Episode Transcript
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Dina LaFargue Augusti (00:00):
Greetings
and welcome to a new episode of
the Drip Line, where love andhealing will drip into your soul
.
Tune in and come along thisjourney, allowing love and truth
to permeate your entire being.
Hopefully, the message sharedtoday will touch your heart,
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bringing you closer to yourhealing and empowering you for
your daily life, helping youmove through the process
successfully.
Take a listen.
Today's lesson is aboutrejection.
Who is rejected by God?
Tell me, who does the Lordreject?
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I will tell you no one.
No, none at all.
Many people may think otherwise, but God loves everyone.
He says so.
He just won't force anyone toknow him or to love him.
But in all actuality, he is theone rejected.
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He is the one ignored.
He is the despised and liedupon.
He is the one who loses theones he loves.
He is the one who watches theworld turn upside down in
violence, greed, perversion andwhorishness.
He is the one that is ignored.
He is the one not believed in.
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A seeming failure for a Godthat is supposed to be
all-powerful, all-knowing andever-present, wouldn't you say?
But my point today is that Godis the one misunderstood and
rejected, not us.
He does not reject us, andalthough it seems like
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everything is his fault, I'llshow you how it's not.
I ask the question where is ourfaith and where do our hearts
lie?
There are many reasons people donot believe in God or any God.
People have told me they don'tbelieve in God because God never
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answered their prayers and theysubsequently felt ignored,
rejected, unworthy.
or that he just can't be real.
His silence said so.
Some have said their own fearshave caused them to hesitate
believing because they believeGod will reject them for one
reason or the other.
There are many reasons:
people are atheists, agnostics, (02:30):
undefined
or even believers without a Godrelationship.
I don't have time to list themall or review them all, but I'm
going to speak to a few andhopefully something in here will
touch you or matter to you.
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For anyone that feels God hasrejected them or who lacks
relationship or is an atheistbecause they believe God failed
them, I would say this (03:01):
In my
heart I would really say, "did
you know who you were praying to?
Did you know this God?
Which God were you praying to?
How do you know he didn'tanswer you?
Did you want an answer or didyou want him?
Were you sincere?
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Were you reaching out out ofpure necessity, just to get
something you wanted, or did youalso have a desire for God?
People spend many years bearingfeelings of failure, guilt,
feelings of self-loathing,inadequacy, rejection or
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resentment by loved ones,community and society.
People often develop distortedsenses of self-worth and
rejection by God because ofthese experiences and emotions.
Consequently, an individual,for one reason or the other, may
feel hopelessly unworthy oflove or the acceptance and love
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of God, which is the mostimportant and profound and
purest love of all.
Fact, everyone makes mistakesand everyone, at some point, has
experienced some level ofrejection or failure in life.
Some of us at very young agesdue to parents, siblings,
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teachers or other significantothers' failures, people of
influence who had a strongimpact.
Some of us experiencedrejection later in life through
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broken relationships orprofessional failures or
financial failures.
Regrettably, we might allow allof these negative and hurtful
experiences mold our feelingsabout ourselves.
We might start to believe thatwe will never have, that we will
never be, that we will neversucceed, that nothing good will
ever happen to us, and then wesink into a despairing cyclone
of hopelessness, emptiness, andself-loathing.
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Many of us experience so manyrejections, hurts, and failures
in life that we come to believeit's our fault, that it's our
destiny, that we aren't born foranything good, and that God has
essentially rejected us ornever loved us - and that if we
even dare to call on him, howdare we actually?
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Because his ears would beclosed, shut.
As a result, we turn tonegative self-talk.
We jokingly might say to othersor ourselves well, "I'm a loser
anyway, or my life just sucks,so who cares?
All jokes aside, usually thereis some truth in the words that
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a person says.
They have a deeper meaning andcan speak to how the person
really feels about themselvesdeep inside.
Some of the general sayings,some common sayings are: 'I'm
not good enough,' ' I can't doit,' ' I'm not strong enough,'
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'I'm not smart enough.
' We might say (06:20):
'I always mess
up,' or ' I'm just a failure,'
'I'll never be able to just getover this.
' We might even hear ourselvessaying to ourselves or others:'
I'm just so stupid,' 'what aloser,' or 'I'm such a pain to
everybody'.
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"Some of us don't even feel
worthy of reaching out to othersbecause nothing good has ever
come of it, or we just feel likewe need to crawl under a rock.
We might even say, ' I'll neverhit my personal best again,' or
'my career has hit a plateau.
' ' I'm too fat,' 'I'm tooskinny,' 'I'm too dark,'' I'm
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too light,' "aggressive, 'I'mtoo passive,' 'I'm too shy,' all
the 'toos'.
We might even say, ' I justcan't handle it anymore,' 'I
just can't deal with myemotions,' 'the stress is
destroying me.
'" even though bad things havehappened, we might speak them
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out to such a point that we area self-fulfillin g prophecy that
everything we touch turns togarbage.
No, we've got to stop.
We've got to stop the self-talkand I've spoken about this
before.
And especially, we cannot letthose negative feelings, and
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those negative words have animpact on our relationship with
God, have an impact on how hethinks about us.
Because, no matter what, Godsays, we are his - we are his
beloved, we are his creation.
Now, there are some studies thatshow that self-talk does have a
strong impact.
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PVD Pvd PsychologicalAssociates and their Exceptional
Therapy and Testing in PVDarticles supports the idea that
negative thinking actuallyrequires or impacts our brains.
It significantly can impact itsstructure and function.
It can lead to a cycle ofnegative emotions, impaired
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cognitive abilities and evencontribute to physical health
problems.
It explains further brain Brainchemistry and structure is
greatly impacted because Becausethe negative thinking can
trigger a release of stresshormones like cortisol cortisol,
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which can have detrimentaleffects on the brain and the
body over time.
It goes on to say that chronicnegative thinking can alter
brain structure, potentiallyshrinking areas associated with
memory and emotional regulation,while over-activating others.
This is profound.
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It can also disrupt the balanceof neurotransmitters like
serotonin, which plays a role inmood and well-being.
So, So I believe most of usagree that negative experiences
and negative thoughts can leadus down dangerous roads.
No one, I believe no one setsout to be a negative quote, so
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to speak.
No one sets out to be a loser.
I don't believe anyone saysthat as a child, that when they
grow up they want to become aprostitute, a thief, a pimp, a
drug dealer, a murderer, abatterer, a drug addict, an
alcoholic, a jobless person, ahomeless person, or a codependen
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t.
All of these are symptomatic offeeling like one's choices have
been limited or are limited dueto the lack of opportunity
coupled with negativeexperiences.
And society, sadly, may oftenlabel people as worthless,
incompetent, unsuccessful,lacking maturity or just
downright derelicts to society,just depending.
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Now, the term derelict canrefer to a person who is
neglecting their duties orobligations as a citizen or as a
person.
It can specifically refer to adestitute person without a home
or regular job, to a personexperiencing social rejection,
and so on.
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Multiple factors can contributeto an individual becoming
socially excluded, experiencingthe state of being a societal
derelict.
We can name poverty as one,marginalization of another for
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various reasons, discrimination,biases, mental health disorders
, unattended mental healthproblems, (this can be
attributed to, maybe a lack ofaccess, lack of health
insurance) substance abusedisorders, substance use
disorders, a lack of socialsupport systems, and the list
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goes on.
It is important to that a ll ofthese factors often intertwine
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and create a complex web ofchallenges that can make it
difficult for individuals toparticipate fully in society and
avoid becoming marginalized orfacing the state of being a
derelict.
But, let me tell you, in theBible there are many faces of
rejection, ostracism, politicaloppression, ethnic cleansing,
ethnic marginalization,socioeconomic limitations,
sexism, misogyny, politicalpolarization, etc.
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etc.
Two clear examples of peoplethat faced intense rejection,
degradation, ostracism, andseemingly failure are Rahab and
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Jesus.
Rahab a woman, a prostitute, aharlot.
Jesus, a prophet, a man, a God,Savior, persecuted.
I want to discuss Rahab firs t.
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In the books of Joshua, chapter2, and Joshua, chapter 6,
Rahab's history is outlined, andactions unfold between the
Israelites and her people, theCanaanites, and she is
explicitly noted as a prostitute.
No doubt life was hard for her.
Life was hard for women duringthose times, whether married or
unmarried.
It depended on your socialclass if you were priest or
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priestess and so forth, butthere's a running theme that men
were still in charge.
In summary, the life of awoman in the ancient Middle East
was really shaped by societalnorms, legal systems, religious
beliefs and their socialstanding.
Some women did have businesses,some did have seemingly careers
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, some were wives and some werejust out.
While facing variousrestrictions and expectations
within most systems, which werepatriarchal, women did find
avenues of influence andautonomy.
But, if they weren't sofortunate, life was very, very
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hard.
Life was very difficult and Andyou might find yourself a beggar
or a prostitute like Rahab.
She was not a temple priestessengaging in sexual fertility
ceremonies with some sense ofstatus or approval.
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No, she was a common prostitute.
.
Her status as a prostitute wasmore than likely determined by
social economic problems, duress, widowhood, abandonment, legal
entanglements or other businessfailures.
But imagine her life.
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Be Rahab for a moment.
Day in and day out, she had todetermine to do her best.
She needed to have a bestoutcome to earn a living.
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Did she ask herself, 'who do Isleep with today?
' 'What service do I offer theman that comes knocking today?
' 'How much do I charge and forwhat do I charge?
' 'How can I gain more regularclients?
' 'How do I keep my competitorsat bay?
' Oh, no, that other women werealso fighting for survival, like
her.
Oh, they were all scrambling tomake a living, to survive.
How do you think Rahab feltafter each sexual encounter?
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What are her imaginations?
What were her thoughts daily,after each encounter, after each
business transaction?
Did she still have dreams andaspirations, or had they long
disappeared?
Had they blown away with thedust of the earth?
Were they even part of her DNAanymore?
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What was her self-talk like?
Be Rahab, be Rahab.
Did she despise hercircumstances, or did they
become so impossible and soregular that it was her that
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there was nothing to despiseanymore?
Did she dare to change herlifestyle or was it just
something she had to accept?
How did she carry herself?
How were her relationships?
Did she have any friends?
How did other business peopletreat her?
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How did her family communicatewith her?
How did she carry herself insociety and in her community?
Did she hang her head low?
Was she able to look others inthe eye?
Did she act out of expectationsof what a whorish woman was
supposed to do?
Did she always respond to thelust in men, or did she fight
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for every iota of dignitydespite this lowly position?
Did memories of her fall haunther?
Did she live in the could've,should've and if only I would've
?
Had she been beaten, abandonedby her parents?
Was she sold?
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Was she an orphaned child?
Or, as a child, was she usedand abused by caretakers?
Who didn't watch out for her?
Who didn't watch out for Rahab?
Who failed to be there?
Who failed her?
Was it her parents, her family,her community, herself, or
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society?
Or was it God?
Well, the only history we havewas not of her past.
No, we don't know any of that,can't answer any of those
questions, but one, because Godnever fails.
But we only learn of herpresent and her future.
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We don't know anything elseabout Rahab except what she did
when the men of God came to town.
She heard, she saw, shebelieved, and seized an
opportunity in hope and in faithin the living, one true God.
And isn't it how we finish thatreally matters, isn't it?
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We hear that saying all thetime.
' it's not how you start butit's how you finish the race'.
It's not how we started but howwe end.
So maybe we don't need to knowabout Rahab's beginning, because
it's how she moved forward,it's how it ended.
It wasn't her past thatmattered to God w hen God showed
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up.
I believe it was her hope thatnever died.
I truly believe that Rahabalways had hope.
I heard a woman pastor speakabout Rahab once at a conference
and about her being in thelineage of Jesus Christ.
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She made Rahab human to me andshe brought Rahab to life.
As a result, Rahab has becomeone of my heroes.
Why?
I will explain briefly.
She really fills me up with somuch pride and excitement that I
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could preach about her alonefor the rest of my life.
I truly believe it becausethere are so many fine tidbits
about her encounter and herlifestyle and what happened
later that are truly phenomenal,truly a God thing, truly a hope
for anyone who feels there isno hope at all.
You see God through Joshua, whowas the leader after Moses, had
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sent out scouts to spy out thecity of Jericho.
God was ready to destroyJericho due to all the
abominations there.
But when the scouts of God came, when Rahab saw the men, she
recognized them as men andwarriors of the one true God.
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But how did Rahab know this?
How did she know?
Why did she believe that inthem was something for her?
Why would she risk herself andextend herself?
She probably heard of this God.
Yes, she did.
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It's written.
She heard of this God ofmiracles.
She heard of this God that haddone so much that people's lives
were saved and delivered fromslavery.
Yes, she knew that this God wasa God of miracles that changed
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people's hearts.
Now, despite the lawlessness inthe land and the disbelief in
her land, in her city andamongst her people, R ahab held
on to the rumors of this God andI believe she truly knew that
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God was coming for her when shesaw those men entering her town.
You see, Rahab lived on the citywall.
Militarily, biblically andprayerfully, the wall is a
strategic place.
It is a position of awarenessand preparedness.
It is a position where soldiersprotect the kingdom.
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It is a position where soldierscan see what's coming.
A wall denotes vantage pointsof protection and strategic
placement.
Walls are strongholds againstevil attackers and inhibit the
on- comers, the marauding forcesfrom breaking through.
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It is also a place where youcan view messengers approaching,
good news coming.
Rahab was in a strategicposition.
She lived on the wall.
So again, why did she believe?
How did she know?
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Many had heard and she chose tokeep all the things that she
heard in her heart.
It says in Joshua.
"that she let the men of Goddown by a rope through her
window, where the house shelived on was part of the city
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wall.
Yes, it's written, there'sproof that she lived on the city
wall.
Now, she was at the right placein her heart, the right place
in her mind to recognize God atwork.
She knew that these men of Godcarry God's presence, his favor
and blessings with them.
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She kept her eyes open.
She kept her eyes open.
She knew that God was moving inher favor.
I truly believe she believedthat this God, not the God of
her people, was the one and onlytrue God and she took the risk,
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as a result, endangering herlife and that of her family, to
protect those spies sent of God.
She took the best risk anyonecould ever take.
She was willing to forsake herlife and everything she had for
this opportunity, and shereached out.
So, despite her toil andstained, soiled soul, Rahab
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believed.
Despite her lowly position,despite her ungodly lifestyle,
she recognized truth.
Her spirit was in tune withGod's arrival.
She was in tune with God'spromises and faithfulness.
She had heard about this Godand how he treated his people.
She had heard about all hismiraculous works bringing the
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slaves out of Egypt.
She had heard how God had useda murderer like Moses to deliver
his people and a soldier likeJoshua who, out of his
faithfulness, was exalted andgrew into a position of power
and leadership to conquer God'senemies and deliver his people
and bring them into the promisedland.
Her savior had arrived andproved faithful through Joshua.
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And this can be read in Joshua,chapter six, verse 22 reads: "
Joshua said to the two men whohad spied out the land go into
the prostitute's house and bringher out and all who belong to
her, in accordance with youroath to her," verse 23,.
So the young men who had donethe spying went in and brought
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out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and
all who belonged to her.
They brought out her entirefamily and put them in a place
outside the camp of Israel.
" They knew her house by theblood red cord she tied in her
window.
Rahab lived on the wall, thecity wall she worked on, the
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wall she toiled on, the wallshe hoped on, the wall she gazed
out of, the window she lookedthrough, waiting for her ship to
come in, waiting for a betterfuture, looking for the answer.
In Matthew, chapter 11 nochapter 1, I'm sorry.
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Rahab is mentioned in thegenealogy of Jesus Christ.
Yes, rahab, the Canaaniteprostitute, the Canaanites that
were despised by the Jews, waslisted in Jesus' genealogy - an
ancestor of Jesus Christ.
In Hebrews 11, the book knownas the Hall of Fame, the Hall of
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Faith, the Hall of Believersand Heroes of God, acknowledges
Rahab as a woman of faith.
It reads in verse 31 of Hebrews, chapter 11, "by faith, the
prostitute Rahab, because shewelcomed the spies, was not
killed with those who weredisobedient.
" In the book of James, chapter2, verse 25, it states and in
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the same way, was not also Rehob, the harlot, justified by works
when she received themessengers and sent them out
another way?
Yes, a harlot, a prostitute, awoman of ill repute, is an
ancestor of Jesus Christ.
She met her maker and saviorthat faithful day, so to speak,
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and lived on to gain a faithful,god-fearing man bearing a
God-fearing son.
In Matthew, chapter 1, it says,"Salmon the father of Boaz,
whose mother was Rahab, Boaz,the father of Obed, whose mother
was Ruth, Obed, the father ofJesse and Jesse the father of
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King David.
Proof! Yes, so do not despiseyourself for whatever you have
suffered or whatever you havebeen labeled, for, whatever life
you have lived.
God loves you.
God receives those who seek him, who choose to know him, who
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choose to believe in him andwant him in their lives.
Now let's talk about Jesus for amoment.
Jesus, despite the rejection ofhypocritical religious
Pharisees and Sadducees, despitethe Roman politicos, knew God.
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He knew better than to let themdecide who he was and what to
do or not to do, or how to livehis life.
He didn't reject his calling.
He wasn't born in wealth or instature or earthly royalty, but
he went about doing his father'swork despite it all.
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Despite the attempts on hislife, despite the persecution,
despite the false accusations,and despite the oppression.
He maintained a sense of self,knowing who he was in God.
He proclaimed the kingdom ofGod in all of its fullness and
let everyone know that whoevercalls on his name shall be saved
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.
Despite followers leaving him,despite all the betrayal, he
remained steadfast.
He did the uncommon andunpopular thing to do.
I remind you,He came into the world as a man.
He took risks, despite nothaving earthly stature, being
raised in a slum town known asNazareth, with common parents of
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no high stature.
Yet, He believed in who He was.
He believed in himself, and Hebelieved in his God.
He knew he had work to do.
He came to proclaim the kingdomof God that whoever believes in
Him would have everlasting lifewith the father.
He was the one descended fromRahab, the prostitute who chose
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to believe.
He was the one who died for allthe repentant prostitutes,
thieves and murderers.
He was the one who came to givelife abundantly, a life of hope
and hope for a future, for thelost, the down-trodden, the low
in spirit, the despised, theforgotten, the imprisoned and
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the persecuted.
So no, God does not reject us.
God loves us and He loves useternally.
He knows exactly where we areat and why we are there, and he
knows exactly how we got there.
He knows exactly why we arewhere we are, and he loves us
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tremendously, more than we canever imagine, and he wants to
hear from us.
We do ourselves the greatestdisservice and injustice by
rejecting ourselves, and hence,by rejecting him.
Keep your eyes open, look forhim, keep your ears open, listen
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for him.
He wastes nothing.
In Psalm 113, verse 7, it says,"e raises the poor from the
dust and lifts the needy fromthe ash heap.
" So if you're listening and youhaven't called upon Him, call
upon Him believing.
Call upon Him with greatexpectation and most assuredly
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He will answer because that isHis will.
He created us in His image, andhis son Jesus, son of God, son
of man, is the light and thelife of men.
In closing,