Latest / Time with God with John North / What To Do When You Are Far From God Pt. 1

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What To Do When You Are Far From God Pt. 1 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. You may be on the road already, you
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: may just be waking up, but I'm here to help
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: you on your spiritual journey.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Every weekday morning at this time we take just a
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  Speaker 1: few minutes to read the Bible and see what God
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  Speaker 1: has to say that is relevant to our lives. We
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: follow a theme for the week, and this week I
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: want to talk with you on the theme when you
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: are far from God.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Maybe as you're listening you say, well, that's me right
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: now in my life. Maybe you've never been religious, or
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: maybe you are a Christian and you feel like you're
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: wandering far from God. God is no longer in the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: centre of your life. Well, this week is for you.
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  Speaker 1: When you're far from God. The fact is, of course,
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  Speaker 1: God is near us all the time, just waiting for
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  Speaker 1: us to make things right with Him.
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  Speaker 1: But we can be far from God, not in space
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: or not in access to Him, but relationally far away
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  Speaker 1: from Him, spiritually far away from Him, and there can
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  Speaker 1: be all sorts of reasons for that. I want to
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  Speaker 1: give you each day a step in moving to being
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  Speaker 1: right with God in your life. Step number one, when
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  Speaker 1: you find that you're far from God, is this.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: recognise that you need God. All this week I want
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  Speaker 1: to look at the story that Jesus told one time
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  Speaker 1: about a son who went far away from his father,
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  Speaker 1: and Jesus' story is really about people who go far
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  Speaker 1: away from God.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what Jesus said.
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  Speaker 1: Luke chapter 15 starting in verse 11 in the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: and he said there was a man who had two sons.
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  Speaker 1: And the younger of them said to his father, Father,
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  Speaker 1: give me the share of the property that is coming
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  Speaker 1: to me.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't wait for his father to die. He wanted
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  Speaker 1: it now.
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  Speaker 1: And he divided his property between them.
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  Speaker 1: Not many days later, the younger son gathered all that
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  Speaker 1: he had and took a journey into a far country,
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  Speaker 1: and there he squandered his property in reckless living.
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  Speaker 1: And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose
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  Speaker 1: in that country, and he began to be in need.
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  Speaker 1: So he went and hired himself out to one of
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  Speaker 1: the citizens of that country who sent him into his
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  Speaker 1: fields to feed pigs.
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  Speaker 1: And he was longing to be fed with the pods
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  Speaker 1: that the pigs ate. He was so hungry.
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  Speaker 1: But no one gave him anything. He wasn't even allowed
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  Speaker 1: to eat that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it says then when he came to himself.
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  Speaker 1: Some translations put it when he came to his senses,
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  Speaker 1: he said, How many of my father's hired servants have
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  Speaker 1: more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger.
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  Speaker 1: Well, he really hit the bottom, didn't he?
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  Speaker 1: And sometimes you have to hit rock bottom in your
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  Speaker 1: life before you remember God and before you turn to God.
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if you're listening this morning and that's you.
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  Speaker 1: You've really come to the end of yourself. You feel desperate.
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  Speaker 1: You feel hopeless. You don't know where to turn. I
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  Speaker 1: want to say to you that's when you need to
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  Speaker 1: turn to God.
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  Speaker 1: God is there. Come to your senses. Remember that you
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  Speaker 1: have a Creator who loves you and cares for you.
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  Speaker 1: This man remembered the goodness of his Father. He came
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: to his senses and said, How many of my father's
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  Speaker 1: hired servants have more than enough bread.
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  Speaker 1: But I, his son, perish here with hunger. He realised
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  Speaker 1: that he was foolish to stay away from God in
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  Speaker 1: his life, that in his time of need he should
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  Speaker 1: be turning to God, and this is really your first
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  Speaker 1: step back to God is just coming to that realisation.
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  Speaker 1: I want to be the master of my own life,
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  Speaker 1: but
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  Speaker 1: I'm not doing very well at that. I was made
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  Speaker 1: for God, and I need to go back to God.
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  Speaker 1: That realisation is your first step back to God. Are
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  Speaker 1: you at that point today?
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  Speaker 1: Then stop, take stock of your life, and recognise.
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  Speaker 1: I need God.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North