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530 | Where are you placing your confidence? · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman.
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  At the Well Ministries, where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus
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  like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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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, we invite you to sit down with us as we look
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  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  The world will tell you to get all you can and store it for a rainy day.
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  Every day people push you to work harder and harder.
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  The ways of the world will lead you to believe that you have to look out for
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  yourself and no one else.
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  With each spent effort, you begin to feel the pride of the world and start to
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  lose sight of the blessings of God.
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  Before you know it, you have overlooked God's hand in your life and have stolen
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  His glory and placed it upon yourself as you claim to be in control of all that is in your life.
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  As you take control of your life, you quickly lose sight of the importance of others.
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  Please join us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim discusses
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  the demise of the rich man in Luke 12 as he puffs himself up and neglects the
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  important things of life.
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  Thank you for joining us. And we're going to talk today out of Luke chapter
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  12, beginning in verse 15 and concluding in verse 21.
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  And it's interesting to me that as we begin to read about this rich man, he has everything.
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  He has everything this world can offer.
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  And it's obvious to me that he's worked for it because he keeps figuring out how to get more.
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  And you see, that's the way things are in our lives. The devil will begin to
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  get our eyes turned away from God. And we begin to look at the things of the world.
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  We begin to get so excited about the skills and the talents that he has given us.
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  And suddenly we find ourselves thinking that all that we have is because of all that we've done.
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  And then it becomes that all that we have isn't enough.
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  So we begin to work harder and harder and more and more.
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  And this is a trick of the devil, because as we work harder and harder for things
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  to get materialistically, and as we work more and more, then we have less and
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  less time to be used of God.
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  And we get more and more things that cause us to be more and more attached to the world.
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  You see, the proverb tells us that pride goeth before a fall.
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  And never do we see it any more clearly than we see it in Luke chapter 12,
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  beginning in verse 15. Shall we pray?
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  Our kind and most gracious to heavenly Father, Lord, we just ask that you would
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  just visit with us right now.
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  Lord, we pray that you would remove from our heart anything that would keep
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  us from hearing what you would have to say.
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  And Lord, we pray that you would remove from around us any distractions that
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  we might have that would keep us from focusing solely upon you and hearing exactly
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  what you would have for us to hear.
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  And Lord, we thank you that we know that you're taking this time with us and
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  that you care about us and that you want to be with us.
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  And Lord, we thank you that we know that we're important to you and that the
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  things that are important to us matter to you and that we can count on you to
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  provide our every need. and we don't have to depend upon ourself,
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  which is frail and full of failures.
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  Well, we can depend on the one true God who never fails and who will supply
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  all of our needs according to your riches.
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  Lord, we pray that you would just work in our hearts and in our lives and you
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  would just change our focus if it need be.
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  That we would be solely focused on you and that we would allow you to lead us
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  in the way that you would have us to go.
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  Lord, we pray for your divine intervention in our lives and
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  we pray for your guidance of our footsteps and lord
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  we pray that your will would be done in this lesson and
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  all these things we ask in thine most precious and holy name we
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  pray all of god's people said amen in
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  the book of luke beginning in the 15th verse of the 12th chapter it reads as
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  this and he said unto them take heed and beware of covetous for a man's life
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  consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
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  And then he spake a parable unto them. Verse 16 says, And he spake a parable
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  unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
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  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do?
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  Because I have no room where but to stow my fruits.
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  And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater.
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  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
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  and is not rich toward God
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  as we begin to look at this passage of scripture I want you to take a close
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  look at what he says take heed other words listen up follow what I'm about to
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  say this is important and you need to understand and do it Jesus says take heed.
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  Beware of covetousness. The Ten Commandments says thou shalt not covet.
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  If you think about in your life, the number of times you've gotten in trouble,
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  because you got your mind wondering about what somebody else had and you had
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  to have a little bit more.
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  And the next thing you knew, you were spending way more than you had and you
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  were in a whole lot of trouble.
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  If you haven't found yourself in a financial mess because of covetousness,
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  if this is a problem you have, you've definitely found yourself in a lot of distress,
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  because you're constantly working to see
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  who is better and i've got news
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  for you you might be on top with that
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  battle but somewhere someplace somebody has more and it's just a battle you
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  can't win and it will turn you into a very bitter miserable individual and the
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  lord says beware of it and then he goes to tell you why because basically it's
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  a small part of who you are,
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  but don't let it define you because it isn't important what you have.
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  It's important who you are and whose you are.
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  You see, when this rich man gets pared down and you cut away all the things
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  of his life, he's an empty man.
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  For you see, he told his soul that he was happy and he took charge of his soul.
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  And it doesn't work that way. For you see, in Revelations, we are told that
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  whosoever name was not found written in the Lamb's book of life was cast until hellfire.
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  Revelations 20, 15. You'll spend eternity in the lake of fire if you've not
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  made your calling an election sure you aren't in charge of your soul you have
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  the opportunity to make this choice because he says choose you this day whom you will serve.
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  But in John chapter 14 and verse 6, he says, Jesus speaking,
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  I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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  And no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
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  He tells us that all things were created for and by him and that he knows the way.
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  And then he tells us, I am the way.
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  In John chapter 3, he says, Marvel not that I say unto you, ye must be born again.
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  He also says in John chapter 3, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
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  This rich man had everything, but he didn't understand the gift and the grace of God.
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  For you see, he was unwilling to let God be God.
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  He wanted control. For you see, he says in verse 19, and I will say to my soul, soul.
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  He was dictating what his soul would do and he was placing his trust and his
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  confidence even to the extent of his eternal soul in his own self.
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  Most of that, I believe, started in this poor man because he was suffering from covetousness.
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  You see, I believe he had gotten himself into such a shape that he believed
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  that he could define himself by the things he had.
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  I believed he had been deceived so badly by the world and by the devil that
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  he thought if he could just continue to have a bunch of abundance,
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  people would think he was all that and a bag of chips.
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  And I believe he convinced himself that he was all that in a bag of chips.
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  And it all started with just a little bit of problem.
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  It started with that little itty-bitty sin. I'm telling you,
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  if we give sin an inch, it will take a mile.
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  I once was told when I was a little kid, if you give sin an inch, it'll become a ruler.
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  And I think that's absolutely prophetic and definitely profound.
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  Ground it will begin to rule your life because you give
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  it power and in romans
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  chapter 6 he says sin hath no more dominion over us if we
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  are child of god but we're in the world but
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  the world doesn't need to be in us for it was obliterated
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  by the blood of jesus christ and for it to come into our
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  lives we have to invite it open up the door and
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  grab it let me tell you the devil's
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  looking for every angle because he
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  wants to be ruler and i believe this man
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  started out just wanting a little bit more and so jesus begins this entire dissertation
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  of this parable with beware hey this is a problem that can happen well let's
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  just nip it in the bud and let you understand that who you are isn't dependent on what you have.
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  You doubt me? Look at Job. Job was the same man, which was a guy that there
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  was no gal found in his mouth.
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  And the Lord was so confident in his faith that he allowed the devil to test him.
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  But he was the same person when he was rich as he was when he was broke.
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  Because you see, who Job was wasn't dependent on what Job had.
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  You see, and joy is from within.
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  And it's unspeakable and full of glory. and it isn't circumstantial.
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  You see, I've seen great pain in my life, but nothing could snuff my joy.
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  For you see, even the worst of things, God makes good.
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  Even the homegoing of my mother, I was overjoyed at the funeral by knowing that
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  she had gone to that home not made with hands eternal into the heavens.
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  That the race that she had run had come to the end and she had come to the prize
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  of the high mark and she was standing in the presence of Jesus Christ and she
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  was fellowshipping with my father and they were complete and they were whole.
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  And the sorrow that I felt wasn't about them. It was about me.
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  Which is exactly what's going on with this guy. He's all about him.
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  But Jesus took the worst parts of my life and he sat down beside of me and he
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  cradled me and he hugged me and he held me.
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  And he showed me who he was in ways I'd never seen him before.
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  And those promises that I'd read about all my life, he brought back to my heart and mind.
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  Oh, how I miss them. but for
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  me it's just a temporary separation for
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  i have the promise to see them you see this
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  man got his eyes off of what was real and began to fabricate a whole new scenario
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  and it all started because he took control away from god bible says that if
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  we humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God that he will lift us up in due time.
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  This dude wasn't willing to be lifted up anywhere, for he had placed himself
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  in the position as Lord of his life.
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  And many of you talking to me right now, looking at me, listening,
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  hearing the sound of my voice, have done the same thing and you're not admitting it.
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  You have placed yourself as ruler and God of your life because you're not asking
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  God for any help. Look at what happens to him.
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  He is blessed bountifully.
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  And it never crosses the rich man's mind that he was blessed bountifully because
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  God had people in need that he wanted this man to supply their needs.
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  It never crossed his mind. He's trying to figure out what to do,
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  but does he go to God and ask? No, he says he fought within himself.
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  How about that decision you've got how about the blessings that he's bestowed you with.
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  You see, those children he gave you, you're just keeping them for him.
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  He's giving them to you to raise, but they're his creation.
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  And he has commissioned you to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
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  And he has trusted you with their care.
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  And you can't raise them alone, my friend. You must come to God in prayer and ask him.
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  But some of you are just thinking within yourself, what do I do with this teenage
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  kid who won't listen to me?
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  Hey, that's nothing new under the sun.
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  The Bible tells you how to deal with that.
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  You train up a child in the way he should go. When he's old,
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  he won't depart from it. You pray for them.
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  Remember the prodigal son? He went away.
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  And the whole time he was away, the father was preparing for him to come back.
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  You say, I didn't know because he brought him a fatted calf.
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  The calf was ready for him. He didn't give up.
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  But you see, we need to go to the father in prayer and be prepared.
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  We need to not think within ourselves. We don't need all the self-help books
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  and all the parenting things.
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  One of the best sellers of parenting in the country never had a kid.
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  And you buy his books asking him, what do you need to do? why don't you ask
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  God who created all things.
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  Has a plan you see this rich man thought
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  within himself and he looked around
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  him he didn't look to god he was looking
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  around and he was using logic the
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  bible tells me in hebrews chapter
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  11 and verse 6 but without faith is
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  impossible to please him for he that cometh
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  to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder
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  of them that diligently seek him you have
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  the promise that if you come to God in faith believing he will reward you yeah
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  the promise that he said that he will guide the footsteps of a righteous man
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  you can put your confidence in the fact that he is the way so if you follow
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  him you can't go wrong you see it's not circumstances that dictate who we are,
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  it's within us the problem this rich man had was he had placed his faith in
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  things that would fail and he had placed his faith in himself and he continually
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  goes to himself for what to do
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  Look how many times he says, what shall I do?
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  I have no room. This will I do.
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  I will pull down my barns. I will bestow all my fruits and my goods.
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  He says, and I will build greater. And there I will bestow my fruits and goods.
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  He was hoarding up.
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  Aren't you glad the Lord didn't just hoard up? The Bible tells us that we are our brother's keeper.
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  You see, the Lord has given everybody all that they need.
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  Sometimes it's deposited in somebody else's hand.
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  And you have the privilege and the opportunity to be a blessing and an instrument and a tool of God.
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  But you hold so tightly to it that you can't pry it out of your hands.
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  You don't stop the will of God.
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  But you sure do reap damnation on
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  your soul and you sure do cause yourself
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  trouble for you see god didn't give you
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  six coats you've only got two
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  arms and one body the best you can do is wear one
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  on each arm and you definitely don't need it but
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  somebody you know probably needs one you see
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  the lord gave you what you had so you could do what
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  he wants you to do with it and he wants you to have nice things and good things
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  and he's providing that for you but do you really need those things you've had
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  in your closet that you've never seen for two years it freaks you out and shame
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  on you if you're pulling stuff out of your closet that still has tags on it
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  they've been in it for a year.
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  That's what this man kept doing building greater
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  sometimes we buy to help
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  make ourselves feel better sometimes we just keep getting and getting and getting
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  and you see people getting a lot of problems because it really doesn't satisfy
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  you have people who go shopping and that's the recreation i submit to you probably
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  they thought within themselves and they didn't go to him and ask.
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  More this man had the more he wanted he had plenty even more than he needed
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  and then he had to get more and then he just kept getting more and he had stuff
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  that would take him through many years,
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  but something was about to happen he didn't count on he said tonight thy soul will be required,
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  you're laying up for years he says take no thought for tomorrow for the evil
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  of the day is sufficient thereof you don't have to depend on you for tomorrow and i'm not.
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  Aim that you don't need to plan for your future. You need to not think within yourself.
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  You don't need to take the advice necessarily of your brokers, if you have them.
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  You need to go to Jesus Christ and you say, Lord, you've given me this amount of money this day.
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  And I want you to tell me exactly where you want me to spend that money.
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  And I want you to tell me exactly where it needs to go.
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  And I want you to let me have the faith to believe that all is going to be okay.
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  And Lord, if you tell me to put this in my 401k, then I'm going to do it.
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  But Lord, if you tell me to buy food for that family down the street, then I'm going to do it.
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  Because I'm not going to think within myself. And I'm not going to worry about
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  building more and more and more and more and more and more and more for me.
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  I'm going to think about building a bigger and bigger kingdom for thee.
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  And I'm going to think about showing the love of God to all around me.
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  And I'm going to think about the abundance that you've given me being something
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  that I can be a blessing for someone else.
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  And I can trust you that your seed will never be begging and that we'll never
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  be looking for something.
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  Because you said you'd supply all of my needs according to your riches and glory.
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  And you said I could do all things in your strength.
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  So Lord up in heaven, what you've given me today, tell me where to write the
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  check. Tell me where to put the money. Tell me what to do.
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  Well, you've got plenty more where that came from. and I just simply am your bank account.
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  And Lord, let me know how to help others come to know you. Lord,
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  maybe my feet need to go somewhere and spread the gospel.
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  Lord, maybe I need to send a card. Your heavenly father, maybe I need to be
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  the one that sends money to help somebody else do it.
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  But Lord, don't let me look to within myself just to get more and more.
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  But let me be wanting to build the kingdom of God for what it should be.
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  Because when it's all said and done, Only the things for Christ will last.
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  Lord, use me in thy service.
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  And may I always look to you for all my answers.
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  For when my soul is required of me, I want to reach you face to face.
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  Run into your arms and say, Hello, Father.
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  Thank you for the love and the life you've given me.
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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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  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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• 22:25
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  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  Remember that God loves you. You are loved.