March 10, 2024

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Well, good morning.

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Thank you, worship team. Y’all did a really good job this morning. Well, if you brought your Bible over to Matthew chapter four, and listen.

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Matthew Four, if y’all don’t mind in a moment, Dennis, come back up. When y’all, yep, okay. Matthew Four, good to see you here this morning. How many of y’all are actually glad to be here? All right, good, good. Like I say, usually every week, there’s somewhere else you could be, jail and the hospitals and places like that. And believe me, if you were, you’d really be excited to be here.

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Those aren’t fun places. I say to our visitors, welcome, we’re glad you’re here. And those tuning in on Facebook to watch us, glad that you’re tuning in also. Hope you’ll stick with us through the whole service. If you get up to walk out, just go toward the bathroom and we’ll never know that you’re mad, okay? It’ll be all right. Years ago, used to wonder,

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why people sit where they sit in church. And it’s gonna make some of y’all nervous, just a minute, hang on. So as I…

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I’ve preached a long time and so I’ve seen people set places in church and I wonder why do they, why do they set there? And if you’ve come to church for a while you probably have your normal seating, you know, I’m very serious when I say I can’t see you. You’re just images to me out there because I don’t wear my glasses when I preach because if I could see you it would scare me, alright? So I don’t want to see your facial expression. I can’t tell if you like it or you don’t like it. So it just helps me that way.

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through the years when I was young and started preaching and where people would sit and I noticed that it seemed like a lot of the older more senior people oftentimes set toward the back. I don’t know why and they it but I just never figured that out and

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And then one day I was listening just not long ago to an older preacher. He’s in his eighties. He’s been retired from pastoring and never retired from preaching, but he’s been retired from pastoring for a while. And he was explaining things he learned in the ministry and things he didn’t understand when he started and things that he has a better understanding of now. And so I’m tuning in listening to him. You know, I’m like, what does this man have to say? Probably a lot that I need to hear.

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a lot of wisdom and he said, you know, one of the things I have figured out as I’ve grown older is why old people sit toward the back. And I’m tuned in. I’m like, why?

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And he goes, because we have to go to the bathroom, and it’s a shorter walk to the bathroom. When you get older, you got about 30 to 40 good seconds to get there when it hits you, and you gotta go. And I thought, I know that feeling, okay? So if you have to get up and go to the bathroom, it might talk about your age today, so nothing, no. Matthew chapter four. How many of you have ever…

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And you don’t have to raise your hand, because I know the answer to this. But how many of you have ever woke up on any given morning? For me, it’s usually every Monday morning, especially. But how many of you have ever woke up on any given morning, and the devil just begins to attack you? And he is just putting things in your mind, in your heart, in your head, and telling you that you’re not going to make it. This will be the end of you. Whatever the circumstance is, your grief, your sorrow,

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your anger, whatever that is, is just going to overtake you today and you’re not going to make it past this, whatever this is for you. I don’t know about you, but that happens to me quite often. Like it’s a continual battle. And I want you to know if that happens to you, you’re not alone. You’re not the one isolated Christian that that happens to. Cause had I asked everybody in here to raise their hand,

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and if no one if there was anyone who didn’t raise their hand we would know that they’re lying okay so and I had to preach a different sermon they’ll shout not a lot no we would know

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instantly that’s not the truth because we’ve all been there and I want you to know if that has happened to you you are in good company because even Jesus had that happen to him. The devil was relentless against Jesus when he walked on this earth and he was relentless in trying to distract him and trying to disarm him and discourage him and so read with me in Matthew chapter four and

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and

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Because I don’t know about y’all, but I miss breakfast and I’m hungry. And y’all probably are too. But we got to get some spiritual food first. Matthew chapter four. Jesus is about to begin what we would consider his earthly ministry. You’ve got to understand when he came to earth, he came as a baby. He was the son of God. I’ve shared that with you the last few weeks, how that even the thief on the cross recognized that he was an ordinary man. This was the God child. This was the God man. This was Jesus, the son.

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God and when he begins his earthly ministry most people believe that Jesus was probably about 30 years old matter of fact if you read in the Bible you find we get a record of Jesus birth we get another glimpse of his life when he’s about 12 years old and his mother and father are traveling he’s or Joseph and they’re traveling and they’re missing him like we left him and they end up

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old teaching and then we don’t really have much record in scripture from his life until he’s about 30 and he goes into the wilderness and he goes there for 40 days and 40 nights and he fasts and what he’s getting ready to do he’s getting ready to begin this three and a half year ministry that he’s going to do that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all record just before he goes to the

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The Bible says in Matthew 4 verse 1, it says, then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

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And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward, he was hungry. Now when the tempter came to him, he said, look what he says, and this is key. You remember, I always tell you, it doesn’t matter who the world thinks Christ is, it matters who you think Christ is. I remember one occasion when Jesus was with his disciples and he said, who do men say that I am? And they said, well, some say you’re John the Baptist reincarnate, some say you’re Elijah reincarnate.

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you say that I am?” And it was Peter who said, “‘Doubt the Christ, the Son of the living God.'” And I promise you, in the end, what matters is not what other people think of Christ. Who do you say Christ is?

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Because there’s a lot of people that got a lot of things to say about him, but they’re not always true. And they’re not always right. But to know God, you have to know come to his son Jesus. You have to come through his son Jesus. John 14 6 when Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am life, and no man comes to the father except by me. So look what the devil asked him. He says, if you are the son of God.

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command these stones to become bread. By the way, he just went 40 days and 40 nights without eating. How many of you know you’d be hungry after that long? I’d be like somebody get me something to eat. And so the devil comes to him and says, hey, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become bread. Now you say, well that…

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is that an attack? Absolutely. What Satan is trying to do is exploit Jesus in a moment of weakness, physical weakness, because you got to remember he was very God. He was 100% God in the flesh, and I don’t even understand how all this is possible, but at the same time he was 100% human in the fact that he felt the same things you and I felt. He got hungry, he had to eat, he had to

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might experience physically, emotionally, spiritually, he was experiencing the same thing. That’s why he’s our Savior. He knew what it was to be tempted by sin, but he never sinned. And he knew what it was to go through physical agony or physical pains or spiritual temptations and never give into those. And notice what he says to Satan, verse 4. He says, but he answered and said,

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It is written, now I want you to underline that, it is written, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

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You get that? So when Satan came to Christ and he tempts him to do evil, let me give you something real quick. How many of you know that’s how Satan always begins in getting you to sin? It’s with a temptation. I don’t know anybody that just wakes up and goes, you know, I’m gonna go out here today, commit adultery, throw my marriage away and my life away just because it seems like a good thing to do. No, that always starts as a thought. It doesn’t matter what sin it is in your life.

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thought you you’re tempted and by the way you need to know that God never tempts you. God might try you, put you through a trial. That trial is intended to increase and strengthen your faith but Satan will come along and he doesn’t want to bring a trial. He wants to bring a temptation, a temptation to get you to do evil and every temptation he brings is filled somewhere with a lie.

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It may sound really good, but at the end it’s a lie. And it’s a lie that he’s asking you to buy into. And that lie always is this, to get you to doubt the Word of God. To doubt you, to get you to doubt what God has said. I’ll share a little bit more about that in just a second with you. But if you go to Genesis chapter one, chapter two, you find that it was Adam and Eve in the garden from the beginning. When we first find out about Satan, and what does he do? God says, don’t eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

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because in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. And then here comes Satan as a serpent into the garden. And what does he do? He tempts Eve. Oh, God has not really said this. You can eat of this and you shall not die. He changed one word, if you read your Bible, he changed one word from what God said. And it was all just to get Eve and Adam to believe that God was withholding something good from them

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that if they would just eat of it that that God was being mean or God was being unfair. Basically, the end result was to get them to doubt what God had said. Every temptation Satan brings in your life or mine will always begin with this to get us to doubt what God has said. But I want you to remember something this morning. God always gets the last word.

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You may think that you’re being overwhelmed. You may think you’re overcome. You may think you’re defeated But mark it down god Always gets the last word. So look what else jesus says or the devil says to him verse five Then the devil took him up

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into the holy city. Set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down. Well, wait just a minute. This is the second time Satan said, if you are the son of God. Jesus already knew who he was. He was God in the flesh. Why was Satan doing this to him? He was tempting him in a moment of physical weakness, spiritual weakness,

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was and what God had said because look what Jesus says next. Look what Satan says, he says, if you’re the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over you. This is a quote, and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against the stone. That’s a reference from the book of Psalms, but it’s a scripture misinterpreted. It’s, in other words, it’s Satan twisting.

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The word of God, that wasn’t what I mean. So how did Jesus answer it? He said in verse seven, and it is written again.

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In other words, Jesus said for the second time to Satan’s temptation, it is written. How many of you know the Bible you hold in your hand is the infallible, meaning perfect, without fail, without problem, without error, it is the word of God. We got so many TikTok ding-dong idiots out there today that want to attack the Bible. I see it all the time. I see it on Facebook. I see it on TikTok. I see it on YouTube. Some squirrel sitting somewhere in his mama’s basement, probably in his underwear.

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that and he’s attacking the Word of God. Well, let me tell you, this is misinterpreted and this is this and you know, we probably have some lost translations. Let me tell you something. God has always preserved his Word perfectly. The Bible you hold in your hand is the perfect written will of God for your life. It has already stood the test of time and it will forever stand the test of time. I need you to

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He says, heaven and earth will pass away, but the word of God shall stand forever. You mark that down when the whole world’s laughing. And by the way, they’re beginning to laugh. Whenever they begin to take the Bible away from you and I, and if you don’t think that’s happening, let me tell you what I heard this week in Canada. I heard in Canada this week that their parliament has now passed some laws where if you quote certain portions of the Bible that offend someone, y’all follow you tracking where I’m going with this?

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You quote some verses that might offend someone, then pastors can be held in contempt for hate speech and imprisoned for it. Let me tell you something. I don’t care if what the Bible says ticks off the whole world, John, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Johnny Cash do. I’m gonna preach what God’s word says because long after I’m in the grave, long after those men are in the grave, long after American, Canada, Russia, and all the other nations of the world have fallen,

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word will stand it will always be true Jesus knew that and he turns to see and he says let me tell you something for the second time buddy it is written God has said and what did God say he says you shall not tempt the Lord your God so verse number eight again the devil took him up and exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory

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I want you to stop right there for a minute. How many of you know the devil’s dumb? He is dumb. I mean, he’s like the dumbest cat ever. He is smart. He’s got some things that he can do that sometimes he outsmarts us. But when you really get down to it, the devil is pretty dumb. And his tricks have never changed. The problem is we just forget how he’s working, or we forget what he might do. But imagine, time out just a minute.

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Read what I just read to you again. The devil takes him up on an exceedingly high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. We’re talking about Jesus, who is God, who spoke everything into existence. And he is going to tempt him with what?

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He already owns everything. The Bible says in Colossians that everything that was made was made by Him and for Him and for His glory. So Satan’s gonna tempt him with something that’s already his. By the way, remember that when Satan tempts you, it will always be twofold, to get you to doubt who you are in Christ, and number two, to get you to doubt the Word of God and what God has said. And so look what Jesus does.

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Little devil says verse 9 and he said to him all these things I will give you and you will if you will fall down and worship me Why would Jesus ever bow down and worship Satan? Why would you and I ever bow down and worship Satan? Why would he even do that because? He needs to understand doesn’t Satan know that it was Jesus whose God who created him

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and has already cast him out of heaven. Does he not understand? You’re looking, I read that and I’m going, devil, you are so dumb. But look at verse 10. And Jesus said to him, away with you, Satan, for what? For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve, and you shall serve him only. And then the devil did what? Left him. He left him. And behold, angels came and ministered to him.

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So I’m going to give you something real quick and then we’re going to go on a tour through the Old Testament because I want to show you how I know God always has the final word. OK. I want you to understand that and believe that if you leave with no other thought today I want you to remember this week. I want you to remember this afternoon. I want you to remember tomorrow. I want you to remember Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday. I want you to remember this the rest of your life.

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Word and and so here Satan has tempted Jesus three different times and each time He comes back at him with these this simple thought these simple words, but very powerful and extraordinarily true It is written it is written So what do you and I do when Satan begins to tempt us and attack us? That’s why it is so important to get to know your Bible to read your Bible to know to understand your Bible

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If you, you know, I meet people all the time and I watch those stuff on social media. People read this and they read that and they get puffed up and they think they know something. And I just want to grab them and slap them sometimes in Jesus name and for his sake and just say, read a Bible. We read all kinds of stuff. We listen to all kinds of stuff. But why not read the Bible? Just read it. I want to challenge you in 2024. I know we’re

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Don’t do anything else the rest of this year. Just make a commitment every day to read your Bible Your Bible is the one thing in this world that is true. It’s solid It’s a foundation we it will never fail and one day you’ll be judged by it If if all that’s true and it is then why don’t we want to know our Bible? Jesus knew the Bible and every time when Satan would attack him He came back with scripture by the third time the Bible said

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That he told Satan to get away get behind him and what happened the devil left him Well, I don’t know how I should get or I don’t know how I can get the devil off my back I got the perfect antidote for you from the Bible It’s quote the Bible to it what the devil he doesn’t care that you came to church this morning How many of you realize that the devil did not get concerned the fact that you got in your car your pickup and you roll up in church this morning

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He is not that concerned the fact that you’re sitting here. You know why because he’s here too. He you haven’t caused him any Heartburn yet, but when you want to cause the devil heartburn you want to get him worried two things Learn the Word of God and pray the Word of God when you begin to know those things You become a threat that Satan and his kingdom. He knows then that’s going to give him some heartburn He knows now he’s got a Christian that he cannot defeat

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want you to remember something every time Satan lies to you you need to remember he may be giving you a word of discouragement he may be giving you a word of defeat he may give you a word of distraction but you need to know that God always has the final word in the book of Genesis and by the way if you you just tear turning your Bibles make some notes do something because I have

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this morning. Number one, I want you to remember that God always has the final word. I want you to remember how to defeat Satan when he lies to you. And number three, I want to wet your appetite today to dive into God’s word and begin to know it and I’m going to scratch the surface. We’re going to do what we call a survey of the Old Testament. How many of you know how many books are in the Old Testament? 39. How many of you know how many books are in the New Testament? 27. We’re

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I’m gonna go through as many of the old testings as I can. So if you think I came to pre three point outline today, no, I got 39 points, okay? It starts in Genesis, ends in Malachi. So take a deep seat and hang on. I didn’t hear anybody breathe. Breathe, come on, look at me and breathe. Take a deep breath.

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We’ll go fast. In the book of Genesis, we begin with a man named Adam and Eve who sinned against God and they were cast out of the garden because of that. And the hope of mankind looked bleak. Go forward a little further in Genesis, you meet a man named Noah. By the time we get to a man named Noah, Genesis chapter 6, not very far in, the whole earth had become corrupt. The thought and the imagination of man was only evil continually and it grieved

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man and he said I will destroy man whom I’ve created from the earth but then the Bible says this amazing word it says but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and he told Noah build an ark and start preaching you tell people judgments coming Noah built an ark for a hundred and twenty years and then one day just as sure as everybody had thought it wouldn’t happen but God said Noah in a

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You’ve never seen that in your life and neither has any of these people, but you mark it down. It’s going to begin raining.

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Thank you.

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The Lord said, the Lord said, the Lord said, the Lord said.

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years.

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of Noah when I returned. And what was going on then was the earth was filled with violence and bloodshed and perversion and God said I’ll destroy the world and he did. Only eight people got on that boat.

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when those rains, rain waters began to rise and those people were knocking on that door. Noah was saying, hey guys, I got to remind you God said it was going to do this and God has the last word. And then you go to Genesis chapter 12, six more chapters in, you find a man named Abram and Abram comes from a family who doesn’t know God. As a matter of fact, we find at that time there was most of the earth again, once again, filled with people who didn’t know God. There was a man

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was a pagan. He worshiped false gods but one day the true living God speaks to him. He didn’t speak to God but the true living God spoke to him and said Abraham I’ve chosen you. I want you to get away from your family, get your stuff and go. He says Lord where are we going? He says I’ll tell you when you get there and by faith Abraham followed God but God made a covenant with Abraham and said I will create of you a great nation and through that nation, through that people, that

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I will bless all nations and I will keep my covenant with you as an everlasting covenant meaning God said I will protect Israel. I will bless Israel. I will bless those that bless you Israel I will curse those that curse you mark it down the Palestinians in Gaza Even our president and world leaders may be crying out We need to do away with Israel, but I got news for you The whole world will do that one day the whole world is already turning against Israel

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But God will keep his everlasting covenant with them You mark it down when the armies of the world led by the Antichrist gathered at the valley of Megiddo to make war For one purpose to wipe Israel off the map God will say I have kept my word that sky will split open and from there will come a rider on the white horse His name is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and God will be shouting from heaven I have the final

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Word you mark that down and so then you go to Exodus Genesis Exodus you find the people of God 400 years they’ve been in slavery to Egypt and Pharaoh and they’re being oppressed and Persecuted but God raises up a guy on the backside of a desert who murdered an Egyptian 40 years before He’s out keeping his father-in-law sheep and he raises him up me says up Moses Moses is scared to death

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He says, I want you to look over there. There’s a burning bush. You see that burning bush? And Moses looks over there and says, I see the burning bush, but I don’t know how it’s burning because it’s burning, but it’s not burning up. Does that not seem like a trip to you? I would, if I was Moses, I’d be like, I must ate something bad last night. But then God says, take off your shoes, Moses. You’re standing in the Holy ground. And he takes his shoes off and God begins to speak to him. He says, Moses, I want you to go to Pharaoh in Egypt. I want you to tell Pharaoh, let my people go. He says, Lord, who do I tell him said this?

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him, I am that I am, said, let him go. And ten plagues in and Pharaoh was willing to let God’s people go. Moses gets over a million people behind him and they get to the red seat and when they get to that red seat…

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They find themselves at an impasse. There’s just a vast body of ocean water in front of them. He turns around and looks. Pharaoh’s now changed his mind. He and all his armies are coming. And I’m sure Moses had to think, Lord, what do I do now? And God said, I told you, I will be your deliverer. Raise up your rod. You stretch it out over that ocean. And when he did, the Bible says the waters parted and the children of Israel

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and they walked through on dry ground. They got to the other side. Here comes Pharaoh’s armies after them. They’re going to get them. And the moment Pharaoh’s armies got in the middle of that sea, they swat, God swallowed up those waters and drowned them. The Jews to this day still celebrate Passover and their deliverance in that time. They have gone back today in that Red Sea and found the remnants of Egyptian chariots at the bottom of that ocean floor.

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I’m telling you God said I’ll have the last word and then you come to Leviticus Deuteronomy and and The other books of the Pentateuch and you find God given the law God saying this is how I want you to worship me This is how you approach me and it’ll be through blood sacrifice

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And when it looked like it would be hopeless for man, God was saying, I have a plan of redemption. And then you fast forward in your Bible, just a little bit in the Old Testament, and you come to the book of Joshua, and God raises up another leader. Joshua now is tasked because the children of Israel, after being delivered from Egypt, they dwell in a desert. They dwell in a wilderness for 40 years because of their unbelief. They had gone into the land of Canaan, the land that is now Israel.

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And you know what they saw? They saw giants.

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They saw great giants and they come back and said, we can’t go in there, we’ll be overtaken, we’re too small. And yet God said, you go in there, I’ll give this land to you. Moses and his generation passes into wilderness and God raises up Joshua. He was the one of 12 spies that was sent into Canaan, one of two spies of those 12 who came back and said, well, they’re big, we’re outnumbered, it looks impossible, but God said we could. And so God raises up Joshua and he says,

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Joshua, fear not, be thou not dismayed, for I am the Lord thy God, and I will strengthen thee and I will give you courage. I will deliver your enemies into your hand.” And Joshua takes the nation of Israel through the land of Canaan, and victory after victory after victory he gave them. And then when you move forward to the next book in the Bible, you find the book of Judges, a time of which the Bible said was a time in Israel and the world, which the whole world looked around. And the Bible said this about the culture.

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the nation at that time, it said this, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Let me translate that for you. What is your truth? What do you believe is true?

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That’s that’s our culture today every man that did that which was right in his own eyes. Listen I don’t care what you think is right. I don’t care what I think is right I know what god says is right my truth your truth. It don’t matter you can put that in your pot and smoke it But I got news for you. The only truth that matters is god’s truth Well, the culture’s changing, you know, you can’t say that. I love this generation today that changes words and I better not even go there I’ll get myself in so deep

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words. They want to control the speech and the narrative. Everybody has their truth and most people today believe that they have a right not to be offended. How many of you have ever experienced that? If you speak truth to people, truth, I mean Bible truth today, what happens? It offends them. And I just want to say to some of those soft Pennyway’s people, Jesus help me, Lord help me. I just want to say to them,

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Who in the world ever taught you that you have a right not to be offended? Come on. I went to the bank the other day. How many of you know I’m an impatient person? How many of you ever had a conversation with me longer than 10 minutes? OK? It’s like, no, no, no, no. I mean, I’m like, I got to go do something. I’m good for just a few minutes. I don’t know what they call that. So I go to the bank, and there’s a line. And I’m thinking, come on, come on, come on.

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Lord have mercy, come on, how much money do you got? You just share it with the rest of them and we’ll go. And I could have got offended, but then I couldn’t have gone back to the bank. Oh, I’m gonna hurt somebody right here. I’ve walked into that men’s bathroom before. And I don’t know who was in there this morning, but I saw your shoes or your boots. And I got offended, Lord have mercy.

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I have some medical advice for you. You should drink Febreze in the morning. It’s all right. It’s like, woo, dang it. I got offended in the bathroom. Okay. I don’t have a right to not get offended. You don’t have. Hey, if somebody offends you, that’s fine. But listen, when it comes to the Word of God, I kind of expect it to offend me.

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I really do. I grew up in a time when I went to church if I didn’t walk out, you know, limping because my toes been stomped on, the preacher didn’t preach because one thing I know about me is I’m a sinful man and when you preach the Holy Word of God it’s gonna stomp on my feet a little bit, it’s gonna hurt my toes, but it’s for my good. It’s for my good. So I don’t need to know what the world’s truth is, I need to know what God’s truth is and and that’s what was going on in the

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book of judges and God raised up men and women to be judges, one in particular by the name of Samson. Samson defended Israel, but then found himself at the end of his life in a mess. You come to 1 Samuel, you find that in 1 Samuel chapter 16, you find that it looks like the armies of the Philistines are finally going to overtake Israel.

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It looks like God’s promise to Israel is about to be nullified because even the greatest of the soldiers were cowering in their tent and they would look out and they would see this big giant come down into the valley and he would challenge them, choose you a man to come out and fight with me. His name was Goliath and they all quivered in their tents and no one would fight. It looked like that they were going to be destroyed and overcome and God’s word wouldn’t be true anymore. And along comes a little shepherd boy.

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with a little bag of some cheese and Ritz crackers I like to think and you know some things that his dad sent him to take to his brothers who were in war he’d been out keeping sheep there’s something about people keeping sheep y’all need to pay attention to that in the Bible but he’s out keeping sheep and he gets there and and he’s checking on his brothers and he’s thinking why is everybody it’s it’s noontime y’all can’t take a nap in your tent they wouldn’t take a nap say we’re hiding

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He’s saying, I don’t know why this is happening. And they say, and he hears this big giant come out, this giant named Goliath, he curses God. He curses the armies of Israel. And David’s just scratching his little head saying, what?

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Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that dare defies the armies of the living God and Saul? Saul the king, King Saul who was hidden shoulders above everybody else. He goes, he’s Goliath. He’s from Gath. He’s bigger than all of us and he’s offended us. He heard our feelings and David says, is there not a cause? Hold on just a minute.

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He hasn’t justified anybody. He’s defied the armies of the living God.

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He says, I’ll go take care of him. Saul says, look, if you do, I’ll give you my prettiest daughter. That was a big mistake. But I’ll give you my prettiest daughter. You can marry her, your family, and never pay taxes. I think that’s the one that got David. And he goes, here’s my armor. David’s this little 16-year-old boy. Probably weighs 120 pounds, so going to win. Saul is at least seven foot tall, they say. And he tries to put his arm around. This armor ain’t going to fit me. I don’t need your armor. And he walks out on the battlefield. I try to envision things.

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I have this twisted mind so y’all hang. I envision all the other guys looking out the tent. You can just see their eyeballs. And they’re like, this is gonna be, it’s like watching a NASCAR race or a bull riding. You don’t wanna see bad things happen, but you know what’s going to and you wanna see it if it does, okay? And you’re just like, I wanna see this. And David walks out there and here comes big old Goliath. Goliath says, you come to me with stones? I’ll cut your head off. He begins to curse him by his gods. And then David says, you come to me with a sword and a spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord God of hosts.

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and this day shall I take your head and that to all the armies of the world will know that there is a God in Israel who lives

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And he did that, he wound it up, and I like to say David gave Goliath a rock concert in his honor. Boom! Hit him right between the eyes. I don’t think David was that strong, but I think when he released that, the Holy Ghost went, phoo! And it just, pow! It hit him right there in the head. And that ain’t the best of the story. The Bible says David runs up to him, and he takes Goliath’s own big sword, something way bigger than even David was, cuts off his head, and takes his head back to Jerusalem.

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You come to second Samuel, David’s running from God, his kingdom is in a mess, and it looks like his son Absalom will overtake him and destroy God’s purpose and plan. And the Bible says in the book of second Samuel that Absalom while riding in pursuit of his father, you think God don’t have the last word who thinks I’ll come against my own father, I’ll take the kingdom by force.

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You read this in 2 Samuel and the Bible says, Absalom look like Richard Simmons. I didn’t say that, but how many of y’all remember Richard Simmons?

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had that big old fro going on there and he’s riding a mule and he’s riding through there in pursuit of David and guess what God does to him? He hangs his hair in a tree and the Bible says in the mule rode on. You know what that means? He’s sitting there hanging by a branch with his permed hair sticking out and he’s just a dangling and here comes Joab when a David’s mighty man rides by and says looky looky look at what we got and he pulls back his arrow and

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And I gotta say, Joe, I probably thought this, yeah, you said you would overthrow your father’s kingdom, but God had the last word. And then when I get to the book of Psalms or…

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Excuse me. Listen, let’s talk about first Kings and second Kings and first Kings It looks like there’s nobody left in all of Israel that has served God and Elijah The the prophet of God stands on Mount Carmel digs a big ditch around the sacrifice He says you guys call on your gods Whosoever God comes down and licks up with fire the altar we have built that’s whose God we will worship and serve and there’s 400 false prophets of Baal of sent by Jezebel the Hillary Clinton of the

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Old Testament, sorry. And they, I couldn’t help myself.

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And as he comes in, they say, wet down the altar. And those guys go to crying and they’re cutting themselves with stones. And Elijah, you read it, he says, hey, I guess your God had to go relieve himself. He might be asleep or he might be in the bathroom. They do this from sun up to almost sundown. And Elijah walks out there and he says, I know you, Lord, you the Lord God liveth. And he said, I ask you to do and show these people who you are. And the Bible says, God sent down

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And it licked up the altar licked up around the ditches that filled these ditches with water And and the whole nation fell to worship the true and living god god had the last word Then the prophet elijah in second kings he gets out there elijah. He’s he’s now Elijah has gone home to heaven elijah’s taken the mantle of god And he he’s ticked off all the political leaders like most preachers do and he gets out there and he says He’s asleep one morning and his servant boy

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outside to do what country boys do in the mornings and he gets out on the porch read it and he gets out on the porch and he looks at his there’s there’s a whole Assyrian army around us and he goes back in and wakes Alisha up he says Alisha they’ve already sent for you the enemies come for you we’re outnumbered imagine if they sent over a thousand troops for one man the enemies

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tactic is always intimidation. Okay, you understand that. So he sends them and and Elisha walks out onto the floor and he kind of rubs his eyes and he sees them all and he says, oh that’s all right, don’t worry about it. And the little servant boy he’s going, but look there’s so many of them. They’ve come to destroy the prophet of God in Israel. And Elisha says, Lord would you open his eyes and let him see what what I can see? Let him see not in just the natural, but let him

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And when he did the Bible says he looked and he saw behind all those of Syrian armies They were doubled outnumbered by the angels of God and those angels of God wiped out those Syrian armies that day and Elisha Never had to raise a hand when the devil says it’s over Remember God has the last word the devil may say you’re outnumbered the devil may say you’re defeated The devil may say you’re not gonna make it the devil may say this is the end But remember what Jesus said it is written and I’ve got to tell you what’s written

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is that God always, always, always has the final word. I’ve got to hurry. I’m not going to make it through all these books, but listen, when you go through the Job, you find a man named Job.

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I think of Job who lost everything, lost his health, lost his wealth, lost his family. His friends said, said, Job, you must have sinned. You must have done something to God. And in that moment, God looks at him and God comforts Job in the only way that God can. Job looks at him and he says, when you have tried me, I shall come forth as pure gold. And when you get to the end of Job’s life, while it looked like Satan had the final word, he’d taken his wealth, taken his health, taken all of his children all within a matter of

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It was God who said in the end read the last book of Job and God gave Job double what he had in the beginning I’m here to tell you when the devil takes something from you. Don’t let that be the final word. God’s final word is I will bless you. I will favor you. I love you. I have chosen you Don’t ever believe the devil’s lie. God always has the final word I read through the prophets many of those prophets and how each one of those prophets did mighty things

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And God sent them to tell the nation of Israel repent. I haven’t given up on you don’t give up on me But all of those prophets some of them were weeping prophets like Jeremiah Some of them were like Isaiah who saw the Lord high and lifted up some of them were Ezra Ezra But he’d read the book of Ezra You ever wondered where we get some sayings in the Bible the Bible says Ezra stood up and and he was so tired of the people of God

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preaching. If I did that I ain’t got much to pull out but um

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Imagine I get up here and preach and y’all are listening to me and I just want to answer started doing that you ever heard you’re gonna pull all your hair out or I’m gonna pull all my hair up that’s where it came from and I answered pull his hair out while he was preaching because he was so frustrated that the people of God would not believe God’s word and go on down to the different ones in the Bible I think about Daniel. Daniel was a prophet. Daniel prayed every

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It looked like Israel was done, but there was one little man in the captivity whose name was Daniel Three times a day he faced Jerusalem, and he would pray he was an intercessor He said no, I know the king has said Israel will never return I know the world thinks Israel’s done But God said and he reminded God in prayer three times a day till finally they passed a law that he couldn’t pray And they decided because that law and because he continued to pray

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shut him up. They threw him in the lions’ den. Even the king was remorseful because he knew Daniel was a good man. He goes back the next morning thinking all he’s going to find is some clean bones of Daniel. He finds Daniel laying between two lions, laid back, taking a nap, and those big cats are purring. When Satan says, I’ve got the final word, he’s a liar. God always has the final word. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it was King

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You don’t worship the golden image made of me and you don’t bow down to the culture and like the culture That I’m gonna throw you in a fiery furnace

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And sure enough they did. And it looked like King Abbot Kedeshwara would have the final word. He says, you boys want to repent? You want to bow down? You want to say I’m sorry? Just at the sound of music, all you got to do is bow down to my image. And they said, oh, no, no, no, King. We will not bow down to thy image. And be it known unto you, King, our God is able to deliver us. But if our God will not deliver us, be it known unto you, oh, King, we shall not bow.

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King Nebuchadnezzar says, well I’ll fix you guys. I’ll make an example of you. Takes them to the fiery furnace. The Bible says they heated the furnace so hot then they bound them in three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they went to put them in the fiery furnace and when they did, the Bible says that the men who went to cast them in fell down dead because the heat was so hot when they got that close to it. King Nebuchadnezzar’s thinking, just any minute you’re gonna hear him scream, just any minute you’re gonna hear him whimper, any minute, they’re done and he’s standing back

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He’s seeing some images in the fire and he turns to his men. He said guys Did did we not cast three men inbound into that lake of fire or that that furnace of fire? They said oh, yes, King we cast three men into the fiery furnace He said I see four men walking or four men walking around. They’re loose They’re done. Not even tied up anymore And by the way, the fourth man King them a Kenazza the unbeliever the pagan said and the fourth one looks like the Son of God

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See, Nebuchadnezzar thought he had the final word. Oh no, let Jesus show up on the scene. He has the final word because he says that God always has the final word. And then whenever, I’ve got to quit here, but then when you come down to the book of Joel or Jonah, the different prophets of the Bible, it was men who preached repentance in turn and experienced the mercy and forgiveness of God. I think of Esther. You ever read the book of Esther?

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Man, the king is gonna, he needs a new queen. And a little woman named Esther is brought to the kingdom. She’s a Jew, but there’s a guy by the name of Haman. Haman wants to exterminate the Jews. Listen to me. Hitler wanted to exterminate the Jews. Haman wanted to exterminate the Jews. If you don’t think there’s something real to the devil’s plan throughout history to want to destroy the Jewish nation, it is. It is.

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That’s why you hear me and from this pulpit, from this church, we stand with Israel because and they wanted to destroy Israel because to do that would mean God didn’t keep his word. And there’s a man named Haman, he devises a plan. He’s going to have all the all the Jews hung publicly. But Esther becomes the king’s wife. Esther.

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goes and she is learns of the plan and Mordecai tips her off and And Hamans built the Hamans new so it wasn’t just anyone it was a 75 foot platform And he’s getting ready for the day that he sees ester and all the jews hang Publicly and it will finally do away with the nation of Israel and god’s promise is all the devise of satan’s plan

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But then it’s discovered and you know what happened in the end? I told you God always has the final word. Read the book of Esther. God says to Esther, it may be that you were brought to the kingdom for such a time as this. And it ends with Haman, the man who built the 75 foot gallow to hang all the Jews on being hung himself. When the devil builds a hangman’s noose to hang you, you mark it down. God will see to it he hangs himself.

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You got some people that are building a hangman’s noose, it seems like around your neck, and they’re getting ready to hang you. Let them go, let them do it. Let them, tell them to knock themselves out. Mark my words, whenever somebody builds a hangman’s noose to hang you, God will have the last word and he’ll see them hung on it. You ever heard that deal? You ever heard that term, give it enough rope, they’ll hang themselves? That comes from the book of Esther. You get all through those prophets, and then you come to the last one.

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I obviously didn’t cover all 39 and you’re going, oh man, thank you. And I’m about to close, listen to me carefully. As a matter of fact, if you still got your Bible open, go to the book of Malachi. It’s the last book in the Bible, or the Old Testament rather. 39 books in the Old Testament, 27 in the New. Malachi

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is mostly known among Christians as the chapter on tithing. From there, we, you know, Bible-believing Christians get the idea of tithing. God says, will a man rob God? How have we robbed thee, God? You’ve robbed me in tithes and offerings. And so we read that and we think that’s all Malachi’s about. No, no, Malachi was a prophet and he ends, he ends, in chapter six, he ends his book.

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with a promise from God.

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But what I want you to notice that’s really important is if you’ll notice between Malachi and Matthew in your Bible, there’s probably a blank page as it makes the difference between the Old Testament and the New, the Old Covenant, the New Covenant. What you may not realize is that that blank page represents 400 years after David.

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The prophets, all the Old Testament combined put together. From Malachi to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there were 400 years when God was silent. God didn’t say anything. Was it speaking through prophets? No one was hearing from God.

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year after year they’d go to the temple and make their sacrifice and God was silent. But God always has the last word. There were groups in Israel in that day that were saying, see, God has given up on Israel. God will not keep his promise to Israel.

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God will not keep the Abraham covenant that he made with Abraham. God, all this stuff we’ve done and observed has been in vain. Look at it. We’re almost 400 years and by the time they get to those 400 years, the Jewish faith had become nothing but a burdensome religion. And God breaks the silence. Read Luke chapter 1.

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Read Luke chapter one about an angel appearing to a little virgin girl and telling her, you will be with child. How is it that I will be with child for I’ve not known a man? And he says, the Holy Ghost will come upon you. And then the announcement by Gabriel the angels to the shepherds in the field, that this day in Bethlehem has been born unto you a baby. He is Christ the King. And when it looked like

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Jesus had lived his earthly life. Three and a half years of ministry. Everyone finally abandons him. It looks like it’s over as the Romans carry him, drive him to the cross and up Golgotha’s hill. The devils, the Bible said that I can just imagine as Jesus walked that road to

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Mount Calvary to Golgotha, the place of the skull, and they’re being led and two thieves with him and then nailed to the cross and as they jeered and they laughed and they thought, yeah, he’s done. Do you know what the Bible says about that whole event? Do you know what the Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 8? You can look it up. It says that if the princess of this world had known what the outcome was going to be, they would not have

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But all the way up that mountain, all the way up that hill, they jeered, they laughed. I can see the devil now. He was like, we got him. We’re finally about to shut God up. Finally we’ll kill him on the cross. And they watched as Jesus bowed his head and he said to his father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And the Bible says he bowed his head and gave up his ghost.

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Soldier walked by and pierced him in the side, but he was already dead. They came by to break his legs, but his legs didn’t even be broke because he had already died. They carried him, they put him in a borrowed tomb. You need to read that. Joe, the man named Josephus, it was his borrowed tomb. They put Jesus in a borrowed tomb.

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The first day he lay silent, the second day he lay silent, and you can imagine all of hell said, yep, God doesn’t have the last word on this. We shut His Son up for good. But on the third day, on the third day, those women came to the tomb. They were going to anoint His body with spices. They get there. And the stone’s been rolled away.

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There’s some men in white garments standing around. The women are astonished. They don’t know. There’s Roman guards passed out on the ground. They kind of peek in and all they see is folded linen. And then God, I said had the final word, had sent his angels. And one of those angels taps one of the women on the shoulder and says, why do you seek the living among the dead?

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And they said, well, Jesus, we laid him here just three days ago. Mary was one of my my son. We came to know his body and the angels said, go tell his disciples that he’s not here. He is risen. And so I need you to understand something. Every time throughout history that Satan thought he had the final word. Oh, no. Read your Bible. God said, I have the final word.

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I had the final word. If I were to take just Genesis to Malachi, Genesis to Malachi, God is saying through all those books and all those verses of the Bible, I will keep my word. I will send a Redeemer. I will send my Son.

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When you get to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it says, I have sent my son. Here he is. He’s God among you. And when you read Acts to Revelation, it says, not only did God send his son, not only did God give his. Uh, um.

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crucify his son and Jesus give his life and be buried but rose from the grave but when you go from Acts to Revelation and especially the book of Revelation you know what Revelation’s about it’s not about scary events that are coming it’s not

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We always approach the revelation like, well, that’s, no, revelation is called the revelation of Jesus Christ. And you know what it’s telling us? It’s telling us God will have the final word. He’s coming back. It’s not done. The devil will not win. And you read about last chapter, you read the last few verses, read the last few verses of revelation. And Jesus says, behold, behold, I come.

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quickly. You say, man, you seem really passionate about that today, pastor. You seem kind of wound up, well, if you had to do what I’m going to do tomorrow.

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You’d understand that.

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How many of you just a few weeks ago remember I preached John chapter 14, one through six, let not your heart be troubled. If you believe in God, believe also in me, for in my Father’s house and many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. If I go away, I’ll go away to prepare a place for you where I am, there you may be also, and I will come again and receive you unto myself. And then John 14, six. 14, five, Thomas says, Lord, we don’t know the way, we don’t know where you’re going. And Jesus says, Thomas?

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I am the way, I am the truth, and I am life. No man comes unto the Father except by me. I preached that sermon. Many of you were here to hear that. What I didn’t know was that there was a young man sitting in that service that would hear the gospel, believe the gospel, pray to receive Christ as his Savior in that service. That was two Sundays ago.

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last Saturday. He had told his mom, I can’t wait to go to church tomorrow, this past Sunday. But on Saturday, at 17 years old, he was killed in a motorcycle accident. I spoke to his mom on Thursday. I spoke to his mom on Thursday. I’ll be doing his funeral service tomorrow.

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in Berlison or Joshua in burial in Berlison. And she said of her son.

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He came home and was telling me this week what a difference God had made in his life and how much he loved coming to church. He was going to get a tattoo of that scripture you preached that he heard on his arm.

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But tomorrow, I’ll stand and look at a grieving family and a grieving mother.

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I’ll stand beside a grave, a cold dark grave. And I’ll think, if the Holy Spirit give me words to speak to comfort this mother and this family and the friends of a 17 year old boy. How many of y’all know 17? Too young? Way too young.

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Then I’ll stay around till they lower that casket in the ground.

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and then I’ll leave. But you know what I do have hope in? Is I have hope that tomorrow I can tell that mother and I can tell his family and I can tell everybody in attendance. It may look like death has the final word but it don’t. Because 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 tells me there’s coming a day that the

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to meet the Lord in the air. I have the power tomorrow through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the word of God which is truth that I’ll be able to look that family in the eye and say this isn’t the end and this isn’t final. Death doesn’t have the final word. God has the final word. And when you read your Bible and you find that Jesus said in Revelation, behold I am he that would live with him was dead, but behold I’m alive forevermore and behold I have the keys to death and to hell.

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God has the final word. So I don’t know what Satan has lied to you about. I don’t know how bad he’s discouraged you. I don’t know what he has said like, oh, this will be the end. I wanna remind you, Jesus looked at him and said, it is written. In other words, what is written is God’s word. God has said, why don’t you remind Satan this morning? No, no, no, no, no. I heard today through the word of God that God has the final word.

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Devil, you don’t. You don’t. Would you bow your heads with me for a moment, Dennis? Y’all, come on. I know I’ve preached long this morning, but I hope you understand why.

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few minutes and maybe an hour on a Sunday. Nothing compared to eternity.

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Maybe you came in and you’re not having a rough week. You haven’t had a bad week. Everything’s been great for you, and I understand that, and I rejoice with you for that. But if you could see what God sees in the hearts of people in this building and those listening online today, then you would understand there’s a lot of people today here and listening that Satan has caused discouragement and he’s distracted and he’s lied and he’s trying to defeat them. And I believe God gave me this word for you today.

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I don’t care how much Satan lies to you. I don’t care how much he tries to discourage you or defeat you.

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Just read God’s word, God always has the last word. And what I know about God is that he loves you. Like they sang a little bit ago, the goodness of God has chased you down and pursued you, and it always will. That’s why David could write those words in the 23rd song, that surely your goodness and your mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

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Before I close today, while I had your bowed eyes or close for just a minute, hey, I don’t know who in this building or who listening to me that this may be the last church service you ever set in.

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If I could tell you how many times over the years I’ve done funeral services for people and just days before, maybe a week before, the last time I saw him alive was in church in worship service. You never know. Our life is a bit of a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Somebody ask this question before I close.

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How many of you in here today could say, Jeff, I know that I know that I know, I know Jesus. I’ve been saved, I have a relationship with him, and I know that’s settled. If you know that, would you just raise your hand as a testimony as I know Jesus, I know I’m saved, that’s a settled issue in my life. Thank you, hands all over the building. Yes, yes, yes. Y’all go ahead and start playing. How many of you would say preacher?

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I don’t know that if I died today I’m ready to meet him.

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but I’d sure like to. Would you slip your hand up? I don’t know if I died today. I don’t really have that assurance. But I would sure like to. Slip your hand up. Hens are about to out. I suppose nobody’s gonna pull you out and look at you. Nothing like that. It’s not to embarrass you. Yes, thank you. See those hands. Here’s what I want to ask you to do. You’re raising your hand this morning. That’s you. You say, Lord Jesus, would you forgive me of my sin? Forgive me where I have I have broke your law and sinned against you?

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come into my life, save me, change me. Today I repent of my sin and I believe that you Jesus died for me and paid my sin dead in full. I believe it rose from the grave. I ask you right now to give me eternal life. If you pray that prayer and you mean it with your heart, you’re sincere, then I can promise you.

01:04:07
You can begin a relationship with Jesus Christ, you know that you’re saved. But then, let me close with this, how many of you here, and you don’t have to raise your hand, but how many of you here say, man, the devil’s been lying to me. The devil tried to tell me it’s over whatever area of your life he’s defeating me. I just wanna remind you, God always has the final word. And that final word for you is a victory.

01:04:32
It’s victory through Jesus. Lord, we love you today. We thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your word. Lord, I thank you that when I go through your word, I can look over and over and over through scripture and see generation after generation after generation of people, you’ve always been faithful. And when the devil thought he had…

01:04:58
When the devil thought he would lie to everybody, when he thought he had people defeated, when he even thought he had your son destroyed, you had the final word. And I thank you for that. I thank you for the hope and the victory we have in Jesus and in your word. Strengthen your people. Lord, help those that are discouraged today and remind us through this week that we need to dive into your word.

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You give us hope and promise. Let us learn your word. Let us hunger for your word. In Jesus’ name I pray.

01:05:33
Ben, would y’all play us out of here? I won’t make y’all stand around. They’re gonna play one song as you leave. Be blessed. If you need prayer today, just come on up here toward the front. There’ll be a couple people hanging around the front, catching me at the back. I’ll be glad to pray with you and help you in any way I can. We don’t pass an offering plate. We do have a milk can in the back. If you’d like to give an offering to the Lord today, please do that. A lot of bills coming up for the church, and I appreciate you being faithful to God and taking care of that. We love you. We thank you. Bless you for being here.

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Have a blessed week. See you at 2.30 at the bull ride today. Bible study on Wednesday and a lot of activities coming up next week. Alright, don’t miss it. Don’t forget about Easter coming up and mark your calendar for Good Friday. Good Friday worship service here at seven o’clock in a couple weeks. God bless you. We love you.

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Draw me close to you

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Never let me go

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Lay it all down again

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To hear you say that you’re my friend You are my desire No one else will do

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Nothing else could take your place To feel the warmth of your embrace Help me find a way To bring me back to you

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You’re a

01:07:45
me

01:08:15
Draw me close to you

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Never let me go

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I lay it all down again

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To hear you say that I’m your friend

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desire.

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No one else will do.

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Because nothing else could take your place To feel the warmth of your

01:09:08
Finally, bring me back to you

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You know

01:10:18
Tell me now, you honey