Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 621 | A Life Worthy of the Lord

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621 | A Life Worthy of the Lord · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast.
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With Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
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boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
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Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
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are on our website at watwm.org.
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We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
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who God is and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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Paul's message to the early church is the same message God has for us today.
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We, His church, must be the light to this world, living differently than those
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who do not know Him as Savior.
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Join Kim Miller of Woman at the Well Ministries as she takes us on a journey
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through the Scriptures, reminding us of Paul's prayer for the early church and
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God's desire for His present church.
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Come see what Colossians 1, 9-14 reveals to us today.
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Thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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I want to speak to you today out of Colossians 1, verses 9 through 14,
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which is a prayer, basically, that Paul is giving to the early church.
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And he's giving them a charge to be filled with spiritual wisdom,
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to live a life pleasing to the Lord, and he wants them to be grateful for their
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salvation and their redemption.
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In other words, Paul is praying that this church would live a life worthy of the Lord.
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And when you begin to think about what it means to live a life worthy of the
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Lord, that's a daunting thought.
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What could you possibly do that would testify to the world of the love that
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Jesus bestowed upon each of us,
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when he laid himself on the cross of Calvary and shed his blood to pay for your sins and mine?
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How could we possibly live a life that witnesses to the love and the mercy and
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the grace that we have in Christ Jesus,
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that results in a life of such joy and such peace and such comfort?
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Well, over the next few minutes, as we really look at Colossians 1,
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verses 9 through 14, we're going to take time to just think.
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How can my life be a living testimony of the work of Jesus in me?
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When we look in Scripture at 2 Corinthians 6, verse 17, we read these words.
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Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
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and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.
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I want you to think about this.
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The Lord saved us for a purpose, and he tells us that purpose in many places.
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And one of those places is in Matthew 5, verses 14 through 16, where he,
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implores us to let our light shine so that those around us would see and know who Jesus is.
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And then in verse 16, he says, Let your light so shine before men that they
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may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
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We are to be a light in this dark world. And the only way that that's going
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to happen is we come out from among them in how we live.
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So that we're this flashing neon light that shows the difference Christ has made in our life.
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It doesn't mean that we don't go to where they are.
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It means that we go to where they are and we bring them to where he is.
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It means that when we are rubbing shoulders with him as we walk down the streets,
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there's something about us that stands out to them that we're different.
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In John chapter 4, we have the compelling account of Jesus putting himself in
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harm's way and sitting at the well, waiting for the woman at the well.
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Who came at noonday because she was ashamed of who she was in her life.
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So he gives this living example that we are to give the love,
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mercy, grace, joy, comfort, and peace to everyone.
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But we're to give them the true joy, hope, and peace. And that's Jesus.
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And so the only way that we're going to do that is if we let our life be a walking
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advertisement of something they want.
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We're all familiar with marketing tools. we're all familiar with how there are
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ad campaigns and blitzes that go because people want to sell you things,
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and they do that by telling you how wonderful something is and making you believe
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you can't live without it,
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and i believe that in colossians chapter 1 verses 9 through 14 that that's what
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paul is telling the church
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he said you need to live in such a way that those that you're rubbing shoulders
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with, that those that you're coming into contact with day in and day out want what you have.
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They want the joy that they can see in your life. They want the peace that they hear in your voice.
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They want what you have because what you have compels them to want it.
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So if you would please, I would ask that you would turn with me to Colossians
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chapter 1, and we're going to read verses 9 through 14. Verse 9.
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And as I read this, I'm asking you to look at these verses through the lens
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that we have in Leviticus 20, verse 7, which says, Sanctify yourselves, therefore,
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and be ye holy,
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for I am the Lord your God.
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What does our life say to others about who our God is?
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A life that is worthy of the Lord's blessing A life that is worthy of being
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called a child of God Is one that exhibits a changed and transformed life,
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Just like we read about in Romans 12, 1 and 2 That we are to be transformed.
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We are not to be of this world We are to walk through this world A walking billboard,
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a neon sign of who God is. Let us read.
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For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
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you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in
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all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
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that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,
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being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.",
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strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience
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and long suffering with joyfulness,
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giving thanks unto the father which has made us meet to be partakers of the
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inheritance of the saints in light,
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who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the
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kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption through his blood,
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even the forgiveness,
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of our sins. Let's pray.
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Our kind and most gracious to Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you for this another day.
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I thank you for your love and your mercy and your amazing grace.
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And I would ask, Lord, that you would remove me from this message as far as
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the east is from the west.
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And, Lord, that you would speak through this conduit your words.
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Lord, that the hearts of those that are listening would be prepared to hear what you have to say.
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And that you would do a transforming work into all of our lives.
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That we would walk worthy of the calling that you've put upon our life,
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that we would walk worthy of your love and your mercy and your grace.
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Lord, we know that there's nothing we could have ever done to deserve what you
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have done, but may we be walking witnesses with a beautiful testimony of who you are,
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with every step we take and every word we speak.
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Lord, may we realize what you have done for us.
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And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
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As we look at Colossians 1, verses 9 through 14, again, we see three things that jump off the page.
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Telling us what Paul is wishing and wanting and desiring for that early church to live.
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And these are the things, when we live them, that give an accurate testimony of who God is.
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The first thing we see is that he wants them to be filled with spiritual wisdom.
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The second thing we see is that he wants them to live a life pleasing to the Lord.
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And that he sums up his prayer wanting them to always be grateful for their
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salvation and their redemption from darkness or sin,
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so as lights of the world we should not be mixed with darkness so as we are
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saved striving towards the prize of the high calling,
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through the enabling of the Holy Spirit, allowing ourselves to be transformed
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so that we are holy by His righteousness that He imputes in us.
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It's that life that's going to allow us to walk worthy of the life God has given us.
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So as we look in the beginning parts of Colossians chapter 1 and beginning at
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verse 9, we see that he is praying for spiritual wisdom.
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So that we would walk worthy of the Lord. He wants us to be filled with the
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knowledge of God's will.
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And that's a huge, huge ask, unless we are submitted unto God.
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And he says if we submit ourselves unto him, that in due time he will exalt us.
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But if we're going to use spiritual wisdom, then we have to deny ourselves daily
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and take up our cross and follow him.
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To use spiritual wisdom, we have to remove the things of the flesh away from
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us, and we must be living a life that is sold out, wholly consecrated,
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and fully dedicated to listening
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to the Word of God, to listening to the directions and the teaching and the
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comforting of the Holy Spirit,
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and to walk in His ways and His commandments.
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It's more than just knowing facts.
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It's more than just knowing the verses. It's more than just being familiar with
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the accounts that are related to us in the Scripture.
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It's about understanding how to apply God's Word to your everyday life.
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It's about having insight and discernment about how God's Word unfolds for you
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so that you can live the abundant life He's promised you in John 10.10. Thank you.
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In 2 Timothy 2.15, he says, Study to show thyself approved unto God,
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a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
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It's not enough to just know it. You've got to know when to use it.
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You've got to know what verses to apply to what situations.
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Every verse is of great importance, and every verse can be used in every circumstance
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because it's the word of God.
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And when you hear the word of God, you're in the presence of God.
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And when you're in the presence of God, everything changes for the good.
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But there are verses that have been written specifically to give us the comfort,
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instruction, the joy and the peace to navigate this world exactly as God has
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planned for us to navigate it.
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And so he's asking for this church who has been saved by the blood of Jesus
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Christ to have spiritual wisdom, that they may walk worthy of the Lord.
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The goal he's asking them to pursue in this world, in this world.
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Is to walk in a manner that displays a transformation that God has created in them,
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so that when they are standing beside those who have not had their sins covered
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by the blood, whose heart has not been washed white as snow,
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that there's a difference.
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Because how could you possibly not be different if you have the Holy Spirit
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in you and someone else doesn't?
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He's really clear what he's wanting here. He's discipling these people,
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and he's praying that their life is a billboard that advertises, try Jesus.
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He really works.
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As we move a little bit further into this verse, we see in Romans.
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Colossians chapter 1 and verse 11, that he's calling us to be holy.
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We looked at that through our lens of be holy for I am holy,
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for I'm the Lord your God.
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That is a commandment that he's asking us to be. Why do you suppose he's asking us to be holy?
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Because he died for your sins.
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Not so that you could hang on to them and keep them and wallow in them.
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And wear them like clothing, but so that you would no longer be held tethered
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to them, so that sin would no longer have dominion over you,
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so that you could walk in the freedom of the grace and the mercy and the love
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and the joy of Jesus Christ and what it means to walk hand in hand with him,
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to hear him when he whispers, to follow after him.
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Jesus loves us, and he's imploring us to let everybody else know that we know that.
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And because we know he loves us, we have joy unspeakable and a peace that passes understanding.
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And this holiness that he's asking for us to pursue and to have,
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it requires far more than human willpower.
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This mind over matter business, it's not going to get it done.
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It's going to require walking with the Holy Spirit. It's going to be requiring
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you to spend time in the Word of God, to meditate, to pray, to study, to absorb.
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To crave it, but above all, to live it.
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He's asking you this power to endure.
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The trials and the tribulations, they're going to come your way just like they
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come to those who don't know the Lord.
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But however you choose to walk through those trials, problems,
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tribulations, issues, However you choose to do that,
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is a direct display of the power of God in you.
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And Ephesians 3.20 tells us that unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
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above all that you ask or think according to the power that works in us. I serve a living God.
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I serve a God who spoke the world into existence.
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I serve a God that has no match. I serve a God that cannot fail.
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I serve a God that cannot lose, and my life is meant to be lived,
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displaying that the God in me is bigger than the devil in the world.
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My life is meant to be lived, to show all the world what someone can do when
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they die to self and live for him.
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This power to endure that Paul is trying so desperately to get his church,
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to embrace and to exhibit is a power that you and I both have.
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Because the power to endure is simply the courage and the wisdom to turn your
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life over to the Lord and let Him lead.
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To let go of the reins.
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To walk in his ways so that he can hear your prayers, so that he can bless your life,
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to give up self-will and to cling to the unchanging hand that walks with you,
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to live a life filled with his strength.
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And to live a life that follows what we're told in Scripture,
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to pray without ceasing.
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If you're going to live a life worthy of the Lord, you're going to have to live in spiritual wisdom.
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And your spiritual wisdom is going to result in the power to endure.
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Life is but a vapor.
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It's here today and gone tomorrow. But we are pilgrims on a journey whose citizenship is in heaven.
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And we aren't part of this world. We're just in it.
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And we're in it to show the world a better way.
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Not that we're better, but that he is the way, the truth, and the life.
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And no one comes to him but through faith in Jesus. That's the only way we're going to get to heaven.
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The only way that we're going to be able to stand strong in the midst of the
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storm is to prove that the anchor holds.
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In spite of the storm, in spite of the waves, in spite of the issues,
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in spite of the problems, in spite of the pain, the anchor holds.
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And the person walking worthy to be called a child of God is the one who is
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looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of their faith.
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Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame,
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and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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He tells us that a man is born of a woman and a few days full of trouble.
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He tells us that in this world, You're going to have tribulation,
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but be of good cheer, for I've overcome the world.
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He's given us everything that we need to live a victorious life through him,
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because we're more than conquerors through Christ Jesus who loves us.
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Paul is saying to the church, live in the power that you've been given.
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Walk in the ways you've been instructed,
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and to motivate you on this journey walk in thankfulness for his salvation that he has given you
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as we look in first colossians verses 12 through 14 he says giving thanks into
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the father which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,
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who hath delivered from the power
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of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.
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From darkness, we have been delivered. That's why we're the light.
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He's placed his light in us.
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We are part of who he is because he's chose to live in us.
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We are children of the Most High God. And we have the inheritance of the saints of light.
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Heaven is our home in our Father's house for many mansions.
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And he went away to prepare a place for us that where he is, we might be also.
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He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and has translated us into his marvelous light.
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And all of this redemption was made possible through Jesus.
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The one and only sacrifice that would have been enough.
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And all of us had to come to Jesus the same way.
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All of us needed just as much blood from Jesus to save us from our sins than the next.
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Too often we categorize our sins and we feel as if, well, I'm not as bad as
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that person. And, well, that person was really bad.
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And I was saved young, so I didn't do all those things. Sin is sin.
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And it took just as much blood to buy your salvation.
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It did to buy the salvation for the woman at the well. And when she left the
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encounter in John chapter 4, she
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walked away and said, Come see a man who told me all things ever I did,
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is not this the Christ?
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In John 4, 29.
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She was changed, translated from darkness to light, couldn't contain the joy
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and the peace and the change within herself.
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She had to tell him.
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So what does the life pleasing to the Lord look like? It looks like that.
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It's a life of faithful service. It's a change from old ways to new.
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Behold, all things have become new. We are new creatures in Christ.
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It's a life that is fruitful. Galatians 5 lays out the fruit of the Spirit,
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and it's a life of service.
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Service to God by serving His people, by serving those who don't know Him,
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by living to please Him, by walking in His ways.
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It's a life of godly fortitude. You get knocked down, but you don't stay down
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because you've got Jesus.
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The world didn't give you your peace so the world can't take it away.
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See, we are told in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 7 through 10, these incredible words.
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But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power
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may be of God and not of us.
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We are troubled on every side, but not distressed.
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We are perplexed, but not in despair.
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Persecuted, but not forsaken. cast down but not destroyed, always bearing about
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in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
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that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
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What does that look like? It looks like a person who keeps on keeping on.
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A person who does not allow their circumstances or their situations to affect
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their witness or their joy.
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Their love or their peace.
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It looks like somebody who believes, who trusts in the Lord with all their heart,
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who has godly wisdom so they don't lean into their own understanding.
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And in all their ways, they acknowledge him and allow him to direct their paths and to lead them.
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They're not wise in their own eyes. They are living a life filled with the word
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of God, the love of God, the peace of God.
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The forgiveness of God, and the joy of the Lord.
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Things come their way that would knock someone who didn't know the Lord down,
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who might throw someone into despair,
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who isn't walking hand in hand and hearing him when he whispers.
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But know the one walking worthy of God to love you that much.
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Not that you're worthy of what he gave you, but worthy to your abilities to
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live the life he called you to, doing what he's asking you to do.
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They're faithful service. They're fruitful. They have a godly fortitude,
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and they have a life that fellowships with God.
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Told in John 15, 15, that we're no longer servants because a servant doesn't
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know his Lord, but he called you friends.
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For all things that I've heard of my father, I've made known unto you.
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He's not hiding from you. He's not keeping secrets from you.
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He wants you to know him fully and to trust him completely.
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He stands at the door and knocks on your heart, asking you to open it,
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that he would come in and fellowship with you and you would fellowship with him.
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He loves you that much, according to Revelations 3.20.
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And then in Psalms 25.14, we read these precious words.
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The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant.
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Jeremiah 33 says, Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and
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mighty things which thou knowest not.
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God wants you to know him.
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He wants you to call upon him. He wants you to fellowship with him.
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And those that are walking worthily of his love are the ones who are hanging close, talking often,
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hanging on every word, and living the life he's called them to live.
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And James 480 says, if we draw close to him, he'll draw close to us.
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Oh, how he loves you. And oh, how he loves me.
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If we spoke from now until he returned, we would not be able to fully and adequately
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explain how much he loves you and how he loves you.
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But I'm afraid for some of us, it wouldn't take more than a minute or two to
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talk about how we love him, to report the things we do that demonstrate our love for him,
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that paint the picture of our billboard.
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What's your life say about what you think, about who God is,
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and what God has done for you, and who you are because of who he is?
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Oh, my friend, it is my prayer that you know him,
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but not just that you know him in word, but that you know him indeed,
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and that your relationship with him is so close that when people see you,
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they see him, that your witness speaks of him,
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that your works glorify him.
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This, my friend, is what it means to live a life worthy of him.
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Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
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references from this episode in the show notes.
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