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Try Again: Overcoming Life's Challenges with Grace - Special Guests - The McCloskey's - Sunday Morning - October 6, 2024

Join us for a special Sunday message featuring the McCloskey's gospel singing duo, where we delve into the transformative power of humility and perseverance in faith. Pastor Josh emphasizes that, like Naaman from the Bible, we often need to try again and humble ourselves to receive God's healing and grace. Throughout the service, uplifting gospel music reinforces the theme of redemption and the importance of not giving up in our spiritual journeys. The McCloskey's beautiful performances serve as a backdrop to the message, reminding us of the mercy we receive through faith in Jesus. Listen in as we explore the significance of accountability, the necessity of casting aside pride, and the encouragement to keep striving in our faith, no matter the challenges we face.

A compelling blend of gospel music and spiritual teaching marks this special Sunday message at Middletown Baptist Church, featuring the McCloskey's gospel singing duo. Pastor Josh opens the episode with an invitation to listeners to join in a celebration of faith and transformation. Through vibrant performances, the McCloskeys deliver songs that highlight the core message of the day: the incredible change that comes with finding salvation. Their music serves as a backdrop to a deeper discussion about grace, mercy, and the power of trying again, echoing the biblical truth that God continually invites us to start anew.

The heart of the message focuses on the biblical story of Naaman, who faced the humbling task of dipping seven times in the Jordan River to be healed of leprosy. Pastor Josh draws parallels between Naaman's story and the struggles faced by individuals today, emphasizing the importance of humility in the pursuit of healing and spiritual growth. He encourages listeners to persevere in their faith, regardless of the challenges they encounter. The call to 'try again' resonates strongly throughout the episode, reminding everyone that setbacks are a part of the journey, but God's mercy is always available for those willing to seek it.

As the episode progresses, Pat McCloskey highlights the significance of community support and accountability in the Christian walk. He challenges listeners to confront pride and seek the help of others in their struggles. The gospel music interspersed throughout the message reinforces these themes, creating an atmosphere of encouragement and hope. Ultimately, the episode serves as a reminder that through Christ, individuals can overcome their challenges, find healing, and embrace the life-changing power of grace, as they are called to 'try again' and trust in God's unfailing love.

Takeaways:

  • The importance of humility is emphasized through Naaman's story and his healing.
  • God's mercy is a recurring theme, reminding us of His grace in our lives.
  • We should not give up despite struggles; instead, we must keep trying again.
  • The podcast highlights the significance of community support and accountability in faith.
  • Singing and worship serve as powerful reminders of our spiritual journey and healing.
  • Encouragement to trust Jesus as personal Lord and Savior for a better life.

Links referenced in this episode:

Transcript
Pastor Josh:

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

Pastor Josh:

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

Pastor Josh:

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Pastor Josh:

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

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Not the same ever since the savior found me not the same since he turned my life around my sins have been covered by his blood praise him I'm not the same not the same ever since the savior found me the same since he turned my life around my sins have been covered by his blood praise him, I got the same.

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Old things have passed away behold all things are new I'm a new creation forgiven through and through my past has been erased through Jesus I am free and by his saving grace there's been.

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A change in me not the same ever since the savior found me not the same since he turned my life around my sins have been covered by his blood praise him are not the same.

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I will not be conformed to this world and its ways he renews my spirit with mercy every day he gives me peace of mind and life abundantly I won't be turning back I.

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Tasted victory not the same ever since the savior found me not the same since he turned my life around my sins have been covered by his blood praise him.

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Up not the same, not the same ever since the savior found I dare say since he turned my life around my sin, my sin has to have been covered by his blood praise him, I'm not the same praise him I'm not the same amenity.

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Once there was.

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A holy place, evidence of God's embrace I could almost see mercy's face pressed against the vein looking down with longing eyes mercy must have a ring alive once his blood was sacrificed breathe with your name as the sky dark and the earth began to shake justice no longer in the way mercy came running like a prisoner set free cast all my failures to the point of my knee the sin that I carried was all I could see when I could not reach mercy mercy came running to.

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Me once there was a broken heart.

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Way to human Brahma star.

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All the.

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Years left it tore my hopeless and afraid walls I never meant to hear let this prisoner unveil even still seemed so far away I was bound by the chains from the wages of my sin just when I felt like giving me Mercy came running like a prisoner set free past all my failures to the point of my knee the sin that I carry was all I could see when I could not reach mercy.

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Mercy came running to me.

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Sometimes I still feel so far, so far from where I really should be.

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He can be close to my heart just to remind me.

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Mercy came running like a prisoner set free.

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Passed all my failures to the point of my need.

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Sin that I carry was all I could see when I could not reach mercy.

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Mercy came around into me.

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Sin that I carry was all I could see when I could not reach mercy.

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Mercy came running to mercy.

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Camera.

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Mercy came running to me.

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Amen.

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Aren't you thankful for mercy?

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Amen.

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My goodness, I'm so glad.

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I like that part where it's all I was bound by the chains of the wages of my sin.

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Just when I felt like giving in all.

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But then mercy came running.

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Amen.

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And set me free.

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I'm so thankful for mercy.

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If you don't have that mercy today, my friend, today you can trust Jesus as your personal lord and savior.

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And I promise you, you'll have a better life than you ever dreamed of.

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You say, is it going to be perfect?

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No, it's not going to be perfect.

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But I'll tell you this much.

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You've got somebody going through those imperfect times with you.

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Amen.

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And I'm so glad for the times when it struggles and it's hard and it's difficult.

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I've got the one who can calm the storm right on my side.

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I'm so thankful for that.

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Man.

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It is so good to see you.

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I always tell folks I love coming to Delaware because then I can buy big screen tvs and not have to pay tax.

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You know what I'm talking about?

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No, no, not really.

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But anyway, last year had the opportunity to be here by myself.

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This year, I am not alone.

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Amen.

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I've got this lady right here with me.

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Everybody was saying to me, they were saying, hey, how come?

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Why is your wife not here?

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I said, because she's busy watching the grandkids and stuff.

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And they said, well, why can't you be home and watching the grandkids and her come?

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You know, sometimes you wonder what's going on.

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But anyway, actually, she's going to be hopping on an airplane early tomorrow morning because grandparents day is coming up, and my son and daughter in law are getting ready to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

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And so she is going to be grandma.

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And that's wonderful.

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That's the one thing I told her.

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I said, we're going to settle to the point where at least you can go and be grandma.

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Amen and that is so very, very important.

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And so we're grateful for that, and I'm thankful she's here.

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And I remind her all the time how blessed she is to have all of this right here.

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No, I'm just kidding.

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I'm blessed.

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She says you need to get a new line.

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I tell her it every morning.

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That's part of the problem.

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No, but anyway, for those, how many of you all have never heard the McCluskeys before?

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This is the first time.

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Raise your hands.

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I want to see it.

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Oh, my goodness.

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Look at that.

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Amen.

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Praise the Lord.

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I'm seeing new faces.

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See all the familiar faces.

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Amen.

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And then new ones.

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And this is wonderful to see the change we've been actually kind of.

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You remember a couple of years ago, we were looking at settling in Indiana and working at christian radio and things like that?

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Well, some things fell through with that.

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And really it was the hand of God, you know, I love it when God steps in.

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Even though I may not like it all the time, I love it when he's got us in mind.

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Amen.

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And he re geared some things.

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So we thought we'd relocate down to Tennessee, get a little closer to our grandkids, and we've been able to do that.

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Really enjoyed that time.

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But then my father in law last may had a stroke.

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He's in Augusta, Georgia, not very far from Tennessee, but he is at Augusta, Georgia.

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Had a stroke.

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He's 86 years old, and my mother in law, 83 years old, has been tending to him along with my sister in law and my wife.

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Just felt led.

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Honey, is there any way that we can at least take the coach and go on down to Augusta and then kind of operate out of there in our ministry?

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And I said, let's do it.

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So we packed up the coach last August and we moved on down to Augusta and were hooked up there and been helping my father in law out and things like that been kind of going on.

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So we're just moving here and there and everywhere.

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Praise the Lord.

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We got hit by the storm, I guess the area, I guess my sister in law, where our coach is parked, we got a 50 amp plugged in there and 27 trees fell.

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I mean, tall, huge trees fell, all these pines and everything.

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And the most interesting thing is in her yard, they all fell, but not one hit her house, not one hit their shed, not one hit our coach, not one hit my car.

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And I got a car that's sitting in the driveway.

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Nothing like that.

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But the power is still out.

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So we'd ask that you pray for them.

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But anyway, we're just thankful that God's got his hand on things.

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We need to keep the people in west North Carolina in our prayers right now.

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They're going through an awful lot.

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As a matter of fact, we've got some dear friends.

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We're in their church there, and they're doing okay.

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Their church is doing well, but they're actually taking in contributions right now to be able to go and help people.

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And if you want that information, I'd be glad to help you with that.

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You just let me know.

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Actually, what I'll do is I'll give it to the administration, the office here, and they'll have that on hand.

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And if that's a place you can trust, it's a church you can trust.

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Community Baptist church, actually, out of Graham, North Carolina.

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And so keep them in mind, if you would, if you really do that.

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I'm so thankful for the healing hand of God.

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Aren't you?

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When you stop and you look at a lot of times we look at this physical healing that goes on in our lives.

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Sure, yeah, we might get sick or we might deal with some kind of a situation that we had no idea that was coming our way.

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Michelle, you know what I'm talking about.

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Or the things that might creep in there physically, and we don't know quite how to handle that.

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But I'm also thankful for the spiritual healing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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You see, healing is more than just something that's physical.

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It's something that's spiritual, something that's deep down inside.

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And though there may be wounds that were there, things that you look back and you think, my goodness, this was difficult, or that was difficult, you might see how God reaches in there and he begins to heal those wounds.

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And I'm thankful for that.

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But then you look at a scar, and there's nothing wrong with looking at that scar once in a while, realizing what he brought you through.

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This song kind of talks about that.

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It's a brand new song.

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I love it.

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My wife's going to sing it.

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It's a song that says, heal the wounds, believe the scars, amen.

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I used to wish that I could rewrite history I used to dream that each mistake could be raised and I could just pretend I never knew the me back then I used to pray that you would take this shame away hide all the evidence of who I've been but it's the memory of the place you brought me from that keeps me on my knees and even though I'm free.

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Heal the womb but leave the scars a reminder of how merciful you are I am broken, torn apart take the pieces of this heart heal the womb but I have not lived a life that boasts of anything I don't take pride in whatever reason but I'll build an altar with the rubble that you found me in and every stone will sing but what you can reveal.

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Heal the world but leave your stars a reminder of how merciful you are I am broken, torn apart.

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Take the pieces.

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Of this heart.

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Don'T let me forget everything you've done for me don't let me forget the beauty endless suffering heal the world but leave the scars a reminder of how merciful you are.

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I.

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Am broken, torn apartheid the pieces of.

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This heart you, the woman in the skies a reminder of how merciful you are I am broken to the heart.

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Take the pieces of this heart heal the world.

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Amen.

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Heal the wound believe the scars.

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Amen.

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How many of y'all can give a testimony of that?

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You've seen the things that God has done in your life and how he's changed things, and yet you look back and you see that scar and you really realize how merciful he is to you and me.

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I'm so thankful for that.

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Let me ask you this question.

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How many of y'all have ever been lost?

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Oh, yeah.

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You can't get saved unless you're lost.

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You can't be found unless you're lost.

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Amen.

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I remember the time when I was lost.

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I wasn't that old.

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s the street from my house at:

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I asked Jesus to be my savior, and I got from being lost to being found.

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Amen.

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Rodney Griffin wrote a wonderful song.

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Kind of talks about that just a little bit, but it talks about being lost and being lost.

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And you say, how does that happen?

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How does being lost and being lost.

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Well, one thing, when you realize you're lost in your sin and transgression, when you realize that you're lost in yourself and you're lost in this world, but then you find Jesus Christ, you become lost in his love, and you become lost in his favor, and you become lost in his sweet embrace.

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And this song talks about that just a little bit.

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It talks about being lost.

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Amen.

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I'm so glad I was lost and now I'm found hallelujah.

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At the crossroads of life I look within and did not like who I had become.

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Choices of mine betrayed me again I was so frightened because I was a wanderer without cause we reward from it all.

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I stumbled on a.

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Long broken path I never felt so.

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Alone praying for the dawn in a.

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Midnight so glad desperate for all I was lost a wonder without crosse weary and born from behold.

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But oh, what a merciful savior you are.

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Dipping into the shadows to rescue my.

Pastor Josh:

Heart.

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Lifted me now that I forever I'll be in the wonder of your love for me in a grace that my grace my greatest need and forever that I don't deserve when I see how willing you are.

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To come after.

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Me I walk in the goodness of your strong grace knowing I forever save all of my days I belong lost in the wonder wonder of your love for me.

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Lost in the wonder, wonder of your love for me.

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Amen.

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Praise the Lord.

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I'm glad I got lost so I could be saved.

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Amen.

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Hallelujah.

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Take your bibles, if you would, please, and turn to the book of second kings, chapter five.

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Second kings, chapter five.

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As you're turning there, I want to mention that we've got some things.

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I don't want any feedback here.

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We got some things here on the table.

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I hope you'll stop by the table in the back.

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Bunch of wonderful, wonderful things, as you're many of you are familiar.

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My wife makes these beautiful bracelets, and they're absolutely gorgeous.

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And she makes them all by hand.

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All of this is made with her own hands.

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She's been working on them this week, as a matter of fact, and she got a whole bunch back there.

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You can stop by and pick these up.

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Portion of the proceeds of the bracelets help us to be able to give to missions.

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So we've got that available back there.

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And you can stop and get those if you so choose.

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And then some of you, I saw somebody.

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Where are you at?

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You're here somewhere wearing one of these shirts.

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I just saw someone wearing one of these shirts this morning.

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Says, keep America Christian.

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I need an amen from Delaware.

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Amen.

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And we've got this.

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We got these now in Delaware colors right there.

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I'm just kidding.

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I said that last week in New York and then over in Wisconsin.

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We were there.

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No, seriously, I hope you'll stop by and pick these up and wear them, especially right now.

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We got an election coming up.

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And that, man, I'll tell you, if anything, we need to keep America Christian.

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Amen.

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And so we've got those back there.

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You can pick those up.

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A portion of the proceeds of this right here, of these shirts right here are going right now, we kind of shifted gears.

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Normally we help wounded warriors, but we're.

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A portion of the proceeds are going to help folks that are in western North Carolina right now.

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We're concerned about them and praying for them, and so stop by and pick those up.

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Now, listen, we don't have all the sizes.

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We're out of small and we're out of medium, but I'm getting them tomorrow.

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So we'll have them, I'll bring them to the church.

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You'll have them available for you and so you can pick those up and so forth.

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Oh, music.

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I hope you stop by.

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You haven't got, I know you don't have this cd yet unless you ordered it online.

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This particular cd is brand new.

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It's called our face still holds.

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And we've got that back there.

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You can get that.

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It's my wife and I, and this time my kids didn't help us with this one.

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Normally our kids are singing.

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You hear the third and fourth parts in the background.

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Normally our kids help us, but they couldn't help us this time.

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So a fellow by the name of Chris Ullman, he's a tenor for a group called Greater Vision, said, hey, can I put my voice on?

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And we were just going to double up on our voices on there.

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And because my kids couldn't do it, and Chris said, can I put my.

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Can I help you guys out?

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Can I put it on there?

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I said, yeah, absolutely.

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So Chris Ullman is on here and he's singing the third part.

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The song lost is on this cd along with heal the wound, believe the scars mercy came running.

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We're going to do a bunch of music tonight that's on this cd and I can go on and on.

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So I hope you'll stop by and listen.

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You don't have a car yet that has a CD player.

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It used to be the other way around.

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You still got the eight track?

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Okay.

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What?

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No, I'm just kidding.

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Some people don't even know what that is.

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But listen, if you don't have a CD player in your car, they've eliminated the CD players in a lot of cars.

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Now we've got these thumb drives.

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This particular thumb drive has five different McCluskey CDs on it.

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You can get it, plug it into the USB port, and usually it works.

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I think it works pretty much every time.

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I'm not run into any real issues yet, so we're thankful for that.

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It works great in my cars.

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So anyway, I hope you'll stop by there and look at that.

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We take Visa, Mastercard card.

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And I used to take cracker barrel gift cards.

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We still will if we.

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If we need to.

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But now we're taking Texas Roadhouse.

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So anyway, so I hope you'll stop by and pick up some of the cds and things like that and definitely help.

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That would be a blessing.

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The proceeds of the bracelets are actually, we're helping a dear friend of ours by the name of Chris Berkholtz, who's in Honduras.

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He has a.

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He has a home, the orphanage there.

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And he's a dear friend, so we're helping with that as well.

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I hope you'll take a little peek back there.

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Look at second kings.

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Here we go.

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Second kings, chapter five.

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Second kings, chapter five.

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now, do I need to be done by:

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And he said, oh, no.

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And I said, really?

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He says, yeah, I'm long.

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That's what he said.

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He's just kidding me, of course, but I'm not so long.

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He is.

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I heard someone go, he is.

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Hey.

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It is what it is.

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Amen.

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No, I like it.

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I like it.

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It's good to have a.

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Good.

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Good to learn the word of God.

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I'm thankful that y'all have a preacher who wants to teach the word of God.

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Can I get an amen on that?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Praise the Lord for that.

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Looking at two kings, chapter five.

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We're going to start off with verse number ten.

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Look what it says here.

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It says, and Elijah sent a messenger unto him saying, go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

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But Naaman was wroth, and he went away and said, behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper.

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Are not Abana and fifer rivers of Damascus better than all of the waters of Israel?

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May I not wash in them and be clean?

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So he turned and went away in rage.

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And his servant came near and spake unto him and said, my father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?

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How much?

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Rather than when he saith to thee, wash and be clean?

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And he went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God.

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And his flesh became.

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And his flesh came again, like unto the flesh of a little child.

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And he was clean.

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Now, this message really is very interesting, some of the scripture that we talk about here, because this fellow's name was Naaman.

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Naaman was known.

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If I were to read verse number one, the Bible says that now, naaman was a captain of the host of the kings of Syria.

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He was a great man.

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As a very honorable mandehead, he was a very well known man.

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He was considered a man of stature.

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Naaman was a great warrior.

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A lot of people would look to Naaman and they would think, look, hey, hey, check it out.

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Here he comes.

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It's Naaman.

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Wow.

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Can I shake your hand, Naaman?

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Can I talk to you for a minute?

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Can you just spend a little time?

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People would want to be around him because of his stature.

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He was some.

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But you know what happened with Naaman?

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Naaman became a leper.

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Now I don't know if you know what leprosy is, but leprosy was an awful disease.

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Leprosy was the kind of disease that would eat away at your body, by the way, kind of like a cancer on the outside.

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It would eat away at your body and it would begin to deteriorate the body and it would begin to eliminate even the nerve endings of the body.

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Just recently my wife and I were in, where were we?

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We've been in a lot of places, but we were in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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We were in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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And we've got, she's got one of these electric scooters, you know, one of these, you get on, you zip around on it and everything.

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The thing really zips along.

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It's really awesome.

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And I've got an electric bike.

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I'm not getting on a regular bike.

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I've got an electric bike.

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And although you can pedal it and everything like that, but I'm on my electric bike.

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And we have our little dog Rooney in the little basket in the front of the bike.

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We said, hey, let's go on downtown.

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We were actually in the area for about, oh, roughly a little over a week.

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And so we said, let's go downtown and get an ice cream.

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So we did that.

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We hopped on the scooter and on the bike and went on down and we got some ice cream and we came back through.

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Well, little Rock, Arkansas has these trolleys that move along on these railroad tracks all through the roads and they've got intersections and everything.

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Well, I riding along on that intersection and all of a sudden I'm looking at one of those intersections with all of the train tracks that were all crossing each other.

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Well, I'm thinking, okay, which way do I want to go to cross?

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Well, by that time I was on it and it grabbed hold of that bike and it threw me down onto the ground and I could hear my little dog go.

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That was about it.

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My wife's running up the road.

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She actually threw her scooter down running up the road.

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Rooney, are you okay?

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Rooney?

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No, I'm just kidding.

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She asked if I was alright.

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She, she, she really did.

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She, she asked if I was all right.

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Go race it to the dog's rescue.

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You know what I'm saying?

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No, but I remember telling her, Kyle, there's another, I remember being conscious enough to be able to look and say there's another dog coming.

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Our dog freaks out when I other dogs come.

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And then, so I told her, I said hey, I said hey, there's another dog coming.

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Grab hold of Rooney.

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So she got Rooney and she's checking on me trying to see if I'm going to be okay.

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Well when I fell I think what I did is I did something to my elbow where I might have chipped a bone or something.

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You ever get that?

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And it's like on a nerve.

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You ever had that where you set your elbow down you go a, you know what I'm talking about?

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No, I think that kind of I got there, I'm thinking about what happens here with Naaman.

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He didn't want to be able to put himself in a position where he had to bow down to something or be something different.

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He had leprosy that was eating away at his nerves, eating away at his body.

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But he didn't want to have to do anything to fix it.

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He thought the man of God would just come out and wave his hand over him and surely he would be completely healed.

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But he had to do some things, didn't he?

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And I find it interesting what the prophet Elijah said, or the prophet said here.

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Elijah said, he said he needs to go down to the Jordan.

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Now the Jordan was known as one of the most dirty rivers.

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The Jordan has still been over to Israel several times and the Jordan is still a very dirty kind of looking river.

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If you were to go there, you'd see it.

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You'd see a lot of sand and a lot of dirt in that river.

:

And he didn't want to go down to Jordan.

:

He wanted to go to the cleaner rivers.

:

He wanted to go to the place Abana and Farfrae.

:

And he wanted to go to those rivers of Damascus and that's where he wanted to be clean.

:

But that's not what the servant said.

:

He said you've got to go down to Jordan.

:

So what did Naaman have to do, Naaman had to humble himself.

:

In order to be clean, he had to humble himself.

:

I'm going to tell you something right now.

:

A lot of people today in the world that we live in don't want to humble themselves to be saved because they're proud people.

:

I got to looking at what happened here.

:

Naaman goes down there.

:

And what I found interesting too.

:

The prophet said, when you go down there to the Jordan, you need to dip into the Jordan.

:

Seven times.

:

He didn't say once.

:

He didn't say five times.

:

He didn't say two or three.

:

He said seven times.

:

Naaman didn't like that.

:

As a matter of fact, what did Naaman do?

:

He said, I don't want to do that.

:

He was full of anger.

:

And the Bible says.

:

Says what he did is he walked.

:

He went away in rage.

:

Why would he not heal me?

:

Why wouldn't he take care?

:

And sometimes we look at God and we say, God, why don't you do this?

:

And why don't you do that?

:

And why can't I be more comfortable here?

:

And why won't you give me this?

:

When really God's just saying, hey, look, I'm just letting you be what you need to be.

:

When God is really relinquished the will.

:

God won't infringe upon your will, friend.

:

Why did my friend have to die?

:

He won't infringe upon your will.

:

Everybody's going to have to die.

:

But what's interesting to me, you've got Naaman here who goes away in rage and he's upset and he can't figure out what everybody else's problem is.

:

Isn't that kind of the way we are?

:

We look around and we deal with this problem and that person.

:

And this where I've often said this, it's amazing how I go around and I see how everybody else has issues except for me.

:

I say that when it comes to driving, everybody else is a bad driver except for me.

:

I mean, how many times have you been going down the interstate and there's a person just lagging in the passing lane?

:

Oh, you're feeling it, aren't you?

:

You know what I'm talking about.

:

And inside it begins to build up inside of you.

:

And there's a car in front of you and they're just staying right with that car in that passing lane you're beginning to build.

:

Hey, listen, ask my wife.

:

My wife knows that.

:

I sit there and I become quiet and I become pace.

:

She's shaking her head no, right now I get upset.

:

You see, I think everybody else has the issues.

:

I think everybody else is strange except for me.

:

That's usually the way it is.

:

That's the way Naaman was when it came to this particular situation in his life where he's got this leprosy and he can't understand why he just can't be taken care of the way he thinks it ought to be done.

:

But there's a way to do it the right way.

:

You got to go down to the Jordan and dip seven times.

:

Not one time.

:

You know what?

:

I named this sermon?

:

I named this sermon.

:

Try again.

:

Because I get to thinking about what happened with Naaman as he went down there and he dipped down.

:

I'm sure he went inside of that filthy, dirty water.

:

And when he came up, he stopped and he looked to see if the leprosy was gone the first time.

:

But it wasn't, was it?

:

You know what he had to do?

:

He had to try a again.

:

So he dips down into the Jordan again and he looks up.

:

I'm sure he looked at his hands and looked at where the leprosy would be.

:

And all of a sudden he realizes it's not cleaned up yet.

:

So he's got to try again.

:

He dips down a third time and then it comes up.

:

Can you imagine maybe if this would have happened, if he would have looked and said, oh, this is ridiculous.

:

Oh, my goodness.

:

Come on.

:

I ought to at least see some results.

:

I should see something happening right now.

:

I should see some kind of a change right now.

:

But you know what he had to do?

:

He had to try again.

:

And so he went down a fourth time and he's thinking, come on.

:

And he could have said, enough is enough.

:

I'm done with this.

:

I'm leaving.

:

I'm not going to deal with this anymore.

:

But you know what?

:

According to the prophet, he had to try again.

:

The 6th time, he goes down and he comes up and says, why?

:

But then the 7th time, he dips down and look what verse number 14 says.

:

And he went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God.

:

And his flesh came again, like unto the flesh of a little child.

:

And he was clean.

:

He had to try again.

:

You know what I find in my christian life and all these years I've known Christ as my savior.

:

Many times I just got to go and try again.

:

Sometimes when I catch myself failing or I catch myself in a temper or I catch myself struggling with something, or maybe the family's going through something, or my wife and I have a disagreement.

:

Disagreement.

:

And she doesn't realize how right I am all the time.

:

No, I'm just kidding.

:

Sometimes I catch myself under this circumstance or that circumstance or this circumstance, and I can't figure out what's going on.

:

You know what I've got to do?

:

I got to get back up, wipe myself off, and try again.

:

And sometimes we as believers, can't just lay there all the time and just expect God to give everything we think we deserve.

:

Because, can I be honest with you?

:

You know what we deserve?

:

We deserve hell.

:

I heard a preacher say it like this one time.

:

We deserve hell with our back broke.

:

I don't like that.

:

I don't like the thought of that.

:

But that's what I deserve.

:

But by the grace of God, you can get up and try again.

:

We sing a song called when God ran.

:

I love that song.

:

And I often think about that song.

:

When God ran to me and he runs a again.

:

Then he runs again, and I fail, but he runs to me again.

:

God never pushes me away.

:

He always opens up his arms and he says, just keep on coming back.

:

You could try again and try again and try again.

:

I gotcha.

:

I've got a God that's willing to do that for me.

:

Man.

:

What a wonderful thing it is.

:

You think about David, King David, in the life of David.

:

Can I tell you something?

:

David was an interesting person.

:

Studying the life of David and looking over the life of David.

:

I mean, we know all about the time when he killed the lion.

:

He was a shepherd.

:

We know the time when he took care of Goliath.

:

We know when he was king and when he would go to battle and the victories that God would give him.

:

But you know that David was a lousy husband.

:

He was a terrible husband.

:

Do you know David was a lousy dad?

:

I mean, look around.

:

What does he do?

:

He's on the roof.

:

One day, he sees somebody by the name of Bathsheba.

:

So what does David do?

:

He calls, and he ends up in an inappropriate relationship with that person, and it's wrong.

:

Hey, can I tell you something?

:

David couldn't just stop and just go ahead and throw himself.

:

Hey.

:

Then you look at his children.

:

Oh, my goodness, Tamar.

:

You look at Absalom.

:

You look at Amnon, all of his children, and how they failed.

:

He actually had one child that took advantage of another.

:

His half sister Tamar, had Amnon take advantage of his half sister Tamar.

:

And then you had Absalom, who actually wanted to try to destroy his dad.

:

And I could go on and on with how lousy of a father he was.

:

But can I tell you something I don't see in here where David just laid down and quit.

:

David just gave up.

:

David just said, nazareth's not working for me.

:

I might as well die.

:

You know what I see?

:

I see David getting up and trying again.

:

And he try again and he try again and he try again and he try again.

:

And you know what happens?

:

It says it right here in the book of acts.

:

Or chapter number 30 or 13, verse number 20.

:

It says, I have found a man after God's own heart.

:

God said that about David.

:

Notice it's in acts.

:

That's a long way from the book of Samuel.

:

That's a long way from the book of Psalms.

:

David just kept on trying again.

:

Even though those failures might come your way.

:

And those things might enter your life.

:

And there may be difficulty.

:

Can I tell you something?

:

Don't stay down.

:

Get back up and try again.

:

Try again.

:

I grew up at a drunkard's home.

:

Many of you know the testimony of the McCluskeys and what we went through.

:

Seven brothers and sisters and a mom that just stuck it out with us when my dad was on skid row.

:

Just recently had the privilege of being in Madison, Wisconsin, where I grew up at the Grace Baptist church.

:

My nephew pastors church had a privilege of going there.

:

Then I drove around to some of the sites where I grew up.

:

And I remember a little house.

:

Actually, it wasn't a house.

:

It was an apartment building where we lived on the second floor on Gorham street in Madison.

:

And I remember as a kid the roaches that used to run across the rooms of that house, of that apartment.

:

Because we didn't have any money and we had nothing.

:

I actually took pictures of the alley that I played in, in the back behind that old apartment building.

:

I took pictures of that because I want to remember, lord, I remember those wounds, and I remember those hurts.

:

But hey, don't leave the scars.

:

Because I can see how merciful you are.

:

And I can look back and I can see how my dad, even though he was a skid row drunk, he didn't stay drunk.

:

I'll never forget when he trusted Christ as his personal lord savior.

:

Then he gave his life to Jesus.

:

And he got rehabbed and he got changed, and he went to church.

:

And he started living for Jesus.

:

And I don't remember all of a sudden those memories of the roaches and the alleys and the drunk times and the mean times.

:

My dad would be all of a sudden it's filled.

:

Where?

:

He's the best man in my wedding now.

:

Yeah.

:

Because he tried again.

:

Even though there were failures, he got up and he tried again.

:

You say, I'm having trouble in my marriage.

:

Can I tell you something?

:

Try again.

:

I'm having trouble with my family.

:

Can I tell you something?

:

Get up and try again.

:

You say, I'm having difficulty at the job.

:

Hey, try again.

:

Try again.

:

Try again.

:

Don't just walk away from it.

:

Get up and try again.

:

I got to thinking about some things that we can do to help us be victorious when we try again.

:

Number one, we need to hate the sin.

:

We need to hate the infringement that's going on.

:

Naaman knew that.

:

He looked at what was going on in his body and he hated it so much that he was willing to humble himself and dip into the Jordan.

:

He hated it.

:

The Bible says in James chapter four, verse number seven, submit yourself therefore to God.

:

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

:

Hate the struggle, hate the sin.

:

Hate the difficulty.

:

Get up and try again.

:

Pride issue.

:

Throw away your pride so you can try again.

:

And, man, I'll tell you what, this thing called pride, it's awful.

:

I understand.

:

I'm proud of my kids.

:

I think my son today is singing at First Baptist Church of Atlanta, Charles Stanley's church, before he went to heaven.

:

Now, Anthony George is a pastor there.

:

My son's there.

:

My daughter's in church where her husband's a pastor there.

:

I'm thankful.

:

In Kalamazoo, Michigan.

:

I'm thankful for that.

:

I really am.

:

But can I tell you something?

:

I'm proud of him.

:

I am.

:

But can I tell you but by the grace of God that they're able to do it.

:

We need to realize that it's him and it's not us.

:

We need to start getting rid of the pride.

:

Naaman had to get rid of the pride.

:

But Naaman was wroth and he went away.

:

So behold, I thought he would surely come out and stand and call on the name of the Lord, his God and strike his hand over me and recover the leper.

:

He thought it was going to be easy.

:

It's not easy.

:

Sometimes it's hard.

:

We got to throw that pride issue away.

:

Number three, unselfishness.

:

Stop making it all about you.

:

I was sitting in the place where we're staying last week and I'm sitting there and I'm thinking to myself, man, I'm looking at some of these tragic things that have happened in western North Carolina.

:

Now.

:

I'm looking at people that have lost their homes, lost loved ones, lost families.

:

They don't even have water they can drink.

:

They can't.

:

You can't even get there in that area of Asheville, North Carolina, without flying in.

:

And I began to think about how good God has been to me.

:

I began to think, I've got my children, my wife and I get to serve him.

:

We're in a very comfortable place to stay.

:

I can open up the refrigerator and pull out some water and drink it.

:

If I so choose.

:

We can go to a restaurant and grab us a bite to eat.

:

We're so blessed.

:

God has been so good to us.

:

What we need to do is get rid of those issues of selfishness, sinking.

:

Hey, you know what?

:

I deserve more than that.

:

You ever see somebody who's like that selfish all the time walking around?

:

I deserve this and I deserve that.

:

And you can just see the joyous joy on their face.

:

You know as well as I do that it doesn't make you happy.

:

What makes you happy is when you get the opportunity to help someone else.

:

What a blessing that is.

:

Unselfishness number four, become dependent on the Holy Spirit instead of you.

:

That's a biggie, because when I got saved, I got sealed by the Holy Spirit.

:

He came into my heart, came into my life.

:

Ephesians, chapter one, verse number 13, in whom ye also trusted that after ye had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of pride.

:

Promise.

:

Become more dependent on the Holy Spirit instead of you.

:

You say, I fail, try again, you say, I messed up.

:

Try again, you say.

:

But I keep on trying.

:

It seems like I keep on failing.

:

Hey, listen, the fail.

:

Hey, what.

:

Hey, what is that word?

:

I think I've got it in here.

:

This is, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

:

Try, try again.

:

Sometimes it's try, try again.

:

Sometimes it's try, try again.

:

You just got to keep on trying, man.

:

Don't just throw your arms up, say, that'll work for me.

:

Become dependent on the Holy Spirit.

:

And lastly, have accountability.

:

Find somebody that you can be accountable with, with the things you struggle with in your.

:

Your life.

:

Find, hey, some of you men, find another man that you can call up on the phone, say, listen, I'm struggling with something.

:

And then that person that you're talking to, hey, if somebody calls you and says, I'm struggling, be there for that person.

:

The Bible does talk about that.

:

You know, in proverbs 20 717, it says that iron Sharpeneth iron.

:

So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

:

We can just try and again.

:

We can just try again.

:

You know, I found something really interesting.

:

Had the privilege.

:

When we were in the holy land, we went down to the sea of Galilee.

:

And we were at a little spot.

:

It was early in the morning and it was kind of misty a little bit.

:

But we didn't care.

:

We were down there at the sea of Galilee, man.

:

And we were in the spot where what happened was, is Jesus.

:

They believe this is the spot where Jesus had already ascended into heaven, came back down.

:

And the disciple, you remember when Peter said, I go a fishing.

:

And they went out and they went fishing that night there was a person on the shore and it was Jesus.

:

And he's cooking breakfast.

:

And they come in and Jesus says, children, have you any meat?

:

They didn't have any.

:

Peter realized who he was.

:

And Peter, by even there being embarrassed, jumps inside of the water and Jesus says, come and dine.

:

And they go and they sit down with Jesus.

:

In John chapter 21, verse number 15 says, so when they had dined, Jesus saith, Simon, the son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?

:

And he saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest I love thee.

:

And he said unto him, feed my lambs.

:

Then he says it again.

:

He saith unto him again, the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?

:

And he saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.

:

And he saith unto him, feed my lambs.

:

And then he says it again.

:

And he said unto him, he said, peter was grieved at this time when he says, loveth thou me?

:

Peter was grieved because he said unto him a third time, lovest thou me?

:

And he said unto him, lord, thou knowest all things.

:

Thou knowest that I love thee.

:

And Jesus says unto him, feed my sheep.

:

Jesus had a dump eater to try again.

:

Try again.

:

Try.

:

Listen, I don't know what you're going through today.

:

I don't know what your situations are dealing with today.

:

In just a minute, we're gonna have the Lord's supper.

:

I'm not sure what's happening in your life today.

:

Maybe you're struggling with your family.

:

Maybe you're struggling with the job.

:

Maybe there's some financial things.

:

Maybe there's some physical things.

:

I don't know.

:

But I want to encourage you.

:

Middletown Baptist churches try again.

:

To try again.

:

To try again.

:

Can we stand together, please?

:

Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed.

:

No one is looking around.

:

I'm just wondering if what we need to do is to try again.

:

It's kind of quiet in the room right now.

:

I'm thankful for these children.

:

They're doing such a great job.

:

But with us here in this room right now, I'm wondering if there's some things where you'd say, there's some areas I know I need to try again.

:

Say, brother Pat, that's me.

:

I'm just gonna be honest.

:

Some things I struggle with and I'm gonna just.

:

I'm gonna try again.

:

You raise your hand, say, I'm gonna try.

:

Oh, my goodness.

:

Hands are going up everywhere.

:

Oh, my goodness.

:

Praise the Lord.

:

Thank you.

:

You can put your hands down.

:

Maybe you're here today.

:

Heads are bowed, eyes are closed.

:

You don't even know Jesus as your savior.

:

You've never trusted him as your personal lord and savior.

:

Say, brother Pat, I don't know if I'm saved.

:

I don't know what it means to be saved.

:

I don't know what salvation is.

:

Would you pray with me about my salvation?

:

I want to pray for you.

:

Can I do that?

:

I won't embarrass you.

:

I won't call you.

:

I won't come to you.

:

I won't put you in a very uncomfortable spot.

:

I just want to pray with you about your salvation.

:

You say, I don't know if I'm going to heaven or not.

:

Pray with me about that, would you?

:

You'd raise your hand, say, pray with me a about that.

:

I see a little hand.

:

Praise the Lord.

:

I see another hand.

:

Thank you so much.

:

Thank you for being honest with the Lord.

:

There's others.

:

I'm not sure if I'm saved.

:

Would you pray with me about my salvation?

:

I'm going to pray with you.

:

I'm not going to embarrass you.

:

Can I pray with you?

:

Raise your hand, will you?

:

I don't know if I'm saved.

:

I saw a couple of hands go up.

:

I see another one.

:

Thank you.

:

Thank you for being honest with the Lord.

:

Another one.

:

Thank you so much.

:

I saw four hands go up.

:

I'm not going to embarrass anybody.

:

Anyone else.

:

Thank you so much.

:

Thank you for being honest with God.

:

Thank you.

:

I see another one.

:

Praise the Lord.

:

Thank you.

:

You can put your hand down.

:

I saw six hands.

:

Here's what we're going to do in just a moment.

:

I'm going to pray after I'm done praying.

:

I got some music here.

:

I'm going to play some music.

:

Now, you do as the Lord leads you, but I want to encourage you to talk to somebody about this salvation thing.

:

Nobody's judging, I promise you, nobody is judging, but everybody is loving.

:

Pastor Josh is right up here in the front.

:

He'd love to grab, hold your hand and say, I can show you in the bible how you can be saved.

:

Maybe you'd like to get that done today.

:

Others of us, you raised your hand, said, I just want to try.

:

I'm going to try again.

:

Can I ask you, those of you who raise your hand said, I'm going to try again.

:

I am.

:

I'm just going to keep on trying.

:

Oh, I know I fail at things, but I'm going to try again in a minute.

:

After I'm done praying, the music will begin to play.

:

Would you be ones that would come up and just kneel down for a moment at this altar in boldness and say, I'm trying again?

:

Got some areas.

:

I just want God to have control in my life.

:

I want him to be there.

:

I'm going to dip myself in that Jordan.

:

I hope you will.

:

And I hope that others that need to come and trust Christ as their savior, you need to come grab hold of my hand.

:

I'll take the Bible, show you how you can be saved.

:

I hope they don't come by themselves.

:

Heavenly father, I thank you for the privilege.

:

We have to be able to open up our bible and have the word of God.

:

Thank you that we can look right now and have an invitation where people can come.

:

I pray for those that raise their hands and I'm trying again.

:

I'm just going to do it.

:

I pray for those that say, you know what?

:

I'm not saved.

:

I want to be saved and would like to be saved today.

:

And they come grab hold of the pastor's hand.

:

Say, preacher, what does the Bible say about salvation?

:

I'm just curious.

:

God, I pray that you will bless this invitation in Jesus name.

:

Amen.

:

As the music begins to play, maybe you need to come, folks are slipping out of their seats.

:

Listen, you need to be saved.

:

You need to trust Christ.

:

You won't come alone.

:

Come on up here, grab my hand.

:

Pastor Josh is right up here in the front.

:

Front.

:

Come up here and grab hold of his hand and say, pastor Josh, I'm not sure I'm saved.

:

I'm not sure about my salvation.

:

I don't know if I.

:

I don't know if I'm going to heaven.

:

I want to.

:

I saw people being honest with the Lord that meant a lot.

:

Folks are the at the altar right now.

:

You won't come up alone.

:

You won't come alone.

:

How precious this is.

:

How incredible this is.

:

See, people say, and be honest with the Lord.

:

I don't care about my pride.

:

Mandez.

:

Pride gets in the way.

:

I get it.

:

I just want to try again.

:

I'll try again.

:

God's dealing with people.

:

It's all right.

:

Let's try again.

:

Turn the service over to the preacher.

:

As God deals with your heart, you come.

Pastor Josh:

Amen.

Pastor Josh:

Amen.

Pastor Josh:

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

Pastor Josh:

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

Pastor Josh:

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us@middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

Pastor Josh:

You can also email me directly at joshmissaroiddtowndeze.

Pastor Josh:

If you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.

Pastor Josh:

Thank you so much.

Pastor Josh:

God bless.

Pastor Josh:

Have a wonderful day.

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