Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 337 | Throwback - The Work of the King’s Children is Never Done

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337 | Throwback - The Work of the King’s Children is Never Done · 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 in 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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  Can you believe it? You were picked to serve with the Master of the Universe.
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  He even knows you by name.
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  You have been picked for a wonderful work, but He requires righteousness.
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  You must live a life that is worthy of His calling.
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  Join us in this program, The Work of the King's Children is Never Done,
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  as Kim Miller of Woman at the Well Ministries takes us through 1 Corinthians 15.34, which says,
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  Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God.
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  I speak this to your shame.
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  Hello and welcome to this broadcast of Women at the Well Ministries. Let us pray.
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  Our kind and most gracious, your heavenly Father, Lord, we want to thank you
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  for this opportunity to come before you.
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  We thank you, Lord, that we know that you hear us, Lord, and we thank the Lord
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  for all that you speak to us.
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  We thank the Lord for the word that you've given us from Genesis to Revelations.
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  And I just ask, dear Heavenly Father, that you would be with us over the next
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  few moments as we take a look at your scriptures, and pray that you would open
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  our hearts and our minds that we would hear exactly what you would have us to
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  hear from that scripture,
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  and Lord, that you would give us the courage and the knowledge and the understanding
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  that we might act upon what we
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  hear, Lord, that we might be the Christians that you would have us to be.
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  Lord, if there be someone who is listening, we pray that someone who's listening
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  who doesn't know you, Lord, that we pray that you would have something to be
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  said or something to be done that would allow them to come to know you and the
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  pardon and forgiveness of sin.
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  We're thankful, Lord, that you're our Savior, our God, and our Lord. In Jesus' name we pray.
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  Amen. The title of today's lesson is The Work of the King's Children Is Never Done.
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  And as Erica read and you're hearing, it comes out of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 34.
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  And that verse opens up with, awake to righteousness and sin not.
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  And I thought about that long and hard as I was writing that particular angelgram,
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  and I thought about it as we were preparing for this lesson.
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  And it is an interesting concept that for many of us, we don't think about sin.
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  It doesn't mean that we don't sin.
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  It means that we don't think about it. And like many things,
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  if you don't think of something, it can sometimes surprise you.
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  It can sometimes sneak up on you.
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  It can certainly cause you problems.
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  And so oftentimes what we need to do, our best defense of something is to be
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  proactive and have a good offense.
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  And that means in this particular situation that we need to be very aware of
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  the things that the devil uses to tempt us with.
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  And the Bible says that there's no temptation that is greater than the escape
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  he will provide for each of us. but we have to choose to take that escape.
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  We have to choose to trust in the Lord and allow him to lead us away from that
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  place we found ourself in where temptation is around.
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  So if we really are honest with ourselves and we begin to think about the things
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  in our lives that pull us from the Lord, I'm not necessarily talking about things.
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  That put you in the horse horseweeds.
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  Sometimes we're just talking about things that distract you from the Lord.
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  Maybe you have an incredible passion for a particular sport and you have a hard
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  time controlling that in your life.
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  And so you'll find yourself playing all the time, but you don't have enough time to read his word.
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  Or perhaps you'll find yourself saying, well, it's okay if I go on a Sunday,
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  I can go on on a Sunday, and then you find yourself, well, it was easy to go
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  one Sunday, so maybe you'll go another Sunday and another.
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  And the next thing you know, you're doing all these different things that have
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  nothing to do with the Lord.
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  And that's a subtle way that the devil uses us for his good and removes us from
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  the good we would get in the house of God,
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  in the study of God's word, in the work of the Lord.
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  And so it's often a very subtle thing that takes us away from what we should be doing.
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  And that often happens because we don't think about things that.
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  Could be a trap for us. You see, we need to give all things to the Lord and
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  let the Lord lead us and guide us.
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  And we need to put the Lord first in all things.
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  That means, you know, a good practice in your life is when your eyes open up
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  before your feet hit the floor is to have a conversation with the Lord.
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  An incredible practice that will benefit you greatly is to go to the Lord with
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  what the plans are he would have for you that day.
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  And as you talk to him about the things that you're obligated to do for work,
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  don't think he doesn't know that.
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  He even knows the frustrations and the distractions that's going to pop up during
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  the day from work or your other obligations.
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  Nothing is going to surprise him. But if you go armed with just yourself and
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  armed with only your own might and armed with only your own power,
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  and you try to make it through the day,
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  if you get to the end of the day, you're going to be completely exhausted.
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  Most of the things you wanted to get done probably didn't get done,
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  and you just couldn't find enough time.
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  But if you start your day speaking to the Lord and allowing Him to set in your
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  heart and in your mind the things that He would have you to do,
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  He will somehow make time for you to get done all the things that he planned for you to get done.
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  Keeping in mind that he knows your obligations.
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  He knows your family obligations. He knows your work obligations.
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  He knows the things that you have promised.
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  But it's incredibly important before you go around promising that you'll do
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  this or you'll do that, that you've had a talk with the Lord.
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  Because you see, the rest of this verse says that for some have not the knowledge
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  of God. And I speak that to your shame.
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  He has a plan to place you in the perfect place where you can do the most work
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  for him and you can glorify him the best.
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  You may think that you just have a job and you might not even like your job.
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  But if you have spoken to the Lord and the Lord has made it clear that that's where he wants you to be.
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  Listen closely he has
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  you there for a reason he's going to allow you
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  to be a light to them he might have
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  somebody there who's going to bless you
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  in such a way that you benefit from being there
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  but don't ever be mistaken by thinking you're just somewhere you are somewhere
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  with a purpose and a cause and the purpose is to glorify God and the cause is
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  to increase his kingdom and And we need to realize that until we come to that
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  conclusion with our lives,
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  it's going to be very hard for us to grasp the full meaning of what this verse is.
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  This verse says, awake to righteousness.
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  Well, when we think about sin, not think about doing sin, but when we think
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  about the sin that is around us, we can begin to formulate a strategy to eradicate it from us.
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  And that strategy is to speak to the Lord and ask him for the courage and the
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  strength and the guidance to say no.
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  But we need to awake to righteousness.
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  You see, when you're standing around in that little huddle at work and people
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  are saying things they shouldn't say.
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  And they're speaking about topics that aren't becoming a Christian,
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  and you're just standing there, maybe even laughing along with them,
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  You're defeating the purpose that God has for you to be the light in that moment.
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  You need to be the one who stands strong. And maybe you just walk away and say,
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  you know, if this is how this conversation is going to go, that's not what I
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  do. And you just move away.
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  Perhaps you're the one who's going to stay busy, realizing that everything you
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  do, you do as if you're doing it unto the Lord.
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  And all your co-workers are slacking off.
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  And they're just doing this or that. And they don't care because the boss can't see.
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  And so they're just taking an inch and moving it a mile. And they're trying
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  to get by with whatever they can.
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  Maybe you're going to be the one that goes to work realizing that the Lord has
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  put you there to be an example of what Christ would do.
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  And Christ said to render under Caesar's that which is Caesar's.
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  And Christ said that we're to do everything as if we're doing it unto the Lord. And he is watching.
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  And an honest day's work is what's required of every Christian. Amen.
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  And we need to realize that we have to awake to righteousness and sin not.
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  And that may require reflecting upon our lives and our behaviors and our activities
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  to see where it is that we need to really strengthen our walk.
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  Now, in no way am I asking you to go into your workplace or into your community
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  or your social avenues and be condemning. Because the Bible says that's the Lord's job.
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  And he doesn't even do it. Because he says, It's therefore now no more condemnation
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  to them that love the Lord and that are in Christ Jesus.
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  So your job is not to go in and say, You can't do this and you can't do that.
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  It's not your job to beat them over the head with the Bible.
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  Your job is to show them the love of Jesus.
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  And to walk in his commandments and in his ways. In such a way that they notice you are different.
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  Different because the Bible says that old things are passed away and all things
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  are become new and that you're a new creature in Christ Jesus.
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  And just think about this for a moment. If Christ lives in you, the King of Kings,
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  the Lord of Lords, the Holy of Holies, if he lives in you,
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  shouldn't you be very different than someone who was filled with the devil,
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  who doesn't have the kingdom of God within them, whose heart and mind is not
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  fixed on Christ and his righteousness,
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  that doesn't take a lot of real thought to understand.
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  And so if Christ lives in me and I am claiming to be a Christian and the people
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  around me are not, then likely it is that I'm the only Bible they're going to read.
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  And so I need to take that job seriously, because some have not the knowledge of God.
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  And in this verse, the Lord speaks that to the shame of those that were there.
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  When he said, go you into all the world, do you realize that your little neighborhood,
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  your home, your family, your community, your social circle, your workplace, that's your world.
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  And he has you there specifically and purposely.
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  And you need to embrace that opportunity to be God's hands extended at his feet,
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  to show a lost and dying world that Jesus saves.
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  To encourage a fallen brother that Jesus forgives, to spread love and mercy
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  and grace all where you go, so that when they see you, they see Jesus.
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  Because he said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me.
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  Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God.
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  I speak this to your shame.
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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 our Heavenly Father.
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  And it is through your loving and generous support that 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,
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  Happy Girl. We greatly appreciate your prayers.
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  We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you. You.
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  Music.