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Well, I was raised in Texas.
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And my parents both died when I was young.
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My mother died when I was two years old.
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And my father died six years later,
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when I was eight years old.
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And my cousin, who did not have children,
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she and her husband took me in their home,
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along with my older sister,
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and they raised us.
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My cousin's husband who was
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like a grandfather to me,
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then became my step-father;
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he died when I was twelve.
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Then it was Wilma, my cousin.
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It was her and my sister and I
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who lived together on our farm.
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And then, three years later,
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when my sister was an older teenager,
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she was married and moved.
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So then it was just my
adoptive mother and I.
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And I grew up in church,
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although it was not a
Gospel-preaching church.
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It was a conservative church.
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It was somewhat legalistic.
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And did not believe
in musical instruments.
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And I never remember hearing
the Gospel preached there.
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I remember as a pre-teenager
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one night fearing that I would go to hell
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if I was not baptized.
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And so I went and got baptized
as quickly as I could.
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But all religious feelings were soon gone,
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and I was still unconverted.
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And as I got into my high school years,
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I began to visit the local Baptist church
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with my friends.
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And every time I would go,
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I would hear the basic Gospel.
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It was not a strongly
doctrinal Gospel message,
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but it was yet true.
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It had the basics of the Gospel in it.
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And every time I would go,
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I would come under conviction.
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I would know that God was real.
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I would have feelings
and desires and emotions
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about wanting Christ
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about being interested,
feeling my sinfulness.
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But no one ever instructed me.
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No one ever counseled me biblically
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what repentence was,
what saving faith was.
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So there were many times
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in the context of that Baptist church,
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that I would do what they said:
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Walk the aisle.
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Pray a prayer.
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Make a decision for Christ.
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And yet, my heart was unchanged,
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and I didn't know what to do.
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So, generally those feelings would leave
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within about three or four weeks,
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and I would be back to my old self.
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This continued through high school,
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until I got out of high school,
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and I finally just grew weary of it.
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I decided I didn't want
to go to church anymore,
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because it never lasted for me.
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It didn't work for me.
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And the entire time,
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I sincerely knew that God was real.
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I did believe the Bible
was the Word of God.
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And I did believe that Jesus Christ
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had come and He was the Savior.
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I had those facts in my mind.
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And I knew in my conscience
that they were true.
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But I was yet dead in my sins.
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And when I was 19 years old,
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in the summer of 1973,
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I had gotten completely out of church.
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I was not interested at all.
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I was working.
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And a very close friend of mine
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whose name was Kent,
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was in the army.
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He came home from the army one weekend,
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and he had come to know Christ
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while he was in the army only that summer.
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He was a new Christian.
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And he was burdened for me,
because we were close friends.
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And he came home for
a weekend from the army.
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He saw me on a Saturday morning,
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and he asked me if we
could have some time together.
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So that evening on a Saturday night,
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The last Saturday of July of 1973,
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I spent about three hours with Kent.
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We were in his car just there in town
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on a summer evening.
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And he began to talk to me
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about the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And he didn't say anything
that I hadn't heard
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in high school being
in the Baptist church.
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But as he spoke,
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his life had authenticity.
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And I knew him well.
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And I trusted him.
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And the more he spoke,
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and the more his words
were owned by the Holy Spirit,
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they were used by God to bring conviction
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to my heart.
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And the longer we talked,
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the more I came
under conviction of sin.
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Deep conviction of sin.
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And as our time got into one hour
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and two hours,
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the Holy Spirit really came in a great way
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with a sense of His presence
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in an overwhelming way.
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And for the first time,
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the cross was made very real to me.
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That Christ really had died for my sins.
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And that's what happened on the cross.
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And that Christ truly did
love me unconditionally.
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And it overwhelmed my heart.
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I didn't know how to pray.
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I didn't know anything,
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except the love of God was
poured out upon me,
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and I knew it in a way
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that I had never seen before.
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And so I began to cry out to God.
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I didn't know how to pray,
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but it didn't matter.
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My heart wanted Him.
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And I began to cry out to God.
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And I said Lord Jesus,
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I know You died for me.
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And I have nothing to bring You,
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except my sin and my self,
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but here I am.
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In those moments, I felt washed.
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I felt clean.
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I felt whole.
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I felt the love of God fill me.
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And it was very, very real.
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And it was nothing
that my friend did.
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He was overwhelmed as well.
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He had hoped that his words
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could influence me,
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but he did not have any idea,
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I believe, that this was going to happen.
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We were both surprised by
the presence of the Lord
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in an unusual way.
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So my conversion -
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three hours earlier,
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God was the furthest thing from my mind.
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I was not thinking about Christianity.
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I wasn't interested.
I wasn't under conviction.
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I was not searching.
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God came in His mercy
and apprehended me.
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And saved me.
And turned me.
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And His goodness overwhelmed me.
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And granted to my heart repentance.
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Repentance for me at that moment
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was just feeling the weight of my sin,
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seeing it and hating it.
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And I wanted Christ above everything else.
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And my heart went to Him.
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That was a Saturday night.
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I was 19 years old.
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The next morning, I went back up
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to the Baptist church there
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where I was a member.
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Both Kent and I did -
where we were members.
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And I stood up and I gave testimony
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that before the previous night
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I had never been a true Christian at all.
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And that Christ had saved me.
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And it created a little bit of
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either great joy for some
or confusion for others
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because many had presumed
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that I was a true Christian.
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But, that was the beginning of
my relationship with Christ
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as a 19 year old.
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And it's been now over 40 years
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of walking with Him,
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finding joy only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Well, every person knows in their heart
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that there is a God.
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That knowledge is inside every person.
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People quench it.
They resist it.
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They try to suppress it.
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But it's there.
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The knowledge of God is
within a person.
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They know God is real.
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They also know intuitively
that they have sinned.
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Their conscience tells them
that they have sinned.
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All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God.
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And every person has need of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Every person, being sinful,
is separated from God.
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And is in need of the Savior.
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You, as well, are such a person.
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The most important thing you can do;
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the most urgent thing you can do,
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is to stop your rebellion,
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to face your rebellion,
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to face your need,
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to acknowledge from your heart
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that indeed you are a sinner
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in need of a Savior.
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And turn to Him.
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The Gospel says God commended His love,
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He showed His love toward us,
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in that while we were yet sinners,
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Christ died for us.
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He died for our sins.
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He took our sins.
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And He took the wrath of God toward us
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upon Himself on the cross.
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And He bore them in our place.
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He died in our place.
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Christ died for us.
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And the love of God was demonstrated,
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in that while we were yet sinners,
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Christ died for us.
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And then He rose again.
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And He calls all to come to Him.
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God commands all men
everywhere to repent,
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to turn from their sin,
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and to turn to His Son.
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God has commanded all men
everywhere to repent.
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And He's verified that,
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in that He raised Christ from the dead.
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He's a living Savior.
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And He offers forgiveness of sins
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and eternal life to all
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who will come to Him.
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The Bible says that
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God saves all who
come to God through Christ.
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The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said,
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I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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No one comes to the Father
except through Me.
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So what does God say to any sinner?
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To any person who is not in Jesus Christ?
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He tells them to repent.
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To turn from their sin.
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To realize how evil it is.
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And to turn away in their heart from it.
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And to turn in dependence and trust
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to Christ alone.
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Not your works,
not your religion.
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Not church attendance.
Not baptism.
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Not anything else.
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But to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He is the object that
your heart must go to.
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It's the living Savior who offers
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salvation and forgiveness
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to every person.
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This week, I spoke to a young man
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who expressed to me
that he wanted to be saved,
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he had tried to be saved,
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but he didn't think that
Christ would save him.
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And I told him
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that in all four of the Gospels,
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Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
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you never find anyone coming
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to the Lord Jesus Christ for healing
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or for salvation or for forgiveness -
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if they came sincerely;
if they came genuinely,
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He never turned anyone away.
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He always had mercy on them.
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And Christ is a merciful Savior.
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He will receive all who come
unto Him through faith.
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So, He says to every sinner,
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to every person who's not a Christian,
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"Come unto Me, all you who labor,
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and are heavy laden,
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and I will give you rest."
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The most important
thing you can do in life
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is to not let your heart
rest in anything else;
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not let your heart be satisfied,
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not let your heart find satisfaction
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in anything else.
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Until you come to believe the Gospel
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of the Lord Jesus Christ
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and trust in Him and
find salvation in Him.
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The Bible says,
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whoever will truly, from the heart,
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call upon the name of the Lord,
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they will be saved.
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And you can do that.
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Trust Christ.