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[ Music ] Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where from cleansing from sin I cried, To the cross of blood I'll cry,

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Glory to His name! Glory to His name! ♪ Glory to His name ♪ ♪ Heirs to the high place of glory ♪

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♪ Glory to His name ♪ - Let's say amen again. - Amen. - Amen. Would you turn with me to

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Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Sixth chapter. I will begin at verse 10. Ephesians, the sixth chapter, verse 10.

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I'll read through to verse 18. I'm gonna be reading from the New International Version. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

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For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full arm of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able

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to stand your ground and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

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In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit,

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which is the word of God, and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying

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for all the saints. This morning, I'd like to share with you a topic this morning is I'll stand until. I'll stand until. Until, would you bow with me for a word of silent prayer.

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[ Silence ] ♪ Father, I stretch my hands to Thee ♪ ♪ For no one there has ♪ ♪ I know ♪

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♪ But if thou ♪ ♪ Withdrawn ♪ ♪ Thou saved ♪ ♪ From, from me ♪

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♪ Oh where ♪ ♪ Thou shalt ♪ ♪ I go ♪ ♪ Why dear ♪

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♪ I know this song ♪ ♪ Endured ♪ ♪ Before I drew ♪ ♪ My breath ♪

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♪ But what, what pain ♪ ♪ What would lay ♪ ♪ Back to ♪ ♪ Secure ♪

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♪ My soul ♪ ♪ From ♪ ♪ Him ♪ ♪ Blessed ♪

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What a blessing to be in the house of the Lord. I truly counted a blessing that God has found me faithful and has placed me into this ministry.

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And I thank him and I bless him for this day. For truly this is a day that the Lord has made. And we ought to just shout and rejoice and be glad in it. If you don't think it's a good day,

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you ought to try missing one. Try missing one. I truly counted a blessing that my pastor that has allowed me another chance,

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another opportunity, to share with you the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him and to my fellow

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ministers in the gospel, and to you, God's children. In this letter to the Ephesians, this sixth chapter,

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I'd like to just go back over a few verses. Verse 11, put on the full "Take your stand against the devil's scheme."

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Verse 13, "Therefore put on the full armor of God "so that when the day of evil comes, "you may be able to stand your ground. "And after you've done everything, to stand."

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Then in verse 14, "Stand firm then, "with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place. I'll stand until.

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I'll stand until. In our world today, there's a need for us to take a stand. We must take a stand. Last week, the two gentlemen vying for the presidency

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of the United States were on television telling you what their stand was and what they would stand for if given the opportunity to serve as president. And all of us need to have somewhere to stand and something that we should stand on.

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Because as the old saying goes, if you don't stand for something, then you're bound to fall for anything. So we ought to just take a stand. And sometimes it may not be a popular stance, but you ought to at least take a stand.

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It may not be the safest stand, but at least you ought to take a stand. Jesus told the church of Laodicea, the real problem he had with them is that they were on the fence. They couldn't decide whether they were with him or for him.

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At least if you weren't going to be with him, you could take a stand. If you're going to be with him, at least you were taking a stand. And today we need to take a stand. And in this letter Paul writes to the church at Ephesus, he is encouraging them to take

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a stand. Because see these new Christians following this way, this Jesus Christ who had been crucified and started this new movement were in the midst of a city that was full of immorality and idolatry.

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They worshiped the goddess Diana. Had a great big huge temple that they went in and to worship her. Worshiped her through prostitution.

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Worshiped her through idolatry. Because they had a real nice commerce going and that they would make models or idols of Diana and sell those to people who would come from far and wide

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to buy a little trinket, a little idol of the goddess Diana. And in the midst of all of this, this kind of world, this kind of society,

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Paul encourages them to take a stand. Now could you imagine in a world where everything was going on the way everybody wanted it to go,

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and everybody was doing whatever made them feel good, you would have to take a stand against them. And that's no different than what we have today. Because if you claim yourself to be a Christian,

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you say that you are a Christian, then actually you are taking a stand. You're taking a stand against those who would have nothing to do with Christianity.

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You're taking a stand against the devil. And that's who Paul points us in our anger and our frustration toward. He points it toward the devil.

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We get mixed up and caught up in flesh. And so we try to destroy one another and we try to tear down one another. But Paul wants us to understand that your battle

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and your war and your fight is not against flesh and blood. Because that's what Satan would have you to think. That if so and so is getting on my nerve, that I wish I could just wipe her out

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and then I have no more problems. But it's not against flesh and blood, it's against principalities. It's against rulers of darkness,

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spiritual wickedness in high places. Things that you and I cannot see other than by God's spirit showing us that that thing is evil. He's pointing us to where the true enemy is.

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But we must take a stand. And if we're gonna take a stand, Paul tells us that we need to be prepared to stand. And he prepares us by allowing us to see him

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make an analogy of something that was in his environment. He wants us to take a stand by putting on the full armor of God. See, Paul had been taken prisoner in Rome,

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and he was under house arrest, which meant that he was chained to a Roman soldier. And so it's not hard for him to take certain things according to the gospel and kind of attach them

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to what this soldier here was wearing. And he says, you need to be prepared to stand. You can't just run out there and think that just because you call on the name of Jesus Christ,

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that you can go down there on that corner of 11th Street and start preaching the gospel. Not unless the spirit has shown you, not unless the spirit has told you,

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And not unless the Spirit has prepared you for what you might see on that corner, for what you might hear on that corner. So we need to be prepared to stand.

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And it's no different than how we prepare our armed forces. See, our duty is to stand, and we're to stand ready.

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We're not to march out. God has not given us the call to march out, but we are to stand. And so just like in our armed forces,

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they prepare and they gather troops and they train those troops physically and they train them mentally and they train them technically in the ways of war.

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But until they get the word from the president to move forward, those troops are just preparing themselves and standing ready.

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And we're to do the same thing as Christians. Prepare ourselves physically. Prepare ourselves mentally. Prepare ourselves spiritually.

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But our duty and our charge is to stand. To stand. Because Jesus will give the command to move forward in that day when he comes back.

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And you won't have any doubt about it because you'll hear the trumpet sound And then we'll all just fall in rank together and march behind our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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But for right now, he just wants us to stand. And while you stand, the scripture suggests that maybe we ought to stand for something. And Paul says you ought to put on the belt of truth

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and place it around your ways. So maybe that suggests to me that I ought to stand for truth this morning. That if it is not the truth, then it's a lie.

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And I'll tell you, the devil is a liar. He has a way of taking things and making them seem as though they are not. He can take that little lamb that looks sweet and innocent,

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and if you don't watch it, it might be a wolf in sheep's clothing. You remember, children, you remember the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

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and she went to grandmother's house. And when she got in the house and saw grandmother, she saw somebody in grandmama's bed that might look like grandmother.

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She saw somebody wearing grandmother's clothes. She saw somebody wearing grandmama's eyeglasses. She saw somebody wearing grandmother's head bonnet. She thought that was her grandmother.

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But when that wolf turned around And she could see those big black eyes. And she saw that the wolf had teeth when grandmama didn't have any teeth.

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She knew something was wrong. And little Red Riding Hood figured out she better get up out of there. The devil has a way of making things look pretty.

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Making things look nice and sweet and safe and innocent. But if we don't watch out, we'll get caught up in his deceit and we'll get caught up in his traps. But if we stand for truth,

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Jesus by his spirit has a way of giving us what we need in order for us to discern what is right and what is wrong. Suggest that maybe we ought to stand for truth. Secondly, the scripture might suggest to me

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that I need to stand for righteousness. I put on the breastplate of righteousness, maybe I should stand for what is right. stand for having a right relationship with God.

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Not what I think is right, because we have a way sometimes in our own thinking of being wrong. They used to think that the world was flat,

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and whoever thought that was right at the time, but they later found out that the world was round. So we need to think on what God believes, what God teaches and what God chose us to be right

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and to have a right relationship with him, stand for righteousness. And then thirdly, the scripture suggests that maybe, just maybe, I ought to stand for peace.

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I'm gonna have my feet fitted for the gospel of peace. Maybe I should stand for peace Because really, there's just too much violence, too much destruction of life in our society today.

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Even within our community, there's just too much violence, too much destruction. Listening to the news last week about the things that are going on in our high schools,

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the kind of danger. I mean, my daddy used to teach me, "Boy, all you gotta do is go to school. "Go to school and get your education.

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"That's your job, that's all you have to do. "I'll take care of feeding you, "I'll take care of clothing you, "I'll take care of putting a roof over your head.

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"All your job is is to go to school." That's when I was trying to find other things to do other than go to school. Go to school and get your lesson,

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and I must say I didn't do that too often. Go to school, and that's all you have to do, And we think that that's all we need to do. But really, you need to sit down nowadays with your children,

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maybe even send them to a self-defense course, because our schools-- and it's not that it's a whole lot of kids doing it. It's just those few.

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And it makes the thing bad for everyone else. But schools on the news because of violence and things that are happening in our schools. We ought to stand for peace.

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Christ said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, "for they shall be called the children of God." You know how it is when you can look at somebody and recognize what family they belong to?

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I can look at Brother Grattan and know that he's a part of that Grattan family. You can see Funcho Arcambala walking down the street and go, "I know that is,

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"I know that Femi is Funcho's dad. "I mean, Femi is Funcho's son." You can just look at the boy and know. And that's how it ought to be with Christians.

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They ought to be able to look at you and because of your demeanor, because of the way you carry yourself and know that you are a child of God

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and relate you with being a child of God and say, "Yeah, I know that, "you know, that's a child of God." Because you stand for peace

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instead of being in the middle of the fight going, "Go on, tear his head off." You're the one that's in the middle of the fight trying to stop it. We ought to be found standing for peace. Paul says, "I'll stand." And while you stand, he goes on to say that you might

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have to defend yourself. You might have to put on the helmet of to protect your head. Because Satan likes to attack the head. If he attacks the head of anything,

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he realizes that he can conquer and destroy. The heads of families, the heads of organizations, the heads of nations. Satan doesn't just shoot for the hip,

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he goes for the head. Because he knows that what controls the body. And he moves for the head. Protect your head.

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He goes on to say that you might have to ward off Satan and his fiery darts by putting up your shield of faith, believing and knowing that God is, and that he's able to keep you,

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to protect you, to watch over you, to lead and guide you. You have faith and believe that. And so you hold up your shield of faith. And then he gives you a sword,

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but it's not a sword that you might attack people with. Because you never attack anybody with the word of God. You share the word of God. You defend with the word of God.

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You preach the word of God, you teach the word of God, but never do we attack with the word of God. Because the word of God has a way of delivering those that we think might be undeliverable.

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God has, his word has a way of saving, his word has a way of transforming, This word has a way of delivering us, using God's word to take our stand, to stand.

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But the last part of the title of this message, ask the question, I'll stand until, or really it answers the question. It answers the question, how long?

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Because really that's what we wanna know. How long do we have to stand? How long do I need to put up with this? When you go to get your car repaired,

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probably there are two things you're asking. How much is it gonna cost? And how long is it gonna take? When you order that pizza,

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that thing that we need to stop eating and start eating more vegetables. But when we order that pizza, we ask him how long is it gonna take?

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We can't help but be time creatures. We're born in time, we live in time. and as time rolls on, we'll be taken out by time.

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We wanna know how long. Pastor taught us in Wednesday night prayer service not too long ago, he

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said that the slain saints over in the book of Revelations, the slain saints were crying from underneath

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the altar. Crying out to God, asking him how long are the wicked gonna be

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able to do what they're doing? Lord, how long will you put up with all that mess that's going on down

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there? How long would it be before you come and do what you said you were gonna do? We just wanna know how long.

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But we've gotta resolve within ourselves that we're gonna stand until. Sometimes we get tired of standing and the first thing we wanna do is sit down.

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(congregation laughing) But this is not a message. And this is not a gospel about sitting down. And just when you think

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you're so tired and you're ready to sit down, you can call on Jesus. And he'd be right

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there in a hurry, and give you strength enough to just stand a little while longer.

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There's one thing I learned at Prairie View A&M University is how to stand in lines.

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(audience laughing) Registration process took two and three hours. And you could be crazy

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And you could be crazy and get out of line if you wanted to. But I was able to stand if I rested on one hip a while and when that one got tired I switched to the other hip.

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But I stood in line. And that may be you in your Christian walk with God. That you might be getting tired of standing but I'm telling you to stand until.

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Stand until the race is won. I'm not gonna give up and I'm not gonna quit because the Bible tells me it's not a race to the one who runs the fastest,

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but it's a race to the one who endures to the end. So if you ask me how long I'll stand, I'll tell you I'll stand until. Somebody might be out there saying I'm gonna stand

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until that wayward child comes home. Everybody else might have given up on them. Everybody else said they're no good and good for nothing, but still I'm gonna stand.

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Until they turn around, I'll stand. Somebody might be saying I'm sick in my body like Job. And Job said I'll stand

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until my change comes. You may tear me down and you may trample over me, but still I'm gonna stand

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because I'm gonna wait until my change comes. I'll stand until, somebody's asking, well how long

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is that until? Well until I see my savior crack the skies, until I see him come riding

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on his white horse and That's enough Satan. And I'm gonna take my children on home to be with me. I'll stand until I see my savior.

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And if I'm dead and gone, that's all right. Because scripture tells me that in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, that I'll be changed and I'll run

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and take my place in line and I'll stand. But I'm gonna stand until God comes and cleans this mess up. I don't care what goes on and how hard it gets, but I'm gonna stand.

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'Cause we've got to resolve within our own minds that we'll stand for truth. We'll stand for righteousness. We'll stand for peace, but we'll stand until.

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Until he comes back. Until he comes back, because he could have, if it was in his mind, if he had a choice, He may have come down off Calvary's cross.

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And as I see him hanging there, he probably was asking, Lord, how long? How long? How long do I have to put up with the shame?

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How long do I have to put up with the pain? How long, Father? I wanna come and see you. I'm tired of this down here.

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I've come to do exactly what you told me to do. How long do I have to hang here? In between two things, Lord. How long?

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I'm ready to come home. I'm ready to be with you. How long? I could see him as he hung his head

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between the locks of his shoulders. And he gave up the ghost. He did it for you, and he did it for me. But Lord, thank you, it just didn't stop at Calvary.

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But they took him to the tomb. And I could hear him saying, "How long do I have to lay here? "Until it's time for me to get on up a little higher.

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"How long, one day? "How long, two days?" But after that third day, God said, "Come on up, my son.

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"Come on up a little higher, "and you can take your stand right alongside me." And because Jesus is standing right by the Father, he allows us to stand right here in our places.

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Stand no matter what. You can stand until. Oh yeah, you can stand until. You might think you're about ready to faint,

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but you can stand until. You can do like Isaiah. He was getting faint, but he got renewed,

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took on the wings of an eagle, so that he could fly away. And maybe somebody

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this morning is tired of sitting in the mess that you in. Maybe somebody

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this morning is feeling like you wanna sit down and you're tired and you wanna give up.

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but you wanna take a stand. Would you come this morning? His arms are wide open, and he says, "I'll give you somebody

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"that you can lean on." When you get tired, you wanna sit down and give up. We can stand,

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and we can stand until he comes again, but you've got to take his hand and you've got to walk with him and you've got to talk with him.

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You got to know that he is your God and that you are his child. - Yes. - Will you come?

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(soft music) Will you come? (soft music) - Yeah.

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(soft music) ♪ ♪ >> Church membership, the invitation to accept Jesus Christ, unite with the family of God here at Ebenezer. You may come. ♪ We waiteth here ♪

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♪ Oh, bless ye God ♪ ♪ Oh, where to, where ye from, but God ♪ ♪ Oh, dearly we ♪ ♪ We're here, we're here ♪

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♪ Still 'tis thou, 'tis we ♪ ♪ Believe and be, believe and be ♪ ♪ That is our heavenly king ♪ ♪ His reign over all the world ♪

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♪ God is heavenly king ♪ ♪ Sometimes it seems only natural ♪ ♪ Sometimes the reason covers all ♪ ♪ I want to see the bones of the sea ♪

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♪ Feel its winds and the near wind ♪ [MUSIC] ♪ The hills that we've been and been ♪ ♪ This day, tomorrow, are all green ♪

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♪ The mountains that we've been and been ♪ ♪ All I ask of thee, dear Lord ♪ ♪ Forever, ever, Lord, we pray ♪ ♪ Kind, gentle, ever, Lord, God, I see ♪

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♪ Still, still, my God, there be with thee ♪ ♪ Be with me, be with me ♪ [MUSIC] ♪ Faithful for all our good we ♪

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♪ For our years and believe and we ♪ ♪ And with the Lord at his hand ♪ ♪ With higher grace the victory's won ♪ ♪ He cares for where I will not be ♪

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♪ Since now you join a leader here ♪ ♪ He leadeth me, he leadeth me ♪ ♪ By his command he leadeth me ♪ me. His faithful follow I would be, for I his have heeded me.

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