Latest / Time with God with John North / What To Do When You Are Far From God Pt. 4

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What To Do When You Are Far From God Pt. 4 · Time with God with John North

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Good morning. We're talking all this week about the topic
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: what to do when you are far from God. You
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: may be a person who has never put God into
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  Speaker 1: your life. You may be a person who has known
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  Speaker 1: God personally in the past, but you're walking far from
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  Speaker 1: God now.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we're looking all week at the steps you need
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  Speaker 1: to take when you find that to be true, based
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  Speaker 1: on a story Jesus told about a young man who
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  Speaker 1: rebelled against his father, took his share of the inheritance,
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  Speaker 1: even though his father was still alive, went off to
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  Speaker 1: a far country, wasted it all, lived in a way
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  Speaker 1: that was so dishonouring to his family and to his father.
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  Speaker 1: Then he found himself in a crisis situation where everything
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  Speaker 1: was falling apart in his life, and he thought back
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  Speaker 1: to the life in his father's house, and he remembered
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  Speaker 1: how even the servants in his father's house were so
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  Speaker 1: well treated by his father, and here he was, the son,
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  Speaker 1: and yet his life was terrible, desperate. Maybe you find
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  Speaker 1: yourself in that place.
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  Speaker 1: You've come to the end of yourself, and you know
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  Speaker 1: your life is falling apart. Your relationships are a mess,
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  Speaker 1: and your inner life is at a place of desperation.
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  Speaker 1: You need God in your life. Well, what are the
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  Speaker 1: steps to take? Step number one is to recognise that
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  Speaker 1: you need God. That's what happened to this young man.
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  Speaker 1: He knew he needed his father.
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  Speaker 1: Secondly, you need to come to God on His terms,
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  Speaker 1: not all proudly as if you're doing God a favour
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  Speaker 1: by putting Him back in your life. No, recognising He's
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  Speaker 1: the one you've offended, you need to come to Him
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  Speaker 1: in repentance. That just means acknowledging I've been messing up
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  Speaker 1: my life, going the wrong way by leaving God out,
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  Speaker 1: and I want to put God at the centre of
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  Speaker 1: my life. Acknowledge your brokenness to God.
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  Speaker 1: And ask him to help you. Step number 3 that
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  Speaker 1: we looked at yesterday is to accept God's love for
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  Speaker 1: you and this young man as he approached his father
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  Speaker 1: while he was still a long way off. His father
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  Speaker 1: saw him and felt compassion and just ran.
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  Speaker 1: Totally undignified in that culture for an older man to run,
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  Speaker 1: and yet he didn't care. His son had to know
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  Speaker 1: that he loved him. He ran to his son, embraced him.
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  Speaker 1: He threw his arms around him. He kissed him, and
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  Speaker 1: the son said to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven,
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  Speaker 1: and before you. He's got this memorised speech to let
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  Speaker 1: his father know he's truly repenting. He wants to come
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  Speaker 1: back on his father's terms. I'm no longer worthy to
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  Speaker 1: be called your son.
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  Speaker 1: The father doesn't even let him finish. He calls to
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  Speaker 1: his servants, Bring quickly the best robe and put it
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  Speaker 1: on him. And this really introduces step number 4 that
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  Speaker 1: we want to look at now. Receive God's grace.
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  Speaker 1: Receive God's grace, the father said to his servants. Bring
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  Speaker 1: quickly the best robe. Well, you know whose robe was
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  Speaker 1: the best robe in the house? The father's robe.
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  Speaker 1: Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him
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  Speaker 1: and put a ring on his hand and shoes on
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  Speaker 1: his feet. The ring signified you're back in the family.
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  Speaker 1: You have the signet ring of authority, shoes on his feet.
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  Speaker 1: Bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us
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  Speaker 1: eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead
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  Speaker 1: and is alive again. He was lost and is found.
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  Speaker 1: That is grace.
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  Speaker 1: That young man did not deserve that from his father,
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  Speaker 1: did he? He had embarrassed his father. He'd demanded his
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  Speaker 1: inheritance while his father was still alive. He'd rejected him.
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  Speaker 1: He'd gone away to a distant place. He'd dishonoured the
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  Speaker 1: family and the way that he lived, and now he's
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  Speaker 1: coming back broke, desperate, broken. He didn't deserve all of that,
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  Speaker 1: but his father poured it out on him anyway.
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  Speaker 1: This is exactly what God does when we come back
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  Speaker 1: to Him and say, God, I've messed up my life.
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  Speaker 1: I've ruined things. I'm desperate. I need you. Please accept
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  Speaker 1: me on your terms. God doesn't say, Well, it's about time. I,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to squash you under my thumb now because
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  Speaker 1: you know you're such a bad person. No.
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  Speaker 1: He pours out his forgiveness, His grace. He puts things
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  Speaker 1: into our lives that we don't deserve. If you take
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  Speaker 1: the letters of the word grace, G R A C E,
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  Speaker 1: they spell this out, God's riches at Christ's expense.
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  Speaker 1: God Himself pays the cost. Who paid for that best
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  Speaker 1: robe that was put on His Son? The Father did.
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  Speaker 1: The ring. The Father paid for it. The shoes. The
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  Speaker 1: Father paid for them. All that you need. God has
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  Speaker 1: paid for at the cross of Jesus Christ when He
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  Speaker 1: died to make a way for you to be right
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  Speaker 1: with God. If you will turn to God today, He's
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  Speaker 1: ready to pour out His grace in your life. You
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  Speaker 1: just have to receive it.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North