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If you're able to live your life
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in some college or high school
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or in a workplace or among your family
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and nobody knows you're a Christian,
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it's because you're not one.
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Lay it down.
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Listen, the Spirit of God does not
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take up residency in a human being,
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Christ does not come along
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and save an individual;
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the power of God does engulf
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a man or woman or a child,
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and nobody can tell that anything happened to them.
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That just doesn't happen.
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Chung Man Le, he says,
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"Is it possible for the true born again Christian
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to be afraid of sharing the Gospel to strangers?
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My personality doesn't allow me to do it.
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What I do is just live out a lifestyle of Jesus Christ
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so that people around me that I know
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can turn to God.
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Can that be a right excuse to say,
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or does it mean that he or she is not truly saved?
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Is that why I cannot share the Gospel of Jesus Christ
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to strangers?
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So basically, Chung believes, he lives
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his lifestyle of Jesus Christ.
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But I would say this:
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Is that really imitating Christ if you don't speak
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the truth of Christ?
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Because what I find Christ did,
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is He went about doing good.
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He also went about speaking like
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no man ever spake.
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He declared more truth than any other
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human being ever declared.
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He spoke of Himself.
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He declared Himself.
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He declared salvation.
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Can you really say that I'm living
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like Christ?
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Can you really say that I'm living
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the lifestyle of Christ if you're not speaking
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the words of Christ?
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I would probably say
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that would not be a good, accurate estimation.
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Christ went about constantly using His mouth
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to proclaim His own coming.
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Now you guys know the verses.
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I can just shoot some off at you.
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Mark 8:38 - "Whoever is ashamed of Me
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and My words in this adulterous and sinful
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generation; of him will the Son of Man
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also be ashamed when He comes in the glory
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of His Father with the holy angels."
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2 Timothy 1:8 says, "Do not be ashamed of the testimony
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of our Lord."
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That's Paul speaking to Timothy.
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2 Timothy 2:12, "If we deny Him, He also will deny us."
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1 John 2:23, "whoever has the Son has the Father.
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Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also."
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1 Peter 3:15, "Be prepared to give an answer to
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every man for the reason for the hope that you have."
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Look, I would just say this,
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Timothy seemed to be wavering a little bit at one time
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for Paul to have to give him the kind of
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exhortations that he did there.
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Is it possible for true Christians to be afraid?
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Yes.
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Is it possible for them to fail sometimes?
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Yes.
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There's no question about it.
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But over all, the pattern seems to be,
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look, if you deny Him, He's going to deny you.
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I would just say this:
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If you're able to live your life in some college
-
or high school or in a workplace
-
or among your family, and nobody knows
-
you're a Christian, it's because you're not one.
-
Lay it down.
-
Listen. The Spirit of God does not take up residency
-
in a human being;
-
Christ does not come along and save an individual;
-
the power of God does not engulf
-
a man or woman or a child
-
and nobody can tell that anything happened to them.
-
That just doesn't happen.
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And the thing about it is,
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one of the things the Spirit of God does
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is gives us a love for Christ.
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Think about a man who's super, super, super shy.
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And some bold, wicked,
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loud mouth guy comes along
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and he just starts saying all sorts of wicked,
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nasty, ugly things about the first guy's wife.
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No matter how shy that guy is,
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if he really loves his wife, guess what?
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He's not going to keep his mouth shut, is he?
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He's going to make a stand for her.
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The same thing is true of Christ.
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The chief fruit of the Spirit of God is love.
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And the greater love is not for
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our brother and sister in Adam.
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For our kindred human beings...
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the greatest love that the Spirit of God gives us
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is for God Himself, for Christ Himself.
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If you're able to go through your life, and listen,
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one of the things too that we're given.
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Do you guys remember this?
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From Jeremiah 32?
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God says, "I will put My fear within them
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that they not depart from Me."
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Guess why people don't proclaim Christ?
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Fear of man, right?
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Men are afraid of other men.
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That's why they stay quiet?
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But you know what God says?
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"I'm going to put My fear within them."
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So even though a true Christian may still have
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a measure of fear for men,
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God has put His fear - a fear for Him - in them.
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And I guarantee, God's fear that He puts in them
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will be greater than the fear that man has
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for human beings. Why?
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Because it's a fear that is so intense,
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and so large, that no matter what men may do to him,
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he won't depart. Right?
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It's a fear that will keep them from
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departing from the faith.
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So, I would say that.
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Look, I know when I was first saved,
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that was difficult.
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Some of you guys have seen that movie
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"Faith Like Potatoes"?
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That's a true story.
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His pastor told him, now what I want you to do
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is go find three people and tell them what Christ has done.
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And if you've seen it, he's like on the sidewalk
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and he sees some guy he knows
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and he turns the other way real fast.
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But I know that!
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I can remember when I was first saved,
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and I went with the Youth for Christ guy
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to a Denny's or something,
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and we're eating breakfast,
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and he bows and he's praying
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and I was traumatized!
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He was praying in public
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and it was like the devil came upon me...
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You know, I can pray in a restaurant now
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and I won't even bat an eye,
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I don't even think about it.
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But at that time, I was just seized with fear.
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But you know, if you're truly a child of God,
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what you're going to find
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is God will give you a boldness.
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You may waver at times,
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but He's going to give it to you.
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That doesn't mean it's easy,
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but God gives us the grace to have an answer.
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To stand for Christ.
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If you love Him, you've got to stand for Him.
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If you love Him, you're not going to deny Him.
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You can't walk around in this world
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too long and you hear somebody take His name in vain,
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and that ought to give you opportunity,
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if nothing else, that ought to give you opportunity
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right there to say,
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"You ought not to blaspheme the name of My Lord."
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Take the open doors.
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You can talk to people.
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Part of it is - have an answer.
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That's what Peter says -
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have an answer for the hope.
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You know what? Prepare an answer.
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Just get a little spiel.
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Sometimes what makes it hard
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is you just don't know what to say.
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Sometimes, one of the ways to break the ice there
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is just, "do you know where you're going to go when you die?"
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That's a good way to start.
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Everybody's going to die.
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Everybody thinks about dying.
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So, it's definitely not a useless question
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that doesn't have anything to do with the person you're talking to.
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It has everything to do with them.
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But yeah, you don't want to deny the Lord.
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If that's the pattern and the habit of the life,
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that's the habit and the pattern of a lost life.
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What an honor we have!
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You know what Christ said?
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You will be My witnesses.
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If you're mouth is shut,
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look, there's a lot to be said
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about living a godly life before people,
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and I don't knock that at all
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from Chung's question here.
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But the church - Jesus Christ said,
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"You're going to be My witnesses."
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We're the witnesses.
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We're the witnesses of Christ.
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What an honor we have.
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We're the pillar and ground of truth.
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If we don't proclaim it, nobody else is.
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And it's an honor to do it.
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We have that privilege to carry on Christ's work.
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He spoke.
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Now He speaks through His church, through His Word.
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Well, that's it for tonight.