Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 287 | Restored to Greatness - Understanding Redemption and Restoration

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287 | Restored to Greatness - Understanding Redemption and Restoration · 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
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  well in John chapter four.
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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,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Music.
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  Every one of us has been given a purpose in this life.
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  God has supplied us with a life that is purposed to give Him glory.
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  But many times the choices we make cause our lives to fall short of His call on our lives.
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  Many don't even know the call God has on their life and are not disciplined to follow His commands.
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  Many follow and then fall by the wayside, determining they are unworthy or unforgivable
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  or too far gone for God to reach them, restore them, and use them. him.
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  But my friend, all of this is simply a lie with which the devil has deluded you.
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  Jeremiah 29 11 says that God has
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  a plan for your life and has a plan to prosper you and give you a hope.
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  He didn't say this applied only to those who didn't make a mistake or to those who found him early.
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  He said he has a plan for everybody.
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  Join Kim in this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries as she takes us on
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  a journey revealing God's mercy and grace that forgives, restores,
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  and puts us on the path to greatness.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  Let's pray. Friends, we have a biggie today, and we want our hearts and our
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  minds in the place that would hear what God would direct us to hear.
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  Lord, I just ask that you would be with each of us. I pray that you would give
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  us strength and courage as you speak to our hearts, that we would hear the message
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  you have specifically for each one of us.
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  Lord, that we would find hope.
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  In your love for us, that we find purpose in your forgiveness for us,
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  that we would find motivation in your direction for us.
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  Lord, I thank you for loving us. I thank you for being a friend that never leaves us or forsakes us.
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  I thank you for wanting what is best for us. and I thank you that you choose us.
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  In Jesus' name we pray.
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  Amen. You know, so often in our lifetimes we face doubt and fear and obstacles come into our lives.
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  And when they do, the devil would want you to think with a fleshly mind.
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  He would want you to think with earthly thoughts.
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  But see, we're told in Colossians that we are to set our affections on things
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  above and not on things of the earth.
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  So one thing that the devil does is he gets our mind wanting things that are
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  afforded us here or things that we wish were afforded us here that are not.
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  Another way that he bankrupts us emotionally and spiritually is that when we
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  make a mistake, God forgives us when we ask.
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  We hear that in 1 John 1, 9, when he says, if we confess our sins,
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  he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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  And he remembers that sin against us no more. The scripture says that it is
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  cast as far as the east is from the west.
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  But the people in our lives, they bring it up.
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  Circumstances in our lives may cause us to remember it.
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  And I promise you, the devil is going to try to use it every time he can.
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  But I have great news for you. I've read the back of the book and we win.
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  I have incredible grace, mercy,
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  and love and information for you that includes that the scripture says,
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  that nothing will separate you from the love of God in Romans 8, 38, and 39.
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  I want you to know that if you've made some mistakes in your life,
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  you're no different than Peter.
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  If you come to know Jesus late in your life, you're like Paul.
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  If you slide left and right and up and down of the rock, you're like the psalmist David.
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  If you run from God, you're like Jonah.
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  If you're suffering for God's sake, you're like Job.
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  If you're deluded by a friend, led astray by someone you love, you're like Sansom.
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  But I want to also tell you, regardless of whether you fit any of those individuals'
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  lives, all of us fit David's when he said, the battle's not mine, it belongs to the Lord.
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  David, though he messed up kind of repeatedly, he was known as a man after God's own heart.
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  David's legacy in the Psalms is one that shows us restoration.
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  David's life, as revealed in the Psalms, explains to us God's redemptive power
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  and the glory in which he He restores us.
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  David was a very blessed man. When he was strong in his faith, we see that in 1 Samuel.
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  Everything we read about David is that he wanted to do right.
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  But as Paul also wrote to us, we may want to do right, but our flesh wants to do wrong.
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  And sometimes we do what we don't want to do because our flesh just pushes us.
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  And that's what we're listening to. and that's when we find ourselves at the
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  crossroads of a decision to cling and hold on to faith or to walk in despair.
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  See, the scripture tells us in Matthew 22:37 this.
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  It says, Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
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  heart and with all thy soul.
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  The fact that David is known as a man after God's own heart leads me to believe
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  that David loved the Lord with all of his heart, his soul, his mind.
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  But David made mistakes. And friend, we live in this world.
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  We all come into this world as sinners and sin no longer has dominion over us as Christians.
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  And we are to strive to walk towards the prize of the high calling, but we are humans.
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  And if we're not extremely careful, and if we're not diligent and highly disciplined
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  to stay in the word, to pray earnestly, frequently,
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  and daily, we'll find ourselves in the snare, in the crosshairs of the devil.
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  But my friend, if you have given your life to Jesus Christ and you are a child
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  of the most You are not alone, even in your weakest moments.
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  And here's where he gives us scripture, not only to give us hope, not only to give us help,
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  but to give us wholly and completely forgiveness for our sins.
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  The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, as I said earlier, if we confess our sins,
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  He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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  So let's talk about this forgiveness for a little bit.
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  Jesus paid a sin debt he didn't owe because you owed a debt you couldn't pay.
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  And he paid for it completely with his own blood and his own life.
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  He gave you exactly what you needed when you asked for that free gift of salvation.
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  And he says that we have a home in heaven not made with hands.
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  He said that eye hasn't seen and ear hasn't heard what lies in store for them that love the Lord.
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  I submit to you what he gives you when he gives you forgiveness of your sins,
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  is far more than you deserve, far more than you can imagine.
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  And everything you would want.
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  So this restoration from a sinful, wicked life, going to hell,
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  gives us complete forgiveness and an eternity in heaven where the Son is Jesus Christ.
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  There's no sin, no corruption, no death, no tears, no sorrow.
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  You have something better than you had before, better than you could imagine.
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  This all takes place because when he was on the cross, you were on his mind,
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  and he was fulfilling your payment for your debt before you were even a twinkle
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  in your mother and dad's eyes. It was complete.
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  But here you sit in life, a child of the Most High God, and you've made a bad decision.
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  You've let some sin creep into your life,
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  and here you sit in the crossroads of asking God for forgiveness and living
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  in the redemptive, restorative power of Jesus Christ or letting the devil ruin your reputation,
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  destroy your witness oh you're
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  choosing that but it's because you're choosing
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  to follow the directions of the devil now
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  hear me out as Christians we are to live holy lives he says be holy for i am
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  holy but he loved you before you were saved so after you're saved you don't
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  have have any less of love by Jesus Christ than you did before,
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  and his love before you were saved cost him his life.
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  The scripture says that he loves us, and he says we love him because he first loved us.
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  I need you to grasp within your heart and your mind that when you were at your
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  worst state, your vilest point of life.
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  No redemption, no redemptive thing.
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  Your sins were as filthy rags.
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  You were helpless and at the complete mercy of God.
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  The complete throes of sin and the devil.
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  Then he loved you enough to reach his hand down and to restore you.
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  Now, my Christian brother and sister, you have been given the free gift of salvation.
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  You're living a life that is intended to give him honor and glory.
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  You're striving to let your light so shine before men that he would see your
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  good works and glorify him.
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  You've tasted and seen that God was good, and you're not intending. You're not purposely.
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  You're not habitually. You're not continually sinning.
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  You are having one moment, one bad decision, where you have closed your ears to the Holy Spirit.
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  You have diluted your mind to what God wants, and you are creating a path of
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  destruction for that moment, but you are not a sinner unsaved by the grace of God.
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  You are a sinner saved by the grace of God, a new person in Christ Jesus who
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  feels horrible because you've stepped out of line, because the Holy Spirit is convicting you.
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  And now you need to come and ask Jesus to forgive you.
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  And I promise you the love he had before you knew him is the same love he has
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  after you know him. But now you know him and your love for him is greater.
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  Don't let the devil steal your joy because you were fleshly for a moment.
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  Because I've got great news.
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  Jesus has overcome the flesh.
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  He's overcome the devil. You are victorious in him.
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  And one cry out to Lord, save me, will produce in you the salvation and restoration.
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  And the power of all heaven to erase from that which you have done.
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  And put you on the path he has called you to be on.
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  See, Jeremiah 29:11 gives you a promise.
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  And this is the promise. He says, for I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord.
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  God is thinking about you right now.
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  God is whispering to you. The Holy Spirit is directing you and guiding you and leading you.
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  And he's asking you to hear him when he whispers, to follow him,
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  to know his voice, because you are his sheep and he's the shepherd.
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  You need to know the voice of God and you need to follow.
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  Then he says, thoughts of peace and not of evil. And listen closely.
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  He says to give you an expected end.
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  Jesus not only loves you, he has a plan for you.
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  So when you step left or right of the center of his will,
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  and you heed the conviction of the Holy Spirit within you, and you ask the Lord
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  to forgive you for that horrible fault,
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  to forgive you for not doing what he asked you to do,
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  to forgive you for doing what he
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  said not to do to forgive you
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  for not loving as you should to forgive
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  you for the anxiousness you live in for the doubt that plagues you and earnestly
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  asking him to remove all the obstacles in your life that the devil is putting
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  in front of you to give you blinders to Satan and laser focus to the Holy Spirit.
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  When he does that, my friend, he doesn't just forgive you and he doesn't leave you where you were.
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  See, he says he has a plan for you.
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  He says that his thoughts are of peace and not of evil to give you an expected
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  end. God has an ending for your life, and it is to eternal heaven.
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  But he has a path for you to follow all through this world, that you would be
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  the person he would have you to be.
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  He will equip you to be the person he's called you to be.
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  He will supply everything you need to be what he asked you to be.
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  The scripture says in 1 Peter that he has given us everything that we need in
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  order to be the holy people he's called us to be.
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  And he will continue to give you the strength to do it.
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  And I want to tell you something. I want to bring to your minds the account
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  in John of the ninety and nine sheep and the one that went astray.
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  See, I think that if you have known Jesus and you are living outside of his
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  will, you're going to be as uncomfortable as you can be.
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  It's going to be as annoying, as aggravating, as painful, and as uncomfortable
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  as being in an elevator filled with mosquitoes and you've got honey on you.
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  You're going to get eat up and you're going to do everything you can to escape.
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  Got good news. You don't need to stay in the elevators and mosquitoes,
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  and you don't need to wallow in sin with the sinners.
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  When you have that uncomfortable feeling, when you have that.
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  Conviction that you need to change, you need to run to Jesus and shut the line
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  up between you and the devil, because he's going to say things like you're unworthy.
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  He's going to say things you've blown it.
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  He's going to say things that you've now disqualified yourself to be in his service.
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  He's going to do whatever he can to keep you from being in the center of God's
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  will, because he don't want you to be a bright light to the world.
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  He doesn't want you to have the blessings of God.
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  He definitely doesn't want you to have uncommon favor, and he doesn't want you to love the Lord.
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  He doesn't want you to have joy. See, because in John 10:10,
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  we are told that the thief cometh to steal, kill, and destroy.
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  But Jesus comes that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.
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  See this account that we read in John about Jesus being the good shepherd.
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  How when one of the 100 was gone astray.
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  Jesus left the 99 and he went to the one and he didn't just free the one and
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  leave the one where he was.
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  No, Jesus freed the one and brought him to the same place the 99 that was doing
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  the right thing were sitting.
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  See, when Jesus restores you,
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  he puts you on the path in a place that leads you to the greater good.
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  He puts you in a place so that you are now on target for that expected end that
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  he had for you all the time.
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  When Jesus restores you, he restores you to greatness because he restores you
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  to a place of peace and joy.
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  He restores you to a place where you are in the center of his will,
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  where you hear him when he whispers, where you follow when he speaks,
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  where you understand the amazing joy of the Lord, where you are used in his service,
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  where you are doing what he asked you to do, where you have power in your life,
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  where you can speak to the mountains and your faith will move it.
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  He doesn't leave you away from the others.
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  He brings you into the fold, fully restored, fully forgiven to greatness in him.
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  Because it was never about you anyway.
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  It simply was about him.
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  Most depraved state. He loved you enough to die for you, and to give you the
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  free gift of salvation would set you on a trajectory of blessing,
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  joy, peace, and a home not made with hands eternal unto the heavens.
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  His purpose for you never changed.
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  His love for you never dwindled. You've made mistakes, but don't make the biggest one.
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  If you don't know Jesus, don't make the biggest mistake that you can make by
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  ignoring his free gift of salvation.
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  And if you know Jesus, if you have committed your heart to him,
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  and you've realized that you're a sinner in need of a Savior,
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  and that he's the only way, and that he's the truth and the life,
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  if you believe in who he He is the only begotten Son of God whose sinless perfect
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  blood was shed on the cross of Calvary that you might go free.
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  If you're part of the family of God, and right now you're that one in the weeds,
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  you're that one that stepped out of the path.
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  Oh, if he loved you before you were part of his family, how much more do you think he loves you now?
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  Jesus isn't going to give up on you, but neither is the devil.
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  But scripture tells us, in 1 John 4, 4, we have good cheer, little children,
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  for I have overcome them.
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  Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.
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  To believe that your mistake is.
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  Greater than God's forgiveness is a lie straight from the pits of hell and a
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  slap in the face of the power of the love, mercy, and grace,
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  Jesus has already bestowed on you and will continue to do so.
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  As you walk through this life and you make mistakes eggs, and you receive the
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  restorative power of Jesus,
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  continually keeping you on the path to greatness, greatness in him,
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  not making you less than the others, but treating you equally the same.
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  For we all come to Jesus as the woman at the well, and it takes just as much
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  blood God, to save those which you think have done nothing wrong,
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  as it does for those that seem by this world to be claimed as rank sinners.
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  See, we're all sinners and come short of the glory of God, and we all make mistakes.
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  But if you love him with your whole heart, your whole mind, and your whole soul,
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  giving him all your strength and your energy, your rope will be short, and you won't step far.
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  And when he calls for you and comes for you, as he surely will, you'll turn to him.
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  Ask for forgiveness. You will walk in his ways.
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  You will long for him, and you will love him, and you'll let him dust you off,
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  and you'll head on down the road just as if you never sinned.
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  Because his forgiveness is complete.
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  His forgiveness is whole. His forgiveness is restorative.
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  Friend, the only decision you have to make today is to turn your life to Jesus.
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  He'll do the rest. In case you don't remember, in John chapter 8,
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  there was a woman fully sinful.
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  Jesus asked the crowd, you without sin, cast the first stone at this known adulterer.
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  Interesting thing happened. No one cast any stones. Jones, Jesus began writing
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  in the sand, and I believe he started writing sins they were guilty of.
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  Because the 99 sheep, they've all been in a thicket sometime.
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  And if they tell you they haven't, they're lying. Because none of us is as holy as we should be.
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  Because we live in this world. But he will wash us white as snow.
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  He'll dust off our feet, put us right back on the track, and love us like he's always loved us.
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  So today, it's your time. It's your turn.
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  Turn to God. You'll find him where he's always been,
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  with arms open wide, love flowing from him, welcoming you and beckoning you to follow after him.
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  Today's your day to be restored to greatness.
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  Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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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 watwm. 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 nonprofit 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 website.
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  Thank you to the gospel group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song,
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  Happy Girl. We greatly appreciate your prayers.
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  We are praying daily for our listeners. Remember that God loves you.
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  Music.