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Welcome to the Puzzle is Real podcast where

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we will be discussing faith, family, and

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Relationships hosted by Matt

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and Melissa Pisani . This

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is The Puzzle is Real podcast when

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you know, you know.

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All right . Welcome back. We are the

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podcast building.

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We are here y'all. Yep , I said

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it y'all. And , uh, it's

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been quite some time, but we are back and excited

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and just ready to jump into the topic

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of the day and we hope

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that you all will be blessed by what

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we want to share , um,

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with you guys.

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So we are really excited

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with what's going on in , in God's

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family within the church, which in

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our, our mind has been outside

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of the building and, and physically we've been outside

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the building. We've been outside of the building since the pandemic

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five years ago. But we're

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still accountable to the body of Christ and

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the building, so don't get it twisted. A lot of

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times we have people that are separate from

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the body and um, that can be dangerous. So

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we've been doing outreach, it's called the Joy Jam

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here in Charleston. It's been powerful. It's

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pretty prophetic on how it all came about and

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yeah, just be encouraged about what

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you're about to hear.

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So when Matt and I first moved to South

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Carolina, didn't really know anybody, but

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we did move into a new neighborhood where we

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were kind of all on the same playing field. And

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so we said, Hey, why

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don't we start a men's and women's prayer

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group? Matt actually started first with the

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men 'cause we had just had Magnolia

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and I just wasn't quite ready <laugh> to

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dive into that yet 'cause I was still in the newborn

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phase. But we, I

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eventually had gotten there, but we

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had started this prayer group. Awesome.

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We have had many different neighbors join

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and we had been meeting for over a year

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and then one of the gentlemen

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who's part of Matt's group said,

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Hey, I think I really feel led that we should

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be reaching out to the community. And

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you know, that kind of sparked our interest 'cause

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we're like, yeah, this is something we've been praying about and

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this is kind of where our wheelhouse is, is

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you know, when the pandemic hit in 2020, we

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opened up our front lawn in New

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York and said, we're just gonna have church on the lawn

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and this is what we're gonna do. And that we saw amazing

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things happen during that time just from

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our , our obedience. And when

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we were like, yeah, let's do it here. That's

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really how the Joy Jam was birthed,

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was from our prayer groups being obedient

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with starting that and then saying, yeah, let's reach

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out to the community. Let's reach out to those who

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won't go to a prayer meeting, who won't

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go to a church building, but they'll come to an

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outside green space where there's live

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worship and there's a message,

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there's activities for the kids and it's really

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non-threatening. So it's like, even if

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you're not a believer , um, you

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would come and still feel the love of God and

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you hopefully would hear the

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love of, you know, would hear it from other people and

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just see how believers are

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living their lives together. That this is not

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this fake , um, manufactured

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relationship, but this is authentic and

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we have a heart for the one to

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go after the one that's our heart. And

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we've just seen so many amazing things already

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and just how even our local church here,

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Seaco has gotten behind us and said, Hey, will

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you do a joy jam? We

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had just did , did one the month prior and

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they said, why don't you do another Joy jam

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and model to volunteers, how, how

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you guys are doing this and then maybe that'll spark

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their interest to want to do it in their community

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because it's nothing. The formula is

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very simple, you know, you just get other

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like-minded believers and reach out to your

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community in whatever gifts and talents you have

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and people will come. Oh yeah . So

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I just think it's just a really powerful testimony

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and um, encouragement

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to the church to say, Hey, let's

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reach out to those who won't go into the building

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and we're called to love God

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and to make him known. Right. And this

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is our way of making him known and going after the

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people who wouldn't go into church settings.

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Yeah. It's been really amazing

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to see how many people have found purpose

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in serving the community

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that we live in and serving as

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the church people from different churches, different

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denominations coming together as

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one church to point

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people to Jesus and to point people to

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the love of Jesus. So the verse that I

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wanted to share with you quick, and if

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you have a moment and you're not driving or

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you're not running and you're just sitting, you're actually

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waiting with bated breath to hear this.

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It's uh , Galatians five. And

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it's, it's really , um, it's

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important to um, really tie this in, but

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it's life by the spirit is midway

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through Galatians five, right? If you look down to

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verses 13 through

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15, or actually 13 to 14,

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it's you, my brothers and sisters were called to

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be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge

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the flesh, rather serve one another humbly

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in love. So that's important right there serving

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one another. And recently on our serve day with

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our church, we were serving the community and

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serving one another in love. And

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as you go to verse 14 says, for the entire

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law is fulfilled in keeping

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this one command, love your neighbor

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as yourself. So that's been our heart.

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How can we love our neighbors as ourself

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? And that's not just the people on our block, but

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throughout the holy city of Charleston and

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wherever we go, wherever we travel. And

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I think that that's applicable to all of our lives

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to just keep loving people. And it comes from

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not only intimacy with God, but it's

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usually innately in us. And, and

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joy is something that comes from God as well where

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we are able to impart that in other people

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and it's contagious. So we've

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seen the movement of this, we're excited

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to share it and I think that this was just

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the beginning of us scratching the surface of what God

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wants to do with the revival over

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our country.

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Yeah. And I just wanna give a quick , uh, testimony

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of just how the joy jam and

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just us living the way that we are living, how

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it's ministering to those who

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have never experienced that before. And

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so my brother had moved here in October of last

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year and he moved with my cousin Matt,

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who um, was an addict for

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most of his life. And he was finally

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clean. He had been clean for about a year and a

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half and he was living in

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a sober house in Asheville. And unfortunately

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because of that insane

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hurricane, hurricane Helene , he

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got displaced. So now he wasn't

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there. He went back home to North

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Carolina to his parents and my

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brother now is moving, okay,

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go ahead. So he is moving to Charleston and

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my cousin Matt decided to come with

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him. And at first we were not

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happy at all just because of his history

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and just who he was. And I just felt very angry

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and you know, I didn't

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want, I didn't want my brother to

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relapse or to be surrounded near

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people, you know, who could

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be a bad influence. 'cause I haven't seen my cousin in,

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you know, a long time and I haven't, the last time

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I saw him, I mean he's, he's not been sober. So

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anyway, so he had moved here and I was very

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hesitant to even see him. And then I remember we

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saw him for the first time and

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there was just this urgency that Matt and I

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both had, my husband Matt , um,

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to minister to him and to just share

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about Jesus. 'cause he had never truly

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heard the gospel before. And after

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the first meeting I remember the

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Lord just speaking to me and just

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a soft still voice and said, love

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him. Like I love him. And

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I just kind of broke down 'cause I was very

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like, ah , I don't really want to. And

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it's like, we're called to love our neighbor. They're literally

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living up the block from us and

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they're truly our neighbors. And now God's telling

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me to love him as he

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loves him. And so I remember just hearing that small

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still voice and saying, okay, we're just gonna love

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him and you know, we got to spend Thanksgiving with

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him. And you know, we took them sightseeing

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and just really brought them into our life. And

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I saw the transformation that

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was happening right before my eyes with my cousin and

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just how he was open to the gospel. He

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had a lot of questions. Um, he

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was excited about it and unfortunately

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he went back home around Christmas

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time and relapsed

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and unfortunately passed away. And

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it was very sudden it was horrific.

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But before that, he got to

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experience the Joy Jam

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and he came to the Joy Jam and he helped

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us set up. Him and my brother Doug were

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just, you know, amazing at doing all the background

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stuff. And I just remember him saying like,

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wow, you guys are doing life

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with your neighbors. You're opening this

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up to other people. His mind was

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literally blown and 'cause he had never experienced

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that. So I look at that, and

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this is just one story that I know of because it

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was, you know, my family of just how

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us living in community and reaching out

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to those impacts people I think eternally.

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And although he

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passed away and we know we

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didn't know where he was at spiritually, but

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we did find a journal that

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he had left. And basically he had

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said he surrendered his life to God and

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that he finally has put his faith in

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God. Um, I don't

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know where he was at with Jesus, but

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he , he did say God. And so I believe that

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the Lord sent him here for us to just

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minister to him and to give him an opportunity to

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be saved before he took him , um,

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before it was his time, really. 'cause we have free

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will. But that's just

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one story. And I just hold

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onto the promise of just who God is

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and his character and what he's

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done for us personally and what he can do for

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so many and for us to just be the vessels

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that he wants to use to

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bring people to eternity with him. That's

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the goal. It's like we're saving souls.

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It's not just this fellowship and yeah, that's

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great, but we want a

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soul transformation. And for people to truly

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give their life to, to Jesus and

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for us to be disobedient

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to what God wants to do, I think is just

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the most important thing. And that's what I wanna encourage

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you guys to do is how

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can you reach out to those? And just

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as we have been really focusing on the fruits

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of the spirit at our church lately , um,

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you know, unfortunately our head pastor, founding

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pastor, his brother passed away suddenly

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at a very young age and

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reminded him and reminded us that we

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don't have a second, we're not promised, we're

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not promised a second at at this life,

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right? So when we go,

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where are we going? And those people that you

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love and that are in your life, where

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are they going? And I feel like I, I know

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me personally, I've had this urgency to just share

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with people and I don't care if I'm

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rejected. I don't care if they look at me like I'm crazy 'cause

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I care so much about them that I want them

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to be able to spend eternity with Jesus. And

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that's my encouragement for you guys is to

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who in your life, whether it a family, friend,

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coworker , stranger, neighbor, can

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you reach out to, to show the love of Christ too.

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And you could do it in simple ways.

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And we've done that in simple ways, and I think we've shared

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that in the past of just,

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you know, making cookies for neighbors or inviting

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them to the playground or whatever that may look

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like. But life is short.

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How are we impacting our communities? How

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are we loving our neighbor? And what

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can you do in a tangible way to reach out

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to the lost ?

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Hey guys, thanks

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So much for listening to the Puzzle is

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Real podcast. Please subscribe today

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and share with a friend. See you soon.