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You know, we've just been through a time in our country

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where there's been so much isolational thinking, so much

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distance in people's lives.

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I remember hearing Mother Teresa, a great Catholic nun,

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say to a joint session of Congress

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many years ago that America is the loneliest

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nation in the world.

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And you know, I live in a house.

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I live out on acreage outside Colorado Springs,

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an area called Black Forest.

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And I live in the trees.

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I love it.

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But the reality is that I'm isolated too.

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And we kind of live isolated lives in America.

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And having been around the world,

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that's not true in most of the world.

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And when you're in Japan, where I lived for 10 years,

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it's like people on top of people.

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You go to Mexico, it's people on top of people.

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You go into Europe, it's people on top of people.

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So in America, we have our own house, man.

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And it's like, you've got your lot.

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You drive in.

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The garage door goes down, and you don't have to see anybody.

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And I think that God knew that our tendency to not connect

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and to become isolated is one of the hardest

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things to break in our lives.

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And so he created the church.

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And the church is a family of God.

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And so we see the nation of Israel

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as kind of a picture of the church in the Old Testament,

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but in the New Testament, in the Book of Acts,

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when the church was birthed and when it was born,

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it was a group of people from all

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different socioeconomic backgrounds,

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all different ethnicities, and in many cases,

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even different languages after Pentecost,

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coming together and having a relationship with each other

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and becoming a new family.

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And as you're walking with Christ, you need the church.

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Someone has said that without the church,

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you're not really even a Christian.

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And I'm not going to go that far.

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But I will say this, that you're not

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going to grow nearly as fast on your own

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as you could with a group of other believers,

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because there's something about dialogue.

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There's something about trialogue.

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There's something about having a relationship

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with other people, them speaking into your life

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and you speaking into their life that makes you, enables you,

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and empowers you to grow.

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It's the power of connection.

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And so the church is God's family.

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It's where the presence of God is.

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It's where Christ is.

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And so I want to challenge you that you've

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got to be involved in a church.

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If you're going to grow to be a wholehearted disciple of Christ,

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if you're going to grow to be a kingdom of God revolutionary,

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you need to be involved in a local church.

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What's interesting in my background

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is I grew up Lutheran.

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I grew up in a kind of theologically

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neo-Orthodox home.

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And I was in church two or three times a week

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because my dad was a pastor.

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And it didn't mean anything to me.

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It was more like a social club.

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But when I came to know Christ in a personal way,

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when I was born again, when I really

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became a disciple of Christ my freshman year in college,

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I got involved in a local church

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there near the university.

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And it was transformative in my life.

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So I want to challenge you today about the church.

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And Jesus spoke of the church and the importance

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of the church and the power of the church in Matthew 16.

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I'm going to pick it up in Matthew 16,

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starting in verse 13, because it's important the dialogue,

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even the Q&A, the question and answer that's going on,

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before he makes his first statement in the Bible

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about the church.

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Here's the context.

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When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi,

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he asked his disciples, say, who do men say that I am?

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Who is the Son of Man?

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So they said, the disciples said,

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some say you're John the Baptist.

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Some, Elisha.

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And others, Jeremiah, are one of the prophets.

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He said to them, but who do you say that I am?

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Simon Peter answered and said, you

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are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

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And that's important.

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That's the statement that Jesus is

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going to build his next point on,

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where he begins to unpack for the first time in scripture

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what the church is.

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Jesus answered and said, and blessed

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are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood

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has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

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And I also say to you that you are Peter.

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And Peter, Petros, means stone or rock.

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And on this rock, I will build my church.

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And the gates of hell, or the gates of Hades,

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shall not prevail against it.

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And I will give you the key.

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is the kingdom of heaven whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven

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whatever you loose on earth will be loose in heaven now this is the

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seminal statement about the purpose and the vision and the direction and the

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processes of the church that's going to be

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birthed out of the loins of christ when he ascends to heaven

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in acts one two three and then all of the book acts is really about the

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the planting of the kingdom of god church all over the world the first

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thing you notice is the church has nothing to do with the

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building there's nothing about a building mentioned here

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it is not a structure a lot of times we say i'm going to church

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and we mean the structure we mean a building that we're going to

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the church is not a structure it's not a building

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it's people the church is people god's going to build

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people a fellowship a a community of people around him

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where he's going to be lord over all he says i

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will build my church he's going to build the people of god into a community he's

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calling the church so the first thing you need

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to understand is the church is built by led by

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the cornerstone is jesus christ it's not the senior pastor of that church

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it's not the staff of that church as important as they all are they're just

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servant leaders the senior pastor capital s capital p

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of the church is jesus christ so there's a worldwide church but then

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there's a local church and what i'm focusing on here today is

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the local expression of the kingdom of god that we call the church

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and the church is a group of people that come together and worship together

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and jesus is the head the second thing he

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says here is that he's building it on the

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confession of peter on this rock i will build my church

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so jesus is saying on that confession that jesus is the lord of heaven and

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earth on the confession that jesus is the

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savior he is the messiah i will build my church

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so in looking for a church and discovering a church

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one of the most important things you can look for is a church where jesus is lord

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where jesus is king where they talk about jesus a lot

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they're not talking about the social gospel they're not talking about this or

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that issue their main point of every sermon all that

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they do is elevating and worshiping christ so

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that's key in this so jesus says on this rock i

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will build my church next jesus says that

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he will empower the church that even satan and demons even the gates of hell

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cannot prevail against and a gate was a defensive position in medieval times

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and so he's saying the church is on the move this is a church that is moving

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forward the kingdom of god revolution and even the gates of hell can't prevail

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against the onslaught the beauty and the power and the love

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of the church moving forward and so when you see a church where jesus is lord

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when you see a church where the confession that jesus lord is preeminent

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when you see a church where jesus is allowed to build his church

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when you see a church where where jesus is a senior pastor

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and i don't mean you don't have a senior pastor under him of course you do you

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have to have that but i'm talking about that that senior

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pastor is constantly bringing christ and

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making him lord and king over every aspect of the church

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i promise you that's the church that's going places

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that's the church that's going to make an impact that's a church where people

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are getting saved they're getting healed they're getting

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discipled they're getting equipped and it's growing that's the kind of

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church you want to be a part of if that's not happening at the church

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you're attending then ask god to send you to a church

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where that's happening you god wants you to be a part of a

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fired up excited jesus is lord teaching from the bible filled with the

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holy spirit kind of church and that's what jesus is

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talking about and then he talks about this very

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interesting i give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven whatever you

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bind on earth will be bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth will be

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loose in heaven this is a praying church this is a church that is calling out to

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god that is preaching the gospel that is

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sharing the gospel wherever the people go they're doing

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that and things are happening god's moving

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back darkness god is binding demonic

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darkness but he's loosening righteousness

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it's a seeking of the kingdom of god first

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kind of church so this is a church that's praying

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in our church we have noonday prayer

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Monday through Friday, we have these special prayer meetings all the time that we do.

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We have times where we call it a burn, where we go for 24 hours or 12 hours or six hours

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of constant prayer.

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The church is supposed to be a praying place.

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And that's one of the things I hope and pray, that when you find a church, there's prayer

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happening and you're a part of that prayer meeting, you're part of those gatherings.

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You're learning how to take back territory from the enemy.

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So join a church, be a part of a church, put the jersey on, man.

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Join the team because you can't do the Christian life alone.

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You need other, what we call around here, bloodstained allies.

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You need other allies in your life that'll help you grow.

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That's the church.

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That's the local church.

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Become a part of that.

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If you're in a position where you can't be a part of a church, then develop a Bible study.

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Get around some guys that you can be vulnerable and honest with, that you can share your heart

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with, so they can help you grow.

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And this Bible, man, I mean, get a group of guys together, get a group of men and women

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together where you're studying God's word.

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You're opening God's word.

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You're challenging each other in your faith.

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That's the church.

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The church doesn't have to have a building.

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The church doesn't have to have a pastor.

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Church doesn't have to have all these things that we think we need to have.

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The church can be right where you're at.

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Whatever you're doing, you can begin to grow in Christ.

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So be a part of the church.

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Grow as a Christian through the church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against

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you, because you've got this group.

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You're on the team.

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You guys are ministering together.

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You're worshiping together.

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So God bless you.

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Get involved in a church.

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It's going to help you grow.

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It's going to exponentially cause you to grow much faster than you could on your own, and

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the gates of hell will not prevail.

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God will powerfully use your life as well as the life of others together as you move

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forward in the church.

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Take care.