In this special service, Marcel Hall from the O.C. Church of Christ delivers a powerful sermon titled 'Thank God For the Call of Jesus' as part of the 'Thank God For...' series. Hall explores the divine calling to be disciples of Jesus, drawing analogies with famous characters like Luke Skywalker, Frodo, Neo, and Moana. He discusses the significance of imitating Jesus, the impact of answering this call on our daily life, and the importance of engaging in divine good works. The service includes the Christmas Kids Program, Communion, and an offering, aiming to inspire and encourage the congregation to embrace and live out the call of Jesus in their lives.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction

00:15 Christmas Kids Program Announcement

00:42 Sermunion and Communion Explanation

01:15 Thank God For Series Overview

01:45 Thanking God for the Call

02:44 The Call to a Divine Purpose

03:06 Examples of Calls in Popular Culture

04:04 The Greatness of Jesus' Call

04:33 Scriptural Basis for the Call

07:04 Living Out the Call

09:30 Divine Agents of Good

14:19 Impact of Embracing the Call

16:57 Call to Action

20:09 Communion and Reflection

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OC Church of Christ

Good morning, brothers and sisters.

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I said good morning, brothers and sisters.

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All right.

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My name is Marcel Hall.

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I want to welcome you to the O.

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C.

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Church of Christ.

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This is our North O.

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C.

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ministry.

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And today is a special day.

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As most of you know, we have our

Christmas kids program today.

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And we're all excited about that.

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And many of the parents are

also nervous about that as well.

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So, Praying and hoping that they,

uh, they do their job there.

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And so my name is Marcel Hall and

with my wife Corina, we are the

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honor and privilege of being able

to be ministers here for the church.

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And, uh, we're going to, uh, uh,

get into the word of God right now.

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And so.

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This is what we call a Sermunion, in

which we, uh, have an extended time in

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which we will, uh, for our Communion.

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Communion is where we remember Jesus

death upon the cross for our salvation.

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And then, after that, we will

have, uh, our Offering, and then

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we will have our Kids Program.

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And so again, I want to thank all of

those who are visiting here with us today,

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whether it's your first time or you've

been visiting, we're so grateful to have

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you here with us, we hope and pray that

you will feel like you're part of the

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family that we have here in the church.

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Um, we started a series several weeks ago,

several weeks ago, called Thank God For.

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And, uh, we talked about thanking

God for, uh, uh, God's Word,

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for His Spirit, for the church.

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And then as we hit Christmastime, we

switched our focus to Jesus, as this is

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the time in which we want to remember

and celebrate the birth of Jesus.

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And so, we have talked about thanking

God for the life of Jesus, and

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last week we talked about thanking

God for the sacrifice of Jesus.

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And today, we're going to be talking

about thanking God for the call.

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Let's go ahead and let's

go to God in prayer.

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Father, thank you so much for

the chance to worship you, for

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the chance to encourage and

strengthen one another in the faith.

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God, you are worthy of our praise.

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You are worthy of our thanksgiving.

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You are worthy of our devotion.

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And I pray, God, that as we get

into your word today that you will

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remind us of the blessings that we

have In the name of Jesus, amen.

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Alright, and so we looked at, again, the

idea of thank God for the life of Jesus.

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And the life of Jesus, it's

inspiring because Jesus life

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serves as the model for imitation.

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And then last week, we thanked

God for the sacrifice of Jesus

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because that leads to our salvation.

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And so that motivates, that

compels us to live a faithful life.

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And as we think about the invitation

of Jesus, this call that Jesus has, it

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allows us to see that this is a part of,

this is something that is of great value,

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but it's a high calling for our lives.

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And when I think of calls, some

movies came to mind and some ideas.

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And the first off is Luke Skywalker.

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He's called to be a Jedi.

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See, we got a Luke Skywalker fan.

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She's fired up over here.

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And so Luke Skywalker's called

to be, I guess, the chosen one.

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I don't want to get into semantics with,

oh, is that really, oh, you know, Anakin.

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I'm not going to go there with you, okay?

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But we know Luke Skywalker's

called to be a Jedi and also

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help take down the evil empire.

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And then, uh, some of you, I

know you're thinking of Frodo

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and the Lord of the Rings.

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And so Frodo, he decides, you know what,

I'll answer that call to go ahead and

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take the ring and have it destroyed.

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Uh, many of us also think of Neo.

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And the red pill and the blue pill,

you guys with me there, right?

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And so, Neal's called to figure

out what's really the matrix.

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And let's go ahead and let's destroy

the evil powers that made the matrix.

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And then we also have Moana and her call.

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She's called by the ocean, right?

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She's called, and I know

the new movie's out.

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Haven't seen it yet, but we

plan on seeing that as a family.

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And I think of these calls, but yet when

I think about the call of Jesus, Jesus

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call trumps all of these and then some.

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Because it's a call to something greater.

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It's a call to something that is divine.

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And in fact, I believe this call

is a call to a divine purpose.

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The call of Jesus is not to

just an adventure, not to just

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a certain lifestyle, but it's

a call to a divine purpose.

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So let's go ahead, we're going to

read two passages here, and understand

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this call to a divine purpose.

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Church, are you with me?

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Let's go ahead.

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Matthew chapter 28.

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Many of us in our church were

very familiar with this passage.

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Let's read it.

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This is after Jesus had

died, he had resurrected.

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Now he's about to ascend.

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So now he's giving his followers

a call and direction for their

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lives and for the church.

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And it says, then Jesus came to them

and said, all authority in heaven

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and on earth has been given to me.

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Therefore, go and make

disciples of all nations.

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He says go and make disciples of all

nations, disciple meaning follower,

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student, but really that context,

especially in that time, meant

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to be one who would imitate them.

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The rabbi or the teacher.

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So it was a call for imitation.

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It wasn't just to study out and agree with

some, some doctrine or some teachings.

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It was to become a follower in the

sense that you imitated your leader,

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and he says this, I want you to

go make disciples of all nations.

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Now think about this for a second.

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The son of God has called

people to be his disciple.

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A mini me version of Jesus.

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Now when you think about

that, that's incredible.

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Because let's say you were a, someone who

was trying to be successful financially,

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and Warren Buffet or Elon Musk said,

Hey, I'd love for you to be my disciple.

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That would be an honor, wouldn't it?

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You'd be fired up.

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Let me learn some things then.

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Or let's say it was music and Taylor

Swift or, you know, I don't know, Elton

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John or Prince or somebody, right?

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Said, I want you to be my disciple.

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You'd be fired up about that.

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I know my daughter would be

fired up about Taylor Swift.

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If it's sports or Tom

Brady or, uh, LeBron James.

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No, let's scratch that.

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Michael Jordan.

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Said, I want you to be my disciple.

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And if you're into

sports, you would be what?

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You would be honored.

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You would be, Whoa, I can't

get a better teacher than this.

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You would be incredible.

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Now, let's think about this.

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The Son of God calls

you to be His disciple.

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To be not just a student, not

just a learner, but an imitator

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of who He is and how He lives.

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And this call isn't just for a few.

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No, the Lord, the creator, the author of

life, calls everyone to be his disciple.

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It says he wants all nations.

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That means you, me, your

mama, and your cousin too.

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In fact, tell your neighbor to

your right and left, the call is

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for your mama and your cousin too.

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You see, this call is not

just for a few, it's for all.

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To be what?

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To be disciples of Jesus.

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So this call is for you

today and going forward.

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And so we also look in

Ephesians chapter 2.

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This is a letter written to the church

that met in the city of Ephesus by

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a guy named Paul, who Paul was a

leader in the first century church.

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And he says here, after talking about

the riches that we have in and through

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Christ, he goes on and he says this.

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For it is by grace you have been saved,

hallelujah for that, through faith.

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And this gift, this is not from

yourselves, it is the gift of God, not

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by works, so that no one can boast.

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For we are God's handiwork, created in

Christ Jesus to do good works, which

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God prepared in advance for us to do.

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You see, Jesus says in the Scriptures

revealed that after salvation, through

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his sacrifice, what Jesus calls you and

me to is to now live a life of good works.

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As disciples of his, we will engage

and live a life of good works.

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And these aren't just any works.

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This isn't, can you take out the trash?

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Can you wash some dishes?

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These are God ordained works.

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These are divine works of

good that are designed to be a

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blessing to those around you.

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That are designed to be great

contributions to society.

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This is the call of Jesus.

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Again, this call is a call of

something greater for our lives.

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It's a call to a divine purpose.

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For And I believe it's a call

to be divine agents of God.

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Divine agents of God.

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Meaning that we are called to

become like the divine, and then to

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engage and join in divine good work.

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And so we get a chance to work and

be worked in and through the divine.

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So that good works can take place and then

also we will become like the divine You

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know when we follow Jesus call we become

a person of divine virtue and character

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Because when you start following Jesus

his lifestyle his teachings Guess what

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happens to your character and your nature?

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You become like the one you

are following My son, the other

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day, I looked on, uh, uh, on our

phone, and my son had this video.

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I actually, I should have

showed you the video.

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And he had this video, and to

my surprise, I hadn't seen it.

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I don't know if Karina had already saw it.

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But I'm showing Karina the video, and my

son, he's doing like he is an influencer,

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and he's doing like his own version

of, uh, uh, uh, of, uh, uh, some type

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of, uh, uh, uh, promotion, if you will.

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And so he's talking, and he's

just going on, and he starts

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trying to do some rap lyrics.

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My son's really big into rap music, and

we, we play, you know, Christian rap music

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all the time, and so he's really into it.

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He's like, Papa, he has his own list.

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It's called the Dominique

playlist on Spotify.

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And so he takes all these songs,

like, Papa, I almost caught you.

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You know, I'm almost there.

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I'm like, no, you got about 2,

000 more songs to get to me.

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But he goes, and he's doing this

thing, and he's like, yeah, and

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he goes on for several minutes.

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It's the funniest, coolest,

cutest thing in the world.

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And Karina's like, that's you.

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And I'm like, you're right.

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Cause I'll randomly at the house and

somebody says something, a rap lyric will

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come to my mind and I'll start going off

on the rap verse for a couple of seconds.

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Or I'll just randomly start saying stuff.

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And so when my son started doing

this, guess who he was being like?

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He didn't even realize he was being like

me, but he was being like his father.

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And when you and I do good works,

guess who we're being like?

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We're being like Jesus.

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You see, when we embark and when

we embrace and when we fulfill

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this divine calling, we start doing

good works and we start looking and

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imitating the divine Son of God.

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We look and resemble Jesus.

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We become a blessing to those around us.

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You know, we all want to be good.

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But when we follow the

call of Jesus, guess what?

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We start doing good things and we become

good because we become good like Him.

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We become people of upstanding character.

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We're a blessing to people

and to the places that we go.

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There's no guilt, no shame,

and we're not full of regrets.

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We're not perfect, but we're

being perfected for God's glory.

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When we follow this call of Jesus.

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We also, as we can see, we help people.

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Like Jesus, He served and

met needs practically.

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He healed, He provided food, He provided

hope and encouragement and help.

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And He called His

followers to do the same.

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And so when we follow the call to be

divine agents of God, we do good and

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we practically serve and bless people.

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So grateful for our church and

the good work that we do through

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our Hope Saturday Academy.

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And which is the mentoring program

for at risk youth in Santa Ana.

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And so that's just one of the

things and every time I go I'm

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like, wow, this feels so good.

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Because we're engaging

in divine good work.

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And so we help one another in the church.

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We provide strength.

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I'm so grateful for all the advice

and help whether it's marriage

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or parenting that we receive.

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This is the recipient of people

being divine agents of good.

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And then we also help people.

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spiritually and help them not only

for the momentary, but for eternity.

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When we are divine agents of

good, we help people for eternity.

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They get a chance at eternal life,

not just a life for the moment that's

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good, and hallelujah, the life in

Christ on earth is awesome, but

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it's awesome now and it continues

to the afterlife when we transition.

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And so this call to good works, it's

an opportunity to join God in having

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an eternal impact upon this world.

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And so we can say, thank

God for the call of Jesus.

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And when I think about this, I think

about the incredible impact that the

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calling of Jesus can have on our lives.

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It can really change our

perspective on day to day life.

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Just think about this.

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When we realize, and when we hone in,

and we decide to pursue this call of

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Jesus, this divine call, this call

to a divine purpose, it changes your

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perspective about the day to day life.

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You approach things differently.

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Because you see that you have a bigger

purpose and mission in life than

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just the mundane and the routine.

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So you can approach the mundane and the

routine with a different perspective.

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A greater joy, a motivation, a sense

of purpose to the things you're doing.

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So you can go to that class.

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You can go to work with

a different attitude.

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With a different mindset that

will produce different results.

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And be a divine agent of good.

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Imagine the opportunities.

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If you pursue the call to a divine

purpose, imagine all the opportunities

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that present themselves to you if you

fulfill the call to a divine purpose.

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Think about this.

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How would it affect

your life going forward?

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How would it affect your

relationships in your family?

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Your roommates, your neighborhood.

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How would it affect

your current challenges?

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How would it affect your approach

to school or to work just this week?

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Now let me ask you this,

or let me call you to this.

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Imagine all the opportunities we may

lose by not pursuing the call of Jesus.

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So we have a choice.

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We have a red pill and a blue pill.

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We could decide not to follow

the call of Jesus and miss out

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on all those opportunities.

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Or we can decide to take that pill of

Christ's call and see and experience the

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treasures from pursuing the call of Jesus.

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And so I believe, as we think about all

these blessings, the potential treasures

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that are available for you and for me,

not only should we thank God for this

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call of Jesus, but I believe it calls

us to action in this regard, that we

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should pursue the calling of Jesus.

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Pursue the calling by deciding

and committing to live out the

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call to be a divine agent of God.

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And on some of us, we might not know

exactly what all that means, and I

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would encourage you, first off, to

discover what is the call of Jesus?

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Who was Jesus?

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What is all this about His

sacrifice and His birth?

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How does that apply to

me and my daily life?

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And I encourage you today to make a

decision to pursue by just getting

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help and going through the Scriptures.

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And setting up a Bible study today.

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And say, you know what, I

want to learn some more.

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About this whole call in Jesus' life.

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For others, we can pursue the calling

by rediscovering Jesus' call for our

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life by examining, doing assessment.

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Hey, those treasures that were

mentioned, am I experiencing that today?

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If not, why not?

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What is it?

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Am I making some choices that have

in me veer from the call of Jesus?

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Are there some things in my

life that are distracting me?

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from this call of Jesus and living it out.

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And be honest with that assessment.

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Not guilty or down, but be honest.

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If it's not the case, then seek help

from a brother or sister in Christ.

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Seek help to get back to pursuing.

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This call of Jesus and for some of us,

it's just recommitting to living out the

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call of Jesus in our day to day life, not

just on a Sunday, not just when we feel

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it, but when we don't feel it, when it's

just our lives that we take steps every

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day in that call of Jesus and for others.

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As we assess, we can go,

man, I'm experiencing it.

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This is awesome.

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Hallelujah.

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We'll continue to praise the

Father for the call of Jesus.

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Continue to thank and praise Him.

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But remember to continue in

pursuing by living it out.

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And in calling your friends and

neighbors to go along with you.

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And to call upon Jesus and to

live out this call of Jesus.

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Thank God for the life of Jesus.

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Thank God for the sacrifice of Jesus.

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And thank God for the call of Jesus.

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And as we have this Christmas season,

we want to thank God for the birth

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of Jesus that leads to all of this.

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And the opportunities that you and I have.

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It's humbling and honoring.

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To be called, to be a disciple of

Jesus, and to be a divine agent of good.

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Right now we're going to take communion.

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Again, this is where we celebrate.

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We remember, we reflect upon Jesus's

sacrifice for our opportunity to

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have salvation, to have eternal life,

and we take the bread and the juice

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representing his body and blood that

was It says, sacrifice for you and I,

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and as we do this, I want us to read

in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 4.

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Brothers and sisters, are

you still with me here?

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Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 4, we'll

read, it says, because of his great

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love for us, because of his great

love for you, God, who is rich in

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mercy, Made us alive with Christ even

when we were dead in transgressions.

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It is by grace.

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You have been saved and God raised us

up with Christ and seeded us with him

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in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

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In order that in the coming ages, he

might show the incomparable riches of

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his grace expressed in his kindness

to us, to you and me in Christ Jesus.

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For it is by grace you have

been saved through faith.

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This is not from yourselves.

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It is the gift of God.

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Not by works, so that no one can boast.

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For you and me, we are God's

handiwork, created in Christ

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Jesus to do good works, which God

prepared in advance for us to do.

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Let's pray.

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Father, thank you so much

for your scriptures and a

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divine call, a divine purpose.

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The opportunity to become like you

in our character and our nature.

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The opportunity to do your good

works and to imitate and emulate you.

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God, what an honor that is.

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I'm humbled and I'm grateful.

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And I know I'm unworthy, but for

some reason you deem us to be worthy.

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And you deem us not only worthy

to the call, but worthy to

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sacrifice your life for us.

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We are humbled, we are

grateful, and we are honored.

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In the name of Jesus, we

say hallelujah, praise you.

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All