Living Life of purpose, Bible Study 1/15/14

Living life of purpose II

“Let nothing hold you back”

Synopsis of Bible Study 01/15/14

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

There is something that we got here on earth to do. That thing is called purpose. When we are in purpose, we are born, and then we are walking into something God has ordained for our lives.

Purpose is the path towards destiny

Destiny is destination, the end result, arriving at that place! For example, we all want to reach heaven, but we also want to have destiny here on earth too. We don’t just want pie in the sky, we also want ham where I am. We have to learn to walk it out and not allow hindrances to take us out along the way.

When walking in purpose, there are constellation prizes along the way, but don’t be fooled! Wait on the prize!  (NKJV) 2 Timothy 4:8 says 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.- At the end of our journey, we will receive a crown signifying that it is finished. In like manner, we have to make sure we finish our purpose. At end of our journey, we have to know that we have fulfilled what God wanted us to fulfill.

There are days that you lose your zeal. In other words, you get up and don’t feel like doing anything. There has to be something within you that makes you want to move and to work it. (NKJV) 2 Timothy 1:9 says  9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,. – God saved us for purpose and gave us the grace to walk it out.

It takes grace to walk out purpose. Only God can give you this. Know that God will never aim you toward what he didn’t give you grace to walk towards. (NKJV) 2 Peter 1:5 says 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,- When you get in purpose, you don’t just exist, you live.

With life comes precious promises. There are promises God makes to you along the path towards your destiny. Just reflect on what God has shown you. There are promises in your life that reminds you that God is going to do what he said he was going to do. Even scripture reminds us “… that thing he promise you, he will do until the end of time.” Scripture also promises that “… they that wait on the Lord will have their strength renewed if they don’t faint.” These are all promises. When you understand the promises of God, you don’t let things in life detour your form your destiny.

How does this manifest? Ex- Someone gives you $100 to go to Wal-Mart. You can’t cash it there and they tell you that you have to cash it or deposit the money into your account and then come back. See the check is only a promise from the someone that gave it to you. When the check is validated, then it becomes truth. Just like this, we have to take God’s promise and employ our faith to that promise. When we make a faith exchange, we are able to receive the promises of God. We don’t just talk about what God is going to do, we believe it!

What is keeping you from your purpose?

Is it fear, complacency? What is it? It takes a kingdom perspective. The kingdom of God is God’s way of doing things. If it is a kingdom agenda or idea, so we can’t personalize the attacks we are going through. We have to realize that what we are going through is much bigger than us. It is not all about us. Jesus says what has happened to us, has already happened to him. It is about something much larger than we are. It is about then Kingdom perspective.

 God give us benefits. (NKJV) Psalms 68:19 says19 Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah – God will give you the wherewithal to achieve what he wants you to achieve. We have to start giving God glory for these benefits!

There is a process

  1. 1.       Based on our experience with him, we ought to have hope. 5 (NKJV) Ephesians 2:5 says 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),- Through salvation, we are saved and have hope. If you look at what you used to do (and some of it was pretty bad), then the Lord saved you. This means God believed in you, when you didn’t believe in yourself! You were saved by this hope. When think about where you should be, then you should be full of hope.
    1. a.       Some say God was at his best at creation of the world. Some say God was at his best when he split the seas. Some say He was at his best with Daniel in the lion’s den. Some would say when Jairus’ daughter was raised from dead, but some can say God was at his best when he saved them!
    2. 2.       Trials are going to come – Once you get that word, it produces hope, and Satan wants that word. Jesus gives a parable of the seed sewer whose seed fell on hard ground, soft ground, thorny, and good ground. The point is, there will be those that will receive the word gladly, but the devil will try to put them through things to make you doubt Gods word. The devil will say things like, “You went to church, but you still broke!” or “You went to church and you’re still sick!”
    3. 3.       You got to hold on to your hope.  (NKJV) Acts 14:22 says 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”- You got to go through to get to. We wish we could say it will be a trial-less journey, but God wants to know if you will make him look good going through, before you represent him, when you get to.
    4. 4.       You got to continue in faith – This challenge is major decision time. Here is a scripture that keeps Bishop going when he gets weary and feels like he can’t go on.  (NKJV) Hebrews 10:35-36 says 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: – Don’t throw away your confidence! You got this! Don’t throw away this word! Why are you going to throw this word away, just because the devil made you think you are done? Hold to this word! This is your confidence!
    5. 5.       After receiving the will of God, I have to still go to work. – If you don’t do the will of God, you will never receive the will of God. Ex- There was a man in an airport. At the gate, they said they were going to reroute the passengers to Baltimore. This one dude went at it with the Gate Attendant over this reroute decision. While he was doing that, the line was getting longer and longer. The line kept moving while the guy continued to argue. Soon, most of the people in the line were seated on the plane. Finally, the plane took off. The people in the line got on the plane and took off while the guy was still arguing with the gate attendant. The point is, while the guy was arguing, the plane took off and he missed his destination. In like manner, if you sit there with God, complaining that it ain’t fair, you will never get to what God promised you. You can’t go through life bitter, because things didn’t work out like you planned. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, at least you’re moving in the direction of your destiny. (NKJV) Hebrews 12:12 says 12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,– Strengthen your hands! You need start looking like what you are going to. We should be able to look at you and tell where you going. In the world people could look at you and tell you were getting ready to go out. Point is, what you look like, ought to indicate your destination. Ex- Royce and Bishop were in a cold city. They had been out all night at church. The church fed after service and this made them get back to the hotel late. It is real cold! The next morning they got on the plane to come back to Nashville. Even the plane was cold that day. Trying to get back to Nashville, they were sitting wait for the plane to depart and this dude gets on the plane with shorts and flip flops on. The majority of the plane is going to Nashville, so everyone is tripping. What Bishop and the other people didn’t know was this guy was, although they were going to Nashville where it was still cold, this guy was on his way to Ft Lauderdale. This guy wasn’t paying attention to those talking about him, because he refused to let people that were not going to his destination, effect where he was going. In like manner, don’t let your haters, frustrate you from your destination. Keep your destination on your mind.

You got to maintain your zeal.

There are moments you have those days. Sometimes you want to revert back to your Peter days and you want to cut somebody’s ear off! There comes a point where you have to say, who shall separate us from the love of God (NKJV) Romans 8:35 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?- The enemy is trying to separate you from that thing (purpose), so he can separate you from Christ. To give up on your purpose, is to give up on the one who saved you for that purpose.

Remember you are more than a conqueror. The fact we overcome, means that we have already overcome some things!

When you first start off, there are several attacks you will experience.

  1. 1.       1.The initial blow – When God says he is going to do it, he is going to do it! Ex- When a receiver is getting ready to run a route, he may receive an illegal hit. This hit is designed to detour the receiver from running his planned route. He has to shake the illegal hit off and run the route he was chosen to run! To fail to do so, can cause the his purpose to fail.
  2. 2.       When you truly understand with clarity, you see clearly that this is kingdom assignment, and that this is bigger than you, you will then become irritated with people in your life that is not going where you are going. You will begin to wonder why you are carrying around this dead weight.
  3. 3.       You coast- You have little attacks, but they are not major.
  4. 4.       Now you have the major attack- How will you know that you are close to where God wants you to be? This is when the enemy throws the kitchen sink at you! The devil wants to do everything he can to mess you up, because you have survived everything that he has thrown at you so far.
  5. 5.       See it through! –

See it Through

When you’re up against a trouble, Meet it squarely, face to face; Lift your chin and set your shoulders, Plant your feet and take a brace. When it’s vain to try to dodge it, Do the best that you can do; You may fail, but you may conquer, See it through! Black may be the clouds about you And your future may seem grim, But don’t let your nerve desert you; Keep yourself in fighting trim. If the worst is bound to happen, Spite of all that you can do, Running from it will not save you, See it through! Even hope may seem but futile, When with troubles you’re beset, But remember you are facing Just what other men have met. You may fail, but fall still fighting; Don’t give up, whate’er you do; Eyes front, head high to the finish. See it through!

Edgar Albert Guest

 

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Life and Favor – Featuring Minister Royce Mosley & Mt Zion Choir

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Living a life of purpose, Bible Study 01/08/13

Living a life of purpose

Synopsis of Bible Study 01/08/13

Delivered by Bishop Walker

Anchor Text: Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

This is season where everyone wants to know what their purpose is (the new year).

2 keys to purpose

  1. Know that your purpose existed before you got here
  2. Know that your purpose is in the mind of the creator

When God made the world he stepped out onto nothing and made something. The point is God had already purposed the nothing before he stepped out into the nothing and He made it something. We were then created for a purpose.

I . Created for purpose

We have a spiritual birthmark- Genesis 1:26-28 (NKJV) 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all[a] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” – We are made in the image of God. God’s personality and DNA has then been placed our lives. This means, people should be able to look at you and know that you belong to  God, just like they are able to look at you and see that you belong to your parents.

You must also take your dominion in the earth. You can’t fulfill purpose without dominion and authority. No matter what happened in your life before you got here, know that you are not an accident. You had nothing to do with how you got here. You were made by God. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. God made sure he prepared us for purpose before he delivered us onto the showroom floor. Ex- Like a Saturn or Nissan car, the parts and components are put together and planned for a specific purpose in mind, before being delivered to the showroom floor. These cars were designed for the purpose of driving. You wouldn’t buy a car without tires or windows on it, would you? Like this, God has madue us for a specific purpose to fulfill and our makeup is designed with purpose in mind. This means we don’t have to add anything to ourselves. We are perfect he way we are. God didn’t put you out and say, “batteries not included!” You are perfect for you purpose.

Jeremiah 1:5 (NKJV) says 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”- God says, you existed before you got here. This doesn’t mean you had a former life. It simply means that you were in the mind of the maker. In other words, you existed. Your existence was on God’s mind. God knew you, because he had you on his mind.

 

If I existed, then I had a choice to exist on the earth or live in the earth. If you just exist on the earth, you are just moving from place to place with no purpose and no kind of life. When you on the other hand live, you do what you were intended to do and live like you are supposed to live. Life (living) is all about purpose. You have to know that when you are in purpose, you will never work another day in your life.

Isaiah 44:22 (NKJV) says 22 I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions,
And like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” – God was incubating you in eternity. Your 9 months inside your mother really wasn’t your incubation period. God did this before he put you into your mother’s womb. God was orchestrating things before you even got here!

II. Purpose is found in God

Colossians 1:16 (NKJV) 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All  things were created through Him and for Him. – Everything that God created has its purposes in God. Everything God creates, it has a purpose. If we were to ask you “What is the purpose of water?” you could give 50 reasons for this. If we were to ask you “what is the purpose of grass?”, several theories would come up about this too,  but when it comes to knowing our purpose, we can’t name it. Isn’t that interesting?

When you understand purpose, then you know that God aims you towards something. In otherwords, there is that amazing thing God wants you to do. It is out there! The question is then raised, “How do we know it is out there?”

We know it is out there, because:

a. It is not free from persecution – Persecution is the devils attempt not to let what God has in you, come to fruition. You got to then not whine over your persecution. You got to know that if you are going through persecution, then the devil must be nervous about what God has for your life! What is it, that is inside of you, that makes the devil so nervous?

When you walk in purpose, you can’t be nervous. You got to just walk in it.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NKJV) 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— – Persecutions come to children of God, but we don’t respond to it. We don’t allow ourselves to be broken. We know that what’s in us us is greater than what is after us and what is happening to us. We have to the a blessed assurance.

III. We have blessed assurance

John 16:33 (NKJV) 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will[a] have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”- You don’t have to worry about whats coming, because Jesus has already over come it. The devil is already defeated. Look at the things you have already over come. Jesus died at Calvary and over come it, so you have to know that since there is nothing greater than Calvary, you can overcome it! Ex- When a boxer knocks out another boxer, the crowd doesn’t ask you to go and knock them out again. Why is this? It is because the opponent has already been defeated! Just like this, years ago, Jesus already overcome the devil. Why then would he do it again? The devil is already been defeated!

IV. There is power in purpose

The people you hang around can speak a lot about your purpose. Everything God created, besides us, has an 8th sense about boundaries that could potentially kill them. Ex-A gazelle never goes up to lions, because the gazelle knows it could be lunch. The rodent doesn’t goes up to the rattlesnake, because he knows he would be lunch. The antelope doesn’t go up to the crocodile, because he knows it could be lunch. Everything God creates respects boundaries between life and death, except us. God’s greatest creation (us) will come close to stuff that could potentially kill us, because we are so intrigued. We are like a deer running up to a lion with onlookers trying to warn us by yelling, noooo!

Isn’t it amazing the curiosity we have! The more dangerous it is, the more intrigued we become!

Your purpose will be truncated with repeating this flirt with danger.

Psalm 1:1-3 (NKJV) says

1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper. – Planted by anointing that is flowing, it will be growing. – In this season, God don’t want you with stuff that will make you wither away. You ought 2014 to be the year that you prosper.

V. Fulfilling purpose, pleases God

Matthew 3:17 (NKJV) – 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”- You have to be in the right place at the right time. Lots of times we miss a blessing, because we are not in the right place. Ex – The palm tree is a beautiful thing, but who plants a palm tree in Connecticut? This would be a good thing in a bad place. If you are not positioned where God wants you to be, you will not grow.

Timing is is everything concerning your purpose. Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV) says 3 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: John 2:4 (NKJV)  says 4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”- Jesus knew when it was his time to walk in purpose. Galatians 3:4 (NKJV) 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?- Jesus knew which season he needed to come. Everything that happens in purpose has to happen in a specific time. We can’t be premature or too late! When you are premature, people can not receive your purpose or your vision, and as a result, you disengage, but this is not God’s fault! Others don’t move when God says to move and as a they miss it their blessing. Ex- Bishop explains that he went to his publisher and told them that he needed his book to come out at a certain time. The publishers explained that this would be impossble to do, because it atleast takes 12 months to write a book. The publishers explained that in order for this to happen, he would have to write the book in 6 mths. Bishop buckled down and wrote the book in 6mths, because he knew the importance of timing. This book had to come out at the time that God had designed it to come out.

There was a specific timing in the way God created things. God didn’t create the cow before the grass for instance. When God moves on your behalf, it has to be the right time. Get ahead of God if you want and see what happens. Wait for your time. It is all about timing. God is rearranging and setting the stage for you, so don’t get there before he’s ready for you. God is fighting battles for you before you get there.

Our purpose then manifests in certain time. Ex – Old HB and Antioch location (of Mt Zion) both were built in God’s timing.  Its growth and success is the result of this.

VI. Fulfilling purpose is for the glory for God

Isaiah 43:6 says  (NKJV) – 6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’
Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth— – Everything thing you do is for the glory of God!

a. Our life has to be devoted to God – Everything I do is fruitful. Proverbs 11:28 (NKJV) 28 He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like foliage.- I want to flourish in everything that I do!

Our life purpose involves growing in character- Gal 5 talks about the fruits of the spirit. You can be a gifted person in purpose, but it will not manifest if you don’t have the character to sustain it! The problem for some people is you are too mean. Ex – You can be the best Barber, Baker, or Store Owner there is , but if you got a nasty attitude, it will kill your purpose. Ex- People often asks how Mt Zion has grown so much and though Bishop has given many different reasons for our success, at the end of the day, Bishop feels it is because he is a down to earth Pastor. If you just ask God to help you with your social skills, it will often make the difference in all that you do.

Remember no matter how gifted you are, if you don’t have the “fruits of the spirit”, you will not prosper!

VII.Purpose draw us close to God

It ain’t just about stuff, it is more important than that. You think your purpose is about chasing the dollar bill, but you got to know that you never depend on money for purpose.

Philippians 3:7-10 (NKJV) 7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know – Paul says if I loss all this stuff, it doesn’t compare to my knowledge and relationship with Jesus Christ. This keeps you from loosing your mind. Paul says simply, “I don’t need stuff” to make me happy!

7 things to remember about purpose

  1. There is a problem – When God engages us in purpose, there is problem that has to be solved. For example, there is a problem called cancer and somebody in jail has the cure for it. That problem therefore still exists, because that somebody missed their purpose. Somebody will eventually come into the earth just to solve this problem. Polio is an example of a problem that people thought couldn’t be solved, but eventually, God sent somebody that solved that problem.
  2. God works by his providence – God brought your mother and father together. He needed your father and mothers genes to come together to make you and so you could solve a problem. Ex- Bishop explains that his Dad is 84 yrs old. Not only does he not look it,  he in addition has an abundance of energy. He is always doing something. God gave Bishop Walker his Dad’s energy and his Moms kind, nurturing, and caring spirit. Both of his parents were needed to make a Bishop Walker who would solve a problem. As an answer to a problem, God sent Bishop to Pastor Mt Zion.
  3. Predestined – You are predestined. When you were conceived, you were predestined towards a thing. In the spirit realm, the devil even knew why you were born. In the spirit realm, your conception was made aware even to the angels. How is this proven? Elizabeth looked at Mary and said to her, “you’re pregnant. What you going to name the baby?” and Mary said, Jesus. When she said this, John, Elizabeth’s unborn leaped in the womb. You were born, grew up, and it turned into passion. This is an example of being predestined.
  4. Passion -Passion drives you for purpose.
  5. Preparation – This makes you the best in your purpose.
  6. Persecution – During preparation, this is when you will experience your greatest persecution. Satan wants to make you drop out during your prepartion period so your purpose will never come to pass.
  7. Produce– When you endure the persecution, your will reproduce. That thing God placed in you, he will complete. There is some big stuff that is about to jump of in your life!

 

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Jehovah-Rohi, Sermon notes 12/29/13

 

 

Jehovah-Rohi

Sermon Notes 12/29/13

Delivered by Bishop Walker

This psalm was written when David thought he had been forsaken by God. Many Theologians think this is David’s maturity psalms. It was in that field with sheep (as a sheep herder) that David discovered God was Jehovah-Rohi (The Lord my Shepard) to him.

 

Here in this scripture we see that the people mentioned in this scripture are sheep and we see that the Lord is our Shepherd. This means Lord will feed his sheep like a shepherd does for his sheep.- Psalm 100:3 NKJV The Lord declares that we are his sheep.1 Peter 2:25 NKJV For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

 

This Psalm also introduces God as our Shepherd. Like a shepherd for sheep, we wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for our Shepherd.

 

4 things about God that will bring you through that which will change your prospective.

 

I. A The Lord is my Shepherd

 

  1. This is place of position. When you recognize the Lord as your Shepherd, you see him as Lord-over.
  2. There is nothing a child can go through that God is not over. What is over your head is under His feet.
  3. If God is over it, then this means He is omnipotent. God sees things we need before we even ask. Before you were born God knew what you needed.
  4. He has the power to make things go away. He has the power to block all things.

 

II. The Lord is

 

  1. “Is” implies a constant of being. God “is” and not “was”. “Was” suggests that God has shown up, but left the building. “Is” means that God is always in the state of being present.
  2. Because of God’s “is-ness“,  He can’t be pushed to a state of “was-ness“, because he won’t end.
  3. God has everything under observation. God never lets us get caught up in something he doesn’t have power to get us out of.
  4. He is omnipresence. Where I am, God is there. Psalms 149:7-9 NKJV says To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute on them the written judgment—This honor have all His saint.Praise the Lord!- God is everywhere at same time. God is!
  5. The enemy will try to make you doubt that God is there. Ex- There was a story of the woman who’s son was shot and killed. The Mother kept saying, “God where were you when my son was killed?” Soon there came a voice from heaven that said, ” I was in the place I was when my son was killed.” The lesson here is, no matter how bad things may seem, God is always there. God is in that bad situation just like he was at Calvary.

 

III. It’s Personal

 

  1. He is my Shepherd. God is an original and can’t be copied. God in class by himself. God can correct me when I go astray.  There is nobody greater than Him! He can’t be compared!
  2. A shepherd makes sheep understand the power of being obedient. You can’t claim to have relationship with the Shepherd when you don’t want to do what the Shepherd wants you to do. You got to submit to the Shepherd.
  3. God not only leads us, he shepherds us. When we act up, He will take his staff and pull us back into line. If that don’t work, like a shepherd, he might whip you with the other end of the staff. You ought to be glad that God thought enough of you to whip you!

 

IV He is my protector

 

  1. God is always working on your behalf. He protects you. We must understand we don’t belong to ourselves. The Shepherd has complete control. You don’t look like what you been through, because He takes care of his own.
  2. God obligates himself. He obligates himself to take care of you. When you understand who your Shepherd is, you will not put others in his place. John 10:11NKJV says “ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.- We are obligated to set at the table
  3. The Shepherd never wastes oil.  God anoints you for a reason. The big things that you go through, is because your assignment is going to be big. If you don’t get what you need in the valley, then you won’t have the strength you need to get through the things on the mountain!

 

God is our Jehovah-Rohi!

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