Transcript
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Father, in the name of Jesus, your word instructs us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
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We pray in Jesus' name for peace.
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We pray that evildoers would be punished.
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We pray that your justice would come in, and we pray that you would preserve and protect civilians and that the order of God and the plans and purposes of God would be wrought in that place.
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In Jesus' name, amen.
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Welcome to the City Light Church podcast.
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Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.
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If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at CityLightNYCcom.
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That's CityLightNYCcom.
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Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds.
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As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you.
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Those songs that the worship team was singing, they had a theme to them the faithfulness of God.
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There's another theme in the Bible concerning the faithfulness of God.
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In fact, if you read the Bible from cover to cover, you'll see certain themes, you'll see certain patterns, and one of the themes slash patterns that you see in the entire Old Testament and the New is that we very quickly forget the faithfulness of God.
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I've shared before I'm going through the Gospel of Mark with my nine-year-old son, victor, and it's just so wonderful to do that and to see him as he's reading it for the first time, to see his reactions and the questions he asks.
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So in the Gospel of Mark you see Jesus feed 5,000 people with little boy's lunch.
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Then after that you see him feed 4,000 people, which sometimes we forget that that there were various accounts of Jesus feeding the multitudes and multiplying fish and loaves, not just one.
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So in Mark he feeds 5,000 people.
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Then he feeds 4,000 people.
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Then after that he's teaching, and he's just teaching on the Pharisees and on Herod, and he says beware of the leaven of Herod and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
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He's really not talking about eating, but you can see where his disciples were.
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They just made a little word association there, because it actually says that he's teaching on the leaven of Herod.
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The leaven is yeast, it makes bread rise, but it's also a symbol for sin.
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A little leaven leavens the whole lump and he's talking about that hidden sin that'll get you.
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That's present in the Pharisees and in Herod.
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And what do the disciples do?
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They totally miss the teaching and they're like leaven bread.
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You know, come to think of it, we are kind of hungry and they go, hey, and they start panicking.
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We have no bread.
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And you see Jesus.
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Then the Bible says size deeply, one of those divine exhales like and he says are you so hard-hearted?
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Where is your faith?
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Were you there when we fed the 5,000?
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Yeah.
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How many baskets did you carry up 12.?
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Were you there when we fed the 4,000?
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Yeah, how many baskets have leftovers?
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Did we carry up Seven?
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And he goes you're faithless and perverse generation.
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What I did before, I'll do for you again.
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Now we read that and we go silly disciples.
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That could never be me, but it's us all of the time.
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We experience his goodness, we experience his faithfulness.
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Only several weeks later he'd be presented with another crisis and we wonder, I wonder if he'll come through again.
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Maybe he ran out.
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Did he run out of power?
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It's the same thing with the children of Israel.
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They literally go through a parted Red Sea.
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I mean you would think if you saw that you'd never, ever doubt again.
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Right, but a few days later, after parting the Red Sea, they're out in the wilderness going.
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Have you brought us out here, moses, that we should die?
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And we laugh oh, how could that be?
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That's us, that's pointing to us.
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He's faithful, he's true, he's got you and he's going to see you through.
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Amen, amen, thank God for his faithfulness.
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So how many of you are enjoying the series on Galatians?
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What a powerful book You're.
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In Galatians 3, and let me just for the benefit of everyone who has been a part of Galatians 1 and 2, and also if you're just joining us for the first time, let me, for the benefit of everyone, just recap what we've learned.
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Paul is writing the Galatians because they're in great danger.
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They're in danger because mixture has been brought into the camp.
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They're mixing the old covenant with the new.
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And Paul says, over and over again you can't do that.
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The moment you mix the old and the new, you disregard grace, you frustrate grace or you nullify grace.
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So you cannot mix the new covenant of God's grace with the old covenant of God's law.
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What is the old covenant of God's law?
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It is a system of order, it is a dispensation Under a canopy, and you're living under this canopy and there are certain principles and rules that govern how you can relate to God under that canopy and under the canopy of the law.
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You endeavored, you tried, you worked, you would sweat, working so hard to gain God's approval by your own behavior, by your own lawkeeping, by your own crossing every T and dotting every I.
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You endeavored, you didn't get approved, but you tried.
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But you could never be approved because under the law, if you break the law in only one place, you're guilty of breaking the law in every place.
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So you were never righteous, you never had right.
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Standing under the law Sounds depressing just saying it, doesn't it?
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You say, what was the point of that?
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Was God just being cruel?
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No, the Bible says that the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, because we as humans were so proud, we're so arrogant, that we don't really feel that we have a need for a savior.
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So the law comes like a giant magnifying glass and exposes our sin, it exposes our weakness and it exposes that we are powerless to change for ourselves.
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So what does it do?
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It causes us to look up and look out at a savior, who then comes and delivers you.
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He saves you, he delivers you.
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So that's the system of law.
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You're trying to get God's approval, you're trying to be justified based on your own self-effort, but you never get it.
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Under the new covenant of God's grace, you are given right standing with God.
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That's what righteousness is Right standing with God.
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You are justified, which means God has pronounced you not guilty.
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So you're given righteousness, you're justified, you're approved unto God, not based on your effort, not based on your behavior, not based on your works, but based on what Jesus has already done in the finished past, tense finished work of the cross, and you have nothing to add to it.
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Jesus plus nothing equals everything.
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Amen, hallelujah, not Jesus plus what you can help out with.
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There is nothing with regard to your salvation that you can contribute, amen.
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So let's continue now in Galatians, chapter three.
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But first, what better place to continue Galatians three than in Ephesians?
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Let's look at Ephesians.
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I want to just look at two passages of scripture before we jump into Galatians three, which will help shed more light on this covenant that we live under and this is so important for us to get.
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This series is called Clash of the Covenants because when you figure out what covenant you're living under and you realize the freedom that God has given you and what he actually purchased for you with his own blood, your life will never be the same.
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In Ephesians, chapter two, starting in verse grade eight, paul says for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
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So this wonderful gift of salvation forgiveness of all your sin has nothing to do with you.
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It's the gift of God, not of works, it's not by your behavior.
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Just, anyone should be proud and boast that they helped us save your out, that they contributed.
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We have nothing to add.
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He already did it all.
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But then he also note in verse 10, he shows this connection between grace and works Once you've received grace through faith and you're free, and now you've been justified.
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And how awesome is this?
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This means that when God looks at you, he cannot find any sin in you.
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If you've received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, he's not barely putting up with you until you get your act together.
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He loves you now.
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He approves of you now.
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So we got approves of everyone?
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No, he doesn't.
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He accepts everyone Doesn't mean they're approved.
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His arms are stretched wide.
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He'll accept whosoever will come drink of this fountain.
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But it doesn't mean you have the approval of God.
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But when you've received Jesus, you have his blood on you and you're sealed with the Holy Spirit and you have his approval.
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And that's constantly.
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It's like a mark of the spirit, it's on your head, so that when you go and talk to the Father it's like Jesus talking to the Father and God's attitude towards you is like it would be towards his own son, jesus.
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This is why the gospel is great news.
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And once you've received such a grace, works would come out of you.
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Works are the evidence of this transformed heart.
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But works don't help you get saved.
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They're just evidence that you are.
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Are you seeing this important nuance?
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For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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Now let's go to the book of James.
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So grace, by its very nature, by its very definition, is extreme.
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People try to bring balance to grace.
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Because it is so mind blowing, because it is so extreme, they try to balance the grace message by mixing it with law.
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You cannot balance the grace message by mixing it with law, because then all you have is the law.
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Paul made that clear.
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If you try to bring mixture, you've now nullified the grace of God.
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So it's completely by grace.
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But there are people who then misunderstand this, correct.
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They misunderstand the grace message, and I remember here's an important question that comes up because there's criticisms to the grace message.
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They'll say oh, you're about greasy grace, aren't you?
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Easy believism, greasy grace.
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Once saved, always saved, and that's a good question.
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Salvation is free and there's nothing you could ever do that will cause God to withdraw his love.
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Not even one drop of his love he won't withdraw away from you.
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So can you lose your salvation?
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And if you've ever explored this topic, there's great tension in the body of Christ.
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There's people who believe there's nothing you could ever do, nothing you could ever become, no road you can go.
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You're saved.
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And then there's people on the other side of the spectrum who believe that the moment you slip up, you now have to come to the altar, repent and get born again, again and get resaved, and all it does is produce a bunch of spiritually insecure Christians who are living in dread and fear, don't understand that God loves them, but live in terror of him and always feel less than always, feel like they don't measure up.
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Are you following me so far?
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But let's get back to the question can you lose your salvation?
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There's an easy answer to that Were you saved because of your works or because of faith?
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Faith right.
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Not your works, not your behavior, not your doing.
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Can you then lose your salvation because of works?
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No, you were saved by faith.
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Hang on those of you online, those of you in 2025 going back to this video, trying to catch me and label me a heretic.
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Hang on, listen to the end.
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You cannot lose your salvation because of your works, because you were saved by faith, not works.
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You can't lose your salvation because of works, but you can because of your unfaith.
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If you don't have a living faith, if you don't have an active faith, or God forbid, if you get to that place of deception, once having been saved, where you outright reject Jesus if you don't have a living faith.
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Faith isn't something I believed in yesterday.
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A living faith is constant From now until we cross that finish line in ripe old age or we hear the trumpet blow, or however it is, there should be an active faith inside of us.
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So here is the danger when a Christian falls off and goes into sin, does God leave them?
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No, he's with them.
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People will say oh, I feel like God left me.
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I sinned.
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I just feel like the Holy Spirit is withdrawing from me.
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Are you crazy?
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No, he'll never leave you.
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But what's this thing?
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I feel it's you.
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You, he's now withdrawing from you.
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You're withdrawing from him.
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He's right there.
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People act like the Holy Spirit is this temperamental pigeon.
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I was told that the Holy Spirit is a dove.
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No, he's not.
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He's God.
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He's not a dove.
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He came once in the form of a dove Quit, making him out to be a white bird.
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But I was taught this the Holy Spirit is a dove and the moment you sin, it grieves him and he flutters away.
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You know the big thing in Bosnia we do missions in Bosnia.
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The big thing in Bosnia, anywhere in the Balkans, it's smoking.
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They smoke like it's the 50s.
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Still, every, every, every restaurant has an ashtray on it because there's so much of the population smokes.
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And so these men get saved and they're all addicted to cigarettes.
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And then, of course, the pastor says you got to quit.
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All right, I got to quit.
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Doesn't tell them how.
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Doesn't tell them how to reach out to the Lord.
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But I remember one guy, when we were doing meetings there, loved the Lord newly saved, and then he got all somber, he's hand quaking.
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He didn't know, I didn't know he smoked.
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He goes.
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I have to light one up.
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Now I'm going to make the Holy Spirit cry.
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And I just thought you're not going to make it, man.
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If every time you light up I'm not pro-smoking, I'm not telling you to light up, but if in your head you think every time you light up the Holy Spirit is boohoo-hooing, how long do you think you're going to endure this?
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You'll make it three months tops and then you'll get so tired of yourself in your mind letting him down that you'll just leave the church.
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And that's why, for every person in here, there's 50 prodigals somewhere else, because they think that because of their sin they're pushing God away.
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No, god is with you Doesn't mean he approves of your sin.
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God is holy but he's with you.
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He doesn't leave you.
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But if you persist in sin, you get a heart, heart, you move away from God.
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And if you continue to persist in sin.
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There's this thing that can happen where your affection for the Lord, it dies.
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And affection for the Lord is important.
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David said he gave all this wealth to the building of the temple.
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He said because I set my affection on the things of God.
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Protect that sweet, lovey-dovey affection that you have for the Lord.
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It'll make your heart cold and you open yourself up to deception.
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So if you go down the path of sin, it's not your sin that causes you to get unsaved, not your works.
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But then you go down this path of deception to where your faith is dying.
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Your affection is cold, you're distant from the Lord.
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It's not that he left you.
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You left him and now you're in danger of not having a living faith.
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Now you're just another person who said once upon a time I gave my life to Jesus.
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Now you're a Lord Lord, christian Lord, lord, did I not, back in 2003, fill out that connection card and say I received you as my Lord and Savior?
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Yeah, let's read James, because this addresses it.
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This is out of this conversation.
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I was only two years, three years, saved and I was in college and one of my sweet mates.
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I was witnessing to him and as I'm trying to witness to him, I'm witnessing to him because there's no evidence of a Christian life, there's no evidence that he's ever even heard the gospel.
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So I'm saying he's ripe for the plucking.
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I'm going to share the gospel with him and as I'm sharing, he's like yeah, yeah, man, I'm good, I did all this.
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I said what do you mean?
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You did all this?
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No, I've heard all this many times.
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Yeah, but are you saved?
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And he goes.
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You mean the prayer and I go.
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Well, I guess.
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Yeah, the prayer.
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I said the prayer.
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I'm good bro.
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I said the prayer.
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My mom would drag me to church.
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I said the prayer and I'm trying to witness to any.
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Actually, he does the, he does the condescending shoulder slap.
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You know I said no man, I'm good Sort of demonstrate on you, pastor Moe, but so let's figure out.
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Where's this, where's this guy?
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What good is it?
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James writes my brothers.
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If someone says he has faith but does not have works, can that faith, can that particular faith, can somebody who says, oh yeah, I believe, but there's no evidence of the faith works?
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your behavior.
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It doesn't help.
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Jesus love you more, he already loves you.
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Your works, your behavior, what you do and don't do, it does not contribute to your salvation and to your right standing before God.
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But if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you have faith in his substitutionary death for you on the cross and you have faith that you were crucified there on the cross with him, there will be good works, there will be a transformation.