WEBVTT

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I could start my story 
in several different places.

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I could start when I was 8 years old

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and thought I had become a Christian.

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I could start when I was 
in high school or college

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and had to continuously persuade myself

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that I was a Christian,

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but I think the best way to start my story

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is in a small hospital room 
in Lexington, Kentucky

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where we didn't know

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if my dad was going to make it or not.

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Things didn't look good.

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He had been sick so much

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prior to that moment.

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There were days where we 
thought that was the end.

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There were days that we thought

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he was going to be better

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and everything would be fine...

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until he finally passed away.

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When you stay for a long 
time in a hospital room

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and you're not the one that's sick,

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there's a lot of waiting.

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There's a lot of wondering

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what's going to happen next.

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There's a lot of conversation that happens

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between you and the people 
that are with you.

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One of the topics that came up

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when I was talking with my mom

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was about dad's last sermon.

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At the time, we didn't know

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it was going to be his last sermon,

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but mom talked about how powerful it was.

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And she actually even said it was one 
of the best sermons she's ever heard.

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Dad had been sick a lot before that day

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and I think at the time,

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he was even having to sit 
when he was preaching.

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And he just didn't have 
much strength left in him.

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But the way my mom put it,

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it was like... it was a miracle

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just how much power he had

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when he began to preach.

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In his voice you can hear strength.

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You can hear the passion

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flowing through him.

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And this was a man who 
was just weak from sickness

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and was hours I think 
from going to the hospital

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because he was so sick.

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Dad always uploaded his sermons

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onto Sermon Audio

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where people around the world

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could listen to his sermons 
and learn from them.

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And we learned that obviously

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the last sermon hadn't been uploaded

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to Sermon Audio.

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I was going to do that.

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I was in the hospital room.

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I had an Internet 
connection and everything.

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I got the file for it.

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I listened to a couple of seconds of it

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and realized that the recording was off.

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There was some kind 
of setting on the recording

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that just made it sound kind of strange

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like there were no breaths in between.

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And so, I kind of got frustrated with it.

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Thought about uploading it,

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then decided no,

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I'm just going to save it

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and not worry about it.

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So, I just put it on my desktop somewhere

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and didn't even think about it

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for several weeks after that.

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Something that will stick with me forever

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is seeing how my father

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handled himself in the hospital

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in the worst of times.

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My brother put it best

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when he was speaking at his funeral.

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I think he said that dad 
finished his race sprinting.

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And there's no better 
way to describe that.

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I remember the nurses 
were putting in IV's,

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central lines, things like that,

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and dad would barely wince.

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But one time, he looked 
up at one of the nurses

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who was trying to do a procedure

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that he couldn't be asleep for,

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and he just looked at him and said,

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"You know, I was about your 
age when God saved me."

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And he's going through this painful,

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traumatic situation,

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and one person after another,

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after another, after another,

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he's telling them how God saved him.

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I had seen my dad witness 
to people all the time,

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but not to this ferocity;

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not to this degree.

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He knew I needed to hear that too.

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And he was witnessing to me

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as much as he was witnessing

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to those people in the hospital.

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On April 29th, 2016, my dad passed away.

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Over the next few days

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just pounded with grief

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mixed with conviction,

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mixed with desperate feeling

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and need to be saved,

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a need for redemption,

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all mixed in together,

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I was in prayer more then than I think

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I ever had been previously.

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Just asking God to show me a way.

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Show me something.

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Show me how.

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I understood what it meant to be saved.

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I understood what it 
meant to be a Christian.

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I understood the "process," if you will,

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but I didn't understand how to get there.

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I didn't understand what did it mean

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to truly have faith.

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Yeah, I believe in Jesus.

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I believe in all the 
things that He's done.

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I get it.

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I don't understand at 
what point do I have faith

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and I'm saved?

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At what point does that happen to me?

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When does that transformation happen?

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I have the belief, right?

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I'm saved.

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But I knew I wasn't, 
so what was I missing?

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So what I prayed for, 
I prayed for an answer.

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I prayed: God, I need an answer.

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I need You to show me

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what am I missing?

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What am I not seeing that my father saw?

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That other people I know have seen?

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They believed.

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They have faith.

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They're confident in their salvation.

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Where is my confidence?

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Where is my salvation?

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My father for his funeral

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wanted the Gospel to be preached.

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That's what he had always said

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I think to my mom.

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My brother spoke.

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Michael Durham spoke.

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Rob Pelkey spoke.

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And then Paul Washer spoke.

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I kind of thought in my head,

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well, okay, there is this group of men

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who know God, who are about to preach.

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As the lineup went, it would be

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Paul Washer who would simply

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preach the Gospel to the crowd

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that was there for dad's funeral.

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Many people have been 
saved under his teaching.

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This whole funeral - I need to listen up.

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I need to really pay attention

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because God, I'm asking You

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to show me how to have faith.

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If I don't get it from this,

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then I'm not going to get it.

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The preachers spoke.

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They sat down, spoke, sat down.

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Spoke.

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We dismissed.

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And the Gospel was preached

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and it was preached well.

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What was said needed to be said,

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but I still didn't get it.

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I still didn't understand what I needed.

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For the next week, my wife and I

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stayed at my mom's house.

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One afternoon, I was 
alone in my dad's office.

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And I was just going 
through some of his stuff,

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some of his pictures 
from mission trips,

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his journals.

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Then I remembered I had 
the file of that sermon

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and I thought, well, you know,

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the recording was kind of messed up.

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I don't know what setting it was on.

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I don't know why it was messed up.

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But I never really did 
listen to the sermon.

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And mom said it was his greatest.

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It was his last one.

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I should just give it a listen

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and see if it's worth putting up

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on Sermon Audio.

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So I played it.

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She was right.

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There were several things in the sermon

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that jumped out at me immediately.

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Things I had heard before,

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but never heard.

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I heard.

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My ears heard it,

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but I didn't truly hear it

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until that moment.

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Michael Morrow:

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There's a lot of people that believe

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Jesus was the Son of God.

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There are a lot of people who believe

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that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin.

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There's a lot of people

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who believe that Jesus came into the world

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to save sinners

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who have never personally trusted Him

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as their Savior.

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Jason: And then, the one thing he said

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that really just tipped me over the edge

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that was exactly what I needed to hear

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to finally realize

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what I needed for my salvation.

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Michael Morrow: There is a time

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when your heart quits trying to get to God

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and rests on the finished 
work of Jesus Christ.

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Jason: I had never rested.

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I had never just given myself to Him,

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never given my full trust.

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That's what trust is. It's resting

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in His finished work.

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And I prayed. I said, 
"Jesus, I rest in You.

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I rest in Your finished work

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in dying on the cross for my sins,

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in raising from the dead.

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I rest in that.

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You have given me life."

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What's crazy is I've 
heard this a million times.

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Dad has preached this a million times.

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I've heard people's 
testimonies a million times

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that it's not anything that I do.

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I know it's not a prayer that I pray.

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I know that it's not 
anything that I can do.

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That Christ does it for me.

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Resting is letting Christ take over,

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letting Him take control.

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Because if you're trying to control it,

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you're not resting.

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And that is the moment 
when my heart changed.

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I'm thankful that God used my dad

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to preach to me.

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Not only did he preach to me

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in the hospital room;

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not only did he preach to me

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throughout my whole life,

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but he preached to me

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in his final sermon

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maybe before he even 
knew I would ever hear it.

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And God used that to help open my eyes

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to what I needed.

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Michael Morrow:

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I'll tell you what the blessing of God is:

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being in the will of God walking with Him,

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hearing His voice,

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staying in fellowship with Him,

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knowing His Word,

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loving Him,

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seeing miracles wrought

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because He's doing it through your life

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and in your life

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for His own glory,

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where only He can get glory

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out of your life.

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That is the life of faith.

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And it might mean that 
you don't have anything.

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Guys, this world is not what it's about.

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This is not where your fulfillment is.

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Here we live by faith,

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not by sight.

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Then, we'll see Him as He is

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and we'll be like Him.

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And then it will be by sight.