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In Ecclesiastes we read, one generation passes away

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and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth

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forever.

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If you want verification of that truth, friend,

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go visit a cemetery today, take a walk

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among the graves, read the inscriptions, and you'll

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soon see that death visits both the young

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and the old.

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Life is short.

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You only get one go-round in life.

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You can squander your allotted time in accumulating

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the things of this world.

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You can squander it through worldliness and selfishness

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and sin and completely miss your real purpose

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in life.

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Or you can submit to God and let

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him give you a purpose in life.

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God is looking for the person who will

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step out in faith and go out on

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a limb for him.

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Anything worthwhile costs something.

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To become emperor, Caesar had to cross his

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Rubicon.

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Napoleon had to march into Moravia to win

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his greatest battle at Austerlitz.

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When the church is dead to her reputation

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and facing her greatest persecution, then she thrives

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in power and influence.

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But when the church enters the mode of

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self-preservation, self-reliance, then she's nothing more

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than an impotent, powerless institution that's a laughingstock

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to the world.

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In Exodus chapter 2, we read the words

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of God, And Moses was content to dwell

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with the man, and he gave Moses Zipporah

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his daughter.

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Moses was content with the ordinary.

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Moses had an ordinary life, and that was

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fine by him.

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Moses felt secure in that little household, keeping

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the flock of Jethro.

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Moses was content to live on the backside

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of the desert where no trouble or turmoil

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could find him.

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But then, one fantastic day, while he was

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leading the flock, he had an incredible encounter

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with a holy God that so burned into

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his soul, so transformed his life, he never

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was the same man again.

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But before God could use Moses, Moses had

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to come to the end of himself.

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I like the quote of F.J. Hegel

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concerning Moses.

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For forty years, on the lonely slopes of

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Midian, the fiery Moses has schooled.

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There were graves, if I may so speak,

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scattered all over the mountainside, where hope after

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hope was buried until at last self went

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down in utter annihilation.

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Just look at what God did with Moses,

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friend, and stand amazed.

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D.L. Moody was a successful shoe salesman

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in Chicago, earning a ton of money, doing

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what he could for God on the side,

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until he heard a minister say to him,

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the world has yet to see what God

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can do with the man wholly consecrated to

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him.

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Those words burned into Moody's soul, and he

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walked away, muttering a prayer under his breath,

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Great God, make me that man.

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And God answered that prayer, and Moody did

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more for God than all of us put

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together.

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Moody walked away from a promising business career

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to be God's man.

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Just take a look at what a sovereign

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God can do with a man once that

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man has an encounter of God.

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I've been a student of revival for four

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decades, and it fascinates me, friends, how God

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can take a simple man and use him

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in powerful revivals that shake entire communities.

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When I look at what God did with

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Duncan Campbell in the Scottish Hebrides during the

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Lewis Revival of 1949 to 1952, I stand

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amazed.

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I once asked a Scottish minister who knew

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Duncan Campbell well to describe him to me

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in one sentence.

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After some reflection, this man said, Duncan Campbell

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was an ordinary man who had had an

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extraordinary experience of God.

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And I'm telling you, friends, as I'm standing

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here today, that in itself is an incredible

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statement.

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I know it personally in my own life,

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an extraordinary experience of God.

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I was a successful businessman doing what I

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could for God on the side, but all

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I really cared about was making money.

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Then I attended a institute on expository preaching

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where the preacher was Dr. Stephen F.

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Oldford.

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He was a frail old man in his

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80s, but he lived his life under the

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anointing of the spirit of God.

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And when he preached that day, something happened

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to me.

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I saw in crystal clear light the futility

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of living a life selfishly for me.

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All of a sudden, I had no taste

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for business anymore.

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All I wanted was God and more of

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God and to be used of God.

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After that, I pursued a deeper knowledge of

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God and a better understanding of my own

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rotten heart.

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And through the anointed preaching of Stephen Oldford

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that week, my life was turned upside down.

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I got a taste of the supernatural and

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I caught a glimpse of eternity.

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Dr. Oldford finished his sermon with a little

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poem from C.T. Studd.

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Only one life will soon be passed.

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Only what's done for Christ will last.

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Those words burned into my soul.

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And since that time, my life has never,

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ever been the same.

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God has allowed me to experience revival, write

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19 books on the subject of revival.

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I've preached over 2,000 revival sermons that

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have gone into every nation through my ministry

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on Sermon Audio.

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But that week, that time, God got such

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a hold under me, under the preaching of

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Stephen Oldford, I went home and I wrote

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something in the flyleaf of my Bible.

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I'm holding that Bible now in my hands.

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And I'll read you here what I wrote

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to God that day.

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What is my life that I should keep

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it selfishly for me?

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I choose to lose it so completely and

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have it found in thee.

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Through the years, God has made that little

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prayer come true.

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I've lost everything materially in this world.

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I lost my business.

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I lost my wealth.

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I lost my homes.

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I lost my wife.

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I lost my reputation.

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I lost my health.

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My words, I choose to lose it so

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completely, became a reality.

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Everything was stripped away.

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Jesus told his disciples, therefore, doth my father

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love me because I laid down my life

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that I might take it up again.

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No man take it away from me.

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I lay it down of myself.

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Christ went willingly to the cross to die

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for my sins.

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The cross caused the father his only begotten

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son.

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The cross caused Christ his very blood.

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What cause counts and what counts costs.

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When Christ transforms a life, then that life

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will never, ever be the same.

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Who is willing to go out on a

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limb for God and to trust him?

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Who is willing to go out on the

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false dredge for God, no matter the sacrifice?

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Who is willing to believe in a big

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God who can do big things and stand

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on his promises and fight the devil tooth

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and nail, come hell or high water?

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Who, listening to this message, is willing to

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be so nailed up on a cross and

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dead to the world so an almighty God

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can take that person and do wonders through

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them?

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Oh, great God, Christ can transform a life

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into an instrument that only God can use

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for his great glory.

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Who has the faith to trust God and

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not man?

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Who wants to leave the safety of the

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boat, to step out on the turbulent water

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and live a supernatural life for Christ in

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eternity?

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Who here today, at this hour, wants to

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pray with desperation to be used of God

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from this day forth?

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Who here will cry out with the passionate

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cry of a John Wesley who said, give

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me 100 men who fear nothing but God

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and hate nothing but sin, and I will

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shake the gates of hell.

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Where is the one here who wants to

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go shake the gates of hell for a

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bloodstained Christ and a hell bound, who here

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will lay his or her life down for

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others so they can find the Christ, the

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Savior, who here will embrace the burning words

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of that little poem to be a reality

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in the life?

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Only one life will soon be passed.

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Only what's done for Christ will last.

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Let me pray for us now, friends.

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Oh, great God in heaven, I come to

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you now and I ask for your ear

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on behalf of your people, by the shed

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blood of that dear son, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

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of Nazareth, who sits at your right hand

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this very instant, who will come again to

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judge the living and the dead.

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He'll split heaven wide open.

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All things are in his hands, in his

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hands are the nail prints from my dirty,

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rotten sins.

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Oh, great God on high, oh, ancient of

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days, I beg you to get a hold

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of someone here.

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Show your mercy.

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Get a hold of someone who's been desiring

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more of you and let your showers of

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blessings fall upon them.

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Place someone within the sound of my voice

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into a vibrant, hell-shaken ministry for you.

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The hour is late.

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The times are growing darker and Christ Jesus

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will soon appear.

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Send workers, Lord, into your harvest field to

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reach the lost and perishing.

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Get a hold of someone, Lord.

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Give them a glimpse of you in eternity.

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Transform a life, I pray in the strong

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name of Jesus.

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Amen.