In this sermon, Eric Ennis explores the significance of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians. As part of the series 'Thank God For...', the message focuses on understanding and appreciating the presence and work of God's Spirit within us. Eric shares insights on how the Spirit empowers believers, drawing parallels to biblical figures, and provides practical advice on living a Spirit-filled life. The sermon emphasizes the importance of relying on God’s Spirit rather than our own strength, fostering unity, and maintaining an eternal perspective.

00:00 Introduction to the Series on Thanksgiving

00:32 Questions for Biblical Figures

01:17 The Gift of the Holy Spirit

02:54 Empowerment by the Holy Spirit

04:00 Relying on God's Spirit

11:10 The Importance of Admitting Weakness

16:55 Cultivating a Spirit-Led Life

18:50 Unity in the Christian Community

19:12 Communion and Reflection

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OC Church of Christ

We're in a series because we love series at this church.

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Uh, I've learned this every

time I'm up here it's a series.

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Um, and it's a series of Thanksgiving and

so this time we are thankful for God and

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in today's lessons we're talking about

being thankful for God for his spirit.

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And so we're looking at God's

spirit and what he's done for us.

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And I've been thinking

about this for a bit.

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There's a lot of amazing people in

the Bible, and I love studying out the

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Bible and trying to learn from people.

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And I've always thought,

what would I ask people?

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I was thinking about what I would

ask people in the Bible when

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I got to see them in heaven.

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Like, what would I want to say to Moses?

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I go, Hey, Moses, what was it

like seeing the burning bush?

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What was that like?

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You know, what was it like

seeing the presence of God?

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You know, what would it be like to

talk to Elijah and go, when, when

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you, when you called down fire

from heaven and God said it, were

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you like, I hope he sends it soon.

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You know, like, you know, like,

you know, it's not going to work.

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Well, if it comes two days

late, like what were you afraid?

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Were you nervous?

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Or if I asked David, when you faced

Goliath, how tall was he actually?

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You know, and how short were

you and, and what was that like?

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And how fearful were

you in going out there?

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Well, what's interesting is I think

they would have a question for all of

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us, and that would be this, what was

it like to have the Holy Spirit in you?

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What was that like?

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You know, what, how, how could

you actually get to walk with God

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in dwelling God is raised in me.

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I don't want to be the

one who's being killed.

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Don't.

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I don't want to be the

one who's dying for you.

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I've been raised, I've

been left by my own fault.

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Oh God, I'm sorry, I don't

want to be the one who's dying.

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I'm sorry, I don't want to be

the one who's dying father.

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for it.

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In Romans, it says God's love has been

poured out into our hearts through the

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Holy Spirit, who's been given to us.

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And that word poured out, it's

like an overflowing of it.

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God's love is overflowing

in us through God's Spirit.

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And I think, man, how often

do I acknowledge that?

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that I get to live a life

where God's Spirit lives in me.

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Recently the campus has been in a

series because our church loves series.

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And the campus series has been, are you

a fan or are you a follower of Christ?

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So that's what we've been studying

out in the campus ministry.

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And the campus ministry is

gone today, if you notice.

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They're, they're up serving

South Orange County.

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But this is what we've been looking at.

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Are you really a fan of Jesus

or are you a follower of Jesus?

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And in this study, what we looked

at in one of the topics was, are

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we empowered by the Holy Spirit?

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Are we living a life where the Holy Spirit

is what's driving us versus ourselves?

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And I think some of us, this

is what Christianity can

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feel like, paddling upstream.

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It's a constant just,

oh, I'm gonna make it.

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I'm gonna get there.

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I'm gonna get there.

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I'm gonna do it.

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I'm gonna get it.

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Versus having the wind in our sails.

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It doesn't mean that we don't

have rough seas at times.

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But it doesn't mean that

we're doing it all on our own.

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And the way I was explaining it

to them was the Holy Spirit's

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kind of like gas in a car.

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Without gas in the car,

it's not gonna get much.

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But that doesn't mean you're not

gonna go up hills and down valleys.

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It's not gonna get windy at times.

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But you're not having to go it alone.

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Versus some of us where it feels like

this is every mile of our Christianity.

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And we're just pushing this along.

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And this is why we get worn out.

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Not by might, nor by power, but by

my spirit, says the Lord Almighty.

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And a lot of us, we try to do it by our

power, and we try to do it by our might.

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And we miss the biggest

component, God's spirit.

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I did an experiment with them.

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And I was going to do it

with Marcel and Karina.

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I thought, Marcel called me up last

week, I thought I'll do the same to him.

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But for the sake of time, I won't.

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But, what I had done, was I

had given a weight, actually a

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couple, to a couple campus kids.

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One is a campus kid that

works at all time, Lawrence.

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That kid's, that kid's a monster.

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And the other weight I gave, ten

pounds, not much, was to Lorena.

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And I think ten pounds is probably

like one tenth of her weight.

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And all I had them do was hold the weight

out like this for as long as they could.

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Exactly.

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I know.

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I just did it for a moment.

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I'm like, ooh, shouldn't have done that.

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But, this is, I think,

what are Christians like.

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You know, if you ask me to serve

in kids kingdom once, got it.

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Not a problem.

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I can do that.

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You know, you ask me to come be in

a Bible study, yep, I can do that.

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But the day to day.

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Living it out.

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Starts to wear on us.

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Except there's a trick.

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Because Lawrence was

like this, struggling.

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But I was helping Lorraine to hold it.

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And Lawrence looked over

like, Wait, that's cheating.

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Right.

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But that's the Holy Spirit for us.

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I still have to hold it.

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But the Spirit is helping us.

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It's a spotter.

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And I think for many of us this is, can

become, and I'm looking around, campus

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is gone, teens are gone, there's a mature

crowd in this room, and I'm with you.

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I'm a few days away from being

30 years old a disciple, and so

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I know what it is to be here.

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Going, man, I gotta be righteous

again today on the freeway?

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Oh, I mean, I could do it one day

out of the week, but all five?

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Come on.

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You don't, these same

drivers are there every week.

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I see them.

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And this is what our Christianity tries

to feel like and not like this Because we

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get worn out Why because it's by our power

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It's by our might and

we're not using a spirit

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Second Corinthians 4 8 through 9 we

are hard pressed on every side But

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not crushed Perplexed but not in

despair Persecuted, but not abandoned.

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Struck down, but not destroyed.

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Why were they able to endure so much?

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Because God's Spirit was with them.

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They relied on God's Spirit.

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And I think if we are trying to do

this on our own, when we're pressed

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on every side, we get crushed.

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When we are perplexed, we get crushed.

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We start to become despaired.

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When we get persecuted, we feel abandoned.

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And unfortunately, for some of

our brothers and sisters over

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the years, when they were struck

down, they were destroyed.

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Why?

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Because they lost the thought of

God's spirit is what gets us through.

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And that's it.

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It's always going to be God's spirit.

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If we're trying to do this alone,

we're missing a big part of

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what God has called us to be.

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And this gift is just that.

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It's a gift.

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Jesus knows how hard Christianity is.

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Because he lived it to the fullest.

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But he didn't do it alone.

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He gave us the Spirit, and he said,

when he was gone, I'll give you

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something even greater than me.

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The Advocate will come.

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I am the vine.

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You are the branches.

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If you remain in me, and I in

you, you will bear much fruit.

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Apart from me, you can do nothing.

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There's one very important word in there.

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If.

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If.

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One of the most powerful

words in the Bible.

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If you remain in me.

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Well, how do I know?

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Am I really remaining?

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If.

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When hardship happens,

where do you first turn?

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When that difficult moment comes,

is it the first call to the spouse?

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If.

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It's the first call to God.

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When victories happen,

where do you first turn?

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Is it the first moment to, I can't

wait to celebrate, or is it, I

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can't wait to celebrate with God?

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Where do we turn?

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You will bear much fruit, but the

fruits of the Spirit are love, joy,

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peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness.

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Faithfulness, gentleness,

and self control.

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This is the fruit.

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And if I look around and I see

many of you, I've walked with many

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of you a long time in the faith.

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And I've seen you grow in your patience.

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I've seen you grow in your joy.

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I've seen you grow in your forbearance.

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I've seen you grow in your

gentleness and your self control.

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And if you're going, Man,

yeah, but it's been hard.

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This is the gift.

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We've been given a gift, and that

gift is being revealed in many of you.

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God is good, and he knows what we need.

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I was also thinking about this question

here, is if you're not being led by the

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Holy Spirit, then what's leading you?

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What is leading you?

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And I think this is a popular

book, Seven Rules of Self Reliance.

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This is our culture.

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And again, I work with

your campus students.

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I know we all want them

to be self reliant.

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I'm not saying we don't want

them to all be self reliant.

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But, they should first be God reliant.

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First.

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We should focus on that.

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How do we become God reliant

and not just self reliant?

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So are we following the Spirit?

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Or are we the masters of our universe?

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And I think if you want to test that out,

if you're Holy Spirit empowered, you will

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see the fact that you constantly rely on

God's strength to get you through things.

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You'll notice it.

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You'll pray through it.

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You'll wrestle with it.

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Versus just trying to rely on your own.

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If you're Holy Spirit empowered,

you'll admit weakness.

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You don't need to come every moment and

go, man, I got it all under control.

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You can admit weakness.

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You can go, man, I'm, I'm struggling this.

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And I'm not saying back in the

day we used to admit weakness,

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like I'm terrible person.

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Just, I'm, you know, but

look how awesome I am.

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No, you know, back in the day, I know

that there was moments there where we

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would share like, man, I used to struggle

with pride and you know, ha ha ha.

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No, we admit it, man.

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I struggle with this and I want help.

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I need help.

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First is the pride that can

zoom in our lives and we act

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like we got all under control.

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When we're Holy Spirit

empowered, we surrender to God.

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Not by my will, but by yours.

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God, I'll let you take control.

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Versus me trying to do it myself.

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You know, someone's not

doing well, I'll handle it.

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Versus, let me pray.

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One of the best lessons I ever

learned, one of the first people I

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ever mentored in the faith, was a

guy by the name of Kazunori Anazawa.

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Thank you.

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Love Kos.

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Love Kos.

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We started the Bible with him.

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He only spoke Japanese,

very little English.

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Almost every other word we were looking

up in a Japanese to English dictionary.

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They were the longest studies

I've ever been a part of.

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And I remember going and praying with him,

and he would go to pray, and he's like,

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hey, do you mind if I pray in Japanese?

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And what am I gonna say?

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No.

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God only speaks English, you know, Of

course, pray Japanese, but he would

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start praying in Japanese, and I'm like,

I have no idea what he's talking about.

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I have no idea what he's saying.

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How am I going to help him?

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And he would just pray in

Japanese, and he would get done.

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He goes, that was so much better.

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I feel good.

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Amen.

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See you next week.

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It was such a learning curve.

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It's not an issue of, I've

got to take care of it.

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I've just got to lead him to God.

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And let God do it.

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When you're Holy Spirit empowered,

there's a confidence in God.

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There's, God's going to handle this.

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We just had an election.

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And people are, some people

are celebrating and some

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people are in despair.

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But we're Christians.

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We have a confidence in God.

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It doesn't matter which side won.

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Because we already know

the side that has won.

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God has.

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God's won.

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It doesn't matter.

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The political party.

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Thank you.

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It matters who our faith is in.

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Versus that fear of

failure that we can have.

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Ooh, should I, should I go

out and take a step of faith?

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Ah, but what if I mess up?

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What if I can't succeed?

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Who are you trusting in?

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There's a peace and perseverance when you

see people who are Holy Spirit empowered.

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They might be going through

the most difficult moments.

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But there's something about someone

who's really in touch with God's spirit.

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You see it.

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They might be going through some

of the most heartache, but they're

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persevere and they're at peace.

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Because they have a faith in

God and God's spirit's taking

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them versus anxiety and burnout.

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And I've definitely been

on both sides of this.

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Where I just feel like man,

I can't go another step.

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But that's because I'm trying to walk

alone and not with, not with God.

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Holy Spirit, lasting impact.

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Life long.

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You know, I, I, I was doing Kids Kingdom.

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And John Orr walks in and, and,

you know, I'm doing Kids Kingdom

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with him and I'm giving him a hug.

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Uh, John Orr was one of the first people

I ever reached out to that got baptized.

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And he's still here today.

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And many of us have had

lasting impact on lives.

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Because God's Spirit has enabled that.

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Versus the temporary

benefits of not doing it.

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Of living in the world.

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And finally, I thought of

this, an eternal perspective.

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When you are Holy Spirit empowered,

you have an eternal perspective.

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You see past the momentary troubles.

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Where death is not the

end, but a beginning.

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Versus just that temporary,

short term perspective.

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We have to put the quarter in, you see

it for a moment, and then it's gone.

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But we can see greater depths.

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Thank God for His Spirit.

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Thank God that He enables

us to live this life.

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Because we cannot do it alone.

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And we were never meant to.

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I am the vine.

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You are the branches.

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If you remain in me and I in

you, you will bear much fruit.

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Apart from me, you can do nothing.

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And I think for us, as we look at God's

spirit, are we really living that?

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Or are we attending a church?

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And then we just feel burnout from

all the things, all the functions

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of a church versus living a life

as a Christian in God's kingdom.

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And I think those are

two different things.

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I've attended church many a

times before becoming a disciple.

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I've gone to many church functions

many a times before I was a disciple.

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I want to be a part of God's

kingdom, not a part of a church.

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I don't want to go to a church function.

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I want to have a lasting

impact on people's lives.

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That is done through God's Spirit.

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So how do we cultivate this?

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Basics.

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Let's start with daily surrender

through prayer and his word.

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Basics.

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If you're like, man, I feel like

I've been out of touch a little bit.

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I feel like I've just been kind

of going through the motions.

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I feel like I'm just kind

of working through it.

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And again, I'm looking at a mature crowd.

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I know that season of life.

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I know it.

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I've been there.

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We're just, week after week,

I'm just kind of getting it up.

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What am I doing now?

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Going back.

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That daily surrender through prayer

and his word, not just daily reading.

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Not just daily prayer, daily surrender.

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God, what do you want from me today?

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What do you want me to learn?

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Obey the Spirit.

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Obey it.

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We've all been there.

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We're walking by and someone's

passing us and we're like,

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Oh, I should share my faith.

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Ah, but I got a bunch

of other things to do.

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When those moments come,

treat it as God's Spirit.

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Say something.

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Hey, you know, I just, I just, for some

reason I feel like I need to talk to you.

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Take those opportunities,

stop passing them over.

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When those temptations

come, fight to resist.

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Obey God's spirit.

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God's spirit is telling

you, hey, don't go there.

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Don't give in.

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Confess and repent.

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I'm sure there's many of us that have

sat there and go, no, I got something

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that I've kind of been holding onto

maybe with another brother and sister

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in this, in this fellowship, maybe

with someone in the family, Or maybe

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it's just something you're internally

going through, that you're just

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trying to work through on your own.

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No, confess it.

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And work to repent.

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Serve.

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Find ways to serve.

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And then take bold steps.

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Obey God's Spirit.

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We were never spent, we were never

expected to just sit in a pew.

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Or sit in an aisle.

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Take bold steps of faith.

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And lastly, stay unified

with the Christian church.

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Stay unified with the Christian community.

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God's spirit enables us

to be unified together.

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It allows us to function together.

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We weren't meant to walk this alone.

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As we head into communion, I

want you to think of a couple

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of scriptures in Corinthians.

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It says,

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But all its many parts form

one body, so it is with Christ.

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For we were all baptized by one

spirit, so as to form one body.

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Whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free,

we were all given one spirit to drink.

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One spirit.

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We all are here unified by God's spirit.

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One spirit.

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One body.

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His church.

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Together.

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We sit very separate,

but we're actually one.

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And when we drink, the

one spirit to drink.

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It reflects this, is not the cup of

thanksgiving for which we give thanks

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a participation in the blood of Christ.

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It is not the bread that we break,

a participation in the body of

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Christ, because there is one love.

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Because who, uh, we who are many are

one body, for we all share the one loaf.

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When we take communion, we, we feel like

we all take it a little separately, we

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all open a little cup, all drink it.

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But in reality, we drink it together.

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And we eat it together.

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Why?

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Because we're living this

Christian life together.

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The ups and downs, the goods and

the bads, we share them together.

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And it was always meant to be that way.

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Because we've been given God's Spirit.

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God has never been alone.

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It's a concept to think about.

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God's never been alone.

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He's a triune God.

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He doesn't expect us to be alone either.

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We're here in a community,

and we have God's Spirit.

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So as we take communion, And we think

of this time of what to be grateful for.

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Be grateful that God said, you know what?

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I love you so much.

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I want a part of myself living in you

because that's how much I love you.

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Cause I'm going to walk with you

forever and someday you'll be

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reunited with me again for eternity.

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Let's pray.

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Father, as we come before

you, we are grateful to know

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that you love us so, so much.

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So much that you've given

us a part of yourself.

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That Jesus himself says, uh,

one will come greater than me.

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And that is your spirit

that lives inside of us.

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And that, God, we are not to

do this Christian life alone.

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We're not meant to.

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But here we are with our

brothers and sisters.

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And you say, with two or

more gathered, there you are.

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And here you are, God.

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You're with all of us.

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Because you love us so much.

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so much.

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Thank you, God, that the spirit we drink

is the one that unites us and doesn't

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divide us, is the one that helps us propel

us forward and doesn't hold us back.

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It's the spirit that ultimately unites

us with you and allows us to have

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your love poured out into us because

we are so precious in your sight.

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Help us live this out.

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Day to day as we, as we push

through knowing God that we might be

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perplexed, we might feel persecuted,

but we will never be destroyed

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because God, we walk with you.

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Father, thank you for the opportunity

to be a part of your body and

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your blood to sacrifice, but

most importantly to rise again.

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And we thank you in your son's name.

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Amen.