Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 658 | Does Your Giving Have a Cost?

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658 | Does Your Giving Have a Cost? · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast.
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  With Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
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  boy, and girl must come to Jesus, just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
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  Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
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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 open the scriptures to learn more about
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  who God is and to strengthen your daily walk.
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  In this conversation of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
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  join Kim Miller and Erica Close in a conversation as we walk with Jesus.
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  In today's conversation, we are chatting about what life looks like when we
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  choose to honestly give sacrificially.
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  Well, thank you all so much for joining us today. My name is Erica Close,
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  and I am here with Kimberly Miller.
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  Hello, and thank you so much for joining us in this podcast.
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  So today we're talking about our giving, all the ways that the Lord calls us to give.
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  And we're answering the question, does our giving have a cost?
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  And so if you are a regular listener to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
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  you probably listened to Monday's podcast, which was episode 657, and it was called All In.
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  And in that podcast, Kim walked through Mark 12, 41 through 44,
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  and talked about the widow and giving her two mites, right? She gave two mites.
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  And she talked about that sacrificial giving that the woman did.
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  And so what I want to do in this podcast today is just talk a little bit about
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  how we are to take a look at our giving to ensure that our giving.
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  Is not convenient and is not just a checkbox,
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  but that because we know that God is looking not at the size of our gift,
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  but at the surrender of our hearts,
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  we can evaluate our giving to know that our giving is really about our heart.
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  Because it's about the size of the gift. It demonstrates where we're placing
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  our trust. Right. I love that part.
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  Especially when you're talking about money.
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  She gave everything she had, which meant she knew that her provisions, her protection...
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  And her life came from him. When we portion out what we give and only give from
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  the part that is kind of discretionary, like,
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  am I going to go buy the bagel or the Starbucks drink,
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  or do I give this to the Lord?
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  We're not going to die without the bagel. We may think we'll die without the
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  Starbucks drink, but we won't.
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  So we're going to lose that money one way or the So we either give it to the
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  Lord or we give it to there.
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  That is where he's looking at.
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  He's looking at where am I placing my faith and where am I placing my trust
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  when I'm holding on to my finances because I'm afraid I won't have enough.
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  When I have a scarcity mentality, then I am diminishing the capacity of who God is.
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  And he does not want us to live with a scarcity mentality.
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  I think because he has no limit. Exactly. I think what strikes me is that that
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  same scarcity mentality flows into all of the other types of giving, not just money,
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  but the giving of our time or even just the giving of our heart and our like
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  emotional energy. Ourselves.
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  Right. I think so often we give of those things in such fear that we will literally
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  run out of our own energy.
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  And when we're doing that, it's because we're giving of ourselves that we're
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  not asking the Lord to fill us back up and to provide for that the same way
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  he's going to provide the money.
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  If you do what he asks you to do, he'll give you all you need to do it.
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  That's money, energy, time, and effort.
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  And I think that's a really good point. And we talked about that actually in
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  last Wednesday's podcast.
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  We talked about how when we do what he asks us to do, we are sustained and we're
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  refreshed, and specifically we have joy.
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  So often we are tired because we added all the things we wanted to do,
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  not the things he asked us to do or told us to do.
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  In fact, sometimes we add things he tells us not to do. I think that that is a common...
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  Problem.
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  In the modern Christian world. And I think that, you know, so often because
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  we see, you know, we look at how everyone else is serving.
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  We look at, you know, all the different ways we can serve.
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  And we look at where we think we want to serve or where we think we'd be good
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  at serving, but we don't necessarily ask the Lord exactly where he wants us
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  to be, and that's a dangerous place.
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  And you came out of the gate with that scenario headed for trouble. Right.
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  Because you're looking horizontally and not vertically.
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  You have to look up, and that's the only place. Psalmist Davis,
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  I look up from the hills, from whence cometh my help.
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  We have to look up. You cannot measure yourself looking horizontally.
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  Looking at others will steal your joy, and it will lead you down the wrong path.
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  Every assignment is not your assignment.
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  Every task that needs to be done is not assigned specifically to each individual.
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  We live and work in community, in the family of God.
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  And each one of us have to carry out only the tasks that he has enabled us,
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  equipped us, and especially called us to do.
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  And I think that that is something that we just don't think about enough.
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  We don't think about the tasks that.
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  Are our tasks because there is, I believe, so much pressure in this world,
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  whether we put it on ourselves, perceive it, or we just see it around us to, you know,
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  to be the one, to be the one that comes in and saves the day,
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  to be the one that fixes things, to be the one that takes care of all the things.
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  And we can do all sorts of things and potentially, you know,
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  help someone and make a real difference.
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  And still not done what he asked.
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  Exactly. Because sometimes we also don't do it for the right motive.
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  Sometimes you're coming in like Superman because you want to be revered like Superman. Right.
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  Sometimes you have a God complex and you think you are all that in a bag of
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  chips. So the world can't revolve without you. And how could this happen without
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  you? And there's no way this production can go on without you.
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  And so you do this and you do that. And then God calls you over here doing this
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  thing that seems insignificant to you because just like the people in this account.
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  Are looking on the outward appearance instead of the inward motives.
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  And the next thing you know, you've got no time to do the one thing that's going
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  to bring him the glory and the honor that he has created for you to give him in that moment.
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  You know, I appreciate that you talked about the insignificance because,
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  you know, this whole passage that you read to us in Mark chapter 12 is about,
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  you know, so much of a focus was on,
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  the insignificant gift that she gave.
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  But it was really huge. And so often we look at service and gracious.
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  It's the same thing way we grade sin, right? We say these sins are so much bigger than others.
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  And we grade service. We say that if you're singing on the platform in a church
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  service, it's so much better than if you're sweeping the floors.
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  Or praying for the person beside of you.
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  See, the thing about this account that has always intrigued me is that he could
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  have used anything to make this point that it's about your motive and your heart.
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  But he chooses something so that we know that the things that the world consider
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  insignificant are very significant to him.
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  The world doesn't have anything for prayer.
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  They even call it meditation, quiet moments. So they've got nothing for it.
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  The world doesn't find anything helpful or,
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  honorable, maybe helpful, but not honorable for holding a door open for a person
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  who's on a walker that doesn't have two hands to be able to use to get in.
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  But God says, when you do this to the least of these, you've done it unto me.
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  When you take time for the small things you can be sure the person doing the
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  small things is going to get the big things done if they're doing them,
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  in the name of jesus we have to be able to live our lives saying in this action
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  i'm doing i'm doing it in the name of jesus do everything you do is doing unto
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  the lord whatsoever you eat you drink drink as unto the Lord.
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  Do as unto the Lord. What he's saying is your insignificant moments,
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  eating and drinking, we have to do that.
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  Your insignificant moments are as important to me as the earth-shattering moments
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  you're thinking of when you're thinking, oh, I hope God saw that.
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  Because who we are in the quiet, still, small, so-called insignificant moments,
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  is the true reflection of who He is in our heart.
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  You made a statement in Monday's podcast that giving and serving is living out your faith.
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  Amen. And...
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  I think that, you know, we often talk about putting, like, I don't know what
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  to say, feet on our prayers or legs on our prayers or, you know,
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  strength, you know, behind the things that we believe in.
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  But it's not that necessarily. Like, it's not praying and then saying,
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  OK, I'm going to help you out, Lord, here or something like that.
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  It's the sacrificial giving of those things that are so important as a response
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  to just how much we love Him and trust Him and believe in Him.
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  It's employing the faith.
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  It's faith to pray. Yes. But we are turning on and turning it up when we pray
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  and move in the direction the prayer has been prayed about.
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  When we get up and if we're praying for the Lord to give us strength to help
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  our neighbor and we get up and move towards the neighbor and start helping, that is faith in action.
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  And that is prayers with legs on them. And that's positioning ourself for him to do what only he can do.
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  Absolutely. Love that.
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  Okay. So you asked a couple of challenging questions in Monday's podcast.
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  I just want to ask them again for our listeners, and this is just a time of,
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  reflection, but they were important questions.
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  And the first one that you asked was, what are you holding back because you
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  are afraid you'll lose it?
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  And I think that so often we think the easiest thing to think of holding back would be money.
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  But I would say that for many of us, money really isn't the thing that might
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  be so scarce for us. It's availability. It's availability.
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  Which is measured in time in some ways. Right. And that's the only thing you
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  really have that's truly yours you can give him. Everything else he's given you.
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  And how you choose to use your time is up to you.
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  And it's very interesting to me.
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  We get an idea that we want to do something for the Lord.
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  And inevitably in my life, He opens up other doors and calls in different directions.
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  And I'm almost afraid to step through those doors sometimes,
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  afraid I'll miss the door that's going to take me where I want to go.
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  Now, in my heart, I might be saying this is what I thought God told me,
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  but it's usually wrapped completely around this is where I want to serve you, Lord.
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  And I'm not bold enough generally to say that to him, but I position myself.
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  To be more receptive of the calls and the asks and the things that set me up on that path,
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  as opposed to what I think are other paths that are leading me away from them.
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  And what we forget is that God has a plan for us and it's a perfect plan.
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  And if he's taking you left of where you think you should be,
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  but you know he's taking you there, you're crazy not to go because you're going
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  to need whatever you're learning left of this center
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  in order to get to the place that you know he told you he's going to use you.
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  So I think it's time we put a little bit of Paul in our lives.
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  When Paul was in the prison, he prayed that God would give him opportunities
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  to utter the gospel. He never gave a prayer that said, let me preach in Pilate's Hall.
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  Let me lead these people here to there.
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  He said, open doors that I might preach the gospel, that I might speak the utterance of the gospel.
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  He stopped planning for God and told him, my heart's desire is to tell others about you.
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  And he allowed him to set it up.
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  This is what the widow's doing. when she hands all she has, her living,
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  her wages, everything she has in that box, what she's saying is, I'm all in.
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  I'm all yours. I just want to be on your team. I just want to be in your presence.
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  I just want to do what it is that you want me to do. So I've gotten rid of everything
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  else. I'm all in. Take care of me. Here I am.
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  Tuck me in under your wing because it's me and you.
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  And that's what Paul is doing in Colossians chapter 4. He does the exact same thing.
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  He's all in. You gotta be all in.
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  This idea of you being all in goes to the other question that you asked on Monday
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  that just really struck my heart.
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  You said, something has your whole heart. Something has it. What has yours?
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  And I think we've got to just stop and be honest and evaluate what has our hearts,
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  because if it's not all in.
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  Following him it's all in doing something else,
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  and either it's ourselves it's our work it's who we want to be in this world,
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  you know maybe it's our money i mean there's so many different things sometimes it's our pride,
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  it's who we think the world says we should be it's who we want the world to
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  think we are and so we kill ourselves
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  to live that way that's why you see people so often buying things,
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  they don't even want or need or have no time to use because they somebody else
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  they know has it or Or that's why you see a person,
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  you know, taking on another job because they need to have this or that.
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  Or that's, you know, you just, whatever your heart's desire,
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  where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Amen.
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  Amen. And we do need to know where our heart is because I promise you the devil does.
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  Not because he can read, but we tell him. We show him. We show him with our lives.
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  Those are those two questions For what are you holding back Because you're so afraid You'll lose it.
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  And something has your whole heart, what has yours?
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  Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to pray with our listeners.
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  I thank you, Lord, for the work that you do in our lives.
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  And I thank you, Lord, that as we listen to your word and we listen to lessons
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  about your word and its application to our lives,
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  those are all opportunities for us to be honest with you and with ourselves
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  and to evaluate where we are.
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  Lord, you are a God of restoration and a God of forgiveness.
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  And when you call us to evaluate our hearts, to listen to what you're saying
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  to our hearts and not just listen to ourselves,
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  you're giving us opportunities to repent and to turn and to draw closer to you.
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  So Lord, I just pray that you be with our listeners.
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  I pray, Lord, that you would give them opportunities to reflect on these questions,
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  To reflect on whether they are all in for you Or whether they're all in for
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  something else And, Lord, for each and every one of us.
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  I thank you, Lord, that you are a loving, caring, kind,
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  grace-filled, forgiving God But I also thank you that you'll love us enough,
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  to talk to us and to draw us to you, that you could draw us onto the path that
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  you have for each and every one of us.
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  Lord, we thank you and we love you. In your name we pray, amen.
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  Friends, remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
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  references from this episode in the show notes.
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