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One of my favorite memes about 
Chuck Norris. 

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I know. 
If you don't know, Chuck Norris 

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went to be with the Lord a 
couple days ago and he was 

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somebody who was integral in my 
upbringing, right? 

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I watched all those karate 
movies, Van Damme, Bruce Lee, 

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all of it, but the memes didn't 
catch on until the mid 2000s and

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one of them was Chuck Norris 
doesn't do push ups, he pushes 

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the earth down. 
But there's one and all of those

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are fictitious, but there's 
actually one that is true. 

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The grave will not hold Chuck 
Norris. 

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Why? 
Because Jesus was his Lord, and 

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someday when everything comes 
down, he will be resurrected. 

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So there's only one meme that 
works, and it's the one that 

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only God can deliver. 
Let's pray Lord, this morning 

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we're coming in from all 
different places and different 

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things on our brains. 
So for the next little bit, 

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could we just focus on you? 
Can we just focus on your word? 

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Can we just focus on what it 
means and how we should then go 

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live? 
It's your name, we pray. 

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Amen. 
Last week, did you know this was

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a 2 parter? 
Usually the blog gives it away, 

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right, that whoever's preaching 
the blog kind of preps you for 

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who that is. 
But last week we looked at Acts 

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5 and we saw a contrast between 
the believers who were kind of 

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all in and those who held back. 
Now, the big word that was kind 

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of attached to the word held 
back was nosphisimi, and I had a

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lot of fun conversations about 
that after the service last 

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week. 
And what's interesting is that 

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last week had to do a lot with 
people's possessions, right? 

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The things that are tangible, 
the things that they have, you 

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can lay them down, whatever. 
Today is a different kind of 

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possession. 
Today's possession is of far 

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greater value, and that is the 
Kingdom. 

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What happens in this part of 
Acts 5 is that we go from 

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temporal possessions and what it
might look to lay those down 

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like to what it means to deliver
the Kingdom. 

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Now, a lot of times when you 
hear this all in talk, you're 

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like, well, yeah, I'm sure that 
worked for them. 

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They saw Jesus live, they saw 
him die, and they saw him rise 

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again. 
They could be bold, of course, 

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wouldn't you? 
But how much more is it for us 

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to be full of zeal, ready to do 
whatever it takes? 

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So one of the questions that we 
are going to ponder today is 

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this. 
It's not what am I willing to 

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give, but what am I willing to 
lose? 

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Now the apostles and all of 
that, they were not met with 

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kindness or willingness or there
was no partnership with the 

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religious elite, right? 
Those, those religious elite 

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were neither willing to give nor
willing to lose. 

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And the disciples, the apostles,
they were met with scorn, 

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jealousy, and in a lot of cases 
some pretty deep, intense 

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hatred. 
And not every and not everybody 

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responded to Jesus the same way,
as you'll see either in his life

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or through his death or in his 
resurrection. 

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But today we are going to look 
at a response. 

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So Jerry read the first part of 
this, Acts 517 through 29. 

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So let's just do a real quick 
review because there are certain

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things in here I do not want you
to miss. 

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But we'd have a three-part 
sermon and that would bleed in 

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the Palm Sunday and that 
wouldn't work. 

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The high priest was all kinds of
jealous. 

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And he decides to arrest the 
apostles and place them in a 

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public prison. 
And that didn't last very long, 

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because the Angel came and broke
him out, right? 

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He broke him out and said, hey, 
go stand in the temple and speak

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the words of this life. 
And at dawn they rode, and they 

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began to teach. 
Maybe they were afraid, I don't 

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know. 
But if I had just been broke out

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of jail and I had the potential 
to go back into jail, I might be

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a little bit more bold about, 
hey, probably he'll break me out

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of jail again, right? 
So maybe there's a little bit of

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that going on. 
But nevertheless, the high 

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priest summons them and they 
send guys out and they find 

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nothing. 
If you don't find this part 

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hilarious, I don't know what to 
tell you. 

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Because as it is written, they 
show up to to investigate. 

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The doors are locked, the guards
are in their place, and nobody's

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saying nothing about nothing. 
Either because they're afraid of

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losing their jobs, or they 
really don't know what happened,

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or they're still afraid but like
everyone's now confused about 

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this. 
What could this mean? 

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What happened? 
Now, we are all familiar with 

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groups of people who are in 
charge who cannot get their 

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stories straight or acts 
together right. 

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But this made me I laughed out 
loud as I sat and read it 

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because it's just so ridiculous.
And then somebody who's not 

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really involved says, hey, 
they're over here teaching, 

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like, like the town's snitch, 
right? 

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And so you have, you have them 
go over there. 

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And that's like, hey, we, we 
need to break. 

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We need to bring you in. 
They don't do so violently 

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because they were afraid of the 
crowd. 

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Did you notice that? 
They were afraid that the crowd 

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would stone them because of what
they would be doing to the 

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apostles. 
And so they gather them up and 

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they bring them in before the 
council and it is clear that 

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they have lost all control. 
So when they're brought in for 

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questioning and they and they 
say these things, remember I 

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said Peter had a cold line last 
week where he said, hey, the 

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feet of the men are here and 
they're going to carry you out. 

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This line's even colder. 
This line is borderline frozen. 

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Here's what he says. 
We must obey God rather than 

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men. 
Man, this was a guy who had did 

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not have his act together with 
the rooster and the whole thing.

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And here he is dropping cold, 
cold truth. 

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Have you ever stepped into 
something that you knew God was 

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calling you to and you thought, 
hey, once we get on the other 

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side of this, all the details 
are going to fall into place, 

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right? 
But instead, here's what you 

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get. 
That door opens, things get 

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harder. 
Like, where's the easy button? 

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The clarity that you were 
wanting or looking for actually 

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is painful and costly and I 
think we can sometimes forget 

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that more money means more 
problems, that the breakthrough 

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that we are looking for often 
times leads to bigger and deeper

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and more guaranteed harder parts
of a journey. 

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But most of us will never face a
courtroom like the apostles. 

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But we most certainly face 
smaller versions of the same 

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test every day. 
The obedience test, the loyalty 

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test, the truth test, whether we
admit it or not is another 

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thing. 
What does it look like staying 

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silent when you know you should 
speak up? 

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Bending the truth just enough to
avoid conflict? 

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Choosing approval over 
integrity? 

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Because the biggest threats to 
being obedient are never loud. 

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They are convenient and these 
concessions are rarely 

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spotlighted like they most often
times happen in your own mind 

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and heart. 
Nobody else knows, and they 

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happen quietly. 
But we know, don't we, My 

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friends, it's simple math. 
Obedience is costly, but 

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compromise costs a whole lot 
more. 

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You may lie, but eventually the 
truth wins. 

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And we learned last week that 
God is not above telling others 

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on us. 
Because how did Peter know? 

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Going to say God snitched. 
That's the best kind of snitch, 

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by the way. 
But a big question looms for us.

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Where in our lives right now is 
obedience being negotiated? 

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We pick up in verse 30, Peter 
says we must obey God, not men. 

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That's not the only thing he 
says, right? 

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Here's the rest of what he says.
And I want you to be looking at 

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it, and I want you to see if you
can pick up some of the things 

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he's putting down. 
Number verse 30, The God of our 

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fathers raised Jesus, whom you 
killed by hanging him on a tree.

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God exalted him at his right 
hand as leader and Savior to 

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give repentance to Israel and 
forgiveness of sins. 

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And we are witnesses in these 
things, and so is the Holy 

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Spirit, whom God has given to 
those who obey Him. 

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See, Peter doesn't have an issue
telling them how he feels or 

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what he thinks. 
He makes several very important 

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qualifying statements. 
Verse 30, the God of our 

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fathers, It's not the God of my 
father. 

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He is saying, hey Sadducees, 
this is the same God we're 

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talking about. 
He raised Jesus from the dead 

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and then he says whom you 
killed. 

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OK, let's not forget that. 
That's that's that's on you guys

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on a tree. 
Now this was one that I almost 

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walked past, but just like no 
spism. 

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I when I get into the original 
language, I'm like, oh, what's 

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this? 
And here's the deal. 

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Why do they say tree and not 
cross? 

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You have any idea? 
OK, thank you, Christy. 

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All right, text, text it to me. 
But either way, a tree, right? 

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A cross and a tree, It was the 
worst form of death that a Roman

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could give. 
It's very bad. 

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But why a tree? 
Because Deuteronomy 2122 and 23 

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says cursed is the man who hangs
on a It is both equal parts 

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terrible for Romans, equal parts
terrible for Jews. 

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And so Peter says mind is blown.
And then what you would expect 

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from a curse is, is something 
going downward. 

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But then he says he was exalted.
He has no one. 

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Exalted means that means highest
of the high. 

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Then Jesus was exalted, sitting 
at the right hand, which is a 

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very important spot as leader 
and Savior, which means he's in 

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charge and only through him can 
it be accomplished. 

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Why? 
To give repentance to Israel. 

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He's basically saying you guys 
need to repent and the 

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forgiveness of sins and we are 
witnesses to these things and so

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is the Holy Spirit. 
And So what that what that is 

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meant to really say. 
I mean, Pentecost just happened 

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not that long ago, right? 
So he is he is giving the 

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entirety of it to these guys in 
a response. 

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And he says, hey, we're all in 
agreement over here. 

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You want to know what their 
response was? 

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321 kill them when they heard 
this verse 33, they were enraged

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and wanted to kill them. 
But a Pharisee, OK, so there's 

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Sadducees here, right? 
And then a Pharisee has to come 

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in and say, hey guys, just hold 
on, right? 

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That's the that's the kind of 
bipartisanship we could hope 

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for, right? 
But a Pharisee in the council 

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named Gamaliel, a teacher of the
law held in honor by all the 

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people. 
So this was like somebody major 

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walking into the space. 
He stood up, which is a whole 

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posture thing, right? 
That means pay attention because

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they were sitting down. 
Standing up means I'm about to 

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say something. 
And he gave orders to put them 

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outside for a little while. 
See, Peter pushed all the 

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buttons. 
But was he wrong though? 

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And he laid out the story of the
gospel in like 4 or five 

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sentences. 
And his retort made the 

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Sadducees so upset that somebody
from somewhere else, a different

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part of the religious elite, had
to come in and say, stop. 

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But who was Gamaliel, really? 
Just real quick on him. 

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He was the grandson of the 
steamed halal, The Who was the 

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founder of Israel's strongest 
school of religion. 

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So like when people talked about
Gamaliel, they called him Rabin 

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or Rabban, which is our teacher.
That's way different than Rob or

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Rabbi, right? 
So that's basically like good, 

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better, best. 
Gamaliel is the best, right? 

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He's considered that. 
And so here's what he says. 

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Men of Israel, take care what 
you are about to do to these 

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men. 
But before these, for before 

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these days, Theodos rose up 
claiming to be somebody, and a 

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number of men, about 400, joined
him. 

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He was killed, and all who 
followed him were dispersed, and

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it came to nothing. 
And after him, Judas the 

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Galilean rose up in the days of 
the census and drew away some of

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those after him. 
He, too, perished. 

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And all who followed him were 
scattered. 

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So he's trying to make an 
argument about like, hey, we 

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have, we have handled this type 
of conflict before. 

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And it didn't end how everybody 
thought it would end. 

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Those guys disappeared and it 
was over. 

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Now a lot of commentators talk 
about like, what meant if some 

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of his motivations have been 
like, was he actually trying to 

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keep peace? 
Was he in control of the 

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situation? 
But if you look at it, it 

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doesn't seem like he was 
convinced about who Jesus was, 

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right? 
And since he was highly 

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esteemed. 
He probably had a lot to lose. 

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Now the back stories of these 
uprisings are for another day. 

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And you get you get a free 
doughnut after service if you go

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look him up. 
But it is super interesting that

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these things occurred. 
He goes on to say this. 

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So in this present case, I tell 
you, keep away from these men 

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and let them alone. 
For if this plan or this 

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undertaking is of man, it will 
fail. 

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But if it is of God, you will 
not be able to overthrow them. 

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You might even be found opposing
God. 

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So he says, just stick your 
heads in the sand, stick to the 

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script and it'll all shake out. 
But the irony here is I hope you

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caught it. 
They are already in opposition 

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to God. 
They just don't believe it about

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themselves. 
Remember last week we talked a 

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little bit about like how when 
we lie, we lie best to who? 

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Ourselves and so you have this 
heads in the sand kind of 

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posture. 
But God wants the good news to 

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go out and he is going to make 
it happen. 

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So go ahead and arrest them 
again. 

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God will have them out likely 
before dawn. 

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So this whole thing only further
emboldens the disciples. 

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Like, you would think that they 
would have been deterred, but it

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just keeps getting bolder. 
Now. 

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Did you notice? 
And this was something I didn't 

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catch until like I was reading 
for the 10th time. 

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At what point did the disciples 
become the apostles? 

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You also get a free doughnut, if
you could tell me that after the

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service. 
But they are no longer referred 

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to as disciples, which kind of 
has AJV feel to it. 

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Apostles has a varsity feel to 
it. 

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And so I thought that was just 
something you needed to hear. 

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God levelled them up. 
Coincidentally, Chuck Norris's 

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birthday was a couple days ago 
and he turned 86 and he said, I 

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don't age, I level up. 
So there's something to that. 

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The Lord's using Chuck today. 
So they took his advice, and 

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when they had called in the 
apostles, they beat them and 

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charged them not to speak in his
name, in the name of Jesus, and 

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let them go. 
All right, so we won't kill him,

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but let's rough him up real 
good. 

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And they were basically let off 
with a warning, Like, was that 

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going to work? 
They had to know that that was 

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not going to work. 
And this reminds me of like, 

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plot lines and shows that kids 
watch. 

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I'm about to throw one of them 
under the bus. 

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It's called Paw Patrol. 
Paw Patrol has a guy named Mare 

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Humdinger, Right? 
And consistently Mayor Humdinger

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does terrible things and the Paw
Patrol comes in and saves the 

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day and they let Mayor Humdinger
off with a warning even when he 

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kidnaps cats. 
Like there's things that he 

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should be thrown in jail for. 
And the Paw Patrol just says 

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I'll let you go with a stiff 
warning. 

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But or it's like, I just 
recently started re watching the

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Transformers from 1984 and in 
like the very first episode, I 

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kid you not, the Autobots get 
rid of the Decepticons and at 

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the end they go, those guys 
probably won't be back anytime 

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soon. 
And that was episode #1 right? 

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So like fooling ourselves. 
It's not, it's not something 

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that doesn't happen. 
But aren't you glad that God 

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doesn't approach things that 
way? 

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That when he deals with sin and 
death, there's no cutscene and 

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the devil sitting in the chair 
going and he's petting a cat 

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like Doctor Claw. 
I'll get you next time, Jesus. 

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Next time, there's none of that.
There is no next time because 

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when God does it, He does it. 
Jesus puts death to death and 

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because of this we can live a 
life that's worthy of living. 

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So do not be confused. 
None of this is going to be 

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easy. 
Obedience is tested in the small

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moments as well as the big ones.
Verse 41 Then they left the 

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presence of the council, 
rejoicing that they were counted

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worthy of what to suffer, to 
suffer dishonor for the name. 

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You know there is nothing like 
feeling faithful. 

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Think about the times in your 
life where you had to be 

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00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:54,040
faithful but it cost you. 
Maybe it was a hard season in 

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your marriage that you stuck it 
out and it made you stronger. 

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Maybe it was a financial 
struggle that you had to lock in

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00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,760
on and eat beans and rice and it
taught you discipline. 

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Or perhaps you stood up to 
someone or someone's that were 

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wrong and you stood for the 
truth. 

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Or even if you took a risk and 
it didn't pay off, at least not 

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the way that you thought it 
would. 

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And I bet at a time, none of 
those things felt like gifts. 

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But how you view it matters. 
How the disciples viewed this 

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00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:47,280
matters. 
Some people call it the light at

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the end of the tunnel. 
But when you are able to connect

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00:27:55,040 --> 00:28:01,960
pain with purpose, the memory is
forged by the meaning. 

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That's how trust works. 
The apostles were not validated 

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00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:14,440
by accolades. 
They were validated in 

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00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,440
suffering. 
And that is exactly what Jesus 

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00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:25,240
means when He said that everyone
must pick up their cross daily. 

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Not blind obedience, but eyes 
wide open obedience because the 

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00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,600
purpose is there. 
We have a why? 

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What about our now verse 42 and 
every day in the temple and from

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house to house, which means they
didn't stay in one spot. 

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They went from the crowd to the 
door to door. 

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00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:20,280
They did not cease teaching and 
preaching that the Christ is 

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00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:27,880
Jesus, here is the now. 
They did not stop. 

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00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:33,240
They were more bold. 
They took more risks, and we 

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00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:39,840
have them to thank. 
We stand on their shoulders, 

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00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,680
public and private, large and 
small. 

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00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,720
No stone was left unturned. 
And who benefited? 

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00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:54,000
Generations after generations 
after generations after 

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00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,320
generations? 
And guess what? 

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00:29:56,520 --> 00:30:00,960
Who kept it moving generations 
after generations after 

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00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:02,600
generations? 
Guess what? 

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00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:05,560
We're at the lead of this 
generation. 

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00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:17,760
Faithfulness is caught, not just
taught. 

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00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:23,840
The Pharisees and the Sadducees 
thought that it was what they 

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00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:27,960
what they taught and what they 
held on to that made them 

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00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:32,520
faithful. 
The disciples turned apostles 

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00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:36,560
understood that it was what they
caught was the faithfulness of 

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00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:38,600
the life that they saw Jesus 
live. 

341
00:30:48,370 --> 00:30:51,690
They caught it and then they 
taught it. 

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00:30:54,090 --> 00:30:56,050
There was no, no fizz, am I 
here? 

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00:30:59,850 --> 00:31:03,570
So what might God be calling you
to do in this legacy of 

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00:31:03,570 --> 00:31:06,490
faithfulness? 
Hopefully, it's not something 

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00:31:06,490 --> 00:31:08,250
that will have you wearing 
orange or pinstripes. 

346
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:18,680
Kids and students, hear me out. 
God is calling you to put your 

347
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:24,960
faith and trust in Him to make 
Jesus first in your life as the 

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00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:28,640
foundation for all of the things
that He's going to ask you to do

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00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:35,960
in the future. 
Do you hear Him calling adults? 

350
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:42,240
It's the same thing. 
However, we might need to 

351
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:48,160
reinvest in this vision and even
if we do not see immediate 

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00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:54,320
results or feel the satisfaction
of success, we need to do it. 

353
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:12,440
It's not one day, it's day one. 
We get judged at the end, not 

354
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:18,560
the middle. 
So ask Jesus to get you 

355
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:23,920
realigned, to get you refocused,
to get you recommitted, so that 

356
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:27,160
you can be relaunched, so that 
they can be renewed. 

357
00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:38,880
And along the way we might stop.
But God cannot be stopped. 

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00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:48,560
And aren't we glad? 
Let's pray, Lord, You are 

359
00:32:48,560 --> 00:33:00,750
unstoppable. 
Your purposes and your plans, 

360
00:33:00,750 --> 00:33:09,750
they are unmovable. 
And it is a privilege and a joy 

361
00:33:11,510 --> 00:33:15,430
if we get to suffer for your 
name. 

362
00:33:17,430 --> 00:33:17,750
Amen.