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Rick Renner Podcast (Audio)
Thursday - Why Must God’s Word Be Final?
00:28:30
God’s Word isn’t just advice — it’s power. Learn how aligning your life with His truth fills your heart with peace and joy. Watch now!
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This program is made possible by the giving of the God called Partners of Renner Ministries. Get ready for a teaching that feeds your spirit and your mind, where the Word is the anchor in uncertain times. And doctrine doesn't bend to culture. We keep it simple, but dive deep, revealing a truth that strengthens us, a love that emboldens, and a mission that touches the world. Let's join Rick Renner.
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Welcome to today's program. My name is Rick Renner and my friends, we're going to pick up today where we left off in yesterday's episode. We're talking about the results of obeying the Word of God. And this is part two. But the whole series is called what Jesus Said about the Final say so of God's Word. Does God's Word have the final say so in your life when you allow God's Word to have the final say so we saw in yesterday's episode and we're going to review it again today, it releases a torrent of power in your life that transforms your mind, your will and your emotions. And if you've been challenged in your mind, in your will, in your emotions, or in any part of your Bible, when you embrace the Word of God and choose, you're going to submit to it and obey it and do it.
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And it literally releases a flow of
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divine power that changes every single part of your being. This is what the Bible tells us. We saw this yesterday and we're gonna review it very quickly again today. But the whole series is called what Jesus Said about the Final say so of God's Word. It is five parts, comes in multiple formats with a study guide. I'm so thrilled to tell you again about Kenneth E. Hagin's book, which is
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called the Authority of the Believer.
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I'm so thankful that I found this book when I was a young man because it really established me in the authority that Jesus has given to every believer. And what happens when God's Word has the final say so in your life. And right now we're offering to you today and tomorrow. These are the last days. A free, beautifully designed piece of paper that is just filled with the most wonderful confessions about the Word of God. We did this just for you because we want you these confessions.
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We want you to make these confessions and declare them over your life. And you can get yours for free by going online and just downloading yours. Or if you want a hard copy, call us and we will be glad
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to send one to you.
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But by going online or calling us, you can find out about all these resources. And please remember that we want to pray for you. We're told in 1 John 5, 14,
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15 that if we pray anything according to God's will, that means if we pray scripturally, if we pray according to the Bible, that's His will. He hears us.
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He doesn't hear us because of our much pleading.
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He doesn't hear us because we're crying.
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He doesn't even hear us because we're hurting. He hears the Word. And when you pray the Word, it opens the ears of God. And we're told in First John chapter 5, 14, 15, if we pray anything according to his will, he hears us. And we will have the petitions that we request.
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So we will pray with you.
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You can pray by yourself, but we would love to pray with you scripturally
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and Jesus will do what needs to be done.
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I believe that. And we have reams of testimonies from people who called, requested prayer and then wrote back or called back to tell us what God did. And I believe there's something waiting for you as well. There's an answer with your name on it.
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But reach for your Bible. And today we're going to continue seeing
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the results of obeying the Word of God. Yesterday we saw part one, today we're going to see part two. But we're going to return to our foundation verse in Matthew 5:19 where Jesus gives us his view of the Word of God. And when you come to this verse, Jesus says, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments. And the word break doesn't mean to break something like to break a verse or to break a vase. Really it is the Greek word luo. And this word luo means to loosen or to relax. It pictures one that is loosening his grip upon a thing. It means to let something slip. And it depicts a non serious attitude. So here we have a person that really doesn't revere the word of God. It does not have the final say. So in his life he has a take it or leave it mentality. He is not aligning his life according to the Bible. He's loosening his grip. He's letting himself have a relaxed view of the Bible. He's got a non serious attitude. And Jesus says, whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments and shall teach men to do so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. And today I want us to look at that word commandment one last time. Because this word commandment really tells us what Jesus thought about the Bible this word commandment is the Greek word intole. It is a compound of two words, the word in and the word telos, compounded together. But the word in means in as
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something that exists in a certain form. And the word telos, that's the second part of the word, describes something that is complete, mature or perfect. Thus the word intole, that's the full compounded word which here is translated as the word commandment means the word of God is in, it is in complete perfection. There's nothing more perfect than the word of God. But the word telos also speaks of reaching the ultimate end of a thing or full maturity. And hence this word intole, which here is translated as the word commandment, describes the perfect commandment and one's obedience to it enables him to attain a level of completion, maturity and perfection. And now we find that God's word and your obedience to it is intended to take you into completion, into maturity and into perfection. You say, wow, that sounds good. Well then you've got to let the word of God have the final say so in your life. And you've got to do it. You've got to obey it. The Bible says the one who breaks or lets loose of these commandments, the one who has a non serious attitude about the word of God, is least in the kingdom of heaven. And that word least means the most insignificant. Well, I don't think you want to be in that category. But then Jesus continues in Matthew 5:19 it says, but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And as I've told you in previous episodes, that word do is the Greek word poieo. And the word poie means I do. But it carries a creative flair. It pictures someone who's going to find a way to do something. And if there's not an easy way to do it, he's going to search until he finds a way to do it. And there really are times when you hear what the Bible says and you think, well, how do I do that? Well, rather than just walk away from it, if you're serious about the Bible, you're going to find a way to obey it because you're giving the Bible the final say so in your life and you're going to align your life in obedience to it. And Jesus says, the one who does it, even creatively does it, who finds a way to do it and teaches others to do so, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And the word great, the Greek word Magus means great, magnificent, or significant.
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So if you want to be significant
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in God's eyes, and if you want to be significant in the kingdom of heaven, then you have to be one who gives God's word the final say so in your life. And that leads us back to where we were yesterday. James 1:21, which says we are to receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. And we saw this word receive is the Greek word dakomai, which means to warmly receive, to readily receive. It pictures you blowing out the red carpet to receive the word of God into your life with meekness. And the word meekness describes a person who bends his brain to somebody else. He bends his will to the will of a higher authority. Even though his life experience may say one thing, or he may feel that what he's been taught contradicts the truth that he is now hearing, he's making a decision. I'm going to be bend my brain to think what God says. I'm going to bend my will to receive what God says. That's what meekness is. It's bending your will to a higher authority. And the higher authority in this verse is the engrafted word, the Greek word emphuton.
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It describes something that was subsequently planted inside you.
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It's talking about the Bible, the scripture. The scripture was not innate in you. You weren't born with that.
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But a time came when you rolled
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out the red carpet to receive the word of God.
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It came in you.
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But maybe your life experience said, you know what, I don't know if I agree with that.
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Then that's a moment for you to receive it with weakness.
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You've got to say no to your life experience. Maybe your emotions said, well, I don't
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know if I like that. Doesn't matter whether you like it or not. It is the word of God.
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It's been implanted in you. And if you want that implanted word to kick into action and begin to work inside you, then you've got to do everything you can to restore.
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So it kicks into gear.
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That's really what James is saying. And he says if you'll do that,
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it is able to save your soul. And that word Abel is a Greek
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word which describes a divine energy, a divine power, which means when you bend
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your mind and choose to let God's
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word have the final say so in
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your life and you choose to obey
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it and to do it, it releases
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a torrent of power in you. This saves your soul and your Soul
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is where most of your problems are. Sorry to tell you, but that's the truth.
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It's your mind, your will, your emotions.
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It's translated from the Greek word psuche.
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That's what the word soul means. Your mind, your will, your emotions, all your hangups, your wrong thinkings, all your bad memories that you carry in your mind and your will.
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But when you really embrace the word
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of God and say, I'm gonna align myself under it, give it the final say so in my life, and I'm going to obey it. And it releases such a flood of power that it transforms and cleans up your mind, your will, and your emotions. But then we go Back to James 1:22, and this is where we ended yesterday. It says, but be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own self. Notice he says, be ye doers. Interesting that in Greek it says be
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ye becoming, which means you just gotta
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start where you are. You may not know how to do all of it, but start where you are. Begin your obedience today, add more obedience to it tomorrow. Be ye becoming doers. And the word doers again inform the Greek word poieo. Creatively doing the word, finding a way to align yourself under it and to do it and not Hearers only. And as we saw yesterday, the phrase hearers only describes individuals. The Greek word describes individuals who audited a class rather than take it for credit. They had no intention of applying what they heard, and such people attended the class but had no plans of implementing what was taught. Such individuals were known to roam from meeting to meeting and class to class because they enjoyed all the special speakers. They liked the excitement of hearing something that they'd never heard before, and they like to gather new information that looked them very knowledgeable in the eyes of other people. But by using these words, hearers only, this verse irrefutably means there is a category of Christians who just audit church or who just audit the hearing of the Word of God. But they have no plan to put what they hear into practice. They're just auditors of the Word of God. They're not doers. And I want to ask you, are you doing the Word of God or are you just auditing it? My friends, the power's released when you begin to obey it. And you give God's word the final say so in your life. And in fact, this verse goes on to say that if you're just an auditor, you're deceiving your own self. What does that mean, deceiving well, it's the Greek word paralgidzomai. The word para means alongside the word logizomai means logic.
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You put the two words together, they're comparing documents, they're looking at things, but they come to a grave miscalculation. In fact, this word deceiving really means to make a miscalculation. And it was used to depict a librarian or a scholar who placed documents side by side to analyze information. But after seeing all the facts, they nevertheless make a miscalculation and they come to an incorrect conclusion. And here we have a picture of a person who thinks that by just going to church they've done all that's required. Or they think by just reading their Bible they've done all that's required, they're able to check the box. They went to church, they read their Bible. No, my friend, that is a miscalculation. You've come to a wrong conclusion. You're not done until you do what you've read, until you do what you've heard. And the riv. This part of James 1:22 says these kinds of people make the grave miscalculation of thinking they've done all that is required by just showing up. Don't trick yourself into thinking that merely showing up and listening is all that is required. And then James continues in James 1:23 to say, for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. The Greek says, looking at the face he was born with. Well, most of us, when we look in the mirror every morning, when we get up at the face we were born with, we think that our face needs a little attention. The word glass in this verse refers to a mirror. And I brought you a mirror from the first century.
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This is a real mirror from the ancient world.
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And I want you to notice how small it was. This is what people looked at when they woke up in the morning. They would look into the mirror and they could only see a little piece at a time. Isn't it wonderful that the Holy Spirit helps us focus on one area of our life at a time? He doesn't put us in front of a full body mirror to show us every blemish. But he says, now I want you to look at this and I want you to deal with this. And by looking into the Word of
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God every morning, the Word of God
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begins to reveal what needs to change in our attitude. He reveals what needs to change in our relationships. What needs to change in our talking.
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Ay, ay, ay.
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And when we look into the mirror of God's word and we give it the final say so in our life, then we can do something about it. Or if we're like this man that James is describing, we make a bad decision. It says, for he beholds himself and goeth his way. Or I say, this is the man that beholdeth and goeth. He doesn't do anything about it. He says, oh, I'll get to it later. But he never gets to it. But he says, then again, we can be like another man. And the next kind of person is described in verse 25. James 1, 25 says, but whoso looketh
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into the perfect place, law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this is the man that shall be blessed in his deed.
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And notice the words looketh into the Greek word para, kupto.
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The word para means alongside and the word kupto means to stoop. But when you compound these two words together to form the word parakupto, it means to stoop lower, to take a closer look or to deeply investigate. It pictures one peering deeply, deeply into a mirror to take a close up truthful and realistic view of what the mirror reveals so he can make a correction.
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So he begins with a small mirror, this man.
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And he sees, you know what I see? A defect. But because he's so serious about dealing with that defect, he puts away that little mirror and he reaches for the next mirror. This is also a mirror from the first century, which is a much bigger mirror. And you could hold it in front of you, or you could put it on the table and you could look over it, you could stoop to really look into it. And here we have the picture of the person who, number one, sees a defect, but he's so serious about aligning his life unto the Word of God that he says, you know what? I'm not leaving my Bible. I'm not leaving the Word of God until I more clearly see what needs to be fixed. And I'm not leaving the Word of God until I'm changed.
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I'm giving it the final say.
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So in my life, I'm going to really see what needs to be done
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and I'm going to change my life accordingly.
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That's what it means. And in fact, it says that he sees the word of God as the perfect law of liberty. Perfect law in Greek is a phrase which means the perfect law or the Perfecting law or the law of perfection. And it pictures a perfecting law. It is from a form of the Greek word nomos, which is the Greek word for law. And it tells us that you've got to look at the Scripture as a law so serious that it is to be obeyed. It describes one who sees the word of God not as just an object, optimal voice, but as the voice, a divine law that is to be fully obeyed. And James calls it the law of liberty. Liberty. The word liberty. Everybody wants liberty. Well, the word liberty signifies liberty or freedom. And it pictures a slave that has been emancipated from slavery. And it tells us that if we will look deeply into the word of God, receive it with meekness and do what it says, such power will be
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released that it will free us from every type of bondage and slavery. Thus the Bible, this scripture is the perfect law that produces liberty. But it's only going to produce that liberty if you view it as a law that you are to be aligned underneath and you accept it as God's final, say so in your life. And if you will submit to it and obey it in that way, it will set you free from every form of bondage. Wow, that is just amazing. I think that is amazing. But James 1:25 says, but whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, we're talking about the Scriptures and continues therein, you've got to stick with it. He being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
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And the word blessed means ridiculously blessed,
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hilariously happy, because his life is going to be totally set free. He's going to be emancipated from every form of slavery in his life because he did what the Word of God commanded him to do. He gave Word the final say so in his life. And I want to quote to you from what Smith Wigglesworth wrote in the back flap of his Bible. Here's what he said. Never compare this book talking about the Bible with other books. Comparisons are dangerous. Never think or say this book contains the Word of God. It is the Word of God. It is supernatural in origin, eternal in duration, inexpressible in value, infinite in scope, infallible in authority, universal in interest, personal in application, inspired in totality. Read it in, work it out and pass it on. It is the Word of God. And when you give God's Word that kind of say so in your life, you are headed in a direction for total and complete transformation. Because the Bible is a law that produces liberty in you. I'll be back in just a moment and I'm going to pray for you.
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God's Word is not optional. It's a law to us, just as it was to Jesus. In Rick Renner's new series, what Jesus Said about the Final say so of God's Word, you will learn how fully surrendering to Scripture brings the full power of the King into your life. In this series, Rick teaches that God's Word must be your final authority in every decision, that obedience to God's Word opens the door to his creative power and blessings and more. This powerful series is available in digital or physical formats starting at just $11. In addition to this teaching series, we are offering you the book the Believer's Authority by Kenneth E. Hagin, a deeply impactful classic about the power and authority available to all believers when they act on the Word. The believer's authority can be yours for just $10. As our free gift to you, we also want to offer you your own copy of the beautifully designed Pledges to the Word of God print filled with declarations about the Word of God. Don't miss this special offer, the series what Jesus Said about the Final say so of God's Word, the book the Believer's Authority and the Free Pledges to the Word of God. Print Call the number on your screen now or go to renner.org to order. Call or go online now.
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This is Rick Renner and I want to say thank you to those of you who are partners. You're helping us and to do our part in fulfilling the great commission to take the Gospel and the teaching of God's Word to the ends of the earth. And one major focus of mine has been the riv, which is the Renner Interpretive Version of the New Testament. To do a new interpretation of the New Testament takes reams of hours, literally thousands of hours of studying and studying and studying the original language of the New Testament and then figuring out a way to express it in words which people understand today and to bring all the flavor and all the nuances of those Greek words into an up to date interpretation. That's the riv. And I want to say thank you for your gifts because of what you give. It allows us to focus on the teaching of the Bible and to take the teaching of the Bible to the ends of the earth. And what you are doing is really making a difference. And if you're listening to me today and you're not a partner yet, I invite you to become a part of our Partner, family. Our partners really are family to us. And together we're making a difference in people's lives. So if you're a partner, I say thank you. And if you're not a partner yet, I invite you today to join us as we take the wonderful teaching of the Bible to the ends of the earth
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today.
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We've seen that when you take God's word as the final say so in your life and you obey it, don't just audit it, you've got to obey it. It will release a torrent of power that will change every part of your life. And of course, I'm teaching a series which is called what Jesus Said about the Final say so of God's Word. And I've also been telling you about Kenneth E. Hagin's book, which is called
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the Authority of the Believer.
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That book is a life changer. You need that book. And today and tomorrow is the last day that we're doing this. We're offering to you a free copy of beautifully designed Confessions about the Bible, the Word of God. And I want you to have it. And you can get yours by going online and just downloading it. Or if you want a hard copy, call us and we'll get it to you. But you can find out about all these resources by calling us or going online and hey friend, we want to pray for you. So please call that number or send us an email and we will pray for you. And I'm going to pray for you right now. Put your hand on your heart. Father, I pray that we will align ourselves unto the Word of God and give it the final say so in our life. Lord, I pray that your Word of God, it is so divine, it is so powerful. And I pray, Lord, it will release its torrent of power in us until we are set free from any form of bondage or captivity that has held us in Jesus name.
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Amen.
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Well, we're going to be back tomorrow and tomorrow we're going to see are you ready for this? The marks of a Pharisee. It's really going to be interesting. I'll see you tomorrow. But remember, Ecclesiastes 8:4 says, where the word of a king is, there is power. Hey friends, this is Rick Renner, and Denise and I are coming to the United States for a brief trip and we want to invite you to come to some of our meetings. On Sunday, April 19th, we'll be ministering at Vertical Church in West Haven, Connecticut with pastors Ken and Kathy Vance. Then on Wednesday through Sunday, April 22, 26, I'll be speaking at Perry Stone's wonderful 2026 Prophetic Summit in Cleveland, Tennessee. Then on Sunday, May 3, I'll be speaking at Resurrection Life in Granville, Michigan with Pastors Duane and Jeanne Vanderclok. Friend, if you can come to any of these meetings, Denise and I would just be so thrilled to see you. But please go online or give us a call to make sure none of the dates or times have changed. If you've never received Jesus as your Savior and Lord, now is the time for you to experience a new life. Jesus has to give you. Pray this prayer with me right now. Lord, I repent of my sin and receive you as my Savior. Savior and Lord, wash away my sin and make me completely new. I thank you that my sin is removed and Satan no longer has any right to lay claim on me. I faithfully promise that I will serve you as my Lord for the rest of my life.
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Amen.
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Renner Ministries is proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ through every available media avenue to the uttermost parts of the earth. Discover the many ways you can help us make a difference in lives around the world with the Word of God. We invite you to partner with us in teaching, strengthening and rescuing lives for the glory of God. Together we can make a difference that will last throughout eternity. This program was made possible by the giving of the God called Partners of Renner Ministries.