we do em. I don't have time to go into the good part of the trip, but I wanted you to fear feel the fierceness of the bad part of the trip. Not to mention there's a state department worldwide terror alert for Americans traveling abroad. Do not be caught anywhere near large festivals or gatherings.
1:02:34
They had 70,000 people came to hear this message in Kathmandu. They had the day that I was with them, we had almost a thousand kids, almost. That group right there at the first school was a 177 kids. I saw the card after it was over. The card where they keep the stats, 300.
1:02:51
The 177, I counted them. Took pictures and counted them again. 177 people. 300 estimated. 85% raised their hand to believe in Jesus.
1:03:01
That's 255 people. That is a miracle. Only a 177 of them were there.
1:03:08
That
1:03:13
little boy had a bandage on his hand. He came forward and they said, how's your hand? It's okay. How was it when you got here? It's okay.
1:03:21
It was okay then. Really? When did you do that? Two weeks ago. So your hand's been hurting for two weeks?
1:03:28
Not really. It happened two weeks ago, but my mom put this bandage on me. Okay. So he's had this for two weeks and he's healed now. Can you move your hand?
1:03:36
Give me a high five. Documented miracle. That guy, his job is miracle filter. He's writing down whether or not this is a miracle. He says it is.
1:03:46
I say it's not. I have a tighter filter. I believe in miracles and I believe in God healing and I don't wanna quash that. It's real. God really does do that.
1:03:56
I've seen it. He does it especially when it's a prayer of faith. He always answers the prayer of faith. Always. Every time in the New Testament and every time today.
1:04:06
I want y'all to pray that God uses this hogwash. Because it's hogwash. It was really, really bad. The investor is not investing anymore. Second school, third school.
1:04:19
This is my breaking point. There was an unexpected Hindu cultural festival. We pulled up to a picnic area to eat our lunch, and there was a festival of about a 100, maybe a 150. I didn't count them. They were dancing.
1:04:31
150 people, hard to count. They were having their own cultural festival. And we pulled up in the middle of it accidentally to eat our sandwiches. And the guy who was our leader on this little trip said, you know what? We're doing it right here.
1:04:45
In the midst of a party at Mike Yelco, do you pull up, set up a set competing sound system, and present the gospel to people? Well, we're white, so they wandered over. Did the whole spiel. How many of y'all wanna do this? Everybody should be raising their hand right now?
1:05:00
Very, very complicit, compliant culture. Everybody raised their hand. 100% of them got saved. Then went right back to their Hindu cultural festival after we left. I plead with the leadership that evening and said, listen, this is wrong.
1:05:14
It's hard wash. I basically preach this sermon right here to them and nothing. Tricking an uninterested, uninformed, unsuspected person into praying in the name of Jesus for your salvation count is ridiculous. It holds no power at all whatsoever. It actually does more harm than good.
1:05:32
I don't think any of y'all have ever done this. I hope you don't. It ticks me off. I'm just saying it right out. Ticks me off.
1:05:41
Burns me up. Beetlejuice, yes. If you say his name, there's there's ramifications to say in the name of Beetlejuice three times and Rumpelstiltskin. Those, yes. Say the name Rumpelstiltskin, you get out of the curse.
1:05:52
Wonderful but that's not the way Jesus works. It's a carrier. Somebody who has this infection that shares it with someone else. You can't help it. If you're living your life among em, pleading with the leadership didn't work.
1:06:05
So, I just said, okay, these are the options I see. Either you can get me a ticket back to Kathmandu or I'll get the ticket. So, I followed somebody. Here it goes. Buddha Air, back to the capital.
1:06:16
Just like that, all of that and I wanna get to this, the great commission. Therefore, go and what? Present the name of Jesus so that people can pair you afterwards. No, it says, go and make disciples. How do you do that?
1:06:28
Baptizing them into the name of Jesus. Identifying yourself with Jesus and having them identify with him through your walk. In the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you and surely, I'm with you to the very end of the age. Taking care of people, Clothing the naked. This country had an earthquake in April.
1:06:51
What are you gonna offer em? Build em a house. Take care of the girls who are being trafficked into India for sex slavery. That's what we, that actually, those are the two things that first bees involved in there. There is no magic formula to world missions or to local ministry consistent application over time of the actual gospel is what's required.
1:07:11
So, this gal, y'all remember this slide from the announcements a while back? This gal is Rachel Babcock. She's the granddaughter of Jack and Bev Babcock and she's the cousin of Samantha Compton that goes to church here. She's serving in Kathmandu, Nepal. So, when I flew back to Kathmandu, I spent the rest of the week with her team actually ministering and it was fantastic and there's more to come on that later, okay?
1:07:35
But I want you to get a chance to see her.
1:07:38
Hi, That's how we greet believers here in Nepal. It means victory in Jesus and wanted to say hi to pastor Ray. Thank you so much for coming and encouraging me this past week as he visited Nepal. Also, he was able to do some of the ministry that I'm involved in, which includes discipling two new believers in a slum and sharing Bible stories with an orphanage with kids, 15 kids there across the street from where I actually live, and then training 100 believers when they in different churches all around Nepal to go out and share their faith with other people. Please continue lifting up just the ministry that we have that we would continue to be able to share with unreached people groups here.
1:08:22
And even as a trek, just meeting people to share as a living with who we've never ever
1:08:29
James C. Yes, ma'am. Amen.
1:08:34
That little fellow right there is the strong man at the elderly home. So that like the living center, our nursing home here, that was a nursing home that's run by the state there and he's the guy who carries the firewood. Isn't that something? I got a chance to talk to him through a translator. I got a chance to talk to another Hindu guy there.
1:08:53
And Nepal is absolutely, absolutely white into the harvest. Missions need to be done there for sure, but not this way. Not ever again. And I'm gonna do everything I can to dismantle this organization. Okay?
1:09:07
Just telling you. So anyway, one last thing before we go. If you look at our place on the map, right here in Jackson, Wyoming, right there at forty three North, one hundred ten West, that is where we are. If you go exactly antipodal, exactly across the world, bore through, just dig a hole, you don't dig dig to China like we've always said. If you dig straight through, you come out in the middle of the Indian Ocean right there.
1:09:37
It's actually north of a little Antarctic island, but the nearest inhabited place to the other side of the earth is Durban, South Africa. Melissa Landis heads back to the other side of the earth, to the ends of the earth On Tuesday, Melissa, would you come up and can I get the elders to come up? And yeah, she goes, after that, pray for her because what she's doing is being a Christian, a green dot Christian. She grew up here where she's surrounded by other Christians and the gospel saturation. She's a green dot Christian that picked up and moved to a red dot part of the world where less than less people know Jesus.
1:10:22
So, she's just living her life there. Would one of y'all pray because I've talked enough? Or maybe not. God, we send Melissa out with your good gospel Teaching them to obey all that I've commanded. Lord, you've put your hand on her.
1:10:39
You've chosen her to go into a land that she doesn't know and that's become her home, lord and so I just ask you that you'd move through her in the community around in and around Durban, South Africa. In Jesus name, would you comfort her and strengthen her, let her know that her our prayers go with her and that we love her and that we know that she loves them and your strength and in your name. We commission her as she goes out. Amen. Amen.
1:11:04
Amen. Alright. Is the band back up here? Don't forget the scouts are doing the connect hour today and we're going to sing a quick chorus of We Believe, What We Believe. Alright.
1:11:20
Would you stand with us?
1:11:31
Alright. We believe in God the Father.
1:11:33
We believe in God the Father. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit, and he's given us new life. We believe.
1:12:03
Let's sing that one more time. Okay?
1:12:06
We believe in God the father. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit, and he's given us new life. We believe in the crucifixion. We believe that he conquered death.
1:12:26
We believe in the resurrection,
1:12:49
Amen. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom of the actual knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments, how inscrutable his ways, for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory forever. Amen and may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing the actual gospel so that the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. Amen.
