Whatever - Dr. A. Nathan Young

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
I'm coming on the stage For those of you who are
online.
Thank you for being here today.
Welcome to community church.
We thank God for your presenceand thank you for being here.
I have to tell you that Ireceived an email From one of

(00:27):
the people who joined us for thefirst time online on Christmas
Eve and it was on Christmas Eveno, it was the following Sunday.
No, it was.
It was either Christmas Eve orthe following Sunday that he,

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out in Washington, the state ofWashington, through our online
service, accepted Jesus Christthat's his Lord and Savior, amen
, and my brother.
I want to welcome you.

(01:12):
I know you're watching and wethank God for you, and thank you
for letting us know the impactthat the Lord has made upon your
life as a result of theministry of community church.
Can we give God and thatbrother a big round of applause?
I was so encouraged when I gotthat message this morning, and

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so we thank God for it.
I'm also receiving your storiesabout what God is doing
throughout fast and how he'smoving in your life, and please
continue to send those, as theyare so encouraging to myself,
and it's just good to make noteof what the Lord is doing when

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you chase after him, amen.
So if you sense or hearing Iknow you are as you sense and
hear from the Lord during thisfast Let me know.
Go to share your story on ourwebsite and I'll get an email
straight to me that tells mewhat the Lord is doing.

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Even if you're struggling andyou say past, I have this
question and that question.
Go to share your story and letme know.
All right, johann Sebastian Bachwas to classical music what
William Shakespeare was toEnglish literature.

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He was to classical music whatIsaac Newton was to physics.
The crazy part about JohannSebastian Bach having such an
impact on classical music isthat when you read up on it, you

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find out that when he wrote it,his music it was actually.
I got a horrible ringing.
It was actually regarded as oldfashioned, it was ignored and
by the time he died in 1750, hismusic was all but forgotten

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about by the majority of hiscontemporaries.
But then, sometime later on,somebody introduced his music to
a man named Mozart, and wheremost people saw old fashioned
Mozart saw genius.
And in 1829, a 20 year oldmusician by the name of Felix

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Mendelssohn got hold of hismusic and he re orchestrated it
and it led to a revival ofBach's music and now, nearly 400
years later after it wasoriginally scored, his music is
still some of the best and mostpopular music that is chosen by

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one of life's momentousoccasions time and time again
the entrance of the bride atwedding ceremonies.
400 years later, in 2021, hewas one of the most streamed
artists on Spotify.
But there's something aboutBach's music that even those who

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are familiar with it may or maynot know, and that is that
every song that Bach wrote beganas a prayer.
It was a prayer before it was asong.
You may also not know that,before he wrote his music, at

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the beginning of every song, hewould write the initials JJ,
which stood for Esu uva,translated Jesus, help Me.
And then, at the end of everysong, he would write Soledil
Gloria, translated to the gloryof God alone.

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And I suspect that the reasonwhy Bach's music would become
what it has become, the reasonwhy it still enjoys the kind of
popularity that many peoplechase and can never accomplish,
the reason why it's still 400years later, has maintained its

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relevance and importance andimpact is because Bach knew, he
understood that, along with hismusic, his life existed.
For the glory of God.
I have to wonder what wouldhappen in our society if every

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believer who called themselvesthe Christ follower literally
lived their life for the gloryof God.
I wonder what would happen ifevery Christian entrepreneur had
not just a business, but abusiness that had began as a
prayer and that was run in a waythat gave God glory.

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I wonder what would happen if,in the halls of Congress, every
bill that was submitted bycongressmen and women who called
themselves believers began as aprayer and at the beginning of
every bill there were theinitials JJ, jesus, jesus, help

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me, and then at the end of itthere was the initials SDG, to
the glory of God alone.
I wonder what would happen inour nation, in our state, if
every bill that was submittedwas submitted for the glory of

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God alone.
Could you imagine high schooland college students If at the
beginning of every test were theinitials JJ and at the end of
every paper written was SDG, ifeverything they did was for the

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glory of God alone?
And then here's the questionfor all of us today what would
happen in your life If literallyeverything you did originated
as a prayer and was done for theglory of God?
What if everything you do itdid after the end of it?

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At the end of it, you were ableto sign the letters SDG to the
glory of God alone.
First, corinthians, 10 and 31says this so, whether you eat or
what, come on now.
Whether you eat or what, orwhat he says, whether you eat or

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drink, or whatever you would do, do it all to the glory of the
key word in that verse iswhatever, whatever you do.
See, many times when we look atthat verse we focus on the
eating and drinking and we gohow in the world do I eat or

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drink to the glory of God?
Well, you probably don't eatlike your pastor, but the
emphasis there is not on just onwhat you eat or you drink.
The emphasis in this verse ison the whatever you do.
He says whatever you do, you doit all for the glory of who,

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god.
In.
Just in case you were doubtingit, you flip over to Colossians
3, 23 and the same apostle Paulsays there that word is again
whatever you what, whatever youdo, work at it with all your as
working for who, as working forthe Lord, not for human masters.
He says whatever you do, do itfor the glory of God.

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See, here's the deal Many times, instead of doing it for the
glory of God, we do it for ourown glory.
Notice what this verse sayswhatever you do, work at it with
all your what as working forwho and not for human what.
See, most of the time when wesee human masters, we think of

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other people, our boss, oursupervisor, the person who leads
us For him.
On this, no one is in morecontrol of your life other than
the Lord, than you are.
So when he says not for humanmasters, that includes you he

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says you don't you.
You do it as if you're workingfor who?
The Lord, not for human beings.
That includes yourself.
See, when I'm doing what I'mdoing for my glory, then what
I'm doing matters.
When I'm doing what I'm doingfor my glory, I look for my

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significance and my self-worthin what I'm doing, so that if
the ministry is not big enough,if the, if the position is not
important enough, if the job isnot viewed as prestigious enough
, then first of all, for some ofus we wouldn't even do it,

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because for us it doesn't haveenough significance.
That's why you have people inthe church who will get on the
stage but won't get in theparking lot.
People who will pick up a micbut won't pick up a trash bag.
People who will lead a ministrybut won't be led by a ministry
leader.
People who are willing to teachothers but when it's time for

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them to be taught, they don'tshow up.
That's why some of us like togo to groups on Zoom, because we
think nobody knows we're notpaying attention.
Watch this.
We think we're hiding the factthat we want to teach, but we're
too arrogant and prideful to betaught.

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God only rewards those who notonly do the right things, but
God rewards those who do theright things for the right
reason.
I told you last week you coulddo the right thing all your life
and still not get anythingright.
Proverbs 16, 2 and 3 sayspeople may be pure in their own

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eyes, but the Lord examinestheir motives.
God examines their motives.
God says, yes, I see youfollowing the rules, but there's
a heart problem here.
You're following the rules, butyou're not following the rules
for the right reason.
You're following the rules, butyour motives for following the

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rules aren't right.
You're not doing it for myglory, you're doing it for your
own.
You're not doing it to make myname known.
You're doing it to make yourname known.
And when I read that verse inProverbs I have to wonder how
many rewards have I avoided ineternity?
How many rewards have I missedin the kingdom?

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Because I did the right thing,but I didn't do the right thing
for the right reason.
I can't tell you enough thatit's not what you do that
matters.
It's not what you do thatcauses the Lord to bless you.
It's not what you do that givesyou peace, that gives you
fulfillment, but it's who you'redoing it for.
When I get to the place where,whatever I do, I do it for the

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glory of God.
When I get to the place where,no matter what I'm doing, I work
at it with all my heart becauseI know it's for the Lord and
not for any human, includingmyself Watch this that's when I
get fulfillment from what I'mdoing.
That's when whatever I'm doingbecomes the greatest thing that
I've done.
That's how I find peace, nomatter where I am in life,

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because my satisfaction does notcome from the what I'm doing.
It comes from the who I'm doingit for.
My satisfaction in life doesn'tcome, my sense of fulfillment
doesn't come from the what I'mdoing.
Fulfillment comes from who I'mdoing it for.
I don't look to myaccomplishments to make me

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significant.
Everything I do is significantbecause I'm not doing it for my
own glory, I'm doing it for theglory of God.
The Bible says in Exodus,chapter 3, verse 1 through 5,
one day Moses was tending theflock of his father in law,
Jethro, the priest of Midian.

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He led the flock far into thewilderness and came to Sinai,
the mountain of God.
There, the angel of the Lordappeared to him in a blazing
fire, from the middle of a bush.
That's what it says.
Moses stared in amazement,though the bush was engulfed in
flames.
It didn't do what, it didn'tburn up.

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So Moses is in the middle ofnowhere and all of a sudden, in
the distance, in the middle ofnowhere, he sees a bush on fire.
And it says Moses looked and hesaw the bush.
And he says man, this isamazing that bush is on fire,
but it's not burning up.
Why isn't that bush burning up?

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And the next sentence is whatlets you know that Moses was not
a brother, tim, becauseeveryone said I must go.
Nah, there was no brother.

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I ain't trying to be racist,but this was not a black man.
Listen, listen, listen, listen.
Last night let me tell you howI know it wasn't a black man.
Last night, last night, me andJoyce.
Last night, me and Joyce, withthe only ones home, and we heard

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a big, huge noise that soundedlike fireworks off in the
distance.
Boom.
Joy said Nate, she in the otherroom, I'm in the kitchen.
I said what she said.
What was that?
That's exactly what I did I'min the kitchen, she in the room.

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And then I said I don't know.
And then we heard it a few moretimes Boom, boom sounded like
bombs going off.
And she said Nathan.
And I said what she said.
What is that?
I said I don't know, but I'maget my dog and go see.

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I can't tell y'all how sheresponded.
I said what you want me to do.
She was like I don't know.
And I was like I don't knoweither, but I ain't gonna see.
Somebody gotta say whathappened.
If you wanna go my truckoutside.

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Moses saw this burning butcher.
He said I must go.
What?
Watch this next verse.
When the Lord saw Moses comingto take a closer look, god
called to him from the middle ofthe bush and he said Moses,
moses.
And Moses replied what there's.
Your second clue this wasn't abrother.

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If a voice would have came outof a burning bush, brother
wouldn't have said here I am,brother would have said there I
am, angerly express.
Watch this next verse.
The Lord said do not comeanywhere.

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The Lord warned Watch what hetells him.
He says I don't want you totake off your sandals.
Why, lord?
Because you are standing onwater and you're standing on
water and you're standing onwater because you are standing
on what You're standing on holyground.
I want you to get this.

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God appears to Moses in themiddle of nowhere.
When you study this, yourealize he's on the backside of
a desert, in the middle ofnowhere, and God shows up there.
And of all things, he shows upin a burning bush.

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Jewish scholars have argued anddebated as to why would God
choose the middle of nowhere anda burning bush to show up.
Why wouldn't he choose a placeof significance, whether a lot
of people, or a place ofsignificance like some monument

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or something?
And the only reasonableexplanation that they could come
up with for why God wouldchoose the middle of nowhere to
show up to Moses and a raggedy,burning bush to show up is
because God wanted to show us,and show Moses, that wherever

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you are, there I am.
It doesn't matter whether you'rein a prominent place or if
you're in the wilderness.
It doesn't matter whetheryou're in a place that you like
or in a place that you don'tlike.
It's called the Eminence of God.
And AW Tozer says of theEminence of God.

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He says that God, he didn't saythis, this is the?
A Nathan Young version.
The?
A Nathan Young version is thatGod is like a visa card he's
everywhere you wanna be.
Aw Tozer said God is above, buthe's not pushed up.

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He's beneath but he's notpressed down.
He's outside, but he's notexcluded.
And he's inside, but he's notconfined.
He's above all things,presiding, beneath all things,
sustaining, outside of allthings, embracing, and he's
inside of all things, feeling.
God is everywhere.

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Now notice what God tells Moses.
He says take off your sandals,because the place that you are
standing on is holy water Ground.
In other words, moses, itdoesn't matter that you're in
the middle of a desert.
Wherever my presence is is holyground.
Wherever I am becomes holywater Ground.

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Listen, listen, listen.
You know the problem.
For most of us, we think thatposition determines everything,
place determines everything.
And the reason why we don't doa whole lot of things and why we
miss giving God the glory, nomatter where we are, is because

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we think where we are matters.
And what we don't realize isthat when you receive Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, thenthe Holy Spirit took up
residence in your heart.
So wherever you go, god goes,and so wherever you are standing
, you are standing on holy waterGround.

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And because wherever you go,god goes and wherever you're
standing, you're standing onholy ground.
You ought to live your life, nomatter where you are, in such a
way that God says that I see,you recognize that your feet are
upon holy ground, no matterwhere you are.

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I want you to think aboutsomething.
What if Moses had waited tillhe got to the promised land to
give God glory?
He never would have given Godglory because Moses never got to
the promised land.
What if he had viewed?
Just?
You know the problem for someof us we only viewed the

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promised land as holy ground.
We think that we have to get toa certain position.
We think that we have to get toa certain position, that we
have to be in a certain place.
We think that we have to be ata certain state in life, that
things have to be going acertain way.

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But God tells Moses, he saystake off your sandals right
where you are, because rightwhere you are, you are standing
on what You're standing on holyground.
See, sometimes we allow ourposition in life to drive how we
do what we do.
We allow where we are todetermine who we are.

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But Moses was in the middle ofnowhere and out of nothing.
God made himself known andcalled Moses the greatness.
See, that's why and listen tome, young people you have to let
your purpose drive you, notyour position.
Let your purpose drive you andnot your.

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What you gotta let your purposegive you fulfillment.
You gotta let your purpose giveyou significance, not your
position.
It's your purpose, not yourposition.
Listen, holy ground is not whenyou get to the promised land,
it's wherever you are andwhatever it is that you're doing
.
Because wherever you are andwhatever it is that you're doing

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, you ought to be doing it tothe glory of God.
Because God is there.
Every moment is a holy moment.
You ought to live like it.
Every place you set your footupon is holy ground.
You should act like it.
Why, apostle?

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Because you never know how Godmight show up in whatever you're
doing.
That's why you should dowhatever you do for the glory of
God.
Young people, listen to me, hearme on this.
You gotta do it.
Like anything you do, don'tlisten.
I gotta apologize.
Young people, we owe you anapology and I've said this

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before, but I'm gonna say it andsay it and say it because I
don't want raise your hand hereif you got kids that you're
still raising, come on, allright.
Good, I'm saying this for you,listen, listen, listen.
Raise your hand here if youbetween the age of 18 and 30.

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Okay, good, good, good, we owey'all an apology because we lied
to y'all.
We meant well, we meant well,but we sold you a bill of goods.
We told you to follow yourheart.
We told you to find somethingyou love, and if you found

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something you love, theneverything was gonna be okay.
We told you to find yourpassion and that if you find
your passion, then you weregonna be all right.
And here you are, some of us,18 to 30 years old, and you

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still ain't found your passion.
Passion is fleeting.
And listen, your mama ain'tgonna tell you, so I'm gonna
tell you she care about yourfeelings.
I don't.
The problem with passion, theproblem with pursuing things

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based on what you like and youlove, is that the root of it is
the wrong person you and thereason why you feel so
unfulfilled and the reason whyyou feel so unstable and like

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you can't grab what you'rechasing is because God is not
gonna help you be more about you.
That's called selfish, and theLord is not interested in
helping you become more ofsomething that he's against.
I tell you what y'all look like.

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Y'all don't believe me.
Next time you go to Walmart,this is what I want you to do.
When you roll up to thatregister and they ask you how
you wanna pay, tell them you'repaying with passion, but make
sure you say it passionately.

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Next time y'all do online bills, nah huh.
Next time you go online to paythem bills, when it asks you for
your bank information, writepassion card in there.

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See how far that take you.
Listen, listen, listen you.
It's your purpose, not yourposition, and the problem is
that you're looking for yourpurpose in your position.

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Listen.
If your mama was honest withyou, if your daddy was honest
with you, she knows you wouldtell you.
They would tell you that theywere not always passionate about
what they had to do to raiseyou.
Lord have mercy.
There were some days when theydidn't wanna go to work.

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There were some people they hadto deal with that they didn't
wanna deal with, and some daysit was you.
Lord have mercy.
Jesus, am I right about it?
Parents, you can say hey, man,I said it, not you.

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I know y'all scared.
You keep chasing your passionand wanna make you happy and
Lord wanna forgive you andyou're looking for it in your
position in life.
And your position in life isalways going to change and it's

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never guaranteed.
Someday, for whatever reason,you're gonna wake up and you're
gonna feel good about going tothat job.
Usually it's on Fridays or thefirst and 15th.
However, you get paid.
Am I right about it?
Am I right about it?
But it's okay, because mypurpose is not wrapped up in

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where I am.
My purpose is bigger than whereI am Once your purpose.
My purpose is to live my lifein such a way that I give God
glory and no matter where I amand no matter what's going on in
my life, I endeavor to give Himglory In wealth.

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I give Him glory, and inpoverty I give Him glory.
If I'm in sickness, I give Godglory, and if I've got my health
in strength, I give God glorywith my life.
That's where my sense offulfillment comes from, not from

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what I'm doing, but from whoI'm doing it.
For he says Moses, take off yourshoes, right here in the middle
of the wilderness.
Because right here in themiddle of the wilderness, you
are standing on what it's holyground.
What would happen in your lifeif you treated your life like no

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matter what?
How much trouble would you saveyourself, lord, have mercy, if
you treated everywhere you wereand whatever you were doing,
like you were standing on.
Help me, holy ghost, I'm out oftime.

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Oh man, all right, just give meExodus 4 real quick and I'm
going to leave you all alone, itsays.
But Moses protested again.
He's going through all theseexcuses why he can't.
He's just like you.
He's telling God all the reasonwhy he can't do what he wanted

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him to do.
He went from everything from Igot a stuttering problem, I
can't talk, he told him.
They're not going to know who Iam.
He told God all of it, and thenit boiled down to this one
thing Moses said what if theywon't believe me or listen to me
?
What if they say you lyingMoses?

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The Lord never did whatAppeared to you.
Watch this.
Then the Lord asked him what isthat in your what?
A shepherd staff.
Moses replied Watch what Godtells him to do with it.
Throw it down to the what.
So Moses threw it down and itturned into a what.

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Moses jumped what?
Okay, he might have been abrother, it's a chance.
Then the Lord told him reachout and grab his what.
So Moses reached out andgrabbed it.
Nah, I wasn't a brother.
Then it turned back into a what.

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Watch this.
Here's what I need you tounderstand.
He said perform this sign, theLord told him.
Then they will believe that theLord, the God of their
ancestors, the God of Abraham,the God of Isaac and the God of
Jacob, really has done whatAppeared to you.
Here's what I need you tounderstand.

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The staff represented Moses.
Identity and security as ashepherd was the way he made a
living.
It was the way he protecteditself and protected his flock.
So when God tells him throw itdown, he was asking Moses watch
this.
To let go of who he was andwhat he had, it was his all in

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moment.
Can I ask you, what are youholding on to?
See, here's the thing aboutwhat you hold on to.
Here's the thing about whatyou're not willing to let go of.
If you're not willing to let go, satan gives you the idea that,
because you don't let go,you're in control of it.

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But really, the inability tolet go and throw it down at the
feet of Jesus doesn't say thatyou're in control of it.
It says that it's in control ofyou.
So what is it in your life,during this fast or outside of
it, that God has told you to letgo of, that God has told you to

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throw down?
See, here's the deal.
If Moses had never thrown itdown, all it would have ever
been was a staff.
But because Moses was willingto throw it down, god took it
and performed the miraculouswith it.
Life is such that we have gooddays and we have bad days.

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Life is such that we havesuccesses and we have failures.
Life is such that all kinds ofthings happen and we cannot
guarantee what's going to happenin our lives.
So how, pastor, do I findfulfillment?
How do I find peace?

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How do I make sure that I leavea mark on this world that I
live, even beyond me, likeJohann Sebastian Bach.
There's only one way you throweverything in your life,
including your life itself, downat the feet of Jesus and you

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make your entire existence aboutliving for the glory of God
without His bow.

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How do I live my life for theglory of God?
Well, the first step issurrendering your life to Him.
It's giving your life to theperson of Jesus Christ.

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It's accepting Him as bothSavior and Lord.
Right where you are, whileheads are bowed and eyes are
closed, those of you who areonline, you too, the Holy Spirit

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is pulling at your heart sayingthrow your life at the feet of
Jesus.
Today is the day that you beginto live for the glory of God.
Today is the day that you giveyour life to Him.

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Pastor, I know it's what Ishould do.
How do I do it?
First, you understand that yourworks won't get you there, that
being good won't get you there,that you don't live right and

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do right so that you can get toGod.
You go to God and then you liveright because you're connected
to Him.
See, the only one who is ableto do it with their works is
Jesus.
Everybody else in all ofhumanity is flawed, born with a

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sin nature.
He was the only one to evercome to this earth and live
without sin.
And then Jesus said God theFather, I'll make a deal with
you.
If they accept me as Lord andSavior, will you give them
eternal life based on myperfection, in spite of their

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imperfection?
God says yes.
And Jesus says if you confesswith your mouth that he is Lord
and believe in your heart thatGod raised them from the dead,
then you'll be saved Right whereyou are.

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Pastor, that's me.
I need to do that today.
I need to surrender my life toHim.
I need to accept Him as Lordand Savior.
I'm not going to call you outor call you down, but if you
would slip up your hand, I'llsee your hand, I'll see your

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hand.
Come on.
Yeah, it's about our lives.
Yeah, it's about eyes closed.
Now, whether you raise yourhand or not, the Holy Spirit's
knocking on the door of yourheart and you want to accept Him

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as Lord.
You want to surrender your liferight where you are.
Just repeat this prayer afterme.
Just say dear Lord, today I'msurrendering my life to you, I'm
accepting you as Lord andSavior, I'm asking you to come
into my heart.
I believe you died on the crossfor my sins and that you rose

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again.
Fill me with your Holy Spiritso that I can be who you want me
to be, and I thank you forsaving me today.
It's in the mighty and mattressname of Jesus Christ we pray,
and all of God's people saidamen.
Come on, give God a hand.