Religious But Lost

with Dr. Dinpuii Schaffer

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Sabbath. I see some new faces, familiar faces from
my workplace, and from here I joined the pastor and
the elders and everyone else in this church to welcome you.
Welcome again. I praise God for this opportunity to present

(00:24):
the Word this morning, this afternoon, and I thank Bastor
Mike for giving me the opportunity to speak today, for
giving the pulpit to me. Shall we pray our Father

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and our God. You have said my word will not
return unto be void, but it will accomplish its purpose.
We claim that promise today. May your word fall on

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good soil, and may we be renewed, rejuvenated. May you
speak to us three year word in Jesus name. We pray. Amen.

(01:30):
Dennis Brown grew up in the church and served as
a leader in the local congregation. He learned how to
say the right things, to do the right things, pray
the right things, sing the right songs. However, when an

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altar call was made and he responded to the altar call,
he confessed and he said, I have been a religious
person all my life, but I have come to realize
that I have never had a real relationship with Jesus Christ.

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From all external appearances, Chadford seemed like a devout Christian,
but when an al the call was made, he bluntly confessed,
I have been playing a big game, he said. He

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played it so well, well enough to be appointed as
an interim youth pastor. Until then, he had never accepted
Jesus Christ as his personal savior. Baster and preacher, Heleick

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stepped forward at his own auter call and gave his
life to Christ. Baster Hellick was a gifted speaker. He
knew what to say, how to say, and what was
expected of him. However, till that moment, he had never

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had a true relationship with Jesus Christ. Three very moral
and religious individuals, baptized and faithfully serving in the church,

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yet spiritually lost up to that point, they encountered Jesus
and accepted him into their lives. Jesus toole three parables
in Luke chapter fifteen, he told about the lost sheep.

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The lost sheep knew that it was lost, but it
didn't know how to return back to the ford. The
prodigal son knew that he was lost. He knew his
way back home, but he had to come to his
senses to turn around. And go back home. But when

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it comes to the lost coin, the lost coin was
lost in the house, and it didn't even know it
was lost. Matthew Chapter seven, Jesus is speaking about the

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last days. He says, some of them will come to me, saying,
Lord Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and
in your name drive out demons before miracles? And what
does Jesus say? Then? He said, then I will tell

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them I never knew you. Could it be? I'm saying,
could it be that some of us are like this

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lost coin? In the parable of the lost coin? We
belong to a church. We are baptized members. Maybe we
do the right things, we say the right things, and
yet we do not belong to Jesus Christ. Yet we

(06:06):
are in the church, but we are still lost. Believe
someday that great preacher says, going to church doesn't make
you a Christian anymore than going to a garage makes
you an automobile? Are we are you? Am I truly

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in the Lord? Do I have a living relationship with
Jesus Christ? Is he the Lord of my life? In
the Book of Acts, we find another deeply religious person, Saul,

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who became later known as Paul. And we see that
more than half of the Book of Acts speaks about
Saul or Paul. And who was he? The Bible tells
us in Philippians that he was a very extremely religious,

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extremely moral person. He was circumcised on the eighth day
according to the levitical law. He belonged to God's chosen race.
He was from the tribe of Benjamin. It was a
special tribe, the only tribe that supported the Tribe of

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Judah when the kingdom split into the Northern and Southern kingdoms,
and Israel's first king was from the tribe of Benjamin.
Saul was a Hebrew of Hebrews. His parents were Jewish,
and he was raised according to the customs and tradition

(08:01):
of the Jews. He was born in Tursis, the capital
city of Silicia, the Roman province of Silicia, and he
was raised in Jerusalem under a very renowned teacher, one
of the most well known teachers of his time, Gammelleo.

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And at his feet he learned the Bible, he learned
the Torah, he learned the prophets, the salms, and the
history of his nation. And in regard to the love
of Paul, was a Pharisee. Paul was not just a Pharisee.

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He was the son of a Pharisee. His father was
a Pharisee. And as you know, the Pharisees were a
highly respected religious group dedicated to studying the scriptures and
teaching the scriptures. The Pharisees identify six hundred and thirteen

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commandments in the Torah, and they carefully observed these six hundred,
six hundred and thirteen commandments. They also upheld the oral
teachings of their forefathers, known as the traditions of the Elders,

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and they came up with numerous fans laws to protect
the teachings in accidents. Chapter twenty, we have the fourth commandment,
remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. You shall
not do any work on the Sabbath day, and the
Pharisees created many types of prohibiti it works so that

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no one would break the Sabbath low. For example, they
thought that you could not spit on the Sabbath day
because it would disturb the dust of the dirt, and
that would be it would be guilty of plowing, which
is work. You could not kill a fly on the

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Sabbath because then you would be guilty of hunting. A
woman could not look at herself in the mirror on
the Sabbath day because she might see a gray hair,
maybe like mine, and would be tempted to pluck, and

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if she did pluck, that would be considered work. So
the Pharisees were extremely strict in their observer of the law,
and they made many many more loss to support the

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law of the Bible. And the Bible continues saying as
for legalistic righteousness, Paul was faultless, he was blameless, he
was faultless. He met every ritual and legal requirements of
Judaism to perfection. In other words, if one could gain

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heaven by performance or by doing the works of the law,
Saul or Paul would have been one of the first
candidates to go to heaven. In Look chapter eighteen, we
read a pharisee telling about his habits. What did he say?
He said, I fassed twice a week. Every Pharisee he

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would fast twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. They
believe that when Moses has ended up on Mount Sinai
to receive the second tablet of the Ten Commandments, he
went up on a Thursday, and he came back on
a Monday. And therefore every Pharisee fasted twice in a week,

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on Mondays and Thursdays, and the Pharisee a boasted. I
give tides of all I poses. S Saul was a
fight giver. And in Matthew we read three pillars of Judaism,

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arms giving, giving alms to the poor, fasting, and praying.
And in the Book of Tobit it says prayer is
good when accompanied by fasting, arms giving, and righteousness. So
Paul did all this to perfection. He was blameless in

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his observance of the law. So if we look at
the Bible, Saul had the right ancestry, he had the
right religious upbringing, he had the right education, and he
belonged to the right religious group of his time, the Pharisees.

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But he was still lost till he encountered Jesus Christ.
As we have read in scripture reading, Paul was on
a mission when he encountered Jesus Christ. He saw Christianity

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as a threat to Judaism, and he was filled with
murderous anger against Christians and was bent on destroying Christianity.
According to his own words in Galicians, Chapter one, verse thirteen.
He says, how intensely I persecuted the Church of God

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and tried to destroy it. And he was on this
mission trying to destroy the Church of God. He was
on his way to the Mascus, a journey of around
one hundred and fifty miles, to catch Christians and put
them into prison. And as we have read, a soul

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approach Damascus, a light from heaven shone around him, and
he fell to the ground, and he heard the voice
of Jesus Christ asking him, soul, soul, why are you
persecuting me? And Saul asked, who are you, Lord? And

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Jesus answered, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Rise
and enter the city, and he will be told what
to do. And we know that all those souls eyes
were open. He could see nothing. He was blinded by

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the light, and his companions had to lead him into
da Mascus, where he remained without sight and did not
eat or drink for three days. And we know that
God sent his disciple Ananneus, and he placed his hands

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on soul, and he said, the Lord Jesus has sent
me to restore us, and filling with the Holy Spirit,
and immediately scales fell from his eyes, and he regained
his side, and he was baptized, and after eating he

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felt strengthened. After his encounter with Jesus Christ on the
road to Damascus, Ball's life was changed forever. From being

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a persecutor, he became the persecuted. From being a Christ hater,
he became one of the most faithful and ardent followers apostles,
disciples of Jesus Christ. From being an opposer of the Gospel, well,

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Paul became a champion of its message, spreading it wherever
he went. And he declares, for I am not ashamed
of the Gospel, because it is the power of God
that brings salvation to everyone who believes. The question comes,

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how did this transformation come about in the life of Paul?
How did he become from being a persecutor to being persecuted,
from being a Christ hater to someone who loved Jesus

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Christ with all his heart and who laid down his
life for the spreading of the Gospel. How did that
take place? Paul had experienced the new birth, the spiritual birth.
He was born again. He was being regenerated through this experience.

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That his experience on the road to Damascus, and hereafter
and thereafter. In John chapter three, we meet another pharisee
by the name Nicodemus, a highly respected religious leader, just

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like Paul. And he comes to Jesus Christ at night,
and due to his ancestry and his observance of the Bible,
he felt that salvation was his. But Jesus is a

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all to shatter his spiritual delusion. What did Jesus say
to him? Jesus said, I tell you the truth. Unless
you are born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

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Unless you are born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom
of God. What is she is just saying to the Nicodemus.
He's saying to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, you may be a very

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religious person, well versed with the Bible, doing the right things,
saying the right things, But salvation is not yours. Yet
you haven't entered, You haven't stepped into the Kingdom of God.

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You are still lost. Romans chapter three, verse twenty. What
do we read, Therefore, no one will be declared righteous
in God's sight by the works of the law. In
Desire of Ages we read a legal religion can never

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lead souls to Christ, for it is a loveless, christless religion.
We can be religious without having Christ, without loving Christ.
Fasting or prayer that is actuated by a self justifying
spirit is an abomination in the sight of God. The

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solemn assembly for worship and the round of religious ceremonies,
the external human the imposing sacrifice proclaimed that the doer
of these things regard himself as righteous and as entitled
to heaven. But she says, it is all a deception.

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Our own words can never purchase salvation. However religious I
may be, unless I have Jesus Christ, my own words
will never allow me to enter into the Kingdom of God.

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And Nicodemus responded when Jesus said, you cannot see the
Kingdom of Heaven unless you are born again or born
from above. Nicodemus said, what do you mean. How can
an old man go back into his mother's womb and
be born again? And she is replied, I assure you,

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no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being
born of water and the spirit. What does it mean
to be born again or born from above? It is
to be born of water and the spirit. And Jesus

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continues to say humans can reproduce only human life, but
the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don't
be surprised when I say you must be born again.
There are two types of birds. The physical birth by

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which we enter into this world, and then we have
the second birth, the spiritual birth, by which we enter
into the Kingdom of God. We have all had a

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physical birth, all of us here, and that is why
we exist. But the problem is no one can enter
the Kingdom of God just with this physical birth. The
second birth, the spiritual birth is a necessity. Fallen people

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can only give birth to fallen people. Only the Holy
Spirit can give spiritual birth, bringing spiritual life to us.
We must have spiritual birth to enter the Kingdom of God.
We must be born spirit So my question comes, have

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we experienced the spiritual birth? Have we been born from above?
Until we are spiritually born. Even though we are physically alive,

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we remain spiritually dead. We may be young adults, middle
aged seniors, but we are yet to have begin our
spiritual lives. In efficience, we read and we are dead

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in the trespasses and sins in which He wants. What
but God being rich in mercy because of the great
love with which He loved us, even when we were
dead in our trespasses. He made us alive unto together
with Christ, has the Holy Spirit breathe spiritual life in

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you in us? If the Holy Spirit has breathed spiritual
life in us, it will result in spiritual birth, transforming
us into children of God and members of His family.
And this will result in a new mind, new heart,

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new disposition, affection and desires. It gives a new will.
The all things have passed away and all things have
become new. In Second Corinthians, Chapter five, verse seventeen, we
read therefore, if anyone is in Christ, it's talking about
someone who has been spiritually born. He is a new creation.

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The old has gone, the new has come, and all
of this is from God. Elenchi White says the Christian's
life is not a modification or improvement of the old,
but a transformation of nature. There is a death to

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self and sin and a new life altogether. And she
says this change can be brought about only by the
effectual working of the Holy Spirit. Have we experienced the
spiritual birth? If we have not, we may be in church,

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but we are still outside the Kingdom of God. Why
do we need spiritual birth? As we have said, unless
you are born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
Why is this so? King David says in Psalm fifty one,
he says, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and

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in sin did my mother conceive me. We were born
in sin, and we were by nature the children of wrath.
And because we were born in sin, sin separated us
from God. As long as we are separated from God,

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we are spiritually dead. And it is only by being
born again that we are made spiritually alife. The last,
my last question, how can you and I be born again?

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If being born again or the spiritual birth is so important,
and unless I experience it, I cannot enter the Kingdom
of heaven, how can you and I be born again
or born from above? In Jeremiah we read can an

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Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither
can you who do good? Who are you do good?
Who are accustomed to doing evil? You and I on
our own cannot become good, cannot merit heaven, We cannot

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change ourselves. Being born again, being regenerated, being born from
above is a supernah natural act of God. The Holy
Spirit convicts us of our sin. And when we feel

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convicted and we are broken, and we come humbly before God,
saying we cannot save ourselves, and we confess and we
surrender ourselves to Him. It is then that a new life,
a spiritual birth, takes place in our lives. If we

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read the experience of Paul, Jesus said to him on
the road to Damascus. He asked, Paul, is it hard
to kick against the gods? A God is a long
sharp stick used to prod or guide oxen. If an

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ox kicks against the God, it only hurts itself. So
Jesus is using this imaginary to point out how God
had been working in the life of soul or Paul.
Paul was almost the same age as Jesus Christ. Scholars

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believed that Paul must have witness the ministry of Jesus Christ.
He was a Pharisee living in Jerusalem. He would have
surely met Jesus Christ, witness his miracles, listened to his teaching,
and as he listened to Jesus Christ, his conscience the

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Holy Spirit must have pricked him. But he went against
the pricking of the Holy Spirit in his conscience, And
if we look at the previous chapters, he was a
witness to the story of Stephen. He saw Stephen being

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stone to death, and he heard the testimony of Stephen
saying that he saw Jesus sitting at the right hand
of Jesus. In all of this, Jesus was appealing to Paul,
to Saul to surrender his life to him. And in

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Acts of the Apostles Pay one hundred and twenty, we
read as Saul yielded himself fully to the convicting power
of the Holy Spirit. He saw the mistakes of his
life and recognized the far reaching claims of the law
of God. He who had been a proud pharisee, confident

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that he was justified by his good works, now bowed
before God with humidity and simplicity of a little child,
confessing his own unworthiness and pleading the merits of a
crucified and risen savior. In John three, in the third

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chapter of John, what do we read? It says, just
as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so
the son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone
who believes may have eternal life in him. So what

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is our only way out, How can you and I
be born again? Just as those victims victims of the
snake bites had to look at the brass serpent, Moses
made the only way out for you and for me

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is to look at Jesus. Accepting his sacrifice is the
only remedy to heal us from our sin. In Isiah
chapter fifty three, verse five, it says, but he was
wounded for transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The

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chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his
stripes we are healed. That's our only way to be healed. Spiritually.
Jesus makes an appeal to the Laudisian Church, the Last

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Day's Church, the church just before his second coming. And
what does he say? He says, I counsel you to
buy from me white clothes to wear, so that you
can cover yes shameful nakedness. What does this tell us?

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It tells us that there are many many among God's
people who claim to be waiting for the Lord's return,
like the ten virgins. There are many among God's people,
like the foolish virgins, who claim to be waiting for
the second coming of Jesus. Christ, who have not been

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born again, who have not been spiritually born? And what
is Christ's counsel to us if we have not been
born again? He says, I counsel you to buy from
me white clothes? What are white clothes Christ's righteousness? To

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be born again? Which is to put on the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, so that you can cover yes shameful nakedness.
The wide rayment is the righteousness of Christ, the wedding
garment which Christ alone can give us. The spirit of
Prophecy says, many are laudicians living in spiritual deception. They

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clothe themselves like the Pharisees, in the garments of their
own righteousness. Are we still wearing our own righteousness? Have
we put on the right? Have we been spiritually born again?
Putting on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. There is nothing

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in us from which we can clothe the soul, the
soul so that its nakedness shall not appear. We are
to receive the robe of righteousness, or even in the
loom of heaven, even the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness.
It is my prayer today that, as we wait for

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the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will make
sure that we have been spiritually born again and put
on the righteous robe of Jesus Christ, so that when
he comes, we will not be found wanting, but we
will be there among the crowd to welcome him into

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as he comes. When he comes for the second time,