Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 335 | Finding Hope In the Bible: Faith, Love, and Hope

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335 | Finding Hope In the Bible: Faith, Love, and Hope · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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  well in John chapter four.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living her life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  In this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries, we are going to journey through
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  the scriptures, discovering the hope that is found in the Bible.
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  We are going to learn the three foundational traits that the Apostle Paul encourages
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  every believer to develop.
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  These traits are faith, faith, love, and hope.
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  Join us as Kim takes us on a journey through the Bible, revealing the hope the scriptures give.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  We're opening a series on discovering hope through the scriptures.
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  I believe I've never seen a time where we needed hope any more than we need
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  it now. Now, people are discouraged who are never discouraged.
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  And the reason people are so discouraged is, yeah, there's a lot going on in our world right now.
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  There's a lot going on that doesn't make sense.
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  But the real reason that people are discouraged is because they've taken their
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  eyes off of Jesus and they're looking at their problems.
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  And we are certainly living in a time when we need to tell the devil just how big our Jesus is.
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  We need to get back to the word of God.
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  John chapter 1 and verse 14 explains to us that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
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  And so if you really want to find hope, you've got to be a person who lives in the Scriptures.
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  The truth of who God is, the truth of what God will do, the truth of God is the Scriptures.
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  Scriptures and too many of us are just relying on someone else to tell us what the scripture says.
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  And I pray to the Lord that you are listening to all the people that you listen
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  to, that they are grounded and rooted in the Word of God.
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  But friends, you need to read it for yourselves.
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  You know, I went to dinner the other day with someone and they had already eaten.
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  And so they sit and watch me. And it was the most awkward thing because we were
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  at dinner and I was the only one eating.
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  And I remember thinking how odd that is.
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  And then it brought to my mind how many times people are coming to the table
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  with someone who's expounding about what God has done for them,
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  who's testifying about his amazing presence in their life and reading the scriptures
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  and just talking about it.
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  And yet they're just sitting there staring at you.
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  And to me, it was a beautiful picture of that when my friend who was sitting
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  at the table with me and just talking and watching me eat,
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  but did not enjoy one bit of a morsel to nourish them.
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  And even though as people speak to us about the word of God and in casual conversations,
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  we usually don't go that deep, But God is glorified and God has spoken of and
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  you can get a lot from that.
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  But it's not the same as ingesting it yourself.
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  Even when someone is speaking to you about the Word of God, you need to be looking
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  at it and asking questions and asking the Lord to speak to you,
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  being involved in the Word of God, even if you're not the ones teaching or speaking.
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  It's my hope that as we are talking about this right now, that you've got a
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  pen and paper, you've got your Bible out in front of you if you can,
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  or you're making mental notes if you're driving down the road and can't write
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  anything, but something that is said or done in this time that we spend together
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  will motivate and inspire you to personally get in the Word of God.
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  Because I'm telling you, an interesting thing happened in that dinner.
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  At the end of dinner, I was full and satisfied, and my friend was hungry. Right?
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  And I remember thinking how ironic. We left the restaurant where all the food you could ever want was.
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  She walked out hungry.
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  I was one who was partaking of the food. I left fully satisfied.
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  And that's a beautiful picture of what it is to be a person who's in the scripture,
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  who's reading it and meditating on it day and night, who is committing it to
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  their heart, who's assimilating in their lives.
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  That's the person who is incorporating Jesus.
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  They are satisfied. Those who just kind of get it on the surface or watch other
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  people and don't even try to understand or learn what teachers and preachers are telling them,
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  Those are the individuals who leave hungry,
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  but he will always satisfy.
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  In fact, he told the woman at the well in John chapter 4 that if you come to
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  him and drink of his living water, that you would never thirst again.
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  And so I want to bring to your attention over these next few podcasts in this
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  series of discovering hope through the scriptures that the circumstances of
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  your life do not need to dictate the joy of your heart.
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  That your environment doesn't need
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  to be what sets the tone for how
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  you interact during the day and
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  how your joy is in your heart because joy
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  comes from the Lord joy comes from
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  knowing him and living with him and communing with him and walking with him
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  in Romans chapter 15 and verse 13 he says Now the God of hope fill you with
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  all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.
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  The God of hope fill you.
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  With all joy and peace. That verse alone, that foundational piece of our series,
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  is what allows us to know that joy isn't part of our circumstances.
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  Joy is knowing who God is and allowing him room in our lives.
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  The apostle Paul, in his writings, encouraged every true believer to develop
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  three foundational traits.
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  The first foundational trait that I want to talk about is that he asked you
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  to have faith because that's what the Lord requires.
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  He says, but without faith, it is impossible to please him.
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  And you must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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  But in John chapter 14 and verse 12, he says this, Verily, verily,
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  I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.
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  And greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.
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  Friend, the Bible says, if thou canst believe, all things are possible.
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  John tells us here in john chapter 14 and verse 12 which you are correct was
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  not written by paul but all of paul's writings take us back to faith but i want
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  you to see what faith can do which is what is in john 14 12.
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  Faith can do greater works than Jesus himself did on earth. That's what we're told.
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  And he says it's that way because he goes to the Father.
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  Do you know what happened when he went to the Father? He gave us the Holy Spirit
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  to lead us, to comfort us, to guide us.
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  He tells us in John 14, 26, But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
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  whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring
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  all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.
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  He said that he had to go so the Comforter could come.
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  When we have the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Trinity,
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  and listen to me carefully,
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  the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, however you want to call him, is a real person,
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  a real entity.
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  He is fully part of the Trinity.
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  He is equal to God the Father, God the Son, and he is the Holy Ghost.
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  They are all three in one.
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  Now that blows a finite mind, but he's an infinite God.
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  And what he said he will do, he will do. And he's omnipotent and he's omniscient.
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  So he's all knowing and he's all powerful and all things are under his feet.
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  And when Jesus walked the earth, he did great things.
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  And he said greater things you will do because he said you'd have the Holy Spirit in you to do them.
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  And he will empower you to do them.
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  What you will allow the Holy Spirit to do in you.
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  In Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 20, he says, Now unto him that is able to do
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  exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.
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  The power that works in us is the Holy Spirit.
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  It's what tells the sun when to come up. It's what tells the moon when to shine.
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  It's what tells the water to stop at the edge of the beach. It's what tells the stars to come out.
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  It's what tells you to walk and talk and breathe.
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  It's what allows you to do that. But we don't listen.
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  We don't walk in his sovereignty. We don't walk in his authority.
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  We just go willy-nilly doing what we need to do or what we think we want to do, and we ignore him.
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  And when we do that, we find ourselves living below our privileges as a Christian.
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  We find ourselves living without the joy of the Lord, and we find ourselves
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  living a life that we were never intended to live, because John 10,
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  10 says that it came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
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  But the first part of that verse explains to us that the devil came to steal, kill, and destroy.
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  And what happens when we're not looking in to the word of God,
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  when we are not looking to Jesus himself,
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  when we're not praying, when we've got our mind on everything else,
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  doing that which we want to do doing that which
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  is willy-nilly that just randomly comes into our life
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  when we do that the devil has us because
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  he keeps us distracted he doesn't care what you're doing as long as you're not
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  doing what God would have you to do he doesn't care anything that you're doing
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  he would love for you to get so hung up on exercise that you didn't have time to read the word of God.
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  He'd love for you to get so busy taking care of your family that you forget
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  the Lord who gave your family to you.
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  He'd love to get you so busy serving the Lord that you forget the Lord you serve.
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  He doesn't care what you do as long as you're not putting Christ first and as.
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  As long as you're not eating and reading and living and digesting Jesus through
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  his word, the Holy Bible.
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  Paul encourages us all through his writings to have faith. Jesus requires faith.
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  We need to have faith. It's by faith we are saved, through faith,
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  and that not of ourselves.
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  It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
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  As we continue to look at the foundational traits that every believer will have,
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  we see that we are to have love.
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  And in Romans 5.8, we are clearly told what love is.
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  He says, but God commendeth his love or demonstrates his love.
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  Toward us. That's me and you, friend, sinner and believer alike.
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  But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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  And in Romans 8, verses 38 and 39,
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  he says this, for I'm persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities
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  nor powers nor things present nor things to come neither heights nor depth nor
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  any other creature shall be
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  able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,
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  we are loved and he tells us
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  that if we love him we will
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  keep his commandments and they are not grievous and
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  he tells us that we are to love one another as Christ
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  loved us as we read the
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  word of God and we absorb who Jesus is and we become more Christ-like because
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  we are the clay and he is the potter and he is molding us and making us into
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  what he would have us to be as we begin to assimilate what the word of God puts in us.
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  When we begin to look like a Christian and act like a Christian and we begin
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  to live what God tells a Christian to live, I promise you the love of God will exude from you.
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  And that third foundational trait is hope.
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  That, my friend, is what we are honing in on in this series of discovering hope
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  through the scriptures.
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  Hope comes from the resurrection of Christ. We have hope because he is hope.
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  Even though things look bad and bleak and helpless, God is working all things out for our good.
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  What he tells us in Romans 8 28
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  now if you truly love the
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  Lord you trust in him and in
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  Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6 he says trust in the Lord with all thine heart and
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  lean not into thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he
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  shall direct your paths let me tell you you know why you can find hope in the
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  scriptures because you believe they're true he says I am the way, the truth,
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  and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
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  He said the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
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  If he's truth and he's the Word, then the Word is truth. It's absolute.
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  It's imperative that you understand the value of the Word of God and the blessing
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  of the blessed book that he gave us,
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  the greatest love letter ever written from Genesis promises to revelations. So what is hope?
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  It's the expectation of positive outcomes, regardless of what's happening.
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  We don't have a hope so salvation, like I hope I make it, or I hope this works,
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  or I hope my team wins, or I hope I can stay on my diet more than a day.
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  No, we have a hope, an inspired, trusting belief,
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  that motivates and inspires us to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that who God is is who he is,
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  that who he said he was is who he is, that what he said he could do is exactly
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  what he can do, that when he died for us, he demonstrated his love for us,
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  and he met a need that we didn't even know we had,
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  a need that absolutely no one else could have ever filled, and he loved us so
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  much, and he had us on his mind, and he provided for us even though he knew
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  we would reject him and fail him. That's what hope is.
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  That's what it means to have hope. It's defined as a trust we place in God.
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  Where you put your hope is vitally important.
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  Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, we have put our hope in Jesus Christ.
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  We have put our hope in God and we rely upon his promises.
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  See it's important that you understand that
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  in the old testament the hebrew
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  word conveys an idea of waiting and
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  being patient and enduring that's that's what hope is in
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  the old testament think about the israelites that relied on god to deliver them
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  and the from the enemies and to assure a victory in battle it didn't happen
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  overnight the entire book of psalms contains many expressions of hope in which God's people.
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  Remember his promises to be present and faithful.
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  Reading the word of God reaffirms who God is in our life.
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  It gives us hope. It shows us who he is.
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  And in Psalms chapter 40, verse 1, he says, I waited patiently for the Lord,
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  and he inclined to me and heard my prayer.
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  When you read the word of God, there are promises you can hold on to that will
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  give you hope for today, hope for the moment, hope for tomorrow,
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  and peace for yesterday.
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  Friends, it's time that we understand who God is.
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  And we do that by clinging to his word.
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  The Old Testament conveyed that idea of waiting and being patient and enduring.
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  The New Testament, the Greek word for it,
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  is often associated with looking toward Christ's return turn and the security
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  that we currently have in knowing that Jesus's sacrifice on the cross of Calvary
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  secured our eternal future in him.
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  John chapter 3 and verse 16, he said, for God so loved the world that he gave
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  his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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  The book of Colossians chapter 1 and verses, verse 5, Colossians chapter 1 and
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  verse 5, we read this truth.
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  For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in
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  the word of the truth of the gospel. gospel, the kind of hope that I'm talking
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  about in the Word of God will change your life.
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  We're no longer marked by the world and the sin debt and the weariness.
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  In fact, it says, do not be weary in well-doing. He'll lift us up in due time.
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  He said he would give you strength to do all that he asked you to do.
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  He said he would supply all of your needs.
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  So we should no no longer have despair and destruction and self-doubt because
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  we're not relying upon ourselves.
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  We're trusting in the Lord and leaning not into our own understanding.
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  In all our ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct our paths.
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  In Christ, we have a powerful hope. Through him, we can do all things.
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  Through Christ, which strengthens us.
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  He delivers us from addiction. He delivers us from despair.
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  He delivers us from anxiety.
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  He delivers us from depression.
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  Jesus Christ is the answer to every problem that you've ever had or ever will have.
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  He can repair marriages, broken relationships, broken friendships.
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  He is love, and we love him because he first loved us.
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  But perhaps, as we start to come to a close of this part of this series,
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  what I'd like for you to hear and know that he's an anchor for our soul.
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  You can close your eyes tonight and lay your head on your pillow and know that
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  everything's all right because he neither sleeps nor slumbers.
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  He never leaves you nor forsakes you.
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  And he's ever living to make intercession for us. And in Hebrews chapter 6 and
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  verse 19, he says, Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
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  both sure and steadfast,
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  and which entereth into that within the veil.
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  Jesus can go where we cannot go and do what we cannot do.
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  He is sure and he is steadfast. asked.
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  Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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  Friend, get in the blessed good book.
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  Let it get into you. It's not enough for you to get in it. Let it get in you.
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  Let it change you. Let it transform you.
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  Psalms 25.5 says this, Lead me in thy truth and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation.
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  On thee do I wait all the day.
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  My hope is in you all the day long.
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  Guide me in your truth, which is the word of God. Teach me, for you're my God and Savior.
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  Friends, we need to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
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  and allow him to fill us with all hope.
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  It's my prayer that you know him today. And if you don't, he is waiting.
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  For God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
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  but have everlasting life.
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  That verse of love, promise, and truth we find in John 3.16.
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  Remember you are loved.
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  Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
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  Thank you to the gospel group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song,
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  Happy Girl. We greatly appreciate your prayers.
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  We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you. You are loved.
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  Music.