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545 | The Gifts We Bring · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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God is in control.
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She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman
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at the Well Ministries, where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus
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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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What do we give the King of Kings? What could we possibly give to the One who owns everything?
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He created all things, and all things are under His feet.
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Join Kim in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as she takes us on
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a journey through the Scriptures, revealing what God wants from all mankind.
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Come with us as we explore the gifts we may choose to give to Jesus.
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Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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It's a pleasure to talk to you today about the gifts we could give Jesus.
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Many of us will exchange gifts with our friends and our loved ones.
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People will give us lists of things that they want, and we will choose things
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from that list because we know it's things that they would enjoy,
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things that will help them, things that will bring a smile to their face.
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And we do that because we love them.
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During this time of year when love is in the air and it's the law and gospel of Jesus is peace,
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it's easier to exchange kindness and gratitude and graciousness.
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But I submit to you that the gifts that Jesus brings, they come all the time.
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Daily, he loads us with his benefits.
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But for the next few minutes, I would like to bring to your attention.
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Perhaps if Jesus had a list of gifts that he would like for us to give to him,
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perhaps these things that we're going to talk about right now would be what showed up on his list.
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It's his birthday that we celebrate. And unlike our birthday,
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on Jesus' birthday, everybody else gets gifts.
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But on our birthday, it's us who gets gifts, not the people who come to celebrate our birthday.
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And so if Jesus had a birthday list, what would be on it?
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And it's interesting to think about because what do you give to the King of Kings?
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What could you possibly give to the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills
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and the hills that they are on?
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What do you give to the one who created all things and all things are under his feet?
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That's what we're going to talk about tonight. Because I promise you,
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there are some things as children of God,
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We could give back to the Lord that would show our gratitude and our love,
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not during this Christmas season only.
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But always.
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Pray with me. Our kind and most gracious to Heavenly Father,
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Lord, I thank you for this another day that you've given us.
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I thank you for your love and your mercy and your amazing grace.
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And I thank you for the way that you show up in our lives and the things that you give us.
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And Lord, I ask that you would help each of us to take a soulful,
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purposeful look at our lives and to really ask ourselves, what are we doing
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to show the Lord how important He is to us?
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Lord, each of us know that we cannot buy our salvation. We cannot work for our salvation.
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We don't merit our salvation. But
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surely we also realize that it is the greatest gift that is ever given.
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Gratitude and thanksgiving.
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Is necessary to demonstrate the strength of our love. Lord, remove me from this message.
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Help me as I deliver that which you've given me.
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Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. In Jesus' name.
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As we begin to look in the scriptures to determine what gifts we could bring to the Savior,
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I want you to look at everything we talk about through this lens,
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the lens of 1 Peter 1, verses 3 through 4.
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They read like this.
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope
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by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
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to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you.
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Friends, in heaven for every born again believer, there is an inheritance that has your name on it.
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You didn't earn it. You can't buy it.
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And no one has anything like it. It's yours because of his mercy.
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We don't have a hope, so salvation, but we have a hope in Jesus Christ.
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We are fulfilled and satisfied, motivated and inspired.
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We are lively and energized because we know that the King of Kings and the Lord
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of Lords has a mansion waiting for us, that he has forgiven us of our sins,
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that his sinless, spotless blood has wiped away the penalty of our sins,
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and that because of his great love toward us,
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and our faith in Jesus Christ, and who he is, and what he's done,
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and because he's victorious over hell, death, and the grave,
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you and I have an inheritance in heaven.
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Friends, that's enough. to make us thankful.
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That's enough to spur us to be grateful.
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And so perhaps during this Christmas season, as we're counting all the other
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people that we are going to exchange gifts,
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that we're going to demonstrate our love and gratefulness for their presence
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in our life, let's not forget Jesus.
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If Jesus had a birthday list, I think the things we're going to talk about tonight would be on it.
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Join me, please, as we read Matthew 2, 1-11.
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Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,
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behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying,
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Where is he that is born king of the Jews?
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For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.
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When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled,
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and all Jerusalem with him.
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And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together,
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he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
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They said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet,
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And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the last among the princes
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of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel.
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Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently
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what time the star appeared.
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And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search diligently for the young child.
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And when you have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also.
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When they had heard the king, they departed.
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And lo, the star which they had saw in the east went before them till it came
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and stood over where the young child was.
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When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
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And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary,
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his mother, and fell down and worshipped him.
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And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts,
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gold and frankincense and myrrh.
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The wise men had seen Jesus, and upon seeing this babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
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with some understanding of his greatness, without understanding the full magnitude of who he was.
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They brought in gifts.
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You and I have been redeemed from the penalty of sin.
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We have been washed and we have been cleansed. He has led us and blessed us
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and provided for us and strengthened us.
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He has given us promises that have given us hope and joy and peace.
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His mercy is limitless. His grace is abundant.
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And we, too, should be like the wise men and wonder what we could bring.
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They brought the finest they had.
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They worshipped him, and then they brought him gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
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So for the next little bit, walk with me.
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Walk with me through the scriptures, and let's contemplate and ponder in our hearts.
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What does God want from me?
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What could I possibly give him?
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Everything I have is from him.
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My greatest gift I could give to him is certainly availability.
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But what do I have that I may be holding back from God?
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That I'm acting like it's all mine, not realizing that he gave them to me,
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these gifts, these talents, these skills, so that I could hand them back to
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him and he could use them for his service.
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So that my good works would demonstrate who God is and my light would shine. to those around me.
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For my good and his service and his glory, he's given me everything.
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So what does he want from me?
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In Micah chapter 6 and verse 8, we read this, He has showed thee, O man, what is good.
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And what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy,
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and to walk humbly with thy God?
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We have some gifts that will allow us to walk humbly.
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See, I believe we walk humbly with our God when we acknowledge that everything
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we have and all that we are and all that we ever will be is because of the grace
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and the mercy and the love of Jesus Christ.
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So there's some things we could choose to give to him.
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One of them is our time.
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He says, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.
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We're to walk carefully in this world with honor and purpose and with courage.
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We shouldn't hang out with evil folks. We shouldn't hang out with those who
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don't make wise choices, but with those who are intelligent and those who are.
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Sensible and those who are discerning the Spirit of God.
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And I don't mean intelligence in the way of an IQ score.
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We got to walk with those who make the smart decision to walk with Jesus.
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We need to understand that it matters the company we keep.
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It matters who we let speak into our lives, and it matters how we spend our time.
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Verse 16 of Ephesians 5 says, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
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How we spend our time defines definitively what matters to us.
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We are to make the very most of the time, taking advantage of each opportunity,
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because the days are evil. The days are going to pull you away.
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The things of this world will distract you, but we need to use our time wisely.
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We've got to make the very most of our time, recognizing and taking advantage
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of every opportunity and using wisdom and diligence.
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Because if we just go with the flow, if we just hang with the crowd,
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if we just listen and to what the world would have us to do, it would lead us astray.
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Jesus is the light that shows us who God is.
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And if we purposely seek his will for our lives and allow him to plan out our
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days and to plan out our time,
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we'll understand who God is and we'll live in a way that is pleasing to him.
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Time is our most valuable resource that we have any kind of control over.
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It's interesting to me that none of you would allow me free access into your bank accounts.
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You would not just hand me a signed blank check.
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But too often, we hand lots of people blank checks on our time,
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and we only have 24 hours a day.
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And those 24 hours are absolutely all we need, because if it wasn't,
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He would have given us a different amount.
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But we don't guard our time. We don't prioritize time with God through prayer and scripture.
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We don't realize that that's the key to being re-energized, to being renewed,
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and to having the strength that God would have us to have.
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The first thing we can choose to give to God that will give us way more in return
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than we give up is our time, allowing God to be first.
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In Matthew 6, 33, he says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
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and all these things shall be added unto you.
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You've got to give him your first fruits.
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You've got to give him your best hours.
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You've got to
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give him priority so that everything else
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revolves around him in 2nd timothy 2 15 we're told to study to show ourself
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approved unto god a workman that need is not to be ashamed rightly dividing
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the word of truth we have to spend time in his word in john 1 14 he said the
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word was made flesh and dwell among us.
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Have to spend time in prayer. He says that we are to pray without ceasing,
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an attitude of being in the presence of God, an attitude of submitting our will
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and our life to him, and asking for the Holy Spirit to lead us and to discern.
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We're to be careful for nothing, but with thanksgiving let our request be made
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known unto God, and the peace of God will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
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He says that if we ask, we will receive. If we seek, we shall find.
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And if we knock, it shall be opened unto us.
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God is the way, the truth, and the life.
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And he knows exactly what you're going to do. He knows exactly what you're supposed to be doing.
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And when we allow him to plan our days and to be the top priority in our life,
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all the little things get done as we make him the big stuff,
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and we put the little stuff around him.
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An important gift I believe that would be on his list to receive from every
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one of his children would be our time.
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And then I believe on his list would be our talent.
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In James 1, verse 17,
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he says this, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh
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down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
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neither shadow of turning.
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Every gift or skill or talent that you have, it was given to you by design,
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on purpose, by God himself, and all of us have them.
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And the design was to fit you perfectly so that you would be equipped,
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capable, and yes, confident to use those skills, abilities.
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Talents for his good, his glory, and the furthering of his kingdom, and for your good.
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I believe he would ask you to use your talents the way God intended them to be used.
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In 1 Corinthians 6, verse 20, he says, For ye are bought with a price.
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Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
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All of our gifts, abilities, and talents, they come from God,
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and they should be used for his glory.
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The people around us, our family, our spouses, our children,
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those in our classes, those in our jobs,
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everybody that is around us.
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Be using our skill sets to assist them to see Jesus.
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This Christmas season, it's about showing people Jesus. He's the light that Mary carried.
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He's the light that lives inside of us, and we need to allow him to exhibit himself through us.
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And everything we say and do, we need to demonstrate who He is.
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Our talents should be used for good, and it should be used for God.
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He's the one that gave them to us, and they belong to Him.
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We're just like managers of them.
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We have people that we know who are gifted beyond measure, highly talented.
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They could have made decisions that would have made them wealthy in the world.
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But God had a plan for them to lead worship. God had a plan for them to bless others.
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And so instead of doing the selfish thing, instead of living for self,
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they took this skill, this ability, this talent, and they lay them at the feet of Jesus.
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It's like gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This is what I have for you.
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Most of us are familiar with the account of the little drummer boy,
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no gift I have to bring that's fit for a king, so this drum he plays.
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That might not mean much to somebody, but if God has given you that talent,
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he's going to put you in front of the person that it means the world to.
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He's going to use your gifts and your talents to reach people that other people can't reach,
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because they're specifically your assignment but if you take your gifts and
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you take your talents and you hoard them for your own good in your own glory
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and you don't spread them to the world for God's glory.
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You have, if you cease to use those talents for him, you're squandering them. You're wasting them.
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Good and perfect gift comes from him, with the purpose to win others for the kingdom.
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I believe he would want your time. I believe he would want your talent.
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And I believe he wants your treasure.
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We read in Scripture, Luke 12, 32-34, these words, Fear not,
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little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
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I want you to keep that in mind as you continue to look at what gifts you can
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give to the Lord. You can't outgive him.
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He wants to give you the kingdom. And let me tell you, it's some kingdom.
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Need I remind you that the pavement over there is our most precious substance of gold.
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He says, sell that ye have and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax
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not old, a treasure in the heavens that fadeth not away.
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Where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupt. For where your treasure is,
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there will your heart be also.
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I'm afraid that some of us are holding so tightly to what God has given us that
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we are missing the opportunity to get the bigger blessing he has for us.
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But before we can reach out and grab the other blessing, we got to let go of the one we have.
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What God has given you. He's given you for the furtherance of the kingdom.
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What God has given you, he's given you so that you can make a difference in someone else's life.
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What God has given you is something to be used to assist and help and to love one another.
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He said that you're to love one another as you love yourself.
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I believe that if we begin to look at what God is asking each of us to do,
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what he would put on his birthday list, Thank you.
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Would tell us, look, all of our lives, our brothers, our families,
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our futures, our finances, and everything belongs to God.
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We're just stewards of these amazing things.
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We need to handle them all for God's glory, for his truth, and for his building of his kingdom.
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Your true treasure is not your finances. Your true treasure is not your career.
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Your true treasure isn't your children, your family, your wife,
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your spouse, your friends, your material things.
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It's not your cars.
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It's not your boats. It's not your homes.
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Your true treasure is your relationship
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with Jesus Christ, and it is more precious than silver or gold.
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Being saved is a treasure, and you've got to cherish it with all your heart and your life.
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You need to give it to Him.
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My parents were not wealthy, and when they passed away, I did not inherit a
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fortune, but what I inherited was a legacy.
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And they did not wait until they were dying to leave it to me, but every day.
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Relationship with Jesus Christ, they equipped me with the ideas and the understanding
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and the word of God so that I too would have my own personal relationship with
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him so that when they weren't around,
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I would know what was right and what was wrong so that when they left this world,
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I would still have a hope and his name is Jesus.
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That's what treasure is. In Luke chapter After 12, we are told that where treasure
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is, it's where your heart is.
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Do you want to know what somebody's important to them? Follow them around.
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It's what they're talking about. It's what they're working for.
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It's what they're protecting with all their life.
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Some of you do not protect your witness. You don't protect your reputation because
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you don't realize how important those things are for the furtherance of the kingdom.
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You're not filling your heart and your soul and your mind with the word of God,
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because that's not what's important to you, because you have got it signed, sealed, and delivered.
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You've already made a decision that you're going to love him.
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You're going to accept his free gift.
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Somehow it's stopped there for you. But faith without works is dead.
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Just ask James. Just read his word.
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And he says, I'll show you my faith by showing you my works.
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We can't work our way into heaven. It is the free gift of salvation,
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not of works, lest any man should boast.
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But if you know him and you love him, you're going to want to work for him.
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And that's pretty plainly spelled out in James.
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So do a little exercise on your time and have a column for Jesus and a column not for Jesus.
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And you take three straight days and you divide those 72 hours into hour slots.
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Put on there, whether those hours went for the work of the Lord or whether those hours did not.
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Doesn't mean they were in the horse weeds and you were doing something wrong.
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You just did not give him your time, which is a treasure.
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It's the one thing you can't get any more of.
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When we sleep, the appropriate amount of time that we need to sleep for our
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bodies to recharge and renew, that goes in the God column.
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When we're lazy and we just sleep and don't get anything else done,
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some of those hours go in the not for God column.
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When we take care of our body so that we are fit for God's work,
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that's in the God's column.
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But when that exercise becomes our God, when it becomes a thing that we are
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scheduling the rest of our time around, when it becomes our primary focus and
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the theme of all of our conversations,
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some of that time's got to go over here to not for God.
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When we spend all of our time fulfilling our wants, our wishes,
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and our desires, that's not for God.
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Only the things that we do for God will last. All the others will be burnt like hay and stubble.
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The things of this world, they'll fade. You won't take it with you.
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But everything that you've done for Christ will last. You've got to allow God's
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hands to direct your lives and to manage your treasures.
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He's given us a lot of things that we can truly.
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Truly use for our own recreation and to enjoy, and there's nothing wrong with that.
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But it goes back to that time model where we have to have the Lord to allocate
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our time, and what we need to do is be living our entire life.
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Supporting what God wants for us to do, holding in our hearts and our minds
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His purpose above all else.
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God wants you. His birthday list is short. He wants you.
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In Ecclesiastes 12, 13, he says, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
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Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
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Keep His commandments. He wants you to give him yourself.
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One of my absolute favorite passages in Scripture is Romans 12, 1 and 2.
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I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present
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your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God,
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which is your reasonable service.
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In other translations, it'll say reasonable worship.
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Just giving your body to the lord and being holy is just reasonable it's not above and beyond,
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in verse 2 he says and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by
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the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
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and perfect will of god in ecclesiastes,
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that we read in your hearing.
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He said this, fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.
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To look like the world. We're not to be comfortable in this world,
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but we're to be transformed because we renew our mind through prayer and Bible study.
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We renew our mind by fixing our sight on things above and not things on the earth.
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We can live in this world and not be part of it.
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Now, we can't be so good that we're afraid to be used of God.
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Jesus said on the well, for the woman at the well, whom everybody was kind of ashamed of.
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She probably didn't have any really good best friends because she'd made some
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really bad decisions and was continuing to do so.
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But Jesus met her where she was and brought him to where he was.
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From the well, to never thirst again.
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We need to be different than the world. They don't have Jesus living in us. That's a no-brainer.
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How could they possibly act and live and respond like we who have Jesus since they don't?
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How could they possibly be rejoicing and thrilled and motivated and inspired,
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and so grateful for the redemption of Jesus Christ as he saves us from our sins
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when they haven't experienced it because they refuse to believe.
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I think on his list, when it comes down to it and he says, what I want is you,
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I believe he would ask us to look like peculiar people,
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zealous of good works, that would be set apart for the work of the Lord,
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that we would go where others won't go, that we would do what others wouldn't
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do, because we're doing it for the glory of God and the furtherance of the kingdom,
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not for our fame or fortune.
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We don't pick the job that gives us the most notoriety.
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We don't pick the job that puts us in the stage light.
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No, we say, here am I, send me. And we allow him to choose where we go, and we just follow.
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He is the shepherd and we are the sheep.
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Birthday list. He'd won our time. He'd won our talent. He'd won our treasure.
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But what he really wants is you.
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So give him your heart. Give him your life. Give him your all.
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It all belongs to him anyway.
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It's you he wants.
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There's a statement that I believe belongs to a pastor named Paul Hosh.
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And he says, you don't need more of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost needs more of you.
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So this Christmas, as you partake and receive all of the amazing gifts he brings,
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I implore you to give him that which he's already given you.
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Just make yourself available and purpose in your heart and your soul to give
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back to him your time, your talents, and your treasures.
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It's a joy to give at him.
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It's joy unspeakable and full of glory.
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What he wants, this Christmas season and always, the birthday present on his list, is you.
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Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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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 Woman at the Well Ministries in your app
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store or through our website at watwm.org. We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash W-A-T-W-M.
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If you visit our website, you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits,
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a daily devotion written by Kim and 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
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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 are loved.