Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24476 - Give Yourself Completely to the Lord - Acts 18:18-28

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#24476 - Give Yourself Completely to the Lord - Acts 18:18-28 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through a
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Bounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles to a couple of places, Numbers chapter 6 and
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Acts chapter 18. We'll finish the chapter today,
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but we'll use Acts Numbers chapter 6 in the beginning of
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our study today. And I've entitled the study.
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Give yourself completely to the Lord.
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That's where Paul is. He's in a place of examining his
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life and going deeper in the things of God, which is an
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interesting thing to consider because Paul was one of those
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guys I think has that personality of being all in.
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And you might look at him and go, how much more could the guy
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give? How much more could he dedicate?
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How much more could he expend himself for the gospel?
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And we'll see. Again, it was more personal.
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I mean, outward activity is one thing, but Paul understood the
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significance of personal consecration or personal
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separation or personal commitment.
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He understand what it was to develop his character and to be
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a man of integrity. He understood that it was
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important that he examine his life and go deeper than he did
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yesterday or last week. He was able to pay attention to
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his own spiritual walk. I mean, you think of that
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phrase, pay attention. How many times have you heard
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that? Pay attention.
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How many times have you said that to someone or parents, to
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your kids? Pay attention.
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Pay attention to the details because you can Think of all the
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things that take our eyes off of the Lord in Hebrews chapter 12.
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Remember we were told in Hebrews 12, we're surrounded by such a
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great cloud of witnesses. He said, lay aside the sin and
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the weight that so easily hold you back.
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I'm paraphrasing now, looking unto Jesus and how many things
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take our eyes off of Jesus and in life it's so many.
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I mean, I think of money, relationships, sports,
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retirement, careers like getting ahead, races, cars, house, I
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mean, you name it. These things not only can
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distract us, but they can actually replace our worship.
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We read in the Psalms today about God's being idols or you
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could even reverse that. Idols being God's little G And
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Paul reminds us that we need to pay attention and it's not just
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somebody telling us we've got to take care of ourselves
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personally. Really going deep.
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So let's pick up now in verse 18 of Acts chapter 18 it says So
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Paul still remained a good while, and then he took leave of
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the brethren and sailed for Syria.
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And Priscilla and Aquila were with him.
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And he had his hair cut off at Sankria, for he had taken a vow.
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And he came to Ephesus, left them there, but he himself
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entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews, and they
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asked him to stay a longer time with them, but he did not
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consent, but took leave of them, saying, I must by all means keep
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this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I'll return again to you,
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God willing. And he sailed from Ephesus.
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And when he had landed in Caesarea and gone up and greeted
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the church, he went down to Antioch.
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Now we pick up in verse 18. We were just previously in verse
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17. So when it says Paul remained a
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good while, he stayed in Corinth for 18 months, a year and a
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half. We learned last time that
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something happened in the heart of Paul.
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He probably came into Corinth a little discourage of what was
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happening in Athens. And he had Thessalonica and it
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would seem to be good. And then Berea seemed to be
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good. Athens, not so much.
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He rolls into town, into Corinth.
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He meets Priscilla and Aquila. He starts to work with them as
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tent makers. And then something happened.
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Something happened to provoke this discouragement.
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I mean, really, you could work backwards a little bit and you
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can see the things that were on Paul's mind.
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One, what is his purpose in life?
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Because God encourages him. Remember, he says, go ahead and
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do what I created you to do, Paul, you're going to be fine.
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And then he was probably questioning the presence of God,
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like maybe God had left him, but God told him, no, I'm going to
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be with you. I am with you.
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Don't worry about it. And then I'm sure that he had
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that sense of being afraid because they were after him and
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dealing with him and coming up like he was just facing all this
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difficulty and God said, no, I'm going to protect you.
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And then there was that maybe that sense of loneliness where
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God said, hey, I have a lot of people in this town, don't worry
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about it. And so he's got this concern
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about him. God met him, encouraged him.
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He stayed 18 months in Corinth, but it was time to go and notice
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it says that he left and went for Syria and Priscilla and
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Aquila were with him. These are his new friends in the
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in the ministry, his new gospel partners, if you will, that God
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is using to encourage him. Come alongside of them.
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And then notice in verse 18, he had his hair cut off in Sankria.
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And as you're reading through that you're like, what?
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What's he doing? What kind of vowel is this?
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What? What kind of vowel requires
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someone to cut their hair? Well, notice back in Numbers
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chapter six. Let me explain it to you what
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Paul is doing here. So go back to Numbers with me
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chapter 6. This is the value of knowing the
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word of God. Remember, the word of God is
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always its best commentator commentary.
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So let's find out what he's doing here.
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Really what he's doing is he's making a deeper commitment.
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He's made a vow to the Lord on top of everything else to to
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really press in to the things of God.
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And this is the vow he's taken. Notice with me verse one of
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chapter 6, it's called the Nazarite vow.
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He's taking the Nazarite vow and here it is in verse one.
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Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of
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Israel and say to them when either a man or a woman
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consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazarite to
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separate, and here's the key to separate himself to the Lord.
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That's what Paul's doing here. He has obviously examined his
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life. It's been a rough few years.
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It's been a challenging few years.
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It's been a challenging year and a half, thinking of the ministry
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in Corinth. And now Paul has taken a vow to
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separate himself. And I want you to consider that
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in your own life. This particular vow had three
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parts to it. Notice it says he shall separate
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verse three himself from wine and similar drink.
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He shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made
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from similar drink. Neither shall he drink any grape
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juice nor eat any fresh grapes or raisins.
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That's number one. He's going to give up something
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for the Lord. He's going to give it up #2
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Notice all the days, verse four, of his separation.
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He shall eat nothing produced by Grapevine and seed to skin.
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Verse 5. All the days of the vow of this
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separation. Here's the second part.
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No razor shall come upon his head until the days are
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fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord.
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He shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of
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his hair of his head grow. Number verse 6, all the days
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that he separates himself to the Lord, he shall not go near a
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dead body. He shall not make himself
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unclean even for his father or his mother or for his brother or
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his sister when they die, because his separation to God is
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on his head. In all the days of his
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separation, he shall be holy to the Lord.
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What's happening with Paul here as he's leaving Corinth is he is
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making a deeper separation. He's making a deeper commitment
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to the Lord. And again, you look at Paul and
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you're like, what more commitment can you make?
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You might even look at your own life and just think, you know,
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what more commitment could I make?
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What, what more could I do? And the equivalent that we might
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look at today is this personal call to prayer and fasting like
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to teach yourself the and, and refrain from food for a season
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or other things you can refrain from.
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You can refrain, you can fast social media for a while.
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You, you can fast sports for a while.
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You, you know, watching it, you participate.
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There's a lot of things that you can step away from, but fasting
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is really the separation of food, staying away from food.
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So you can teach your body every time it's hungry that the spirit
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is more important than the flesh in your life, that you can get
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through it. You know, you might you take a
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commitment to start fasting. And I mean, the very first
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breakfast you're going to skip, your body is going, are you out
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of your mind? Like, what are you doing?
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I'm hungry, I'm hungry. And that seems to be all that
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you hear. I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm
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hungry. You never, you haven't eaten
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McDonald's in 30 years, but you smell the French fries that
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morning. You're like, are they using new
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oil? What are they doing?
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The winds are blowing because your body, you're just used to
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it. You're just used to paying
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attention to your body. You're used to eating when you
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want to eat. You're used to snacking when you
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want a snack. You're just used to taking care
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of yourself. And fasting reminds you that you
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are more than your body. You're more than your physical
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appetites. So that when you make a
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commitment to pray and fast, you're doing very much what
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Paul's doing here says, you know what, I'm not doing this for
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anybody. I'm doing this for me and the
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Lord. This isn't for anyone.
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Now, the difference between prayer and fasting today and the
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Nazarite vow of course, is when you take a commitment to praying
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fast, you don't tell people. You don't make it obvious.
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This was an obvious fast because of our commitment, because of
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what he did with his hair. He cut it off and then let it
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grow for as long as the commitment was.
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So you can get the picture of it kind of being scraggly and
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unkempt and and every time he would see himself, every time he
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would come into the company of other people, he would be
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reminded I've separated myself to the Lord.
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So how can we apply the Nazarite vow to us today?
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What are kind of what are some of the commitments that would be
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very helpful as you go deeper, as you choose to pay attention
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to God. Well, let's take the one the
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cutting of the hair. You know, what can, how can the
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cutting of the hair relate to us today?
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Because they weren't to cut their hair.
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I mean, they were to let it go. They they were to not touch and
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just let it go. Well, I think that would speak
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to to many today is to not be so concerned and overly concerned
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about what you look like, about all the selfies that you're
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taking and how you're going to present yourself, and not to be
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so worried about what people think about you.
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Make that commitment under the Lord and be more concerned about
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what God thinks about you and let people say what they say and
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see what they see because your commitment is to the Lord.
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And perhaps that would be a reminder to many today.
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It's just you and God and it doesn't really matter.
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I know we say this and we say it until somebody has some
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criticism or something and then we start worrying about it
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again, but it really doesn't matter what people think about
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you. It matters what God thinks #1
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how about that? Drinking any wine and avoiding
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anything from the grape? Well, there is a physical
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fasting component to that, but there's also a reminder of
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sobriety. It's important that you stay
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sober and clear headed and that you make that commitment even
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though you may have some liberties and you take some
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liberties, like don't even go there.
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Stay away from it. But there was a deeper
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commitment here. It wasn't just drunkenness that
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came from wine. The water in that day was very
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dirty. It could make you sick.
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So one of the things they would do with the water is they would
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add a little bit of wine to it that would kill the bacteria and
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kill everything that was living in it.
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So this commitment would mean that now Paul would have to
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drink dirty water because that's the commitment that he made.
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So what kind of commitment would that be?
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But he's trusting God with his life and whatever sickness that
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might come, whatever might come from dirty water, he's like, not
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whatever. I made this commitment to you,
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Lord. I made this commitment.
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And then thirdly, don't be around dead bodies.
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This was a commitment to not put yourself in a place where you
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became ceremonially unclean, like you were thinking about
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your spiritual life. The Jews viewed touching of the
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dead body or being by a dead body is contamination of
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uncleanness and you're just focusing on God, how to stay
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clean in your life, how to stay clean.
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So we have to ask as we come back to where Paul is, it's kind
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of an interruption. If you're reading through the
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Bible and you go, what is going on here?
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He's ministry, ministry, ministry, ministry.
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He cut his hair off for a vow and what's going on?
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God is interrupting him. God is interrupting him to draw
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him into deeper level of relationship for what's up
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ahead, which is what God wants from you.
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He wants from you a deeper separation to him.
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Not I mean, these are days when it requires more, not less of
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you. In Romans chapter 12 and verse
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one, it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
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mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
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holy and acceptable, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable
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service. And you remember the next verse
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in verse two. This so covers the Nazarite vow.
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He says don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed
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by the renewing of your mind that you might prove what is
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that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
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These deeper commitments of consecration, you know, staying
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away from things are your attempt and mine to be farther
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and farther away from the culture in which we live and
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closer to the things of God in our lives because the odds are
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against us. You know, because we live in the
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world, we breathe in this world, we will purposely take in this
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world. And I mean, you have to admit,
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there are times when you sound and look just like the world and
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the culture and so far from the things of God.
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And there's that need for self examination even as you're being
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used to God. There's no great sin in his life
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here. It's not like you have to have
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this big sin. And Oh my gosh, look at me, I
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failed so big. Like, no, he's there's no big
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sin here. He just senses in his life that
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I've got to go deeper, that there's something going on
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inside of me. Maybe he looked back and he's
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like, I don't want to feel like I did in Corinth ever again.
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I don't want to be in such a place where it's going to
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require God to show up and encourage me.
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I don't want to be there. I need to be closer to the
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things of God. And he makes this commitment.
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Why did he do this? Well, you know, he took this vow
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not because he had to, because he, but because he could.
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And that's how you want to approach things in the body of
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Christ, in your relationship with God.
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He didn't have to do this. He got to do this.
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This wasn't mandated on him. There was nowhere he woke up in
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the morning. OK, This is the day for
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consecration. This is the day for separation.
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And I just want you to, I just want you to examine this.
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Like just be honest with yourself.
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And you might fall on a positive side of this or you might fall
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on a negative side of this, but please just just be honest with
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yourself today. Just just allow God to speak to
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you. I mean, you're in a church that
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is dedicated to God's word. You're in a church that teaches
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the Bible verse by verse. You're in a church with
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dedicated men and women that serve, that have a real desire
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to please God. And yet you still you find
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yourself hearing a pastor continue to ask you to read your
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Bible every day and you don't even read your Bible every day.
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So I'm talking about this deeper consecration, but you're like
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not even doing the ABC's. I'm asking you to to write
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essays and you're still learning the ABC's.
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Why don't you see the world in which you live?
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Don't you see what's happening to the kids?
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Don't don't you watch it and live it?
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Aren't you express experiencing it?
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And you're still hearing a pastor beg you.
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Now for some of you, you're like, well, yeah, that I
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answered that last year and I answered that two years ago.
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And I say, good, it's been good for you, hasn't it?
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Not because you have to. I'm not asking you to read the
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Bible because, well, you know, you'll make me happy somehow.
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That's all secondary. You will make me happy because
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it'll change your life. The word of God has just come
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alive you. It'll change you.
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God promises that. But so many are just OK with
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outward morality. And you know, church attends
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whatever, whatever it is, whatever our motives are, where
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you can be so close and actually be the farthest away possible.
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I remember the man that came, the rich young rulers, how he's
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referred to that came to Jesus at night.
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Remember that he was so close and yet so far because he
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wouldn't bridge the gap of obedience.
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He got so close. Now, later on in his life, he
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did bridge that gap of obedience.
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But in that episode, he left. He left worse off than when he
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first came, and you look at a consecrate, you look at a
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decision like this, and some of you just got to come to terms
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with the reality of the grace in which you live.
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One of the reasons why you're not reading your Bible is
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because you don't care. And that should stir you a
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little bit. It's not that you don't care
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about everything, but you just don't care about your spiritual
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life. Maybe you've forgotten where you
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came from. Maybe that's where it is.
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Maybe you've just forgotten the grace of God, the goodness of
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God taking things for granted. Perhaps.
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Maybe this was a season in because we don't know exactly
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what's going on. I'm trying to find different
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angles of what's happening in Paul's life, but perhaps he's
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just overwhelmed with the sense that he gets to be doing.
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Like he's in the middle, almost at the end of his second
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missionary journey and he just looks back and he remembers who
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he was. Remember who he was, The guy
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that was going to kill Christians, the guy that was
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religiously zealous, the guy that was lost as lost could be,
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except that he was very religious and he just stops and
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goes, This is amazing, God. I want to give you more of
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myself. I want it to be tangible.
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I want to feel it because the grace of God will lead you to
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deeper levels of relationship with God because you'll just be
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plumbing the depths. I'll be plumbing the depths of
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what God is doing in my life like you have.
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You have the freedom to take these kind of vows.
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You have the freedom to take these kind of vows to say, I
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want to go deeper and I maybe I don't want to just start reading
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my Bible, but this year I'm going to read the whole Bible.
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You can make that commitment. You can make that commitment and
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even stumble a couple of times during the year and pick it
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right back up. Why?
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Because you want to learn from God.
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I mean, you think about this might be a passage of Scripture
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you're reading and you go, I don't understand this.
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I'm not reading the Bible anymore.
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So let's just read verse 18 again.
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Let me show you the value of reading the Bible.
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So you just wake up in the morning.
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You're not in a hurry. Maybe you've segregated 10
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minutes, 10 minutes of your time, not a lot of time.
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You set your alarm early. You do get up, you go
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downstairs, you maybe set up your coffee machine, whatever,
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It's all ready for you. And then you open up to Acts
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1818, and this is the verse you read for the day.
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But so Paul still remained a good while he took leave of the
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brethren, sailed for Syria. Priscilla and Nicola were with
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him. He had his hair cut off in
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Syncria. And then he had taken a vow.
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And you stop in verse 18 and go, I don't have any idea why I'm
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reading the Bible. This doesn't make any sense to
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me. You know, even that word
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syncria, you don't even how do I even pronounce that?
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And what's going on in his life? And you, you miss like, like,
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for example, you're in a church that's taught you how to do
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this. You can just apply it, you know,
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verse 18 that there's a verse 17 and 16.
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So you're not just dropping into the Bible like out of the blue.
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This is an episode in a man's life.
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And so when I read this, Paul remained still a good while.
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We're like, well, where did he remain?
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What do you mean he remained a while?
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Well, we know where he remained because if you go back to verse
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171615, you know where he's at. Where is he at church?
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Corinth. So he stayed in Corinth for a
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while. What's the big deal about that?
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Well, if you go back a little bit to verse 9:10 and 11:00, you
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see words in your Bible that are read.
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The words in your Bible that are read reflect the language that
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is attributed to Jesus Christ. So here he gets a visitation
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from Jesus. And if you were in our Bible
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study last time, you know that he was encouraged in four ways
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from God, that God met him in his discouragement.
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And then there you are just reading the Bible and you just
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take in a few seconds here and you're like, man, I've been
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pretty discouraged. And I've been in the same place
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for a while. And then you begin to pray, God,
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would you encourage me? Would you help me in this tough
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time? You know, what's am I?
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You know, some of you get so discouraged and this is how you
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respond. I don't even know why I'm
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discouraged, because you start looking at things in your life
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and go, this is pretty good, This is pretty good, but I don't
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even know why I'm discouraged. But because you're in the Word
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of God, you immediately are taking that discouragement to
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Him, asking God to help you and strengthen you.
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If you did that 365 days a year, don't you think you'd change?
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Don't you think your mind would change?
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Don't you think your prayer life will come alive?
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Don't you believe that God would meet you there, that God would
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lead you, that God would speak to you, that what God would help
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you? What if you did it once in the
23:08
morning and once at night? Do you think 700 * a year to
23:12
turning your heart toward the Lord would help you?
23:15
Oh, wait a minute, why don't you add to that?
23:16
You come to Bible study 50 * a year.
23:19
So don't you think 800 times seeking the Lord?
23:21
Oh wait a minute, you got mad on I 25300 times?
23:24
Don't you think as you prayed to God in your car 300 a thousand
23:29
times, you see the power If you will just decide to separate
23:33
yourself to the Lord, you'll be changed.
23:37
Will you still have issues? Of course, we still have
23:40
discouragement for sure. We still face all the things
23:44
you're already facing. Yes, but here's what happens
23:48
with the grace of God. This is what happens.
23:51
This is right now I'm declaring to you as a pastor, you have
23:53
freedom. You can read your Bible.
23:55
You don't have to. You get to you have freedom to
23:59
pray. You don't have to.
24:00
You get to you have freedom to serve.
24:03
There's so much freedom to go deeper into the things of God,
24:07
to cut your hair and don't touch it.
24:09
Let it go for the sake of the vow.
24:11
Stay away from alcohol, stay away from drunkenness, even stay
24:14
away from your favorite foods or the most common things.
24:17
Put your life in a place of trust.
24:20
Don't don't live a life that's unclean.
24:22
Watch what goes in your eyes and ears.
24:24
You have the freedom, but this is not how Christians somehow
24:28
they don't use freedom that way. They do the exact opposite.
24:33
And this might be for you today. You know, when I hear people
24:36
start talking to me about freedom, freedom in Christ, it's
24:41
rarely, if I've ever freedom to go deeper in the things of God.
24:46
You know what I hear? I hear this.
24:48
Hey, bro, you should be watching out for this in your life
24:50
because it's not good for you. Hey, brother, stop judging me.
24:53
I'm free in Christ. All right, bro, I guess.
24:57
I guess you don't want to go deeper in the things of God.
24:59
You can't judge me. You can't tell me what to do.
25:02
You can't. I have freedom in Christ.
25:04
And almost always freedom in Christ is used by believers to
25:07
see how close they can get to sin or how many compromises they
25:11
can make. Instead of, hey, you have
25:14
freedom and sin. You have freedom in Christ to
25:17
stay away from sin. You don't even have to try to
25:19
get close. You don't even have to mess
25:21
around with that stuff. Well, you know what, pastor?
25:23
You can't tell me whether I can smoke marijuana or not.
25:27
It's legal. Come on, man, Seriously.
25:31
And yeah, it is serious. You know, pastors back in the
25:34
day, they would, they would be asked this question.
25:37
You know, pastor, is it OK to take edibles and smoke pot?
25:41
And the pastors would right away go, of course not.
25:43
It's illegal, which was always the wrong answer.
25:47
That's always the wrong answer because laws change and
25:50
governments want more taxes. So things that were illegal
25:53
three years ago might be legal this year.
25:56
Here's the right answer. Do you really want to be under
25:58
the influence of something that takes your mind off Christ?
26:02
Do you really want to put yourself under the control of
26:05
some substance that will take you away from worshipping God?
26:10
Do you really want to disobey the Bible when it says don't be
26:15
drunk with wine, which is an excess to be filled with the
26:20
Holy Spirit, to which some Bible, you know, somebody like,
26:24
well, you know, it's not wine, it's marijuana.
26:27
All right, man, how do you argue with somebody like that?
26:33
Because you always have your reasons and you always have your
26:36
excuses to indulge in things that will keep you in a place
26:41
farther from God. That's natural.
26:46
That's not where Paul is right here.
26:48
If you just did your DeVos in these verses, you would learn
26:51
the commitment that God wants to do.
26:53
You might even get a personal word from the Lord.
26:56
This is the kind of commitment I want you to make.
26:59
And then you can already hear it.
27:00
Like, do you want me to never comb my hair again?
27:02
No, you don't. That's not that's, I'm not
27:04
asking you to take the Nazarite vow.
27:07
I'm asking you to give that up or I'm leading you to, to, to,
27:12
to take care of that situation or I, you know, for some, I'm
27:15
telling you to go flush the drugs just directly where you
27:20
get that from God's word. You see, your freedom is to be
27:25
used for you to grow deeper in the Lord, not less.
27:29
It's not to make excuses for all kind of behavior.
27:32
If you want to keep living like this, this life that really
27:35
doesn't seem to make much progress for God, then go ahead
27:38
and try to get as close to sin as you can without sinning,
27:41
which is impossible by the way, sin you, you start heading your
27:46
life. Like if the edge of the stage is
27:48
sin you, you set, you go toward the edge.
27:51
There's only the next step. There's no more edge.
27:55
You're going to go over the edge.
27:57
It's just the facts. So when you think of Paul and
28:00
cutting his hair off in Sankria, leaving Corinth, heading to
28:04
Ephesus, I want you to remember God wants you to make those
28:08
separations and consecrations as well.
28:11
Which by the way, one thing you may notice but maybe you didn't,
28:17
is in verse 19 that it says he came to Ephesus.
28:21
Why is that such a big deal? Well notice verse 23, after he
28:26
had spent some time there, he departed and went over all the
28:28
region of Galatia and Phrygia in order strengthening all the
28:34
disciples. Why is that such a big deal?
28:36
You want to know why Acts chapter 16?
28:39
Remember Paul in Acts chapter 16?
28:42
He wants to go where into Asia and what does God say no?
28:48
And then he tries a different way and tries to go into Phrygia
28:51
a different way. And what does God say?
28:53
No. And we spent a lot of time on
28:55
this learning how to respond to what we call closed doors or
28:59
what I've been calling a hard no from God.
29:03
And here Paul, he, he ends up where?
29:07
In Asia. Now, I want to give you some
29:09
homework. I didn't do it.
29:10
I was going to do it and I didn't get around to doing it.
29:12
So you're going to do it. OK.
29:14
So here's some homework I want you to take from here in Acts 18
29:19
in this section up to verse 23. And I want you to go backwards
29:24
in the Bible to Acts 16. And I want you to jot down
29:28
everything that happened in his life from the closed door to now
29:33
the open door. So I want you to look and just
29:36
say, oh, he went to Thessalonica, people got saved.
29:39
He went to Berea, people got, I'm giving you a few of the
29:41
answers ahead of time. So that's what I want.
29:44
That's what I want you looking for.
29:45
Because none of those things would have happened if God
29:50
didn't close the door. The Bible would have been
29:55
written differently if the hard know wasn't in Asia.
29:59
Which reminds us that God knows what He's doing with your life.
30:04
He knows what He's doing with your life.
30:05
He knows where He wants you. He knows how he wants to use
30:10
you. He knows the people that you are
30:13
to meet and to become a part of. And there is a lot between the
30:18
closed doors of life and what God has in the future.
30:23
And there was a lot in Paul. And don't you think the
30:26
believers in Thessalonica were happy that God closed the door?
30:29
Paul wasn't happy, but they were because that's how he got there.
30:33
And don't you think, and who knows the conversations, even in
30:35
Corinth here, he would have never had 18 months in Corinth.
30:39
He would have never experienced the depth of discouragement.
30:43
He would have never received the encouragement from God himself,
30:46
Jesus coming to him and encouraging him if he didn't go
30:49
back to that closed door, which was also an encouraging moment
30:53
or excuse me, a discouraging moment and go back and do the
30:57
homework and you'll see the power of God using and even
31:01
these things in our lives. So Paul's laser focused here.
31:05
And by the way, those of you that are wondering, you know,
31:09
how do I use my freedoms? You know, because I might have
31:11
described you today, You've always used your freedoms to
31:14
excuse, you know, borderline behavior.
31:17
Oh, you know what, don't judge me.
31:18
Oh, you're holier than thou. All that kind of nonsense.
31:21
Let me give you 8 things. So if you want to jot them down,
31:24
eight things, eight questions to ask on how to use your freedom
31:29
and how you answer these questions will either take you
31:31
closer to God or farther away. OK, so you're about to make a
31:35
decision. And I, I think we like to call
31:38
them, you know, decisions in the Gray areas of life where you
31:41
can't open the Bible and the Bible says, no, don't do this.
31:44
It's like either or how should I, should I do this?
31:47
Should I not do this? Ask these questions and you may
31:51
not even have to ask all eight of them.
31:52
You may after a couple of them, you go, no, I should probably
31:55
leave that alone. It doesn't make me, it doesn't
31:58
help my Holiness. It doesn't help me grow in
32:00
Christ. It doesn't help me be a better
32:02
example to my kids and to my family and friends.
32:05
It doesn't help me on my discipleship journey.
32:08
It doesn't help me follow Jesus. Here's some questions ready #1
32:12
If what you're about to do, ask this question.
32:14
Will this help me honor God? Because if it's not going to
32:18
honor God, why are you doing it? And you should consider that
32:21
number 2. Will this separate me to God?
32:25
Will it consecrate me to God? Is it a unique thing about me
32:29
that it will show that I'm a follower of Christ?
32:31
Will it separate me? Will it make me number three
32:34
more useful? They kind of go together, but
32:36
the third question asked is what I'm about to do make me more
32:39
useful for the master. Because if it doesn't, we're
32:42
just going to be wasting our time.
32:44
It's going to be something that's not eternal.
32:47
You know how pastors were already telling you, make your
32:49
life man, go for it. Make an eternal difference.
32:52
Well, you know the things that aren't making you use for useful
32:55
for God are not eternal. They're not going to last.
32:59
How about this one, number four, will this prepare me for every
33:02
good work? Will this prepare me for every
33:06
good work? This might be the one question
33:08
because what are you're about to do isn't good at all.
33:10
So just stop it, avoid it, it'll help you #5 Does this build me
33:16
up spiritually? That's an important one.
33:19
It's going to help me in my marriage, help me in my
33:21
singleness, going to help me love God more than I should.
33:24
Probably avoid it if it doesn't. The next one is number six.
33:27
Can it bring me under its power? And so that's the question that
33:32
gets answered, you know, gets asked about alcohol and drugs,
33:35
and you know, if it's going to bring you under its power, why
33:37
do you want to live that way where you can't connect with
33:41
God, You're not being able to hear him?
33:43
How about this one, number seven?
33:44
Does it give me an uneasy conscience?
33:48
And this is a big one because I find a lot.
33:52
This is this is where the uneasy conscience, this is where
33:56
Christians throughout the ages, we have all ignored our
34:00
conscience and grieve the Holy Spirit, grieve the Holy Spirit
34:07
where God has clearly enlivened our conscience.
34:10
That's the ability, the innate ability to know right from
34:13
wrong. You just know it.
34:14
It doesn't matter what the law say, doesn't matter.
34:16
God put that into us, the that innate sense of right and wrong.
34:20
And then as a believer, your conscience is enhanced by the
34:25
Holy Spirit. And when you go against your
34:27
conscience, you grieve the Holy Spirit.
34:29
Listen, this is a warning, because if you grieve the Holy
34:33
Spirit over and over again, you harden your heart.
34:38
Your heart becomes hard toward God and a hardened, hardened a
34:41
believer then ends up having a conscience that is seared by the
34:47
Holy Spirit where you're just not even feeling anymore.
34:51
Your conscience has been seared like with a hot iron, and it's
34:57
just sealed up to the Holy Spirit is a better way of
35:00
putting that where you don't even feel them anymore.
35:04
That's why you don't read the Bible and that's why you're not
35:07
in prayer, because this sweetness of relationship has
35:11
been replaced with condemnation and shame, trusting you away.
35:15
Why? Because of sinful behavior.
35:18
It's actually a quite a very simple process to follow Christ.
35:25
It's been complicated over the years.
35:26
You want to pay attention to your conscience.
35:28
And then #8 Another question to ask is, could it 'cause someone
35:32
else to stumble? If you couldn't write them all
35:35
down, e-mail me. I'll send them to you.
35:37
I can copy and paste them very quickly.
35:39
Very important questions to ask. I've done Bible studies on this
35:42
in particular. If you want to listen to them in
35:44
First Corinthians chapter 6 and also First Corinthians chapter
35:47
10. You guys might be familiar with
35:49
the passages. First Corinthians chapter 6
35:52
verse 12 says all things are lawful for me, but all things
35:55
are not helpful. Can I get an Amen on that?
35:59
I, I can, I have freedom, but not everything's going to help
36:01
me. They're not going to be helpful
36:04
for the Lord. All things are lawful for me,
36:06
but I will not be brought under the power of any First
36:09
Corinthians chapter 10, verse 23.
36:11
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.
36:14
All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify or
36:19
build us up. So let no one seek his own, but
36:22
each one's each other's well-being.
36:25
That's where Paul is in his commitment here.
36:29
Just a simple paragraph is so packed with with weight and
36:35
understanding. One more thing before we finish
36:38
the chapter. It says I don't want you to pass
36:41
over this phrase. In verse 21 he says I'll return
36:44
to you, God willing. Did you see that?
36:47
I will return again to you, God willing.
36:51
This separation, this consecration is now revealed to
36:55
us by Paul's dependence upon God for the timing.
37:00
We have to think, being in Ephesus, did he not remember the
37:04
closed door that he wanted to be there a few years earlier?
37:07
And he goes, you know, here I am.
37:09
This is unbelievable. There have been times where God
37:11
has opened doors for me and I'm somewhere teaching or I'm just
37:13
somewhere ministering and I'm like, this is unbelievable that
37:16
I'm here right now. This is unbelievable.
37:18
Lord, that you've allowed this. It's unbelievable in Ephesus.
37:23
Paul could be in a place where he's like, man, I know that I
37:26
have to depend on God's timing. I know I have to, I have to
37:30
trust if it's in his will and that's the way we need to pray.
37:35
There are those that would teach today, some within the church
37:39
that would say we're not to say this, that that's a, a sign of a
37:43
lack of faith. It's actually not a sign of a
37:45
lack of faith at all. It's a sign of deep faith.
37:48
Whatever you want from me, God, I'll go and I'll be, I know what
37:52
I want, but ultimately, God, what I want is what you want
37:57
from me. And this concludes Paul's second
38:02
missionary journey. I want you to mark at the end of
38:05
verse 22, it says that he went down to Antioch.
38:12
OK, church, say it out loud. What is so important?
38:15
What is at Antioch? Anybody know a church, The
38:20
church that actually sent him out?
38:23
So he comes back to the church, gives us his update and
38:27
encourages the church, only to leave again on his third
38:32
journey, which will be a lot more time in Asia.
38:35
But he came back to encourage the church.
38:37
That's why we love to have our missionaries back, listen to
38:40
them and interview them, hear what God's doing in their life
38:43
because it's super exciting. So he stays in Antioch and then
38:46
it says in verse 23, he spent some time there.
38:49
He took off. If you'd like to write in your
38:51
Bibles above verse 23, I want you to write third missionary
38:55
journey because this is now his third journey.
38:59
It's going to take a little bit longer, but he's on his third
39:01
journey. This is he comes back to home
39:04
base and then he heads out again.
39:07
And it says in verse 24. Now now a certain Jew named
39:11
Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man, mighty in the
39:17
Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in
39:21
the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and
39:25
taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only of
39:29
the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in
39:33
the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard
39:36
him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of the
39:39
God more accurately. And when he desired to cross to
39:43
a Ki, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to
39:47
receive him. And when he arrived, he greatly
39:50
helped those who had believed through grace, for he vigorously
39:54
refuted the Jews publicly showing from the Scriptures that
39:59
Jesus is the Christ. Paul takes off, leaves Priscilla
40:05
and Aquila in Ephesus, and this episode takes place.
40:10
Which tells me we can interview Apollos here and he would tell
40:15
us. Man, I'm so glad God closed the
40:17
door for Paul the first time he wanted to come to Asia.
40:20
What are you talking about, Apollos?
40:22
Well, you don't understand. If God didn't close that door,
40:24
then Paul would have went on his travels and connected with
40:27
Priscilla and Aquila. I would have never met them in
40:29
Ephesus and I would have never been accepted by the church.
40:32
And you could hear all these testimonies.
40:35
Thank God for the closed doors, except for the person
40:38
experiencing it. It takes some time, but
40:41
eventually you'll see by God saying no of what God wants to
40:46
say yes to. You'll see.
40:48
You just got to wait on him and trust him.
40:50
So here's this guy, Apollos. He's very smart, very well
40:54
spoken. He's also a student of the
40:57
scriptures. I believe he's a real believer
41:00
even though he doesn't have the full understanding of everything
41:03
yet. He only understands John the
41:06
Baptist. So he's still believing in
41:08
Messiah to come even though he's not keeping the law.
41:12
He's kind of like an inbetweener where he's moving forward and
41:15
God is giving him what he needs. And this is where, you know,
41:19
sometimes you'll hear that question.
41:20
What about those that don't believe?
41:22
Or what about those that have never heard the gospel?
41:25
Listen, there's no such thing. There's no such thing as a
41:28
person that's never believed. Because you might even be in the
41:30
place where you're studying the Bible, reading the Bible, or
41:33
thinking about God, and all of a sudden he connects them with
41:37
Priscilla and Aquila. Just like those that might be in
41:40
the deep dark jungle somewhere don't know the English language.
41:43
God has a way of reaching everyone.
41:46
No one will be able to stand before God and say they've never
41:48
heard. No one ever.
41:51
Apollo's couldn't say, hey, you know, I don't know what I'm
41:54
searching the Scriptures, I don't know.
41:55
Because God knew what he needed, he needed Priscilla and Aquila
41:58
to meet him and to take him aside.
42:01
It says in verse 26 and explain to him the way of God more
42:04
accurately. And after that he's a quick
42:07
learner. God uses him greatly and he
42:10
becomes a very important part of the body of Christ.
42:16
This is an encouraging section for Apollos, but it's also an
42:20
encouraging section of the Bible for Priscilla and Aquila.
42:24
These are the tent making gospel team, this married couple, which
42:29
by the way, marry couples. It's important that you serve
42:32
together, that you are a team together, that God uses you
42:36
together. You are individual, yes, but
42:38
you're also one in Christ. So here they have Priscilla and
42:42
Aquila. When they, when they heard him,
42:44
notice what happens. It says in verse 26, mark this
42:48
word. They took him aside and
42:52
explained to him the way of God more accurately.
42:56
They were both used as instruments of God to explain
43:00
the way of the Lord more clearly to him.
43:03
They did it together. They did it as a team.
43:07
And that's important to step back because many in the church
43:10
today, there's such a big debate going on in the church at large.
43:14
Maybe you've been involved in it or not, but like in the church
43:17
world, it seems like sometimes, you know, people in the church,
43:20
all they want to do is argue. And this is a big point.
43:22
And that is the argument over the role of women and the value
43:26
of women in the church. And there are a lot of different
43:30
viewpoints on this from, you know, demeaning of women, which
43:33
is absolutely not biblical, or the over elevation of women,
43:39
which also isn't biblical. But I want you to see here in
43:44
this topic of whether women and can be in key leadership in
43:49
church, I want you to see this. The answer to that question is
43:53
yes. We have an example here of a
43:56
woman that God used to teach a man.
44:00
You see it right here. They both explained to him,
44:03
which means they took the Scriptures and explained to him
44:07
the way of the gospel. They taught him where he was
44:11
wrong and where to be right. And it's important for us today.
44:16
We're not going to jump into the debate today, but it is
44:18
important for me to share with you ladies.
44:21
You are just as important to the plan of God as men are equal in
44:28
every way. Do you know how the Bible says
44:30
there's neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female?
44:33
Well, God means that you are valuable and important to the
44:38
plan of God. I like to throw out a word at
44:41
times like this to remind you and so you can understand the
44:44
layers ontologically. That's a big word I learned in a
44:48
book. Ontologically, which simply
44:52
means in your nature, who you are as human beings created in
44:56
the image of God, men and women are 100% equal in every way
45:03
ontologically. However, that doesn't mean there
45:09
isn't a distinction between the genders.
45:13
There is a distinction between the genders that God lays out as
45:17
you open the Bible in the very beginning, there is man and
45:22
there is woman. There are distinctions.
45:25
While there is equality before God in value and importance and
45:29
usefulness, there also is distinction male and female,
45:35
which in the history of God using men and women, it is clear
45:40
that God uses men and women differently.
45:43
So not only is there a distinction in gender, but there
45:46
also can be a distinction in role and responsibility.
45:51
There are things that women cannot do.
45:55
And then ladies, don't jump me yet, OK, Don't because there are
45:59
things, men, that you cannot do. You got to understand.
46:04
Let's it doesn't. We don't have to get caught up
46:06
on all the arguments if we just let the Bible speak, for
46:08
example. I'll give you an example, Men,
46:12
for the rest of your life, I don't care how much you dream
46:14
about it, want to do it, how much you are going to say you're
46:17
going to, you can even say you're doing it, but it's not
46:19
true. You're not.
46:20
Men, You can never, ever be a mother.
46:28
Ever. Let me go a little bit deeper,
46:31
men, you can never, ever the rest of your life until you take
46:36
your last breath, conceive and give birth to a child, to which
46:42
all the men say Amen. No, it hurts.
46:44
You know, it's like it's just impossible in a culture that
46:49
might say you can do whatever you want to do.
46:52
That's not true, ladies. You can never be a dad.
46:56
Ever. That role is exclusive for men.
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No, no one. Now, I understand that sometimes
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as a mom, you're a single mom and you have to do double duty.
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And to that, we applaud and celebrate you because that's not
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easy. But you're still not a dad.
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There are many, many things that we are limited in in our lives.
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That's just the facts. You can choose and you can
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create confusion. And in a world today, now we
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have all of this identifying. I identify.
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But as much as you identified, you still are who you are by the
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grace of God. You don't have to get caught up
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in all this confusion. You don't have to let the
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cultural pressure change what God's Word says.
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So let me take it home to us in the Scriptures before we leave.
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While the role of pastor and elder within the church is
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limited to men, leadership with women is great within the body
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of Christ. While the role of pastor and
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elder is limited to men within the church, the ability for
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women to be used in great and amazing ways is all throughout
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the Bible. If you want to jot them down,
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I'll give it to you. First of all, here we have
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Priscilla. She's an amazing Bible teacher.
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We have Miriam is a worship leader in Exodus chapter 15.
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We have Deborah who's a national leader.
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She's a judge in Judges chapter 4.
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Holda is a prophetess in Second Chronicles chapter 34 which
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means she's speaking forth the word of God.
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We have Anna is in the New Testament and Luke chapter 2 is
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a prophetess. We have Phoebe in Romans chapter
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16 is a deaconess within the church, besides the many women
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that were around supporting and encouraging alongside of Jesus
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and the disciples. And so women, it's very
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important that you rise up and hold on to what God has given to
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you in the ministry, but also to recognize your role and
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responsibility, not trying to be something that God has limited
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in your life. Now this whole thing of
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teaching, it's important because like you, you, you demean women
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when you go, you can't teach. I mean, that's like that's like
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Marie, she might be watching. She's here today, but she might
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be watching. Well, she's here today.
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So on the way home she goes. You know, Ed, you really blew
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that teaching today. Really, really you really.
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Yeah, And it said, well, I'm about to teach you what the
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white way on that text. One thing she's not going to
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hear in the car ride home is woman thou out, oh thou out thou
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whatever I'm saying. I'm all nervous.
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So she's right there. Sorry, it came out just fine
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yesterday because she wasn't here.
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But woman, let's start over and put my hand out just like that
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while I'm driving. Thou art a woman, and you are
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not allowed to teach me. Because isn't.
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Doesn't that sound dumb? I mean, if she's right and I'm
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wrong, then I'm going to learn from her.
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I'm never going to admit that I'm wrong, but I'm going to
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learn from her. Of course Marie can teach me.
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Of course God can speak to her. Of course God can give insight.
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I mean, think of moms today. You have adult men that are your
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sons. Is there ever going to be a day
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you don't teach them moms? Never, Never.
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What we're talking about is roles and responsibilities.
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What we're talking about is God's ordained prescription for
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authority. It's not a statement of
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demeaning you in your in your womanhood or your personhood.
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It is something God has ordained as He establishes back Adam and
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Eve all the way back to the beginning.
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Look, Priscilla and Aquila encourage me because they're
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A-Team and you can see how sometimes you lose the
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significance of a Bible verse because of the arguments.
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I wanted to share the argument with you so you're prepared for
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it. But what's more significant to
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me is to see the beauty of a husband and wife team here where
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they're just going for it together, the significance of
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the sovereignty of God. That would bring Paul to meet
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them and spend 18 months making tents with them and doing
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ministry with them. So much so he says, hey, man,
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join me. I'm heading off to Asia.
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You will not believe the story about Asia, how God closed the
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door. And I was so discouraged.
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Like you can imagine the story they were going through.
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And then when they when he leaves them there, they're just
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ready to do ministry and they find this guy and they go, man,
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I think, I think he could do more for the Kingdom.
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Is that how you see people when you meet them?
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I mean, he's obviously limited. He obviously doesn't have the
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whole story. He obviously has something to
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learn. Is that how you view people?
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Man? This guy could be really used
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for the Kingdom if I could just teach him a little bit.
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He could be really used if I could connect with them.
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I mean, how did Paul look at Priscilla and Aquila?
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Oh, you know, just the tent makers.
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I guess I'll go work with them and then I'll leave.
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No, no, he saw his job as an opportunity to connect with
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someone and stay lifelong friends with them in the gospel.
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It's amazing what you'll do when you use your freedoms.
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As we learn to get closer to the Lord not excuse sin, sinful
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behavior and if you're just as a side note till we end today.
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If you're one of those guys and you're one of those gals that
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just loves to argue and fight with people about the Bible all
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the time. Here's the word of the Lord to
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you ready. Stop it.
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You're going to miss out. You're always trying to make
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your point and like people avoid you because they don't want to
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argue anymore. I'm going to ask you to start
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praying and look for the heart of God in the text.
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Look, don't misunderstand me. There's some doctrines we have
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to take a stand for. I'm not talking about that.
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That's actually not an argument. But when you're arguing about
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secondary things and you're going to place to place and
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people are avoiding you, don't you think that's something to
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improve in that God would use you for the Kingdom of God so
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that you can meet a guy like Apollo's?
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I can't believe it. You don't even know Jesus.
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Instead of like, Hey, let's sit down and talk about this because
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I think if I gave you just a little bit more, you'll be so
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amazing for the for the gospel of Jesus.
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And if you can just start looking at people like that,
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like seeing what they could be rather than what they are, it'll
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help you. Amen.
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So Lord, thank you for this text and for the opportunity to learn
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today. And we are grateful, but we also
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get caught up, Lord, we there's some that still aren't reading
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their Bible. There's some that are involved
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in all kinds of, you know, sin and compromise that are wrecking
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their lives and and they're so close, but so far.
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So I just pray, Lord, you'd help them that we would just rise up
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and be the church that we would stop, you know, talking about it
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to some degree and start doing it.
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Embrace your will for our lives and find that your spirit will
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overwhelm our flesh in Jesus name, Amen, Amen.
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Let's stand together, Church. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
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Call us at 87730 grace that's 877-304-7223.
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54:35
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54:40
or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.