Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 398 | Faith Isn’t Faith Unless You Cling to It

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398 | Faith Isn’t Faith Unless You Cling to It · 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, 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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  Livin' 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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  Chances are, in this day and time, if you walk into a church and ask someone
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  if they have faith, you will be met with a resounding yes.
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  However, you may walk beside that person for days and never see the evidence of their words.
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  Is it because they wanted to lie to you? Absolutely not.
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  It's because they are conditioned to say yes.
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  They have a superficial idea of what faith means, and they rarely question their
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  faith, try their faith, or assess their faith.
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  Join us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim takes us on a
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  journey through the scriptures examining true faith.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries. Let's pray.
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  Our kind and most gracious to Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you in faith believing.
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  Lord, we believe in who you are, and we're asking at this time and at this moment
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  that you would allow us to feel you in such a way and understand the amazing
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  glory and joy it is to be your child,
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  that we would be compelled and motivated and inspired to walk in such a way
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  that our faith is on an outward display.
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  But Lord, I am certain we can't display a faith we do not understand.
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  We can't display a faith that we do not possess.
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  We cannot display a faith that is not wholly and solely and fully in you.
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  So Lord, from the depths of my heart, I ask you to increase our faith to strengthen our trust,
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  to allow us to be a walking billboard of the goodness and the grace and the
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  mercy, the peace and the love that comes from a committed life to you,
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  a devoted service to you.
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  And a faith that is rooted and grounded in you and your word.
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  And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
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  Faith is an interesting thing. We throw the word around quite easily.
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  We talk about our faith. When somebody says, well, what's your faith?
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  And when we talk about it, we talk about the church we go to.
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  We often do say, well, I'm a Christian, which means Christ-like or little Christ.
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  But yet our life often doesn't look like we are Christ-like or that we are little Christ. Christ's.
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  So when we say we have faith, what we are implying is, is that we believe in Jesus Christ.
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  We don't just believe with lip service, but we back our belief with every thought,
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  every step, every idea, every goal, and every purpose. That's what it means to have faith.
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  I promise you that for the vast majority of us who drive, when we get in our
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  car, we turn it on and it does not start.
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  We are not only frustrated, aggravated, and angry, we are completely stunned and shocked.
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  At no point during the day and during the moment before we got in that car did
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  it ever cross our mind that when we did the correct steps in the correct order
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  that our car would not start.
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  That, my friend, is a working, dedicated, committed faith.
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  Because there is absolute shock when the stupid thing won't start.
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  And then you are just like, what could be wrong? How could this happen?
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  Now, let's contrast that with an everyday event in our life.
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  We're walking down the street. And we've got great plans.
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  And we believe that God has got his supreme hand upon us.
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  We are talking about how good and how great he is.
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  And then suddenly, beyond our control, without any warning, there is a complete
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  disaster tragedy that hits us.
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  And instead of things like, oh, my goodness, thank you, Jesus, you're with me.
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  Oh, Lord, what would you have me do right now?
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  Or, Lord, thank you for your protection. It's like, where are you,
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  God? How'd this happen to me?
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  Well, look at all I've done. How are we going to get through this?
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  What's going to happen to me now?
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  And instead of a flood of peace or an absolute shock, you might even be the,
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  well, that's what I expected.
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  Just another Monday, just another day in paradise, just living the life.
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  You can laugh and you can joke, but I'm afraid too many of us at the sound of
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  my voice are very, very well acquainted,
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  with thinking that problems and obstacles and troubles in our lives.
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  Just an ordinary day in
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  day out existence no surprise to
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  me and i get it the the scripture
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  says that a man born of a woman a few days full of trouble i get it he says
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  in this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer for i've overcome
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  the world that's the part i'm trying to get to here we aren't to go around in
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  our world living like eeyore if you're not familiar with Eeyore.
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  Think about this. It's Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too and there's Eeyore and
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  Eeyore walks around with his head hung down looking like he's been baptized
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  face forward in pickle juice and he's all upset and every day is just a drama
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  and every moment's just chaos and he just feels like the whole world's against him.
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  And how in the world could you feel that way when you have Winnie the Pooh and
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  Tigger Too as your friend?
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  They're upbeat. They're loving. They're constant companions.
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  They're wise. They know what to do. They know when to be quiet.
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  They know when to say good things.
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  They're forever supporting him. But Eeyore is just committed to not believe in the good.
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  Eeyore, at least, is consistent in his erroneous attitude of life, and I think he owns it.
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  We're consistent in our erroneous attitude of life, but we fail to own it sometimes.
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  See, we say we have faith, but like Eeyore, we walk around as if we don't.
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  We show up at church. I mean, first of all, that's what you're supposed to do.
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  Second of all, somebody's going to ask you about it if you don't.
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  And third of all, well, there's people there. It might be fun.
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  No, that's not what the assembling of yourselves together with brothers and
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  sisters in Christ is all about.
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  It's about coming together in one accord, worshiping the great almighty God,
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  letting your goodness and your testimony influence the goodness and testimony
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  of others and the goodness and the testimony of others flowing over to you.
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  And you're just talking about like popcorn popping one person right after the other,
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  speaking about what God has done for you this week, what God has promised you,
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  how he's brought you from here and taking it to there, how he's promised to
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  get you further into the future, how there is sunshine and there is love and
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  there is warmth and there There is goodness and there is grace and there is
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  hope and his name is Jesus.
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  That's the difference between Eeyore's attitude and that of a born again,
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  washed in the blood, committed saint of God who believes God is who he says he is.
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  Who lives that God will do what he says he will do. who walks in the ways of
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  the Lord in true obedience and in absolute trust because he understands that
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  that's where the peace of God is found.
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  That's where the blessings of God is found. That's where the joy of the Lord
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  abounds. And that's what he's called to do.
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  So as we open up our scripture today, in the book of Hebrews in the 11th chapter,
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  and we begin to read Hebrews 11, 6, I want you to open your heart.
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  I want you to open your mind, and I want you to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
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  And I want you to walk away from this message, not because you heard Kim Miller
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  speak, but because you sought the Lord, because you asked him to tell you what he wanted you to know.
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  Because you said, reveal to me what it is you want me to hear in this message.
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  Let me understand fully and wholly what it is you have for me in my life.
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  Let me be the light of the world. Let me show others who you are.
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  Let your good works be seen in the things that I do.
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  Let my life be a living testimony of the transformational, regenerational,
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  amazing grace of Jesus Christ.
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  And as we read Hebrews 11 6 let him open up unto you the entire resources of heaven,
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  to demonstrate to you who he is and who he is in your life and how that should
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  transform how you walk how you talk and you should put the rest the attitude
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  of Eeyore in your life forever and you should be like Tigger too.
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  Today is a good day. Today is a new day.
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  Today is another day I can serve the Lord. Today is a day that I can see the
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  blessings of the Lord abound upon me.
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  Today is another day where the goodness of the Lord is gonna shower me.
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  Today is a day when I can claim the name of Jesus.
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  Today is one more time when I can speak of the truth of the loving God that lives inside of me.
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  Hebrews 11, 6 says this, but without faith, it is impossible to please him.
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  For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder
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  of them that diligently seek him.
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  Oh, praise the Lord. He's a rewarder of those that seek him.
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  In Matthew chapter 7 and verse 7, he says, ask and ye shall receive.
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  Seek and ye shall find and knock and it shall be opened unto you.
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  These are promises. When you seek him, you'll find him. My friend,
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  he's not lost. We go around using the phrase, I found Jesus.
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  Jesus has never been lost. You allow Jesus to get a hold of you is what you did.
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  And praise be to God. He is diligent and he's persistent and he's patient and he's long suffering.
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  And he wishes that none should come to the sinner, that no sinner should come
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  to the destruction of their soul.
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  And he wishes that all should come to repentance and that none should be left out of his family.
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  And so he pursues with an ever loving pursuit.
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  He pursues with desperation, not because he's desperate,
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  but because he knows the desperation of your soul and that he's the only one
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  that can be a remedy for the things you need to give you the completeness and
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  the wholeness that he intends for you to have,
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  that you might live the abundant life he promises in John 10, 10.
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  It's not just words. He said, I come that you might have life and that you might
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  have it more abundantly, but it's all wrapped up in the truth and the foundation,
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  that you gotta believe that he is.
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  That is your rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Are you seeking him?
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  Are you asking him, show me your characteristics?
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  Give to me your blessings and your instruction.
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  All we want is blessings. But so many of us don't want his instructions and.
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  We need his instructions so that he can form and transform us into a vessel
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  that can hold his blessings.
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  If you're not willing to get correction, you're never going to get those amazing blessings he wants.
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  Man, you've got to be formed into the person he needs you to be to be able to
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  fully contain the glory of God.
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  It's not about him being restrictive. It's about you just can't hold the glory
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  of God without having the integrity of his righteousness.
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  Jesus loves you. This I know for the Bible tells me so.
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  Do you believe who he is? He says you got to believe that he is.
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  See, the superficial faith we were talking about in the beginning,
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  it's not going to cut it you got to believe that
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  god cannot lie in hebrews chapter 6
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  18 he says this that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for
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  god to lie we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay
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  hold upon the hope set before us hope has a name and his name is Jesus and he cannot lie.
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  So for the next few moments that we are together, let's talk about some things he said.
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  And I want you to ask God right now at this very moment in time,
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  as you hear us go over these words, and I pray that you're reading them in your
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  own Bibles. And if you need a Bible, get a hold of woman at the Well Ministries.
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  We'll see that you have one in your hands.
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  But what I want you to see is this. These are just but a few of the hundreds
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  of promises God has made to each of us.
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  In Romans 10, 13, he said this, Whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved.
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  Now, my friends, that's part of the Romans wrote, and it is entailing the fact
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  that he told us in John 3, 16, that for God so loved the world that he gave
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  his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
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  but have everlasting life.
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  It is the promise that everybody can call upon the Lord and believe in him and receive eternal life.
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  But I submit to you that when Peter was walking on the water and he raises his
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  hand up and he says, Lord,
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  save me, and immediately God reaches down Jesus
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  in his hands and picks him up and draws him to him and
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  takes him to the boat he was given safety because
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  he asked the lord to save him and in
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  his moment of despair in his darkest hour
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  in his problem jesus was already there and when he asked him to save him and
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  he depended upon him and he clung to him and he allowed him to carry him he
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  wasn't kicking and screaming he wasn't submitting his own ideas how to get back
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  to the boat man he had his arms He had his legs, I think, wrapped around him.
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  I think he was trying to squish himself into the skin of Jesus and just let Jesus take him back.
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  Now, that's how we need to be in our darkest hour. That's how we need to be in our biggest problem.
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  That's how we need to be when we are confused, when we are lost.
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  But let me tell you, that's how we need to be when we're on the mountain, too.
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  That's how we need to be when things are bright. We need to be squished so close
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  to Jesus that it's like a melting wax of a candle. and it just squishes in him
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  and you can't find the difference between his skin and yours because you are
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  in him and he's dwelling in you.
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  That's what he says when he says you got to believe that he is.
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  In Isaiah 26, 3, he says, for thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind
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  is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee.
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  Oh, friend, what the world needs is Jesus.
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  What the world longs for is peace. And praise be to God, they both exist in Jesus.
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  And thank you, Jesus, they're all ours for the taking because he said whosoever
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  should call upon him shall be saved.
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  He told us that we could come and trade our burdens for his and his were light.
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  He told us he would give us rest. But you got to keep your mind stayed on him.
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  You got to believe. you got to be laser focused
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  like those horses that race and
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  they put the blinders on and they can't see left or right they can't
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  see behind them all they can see is the prize of the high calling in
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  front of them and their prize is a dusty field and
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  making somebody else rich our prize is jesus christ who's anything but dusty
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  he cleans the dust off of us he washes us white as snow he cleanses our blood
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  as if we had never sinned we are justified fully and freely with his imputed
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  righteousness and the prize doesn't go to him.
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  The prize goes to us. We have a home not made with hands, eternal into the heavens.
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  We have a life promised with Jesus.
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  We have a place where sin has no invitation and sin has no reservation.
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  There's no death. There's no sorrow.
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  There is light. There is peace. There is love. There is glory.
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  There is hope. There is Jesus. us.
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  And that's what the faith in Hebrews 11, 6 reveals to each and every one of us.
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  In John chapter 14, verse 6, we are told these truths.
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  I'm so glad he chose to put them in his word because you know what? They're important.
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  It's our hope in Jesus Christ. And why do we have hope because he's our hope.
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  He says, let not your heart be troubled. I love that.
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  He opens up with let not your heart be troubled.
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  He's like, come on. Come on, my friend. Come on, my child.
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  I've never left you. I've never forsaken you. I'm holding your hand right now.
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  I'm right here in the midst of this. Then there's a brighter day coming because
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  he says, in my father's house are many mansions.
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  So let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me.
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  In my father's house are men's ye mansions. And if it were not so,
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  I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.
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  And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself.
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  That where I am, there you may be also.
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  We haven't even left this world yet and he's prepared a place even better a
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  home not made with hands eternal into the heavens there's no sorrow no sickness
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  no pain no darkness and he's the light.
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  He's already prepared it, and he's going there.
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  But he didn't leave us alone. He gave us the Holy Spirit because he never wanted to be away from us.
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  Now, that's love. How can you be Eeyore?
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  I don't understand how Eeyore's attitude was what it was when he had Tigger
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  and Winnie the Pooh. We've got Jesus and the Holy Spirit too.
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  How in the world are we containing that joy?
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  It's beyond my understanding. oh
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  how he loves you and oh how he loves me in verse
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  four he says and whither i go you know in the way you know
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  oh thomas he's he's trying to figure out i don't know nothing that's what he's
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  thinking so he says thomas saith unto him lord we know not whither thou goest
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  and how we know the way and this is what he says see it's one thing for somebody
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  to ask you a question and then and they give you an answer.
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  So they ask me a question and I give them an answer.
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  It's another thing for someone to ask me a question and I take the time and
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  the personal aspect and the caring and the commitment to show them the answer,
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  to help them fully understand.
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  And look what he says in verse 6.
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  This is Jesus himself speaking to you, my friend.
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  He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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  No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Listen.
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  Here's what he said to you. Listen. He said, I'm the way.
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  And he told us in Hebrews, I'm never going to leave you or forsake you.
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  He said, I'm the way. And I'm right here with you.
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  Crawl up in my arms, wrap your arms around my neck, Smash yourself tightly into me.
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  I will hold you and carry you and I will save you. And I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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  You want the abundant life in Jesus Christ?
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  You crawl up in his lap. You get under the shadow of the Almighty like we see in Psalms 91.
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  And you allow him to lead you and guide you and direct you.
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  And you put blinders to this world on. And you believe him when he said in Philippians
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  4.13 that you could do all things through Christ, which strengthens you.
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  You believe him when he said in Philippians 4, 19, that he would supply all
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  of your needs according to his riches in glory.
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  You believe he is who he says he is.
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  Read his word. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
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  You're holding Jesus when you hold his word, but he's always holding you,
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  hiding you, and helping you.
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  The scripture says plainly, but without faith, it is impossible to believe him.
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  And you must believe that he is, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
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  seek him. He invites you to come.
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  He says, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is. He says,
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  come all you that are labored and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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  He tells us to come boldly to the throne of grace. In Hebrews chapter four,
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  verses 14 through 16, he's never going to leave you.
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  Nothing's ever going to stop him from loving you, according to Romans 8,
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  38 and 39. But you have a choice.
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  You have the choice to believe, to place your faith solely and wholly in him.
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  To God be the glory for the great things he has done.
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  The things he has said and the things he has done all give me evidence of the
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  goodness that's to come.
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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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  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
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  to bless others. To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  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. Amen.
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  Music.