Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 420 | Throwback - Opportunity is Knocking

Transcript

420 | Throwback - Opportunity is Knocking · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org, we invite you to sit down with us as we look
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  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living a life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  You are to take special care in watching out for your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
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  You are also to take every opportunity to tell others the good news of Christ and His love.
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  The Bible says for you to seize every moment you have to do good,
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  godly work. There is no greater gift you can give or no greater good you can
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  do than to tell others about him and his love for them.
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  Join us in this program, Opportunity is Knocking,
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  as Kim Miller of Woman at the Well Ministries takes us through Galatians 6.10,
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  which says, As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
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  especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
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  Hello and welcome to this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries. Let us pray.
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  Our kind and most gracious dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this
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  and other opportunity to come before you.
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  Lord, we thank you for your love and your mercy and your grace.
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  We thank you, Lord, for your amazing provisions upon each of us.
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  Lord, we're thankful for the blessings that you bestow upon us,
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  Lord, and we're thankful for the privilege it is to call you Father.
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  The privilege it is to come to you, knowing that you hear us and will answer our prayers.
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  Lord, I want to thank you for the way you walk with us and talk with us.
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  And I thank you, Lord, for the privilege of being able to serve you and to work in your kingdom.
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  I pray, dear Heavenly Father, that you would be with each of us as we look at
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  this passage of Scripture and as we take a look at the verses in Galatians 6.
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  And you would help us, dear Heavenly Father, to just put them in our hearts
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  in such a way that they would just be our guide.
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  Lord, that we would live them out and that we would be ever mindful that we
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  are to bear one another's burdens and we are to take every opportunity that
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  we have to do good for others.
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  And Lord, that we should have special bonds with those that are of the household of faith.
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  And Lord, that we would be courageous and bold in this world,
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  that we would be a light shining into the darkness and that we would take every
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  opportunity, Lord, to tell others
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  about who you are, to witness for what you've done in our life, Lord.
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  And to live a life that makes others want you. Lord, we love you and we praise
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  you and we thank you in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, Amen.
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  Galatians 6 is chocked full of information for us as Christians to take a look
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  at and to heed and to incorporate in our daily lives.
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  And I love how he starts it.
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  Telling us that if, you know, someone's been overtaken in a fault,
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  that those of us who are not experiencing that are to restore that one in spirit
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  and meekness and understanding that we are to love that person, not to be condemning.
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  Not to be fault-finding or blaming or unforgiving, but to just steer them in
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  a direction that they can come and find the Lord and they can understand who he is,
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  and they can be able to love them and understand that God is a loving,
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  gracious, merciful God.
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  And I think it's important that as Christians, we keep in mind that we are to
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  be the witness of who God is.
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  And we are his hands extended, and we are his feet, and we're to show the love of Christ to others.
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  And for some people, we may be the only Bible that they ever read.
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  And it's incredibly important that we take that responsibility in a mindful way.
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  And so that when we go out into the world, we realize that we are his ambassadors
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  and that what people think of God is often formed by how we represent him to them.
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  And so when we take a look at this verse in Galatians chapter 6,
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  he says that we are to do good at every opportunity.
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  And so when I think about that, I think about how many times a day that the
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  Lord gives us an opportunity to extend a helping hand to someone.
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  When we could go visit that sick person, when we could take that.
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  A little bit of food you know what we would have maybe
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  as leftovers to that widow that lives
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  just down the street who who rarely cooks for
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  herself because it's just too much
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  hassle to cook for one person and so they often eat
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  food that they're not accustomed to eating because they no
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  longer have that big family to cook for but you
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  have this extra leftover that you could just
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  walk down the street and give to them and and it's
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  such a blessing to that individual and it really costs
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  you nothing certainly not much and
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  the investment you have made in that person by
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  doing it in the name of Jesus and you don't have to say here's
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  this bowl of potato soup I give to you in the name of Jesus but you say here's
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  this bowl of potato soup I was thinking maybe you might want some of it we had
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  it and and we just wanted to bless you with it and let them see that there's
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  something inside of you that's willing to reach out and help.
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  You don't want anything else from them.
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  You're not doing it to get something from them. You just simply are reaching out to them in love.
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  The number of opportunities that we have to just be a blessing that doesn't
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  even cost us anything that we kind of pass up because we're unwilling to give of ourselves.
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  But this scripture tells us that
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  when we have opportunity we're to
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  do good and god gives us opportunity and those of us who love the lord and those
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  of us who feast upon his word and those of us who understand the grace and the
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  mercy and the love and the blessings
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  that he bestows upon us every day we should come to him in prayer,
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  seeking him to give us opportunities that we can show others who Christ is.
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  And we can show the love of God to someone else.
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  You see, God goes the extra mile every day for you and me.
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  Just like he talked about in John chapter 4, when he went out of his way and
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  put himself in harm's way to be at the well so he could meet the woman at the
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  well where she was and he could give her what she needed.
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  He gives us opportunities sometimes to extend ourselves a little bit,
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  but to put ourselves in the place where we can meet the need that someone else has.
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  Do you realize that oftentimes God uses you to be the answer to someone else's prayer?
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  That's an amazing concept and an incredible blessing to know that God uses you
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  to be a blessing to someone else.
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  It's an amazing thing that when you seek to bless others, the blessings you get are amazing.
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  And so as we look in Galatians chapter 6, he also throws in there in that 10th
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  verse that we're talking about, that especially those of the household of faith.
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  You know, when we belong to the family of God, we are family.
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  And family takes care of each other.
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  Family gives even sometimes when it hurts.
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  And you know, if the church, which I don't mean the building,
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  I mean the children of God, really took to heart when God said that we are to
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  bear one another's burden.
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  And he says that just a little bit above this verse in chapter 6.
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  He says that in verse 2, that if we really took to heart that we are to bear one another's burden,
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  that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves,
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  that we are to be our brother's keeper, if we took that to heart,
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  then we wouldn't have to have the world and government and agencies that are
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  beyond what God thinks because they don't care about God.
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  These other organizations would not have to come in and take care of God's people.
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  We need to do that ourselves. And if we truly were following after what God
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  said, when he said to bear one another's burden,
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  when he says to give to those of the household of faith,
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  when he says to take opportunity to help them,
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  when we come to church, it's an amazing thing
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  how people in my church will just
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  step up to the plate and they'll fix meals when
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  someone has gone to the hospital and they'll help take care of the rest of their
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  family or they'll come in and mow a yard when someone is no longer able to do
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  that or they'll fix a roof or build a ramp or they'll just come and visit when
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  someone is lonely because they've lost someone and now they're alone and they're not used to that.
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  But they step in and they meet that need.
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  Sometimes it's a financial need And people are down on their luck and their finances.
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  And so the church steps in not to give a handout, but to be a blessing and to help supply that need.
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  And no one does it for fame or fortune or any kind of, you know, recognition.
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  You do it in the name of Jesus. You give because of what God gives to you.
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  God gives you things that you
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  might be a blessing. He doesn't give you things just so you have things.
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  God wants you to use every single thing that you have as an instrument to show others who he is.
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  Whether it be a tennis racket, a bowl of soup, a stove, or a pot,
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  or a car, or a lawnmower, or any other tool.
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  Whatever it is that you have, God allows you to have that. Allows you to have that skill.
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  Allows you to have that talent so that you can use that to bless someone else.
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  Because that's what God does.
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  He goes about doing good and he uses his people.
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  And he tells us in this verse that when you have opportunity,
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  you need to help someone.
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  It's great the things that God gives you that you're allowed to enjoy,
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  but don't ever miss the opportunity to take those blessings he's given you and
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  share them with someone else to multiply the glory that God gets, not just from you,
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  but from those you allow to share that blessing with you.
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  The Bible is clear that we're to love one another.
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  And we do that through acts of kindness, through meeting needs when we have an opportunity.
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  As you look in this chapter, he also realizing that he's told us to go out and
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  do this stuff when we have opportunity. He says, don't be weary.
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  In well-doing because sometimes you can
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  reach out to that person and they simply use
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  you or they take advantage of you they don't
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  appreciate you and you want to just run away and quit
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  but you're not doing it for the recognition of those around you or even for
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  the person that you are trying to be the blessing to you're doing it out of
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  the love and kindness of your heart that god has placed inside of you in the
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  thankfulness and gratitude that you have,
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  knowing what God does for you every single day,
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  realizing the love he bestowed upon you when he saved you,
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  realizing the amazing blessings that he gives you each and every day as you
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  walk and you talk with him and you enjoy the blessings that God gives you,
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  not just supplying your every need, but most of us have things we want.
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  He blesses us as we bless others. And I encourage each of you to read Galatians
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  chapter 6, to pray that the Lord would place in your path opportunities to help others.
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  And whatever talent, gift, or blessing you have, share it with someone today and every day.
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  Jesus loves you, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Share his love.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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  You can find our app by searching for a woman at the well ministries in your
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  app store or through our website at watwm.org.
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  We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash W-A-T-W-M If you visit our website,
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  you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits, a daily devotion written by Kim and
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  delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  Woman at the Well Ministries is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
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  And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
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  To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our.
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  Website. Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you, you.
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  Music.