Latest / Time with God with John North / Becoming Strong in the Lord Pt. 5

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Becoming Strong in the Lord Pt. 5 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: I'm here to help you start your day right as
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: we look at God's word together and spend some time
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: with God.
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  Speaker 1: God wants to meet with us. I'm sure of it.
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  Speaker 1: Are you ready to listen and receive what He has
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to say to you? We're looking this week at the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: theme of becoming strong in the Lord. We've looked at
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  Speaker 1: how important it is to base our lives on the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: word of God, how important it is to be ready
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: when God speaks to us, to obey His voice.
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  Speaker 1: That God says obey my voice and I will be
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  Speaker 1: your God and you will be my people and you
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  Speaker 1: will walk in all the way which I command you
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: that it may be well with you, hum.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: You will be well in your spiritual life, experiencing the
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  Speaker 1: blessing of God if you choose to obey Him. Sometimes
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  Speaker 1: we feel like obeying God would remove us from what
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: is good and fun and pleasing to us, something that
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  Speaker 1: we really like. But always if we choose that path,
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  Speaker 1: always we find the blessing is so much greater.
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  Speaker 1: And then we need to learn to focus our lives
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  Speaker 1: on God's goal for us, which is to make us
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  Speaker 1: more like Jesus Christ. And then yesterday we said if
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: you want to become strong in the Lord, you need
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  Speaker 1: to learn to meditate, you need to learn to soak
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  Speaker 1: in God's word, to develop the mind of Christ, and
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  Speaker 1: to gain spiritual strength by searching the scriptures, thinking about them,
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  Speaker 1: applying them to our daily lives.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: And today I want to look at a one-line verse
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: in the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, where Paul simply
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: says in this verse, pray without ceasing.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Pray without ceasing.
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  Speaker 1: It's sandwiched in among some other things that he's challenging
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  Speaker 1: them to do for their spiritual health. Rejoice always, he says,
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  Speaker 1: and then pray without ceasing, and then in everything give thanks.
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  Speaker 1: You see, he's talking about a way of life that
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  Speaker 1: changes us.
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  Speaker 1: Praying without ceasing makes your relationship with God healthy.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it's difficult to, as they say, fall out
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  Speaker 1: of love with your spouse if you're constantly in touch
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  Speaker 1: with him, constantly in touch with her, communicating, expressing your feelings, listening,
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  Speaker 1: acknowledging what they're saying to you, well, in the same
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  Speaker 1: way in your relationship with God.
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  Speaker 1: It's difficult to fall out of touch with God, to
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  Speaker 1: give in to sin in your life if you are
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  Speaker 1: constantly in touch with the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: That doesn't mean that all the time you are constantly chattering,
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  Speaker 1: constantly talking to God. No, it means there's this constant
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  Speaker 1: attitude of communication, an attitude of openness. Quite often, uh,
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  Speaker 1: along with my nephew, I open up a chat on
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  Speaker 1: my computer, a chat line.
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  Speaker 1: And every now and then one of us will type
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  Speaker 1: a little message to the other and.
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  Speaker 1: Some time later there'll come a message back. The line
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  Speaker 1: is always open. We can always chat with each other.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean we're talking all the time, but there
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  Speaker 1: is communication there in the same way. Learn to be
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  Speaker 1: line with God all the time. Having open communication, any
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  Speaker 1: relationship that you value will grow in strength, in line
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  Speaker 1: with the amount of time that you spend in communication
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  Speaker 1: with that person. Have you learned?
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  Speaker 1: The secret of growing strong in the Lord, that is.
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  Speaker 1: Praying without ceasing.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.