Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20250119 - You Can Have It All Lord! - Romans 12:1-2

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#20250119 - You Can Have It All Lord! - Romans 12:1-2 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen, Amen. Open your Bibles to Proverbs
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chapter 3. That's where we're going to
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start. And then we're going to land in
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Romans chapter 12. So 2 places Proverbs chapter 3,
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Romans chapter 12, our topical series to launch off the year.
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We've entitled it take it all. And today the Bible studies
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entitled you can have it all, Lord, because if we're ever
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going to take it all, we need to take the posture ourselves of
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you know what, Lord, you can have it all.
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You can have every part of me, every part of my life.
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I want to give you as we wrap up this series, we know it's it's
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been an encouraging time, but it's also been a very
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challenging time, a very stirring time as we look to the
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Lord for all that he wants in our lives.
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I know it's just another new year and it's another calendar
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change, but I mean, you got to take the perspective of no, it
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is another new year. It is a flesh, a fresh slate.
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There is an opportunity to really make substantive change
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in our lives. It doesn't have to be huge and
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overwhelming, but for some of you it might be.
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It can also just be some substantive change that's small
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and incremental, but it needs to happen in order to grow in the
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Lord and through our studies. He's growing us.
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He's changing us. We're battling.
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We learned last time and I was really encouraged last time as
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we were looking at Elijah and his servant, as his servant went
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out in the morning and saw they were surrounded by an army.
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And and Elijah said, hey, you know, Lord, open his eyes.
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And God did open his eyes and he saw that although he was
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surrounded by an army, the army was surrounded by the Lord and
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by the armies of Lord and sort of walked forward with spiritual
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eyes into this new year is also very important.
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And like Joshua in the nation of Israel, then we get to take all
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that God has given us. We're not creating things, we're
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not demanding things, but rather we're looking at the new year
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and saying whatever you have for me, Lord, I want it all.
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I want every part of it. I, I want victories that you
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have for me. I want to be broken of
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addictions that that I might be caught up in.
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I want to see strength in my singleness.
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I want to see my marriage change.
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I want to be able to see and take all the you have for me.
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I want to hold nothing back from you, and I'm asking God for you
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to hold nothing back from me in Christ.
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Now. Proverbs chapter 3 contains a
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passage of Scripture that is very popular in memorizing.
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I hope that you have memorized it.
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But because it's very popular and because it's quoted so much,
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scriptures that are popular and quoted so much begin to lose
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their edge in our lives. And I want to bring back the
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edge to you. I want to sharpen the edge of
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this Scripture and remind you the fruit and the joy that comes
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from putting your complete trust in the Lord.
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That's how it started. By the way, as a new believer,
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this is how it started. You put your complete trust in
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the Lord. Now, of course, some of you,
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you, you became a believer in a godly home.
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You were raised in the Scriptures, you were raised in
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church, you were raised to avoid sin.
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And your life has bore the fruit of that complete trust that
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started very young. And it's such a great gift that
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God gave you to be born in a home like that for others of us,
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we were saved and born again much later in life, having
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tasted the ugliness of sin and paid the consequence for such.
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And just dealing with things and, and, and having to, to live
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life apart from God until finally, I mean, I remember like
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it was yesterday, until finally I came to the place where I'm
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just like, Lord, you can have my life.
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What I have done with it, it is I've ruined it and you can have
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my life. I received the forgiveness of my
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sins, I turn my back on my past and you can have it all.
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And that's how it starts. That's how it starts.
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I remember very distinctly, I mean as a born again believer in
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my early 20s, I had not even read the Bible by the time I was
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in my early 20s, never read the Bible.
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I mean I read portions of it. I remember as a very small child
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being in Sunday school as a kid and learning Bible lessons on
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these flannel board things that they had up there to illustrate.
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I remember that. But I, I also know that up until
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I was born again, I had lived my own life, my own way.
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And yet when I was born again, I would come and I'm like, OK, I
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would sit in a Bible study like you.
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I would have my pen ready. I have my notes and I'd be
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jotting down what I heard the pastor say, how he said it.
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And in my pastor Jeff, if he shared something that was
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action, you know what I did? I did it.
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He said to go do something. I did it.
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He said to forgive. I'm like, OK, I don't even quite
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understand, but I forgive Lord and I share.
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And I, I was looking at life like, hey, I've never heard this
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before. I hear a Bible study, never
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heard it before, heard a Bible study, never heard it before.
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Over and over and over again until I started clocking some
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years on my walk with the Lord. And guess what?
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I'd be sitting in a Bible study and I would hear it and I'd go,
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I heard that before. And I wasn't so quick to act.
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Well, I learned that or you know, I heard another guy say
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something. And so I don't quite agree with
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that and I'm not. And before you know it, my
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complete trust in the Lord, my complete surrender to the Lord
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became partial. And I believe God for the
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salvation of my sin. I believe God for the
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forgiveness. I, I believe so much about God,
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but also I have my own ideas and I had my own thinking.
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And I listen to this guy over here and this guy over here, and
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I began to minimize my complete trust in the Lord.
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So I memorized this scripture beginning in verse 5 very early
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on, not knowing how significant it would be the rest of my
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spiritual life. In verse 5, we learn and we're
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instructed this is wisdom from God.
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
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Lean not on your own understanding.
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In all your ways acknowledge Him and notice the promise.
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He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes.
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Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
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It will be held to your flesh and strength to your bones.
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Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first
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fruits of all your increase, so your barns will be filled with
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plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
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My son, and by application, many of you, my daughter, do not
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despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest his correction.
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For whom the Lord loves, he corrects, just as a father the
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son in whom he delights. Happy is the man who finds
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wisdom and the man who gains understanding.
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Here's a very clear instruction for all of us not to lean on our
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own understanding. But that's exactly what we do
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the longer we walk with the Lord.
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There's something about us where we think once we've learned
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something, that's all we need to learn about that topic.
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Even spiritually, it's such a dangerous thing to think that
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we've got the key. I tell the pastor's this,
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including myself all the time because we minister to a lot of
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people throughout the week. We have these calendar
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appointments and we know this time and that time and we're
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going to meet with someone. And, you know, maybe it's a, a
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marriage concern and you see it on the calendar and you get a
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little bit of information on it and you, you have to be careful
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not to go. Well, you know, I've dealt with
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this so many other times. This, this one's going to be
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easy. I already dealt with this and I
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already know how it's going to go.
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And I'm like, no, you have no idea how this is going to go.
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Even though you may have dealt with this same issue many, many
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times before, you have never ever dealt with this issue with
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them in this moment. You have to be open.
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You can't lean on your own own understanding of well, you know,
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this just seems to be the kind of situation that God's always
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bringing my way. Well, that's fine.
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And that's from the Lord. I would agree with that.
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But the approach can never be, I already understand, I already
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know, I've got this, I've got this, You know, it's amazing
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because you're like, oh, you know, I have of it all.
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I don't need you anymore, God, I know how to do it.
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So watch me. Oh, God will watch you fall on
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your face for sure. We need to trust in the Lord in
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every area of our lives. Like for, you know, with the
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marriage issue, I know what the Bible says.
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I know what the Bible says. Husbands, love your wives as
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Christ loved the church, but the application of that, how it's
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delivered, where it's delivered is going to be very dependent
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upon the person in front of me and me listening to them and
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being open to the Holy Spirit of what exactly is the issue that I
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might use God's word in a very careful way to help them get
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back on track. Wives, submit to your husband's
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as unto the Lord. Yeah, but what's the application
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exactly? What are we dealing with?
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I need to trust in the Lord with all my heart.
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I can't lean on my own understanding.
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I really don't know exactly what I'm dealing with until you begin
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to talk with me until we begin to to talk it out and see what
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the and even after we talk it out, I still may not know and
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must depend upon the Lord. The promise is is if I'm
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acknowledging him and I'm trusting him, the Bible says
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he'll direct me and in the direction in verse 7.
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It's like, don't you be wise in your own eyes?
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And that's how we need to enter into the new year, any new year,
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any new day, any new week, any new month that we're not wise in
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our own eyes, not leaning on our own understanding, but trusting
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God in every area of our lives, knowing that we can rely and
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trust in our great God who has a specific plan for our lives.
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We've been using the phrase divine destiny.
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I love that or we also been adding the phrase intended end.
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God has an intended end. So you can put these three
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together. Divine destiny, intended end or
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the will of God for my life. I mean that's how it's usually
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used. What is God's will for my life?
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What does he really want to accomplish?
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What we read, you know, a lot of people that are in a place of
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waiting or I don't know what God's doing in my life.
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I don't know what his will, what what his will is for me.
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We read in the Psalms today. Go back to Psalm 37.
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I just want to show you this because we read this together,
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but we'll read it for everyone joining us outside of the room
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today, maybe on the radio online.
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Look, I always like to, I'm often like to bring someone to
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Psalm 37 and go. Are you in a place of waiting?
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Yes. I just don't know what to do.
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And are you in a place of wanting to know the will of God?
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Yes. I don't know what the will of
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God. Well, if you notice here from
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verse 3 of Psalm 37 all the way down to verse 8, I have counted
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at least 13 things you can do while you're waiting on the
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Lord, 13 things just by looking at the verbs, verse three, you
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can trust in the Lord right now and you can do good.
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You can dwell in the land. You can feed on His
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faithfulness. How about this number 4, you
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wanting to determine the will of God for your life?
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Well, delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you
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the desires of your heart. How about this verse 5?
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Commit your way to Him, trust also in Him, and he shall bring
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it to pass. Sounds like Proverbs 3.
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Sounds like the psalmist really has grasped Proverbs chapter 3
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verses 5678. That whole section there.
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It's important that we learn to trust God even though we have
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many times before. We don't have to learn the hard
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way. We don't have to fall on our
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face. The key is to trust in the Lord,
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to acknowledge Him, to follow His precepts, to trust Him even
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when we don't understand what what we've heard in the light.
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We trust when it's dark. We hold fast to Him.
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We know that He's gotten us through things before.
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He's going to get us through this.
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He, we know. He's given us clarity before.
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He'll give us clarity now. We know that even if we don't
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have the full picture, we have enough of it to know that God is
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faithful even when we're faithless.
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As we enter into the new year and we step in with this
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excitement like I am like God has really stirred me up
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personally in areas of my life, both personally in my family and
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my home, but also as a pastor. I'm really taking this to heart.
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Take it all at. It's all for the taking.
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This is no time to rest and just put it in neutral and coast into
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the sunset. There is still more of this
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city, more of this state, more of this country to take for the
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gospel, and I want to step into it.
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However, if, if I'm going to take it all, I need to learn the
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posture before God. No, no, God, you can have it
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all. It starts there.
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If you're thinking of words that will help you take it all, I
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want to give you some. I want to give you some
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questions you can ask to examine your life.
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For example, if we want to take it all, we have to choose.
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You have to have it, God. I'm giving it to you all.
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Number one, you need to take the posture of surrender and you can
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ask yourself how surrendered am I?
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Is it 50508020 I could you assess it like how surrendered
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am I? I'm certain someone listening to
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me right now could say very definitively, I'm not very
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surrendered at all. I'm I'm not not really happy
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with the way I'm just going to take things into my own hands.
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I'm going to do my own thing. Well, how surrendered are you?
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Let me give you another word to consider.
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How submitted are you to God? Submission.
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You can ask yourself, how submitted am I?
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I mean, how much of it me? You know, like you look at your
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life, you go like you're very well educated, you're very
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successful, you've got a lot of experience under the belt and
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it's made you less surrendered to God and it's made you less
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submitted. When in reality, God is giving
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you more responsibility That really requires more submission,
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more surrender in order to truly enjoy all that God has given you
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in your personal life life, in your career, in your spiritual
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life. How about this one?
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Another word to consider is how yielded are you?
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The idea of yielding this is like flexibility.
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How flexible are you? Does it always have to be your
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way or the highway? Or are you open to the
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opportunities and the options that God has for you?
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Like you, Just so you know, I, I would, I, I would dare say some
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have already planned out the entire year 2025.
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There's a few planners in the house, I'm sure.
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But what if God wants you to change course in June?
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Will you? Are you open to it?
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Or are you so, you know, stuck on your ways that even if the
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Lord shouted to you that he wants to make you, he wants you
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to make a left turn or a right turn, you're just not yielded.
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You're just not you. You don't like, hey, I got my
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way. This is the way it's got to be.
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This got to be. This is the way it's got to be
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for my kids. This is the way it's got to be
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for my schedule. This is the way it's got to be.
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And it's like, wait a minute. Trust in the Lord with all your
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heart. Lean not on your own
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understanding. How yielded are you?
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And then the final word I would add, as we declare to God, that
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posture, if you can have it all, Lord is how obedient are you?
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And I would even add a little word, how quick are you to obey?
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Because you know if you don't obey quickly, you'll talk
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yourself out of it. You know that and you don't want
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to obey quickly, especially on big ones.
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I mean the small ones, you want to build up and be faithful in
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the little ones. So when a big one comes, you can
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just keep going. But like if you have an area
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where God has spoken to you and you're not quick to obey, you
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will you will either forget, talk yourself out of it.
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I think of how many times we sit in a setting like this, God
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speaking to our hearts and by the time we get to the car, we
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forgot. She's like, man, I know the Lord
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wanted me to do something, but you know, Chipotle, should I get
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walk or not walk? I'm not sure.
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Like, I don't know how much, how much money do you have?
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How much is on it? Like you forget it.
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And the Lord wants us to be quick to obey so we can enjoy
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all that we he has for us. So that leads us to Romans
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chapter 12, because it leads to another question.
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And the question is, well then how, Ed, How?
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And that's a great question to ask.
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How, how do I find myself in a place where an A posture of
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surrender, submission yielding quick obedience.
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Notice here in chapter 12 in verse one.
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Now, by the way, I have when we were studying through Romans, I
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did a series of studies in Romans chapter 12.
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I forget how many there were on the topic of how to discover the
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will of God for your life. We're going to look very briefly
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at the first verse and a little bit of the second verse, but we
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went way in depth on this topic. If this is an area that you just
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really sense you've been wanting an answer on, I would encourage
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you go to the app, go to the website right there in Romans
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chapter 12. I went through boom, you know,
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study after study after study, looking at different aspects of
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how to discover the will of God, how to see it and learn it and
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grow in it. But notice here in verse one.
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I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
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that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
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acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
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And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
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renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and
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acceptable and perfect will of God.
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This is a strong word here in the English.
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It's the idea of begging or pleading.
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Someone comes and say, I'm pleading with you.
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I'm wanting you to get this. I really want you to grasp this
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for your life. But if you like to write in your
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Bible, circle the word beseech and let's write the Greek word
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there. You may be surprised what the
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original word is. It's the word para kaleo.
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Para PARA means to come alongside.
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Kaleo, KALEO means to come alongside to help.
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That's what the word means. Para kaleo.
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You Bible students, you may hear in that word a very familiar
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teaching from Jesus. You'll remember when Jesus spoke
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of the coming of the Holy Spirit that he used the Greek word
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paracletes to describe the Holy Spirit.
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So you have these together, the idea of someone that comes
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alongside to help. So when Paul says this very
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strong word, when he writes to us as a pastor, he writes to
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Rome then and he writes to us now the church here in Colorado.
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He says this, I'm coming alongside of you because this is
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very important for your life. This key.
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After all the theology that he teaches and there's some heavy,
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solid, amazing theology in Romans.
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After he lays that out and then he goes through with God's heart
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for the nation of Israel in Romans 9:10 and 11:00, powerful,
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good, solid, strong theology. He says, OK guys, this is really
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where the rubber meets the road. I'm begging you.
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I'm begging you notice by the mercies of God.
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He lightens it even more and he says, I'm telling I'm not
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demanding you, I'm not commanding you, even though Paul
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could say that he had the authority to do so.
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But rather I'm coming alongside of you as your pastor, as your
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friend, as a disciple, as a counsellor.
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You guys are my brothers, You're my sisters, your brethren.
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I really want you to track with me here on the basis of the
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mercy of God, Mercy. Whenever you think of mercy
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biblically, when you hear the word mercy, grace, judgment, put
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them all together. Those 3 words go together and it
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will help you to understand anytime you see them in the
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Bible, for example, Judgment. Judgement.
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When you think of the judgement of God, judgement is simply
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getting what you deserve. That makes sense.
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When a judgement is handed down, you are getting what you
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deserve. It You're standing before a
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judge. You're guilty of a particular
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infraction. The judge declares you guilty,
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comes down with the gavel, and gives you the sentence.
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That sentence, whatever is given to you, is the judgement of the
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court. It's judgement.
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You get what you deserve. If you are guilty, then you
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receive the judgement. The second word that's used in
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the Bible. Consistent with that is mercy.
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When you think of mercy, I want you to think of it this way.
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Judgement is getting what you deserve.
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Mercy is not getting what you deserve.
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Whenever you hear mercy, when someone's merciful for you with
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you, you deserve it, but you don't receive it.
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I always think back of the sibling little spats and
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wrestlings that go on and you're wrestling with your sibling and
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you're fighting to the finish and they finally get you and
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they pin you down and they're ready to pummel you into the
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ground. What do you cry out to them?
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Judgement, Give me. Judgement, pummel me.
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Of course you don't. What do you cry out for?
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Mercy. Even that same scenario with the
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courthouse. You may ask the judge for mercy,
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and what are you asking for? Please don't give me what I
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deserve, mercy. And then the final word that
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goes, which is the greatest word of all three of them, is grace.
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And grace is receiving what you don't deserve, especially as it
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relates to God. God, the judgement of God,
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eternity apart from him, the mercy of God receiving that
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which we don't deserve. No longer facing judgement, but
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by the grace of God we receive what we don't deserve, the full
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complete forgiveness of our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus
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Christ. So when Paul writes to Romans
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then and he writes to us, he says, look, these are strong
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words. This is a strong action
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theology, teaching, teaching, teaching, teaching.
23:06
Now here's what I want you to do with it.
23:08
The very first thing he says, I want you to consider is by the
23:11
mercy of God, I'm not being heavy-handed with you.
23:15
I'm not wanting to manipulate you or guilt you.
23:18
I know when when often there are some of you that were raised in
23:23
a very manipulative, guilt ridden home or you were raised
23:27
in a religious system that was very manipulative and guilt
23:30
ridden, that when you hear strong exhortations, it's
23:34
filtered through the way you were raised or the way that you
23:36
grew up. But that's not what Paul's
23:39
saying here. Neither is it what I'm saying to
23:41
you today. That's not how Paul is
23:43
presenting it. He makes sure by adding it's by
23:45
the mercies of God. I want you to remember.
23:47
I want you to remember what God has done for you.
23:49
I want you to remember how good he's been to you.
23:51
I want you to remember what he saved you from and what he saved
23:55
you to. I want you to remember
23:56
everything about that because what I'm about to ask you and
23:59
tell you to do is going to be hard.
24:02
And I'm sorry if someone has used guilt to manipulate you
24:06
your whole life. That's not the heart of God and
24:09
that's certainly not the heart of Jesus in his church here.
24:12
Any time you feel like you're being guilted or manipulated,
24:15
that's not from the Lord. I, I, I, it doesn't matter who
24:18
it's coming from. That is not from the Lord.
24:21
Somebody use a situation to try to control you or try to control
24:25
your emotions or to threaten you.
24:27
That's not from God. That is a big, big red flag.
24:31
Run away. Run away or confront it and go,
24:35
hey, I don't like being treated like that.
24:37
I don't want to be treated and talk it out.
24:40
When Paul appeals to us, he doesn't tell us just clean up
24:42
our acts so God will accept us. But he says instead, I want you
24:45
to think of God's mercies. I want you to worship him.
24:49
I want you to remember. I want you to remember him and
24:53
all that he's done. Never guilt, always grace.
24:56
There's a great verse that we quote all the time, but I want
24:58
to give you the address. It's in Lamentations chapter 3
25:03
and verse 22. And you go Lamentations.
25:05
Yeah. There's a book of the Bible,
25:07
Lamentations. That's the beauty of reading
25:09
through the Bible together. When you're reading on EU
25:11
version app with us or going through the Bible, you'll get to
25:14
Lamentations and this verse is beautiful.
25:17
Listen, Lamentations 322 Through the Lord's mercies, we are not
25:23
consumed because his compassions fail not.
25:28
They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness, that
25:36
is the basis by which God, through Paul, is pleading with
25:41
us to this, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
25:48
holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable
25:53
service. It sounds a lot like the title
25:55
of our study today. You can have it all, Lord.
25:59
That place, that position, that posture is one of presenting
26:03
yourself to Him. If you like to write in your
26:05
Bibles, again, that word present is a technical word.
26:08
It's going to take you back to the Old Testament, to the
26:11
sacrificial system, to the Levites, bringing an animal to
26:16
the altar and presenting that animal on the altar to be
26:21
completely consumed. The animal has no choice in the
26:26
matter. It was the one chosen, it was
26:29
the one presented, it was the one offered, and it would be
26:33
there on the altar until it was consumed.
26:37
Here's the issue with us though. We have a choice.
26:42
We have a choice. God leaves that to us.
26:45
Believer, brother, sister, will you present yourself on the
26:50
altar to be totally consumed in that issue with that situation,
26:55
with your life? That's how it all started.
26:59
Everyone of you, whether you recognize it or not, this is how
27:01
your life as a born again believer started.
27:04
You were on the altar to be completely consumed by the love
27:08
and the grace and the mercy of God.
27:10
You trusted Him with your eternal life, which translated
27:13
into a trust of your daily life until you didn't and it became
27:19
partial and it became this and it became, well, I'll give a
27:23
little bit of here, but I'll hold back here.
27:26
And God is just calling us back in this new year to present
27:29
yourself, just like the Levites when they would bring the bring
27:32
the offering, put it on the altar totally consumed as an
27:36
offering to the Lord. Words like surrender,
27:41
submission, yielding, obedient. That's God's heart for you and
27:47
me. You have a choice.
27:49
You can give it all to the Lord or not.
27:52
You can present yourself to him daily or not.
27:56
That word present is interesting.
27:58
While it's a technical word in the Old Testament, truly here in
28:01
the Greek pointing us backwards to the Levitical sacrificial
28:05
system, it's also a word that I, it, it struck in my mind in
28:10
earlier studies to, to I was reading an article yesterday and
28:13
so I found it for you guys. I couldn't find it for the I
28:16
couldn't, I didn't remember to find it for the other services,
28:19
but I have it for you. So you get the full weight of
28:22
this. Here's the title.
28:23
You ready the title. 210 million people are now addicted to
28:28
social media. So what that means is there are
28:32
210 million that present themselves to social media every
28:36
day, pretty much all day. I mean, you learn that with
28:40
TikTok when they're going to shut down TikTok.
28:41
People freaked out. I can't believe it.
28:44
I can't live without TikTok. Hey, we've lived without TikTok.
28:48
I think we made it just fine. We made it through.
28:52
But this is pretty significant. Listen, it's just a, it's from
28:55
the New York Post. An estimated 210 million people
28:59
suffer. You know why they suffer?
29:01
Because they present it. Don't you forget that.
29:04
But there's the here's what the world says.
29:06
This is how the world perspective on this.
29:08
An estimated 210 million people suffer from social media
29:13
addiction, which can result in mood swings.
29:17
Check. Disrupted sleep?
29:20
Check. Neglected responsibilities?
29:23
Check, check, check, check. Desire for validation.
29:27
I don't have enough checkpoint for that.
29:29
And even a lack of hobbies. Listen.
29:31
Those hooked on TikTok for instance, say they can't
29:35
possibly live without it, while others may find themselves
29:39
compulsively checking their social media platforms to check
29:42
like and view counts, or spend a majority of their day staring at
29:47
their screen. We do present ourselves every
29:51
day to someone or to something. I think it's worth even as the
29:57
world is able to examine things like maybe the issue in your
30:02
life is where you choose to present yourself.
30:04
Maybe that's it. I'm not advocating in any way.
30:07
I use social media myself, and I have seen through the years an
30:11
increase in my desire and some of these things.
30:14
I've seen it in my own life. That's why there are seasons in
30:17
my life, seasons throughout the year where I'll just completely
30:19
go dark to remind myself that that's not as important as my
30:23
walk with the Lord. It's not an issue.
30:26
I'm not advocating here. Oh, you guys, you're a bunch of
30:29
social media centres. I'm not, that's not my heart
30:32
here. This is this is the thing.
30:34
Listen, if the world can see 210 million people that can't live
30:38
without social media, then maybe we as a church would just say,
30:41
OK, Lord, I see that's power. I see it's social engineering.
30:45
I see how it's drawn me and I see how it's changed me over the
30:48
years. I see how because you know, for
30:49
us back in the day, if I was teaching this Bible study 30
30:53
years ago, I wouldn't use social media.
30:54
You know why it didn't exist, But you know what I would say?
30:58
I would say, OK, guys, be careful you don't get up in the
31:00
morning and present yourself before anything.
31:03
I mean, because some of you, before you even get out of bed,
31:05
you're on your phone. That's just the way it is.
31:08
Before you even go to the restroom or go look at yourself
31:11
in the mirror, you're looking at other people's lives and other
31:14
people's memes and other people's jokes.
31:16
I mean, you could do that for hours at a time.
31:18
If you want to know, just turn on on your phone screen time.
31:23
You'll it'll tell you how many hours it'll be pretty.
31:25
And it's like, Oh my goodness, that's a lot.
31:28
You're thinking it's one minute at a time.
31:30
But you had to understand, you know, you heard the word
31:32
algorithm. You got to understand something.
31:34
They create things to keep you on the app.
31:38
You want to know why? The longer you stay, the more
31:41
ads you will see, and the more ads that you see, the more money
31:45
they make. It's very simple.
31:46
It's not a very complicated system, except that when we
31:50
present ourselves to something continually, it consumes us.
31:55
Do you get it? Are you with us?
31:57
You got to learn how to own social media rather than social
32:00
media or anything else owning us because we can go on and on on
32:05
things that we present ourselves to.
32:08
And we think, oh, it's not going to be, it's not going to own me.
32:11
Oh yes, it is. This is the picture here in
32:14
Romans. It's really a statement of
32:18
priorities, right? Matthew chapter 6, verse 33.
32:22
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.
32:27
Then these other things will be It's just a matter of
32:29
priorities. It's not a matter I mean, some
32:32
you may have this need really truly hearing my heart today.
32:36
You may have this need to completely shut down for a
32:39
while. That's a possibility.
32:41
You have to lay it before the Lord like again, if I go back to
32:44
my new believer days, I hear my pastor say that I'm like, boom,
32:47
I'm out there. If that's going to be good for
32:48
me, that's what I want. You Fast forward a few years,
32:51
maybe I will, maybe I won't. I won't break any habits.
32:55
I'll let everything else consume me other than the Lord and his
32:59
word that that's where Paul is. That's where Paul is.
33:04
He's not saying, you know, if I, you know, hey, don't present
33:06
yourself to the newspaper. Remember the newspaper we used
33:11
to go out, they would deliver it.
33:13
It was paper newspaper. That's why they call that.
33:15
If you don't, you guys are younger, you're like, what is
33:17
that? Google it or TikTok it.
33:19
You'll find whatever newspaper is.
33:21
Don't worry. Like it's fine, you know, like
33:23
it doesn't matter. It changes with culture, it
33:27
changes with time. The word says here present and
33:33
verse 2. Don't be conformed to this
33:36
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
33:41
These are very important principles where by the mercies
33:44
of God, for the New year, if you want to take it all, you have to
33:48
come back to. But Lord, you can have it all,
33:51
you can have it all, you. I belong to you.
33:54
My life is yours. I am ready, willing and able to
33:59
obey you. I will go anywhere, do anything.
34:02
You get the first of fruits, you get it all.
34:05
You get the first fruits, but you get it all, Lord, it all
34:08
belongs to you. It comes from you.
34:09
It comes back to you. And along the way, I'm in the
34:13
world, right? So we have jobs, we shop here,
34:16
we watch the media of the world, we watch the movies, the
34:19
television. We are in the world, yes, but we
34:22
won't be of this world. We're in it.
34:25
We live in it. Jesus left us, remember?
34:27
He says, I'm going to leave. I'm not going to take you out of
34:29
the world and you go, what? Take us out?
34:32
He says, no, I'm going to leave you there.
34:34
I'm going to leave you in the world because you need the
34:37
world. I need the world like like sore
34:42
tooth or something. I need a like a cavity, like a
34:45
no, no, no, no. You need the world because the
34:47
world refines you, gives you opportunity to express your
34:51
love, gives you and me an opportunity to really grow in
34:55
grace and learn how to be patient.
34:58
You know that the fruit of the Spirit comes out because of the
35:01
world. You know the world is not
35:03
intended to draw the flesh out of you.
35:05
It's intended to draw the Spirit out of you.
35:08
So you can learn how to love with the love of Christ in a
35:11
world that's hostile toward God. But also the world needs you
35:15
where the preserving influence. The church is where the voice
35:19
the church is. The church is the voice that
35:21
stands up for the unborn. The church is the one that
35:24
stands up for righteousness, the holy righteousness, not just
35:27
laws, not just government, but a righteousness that supersedes
35:31
every government, every institution of man.
35:34
God isn't intended in giving us direction for life.
35:38
You're the salt and the light of the earth.
35:42
So the world needs you, but you also need the world.
35:46
And we come back. And Paul says, look, here's the
35:48
key. Present yourself to God fully
35:53
consumed, willing to surrender and submit to Him.
35:58
There are a lot of barriers that prevent you from doing this, but
36:05
I want to speak to just one more before we head out, and that is
36:08
fear. Fear and worry holds a lot of
36:11
people back from just going for it with the things of God.
36:16
Like God will speak to you and there's a word of obedience
36:19
here, something to do, and then you're just afraid of the
36:21
outcome. You're afraid of the, as I
36:24
mentioned earlier, this lack of quick obedience.
36:26
Before you know it, you're completely lost the word that
36:30
God gave you because you're fearful.
36:32
Or maybe you think this happens a lot with missions and God puts
36:36
a heart put something in your heart to just really reach out
36:39
to someone to really be used of God and and you're like, but but
36:43
if I give myself completely the God, he may send me to the
36:47
middle of nowhere and just make my life miserable.
36:52
And you can think of every bad thing that can happen when the
36:55
Lord just says I all I ask you to do is ask your Co worker to
36:59
come to church. That's it.
37:00
That's all I ask you to do. Didn't talk to sending you
37:03
anywhere or making your life miserable.
37:05
I just put that on your heart to love your neighbour.
37:07
That's it. That's all I have and this thing
37:10
of worry and fear is real. Let me show you we're not going
37:13
to develop it, but I do want to show you turn over to
37:15
Philippians chapter 4 with me. We'll get there eventually as
37:18
we're studying through these books together.
37:20
But I do want to read it out loud.
37:22
Let the Holy Spirit use it in our lives.
37:24
Just a reminder of the power of God when it comes to fear and
37:29
worry, that there's no reason to hold back from God.
37:33
There's no worry to be fearful. Paul would say again to the
37:37
church in Philippi verse 6 chapter 4, Be anxious for
37:42
nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with
37:47
Thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known
37:50
to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all
37:54
understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through
37:58
Christ Jesus. Again writing in your Bible
38:01
circle. The word anxious.
38:02
It comes to us from 2 words. I want you to write them
38:04
together, 2 words. The Greek word to divide so you
38:08
can write divide there and the Greek word for mind.
38:12
And really what this word means is to have a divided mind.
38:16
He says don't have a divided mind toward things of God, but
38:20
but to bring your issues to God, bring your concerns.
38:23
I mean, that's part of presenting yourself to God.
38:25
You have a regular prayer life, man.
38:27
You're in his presence all the time.
38:29
You're remembering and thinking about him and crying out to him.
38:32
The word worry means to have a divided mind.
38:34
It has the idea, this anxiousness of being pulled in
38:38
two directions. And those of you that deal with
38:40
worry, you know exactly what this means.
38:43
You don't need me to define it for you.
38:45
It's on. It brings instability.
38:48
It takes away your equilibrium. I don't know the people that
38:52
study these things, they say 95% of the things that we worry
38:55
about never happen, but we lose our life along the way.
39:01
We don't Live Today, worried about tomorrow, and then
39:04
tomorrow comes and I was like, wow, it didn't happen, but I'll
39:07
worry about the next week and I'll worry about the next week.
39:09
Instead of living that abiding life, trusting in Christ,
39:12
presenting ourselves to Him, and not living with a divided mind,
39:17
but rather living with a full mind of one that trusts the
39:21
Lord. The old English root word for
39:23
worry means to strangle, and worry has a tendency to strangle
39:28
the lifeout of us. I think it's something that
39:31
James was talking about. If you can again write it down
39:34
in James chapter one in verse 6 speaks of asking God in faith
39:40
with no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave
39:45
of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
39:48
For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything
39:52
from the Lord. He is a double minded man,
39:57
unstable in all his ways. And I don't know any, if too
40:03
many or if any of us ever would say I want to be unstable in
40:08
life. I want as much stability as I
40:11
can possibly get to navigate through a very unstable world, a
40:16
very challenging world. You can trust God, Church.
40:21
With all your heart, you cannot lean on your own understanding.
40:25
You can you can learn to not lean on your own understanding.
40:29
You can learn to acknowledge him in all your ways.
40:32
He'll direct your paths. I find it interesting to coming
40:35
back to Romans that he says to present your bodies.
40:39
That's interesting. He doesn't say present your
40:41
mind, which makes like if you're all messed up in your mind, hey,
40:44
give it to the Lord or present your heart, your emotions.
40:47
No, he says your body. Why?
40:50
Well, the Bible declares your body is the temple of the Holy
40:54
Spirit, like you are indwelt by God.
40:58
Your body, my body, is the base of operations for God on the
41:03
earth today. It is your hands that He uses,
41:06
your feet, your eyes, your mouth.
41:11
You have feet that walk and hands that reach out, mouths
41:15
that speak. And I find if we can posture our
41:18
body in the right direction, all the rest of us follows.
41:21
Like today. Today you have postured your
41:24
body to be in a position to receive the word of God.
41:26
Everything else follows from there.
41:28
Because I mean, you could be a lot of different places today
41:31
your body, you could be doing a lot of different things because
41:34
you have the choice. But in these moments, this
41:37
habitual regular moment that we call church or fellowship or
41:42
gathering together, your bodies are here, which we get your mind
41:46
and your heart along the way. Even if you're not paying
41:48
attention. It's all right, we'll get you.
41:52
You're closer here than out there.
41:54
I mean, it's going to be harder to reach you on the golf course
41:56
than it is in this room right now.
41:58
So it's all right, we'll get you.
41:59
It's OK. You're in the atmosphere and
42:01
it's not even me. I'm not even too concerned about
42:03
me. You're in the place, this
42:05
building, which is also a temple of the Holy Spirit, the House of
42:09
God. You've put your body in a place
42:12
where God is very active in the room.
42:14
He is speaking and ministering and convicting and comforting.
42:19
You're in the right place. And if you weren't able to be
42:22
here physically, just even in front of a screen or in a
42:26
radius, a radio somewhere, you have presented that radio.
42:29
You presented that, that screen, that YouTube, that whatever.
42:32
Online, however, you're watching us to be in a place where God
42:36
can speak to you so that your hands can be used.
42:40
Your mouth. I think of all throughout the
42:41
Bible, you pay attention to this.
42:43
You'll see it all through the Bible, how God uses the body.
42:46
I think of the mouth of Moses. How did God use the mouth of
42:48
Moses not only to speak truth to Pharaoh, deliver the nation of
42:52
Israel, but also to give us the law.
42:54
I think of the hands of little David, just a Ruddy little kid
42:59
comes to deliver food to his brothers.
43:01
Here's the giant mocking God and he's like, you know what?
43:03
None of this nonsense. And he uses his hand, a sling
43:07
and a stone and wipes out the enemy of God on behalf of the
43:12
nation of Israel. How about the feet of Paul?
43:15
He took the gospel to the known world at the time, his lowly
43:20
feet. There's examples of God using
43:24
our bodies all throughout the Scriptures.
43:26
Even if today you go well, but that.
43:27
I'm not much, pastor. I'm not much.
43:29
I'm not much. Yeah, but you, you miss a great
43:31
point. None of us are much.
43:34
It's all God and not us. The Bible says that God, he's
43:38
attracted to weakness. He loves human weakness in the
43:41
sense that he can show himself strong on behalf of us.
43:45
I I think of First Corinthians chapter one, verse 27, where it
43:48
says God has chosen the foolish things of the world.
43:52
You know who he's speaking about, right?
43:55
Us. He goes on to say not only
43:59
foolish but weak. Not only weak but base.
44:04
Not only base, but the things that are not.
44:08
That was a story before you were ever a believer.
44:11
God had his eyes on you. You didn't know it, but He full
44:15
well knew what He was going to do with your life.
44:18
He knew what He was going to do, how He's going to do it.
44:21
And that is what we're walking into.
44:23
We don't quite know, but God's ready to show you.
44:26
He's ready to show you if you master this piece of your
44:29
spiritual walk and present yourself to God willingly,
44:34
completely, you learn surrender, you learn submission, you learn
44:41
yielding. You and I, we learn obedience.
44:46
Notice let's end with their turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 6
44:52
very familiar passage again, these familiar passages, they
44:55
get lost because they're so repetitive.
44:57
Don't let just pay attention to things that that like seem to
45:01
come up more and more and often because they're powerful.
45:04
And this is the traditional Shema, the great Shema, the
45:07
prayer that even Jesus quoted. Notice with me in Deuteronomy 6
45:13
and verse 4. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God,
45:17
the Lord is 1 You shall love the Lord your God with all your
45:22
heart, with all your soul and with all your might, which
45:27
anytime you hear the word all, I just want you in the back of
45:30
your mind or you can draw. You can just ask the Lord, Lord,
45:33
what am I holding back from you? Show me am I holding anything
45:37
back? Like if he tells me to do
45:39
something all and I know I'm human so I'm incapable of doing
45:43
all all the time, then I need to turn my prayers into the Lord.
45:47
Would you show me when I'm holding back because I want what
45:50
you have for me. I want to take it all.
45:53
I want to be to be in a place where I enjoy all that you have
45:56
for me. But where am I lacking?
45:58
Notice these words, all your heart, soul and might.
46:03
Verse 6. These words which I command you
46:05
today shall be in your heart. Teach them diligent to your
46:08
kids. Talk about them.
46:09
When you sit in your house, walk by the way, when you lie down,
46:12
when you rise up. It's almost like he's saying
46:15
present yourself to them morning, noon and night.
46:18
Present yourself to them before you hit the phone, before you
46:21
hit the news before present yourself to God in the morning,
46:25
in the evening, in the afternoon.
46:28
Bind them. He says verse 8 as a sign on
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your hand. Be your frontlets between your
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eyes. You shall write them on the
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doorposts of your house and of your gates and it shall be
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listen. It shall be when the Lord your
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God brings you into the land of which I he swore to your
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father's to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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This is the land, Joshua, how we started this whole series.
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This is the land that Joshua takes them into.
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They're living the promises of God.
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When you get there, that's the promise.
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Well, they're getting there. Notice he warns them I'm going
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to give you large and beautiful cities that you didn't build.
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I'm going to give you houses. Verse 11 of good things which
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you didn't fill hewn doubt wells which you didn't dig, vineyards
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and olive trees which you didn't plant.
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When you have eaten and are full, then beware, lest you
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forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of
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the House of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God
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and serve him, takes oaths in his name and have no other gods
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from the people around you. That's what happens.
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We forget. We forget all that God has given
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us that we didn't do. We think we did.
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Oh, it's my hard work, and it's all my Yeah, You know, if you
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kind of go back, those are all secondary causes.
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The primary cause is the grace of God and his mercy.
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And you and I, we get to enjoy it.
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We get to go along with what God's doing.
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But it's all our, our, our work is all responding to the
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initiation and the work that God has started in our lives.
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It is not all our hard work and it's not all our studying and
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every it's not, it's not all our investments and all the money
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we've made. It's God.
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And until you give God the glory, you're going to have a
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very frustrating life as an unbeliever or as a believer.
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God is the initiator in your life and he's inviting us.
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Hey, you want to take it all? Yes, Lord, yes, I want to take
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it all. Well, then you need to take one
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step back and have that place. No, Lord, you can have it all it
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all. It's all to you and from you and
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for you. You can have it all, Lord, every
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single part. So Lord, we we we do ask for you
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to make this alive in US. Teach us God, that's you know,
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such a stirring time where we're we're wanting to enter in brand
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new. We want to, you know, submit to
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you, our prodigal kids. We want to submit to you our
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marriage. We want to submit to you our
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thinking. We want we, we have all these
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issues that we can't fix and situations that we don't like.
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We have fears and anxieties. We have our own philosophies, we
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have our own thoughts and we just we submit to you today,
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God, that we would present ourselves to you freshly and new
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that we would be like that animal, that offering that
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little lamb that was offered on the altar completely consumed.
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We have, you know, we have just so little time left.
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The the tyranny of the urgent steals our life and worry and
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fear and pride and and we we, I mean, I, I come to you, Lord, as
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in a fresh year. I want to learn how to trust you
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more. I want to have that peace in my
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life and my heart that passes all understanding.
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I want to cast my cares upon you, Lord.
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And in our church, God stir us. There's still more land to be
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taken. There's still more.
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There's still more in the marriage.
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There's still more with the kids.
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There's still more in high school.
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There's still more in college there.
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There's still more land to take to honor you with our lives.
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And so we yield ourselves to you, Lord, a fresh and anew, in
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Jesus name, Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
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Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
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integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
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this week.