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God vs. Religion — Choosing Relationship Over Rules · Relish: a Christian podcast

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  Relish pleasing or zestful flavor a quantity
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  just sufficient to flavor to be pleased or
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  gratified by enjoy we are hoping that what
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  we bring to your table today might add some spice to your life ladies and gentlemen
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  welcome back to another episode of relish this is don patterson yep i'm rowan
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  miller and you are yeah it's been a long time since i've seen you it has been
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  a while It seems like forever.
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  I was out of town. I've been busy. He's been out of town.
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  Yeah. Busy. I don't even have a sport going on, so I'm not sure what it's going to be like later.
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  Wait till basketball season as to whether you're busy now. Wow.
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  Yeah. We got. But yeah, it just seems like several weeks since we've seen each
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  other on a regular basis like we normally do.
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  Yeah. We normally see each other more often. Yeah. So I missed you.
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  Missed you too, Don. Yeah. so we had some surprises
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  out at hillcrest today i haven't
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  even told him this it's the first time i've seen him but so we had laurie's
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  birthday yesterday jeremy's birthday today my dad's birthday on sunday so after
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  the volleyball game last night we were let into the offices to decorate their
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  offices for as a surprise and,
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  Showed up this morning and said they didn't really know who it was because they
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  went to a surprise party for Lori. Okay.
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  And Jeremy would have been there. Yeah, Jeremy was there. My dad was there. So they all went there.
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  Nobody knew that we were decorating the offices, and they all thought we made it home.
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  And so then they, yeah.
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  You made it home. That's good. Other people were maybe thrown under the bus
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  for a second there, but yeah.
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  I think they figured out who it was when me and Kellen carried in a.
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  Big jello thing with my dad's stapler in it and then gave that to him so yeah
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  okay now they know keeping things exciting at school that's good and you know
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  it just basically tells them hey we enjoy being around you let's celebrate it
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  celebrate this birthday,
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  that's good it's good all right
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  oh should i do yours first oh yeah oh yeah yeah we can start with that.
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  Okay what is the difference between religion and god and which is more important
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  religion is i would say like the belief in a god in this case the lord jesus christ god is just.
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  Like he's just there he's everywhere you religion
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  doesn't or god without religion
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  doesn't require any belief in him
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  or any relationship with him or any acknowledgement
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  for what he's done for you you can't just not have god like he's always going
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  to be there i think but religion is making it personal kind of like yeah relationship
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  you have with him the belief trust and faith And some actions,
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  practices may be in religion, but it doesn't necessarily mean those practices
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  reflect your God. Right. Yeah.
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  Good. You see a lot more, I think, practices traditionally.
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  Like it seems most Christians, I'd say, are kind of a step away from it almost.
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  It's not as hard set rules like the Amish community or even like traditionally
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  Mennonites have kind of proud enough. Yeah.
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  It's not as devout or strict necessary
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  strict i would say yeah but so i
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  don't know you're not ready to go to barn door britches you always say that
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  i still don't really know what those are but go out and get you a pair see what
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  they go like oh dear no that's serious there are they are a garment item you
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  know you know that would be funny.
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  You know, we might do that for, yeah.
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  Just an average Sunday. Yeah. Well, you'll definitely wear them only once. Yeah.
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  Have you worn them before? No. I don't think they make them in my size.
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  We'll find out. Oh, man. Where'd we get off on that? Religion.
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  Yeah. We better get back on track. We are going back on track, folks.
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  It's taken us a while, but we're going to get there.
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  All right. So this is an interesting one. Since we are...
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  God will forgive us for all of our sins as long as we repent.
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  So can't we just go out and sin and then ask for repentance later?
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  Oh, sure. And what does that really say about the relationship?
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  Because basically how we deal with our sin before God reflects our understanding
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  of relationship with him.
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  Now, we know that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive
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  our sins. and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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  It goes on and says, but if we say we have no sin, we've made God out to be
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  a liar. And that doesn't go very well.
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  That's 1 John 1, 8, 9, and 10. So when we go to that, but is that reflecting of our relationship?
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  Okay. So you and I are buddies, right? Right. So in some weird way of that.
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  But so everything, if I would do something to you and it would scratch your
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  arm, you'd remember that.
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  And my clumsiness or whatever it could, but it would affect the relationship.
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  If you wrecked my tractor, then it would affect our relationship.
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  I mean, it gets in the way of it because it's not quite the same as it used to be.
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  However, if I knew your heart and how sorry you were for wrecking my good tractor,
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  then that affects the relationship, too.
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  So when we talk about sin and sin in a relationship, we need to recognize God
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  has called us into a relationship with him through his son, Jesus Christ.
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  That action of Jesus, those 33 years he lived, those three years he lived in
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  ministry, healing, teaching, and working among the people, developing a core
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  group of disciples, that was good stuff.
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  That might have brought salvation on its own to a few. His death upon the cross
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  proved the extent of his love.
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  I mean, Jesus himself said, you know, in John 15, he talks about giving up his life for his friends.
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  You know, that's pretty heavy friendship. I mean, your friends do things for
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  you, and you do things for them, and that's part of friendship.
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  And Jesus went to the cross because of his relationship he wanted to have with us.
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  Now, in light of that, if I go out and deliberately sin, what does it say about that relationship?
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  You're kind of just throwing it out the window. You just threw butt on it. Yeah.
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  How do you get rid of that? You say it's still, it's something that has to be
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  more than just the rote words.
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  It's a confession that has to come from the soul, from the heart of our being.
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  And we ask for grace and forgiveness because of what he's done for us and what
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  we intentionally, if we intentionally sinned, did against him.
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  It's bad stuff. But does that mean Christ won't forgive us?
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  I think he is really forgiving. Yeah. And I guess what I noticed most is in
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  the individuals who've, you know,
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  led terrible lives and God has somehow gotten into their heart and redeemed them.
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  They have a dynamic testimony compared to me.
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  Yeah. It's amazing the kind of testimony that comes out of that kind of life
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  lived intentionally against God. And he gets a hold of them.
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  Draw us back, and it becomes a testimony to us how powerful God really is.
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  I like it. I like it a lot. Yeah. I like to hear those testimonies.
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  So, the question was more about intentional sin against God.
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  And I think if we live in a good relationship with God, we're going to probably
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  limit that as much as possible.
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  I probably won't eliminate it because we're sinners.
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  Right. But we're going to really watch it. Right.
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  Kind of have some integrity. Not a, like Monopoly, it's not a get out of jail free card.
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  No. Don't treat it as that. And the other piece of that is, I'm glad you brought that up.
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  Our forgiveness in Christ may not erase the earthly consequences of our sin. Okay.
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  Because we may be really sorry that we murdered somebody, but it will not erase.
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  Even if we come to Christ after we've murdered somebody, it's not going to erase
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  the consequences of that sin. Right.
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  In the same way, if we sin against our body, we do things.
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  My mind's having a hard time thinking of the kind of things we do to our body that are sin.
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  They drink too much coffee, alcohol, too much sugar.
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  I don't know. The things we do against our bodies. Drunk and stuff like that.
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  Yeah, it's in that other list, isn't it? In Galatians chapter 19. Yeah.
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  Then i i don't get a out of jail free because those things have happened.
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  But in my relationship with God, the blood of Christ is taking care of those things.
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  I have to accept it, make it part of my relationship with God in order for it to have traction.
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  But otherwise, yeah.
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  Yeah, you'll still face earthly consequences, but you'll have a right clean
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  slate as soon as you repent.
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  Yeah. Well put. A good question. Timely question.
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  Yeah. I think that we've kind of talked about this before, but how do we trust
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  the process that God has for us, the future he has for us?
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  Oh, well, there's two pieces I see to it.
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  One is, do we trust how he's created us from the beginning?
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  In other words, I can see your family. I know your dad. I know your grandpa.
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  I know your great grandpa.
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  And certain gifts have come down through your tribal line, if you will.
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  And that is how he's created you. Can you trust that God created you with a
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  unique set of skill sets to do what he's going to call you to?
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  That's the first part. The second is, do you trust that when you put those skill sets in God's hands?
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  In other words, Romans 12, 1, you offer your body as a living sacrifice,
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  holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual activity of worship.
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  Do you trust that when you lay your life in God's hands, that he's got a plan
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  that's bigger than you would ever figure out on your own without him?
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  And that's a test of faith. Yeah.
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  So that means that you live into that calling, even if you haven't received it yet,
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  you live into what God's going to call you to do day by day by his every least
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  nudge and live it to the fullest.
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  Because he's given it to you. He's given you gifts and abilities.
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  And I think you and I've talked about some that you have.
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  And he's got a plan for them. He's going to ask you if you're going to lay all
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  those gifts and abilities on his altar for what he's going to call you to do.
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  And the same with all the rest of you listening to this.
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  It's a process. It's twofold. He's created you in a certain way with certain
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  gifts and abilities, even if you start getting old.
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  And then he wants us to lay them on the altar before him for him to use and work with.
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  And I find that very satisfying. To me, then, it opens up why I am where I'm at today.
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  I mean, what pastor preaches at three different churches in the same community,
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  unless there's a plan that's bigger than.
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  I ever knew. I never, I had no idea I'd be here. I had no idea there was going
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  to be a podcast. I had no idea.
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  There was an Alex Zimmerman. Hi, Alex. And so God weaves these things together
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  in miraculous ways to do what he wants done.
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  Can we yield to the creator father what he's done in us and is doing in us and let it go?
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  Let it go his way. Yeah.
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  Basketball. Can you give basketball to God?
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  Praise him on the court. Honor him with the shot. I mean, really,
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  that could be evangelistic.
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  I mean, real, I'm being halfway serious and halfway choking,
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  but all of our gifts on the altar, all of our gifts, your golf shot,
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  your golf swing, whatever. Yeah.
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  God can use it. It's, it's his.
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  In other words, it almost has to be his if we're people of faith,
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  because if we're not acting as if God is our God,
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  And he's called us for a reason. I think some of us think we're always the backseat Christians.
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  Have you ever noticed in a church, the pews that fill fastest are in the back? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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  We got to change that. We need to be front seat Christians on the front row,
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  praising almighty God. I'm sorry.
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  Maybe I had more sugar than I should have had today. I mean, you got a point there.
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  But well let's just do enough do enough church this week on the back view that
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  we get by well we're living in reality we're living life that way we just have
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  taken enough inoculation,
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  from sin that we aren't going to get the full disease but then can we be called
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  his children I studied a passage this morning in Deuteronomy 32,
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  and it was interesting because it's Moses' last song.
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  It's his last words before he dies and hands everything over to Joshua.
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  And he says, you've decided not to be God's children, and he really wants you to be his children.
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  Do we think of ourselves as God's children?
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  As brothers with Jesus, does that change how we then look at the world and think
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  about what we're doing each and every day? You talk about that sin question.
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  In Romans 8, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God,
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  you did not receive a spirit that makes us slave again to fear,
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  which would be slave to sin again, but you've received a spirit of sonship.
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  And by him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit
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  that we are God's children.
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  Now we're four children, then we are heirs, and heirs of God and co-heirs with
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  Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings, in order that we may also share in His glory.
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  And I think so often, and this goes with the question that came before,
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  so often we forget that we're children of God and therefore we represent our,
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  can we say, Christ family values.
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  We represent God's values.
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  It doesn't matter whether we're on the basketball court or whether we're in
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  the coffee shop or whether we're on the golf course or whatever the place can be, racetrack,
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  wherever we're at, being God's child, we represent God's family values.
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  So when we deliberately sin, that flies in the face of God's family values.
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  Is that where we started with this or did we get another question?
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  And I sort of circled around because my head was going there already.
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  By the time this airs, the sermon's already over. So, hey, such is life.
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  But that's where my mind was today is, wow, deliberately turning my face away
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  from God and away from the fact I'm a child.
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  That's what Moses was cautioning them.
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  To not turn away. Yeah. Why do you think the pews in the back fill up the fastest?
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  Like if you go to a sporting event, everybody wants the front roast.
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  Nobody wants the nosebleed far away ones. Well, I think there's two pieces of that.
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  Maybe we need to make our worship events more like a sporting event so that
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  you really want to be on the front line, you know, and carry that kind of excitement
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  to the front of the stage, you know, mosh pit on Sunday morning, that kind of thing.
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  The the second piece of it is i think people are saying i don't mind being here
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  but i sometimes i i want to be somewhat removed it's safer back here in the
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  back there are some legitimate,
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  reasons for being in the back young kids or something young kids i know there
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  there's a couple ladies that sit back there because it's loud up front yeah
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  and they wear hearing aids and it just blows them out you know blows their hearing
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  aids out and so they don't want to be upfront for that reason.
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  Yeah. I would hope that at some point the excitement at the front starts to
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  draw people from the back forward.
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  Yeah. That's, that would be exciting. Yeah.
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  You could just have the ushers just fill them in in rows in the front pews. Have on, von. Yep.
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  Yes. My mom used to say to the usher, to the front, because she always liked to sit at the front.
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  And so she would, the usher would usher them in and she'd say to the front.
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  And I thought that was neat. I had a good example. Yeah. But we always sat towards the front.
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  And they still do. Mom and dad still sat towards the front. Yep. Nice.
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  All right. Well, thank you guys for joining us. Hope you enjoyed it.
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  Let us know if you like the question and answer better. If you like hearing
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  Don talk about. Go to have me prepare it.
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  Oh my. I think what we got going now is pretty good. I like what's going on. Yeah. Yeah.
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  But. Yink and yank. Yeah. Yeah.
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  We're making it. Yeah. Hope you guys have a good week and we will see you next time.
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  Thank you for joining us for this podcast. Feel free to become part of this
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  ministry by sharing it with others.
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  Our goal is to help each other grow deeper in our understanding of who God is
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  and is calling to us in our daily lives.
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  Thank you again for joining us and may God bless your day.