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Transcript

Don't Lose the Fire! · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey y'all, it's friendly. Welcome back to In the
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  Stillness. Thanks for joining me on another
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  podcast episode. So grateful that y'all are here
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  today. In the verses we're going to
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  read through, we are going back to square run to the foundation
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  of our faith because I think if a lot of us are honest, it can
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  be easy to drift and not all at once, but slowly and subtly we
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  can start focusing on how to live the Christian life so much,
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  on what to do, what not to do, how to grow, that we can
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  unintentionally move away from the very message that saved us.
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  So we are going back to the beginning, back to the gospel.
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  And I'm going to go ahead and dive right in, reading through
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  first John chapter 2, verses 24 to 27.
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  So you must be sure to keep the message burning in your hearts.
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  That is the message of life you heard from the beginning.
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  If you do, you will always be living in close fellowship with
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  the Son and with the Father. And He himself has promised us
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  the never ending life of the ages to come.
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  I've written these things about those who are attempting to lead
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  you astray, but the wonderful anointing you have received from
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  God is so much greater than their deception, and it now
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  lives in you. There is no need for anyone to
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  keep teaching you. His anointing teaches you all
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  that you need to know, for it will lead you into truth, not a
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  counterfeit. So just as the anointing is
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  taught, you remain in Him. OK, First off, John says keep
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  the message burning in your hearts, not just to remember it,
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  not revisit occasionally, keep it burning.
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  So what is that message that he's talking about?
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  The gospel, The gospel that Jesus is God's beloved Son,
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  fully God, fully man, that he came and lived the life that we
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  could not live here on this earth.
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  He died the death that we deserved, took on the punishment
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  and the penalty that we were meant to take on so that our
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  sins could be completely, permanently erased.
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  And that we are saved by grace, through faith, not by striving,
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  not by effort or performance or getting everything right.
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  So that is the message that we hear from the beginning.
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  And John is saying, do not move on from it.
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  He's saying this because we can. We can get so focused on
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  growing, improving, becoming more disciplined that the gospel
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  might become something we already know instead of
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  something we're actively living in.
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  But Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the
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  power of God. And he kept preaching it over
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  and over again in all of his letters to all the different
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  churches. He never outgrew the gospel, so
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  neither should we. We must remind ourselves of it
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  every single day because I believe if we don't, our hearts
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  can slowly become calloused. We forget the weight of what
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  we've truly been saved from, and with that, the wonder of what
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  we've been saved into. And This is why we should not be
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  ashamed to share it. We don't just have to have some
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  polished version of our testimony, but we share what God
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  has done and what He is still doing.
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  Because as long as you're alive, your story is not finished.
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  God is the author and He is still writing it, and there is
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  so much power in sharing it as it's unfolding, even in the
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  really hard things that you're learning, being vulnerable and
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  open about, hey, this is a hard season that I'm walking through
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  and this is what God is teaching me.
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  But it's not the end. People don't need your
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  perfection. They just need the truth.
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  They need the gospel. Something that I've been
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  personally reflecting on a lot in my prayer time is how easy it
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  is to turn faith into striving, trying to grow more, to learn
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  more, to do more. And yes, we are called to grow
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  in knowledge and increase in wisdom.
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  But if we're not careful, that can become a checklist.
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  In that striving, we can actually drift from the
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  relationship with God itself. And y'all, God did not create
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  you just to check off spiritual tasks.
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  He created you to be with Him, to enjoy Him in fellowship.
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  And it's as you enjoy Him, as you remain in Christ, that you
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  naturally begin to reflect Him because you get to know him
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  better and you become more like him.
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  So you don't have to force it and you don't have to
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  overcomplicate the relationship. John says remain in him.
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  In the word remain, it means to stay, to continue.
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  As time passes by, as seasons of life change, you gain more
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  knowledge, more experience, more encounters, or even learn more
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  spiritual language. It can be easy that even without
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  realizing it, the fire that once burned within you can start to
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  dim and get softer. But we are not called to be
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  lukewarm. We are called to keep it hot,
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  boiling, blazing, to keep the message in our hearts burning.
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  And how do we remain? Well, if we look back to John
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  chapter 15, Jesus tells us abide in me.
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  This communicates we are to stay connected, stay close, stay
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  dependent on the Lord and we have been entrusted the Holy
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  Spirit to help us do exactly that.
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  Jesus says in John 14 verse 26 that the Holy Spirit teaches us
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  and reminds us of everything that He has said in His ministry
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  on earth. So when this passage says
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  there's no need for anyone to keep teaching you, it's not
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  saying that we don't need pastors or leaders or that we
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  just stop learning. It's John warning US against
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  false teachers and deception through that because the Spirit
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  within you will always, always lead you into truth, not
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  something fake. So yes, we do learn from Spirit
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  filled teachers, but we also do not rely on people above the
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  Spirit of God within us. We stay anchored in His word and
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  we stay led by the Spirit. And I just want to think about
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  this for a second. Jesus Christ, the same Christ,
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  the Son of God, who was seated at the right hand with his
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  Father. He is living and breathing up in
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  heaven, and he's also living within you.
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  If you're a believing Christian, this is personal.
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  That means you can trust him. You can rely on him for
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  direction, for strength and guidance, and for wisdom.
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  It's not some distant belief system, it is a living and
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  active relationship. So today I just want to
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  encourage you guys, come back to the beginning.
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  Keep that message burning in your hearts day-to-day.
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  Do not let time, life, seasons, spiritual growth, or literally
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  anything else in this life 'cause that fire to fade away.
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  Stay childlike in your trust even as you increase in maturity
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  and simply remain in Him. So here's a few reflection
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  questions I'll give y'all before I move into prayer Number one.
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  Have I allowed the gospel to become familiar instead of
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  something that is actively burning in my heart #2 am I
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  striving in my faith or am I truly abiding and enjoying
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  relationship with God #3 what does it practically look like
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  for me to remain in Jesus today? So with all that, let's close.
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  Dear Father God, thank you for the gospel.
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  Thank you that it is by grace through faith that we are saved,
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  not our own effort and not anything that we could earn.
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  Would you help us tend to this fire in our hearts to keep the
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  message alive and burning? Would you protect us from
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  drifting, from striving, and from ultimately losing sight of
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  what matters most? Holy Spirit, I ask that you
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  would lead us into the truth, guard us from deception, from
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  false teaching, and would you teach us and remind us of who
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  you are and what you have done. Jesus, show us how to remain,
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  how to stay close, dependent, walking with you daily.
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  I pray that you would keep our hearts tender and soft and that
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  our love for you would be ever burning.
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  We praise you. We submit this Friday to you,
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  Lord, in Jesus name, Amen. OK y'all.
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  Well, that's today's episode. I hope that it leaves y'all with
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  some encouragement, some inspiration, and that the Lord
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  would keep revealing things to you as you go about the rest of
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  your day and as you move into the weekend.
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  I'll see y'all in the next episode.