WEBVTT
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Well, praise God.
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Let's turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 4.
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I'll start in about verse 7.
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We've been talking about the spirit of ministry, the spirit of ministry, and this spirit of ministry is a ministry of glory.
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Amen.
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This is one of the most important works of the Holy Ghost in how he works among men that we don't understand very well.
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Amen.
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I mean the things we don't understand about the Spirit of the Lord could fill universes, but what we really don't understand about the Spirit of the Lord is how he ministers glory within the body.
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Amen.
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Now, you have to understand this.
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Just because what we have learned from organized religion has not taught us anything about glory and has not taught us about these things, doesn't mean that they don't exist.
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It just means they don't know about Amen, because they're clearly in the New Testament, they're clearly prophesied and told of in the Old Testament and there's plenty of evidences of the glory of the Lord showing up even in the Old Testament.
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But the way that the glory is going to be manifested in the New Testament is from within the body, bringing glory to the Lord Jesus.
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Amen, he is the Lord of glory.
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We've established that over the past two messages that Jesus is the Lord of glory, amen, because he is in it in himself.
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Glory itself, amen.
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There's no, you can't separate.
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You can't separate the Lord from his glory.
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He is the Lord of glory.
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It's not like he has glory and he can just set it aside.
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He did that when he came to earth.
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He's not going to do that again.
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He doesn't have to.
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The Bible says he's not coming back many times.
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He's not going to be crucified many times.
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That's not coming back many times.
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He's not going to be crucified many times.
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That's not happening.
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He died once to sin for all time.
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He's not doing that again.
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Amen.
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So there's no reason for him to, as the song says, gently lay his glory by.
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He doesn't have to do that again.
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He doesn't have to set it aside and take upon himself the form of a man, the form of a servant, be crucified on a cross.
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He doesn't have to do that again.
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So when he took his glory back up, jesus prayed in John 17.
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He said, father, I pray that the glory that I had before the foundation of the earth, I pray that the glory that I had before the foundation of the earth, be in them, just as I am in them and you in me and we in them, that they may be one.
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So the glory is a unifying thing.
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Let me tell you something.
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People will argue about this, but I'm convinced that this is true, that if the individual members of the body of Christ would all be functioning vessels of glory for the Lord, there would be very few doctrinal differences, because it would all boil down to manifestations of glory and you would see it that the glory manifests this way and one, this way and another, but it's for the accomplishment of the will of God in the body.
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Now, if you want to argue with somebody, you're going to have to argue with the Lord about that, because first of all, it's his glory.
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Second of all, it's his body.
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Third of all, it's his will, his destiny.
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It's only when you forget who's running the show that you get these weird differences of opinion about things.
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But the way Jesus sees it, the way the Lord sees it, is this that if the glory is manifested, then the body will be one.
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Now, religion will teach you this, that when the body is one, then the glory of the Lord will be manifested.
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But it's the opposite way.
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It's actually the opposite way.
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The glory has to be manifested first before real unity to happen, because it's the glory that will destroy these doctrinal differences and prejudices and blindnesses Amen that come from a lack of glory.
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You tell me, just tell me, okay, just imagine this.
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You know that you get ushered into the presence of Jesus, whose face shines like the sun.
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The glory of the Lord just emanates from him.
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I mean, it's just resplendent.
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You know there's, you know just everywhere.
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It's just resplendent.
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You know there's just everywhere.
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And in the face.
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Paul said this glory is in the face of Jesus Christ, in his face.
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You're going to sit there and you're going to talk about the denominational pride of your organization.
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Really, really, that's the conversation you're going to have with this face.
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That's like the sun, is it?
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Are you going to say well, lord, I think the body means this and the bread means this, and I think that it's just a symbol, and I think that the Holy Ghost was taken away after the first century and I, yeah, that's just what I believe.
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Jesus, really, are you serious?
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Are you really going to have that conversation with Jesus?
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I think there's about 50 million angels ready to escort you out the gate.
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You know, if you bring that kind of silliness in front of the Lord.
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You know, all he's got to do is do one of these, you know, and some responsible people are going to show up, you know, and you're going to lose your appointment.
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Are you hearing any of this?
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You know you're not going to.
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You're not.
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I don't care who you are, I don't care if you're Paul.
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When Paul had an encounter with that face, when Paul had an encounter with that face, 1,500 years of law was stripped off of him In an instant.
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He said Lord, who are you?
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Jesus said I'm Jesus, who thou persecutest?
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Paul didn't argue with him.
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He said no, wait a minute, lord.
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How can you say I'm persecuting you when I'm doing the best I can for your people, the Jews, the chosen of God?
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He didn't have that conversation.
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The point I'm trying to make is, when you're faced with real glory, all that stuff disappears.
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That's why Jesus knows this that when the glory gets manifested the way he wants to manifest it, all of this divisiveness in the body is going to disappear, but it's only when he is allowed to manifest His glory.
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See, I'm old enough to remember back when there were some real, real, real, strong differences among different Lutheran bodies, different Methodist bodies.
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These were bodies that came out of the 1800s and the residue of it was still in the 50s.
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And they had this big, what they were called ecumenical councils and they wanted to get all the Lutherans together and then all the Methodists together and they came up with these weird names like United Evangelical Brethren, blah, blah, blah.
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And I mean they just, you know, and had to come up with a new hymnal.
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I can remember when that new hymnal came, oh, my pastor was almost livid.
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He couldn't believe it, you know, because he was just old school.
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I mean, you know he didn't like it.
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He got in step with it because the church demanded it, but not our church, but the church at large.
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I mean, you know, the only thing that came out of all of that stuff was more watered-down foolishness.
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Amen, and that was the purpose of it.
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It wasn't to produce glory and it wasn't to produce unity, it was to produce watered down confusion, so that now those bodies are virtually non-existent or important anymore, whereas 50 years ago they were vitally important.
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Praise the Lord, hallelujah.
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I'm not talking about that kind of unity, I'm talking about the unity that the glory produces, hallelujah.
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Now, the thing about the glory, verse 7, paul says right here.
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He says but we have this treasure.
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What is the treasure?
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The glory?
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We have this treasure in earthen vessels.
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That the glory, that the glory, that the excellence of the power and the glory of God is not of us, but it's of God.
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I'll say this again we have God in his wisdom.
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Now, this is a great mystery.
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Okay, you can't understand this with your little brain.
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You can't understand this.
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One of the great mysteries of the new covenant is why would God want to come and live in us?
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Why would he want to do that?
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Why would he want to do that?
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And that answer is hard to answer if you assume that we are just random, accidental birth processes.
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Why would God want to do that?
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And the answer is you have to look beyond that to understand that God had this plan for a long time.
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He created you so that he could live in you, and I don't mean you being this body that you have right now, and you've had it for 60, 70 years.
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That's not what I'm talking about.
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I'm talking about your spirit.
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God designed your spirit from before time began to be inhabited by his spirit.
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Are you understand what I'm saying?
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Then it makes sense.
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God is not so much interested in living in your body, as he is cohabiting in your spirit.
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God is spirit, you are spirit.
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He wants to cohabit in your spirit.
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He wants to make your spirit, his spirit, his spirit, your spirit.
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This is the essence of being formed in the image.
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Do you understand what I'm saying?
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I don't care how much transformation you get, you are not going to look like Jesus, amen.
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But your spirit can.
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Now the mystery is a mystery because most people don't see creation that way.
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Most people see creation as in the beginning was Genesis 1.1, but that's not true.
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
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Now, when did that happen In the beginning?
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When did Genesis 1, chapter 1 happen?
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6,000 years ago, but when was the beginning?
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Well, whenever God was.
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How long ago was that?
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As long as you want to think?
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And then some, and then a whole lot more.
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There was a time when there was nothing but God, and then there was a time when there was nothing but God, and then there was a time when there was nothing but God and you no angels, no planets, no constellations, no galaxies, no matter, no antimatter, no plasma, no energy, no, nothing, just you and God.
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And in that time your destiny was planned and placed within the seed.
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Are you getting any of this Now?
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Because of that, amen.
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And it was also in your destiny for every spirit to at one time inhabit a flesh body, because that was what Jesus was going to have to do.
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So every spirit had to do what he had to do, because he is the firstborn among many brethren, amen.
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So whatever Jesus did, we have to do as he is.
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So we are Now.
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You know, if you just start with these basic premises, then you understand that Jesus came as the word born of flesh, born of a woman, born under the law.
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Amen.
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That he might redeem all those who are under the law and take captivity, captive and all those that have been held in bondage, your spirits, held in bondage because of Adam's sin, amen, can be set free and step into that destiny that God planned for them before the foundation of the earth, to be inhabited by his spirit.
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Now, see to me, that makes perfect sense.
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The other way around, it doesn't make any sense.
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But it is a mystery, and Paul said it this way.
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He said but we have this glory in an earthen vessel because we are destined by God.
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You'll have to take this up with the Lord when you get there as to why he did it this way, because that part of it is just.
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You know.
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All I can tell you is the best understanding I have of it is that this, what we are in now, is part of the seed time and harvest principle at the highest form of existence that we are sown here in these bodies as seed.
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The seed of God has come into this flesh and this flesh then becomes the husk that has to fall to the ground and die amen, so that it can produce much fruit.
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I understand that part of it.
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I understand that that's very likely a good way to look at it.
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I am also very confident.
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I don't know anything about it, because the more I meditate on it, the less I know, because it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
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Amen, amen.
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But if you're just an accident of birth waiting for an accident of death and I just got here, god knows how, and the only thing I've got to look forward to is to go to heaven on a permanent vacation I'm telling you today that is not the accurate picture that the New Testament paints out.
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The New Testament paints of a time that was before time and that when we were in Christ Jesus, before that time we went to the cross.
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Before that time we were resurrected from the dead.
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Before that time we have been made to be one in Him.
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Before that time we have been given a purpose and a destiny and a calling.
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Before that time, all that's in the Bible, and Paul says that when we get here, one of the great mysteries is that the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ now dwells in this earthen vessel, so that everybody can see that the glory is from God in us and not from us.
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Because, listen, we're going to do things that only God can do.
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We're going to heal the sick, we're going to raise the dead, we're going to cast out devils, we're going to preach this gospel under powerful anointings.
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As far as I know, the last time I checked I couldn't do any of that, amen.
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The last time I checked, I was incapable, because this earthen vessel cannot do any of those.
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But when the glory fills this vessel, then what happens?
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God can be seen and it can be testified to that God has visited his people and there has been a manifestation of his presence.
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Amen.
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And there was a day.
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What did Jesus say to Jerusalem?
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You did not.
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You did not know the hour of your visitation.
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There has been an hour of a visitation of God.
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Now people come, people keep waiting for God just to show up, and all I can tell you is if you're in their presence, you might as well just get right to the quick of the matter and tell them he's already here.
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I brought him with me.
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He's my dinner companion.
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I'm having dinner with Jesus tonight.
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What are you doing?
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I mean, just freak them out.
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They're not going to listen to you anyway, so you might as well just freak them out out.
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They're not going to listen to you anyway, so you might as well just freak them out and let them know that there's something other than what they think going on about this God.
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Hallelujah, praise the Lord.
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I mean, look at Peter.
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Peter went up to the Sanhedrin with John the others.
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I said I thought we told you not to mention this name of Jesus.
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Now there's 70 guys standing around that had the perfect right to take them out of the city gate and stone them.
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Just on general principles, I mean really.
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I mean they took note that he'd been with Jesus and they just crucified him.
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So you know we can get rid of you too, you know.
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So I told you not to talk about this guy anymore.
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But they were afraid because they'd been doing notable miracles and the people loved them.
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So they go up to the Sanhedrin and they said you know, I thought we told you not to talk about this Jesus, peter goes.
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Well, you judge for yourself whether it's right to obey God or not to obey God.
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But we can't help but do what God's given us to do.
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We can't help but testify about this Jesus, because we've seen him raised from the dead.
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Now you can take that for what it's worth, but you aren't Jewish.
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You hadn't lived into that culture in Israel, within a stone's throw of the temple, amen.
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And you've got the high priest and all of his buddies looking you straight down the gun barrel, amen.
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They can haul you out of there and kill you in a heartbeat.
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So I'd be bold like that, peter.
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I wonder you know.
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But, peter, all Peter did was open up his mouth and let the glory out.
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You decide whether it's right or not to obey God or not to obey God, but we're going to obey him because we know him and you don't.
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I'm amazed.
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I am constantly amazed in the New Testament how one statement can throw the enemy into confusion.
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And that is glory, folks.
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That is glory.
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You speak and the glory comes out and your enemies are thrown into confusion.
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Yes, yes, yes, amen.
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I was at a meeting one time and this person was talking nonsense I mean just new age, you know, creepy nonsense.
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And I said to myself I said, lord, I'm not having this.
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And he said, well, do something about it.
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I said I think I will.
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And I just, I, just, I just bound that, I just right there, I didn't even really do it under my breath, I just, I take authority in this place over the name, in the name of Jesus, and I bind that spirit and I command confusion to come upon that person and not another word will be heard from him.
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Next sentence, he started to babble.
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I said thank you, lord, and I left, mission accomplished, and he was a featured speaker.
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Oh, I love it.
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You let the glory out.
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Glory to God, hallelujah.
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You know here about letting the dogs out.
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Let the glory out, and it'll silence the dogs.
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Praise God, hallelujah.
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So we've got this treasure in earthly vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
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We can't take any credit.
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All the glory belongs to Him, all the honor belongs to Him, all the praise belongs to Him.
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You know, I've told you this lots of times when I was a young preacher, and in fact I actually was young once.
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When I was a young preacher, you know, I used to get so.
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I felt so bad when people would say nice things about me.
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When you know, oh, that message really blessed me and I'd just go, oh, I don't want to hear that.
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I said no, no, I can't.
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The Lord said listen, they're trying to bless you.
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Let them bless you and then deflect all of the honor and glory to me.
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That way they'll get blessed back.
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You'll receive what they're trying to do and you just give it to me as a sacrifice.
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I said I think I can do that.
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He said well, I think you can too.
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So the next time somebody said you know, thank you very much for that message.