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672 | The Value of Preparation · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well.
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  Ministries podcast with Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man,
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  woman, boy, and girl must come to Jesus, just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
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  Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
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  or on our website at watwm.org,
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  We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
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  who God is and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  We are bombarded on every hand to prepare for our futures, yet many of us neglect
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  the most important preparation of all.
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  We do not prepare for eternity. We live our lives to ourselves without any regard
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  for God, His Son Jesus, or the gift of salvation He gives to all who will receive.
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  Join us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries, as Kim reveals the
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  truth about what the Scriptures tell us about the importance of preparing our
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  souls for an eternity with Christ.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  And as we look at today's passage of Scripture found in Luke chapter 12,
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  beginning in the 15th verse and concluding in verse 21,
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  we see something that is frightening if we really take a close look and realize
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  that this is not only true, this is true in many of our lives.
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  The situation that we're seeing in this particular passage of Scripture is a
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  man who has spent his whole life getting and gaining,
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  the goods of this world into such an extent that he runs out of places to put
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  it and so he has the added worry and the added labor of building something else in order to put it in,
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  just to find out,
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  that in the end he can't take it with him and all of that time that he has spent
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  laboring for the goods of this world,
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  he could have spent doing something that would last for eternity,
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  the bible is plain it says for what shall a prophet a man if he shall gain the
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  whole world and lose his own soul and corinthians it talks about all the things
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  that we've done for christ will last and anything else that we have done will burn us hay and stubble.
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  Yet many of us, like burying our heads in a sand, taking no heed of the word of God,
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  and not learning from any of the mistakes even of people that we've seen,
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  we go about seeking all that we can gain.
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  And you say, well, Kim, the Bible tells us that he'd come to give us life and
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  that we might have it more abundantly.
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  I agree with you wholeheartedly in John chapter 10 and verse 10 it says that.
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  It also says that the thief came to steal to kill and destroy and by using that
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  concept in many people's lives he has done just that,
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  he has stolen their joy he has killed them and damned them to a devil's hell,
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  and he's destroyed any hope they have of getting into heaven you see because
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  he makes them think they're self-sufficient,
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  he steals away their time so that there's no time left for god There's no time
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  left for thinking about the things of God.
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  And there certainly isn't any time left to work for God.
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  And then when it's all said and done, they have nothing to show in eternity for their lives.
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  I've had the opportunity to be around many a people who were ministers and who
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  had spent a lot of time around people who were in the last days,
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  hours, even moments of their lives.
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  And I've spoken to them about the things that were on that person's mind and
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  never have I ever heard that they wished they'd worked more.
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  One of the saddest things that I believe I've heard of recent time was the story
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  of a man who had come from humble means.
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  He was working day and night to amass his wealth and he had made himself a multimillionaire.
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  When it came time for his life on earth to be over and he had spent all of his time,
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  He speaks to a dear friend, Christian of his, and the thing that he's worried
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  about is, who's going to get my stuff?
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  And in his mind, he reflected over all the people that he knew,
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  and he couldn't think of anybody in his family that he felt was worthy to be
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  entrusted with his wealth.
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  Now, on many levels, that's just a sad thing. On the very surface of that,
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  can you imagine he worked his whole life knowing now?
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  It's all going to go pfft, because those he's going to have to leave it to can't be trusted with it.
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  I was told that he started in the wee hours of the morning before daylight,
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  worked till 11 o'clock every night, some nights even later.
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  But when it was all said and done, he had nothing.
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  I myself have had the occasion to be at the bedside of dying people,
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  and I've heard them recount how they wish they'd given their life to Christ sooner.
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  I've had them talk about how they wish they'd done more for him.
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  And what I've really heard mostly from some of them was,
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  I wish I had made Christ more real in my life so that those around me would
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  understand the reality of serving him and would understand his realness and
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  would have a closer, deeper relationship.
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  You see, they were coming to the end of their life and they realized that their time to witness,
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  their time to talk about jesus was coming to an end and that those they loved
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  may not find the peace and security and the joy,
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  in knowing christ as savior because they weren't sure who was going to be around to tell them about it.
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  You see this man in the scripture is stuck in a really deep place he's caught
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  up with the notion that he's got to get all he can get Thank you.
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  Dear brother friend of mine said the other day about a person that he could
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  get all he can can and can all he got.
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  You see we're so caught up in making a name for ourselves,
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  that we forget that our works are as filthy rags we forget that the job that
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  we have the income that we have the blessings that god has given us is just
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  that they're blessings from god they aren't anything about us,
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  we forget that he said he would supply all of our needs according to our riches and glory,
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  we forget about the story how the manna came from heaven and it was just enough
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  to feed them and when they got the next day where they needed more food more manna came,
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  but for those who decided to hoard up what was given to them
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  and save it just in case there wouldn't be more the next day,
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  those who were working without faith, those who were depending upon their works
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  and what they could do to gather their food, instead of depending on God,
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  that food spoiled and rotted.
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  We forget that whole principle of God. When you touch it, when it becomes yours,
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  your works, poof, it's gone. It's ruined.
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  It's lost its value. How about it?
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  You that are listening right now, are you caught up in the lie of the world
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  that says, you got to just keep getting and getting and getting?
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  It's a very sad truth but if the church was doing what it was supposed to do,
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  and i mean the church by his church people,
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  and when we had an abundance we were giving to those that had a need we wouldn't need social reforms,
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  we wouldn't be complaining about the government and how they're taking care
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  of our people because the bible
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  gave us the commandment to watch the others we are our brother's keeper but
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  so many of us have become judge and jury that we decide we're not going to feed the poor.
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  We're not going to clothe the poor. We're not going to help the poor.
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  Besides, they could get a job. There's nothing wrong with them.
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  We think somehow because of bad choices that they may have made,
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  it relieves us of the responsibility of loving our brother as Christ loved us.
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  We think that somehow because of the situation they're in that we have determined
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  we could judge is their fault, which first of all may be wrong,
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  and second of all, is it our job?
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  But we've decided that because of that, we can be completely relieved of the
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  responsibility we have to take care of our own.
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  Well, that's a lie from the devil. You have no scripture to back that.
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  My friend, we're here to love as he loved. We're given an abundant life that others might have.
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  You got three or four coats in your closet? I challenge you something this evening.
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  Why don't you pray about it?
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  If the weather's cold where you are and the nights are getting chilly and you're
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  just warm as toast in one of 15 coats,
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  or maybe just one of four i challenge you,
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  ask the lord what he would have you do with that coat seek the lord to see if
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  he's interested in whether you have a brown coat to match your brown shoes and
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  a black coat to match your black coat your shoes,
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  and a red coat to match some other pair of shoes and a parka for days that are light,
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  and a ski coat for the sport event,
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  seek him about what he thinks about the individual he's placed in your life,
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  who doesn't even have a purple coat to wear of his black shoes,
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  who wouldn't care about fashion faux pas, but would love to be warm on a cold winter's night.
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  How about the leftovers? I'm not a big fan of leftovers either,
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  and it's a lesson I've had to learn.
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  But boy, when the Lord gives you food, you just throw it out.
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  You don't even have to think about the starving kids in Ethiopia and across
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  the world and in the third world countries.
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  Imagine if you went to school tomorrow morning and had the opportunity to talk,
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  to a large number of kids.
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  Waiting in line to get that food for breakfast.
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  You'd find out that that second day of chicken and dumplings,
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  oh, they'd have lapped it up.
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  Because when it came to dinner time last night, they didn't have anything.
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  You see, when is enough enough?
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  I can answer that question for you. The Bible said, For God so loved the world
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  that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not
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  perish but have everlasting life.
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  Enough is enough when it's Christ.
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  The widow had only one mite, and she threw it in, in the midst of people who
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  had thrown far more but just a portion of what they had.
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  She gave all she had, and enough was enough.
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  The apostle Paul was afflicted with something that he paid thrice for the Lord
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  to relieve, and the Lord didn't see fit to take it away from him.
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  But the Apostle Paul said, I'll take my portion, even if it includes this.
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  Because enough is enough when the enough is Christ.
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  Many of you have sacrificed your homes. Oh, I don't mean the big multi-million
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  dollar place that you rest your head.
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  I'm talking about some of you may not even know what your kids like to eat or don't like to eat.
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  Some of you don't even remember the last time that you got to tuck your child
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  in the bed because well he's asleep when you get in or she's asleep,
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  many of you have worked overtime and long hours weekends and day in and day
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  out all so that you could buy your kid this or that and he could keep up with
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  this or that and that's what you tell yourself because you've
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  decided what the world has told you is correct and that by the number of things
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  you can get your family and by the big house and the big cars that you have,
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  that's how you can value your worthiness as a parent,
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  or a husband or a wife or a daughter or a brother or a sister.
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  But that was the world that told you that.
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  It wasn't the Lord. You see, for the Lord said the greatest of these is love.
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  And as long as the devil can get you interested in doing something else and
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  moving away from what the scriptures say then he can win because you won't be
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  in the center of god's will and god won't have your heart.
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  He just keeps throwing things at you and in luke chapter 12 beginning in verse 15 this is the end result,
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  of chasing after the things of the world and he said unto them take heed and
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  beware of covetousness for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the
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  things which he possesseth,
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  right there we're told that whole value system of how you're determining your
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  value and and your worth is wrong and he spake a parable unto them saying the
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  ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully,
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  and he thought within himself saying what shall i do because i have no room
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  where to bestow my fruit and he said this will i do i will pull down my barns
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  and build greater and there will i bestow all my fruits and my goods,
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  and i will say to my soul soul Thou hast much goods laid up for many years.
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  Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
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  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.
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  Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
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  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
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  Isn't that huge? This man had everything.
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  Absolutely everything.
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  He had nothing he was prepared for a famine he was prepared with wealth of this world,
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  but see it's told to us in hebrews that it's appointed unto man once to die
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  and after this the judgment,
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  and he had spent all of his time not in prayer and not and the bible says that
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  we are to pray without ceasing,
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  he had spent all of his time working for the world and the bible says that we
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  are to abstain from all appearance of evil
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  he says that we are to be a peculiar people that we're to have enmity with the
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  world he says to study to show thyself approved unto god a workman that needeth
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  not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth he says hide his word in his heart
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  that you may not sin against him he said that his word is a light unto your
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  feet and a lamp unto your path and my friends let me tell you if you're on the
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  path of the world and all you're doing is feeding yourself with the things of
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  the world you don't have the light of him
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  guiding you and i have to ask you do you have the light of him in you,
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  see because he says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,
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  and it's clear to me that this man in luke chapter 12 beginning in that verse
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  15 as we're looking at that parable that whenever you spoke of him all he wanted
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  to talk about was what he had done.
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  And when he was beginning to think about how he had prepared,
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  all he had done was prepared for this world.
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  Now, there's no doubt that many of you within the sound of my voice,
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  if not most of you, if not all of you, have prepared well.
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  They're hitting you at work with 401ks, and they're talking to you now about
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  Roth IRAs, and they're telling you that you have to save 20% or 25% of what
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  you make now so that you can live comfortably later.
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  And they're explaining to you that you need to do this and you need to do that.
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  And they're telling you that you're behind on saving for your retirement.
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  And they've got you just all in a frenzy about how you're going to make enough
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  money and save enough money and prepare for the future.
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  And my friend, it's a wise person who listens to God and prepares for the future.
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  But only that stuff's going to last a short amount of time. The Bible tells
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  us that life is but a vapor.
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  And then it's gone. And we're spending all of our time preparing for the vapor?
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  Eternity is eternity. Our minds can't grasp that. It has no ending.
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  It is forever and ever and ever.
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  And there is no question as to whether or not you will spend eternity.
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  The question on the table is where will you spend eternity? and the only way
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  that you can spend eternity in heaven is if you've made preparations to meet him.
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  He did all the work. He gave his life on the cross of Calvary.
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  God gave his son to pay our sin debt.
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  There is this question you must answer. What are you going to do with Jesus?
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  And you must prepare a place in your heart and give him room in your life and
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  receive the free gift of salvation that he has for you.
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  And many of you, though, you've prepared for your retirements.
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  You're prepared that there's a catastrophe.
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  You're insured if you've got problems. You're prepared for your vacation next
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  year you're prepared for your
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  sickly things that you're going to do you've prepared for how you're going to
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  take care of your home you're prepared for how you're going to get your kids
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  in college you've prepared for how you're going to drive a car for a few years
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  and then get a new when your budgets are planned out till almost eternity,
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  but you haven't given one ounce thought about eternity and what you're going to do,
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  you see the scripture says,
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  thou fool Isn't that tough?
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  The Bible says that we're not to call people fools, and if we are,
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  we're in danger of hellfire, raka raka.
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  Jesus says, because he truly can't stand a judgment of someone, and he says, thou fool.
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  That's strong words. You think you're all that in a bag of chips because you've
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  got your IRAs done and you've got your 401ks,
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  and you know what your pension and retirement is, and you know exactly what
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  the autumn day is for you to stop working. Hey, that's great.
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  But should your soul be required of you today? Have you made your calling and election sure?
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  Is there a home not made with hands eternal in the heavens that has your name over the door?
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  Because he says in John chapter 14, Let not your heart be troubled,
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  neither let it be afraid. You believe in God, believe also in me.
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  In my Father's house are many mansions, and if it were not so, I would have told you.
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  He tells me in the book of Revelations that whosoever's name is not found written
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  in the Lamb's book of life shall be cast into hell fire.
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  He tells me in John chapter 3, he says, Marvel not that I say unto you, ye must be born again.
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  You know he says thou fool and then he says marvel not and we have time and
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  opportunity right now to make that reservation.
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  Make our calling and election sure by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Placing our faith in him and believing on him.
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  Calling upon him to save our souls.
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  And then, my friend, not only will you be prepared for retirement,
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  you'll be prepared for eternity.
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  And the Bible says that we are to lay up treasures in heaven where moth and rust doth not corrupt.
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  And I do have retirement things, but let me tell you something.
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  I want you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my retirement is out of this
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  world because I am just a pilgrim on a journey.
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  And I'm looking for my author and my finisher of faith. And I've made my reservations.
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  And I'm prepared for life after this.
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  If I should close my eyes and sleep and wake up in eternity,
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  I'll be saying goodbye, world, and hello, God.
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  Are you prepared for eternity?
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  Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
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  references from this episode in the show notes.
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  We pray today's message has been a blessing. If it has, please consider leaving
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  a rating or review on your podcast platform.
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  Your feedback helps others discover the truth of God's Word.
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  You can connect with Women at the Wellman ministries through our app at watwm.org
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  and on Facebook and Instagram.
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  While you're there, learn more about Bible Bits, Kim's daily devotional delivered
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  Monday through Friday by text message and the Bible Bit podcast.
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  Thank you for your prayers and support. Remember Jesus loves you. You.