Latest / Time with God with John North / Together We Are Stronger Pt. 1

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Together We Are Stronger Pt. 1 · Time with God with John North

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  Speaker 1: Good morning. I hope as you start this week that
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  Speaker 1: you have in your mind that the number one priority
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  Speaker 1: of your week is to walk close to the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: because if that part of your life is right, then
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  Speaker 1: all of your life is right.
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  Speaker 1: God will work in you and through you in the
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  Speaker 1: lives of other people in ways that you could not
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  Speaker 1: predict and could never manufacture on your own as you
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  Speaker 1: walk with Him and spend time with Him with His word,
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  Speaker 1: the Bible open in front of you, allowing Him to
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  Speaker 1: speak into your life and direct your life.
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  Speaker 1: If you don't know God yet in your life on
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  Speaker 1: a personal level, then you need to come to Him
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  Speaker 1: in prayer and just say to Him, God, I know
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  Speaker 1: my life is not what it should be, and I
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  Speaker 1: know that I offend you a lot with the things
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  Speaker 1: I do, and my conscience tells me I'm breaking your laws,
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  Speaker 1: and that separates me from you.
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  Speaker 1: But I want to put my trust in what you
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  Speaker 1: have done for me when Jesus died on the cross.
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  Speaker 1: He died in my place to take the penalty for
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  Speaker 1: my sins so that I could be forgiven and start
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  Speaker 1: a relationship with you. I put my faith in you
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  Speaker 1: and invite you to begin to direct my life.
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  Speaker 1: When you do that, you embark on this beautiful relationship
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  Speaker 1: with God, and the number one thing for you then
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  Speaker 1: is building your relationship with Him, and you do that
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  Speaker 1: by spending time with Him every single day, and that's
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  Speaker 1: what we do at this time in the morning. We
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  Speaker 1: open the Bible and we invite God to speak to us.
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  Speaker 1: This week our theme is Together we are stronger.
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  Speaker 1: I just want to read a couple of verses to
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  Speaker 1: you from Matthew 18. Jesus is talking about what we
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  Speaker 1: should do when we see somebody else that we know
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  Speaker 1: and love doing things that we know offend God and
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  Speaker 1: are destructive to their lives and others.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus says, And if your brother sins, go and reprove
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  Speaker 1: him in private, not go and talk to other people
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  Speaker 1: about it. First, go and reprove him in private. If
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  Speaker 1: he listens to you, you have won your brother.
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  Speaker 1: But if he does not listen to you, take one
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  Speaker 1: or two more with you so that by the mouth
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  Speaker 1: of 2 or 3 witnesses every fact may be confirmed.
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  Speaker 1: He goes on a few verses later in verse 19
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  Speaker 1: to say, and I say to you that if two
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  Speaker 1: of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask,
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  Speaker 1: it shall be done for them by my Father who
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  Speaker 1: is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered
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  Speaker 1: together in my name, there I am in their midst.
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  Speaker 1: It's so beautiful that Jesus puts these verses in the
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  Speaker 1: context of talking to someone we love about sin in
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  Speaker 1: their lives, about things that are offending God and hurting
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  Speaker 1: their own lives, and He says, do it together, agree together,
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  Speaker 1: pray together about it, and then go together and talk
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  Speaker 1: to that person, and I think that this just
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  Speaker 1: Unfolds to us, unpacks to us this beautiful principle of
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  Speaker 1: life that there is so much strength in doing things together,
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  Speaker 1: in working together in things that please and honour God,
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  Speaker 1: and I encourage you in your life as you think
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  Speaker 1: about this week, to think about what you could put
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  Speaker 1: in place in your life that connects you and your
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  Speaker 1: spiritual life with other people on the same journey towards
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  Speaker 1: God as you are.
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  Speaker 1: How you can encourage each other. How you can strengthen
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  Speaker 1: each other this week in doing what you know that
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  Speaker 1: God has called you to do, because as you do this,
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  Speaker 1: linking arms with other people, your life and their life
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  Speaker 1: becomes so much stronger because of it.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.