Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 344 | Hope in God’s Deliverance, Sovereignty, and Love

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344 | Hope in God’s Deliverance, Sovereignty, and Love · 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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  Living her life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  In this podcast from Women at the Well Ministries, which is part four of a series
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  discovering the hope that is found in the Bible, we are going to learn to find
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  hope in God's deliverance, His sovereignty, and His love.
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  Join us as Kim takes us on a journey through the Scriptures,
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  scriptures revealing the hope the scriptures give.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  What a pleasure it is to be able to open up his word and allow it to speak to
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  us in relevancy, in hope.
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  It gives us joy. It gives us directions. It gives us guidance.
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  It's an instruction manual for how we're going to live this life so that we
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  We have the best life possible here and also gain heaven as our home by believing
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  in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
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  And as we've been talking in this series and we continue to talk,
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  we're looking at how the scriptures,
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  God's holy word, Jesus, who was made flesh, the word was, we're told in John
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  1.14, how we find hope in the scriptures.
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  And specifically today, we're looking at hope in God's deliverance,
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  his sovereignty, and his love.
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  We can put our faith in Jesus Christ because he's trustworthy.
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  He's capable of handling our lives and the lives of every person.
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  He is omnipotent and omniscient.
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  He's loving and He's kind.
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  He's merciful and He's gracious. And He is our Savior.
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  As we look in the Scriptures, our key verse for discovering hope through the
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  Scriptures has been Romans 15, 13, and it continues to be.
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  It says, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that
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  you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. In believing.
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  Do you believe God is who he says he is?
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  Do you believe God will do what he says he will do?
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  Do you believe? In Mark chapter 9 and verse 23, it says, If thou canst believe,
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  all things are possible to him that believeth.
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  We're going to take a good look at Psalms 25.
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  And as we do, we're going to see that hope in the Bible,
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  it includes an element of looking forward in anticipation,
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  But it also means looking forward to what God will do with such confidence and
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  certainty that it changes our actions and our perspective right now.
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  Our faith in who God is, our hope in him changes our here and now because we
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  are certain of his goodness and his grace and his mercy in the future.
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  As we begin to look at hope as expressed in the scriptures, I want you to think
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  about what we do read in Psalms 25.16.
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  First of all, let's look at the lonely and the afflicted.
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  Psalms 25.16 says this, turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me,
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  for I am desolate and I am afflicted.
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  It says, turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and afflicted.
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  And it continues with the troubles of my heart are enlarged.
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  Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses. look upon my affliction and my pain
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  and forgive all of my sins.
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  Consider my enemies, for they are many, and they hate me with cruel hatred.
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  Look at what the psalmist David is modeling for each of us.
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  In his time of distress, in his time of discouragement, in his time of affliction,
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  he is counting on the Lord to give him mercy.
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  He's counting on him to deliver him and help him.
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  And I wonder, when we're lonely, why is it that those of us who call ourselves
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  Christians don't turn to the one true living God who dwells inside of us in
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  the form of the Holy Spirit?
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  Why is it that we don't immediately commune with the one who will never leave us or forsake us?
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  Why isn't that we don't come boldly to the throne of grace that we could find help in time of need?
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  Why is it that we don't trade our heavy burden for his light burden?
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  Why is it we don't ask that we might
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  receive or seek that we might find or knock and have it open unto us?
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  Why is it we don't call unto him that he would show us things we don't know
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  that are great and mighty?
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  We have no need to be lonely because we are never alone.
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  But the loneliness we feel as a Christian is when we are not embracing the Holy
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  Spirit that is within us, and we are not partaking in a personal,
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  real relationship with Jesus Christ,
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  who we're told in Revelations 3.20 that he's standing at our heart's door,
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  knocking, asking us to fellowship with him.
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  He wants to spend time with us, yet we're looking for worldly or fleshly company.
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  Sometimes we'll do even things we're not thinking are the right thing to do,
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  just to be in the companionship of a real physical person.
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  But maybe it will do you some encouragement and good to know that Jesus Christ
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  is a real person, that the Holy Spirit isn't a diminished part of the Trinity,
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  but he's a real person with real job and who loves us and who continually is
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  helping and aiding and abiding within us. He's real.
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  He's as real as the person you see when you look into the mirror. And he loves you.
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  And he wants to help you and guide you and lead you and to tell you the things
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  you need to know and to bring to remembrance the things that you have need of remembrance.
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  When you are afflicted, he wants to help heal you.
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  But what is your reasoning when you ignore the still small voice within your
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  heart speaking, turn to me, come to me?
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  I think it's because we're distracted and the noise of the world we've allowed
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  to get so loud around us that it has drowned out. the gentle,
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  sweet Spirit that lives within us.
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  Friends, it's time that we gave Jesus room in our heart and put him on the throne
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  of our heart and give him his rightful place as King of kings and Lord of lords
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  within our own lives and heart.
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  It's time that we make room for him so that his noise, which isn't noise,
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  it's truth, words of life, words of power,
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  words of encouragement, encouragement so that we give him room in our life to
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  do what he does and to allow him to lead us in the way that we should go.
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  When we are spending daily time with him and we have given him proper space
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  in our life and we've made room for him to have a presence in our world,
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  then his voice will be louder than that of the world around us.
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  We will find the hope for the lonely and afflicted that we read about in Psalms
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  25, verses 16 through 19.
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  He says in verses 11 and 18 of the same chapter that he's mindful of his sinfulness.
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  See, we don't have to hide our frailties, our mistakes, our fleshly nature.
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  We need to deny our fleshly nature and we need to ask the Holy Spirit within
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  us to help us overcome it. and greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
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  But like the woman at the well in John chapter 4, Jesus knows all about us,
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  just like he knew all about her.
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  And he spoke to her and he let her know, hey, I have come and I am sitting and waiting for you.
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  I've put myself in harm's way.
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  And I want you to know, I know who you are.
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  And I still love you enough to do all of that.
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  And so he tells her who she is. He explains to her that she's been married many
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  times and the current man she's living with isn't her husband.
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  And at no point did he do that to condemn her.
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  No, he did that to let her know, I know your sins, but I am greater than your sins.
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  I know your sins, but I love you despite them.
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  And on a hill called Calvary, I took your sin and I nailed it to the cross and
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  my sinless perfect blood washed away your sins, if only you believe.
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  So we don't come to the throne timidly. We don't come to the throne wondering
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  if God will do something for us.
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  We come to the throne expecting him to do great and amazing things for us.
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  Because in Hebrews 4, 14 through 16, this is what he says.
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  Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens,
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  Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
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  For we have not a high priest, which cannot be touched with the filling of our.
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  Infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
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  Let us therefore come boldly. Let's read that again. in.
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  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
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  and grace to help in time of need.
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  He knows who we are. He was tempted like as we are, only he didn't give in, but we do.
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  But we have 1 John 1, 9 that says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and
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  just to to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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  He came to seek and to save those which were lost.
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  And we were all sinners and we've all come short of the glory of God.
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  But just like he sits and he waited for the woman at the well,
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  knowing full well that she was living in sin, he sits and he waits on each and
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  every one of us with his arms wide open, with nail scarred hands being exposed,
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  asking us to believe, asking us to follow, asking us to invite him into our
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  life, asking us to give him room in our life.
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  Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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  And he's mindful of your sinfulness.
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  In fact, he says our sins were once red as scarlet, but now they're white as snow.
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  Jesus, in his love and in his divine wisdom, has already made a way.
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  And he cleans you from the inside out. the world may look on your outside and
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  they may never forgive you for sins of your past but your past doesn't define
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  you it's your relationship with jesus that
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  defines you you're either heaven bound or hell bound and there is nothing in
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  between and those who've received the forgiveness of their sins and placed their
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  faith in jesus christ they are heaven bound those who've tried it on their own
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  and ignored the loving grace and mercy of Jesus Christ,
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  who have rejected the drawing of the Holy Spirit, they're hell-bound.
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  And Jesus stands between heaven and hell, bridging the gap.
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  But you've got to walk across that bridge by believing and trusting that we
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  will never fail, and that he's greater than your problem, them,
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  bigger than your sin, and loves you unconditionally.
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  In verse 11 of Psalms 25, he says, For thy name's sake, O Lord,
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  pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
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  If you've read much about David, you know that he was slipping and sliding on
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  the rock all the time, but the rock held him.
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  In John chapter 10 and verse 28, he says that no man shall pluck you out of my hand.
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  David was a man after God's own heart. This was said of him by God himself.
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  Yet he was definitely not perfect, and there were many sins in his life.
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  But David knew who God was, and he loved him, and the intent of his heart was to follow after him.
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  David never experienced the amazing blessing of having the Holy Spirit dwell in him.
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  David only knew what it was like to have the Holy Spirit to light upon him.
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  But we who know Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have him living in us to help us, to guide us.
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  In verse 18 of 25 that I read in your hearing earlier, David is asking him to
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  forgive him of all of his sins.
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  I think sometimes we forget that one drop of blood washes away all the sins.
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  I think you forget that if you were the only person, he would have still died on the cross.
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  I think you forget that when he was on the cross, you were on his mind.
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  I think you forget that it's every sin.
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  There isn't one too big for him and not one inconsequential.
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  Anything done without faith is sin. We live in a world where we're bombarded
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  by opportunities to sin, but greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
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  Hope in God lets us know he knows who we are, but he loves us anyway.
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  Hope in God allows us to understand that he's bigger than our sin.
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  And hope in God gives us a deliverance from our enemies.
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  In Psalms 25, 2, the psalmist David says this, oh my God, I trust in thee.
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  Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemies triumph over me.
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  And in 19, he says, consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me
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  with cruel hatred. hatred, hope in God's deliverance.
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  It's there to deliver us in our loneliness and affliction.
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  It's there even though we are
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  sinful and fleshly, and it's there when many enemies are coming after us.
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  The psalmist David can relate to many of the things that you and I are going
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  through, but I remind you again, he did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and we do.
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  I remind you again that the remedy for falling into temptation and going the
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  wrong way is inviting Jesus into your life and then making room for him every minute of every day,
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  enjoying his presence and walking through scriptures.
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  The psalmist David, he identified with all of the same challenges that we do,
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  both internally and externally, but he still had his hope in God.
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  And you see that in his writings, and no greater place do you see it than in Psalms 25.
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  He cries out the Lord for deliverance and mercy.
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  In 16, he said, turn the unto me and have mercy upon me, for I'm desolate and
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  afflicted. In 20, he says, oh, keep my soul and deliver me. Let me not be ashamed.
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  The Bible says if we're ashamed of Jesus, he'll be ashamed of us.
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  The Bible also tells us the adulteresses and adulterers, know ye not that friendship
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  with the world is enmity with God.
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  Friends, as we look at what it means to discover hope through the scriptures,
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  it comes down to having a faith in who God is.
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  Faith enough to walk with him, faith enough to believe him, and faith enough to make room for him.
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  And a love and a devotion so strong that you want his presence.
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  In Psalms chapter 25 and verse 4, he says this, show me thy ways,
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  O Lord, teach me thy paths.
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  Are you interested in knowing who who he is?
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  Are you interested in knowing his ways and his actions so that you could delight in him and follow him?
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  The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2.15 that we're to study to show ourselves approved
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  unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
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  We are to study the word of God so that we know God's character,
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  that we know how he would behave, that we understand his promises to us,
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  that we have an understanding of the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
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  Hope for deliverance.
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  It's today that I want you to stop for a moment, and I want you to realize who
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  he is and understand the love that he has for you.
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  When you learn more about him, you're going to want to know more about him.
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  And James 4.8 says, if you draw close to him, he'll draw close to you.
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  When you learn more about him, you have even greater reason to trust him.
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  When you learn more about him, you know that he's willing to wait for you.
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  But there is a time when it's too late.
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  When you learn more about him, you're going to be willing to wait for God's
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  deliverance because you know that he knows all the ways of you.
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  And you know all the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful.
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  So we begin to close this message on discovering hope through the scripture
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  and hope in God's deliverance.
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  I want you to hear these words in Psalms 25 10.
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  All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
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  We're told in Proverbs 3 5 and 6 to trust in the Lord with all thine heart and
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  lean not into thine own understanding but in all thy ways acknowledge him and
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  he shall direct your paths.
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  Psalmist David David cried out to the Lord for deliverance and mercy.
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  And when we cry out to God in our distress, that is an act of hope.
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  That's a statement of faith because it acknowledges his power and it acknowledges
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  his salvation and it acknowledges his love for us and his ability to keep us.
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  So my question to you, my friend, is this.
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  Do your actions demonstrate your hope in God?
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  It is my prayer that you search the scriptures diligently and that you come
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  to know him not only as your personal savior, but as your closest friend.
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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
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  our Heavenly Father, and it is through your loving and generous support that
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  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, 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.
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  Music.