WEBVTT

NOTE
Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver
Episode: Ruah - Part 3
Publishing Date: 2025-02-11T05:04:44-08:00
Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca
Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/ruah-part-3/

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Irresistible wisdom.

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Irresistible wisdom. I'll throw in another one today, but we can wait.

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Brandon, you just want to come out and sort it or you want to wait till I call you up?

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Which one?

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Which one?

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The one with the guy in the special.

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Yes, thanks.

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MacMillan or Eccles?

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Okay.

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Okay.

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First day we did be filled, second day we did be joyed.

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Today we do, oh shucks, Matt Dirks told me to make the background black.

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I forgot. I apologize, Matt.

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Be convicted.

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So that's the topic today.

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The first day was be filled, second day was be joyed, today is be convicted.

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Guys, in 1972, there was this guy that he put on, the picture that he put,

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there was a guy called Jonas or Jonas Yoder.

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That was his name.

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And he was an Amish farmer.

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And around 1968 or 69, he began to have problems with the state of Wisconsin,

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where he defied the state of Wisconsin because he refused to send his daughter to school

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because as Amish then believed, they would allow their girls to go up to grade 8

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and then they would stop sending them to school.

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And so Yoder decided that he would not send his daughter to school beyond the 8th grade.

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And this was based on his religious convictions.

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The state of Wisconsin did not agree and so they took him to court.

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And he went to court and then found out that the state was quite adamant about it.

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So in the end, in 1972, it reads the Supreme Court.

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And the Supreme Court had to determine if Yoder actually believed in what he believed.

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If Yoder actually believed in what he believed.

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Whether he actually believed it.

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Because based on the First Amendment in the US, which we often hear of nowadays,

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you have freedom of religion, but the freedom of religion only applies to convictions.

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It does not apply to preferences.

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You may have a religious preference, but the First Amendment or the freedom of religion does not apply to preferences.

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It only applies to conviction.

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And that became a landmark case that changed everything in the US and in Canada.

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Today you have homeschooling because of this guy.

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Homeschooling didn't exist before that.

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Homeschooling began because he took this all the way to the Supreme Court.

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And so the court established that beliefs can be divided into two categories.

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Either it's a preference or it's a conviction.

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And the same applies to us, eh?

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What we believe, we say we have beliefs, but the question is,

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is our belief a preference or is our belief a conviction?

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And the Supreme Court began to define how one sees one from the other, how one distinguishes one from the other.

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And so the thing is both preferences and convictions can be intense, can be of great strength to you.

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They both share these characteristics.

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There were four characteristics that preferences and convictions shared.

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The first characteristic was you could go into full-time service for both preferences and convictions.

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Second, you could give all your wealth for the sake of preferences and convictions.

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Third, you could convert people to your preferences and convictions.

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And fourth, you could teach and train your children in your preferences and convictions.

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These were the common things that were held.

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So beliefs are divided into preferences and convictions.

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And you may have strong religious preferences or you may have strong religious convictions.

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Regardless, these were the four common characteristics to both preferences and convictions.

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One, you could go into full-time service for it.

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Two, you could give all your wealth towards it, whether it was a preference or conviction.

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Three, you could convert people to your religious preference or to your religious conviction.

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Four, you could teach and train your children to follow your preferences and convictions.

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But then they said that it is still a preference, your belief, your belief is still a preference if it changes.

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And so they put it to a test, and here was the test.

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They said if peer pressure makes you change, then it's a preference.

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If family pressure makes you change what you believe, it's a preference.

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If the fear of a lawsuit makes you change what you believe, it's a preference.

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If jail time makes you change what you believe, it's a preference.

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If the pressure of death makes you change what you believe, it's a preference.

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Crazy, eh?

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And then you begin to question what in our life is a preference, what in our life is a conviction?

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And this was not preached by a pastor in a church.

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It was the Supreme Court deciding how do we distinguish preferences from convictions?

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How do we distinguish religious preferences from religious convictions?

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And so here it was.

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If my preference or my belief, if my belief changes because of peer pressure,

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because of pressure that I feel from people around me or from the church that I pastor,

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if my beliefs begin to change, or from the pastors that I associate with,

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or from family where I begin to change my beliefs because I'm scared of what family will say.

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If I change my belief because I'm scared that you will sue me, that the government will sue me,

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that a provincial government will sue me, that I might be taken to a small court, a tribunal or a small claim court,

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then my belief is no longer a conviction, it's a preference.

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Next one, jail time.

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That if my belief will change because I'm scared that I might get thrown into prison,

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then it's no longer a conviction, it's just a preference.

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And finally, the pressure of death.

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If my beliefs change because I am threatened with death, then it was never a conviction, it was a preference.

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And we aren't even bringing the scriptures into it yet, but this was how it was outlined.

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Any questions pertaining to this? Not comments, just questions.

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Go ahead, Chawa.

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I guess it didn't matter if you were delusional, right?

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It didn't matter if you were delusional, yes.

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It didn't matter if you were delusional, if you were willing to go all this way.

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Because it's the freedom of religion, freedom of expression.

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That's the First Amendment and that was what this was based on.

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But these are the criteria.

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So if we were to take our faith, I have to test what I believe against this to see if it's a preference or if it's a conviction.

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One of the things we've been saying is for the Holy Spirit to get to do what he wants,

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to get dynamic life, witnessing to Christ, obedience to mission and gifts and miracles,

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I need deep conviction, self-denying courage and irresistible wisdom.

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Here's the key though.

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Anyone who has this kind of conviction will have the rest.

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This is the key.

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You have this, what are you afraid of now?

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You have this, why will it not show?

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You have this, why won't life be full of the zest of whatever you believe?

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That's why we've been talking about deep conviction because it's not a word we use.

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It's not a word we use.

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We think conviction ends with being convicted of sin.

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So then they define a conviction.

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So here's what conviction is defined as.

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It's rooted in your conscience.

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It's rooted in your conscience and cannot, I love this line,

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and cannot, love this line and fear this line, cannot be changed

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without changing what essentially defines the person.

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That too, that too, that to change a conviction is to change the person.

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You can't say I am Judah anymore because it changes who you are.

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This is the kind of Christianity that made the New Testament tick,

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the acts kind of Christianity,

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where it's a conviction that's birthed or born in my conscience

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and to change this conviction I have would mean actually changing the definition of who I am.

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It would be someone else.

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You take that away, I got, there's nothing.

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It's like gladiator one.

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I am so-and-so, Maximus Aurelius or whatever, son of so-and-so.

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There's this definition of who he is that has nothing to do with what he is doing.

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It has everything to do with who he is.

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And if that moves, he's got nothing left.

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They kept defining it and it gave substance to what a conviction is.

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They said one cannot hold a conviction,

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one cannot hold a conviction unless one can describe the conviction.

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I must be able to put it in words.

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Must be able to put it in words that will help someone simple understand, someone young understand.

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Suddenly, as I go through something, I say,

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Jacob, can you put it into words? Can you put your convictions into words?

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We'll try it. We'll attempt it today.

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Because it's the key to the rest. We have this, we have the rest.

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But as we look at these questions, you realize how flip-floppy our lives sometimes are, eh?

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Sometimes tossed by political winds, man.

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A conviction is a belief that will never change.

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But listen to the rest that they said.

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That will never change because a man believes that his God requires it of him.

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When you believe that your God has required something of you,

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you will withstand all of the tests they have spoken about.

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Crazy, eh?

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That's what one of the justices said.

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If you believe that this is what your God requires of you,

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then you will be able to withstand all these tests because it is God who has required it of you.

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A conviction is a belief that will never change because a man believes that his God requires it of him.

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And then it was written, when you believed that your God has required something of you,

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you will withstand all of the tests that have been spoken about.

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Next.

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A conviction must be purposed.

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A conviction must be purposed.

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As in, it should have purpose in your heart.

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Purposed, even if you're the only one standing,

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a conviction must be purposed in your heart.

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Purposed, even if you're the only one standing,

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a conviction must be purposed in your heart

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as a fabric of your belief system.

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I mean, or in other words, if I were to take the title of the guy's book,

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is your conviction purpose in your heart?

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I mean, or in other words, if I were to take the title of the guy's book,

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is your conviction, is it what drives you?

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Is it purpose driven? Your conviction makes you purpose driven.

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It doesn't matter if you're the only one standing.

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It fuels you, which sometimes then makes us realize that sometimes the reason

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there's no drive in our lives towards any horizon

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is because there is no concrete purpose that we have discovered,

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or if we have discovered it, it's shelled and it hasn't been explored.

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To purpose something is to both grasp it, define it, and explore it.

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And it's not for the lack of opportunity, at least not in this church.

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But can I walk in it? That's a whole different thing.

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Next one.

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A conviction must be consistent, a conviction must be consistent

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and seen in your daily life.

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A scene in your daily life

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And the quote said, you do not have the right to say you have a conviction

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unless we can somehow see you live that conviction with some element of consistency.

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And the quote said, you do not have the right to say you have a conviction

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unless we can somehow see you live that conviction with some element of consistency.

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So it has to show.

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Next one.

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If it is required

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that people stand

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with you

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before you stand,

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then

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it's a preference,

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not a conviction.

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If it requires that, if it is required that people stand with me before I

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stand,

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then it's not a conviction. It's a preference.

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Cause if people don't stand then I pack up.

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And so the court asked,

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as we must,

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are your beliefs or is your belief

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preferences

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or convictions?

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Any questions?

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What is the first word?

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R-A-R-E.

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You don't know much French, do you?

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Any questions?

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This is the test.

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It must be rooted in your conscience and cannot be changed without changing

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what essentially defines you as a person.

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You cannot hold a conviction unless you can describe the conviction.

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Conviction is a belief that will never change because a man believes that his

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God requires it often.

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A conviction must be purposed in your heart as a fabric of your belief system,

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as in must be explored, it must be worked out.

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A conviction must be consistent and seen in your data.

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If it is required that people stand with you before you stand,

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then it's a preference, not a conviction.

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Are your beliefs preferences or convictions?

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This really bothered me.

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I was writing this down and I began to weep because I want this and I

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don't know if I can stand the pressure of this on different areas of my life and

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come out ahead.

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And yet I desperately want this.

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So that's why we see in Paul's life, Paul's beliefs in Jesus Christ were

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non-negotiable, non-shakeable, non-stoppable.

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See, the thing here is they were deciding this for a man who does not want to send

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his child to be educated past the grade eight.

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It's a very difficult decision to make.

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To be educated past the grade eight.

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There's nothing in scripture that supports that.

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We're not talking about, so this is a case from the world, but I'm saying much

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more so for us as believers who have the scriptures to depend on.

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And all scriptures, not piecemeal, not taking a bit here and leaving the rest

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out, but the tapestry of scriptures, the whole gospel, not the part that you

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prefer or that you're stuck in.

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And so Paul, when it came to Paul, Paul's beliefs in Jesus Christ were

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non-negotiable, non-shakeable, non-stoppable.

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Daniel's beliefs.

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You can see now how this applies to these men.

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Applies to Paul?

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Yes.

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Applies to Daniel?

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Yes.

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Applies to Azariah, Hananiah, and Michelle, otherwise known as

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Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

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Yes.

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Applies to Bonhoeffer?

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Yes.

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Applies to Martin Luther, the guy who brought about the Reformation?

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Yes.

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Taking on an entire establishment.

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You don't know what that does to you.

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Just take on five people, it's good enough.

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Taking on all of Catholicism?

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Scares.

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A powerful Catholicism because it was connected to power.

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John Wesley felt the Lord saying to him that he should go preach.

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He goes to preach and the churches shut their doors on him.

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Should have packed up.

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No, he was so convicted of it that he began to preach in the outdoors.

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40,000 sermons, thousands coming.

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He would not go into churches, he would preach outdoors, like in the fields,

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on a horse.

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I've been to the Wesley Chapel in Bristol.

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Thing is we all want to be Joan of Arc and Paul and Luther and Wesley and Bonhoeffer,

00:25:47.640 --> 00:25:49.800
but the price is too high, man.

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So here are the questions we need to now deal with.

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That's what we'll spend most of our time doing.

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And the thing is, we all want to be John Wesley.

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That's what we'll spend most of our time doing.

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And as we ask these questions, allow for the fact that our answers may be ill-defined.

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Our answers may be ill-defined.

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We may not have good answers.

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Allow for the fact that it may expose lack in my life, expose my failure, expose the

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absence.

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This is even sadder, that it may expose the absence of conviction in my life.

00:26:42.840 --> 00:26:47.840
It may expose my fears, where I don't want to go down this route, because if I go down

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this route, then I am presented with choices.

00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:56.400
So all this applies to most everybody here, eh?

00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:01.080
So my answers may be ill-defined, as in I may not even be able to describe my convictions

00:27:01.080 --> 00:27:02.600
well, because I've never thought of them.

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It's been just preferences, beliefs that change according to the pressure that is around me.

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Two, it may expose my lack and my failure.

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It may expose my lack and my failure.

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Three, I might be shocked that there's an absence of real conviction in my life, that

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I don't have deep convictions about anything.

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Four, I may be so afraid of this that I may not attempt it.

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And so here are the questions.

00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:53.200
What are your deep convictions?

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What are your deep convictions about the nature of God?

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Come up with two that you think you have.

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If you can't come up with two, come up with one.

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If you can't come up with one, tell God that, Father, I'm so glad that you're exposing

00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:19.000
this right now.

00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:23.400
Hey, who invited us to this?

00:28:23.400 --> 00:28:25.200
The Holy Spirit.

00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:28.400
Who is the one who's going to bring these changes to pass in our lives?

00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:31.600
He, not me.

00:28:31.600 --> 00:28:33.000
He.

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That's why he invited us over the last three days, right?

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So what are your deep convictions about the nature of God?

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Come up with two and then add a three that you desire, add a third that you desire.

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And so how do we know it's a deep conviction?

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Because nothing shifts it.

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Is there something that I believe about the nature of God that is so concrete that it

00:29:07.800 --> 00:29:13.000
doesn't matter what happens to me, I will not doubt that part of his nature.

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And I have stopped doubting that part of his nature.

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And if that is not true, then I'll have to say that I usually do well, but every time

00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:31.400
it gets intense, I begin to doubt whether you really are this.

00:29:31.400 --> 00:29:33.400
So that's the first one.

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Next question.

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What are your deep convictions about what you've been tasked with?

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Or called by God for?

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Again, see if you have two.

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Don't add a third one.

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Just see if you have two.

00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:27.200
You know, I was reading about this guy called Scudder, John Scudder.

00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:34.600
And he was a doctor in New York taking care of a child.

00:30:34.800 --> 00:30:39.200
The child died and while he was getting up from the child's bedside, he saw a map on

00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:42.600
the child's wall in New York.

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And it was a map of India.

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And the chart revealed how few physicians there were among then India's population,

00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:54.400
was 350 million.

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And so his question was, why shouldn't I respond?

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His dad was upset.

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People were upset.

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They told him not to.

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The church was upset.

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This guy knew he had to respond.

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And he went there.

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He went there.

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His sons went there.

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Altogether, there have been at least a thousand missionaries that have gone to India as doctors

00:31:14.700 --> 00:31:18.400
because of this one man.

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What does it take for someone to be so convicted that he leaves his practice in New York and

00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:30.500
goes all the way to take care of the sick and the dying in a country that he has no connection to?

00:31:30.500 --> 00:31:35.300
So the second question is, what are your deep convictions about what you've been tasked

00:31:35.300 --> 00:31:38.700
with or called by God for?

00:31:38.700 --> 00:31:39.500
What is it?

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And if we don't know it, then yes, we have to find out.

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We may not be able to find it out today, but we can start the process.

00:31:46.700 --> 00:31:51.900
And if you know it, how well am I passing this test?

00:31:58.100 --> 00:32:00.000
Let's say, let's just take an example.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.600
Let's say Hebrides 2.0, as we've been talking about, is the purpose or task that I have.

00:32:04.600 --> 00:32:06.400
Will I stand up to this?

00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:10.800
When peer pressure comes and says, ah, taking too long, not real, your imagination.

00:32:10.800 --> 00:32:15.200
When family pressure comes saying, don't spend your money on going up and down doing this stuff

00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:17.500
because you have nothing left.

00:32:17.500 --> 00:32:23.200
When the fear of a lawsuit comes in a country where you're not supposed to proselytize.

00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:28.100
When jail time becomes real, then what happens to Hebrides 2.0?

00:32:28.100 --> 00:32:31.300
Pack it and come back and sing worship songs about revival?

00:32:34.100 --> 00:32:36.700
Or the pressure of death?

00:32:36.700 --> 00:32:39.300
Examine it with that lens, Jacob.

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Thank God we have a God who wants these kind of people, not anything less.

00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:55.700
And then think of two, and then the last question.

00:32:58.100 --> 00:33:25.700
What are your deep convictions about the gospel and witnessing

00:33:28.500 --> 00:33:41.700
two or four, the resurrected Christ as a lifestyle, not an occasional thing?

00:33:45.300 --> 00:33:47.300
Can you come up with two?

00:33:51.700 --> 00:33:52.900
What are convictions?

00:33:52.900 --> 00:33:55.700
What are your deep convictions about the gospel and witnessing two or four, the resurrected Christ as a lifestyle, not an occasional thing?

00:33:55.700 --> 00:33:59.700
The third question, I would prefer not dealing with.

00:33:59.700 --> 00:34:02.700
The third question, we will deal with.

00:34:02.700 --> 00:34:16.100
So, got paper here if you don't have your phone, got pens in the pew or somewhere,

00:34:16.100 --> 00:34:22.300
feel free to grab the paper and I'll pray and then let's start writing.

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Let's take time to do this.

00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:27.500
Yeah.

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And if you have children, take turns so that the husband or wife can both attend this.

00:34:52.300 --> 00:35:12.300
We are not reading this out.

00:35:12.300 --> 00:35:13.500
We're not doing anything of that sort.

00:35:13.500 --> 00:35:20.900
This is just so we can ask God to help us become a church of convictions, not of preferences.

00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:22.700
Our beliefs have to be convictions.

00:35:29.200 --> 00:35:30.000
Can we pray?

00:35:35.400 --> 00:35:36.300
Holy Spirit,

00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:43.500
if I have deep convictions about anything,

00:35:44.500 --> 00:35:47.600
tested by peer pressure, family pressure,

00:35:49.300 --> 00:35:50.300
lawsuits,

00:35:50.900 --> 00:35:52.700
jail time, death,

00:35:54.200 --> 00:35:58.500
if I can still come up saying, I believe so strongly in this,

00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:05.800
that I'm ready to face these, then

00:36:07.800 --> 00:36:09.000
everything else I get.

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This is the key.

00:36:10.800 --> 00:36:12.200
This is the key that opens the door.

00:36:14.400 --> 00:36:15.300
Spirit of God,

00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:23.300
you're the one who convicts and then you're the one who brings us to a place where we can rise up to the standard of Christ.

00:36:23.600 --> 00:36:24.400
That's your work.

00:36:24.500 --> 00:36:25.200
You do that.

00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:32.800
You want this church to be a church that has strong convictions about

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:42.000
the nature of God, about the things we are called to and about the gospel and witnessing to the resurrected Christ.

00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:42.800
You want all three.

00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:43.700
You want this.

00:36:45.700 --> 00:36:47.100
I can only explain it.

00:36:47.900 --> 00:36:48.900
You have to help us.

00:36:49.700 --> 00:36:50.700
You're not here to shame us.

00:36:50.700 --> 00:36:54.300
You're not here to condemn us, but you are here to expose and then build up.

00:36:56.700 --> 00:36:59.700
Jesus, across this room, would you send your Spirit?

00:36:59.900 --> 00:37:03.700
Jesus, you had such strong convictions, took you to the cross.

00:37:04.900 --> 00:37:08.300
Peer pressure, family pressure, threats,

00:37:09.500 --> 00:37:10.500
political pressure.

00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:12.000
You had it all.

00:37:13.800 --> 00:37:16.400
And there are many who've gone before us that have stood this.

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Jesus, let there be people here.

00:37:19.800 --> 00:37:21.400
You know, I should ask

00:37:23.000 --> 00:37:26.400
Brandon to put up a Bonhoeffer quote that you should read.

00:37:27.200 --> 00:37:29.200
Can you just put it and then switch back to this?

00:37:29.500 --> 00:37:31.700
Can you just put it and then switch back to this?

00:37:41.700 --> 00:37:43.100
Who stands fast?

00:37:44.100 --> 00:37:51.700
Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom or his virtue.

00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:58.500
But who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action and faith.

00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:01.000
And in exclusive allegiance to God.

00:38:01.800 --> 00:38:08.000
Responsible man who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and the call of God.

00:38:08.400 --> 00:38:10.400
Where are these responsible people?

00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:12.800
I pray that he finds them here.

00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:14.800
Pray that he finds them here.

00:38:15.800 --> 00:38:19.900
This is what, this is the standard God is setting for us over these days.

00:38:20.200 --> 00:38:21.000
Come on, man.

00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:24.400
Why would he invite us if he didn't think we were capable?

00:38:24.900 --> 00:38:29.500
He's not a thief who asks a dog to jump high and then keeps pulling the meat away.

00:38:29.700 --> 00:38:31.200
It's because he thinks we can.

00:38:32.500 --> 00:38:37.600
You know, in a church this size, it takes eight or nine people to become like this and the rest will follow.

00:38:39.900 --> 00:38:40.400
That's all.

00:38:40.500 --> 00:38:44.500
Eight or nine who can rise up to this and the entire church will follow.

00:38:44.500 --> 00:38:47.700
And when this church begins to work like that, the earth will follow.

00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:50.900
I am not making a false claim.

00:38:51.400 --> 00:38:59.400
So, Holy Spirit, would you please help us in Jesus name I ask because from here on it's your show.

00:39:01.400 --> 00:39:02.400
You can do this in my heart.

00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:03.400
I can't.

00:39:03.900 --> 00:39:05.400
So can you go back to the questions?

00:39:20.900 --> 00:39:23.400
You