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At Your Best | Spiritual Devotion · Bayside Davis Podcast

0:09
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you this morning about spiritual devotion in an age of distraction.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: We live in an age of distraction.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: In fact, distraction, opportunities for distraction are everywhere.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: We are replete with opportunities to be distracted as followers of Jesus spiritually.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a few possibilities of distractions in your life.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: First and foremost, your cell phone.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: They say that every the average person picks up and checks their cell phone 186 times a day.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: You think anybody's picking up their Bible 168 times a day to check it?
0:58
SPEAKER_00: What are you saying, God?
1:00
SPEAKER_00: What's your text message to me right now in the morning, God?
1:04
SPEAKER_00: Social media, infinite scrolling, or you call it doom scrolling, rotting your brain and your soul.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: Not that social media is bad.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: We just told you to follow us on Instagram.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: You can redeem social media, people.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Notifications.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: About 15 years ago, I was getting so many notifications.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: I was pastoring a very large church in the great state of Oregon where it rains all the time.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: And uh, I was getting so many notifications, my anxiety was just off the charts.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: Bing, ding, ring, and I was like, I can't do this.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm pastoring a church of thousands of people, and I'm like, this is way too much.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: Text, emails, calls, DMs, WhatsApp, Teams, Outlook, all the things, and I'm like, this is too much.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: They are opportunities for distraction.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: And then streaming.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: Back in the day they had cable.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: Now they have streaming.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: And I think you pay more money with streaming than you did with cable.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: You got Netflix and Hulu and Max and Peacock and Amazon Prime and on and on and on and on and on, Apple TV.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: Opportunities for distraction.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: These aren't bad things in and of themselves.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: And then some of you actually like pay attention to the news.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: And every day you get news alerts, and they're all bad news.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: Opportunities for distraction.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: And then there's short videos, TikToks and reels, and people, you know, just scrolling watching one after the other after the other.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you should study how that affects your brain chemistry neurologically and neurochemically.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: It's an interesting uh research project for you as a follower of Jesus.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: And then all of us, because we have so many distractions, we're with people, but we're not with people.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: Like our body is there and our presence is not there.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: And then some of you like to shop online.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: You like Costco and Target and Amazon and Vintage and Non-Vintage and clothing stores and all the things, and you shop and shop and shop as a form of distraction.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: Now, all of these things are not necessarily bad.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: It's not bad to shop, it's not bad to watch TikTok reels, it's not bad to look at the news feeds, it's not bad to stream, it's not bad to get notifications.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: That means something's happening in your life and people are connecting with you.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: It's not bad to be on social media or to have a great Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max or 18 or whatever you have, or 12 or whatever.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: It's not bad, but it can be bad when it distracts us from the most important things in our life.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: About a decade ago, I was going through a really hard moment of life, actually, a long stretch that was really difficult.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't know at that time, but I had been walking through depression.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Often when you just get acquainted with depression, you don't know that you're depressed, but you know that something's off.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: And I had been in this kind of depressed state for some time, even though I wasn't aware of it.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: And I loved what I was doing.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: I planted a church at 25 years old.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say way too young.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: And the church grew exponentially by the third Easter.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: We had over 2,000 people, and I was pastoring this amazing church, and I loved what I was doing, but I was worn down and my mental health wasn't well.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: And I started dreaming about something totally different than ministry.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: I was like, wouldn't it be great to do something else?
4:41
SPEAKER_00: And so I started to dream about starting a clothing company.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh, my entire family's from Denmark, so a lot of creative artistic people, and uh that's just a part of the culture of Denmark.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: So, all you Danish people, you're amazing.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: And uh might only be me, so I'm amazing.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm just kidding.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: So I started just dreaming of like every night I would just like study fabrics and measurements and like what I wanted to do, like branding and all of this stuff, and it was fun, but I realized that at some point in that process, somebody said something to me.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: They're like, Wesley, you're talking more about your clothing company than you are about ministry.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I didn't even realize this was happening, but it was a good thing, and yet it was something distracting me from the most important thing because I was going through a hard moment of life, and sometimes that can happen in our life.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: And I want to give you a spiritual antidote to distraction and how to do this as a follower of Jesus.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Does that sound good?
5:46
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 12, verses 11 through 12.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: I believe that Paul here gives us six exhortations, six things to practice as followers of Jesus that are an antidote to distraction spiritually in our world today.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: You might think of these as spiritual devotion, and you're like, what does spiritual devotion mean?
6:24
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I can put it in your current nomenclature.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: It means lock-in for Jesus.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual devotion, lock-in for Jesus.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: There's six things that Paul teaches us to do as an antidote to distraction here.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: Number one, notice verse 11: be diligent.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: Be diligent.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: He uses these words, never be lacking in zeal.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: You see that term lacking, it means idle or lazy or slothful.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: Everything that we don't want to be as followers of Jesus.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: This is somebody that's irked by responsibilities and demands and just wants to sit and binge watch 24 hours a day or sleep all the time.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: That's not necessarily a healthy thing.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: This term is used in scripture for lazy human beings.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: This term was used in the ancient world for militaries, military uh attacks, which slowed down because those fighting became disheartened and they softened up and they no longer were diligent in their job on the battlefield.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: One scholar describes this as a person showing hesitation through weariness, sloth, fear, bashfulness, or reserve.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: I just went through the Proverbs and I thought, wouldn't it be great to listen to the Proverbs and what it says about laziness so that we could do the opposite spiritually?
7:54
SPEAKER_00: Listen to these Proverbs.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs chapter 6, verse 6.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider its ways and be wise.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: Meaning ants are not lazy, they work hard.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs chapter 6, verse 9.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
8:11
SPEAKER_00: When will you get up from your sleep?
8:12
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it's okay to sleep seven, eight, nine hours, but maybe like 12, 13, 14, 15, maybe that's a little too much.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 18 verse 9, everybody's quiet in here.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys sleep that long?
8:24
SPEAKER_00: I haven't slept 10 hours in like decades.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 18 verse 9.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: One who is slack in his work is a brother to one who destroys.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: In other words, there's bad repercussions for laziness.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 20 verse 4 sluggards do not plow in season.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: So at harvest time they look but find nothing.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: They're not doing the work.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: So when the crops come to the harvest point, there's nothing there for them.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 21, verse 25, the craving of a sluggard will be to the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: You want a few more?
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 22, verse 13, whether you want them or not, here they go.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: The sluggard says, There's a lion outside.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: I'll be killed in the public square.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they do nothing because they're like, there could be danger outside, so I'm not going out today and doing any work.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: There's a lion outside.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: What is that lion for you?
9:16
SPEAKER_00: It's not real.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: God has work for you to do.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 26, 13 through 16, the sluggard said, There's a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: No, there's not.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: Like back and forth and back and forth, one side to the next.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: A sluggard buries his hand in the dish.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: He is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: He just puts his hand in his food and he doesn't actually bring it to his mouth.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people who answer discreetly.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, Proverbs 31, 27, talking about this incredible godly woman, she watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of verses on laziness.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: Laziness will always, spiritual laziness will always lead to distraction spiritually.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Where we lose steam from God's calling and responsibilities and the way and practices of Jesus.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: And we must resist this reality in our life spiritually.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: Have you guys ever seen a sloth?
10:33
SPEAKER_00: You ever seen a sloth?
10:34
SPEAKER_00: You guys know about sloths?
10:36
SPEAKER_00: Come on, veterinarians in here.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: Sloths literally hang in South America, they do nothing.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: They're in the rainforest and they hang from a tree and they barely move the entire day.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: And they get, they go down from the tree.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: I think it's once a week to go to the bathroom.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: They're the laziest animals on earth.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: Don't be like a sloth.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: What about a koala?
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys know anything about koalas?
11:03
SPEAKER_00: They're cute little animals.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: They sleep between 18 and 22 hours a day.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: Don't be like a koala.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: They're cute.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you want to be that, but don't be like sleeping 18 to 22 hours a day.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: Laziness is not the way of Jesus.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: Notice what is the way of Jesus in verse 11.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Never be lacking in zeal.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: This means diligence or eagerness or earnestness.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: Our spiritual life and service to Jesus should be marked by diligence.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: Our love for people and our love for seeing people come to Christ should be marked by a genuine and kind earnestness.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Let's reach our city for Jesus.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: So God says, be diligent, number one.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: Number two, verse 11, be passionate.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: Be passionate.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: But notice what he says next.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: But keep your spiritual fervor.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: I like that term, fervor.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: Zeo is the term.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: It means to be set on fire.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: Some of you need to, on a spiritual sense, be set on fire.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: Or it means to boil over.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: You know when you're cooking and like something's just simmering, just like little bubbles coming up.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: That's not what God wants for your life.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: But you know when you're cooking pasta, especially pasta, and you Italian food lovers, and literally you turn away, and next thing you look, like the water is coming out of the pot.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: It's boiling over.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: That's what God wants for your life.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: This also means figuratively to be fervent or enthusiastic spiritually.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: Question.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever seen a group of Christians change the world with no passion and enthusiasm?
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, who wants to listen to somebody who's like, oh, let's talk about Jesus today.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: Open your Bible, I guess it's gonna be okay.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: No, you wanna, you want, if you're gonna be changed and influenced spiritually, it's gotta be by somebody passionate.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: Nobody changes the world bored with their subject.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Nobody influences anybody in this world without passion.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: And God wants us to be passionate spiritually, to have spiritual fervor.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: And you might be here this morning, you'd be like, I'm not very passionate about my Christian life right now.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: But listen, in a moment, the Holy Spirit can set your heart, your soul on fire for himself and his work.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: And that is the reason you came to Davis, California.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: Yes, get a degree and become an expert and get a good job and have a vision and a purpose for your life.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: But more importantly, do that with Christ, not without Christ.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: And God wants to set our hearts on fire for Himself.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Lack of spiritual passion will always lead to distraction.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: And that's not what God wants for our life.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Number three, notice also verse 11, be diligent, be passionate.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 11 finally, be serving.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Be serving.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says next.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: Serving the Lord.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: These are all commands.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: These are not suggestions or encouragements.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: These are like this is what God's people do.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: Serving the Lord.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: All of us, we have a collective calling.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: You guys all have individual callings, different gifts, different talents, different experiences.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: We have individuality in this room.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: But we also have a collective calling as the people of Jesus.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: And part of our collective calling is to serve God, to make disciples, to tell the world about Jesus, to build the church together.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: This is what God has called us to do.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: That's why there's passages like 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: That's why there's passages like Romans 12, the beginning of Romans 12, verses 3 through verse 8.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: And we have all of these passages in the New Testament.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: They're in the plural, they're talking to the whole church, and they're like, this is your collective calling to serve.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: It should be normal to serve God's people.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: It should be normal to make disciples.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: It should be normal to tell the world about Jesus.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: God has given every single one of you spiritual influence.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: Lean into it.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: And you might say this morning, well, not me.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: I can't have any spiritual influence.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm brand new to Jesus.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you can.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: I can't have any spiritual influence.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: I've lived a life contrary to Jesus.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, your whole life can change today, and you can have spiritual influence.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: I can't have spiritual influence.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: I've done bad things.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the club.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: Everybody has done bad things.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: I can't have spiritual influence.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talented enough.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: No, you are made in the image of God Himself.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: You are beyond talented.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you just need an encouraging community to see your gifts and to value and call out what God has called you to do.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: Listen to these verses.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 4, verse 5.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: With ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are your grumpy servants.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: That's not for Jesus' sake.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: You should be joyful servants.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: You get to serve Jesus.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: Galatians 6, 9, and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we'll reap if conditional, if we do not give up.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna reap spiritually.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: We don't know when we're gonna reap spiritually, but we're gonna reap spiritually if we do not give up.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: You remember in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 20, 25 through 28, where James and John's mother came to Jesus.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Mom comes to Jesus.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: She has a great question for her sons because moms love their kids, hopefully.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: Now, maybe some of you didn't grow up with mom who loved your kid.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm so sorry.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: But normally moms love their kids.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: And mom comes and is like, Jesus, my sons, James and John, can they be on your right and your left in the kingdom of God?
18:19
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the highest place of authority and honor.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: Place them there.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be the goats, the greatest of all time, on the right and the left of the disciples of Jesus.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: Well, the disciples were mad at this question.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: They overheard this conversation with James and uh John's mom, and they got mad.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: They weren't mad about the question, they were mad that they didn't think about it first.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus goes into an entire teaching and he says, the greatest in the kingdom of God are the servants.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: And then he says at the end of it, I did not come to be served, but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: In other words, if you're gonna follow Jesus, do what Jesus does, he's a servant.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: Sitting on the sidelines for Christ will always be a sphere, a place, a moment of distraction.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: We are called to serve the Lord.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: If you're a football player, serve the Lord on your team.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: If you're a scientist, serve the Lord in your lab.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: If you're a doctor, serve the Lord with your patients.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you don't you don't have to be weird.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: Just look for opportunities to love and encourage and value and support and serve the people around you.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: And all of us are called to serve God's people as the church.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Number four, verse 12.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says next.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: Be joyful in hope.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: Be joyful in hope.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: To be joyful means to be happy or to be in a state of well-being or to be glad.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: And listen to this.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 14, verse 17 says, For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: Joy is the byproduct or the fruit of the Spirit of God's work in your life.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: And joy, as some misunderstand it, joy is not dependent on any circumstance in your life.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: It's rooted in an abiding relationship with God through the Spirit of God who lives in you.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul says, be joyful in hope.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: Be joyful in hope.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: I think in Christianity sometimes we misunderstand the word hope.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: The word hope is never equated with adverse circumstances in the Bible.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you can only have hope when you're in good circumstances.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Hope is not based on any adversity you face in life.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: It's relevant to the adversities you face in life, but it's not based on the adversities you face in life.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: Hope is based on a relationship with Jesus.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: So if you're here this morning and you have Jesus, you also have hope.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: Because the Bible calls Jesus the God of hope.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Our hope is rooted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for you.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: That He died for your sin.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: He died for your guilt to forgive you and free you of shame and guilt and the weight of that on the human soul.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: He died to forgive you of all sin.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: And then he rose again because he's the Son of God, He's the eternal one.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Death could not defeat him.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Sin could not defeat him.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: Darkness could not defeat him.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: He defeated death.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: He defeated darkness.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: And he defeated sin for you.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: He did what you could not do for yourself, so that you could always have hope.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: And our hope is not just future, it's past, present and future.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: It's past.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Your sins are forgiven.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: You have a relationship with a living God.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: It's present.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: God is always with you no matter what you face in life.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: It's future.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: Someday He's going to make all things right.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: And God calls us to be joyful in hope, irregardless of our challenges and our adversities and our circumstances, because when we lose sight of our hope, we get distracted spiritually.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: Number five, verse 12, be patient.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: That's a good one, right?
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SPEAKER_00: Not that we're all good at that, but it's a good one.
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SPEAKER_00: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction.
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SPEAKER_00: We're to be patient in distress and tribulations and affliction and suffering.
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SPEAKER_00: That's just a New Testament word for a really hard moment of life.
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SPEAKER_00: We're to be patient in those moments of life.
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SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to be patient here?
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SPEAKER_00: It means to maintain your beliefs and maintain following Jesus in the face of opposition and suffering.
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SPEAKER_00: Some call this endurance.
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SPEAKER_00: Other people call this stand your ground spiritually.
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SPEAKER_00: This term has the idea of staying rather than fleeing when things get hard.
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SPEAKER_00: What do we do spiritually?
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SPEAKER_00: What is our movement spiritually when things get hard?
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SPEAKER_00: God says stay but don't flee when things get hard spiritually.
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SPEAKER_00: Think about Jesus when he was on the cross, being crucified, taking upon himself the sins of the entire world and us, so future history, past and future history.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not jump down from the cross and flee.
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SPEAKER_00: The most difficult, painful moment of suffering and adversity in human history was Jesus on the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: He did not flee.
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SPEAKER_00: He did not jump off the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: He stayed on the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: Can I give you a bit of wisdom?
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SPEAKER_00: This is really, really important.
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SPEAKER_00: Don't make major decisions in your life in the wrong direction when things get hard.
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SPEAKER_00: Don't make major decisions in your life in the wrong direction when things get hard.
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SPEAKER_00: I was just talking about this to somebody yesterday who's going through a really hard time.
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SPEAKER_00: I called him up and a really painful moment in this individual's life.
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SPEAKER_00: And I was listening and just supporting and trying to sit where they're sitting.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what empathy is, to be able to sit where somebody else is sitting, not think about from our own orientation, our own perspective.
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SPEAKER_00: But like, what are they going through right now?
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SPEAKER_00: And I just encourage this individual.
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SPEAKER_00: I was like, do the right things.
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SPEAKER_00: The things that are good, the things that are healthy, the things that are gonna lead to hope and healing in your life right now.
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SPEAKER_00: This is the crux decision moment for you not to flee to the wrong things, but to stay in the right things.
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SPEAKER_00: I think about Apostle Paul.
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, this man had so much suffering.
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SPEAKER_00: Look with me, turn turn everybody to 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
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SPEAKER_00: Paul endured so much opposition, so much persecution, so much human suffering.
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SPEAKER_00: He was planting churches, he was telling the word about Jesus, he was teaching the Bible in the first century Roman Empire, and it wasn't easy.
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SPEAKER_00: And in 2 Corinthians 11, 16 through 33, he gives his kind of autobiography of suffering.
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SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says here, verse 16, he says, I repeat, let no one take me for a fool.
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SPEAKER_00: But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting.
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SPEAKER_00: He's not boasting in his successes, he's boasting in his sufferings.
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SPEAKER_00: In this self-confident boasting, I'm not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.
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SPEAKER_00: Since many are boasting in the way, some people are calling him a fool, so he's playing on words.
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SPEAKER_00: Many are boasting in the way the world boasts, I too will boast.
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SPEAKER_00: You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise.
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SPEAKER_00: He's being sarcastic, by the way.
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SPEAKER_00: In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you.
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SPEAKER_00: In other words, people don't actually care about you spiritually, they're just using you.
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SPEAKER_00: Or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps in your face.
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SPEAKER_00: To my shame, I admit that we were too weak for that.
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SPEAKER_00: We're not great.
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SPEAKER_00: We're not doing that to you.
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SPEAKER_00: We care about you.
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SPEAKER_00: Can I encourage you?
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SPEAKER_00: We love you guys.
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SPEAKER_00: We don't want to use you spiritually.
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SPEAKER_00: We want you to thrive spiritually.
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SPEAKER_00: We want God to do a work in your life that changes the trajectory of your life.
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SPEAKER_00: We are here to serve you and encourage you and invest in your life spiritually.
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SPEAKER_00: And that's what Paul is saying.
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SPEAKER_00: Whatever anyone else dares to boast about, I am speaking as a fool.
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SPEAKER_00: I also dare to boast about.
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SPEAKER_00: Are they Hebrews?
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SPEAKER_00: So am I.
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SPEAKER_00: Are they Israelites?
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SPEAKER_00: So am I.
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SPEAKER_00: Are they Abraham's descendants?
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SPEAKER_00: So am I.
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SPEAKER_00: People, these false teachers would come into a city that Paul just left after he started church or started a revival, and they would undermine him.
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SPEAKER_00: Are they servants of Christ?
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SPEAKER_00: I am out of my mind to talk like this.
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SPEAKER_00: I am more.
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SPEAKER_00: I've worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.
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SPEAKER_00: Five times I've received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one.
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SPEAKER_00: That's a whipping with glass or bones at the end that would shred your flesh.
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SPEAKER_00: That's not great.
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SPEAKER_00: Three times I was beaten with rods.
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SPEAKER_00: Once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked.
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SPEAKER_00: I spent a night and a day in the open sea.
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SPEAKER_00: I've been constantly on the move.
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SPEAKER_00: I've been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false believers.
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SPEAKER_00: I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep.
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SPEAKER_00: I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food.
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SPEAKER_00: I've been cold and naked.
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SPEAKER_00: They would strip him of his clothes and beat him.
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SPEAKER_00: Besides everything else, Paul's like, uh, that's just a little bit.
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SPEAKER_00: I face the daily pressure of my concern, or you could translate this, my anxiety for all the churches.
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SPEAKER_00: Who is weak?
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SPEAKER_00: I do not feel weak.
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SPEAKER_00: Who is led into sin and I do not inwardly burn?
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SPEAKER_00: If I must boast, I will boast in the things that show my weaknesses.
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SPEAKER_00: You imagine that if that was your spiritual autobiography, like all the suffering you faced for Christ, and guess what?
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SPEAKER_00: He kept going and serving and following Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: The hardest moments in your life spiritually, don't flee in the opposite direction of Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: When we flee from God, when we flee from the things of God, we begin living in spiritual distraction.
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SPEAKER_00: And then finally, also verse 12, Romans chapter 12, verse 12.
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SPEAKER_00: Number six, be prayerful.
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SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says lastly, he says, be faithful in prayer.
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SPEAKER_00: Be faithful in prayer.
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SPEAKER_00: This could be translated to be busy in prayer, to be devoted to prayer, to be resolute in prayer.
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SPEAKER_00: Prayer was kind of a big thing in the New Testament.
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SPEAKER_00: Why?
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SPEAKER_00: Because prayer is communication with God Himself.
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SPEAKER_00: Prayer is a picture of being in relationship with God.
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SPEAKER_00: You know, like you have a friend or you're dating somebody, you want to talk to them.
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SPEAKER_00: Like you have God Himself in your life.
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SPEAKER_00: You get to talk to Him.
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SPEAKER_00: So prayer pictures this posture of abiding in God and being in relationship with God and talking to God and being dependent on God and having a heart that loves to be in fellowship with God.
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SPEAKER_00: And it was a priority in the New Testament.
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SPEAKER_00: Listen to these verses.
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SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 1, verse 14.
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SPEAKER_00: They all joined together constantly in prayer.
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SPEAKER_00: Acts 2.42, they devoted themselves to prayer.
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SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 6, verse 4.
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SPEAKER_00: And we will give our attention to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
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SPEAKER_00: Those were the spiritual leaders in the church.
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SPEAKER_00: They were to give their attention to praying and teaching the Bible.
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SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 6.18 and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
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SPEAKER_00: Colossians 4, verse 2, devote yourselves to prayer.
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SPEAKER_00: Be watchful and thankful.
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SPEAKER_00: 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, pray continually.
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SPEAKER_00: 1 Timothy 2, verse 1.
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SPEAKER_00: I urge then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people.
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SPEAKER_00: God has designed us to talk to Him.
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SPEAKER_00: Prayer is not about having all the theology down or all the right words or the right cadence.
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SPEAKER_00: Prayer is a heart honestly posturing and worship and communication to God.
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SPEAKER_00: Have you read the Psalms?
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SPEAKER_00: Some of the prayers are really raw and honest.
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SPEAKER_00: That's how you can pray to God.
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SPEAKER_00: You can worship Him, you can thank Him.
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SPEAKER_00: You can pray for people, you can pray for yourself, you can lament.
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SPEAKER_00: There's all kinds of aspects of prayer, but it just shows us that we're in dependence on God, that we love God, that we're in fellowship with God.
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SPEAKER_00: I prayed for all of you this morning.
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SPEAKER_00: And I prayed for myself because I need God too.
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SPEAKER_00: And Jesus was the greatest example of a prayer life.
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SPEAKER_00: Listen to Jesus' model of prayer.
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SPEAKER_00: In Mark chapter 1, verse 35, we get a picture, an illustration, a vignette into the prayer life of Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left his house, and went to a solitary place where he prayed.
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SPEAKER_00: And according to Luke's gospel, Luke 5, verse 16, this was his rhythm, his spiritual practice.
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SPEAKER_00: It says, but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
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SPEAKER_00: In other words, he withdrew to places without distraction.
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SPEAKER_00: He didn't go to Amazon.com to pray and shop at the same time.
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SPEAKER_00: He didn't go to his iPhone to scroll social media.
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SPEAKER_00: Thank you, God, for this day.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, I didn't know she's doing that last night.
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SPEAKER_00: Why didn't she invite me?
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SPEAKER_00: Like he did.
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SPEAKER_00: He wasn't doing any of that.
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SPEAKER_00: He went to a place of quietness and stillness to pray.
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SPEAKER_00: And I would surmise, I would encourage us, I would argue that we need a little more quietness in a world full of noise.
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SPEAKER_00: So that we can be spiritually attuned to God and prayer.
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SPEAKER_00: Prayerlessness as a sign of disconnection from the rhythms of fellowship and dependence of God will always lead to spiritual distraction, but prayer fullness will lead your heart to be connected to the living God.
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SPEAKER_00: My prayer, my hope, my greatest desire for your life as you begin a new year is that you would turn your heart fully to God.
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SPEAKER_00: That this morning, that you would just say, God, I'm turning my life to you.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm turning my heart to you.
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SPEAKER_00: I want to be spiritually devoted in an age of distraction.
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SPEAKER_00: And not that these are bad things, but these should not take the primary place of my life, distracting me from my foundational relationship with you, God.
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SPEAKER_00: Can I encourage you this morning to start your year off devoting your heart to God?