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[ Music ] There's a sweet, sweet spirit in this place. And I know that it's a spirit of love. ♪ Let us be blessed ♪

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♪ All in faith ♪ ♪ That I know there is nothing ♪ ♪ But the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus ♪

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♪ Dream holy spirits ♪ ♪ Sleep and be domed ♪ ♪ Stay right here with us ♪ ♪ Filling us with your love ♪

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♪ And for Jesus' sake ♪ ♪ He is God in flesh ♪ ♪ Without a doubt we know ♪ ♪ That he hath been designed ♪

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♪ And we shall be his friends ♪ ♪ Oh Lord sweet Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Sweet river, sweet river ♪ ♪ Sweet river, sweet river ♪

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♪ Filling us, filling us with your love ♪ ♪ And for the earth, for the earth ♪ ♪ She is our heart's great treasure ♪ ♪ There is not enough to hold ♪

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♪ When we have been because ♪ ♪ And we shall be ♪ ♪ Re-raised ♪ - Oh, Father God, in the name of Jesus,

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we ask that you would prepare our hearts and our minds for your spoken word. Use this servant, O Lord, in the way that you would have me be used and now, that the words of my mouth and the meditation of

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my heart be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord, my strength and my redeemer, I will lift up mine eyes. I will lift mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help.

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And why do I lift mine eyes unto the hills? Because my help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth. I will. A few weeks ago, I underwent surgery here in one of Austin's finest hospitals.

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And since this did not represent the first time that I had been diagnosed with a medical condition which warranted a surgical procedure, I was concerned, but not so much for myself as I was for my family. Now it was not until I was in the pre-surgical room that I realized that this time things

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were going to be a little different. Yes, the doctor had explained everything to me, but like so many other folks, once you've been through something, you know it all. And I did not listen as carefully as I needed to listen.

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And so I looked around and there were no dripping IV bottles. You know that medication that they put in there that causes you to go into the deep sleep and it allows you to feel no pain while the doctor goes about doing the work that he has to do.

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I looked around for the mask. I kept waiting for them to put the mask over my face and there was no mask. I said, "Well, surely they're going to give me an injection "so that I can just ease on into la-la land

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"and I won't have to be bothered "with trying to tell the doctor what to do." And there was no mask. This even caused some concern in the room

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for one of the nurses said, "Well, doctor, aren't you gonna at least "give her a tranquilizer?" This is one of the reasons they put people

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to sleep right away so that you won't hear what's going on in the operating room. The doctor said, "No, she won't need a tranquilizer." And he just kept looking at me and going about his work in a very professional way.

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Then it dawned on me. I was going to go through this surgical procedure fully awake and fully knowledgeable of every of everything that took place around me. And I glanced at my physician again,

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and he just kept standing there and looking and smiling. He explained to me and to the attendants who were a little bit concerned also that he had performed this procedure many times

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and he felt quite confident that I was gonna be all right. He did, however, administer a few localized injections in the specific area that he was going to do his work. By that time, I lost complete control.

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And I began to shake uncontrollably. Again, the voices around me said, doctor, doctor, she's shaking. The doctor looked at me and he said, why are you shaking?

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And I thought, "God, if you don't know!" (audience laughing) I said, "I'm cold." And then I finally came out with, I said, "I'm scared.

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"I'm afraid." Very calmly, he told the attendants, he said, "Go and get her a warm towel "and put across the upper portion of her body."

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And by that time I said, oh, I will lift up my eyes unto the heels from whence cometh my help. Yes, I trust. I trust the physician in all of his expertise

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in his experience. But at a time like this, I must trust the physician of physicians. I must trust God,

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from whom my help flows. And at that moment, I felt a peace, and I felt a calm. And when doctor placed his hand on my abdomen

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to go about his work, I was aware that my body was still. And I realized when I came out of the procedure, time had just flown so quickly.

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But I was aware of repeating over and over Psalms 121. And when I would complete Psalms 121,

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I would go into Psalms 23, where it said, yea, though I walk, through the valley and the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. And it was not until I was in the recovery room

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that the full essence of the experience dawned on me. And I began to weep. And it was not because I was in pain, for that was not what it was all about.

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I realized that God had given me a message to present to you this day a commitment to lead, to trust, and to wholly depend on him in the time of trouble. The Book of Psalms, which is a collection of songs and poems,

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is an indispensable source of devotional material. The Book of Psalms is quoted more frequently than perhaps any other single book in the entire Bible. Most of us learned as children the 23rd Psalms.

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That was the beginning. As a whole, the book of Psalm attests to the yearnings of corporate Israel at worship before God, and it reflects the hardships and the struggle

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of God's people, and it provides for us guidelines to that end. The Psalms bring to us, number one, the realization of God's presence in our lives

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and in the universe. Number two, the Psalms bring to us the recognition of a need for adoration, thanksgiving, and praise. Number three, the Psalms bring to us guidelines

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for personal communication with God. Number four, the Psalms bring to us remembrance of God in history. And five, the Psalms bring to us deliverance from trouble,

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from fears, and from the enemy. Psalms 121 reminds us of God's sustaining power and of the elevation of Christian believer above surrounding circumstances through the power of prayer.

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Psalms 121 helps us to maintain clear vision, spiritual vision, which will help us to focus on a definite point. Our eyes fixed upon the heels from whence cometh

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our help in the time of trouble. As we examine the Psalms, it was appeared that the writer is presenting his position at ones who happens to be on low ground or in the valley.

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It does not appear that he can extradite himself from his present position. All he can do under the present set of circumstances is to look up to the hills.

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One cannot look up onto the hills when one is on top of the hill. One must be below the hills in order to look up. It stands to reason that one would be in the valley.

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- Yes, ma'am. - Each of us can attest to times in our lives when we were genuinely afraid. When we found ourselves in the valley.

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When we found ourselves in some type of trouble which we were fearful of the well-being of ourselves or the well-beings of our loved ones. Or maybe we merely experienced a feeling

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of impending doom. We may have been or we may even now face a situation or circumstance in which we feel we have little or no control over and that the outcome is not in our hands.

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I've come to remind us today that through God's word, he gives us his assurance, his promise that he will never leave us, that he will never forsake us, and that in the times of trouble, in the times of distress, we need only look to the hills from whence cometh our help.

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We will find him to be a source of comfort and a source of strength. Our message today is going to deal with the I wills of God and the I wills of the Christian believer. God's I wills represent his promises and his assurances.

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The Christian believer's I wills represents the commitment, our commitment to trust God in the time of trouble. I will, I. First person singular pronoun.

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Will, an action verb suggesting determination, determination, desire, intention based on one's choice. One's choice. I will is a powerful phrase when it represents

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the promises of God and the faith of the believer. Here we're looking at a partnership based on I wills. follow along with me as we discuss through exploration some of our troubles and our fears

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and which we would need to call upon the partnership of the I wills. Trouble and fears. What is the reality?

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In other words, what's happening? What's going on around us, within us, that's causing the apprehension. Number two, what am I really afraid of?

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What do I fear the most? What is the worst thing that I fear is going to happen out of the circumstance? What is God's assurance to me

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as the creator of heaven and of earth? What does God have to say about it, in other words? Number four, what is the Christian believer's response? How do I, with God's help, resolve these problems?

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Sometimes we find ourselves in the valley of personal and family problems. None of us is immune to difficulties in our personal and our family lives.

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Being staunch members of the church and willing and active witnesses for Christ, trusting the Lord does not mean that we will completely isolate it from problems, but we know, we have his assurance that we shall be victorious in Jesus Christ. I can recall a workshop that I conducted several years ago when I was in California. It was

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was a conference specifically designed for women. And I wanted to select a topic which I thought was going to reach the greatest number of women and encompass some of their personal

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and interpersonal problems. And so I entitled my workshop, What to Do When the Kids are Acting Out.

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Your husband is stepping out. The money is running out. And you feel like checking out. Needless to say, my workshop was a hit.

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We had more women coming into that workshop with a combination, not just one. It was the experience of those women, those Christian women who had walked through those experiences, who had survived those experiences, who are continuing to move forward, who have learned the lessons about themselves and others from those experiences, who are the greatest

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resources in that workshop. The solution to these problems became clear as we prayed and we believed God and his promises and we exercised faith. Sometimes the conditions that cause us personal and family distress may not change, especially

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right away. God's time is not our time. but our attitudes and our behaviors can change. And this in turn may change the circumstance.

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So what is this saying? That it becomes imperative that we seek to first of all strengthen ourselves. When we get on an airplane

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and you hear the voice comes over the speaker and they give you instructions, They advise us very clearly to fasten your seat belt first and then your child's. In case of turbulence, make sure that your belt is tight.

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Then you can be of assistance to someone else. So the lesson here is to look toward the hills. I will. All too frequently we focus outward and we become fixes.

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And we, and I say we because I fall in that category myself, want to fix everything around us. And we cannot fix anything until we ourselves are fortified and rooted and grounded. Whispering the affirmation will clear the way for us to hear the confident words of

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God, "I will never leave thee, nor will I forsake thee." Sometimes we find ourselves in the valley of grief. Grief is the depressing sorrow or pain caused by the loss of a loved one. This can be a time of great loneliness and uncertainty about the future, especially when

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the loss is caused by death. In the midst of discouragement, one's grief-stricken state of mind can become overwhelmed with sorrow. Grief can open the door for loved one to become engulfed and unreachable, opening the door for physical and emotional bondage.

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A great manifestation of faith during the time of grief is to look upward and say, "I will." upward with the spiritual eyes, lift mine eyes unto the heels from whence cometh my help.

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This acknowledgement will free our spirits to hear the words of God through John, "Let not your heart be troubled." You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you.

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I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will. His promise, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also. Let's take a look at some other valleys.

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We have valleys of unemployment, valleys of underemployment, valleys of, in our local community of gangs, crime rate on the increase, alcohol, drug, prostitution, homelessness, hunger. Local public officials undermining and manipulating the system as well as taxpaying constituents.

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for their own selfish interest. Valleys in our local communities, valleys in our schools, dropout rates increasing, some of our young people graduating

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are functionally illiterate. Discipline problems in the classroom, teachers not able to effectively teach due to disruption in the classroom,

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Thus causing disenchanted teachers, underpaid, sometimes unappreciated, and overworked administrators. Valleys in our school system. Valleys in our churches.

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Some of us are struggling to define and redefine our mission. External competitiveness and lack of cooperation exist among some churches.

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at a time when God's people need to band themselves together for the common good. We are struggling in one-ups-men and losing souls in the process.

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Internal polarization within churches. Competitiveness among auxiliaries and officers, causing ineffective modeling and witnessing. Who has the answers to the problems

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within our local communities? Who has the solution to the problems within our local communities? We have looked to officials.

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We have looked to ourselves. I'm here to repeat, at the point of being redundant, that our help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

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God will provide the healing that is to take place within this place. He will provide the guidance. He says in his word, I will lead them in paths

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that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and I will make the crooked things straight. I will instruct thee in the way which thou shalt go.

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I will guide thee with mine eye. Maybe the valley is more global. Maybe we're focusing in the valley on the international front.

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Famine, starvation, children with emanciated limbs, bloated bellies, tribal wars, droughts, diseases, third world countries. Maybe it's political oppression, religious oppression,

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economic oppression, boat people, tent people, people trying to escape, trying to come to the shores only to discover that there is bondage on these shores. Whether it's the national front or debts,

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corruption politically, laws and policies being authored and passed which will serve to have an adverse effect on the lives of United States citizens, carefully camouflaged to serve and protect

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the interest of a few. Trouble, trouble, trouble. We're surrounded by it. We're surrounded.

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But we are reminded. one of the great I wheels that I quote frequently, and I cannot seem to get away from this scripture. When we as corporate America began looking for the answers

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to the dilemmas, when we as a global family began looking for solutions, oh, if we would only believe what we have printed on our dollar in God. We trust if we would only believe in what we say

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in the allegiance to the flag, one nation under God. Our father would remind us and he places a condition. I will, if you will. He says, if my people who are called by my name

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will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then he gives his assurance that he says, I will.

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I will, number one, I will hear from heaven. Oh, hallelujah. I will forgive their sins. And I will heal their land.

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Maybe the valley is within me. Maybe I, maybe I have placed myself in my own valley. my own personal self.

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There is a tendency to look beyond us for the source. Look beyond ourselves to blame someone else, something else for the source of our distress and for the source of our discomfort,

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but I dare us to look within. We can only look within when we would lift our eyes onto the hills from whence cometh our help, then we'll be able to see what spiritual eyes thank you.

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Maybe we're struggling with feelings of insecurities, feelings of inadequacies, feelings of low self-worth and low self-esteem, feelings of despair and loneliness, heartache and guilt and disappointment in our goals. Maybe we're feeling depressed.

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Maybe we're feeling rejected. Oh God, I feel the presence of your people right now. And I weep because I feel your spirit right now. And there's someone under the sound of my voice right now who's struggling with these

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feelings. I cannot help you. I am a counselor. I have been trained to sit and to listen. I have been trained to help you go within yourselves, to search for options. But there is one who lives within you, who knows all about you, for he made you in his image. And he loves you. And he cares. And he promised that he will never

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Leave you alone. We cannot become overcomers when we stay in the valley. It's too crowded down here in the valley. It's too much smog down here in the valley.

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I cannot see the big picture down here in the valley. I am too close to the problem in the valley. I become a part of the problem in the valley. I cannot see the sunshine wandering around in the valley.

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I must look toward the hills from whence cometh my help. I must concentrate on the light that I see at the top of the mountain. For it is Jesus Christ who will allow me to connect spiritually with him and to be an overcomer.

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Sounds become magnified in the valley. I can't hear well. I can't see clearly in the valley. It's too dark.

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I don't know how to climb mountains. But he shall give me hinds feet on high places so that I can climb spiritually. In the valley, I suffer battle fatigue.

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Because I'm holding on. I lift my spiritual eyes and God has said to me, "My child, let go. Let me handle it. I know more about the situation than you."

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And so my brothers and my sisters, I say, "Get immediate help." Don't wait until we're so overwhelmed. Begin practicing now.

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Lift in our eyes before the problem so that when the problem comes, it will be an automatic reaction. Don't allow the sword to fester and become worse. Get expert help.

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He who made the heavens and the earth, the divine architect, knows all about it. He knows how to repair. He knows how to fix it. He knows how to heal it.

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He knows how to bring it back together into some solid form. ourselves out of the picture and allow God to take control. There's a better position once we have risen above, once we have moved through the obstacles in our lives and learned the lessons that are to be learned, then we can help somebody

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else. We cannot help anybody else when we're on the same level as they are. We must rise above. Rise above.

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Those spiritual eyes allow that spiritual to soar. Lord plant my feet. Lord plant my spiritual eyes. Lord, plant my desperate spirit.

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Lord, plant my family. Lord, plant my community, my church, my country, on higher ground. Help us to rise above.

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Help us to trust in you. I will demands of us the ultimate of trust. Because it's a choice. It's a choice.

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And in order to make that I will choice, we must be able to trust. So I beseech you, my brothers and my sisters, to trust in the Lord.

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There may be someone here who has been out of the church for a long time. And you've been grappling with the decision whether to come back because you've become disenchanted for whatever reason. Maybe you've moved to a new city.

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What is speaking to us? If we would recommit ourselves and say, "I will." There may be someone on the sound of my voice who has not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, who has not been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit because you believe

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Believe not that he died, and that he was buried, and that he rose again, and that he holds all power in his hands, and that he is coming back to claim each one of us. Trust in him. Say I will, for he stands at the door and he knocks, and he says if any man will hear

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my voice and open I will come in and I will suck with him and he with me. The Lord is saying to us today that he loves us, that he cares for us, that he has given his promise and based on his promise we can say I will trust in the Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Until I die.

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I used to hear my grandmother sing this years ago. I will trust in the Lord. Say, "I will trust in the Lord." I will trust in the Lord.

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I will trust in the Lord. Until I die. Until I die. I will trust in the Lord, I will trust in the Lord. I will trust in the Lord until I die.

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[MUSIC] I am the rain, I am born to wash, I am the rain until I am gone. I am born to wash, I am the rain I'm born to wash, I am the rain I am born to wash, I am the rain until I am gone.

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I'm going to stay on my bed and eat. I'm going to stay on my bed and eat. I'm going to stay on my bed and eat until I die. I'm going to stay on my pen and pen and pen.

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I'm going to stay on my pen and pen and pen. I'm going to stay on my pen and pen and pen. I'm going to stay on my pen and pen and pen. I am going to see God for myself.

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I am going to see God for myself. I am going to see God for myself. We are going to see God for ourselves. I'm going to seek God for myself.

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I'm going to seek God for myself. I'm going to seek God for myself. I'm going to seek God for myself. I will trust in the Lord.

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I will trust in the Lord. I will trust in the Lord until I die. I will trust in the Lord. I will trust in the Lord.

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I will trust in the Lord until I die. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]