Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 638 | What are you seeking?

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638 | What are you seeking? · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  Where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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  well in John chapter four.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life. Whether you are listening
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  in our app, in your favorite podcasting app, or on our website at watwm.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Are you seeking things above or things here on earth? The Lord is very clear
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  that we are to seek the things above.
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  Matthew 6.33 says, But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
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  and all these things shall be added unto you.
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  Join us in this program of Woman at the Well Ministries as we examine those things that drive us.
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  Hello, and what a pleasure it is to spend these next few moments together.
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  And we're just going to talk about a very simple question that many of us contemplate
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  from time to time in our lives. And some of us probably even contemplate it on a very regular basis.
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  And that question is, what are you seeking?
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  And you'll say, Kim, I've never thought about that question.
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  But I suggest that if you just thought about it in different terms,
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  you would answer to me, yes, Kim, I think about that question.
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  And I think about it fairly often, some of you would say.
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  You may think about it in ways of saying, what is my purpose?
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  What is my mission statement is a buzzword that we hear often today in many
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  cultures and societies and business worlds and the acumen that are used in the professional world.
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  What about when you look at the end of the day and say, what have I done today
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  and where am i going those are all ways of saying what are you seeking,
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  and we find ourselves at the end of the day when we contemplate all of the goals
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  and the ambition that we have and our objectives and our plans that we've made we contemplate,
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  what it is that we've done.
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  And the flip side of that is, is what are you seeking? Because what you're seeking is what you've done.
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  And many of us, when we kind of look at our lives, we're not at all happy with what we see.
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  We don't really like how things have stacked up in the world in which we live,
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  and we've created for ourselves.
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  And I realized that God created the heavens and the earth and he has a purpose
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  and a plan in our lives. He tells us that in Jeremiah 29, 11,
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  and that leads me to the very thought and crux of the message.
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  In John chapter 10, verse 10, he says that I have come that you might have life
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  and that you might have it more abundantly.
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  So at the end of the day, when we are looking at our objectives and we're looking
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  at our goals and we're looking at the things that drive us and move us forward,
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  we should be blissfully happy at the results that we find in our lives.
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  That's the world that I'm talking about that we create.
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  The world that is a result of the footsteps that we take the world that's a
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  result of the choices that we make in Deuteronomy I believe it's chapter 32
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  he says choose good or evil,
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  choose to walk with the God of the universe or choose not to,
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  in Joshua he says choose you this day whom you will serve as for me in my house we will serve the Lord,
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  at the end of the day when Joshua looked at his product of his life he had to be blissfully happy
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  because he chose to walk with the lord and he chose to go in the paths of righteousness
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  and therefore his life was filled with the abundant life that god wanted him to have
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  the peace that passes all understanding the joy unspeakable and full of glory
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  and it wasn't because he was just blessed randomly it wasn't because that god
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  just decided to poof and you're going to have these blessings
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  it was because he chose purposely in his heart what he was going to seek and
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  he chose to seek the will of the lord and joshua,
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  made a statement.
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  And he followed it with his life. Matthew 6.33 said, But seek ye first the kingdom
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  of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
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  All these things that he's talking about deals with the context of the scripture
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  in which Matthew 6.33 is laying in.
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  And it talks about that you won't have any need for the raiment that you would
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  have. You don't have any need for the food that you might have.
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  Because the Lord will give all of those things.
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  But you see in our society today we are driven by this inner drive that says
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  we must be the best we must be on top of the line we must have the most successful
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  things that we can talk about over dinner with our friends.
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  We must be the ones that everybody's looking to to be the standard by which
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  all people are measured by and we drive ourselves over and over and over again
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  and it's the ploy of the devil because as we drive further into those ways we
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  drive further away from the ways of God,
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  because God said if I be lifted up then I'll draw all men unto me and when we're
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  driving with that self ambition when we are seeking all of the man's glory
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  when we are absolutely given all of our energy and our effort toward working
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  on the things of this world my dear friend God isn't being exalted.
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  And actually, you're not either. You're simply being exhausted.
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  Because he says you can do all things through his strength. And that he will
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  supply all of your needs according to his riches.
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  And at the end of the day, when you have sought him first, at the end of the
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  day, when your footsteps have lined up with the will of God, you're not exhausted.
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  You're exhilarated. And you might be a little bit tired, but you're not weary in well-doing.
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  And you're excited about getting up the next day because you have more of the
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  same because the love of God and the grace of God and the mercies of God are inexhaustible,
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  and you know that you can take those steps with Jesus Christ and you can follow
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  after him and you can seek his righteousness and you can seek his will for your
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  life and at the end of every day you can be renewed by the Spirit of God.
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  But we don't seek those things. Because the Bible isn't just as glamorous to
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  us as those textbooks of the world.
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  You see, we've been so fed this stuff that says the latest self-help book,
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  the latest textbook, the latest theory in academia, the latest theory in psychology.
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  These are the ways to be all you can be.
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  They can't improve upon the 1611 King James.
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  They can't improve upon the Word of God as it was inspired through the Holy Spirit, as it was
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  placed in the heart and the mind and manifested through the pens of the authors
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  of the books, the 66 of them that comprise the Holy Word of God.
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  Every idea that you might see today,
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  is some sort of extenuation some sort of perversion or some sort of modification,
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  of the principles found from genesis to revelations you say kim you're nuts
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  how do you know that because the word of god says,
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  solomon said there is nothing new.
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  Under the sun every single thing that god needed you to have for you to live
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  a full and abundant that life he's given already.
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  You say, Kim, how can that possibly be? Because he gave his son. And that's all you need.
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  But you see, we just keep trying to build upon a pile of sand.
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  We try to build upon sinking sand.
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  Because we're building upon our self-pride. And we're building upon our own accomplishments.
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  And we're building upon what our feeble mind that can only see the here and
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  now could possibly understand.
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  But then you'll have an opportunity in your lifetime to see a saint of God come into your path.
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  And that person isn't worrying about the latest theories. And that person isn't
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  worrying about the popularity of man.
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  And that person isn't worrying about being success defined in cars and houses
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  and clothing and stages and arenas and realms.
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  They're worried about being the best they can be for God.
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  And they wake up in the morning with this one thought on their mind,
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  Lord, fill me with your spirit that I might be all that you would have me to
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  be, and they spend every moment of every day
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  seeking the will of God and letting him live through them and walking through the steps,
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  that is guided by his light.
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  And amazingly and wonderfully their needs are met beyond their wildest expectations their success,
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  in the scorecard of heaven and be not deceived he said so that every one of
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  us shall give account of himself to god and in that blessed book,
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  and they look at the works of righteousness done?
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  Oh, I have not seen, and ear hath not heard, the things that await those that love the Lord.
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  And they are not ever wanting bread. Their seed isn't begging in the streets.
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  God is supplying their every need.
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  And they have joy unspeakable and full of glory.
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  What is their secret?
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  They seek God and all that he has for them.
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  Shall we pray? Our kind and most gracious, dear Heavenly Father,
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  Lord, we just thank you that we know you're here.
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  Lord we thank you that when we call upon your name we have the promise that you hear us,
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  if we have cleaned our lives by the cleansing of your blood
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  and we have confessed our sins and we have laid ourselves at your feet to use
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  as you wish no matter how many times we step off the right path no matter how many mistakes we made
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  you're a God that with nail scarred hands reaches down,
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  dusts us off and picks us up and says, I love you.
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  And Lord, we're just thankful that we know that at this moment,
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  at this very time, you can change our hearts, that we might be able to just
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  focus on you and seek you for all that you have for us, that we might be all that we can be for you.
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  Lord, we ask that you would open our eyes, that we would see the things of the
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  world that we've let creep into our lives.
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  Lord, we pray that you would just let us look into our heart and really see
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  where we are placing our faith.
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  See what's driving us. See what we're placing our efforts and our energy to, Lord.
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  And if it isn't finding you, if it isn't finding your will in our life,
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  if it isn't spreading your love
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  and your mercy and your grace and your glory, Lord, this moment we ask
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  that you would just cleanse us and forgive us and use us as only you can.
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  Teach us to seek you first.
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  That all these things might be added unto us.
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  All these things we ask in thy most precious and holy name we pray,
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  and all of God's people said, Amen.
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  If you would please, I ask that you would turn to the book of Colossians in
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  chapter 3, in the first three verses.
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  It reads like this, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
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  are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
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  Set your affection on things above not on things on the earth for ye are dead,
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  and your life is hit with christ in god.
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  The book of romans tells us that sin hath no more dominion over us and that
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  we are dead to sin when christ reigns and lives in our body you see in our mortal
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  body we came into this world a sinner.
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  And God, in his mercy and his grace and his infinite wisdom,
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  he looked through time and he saw that you would have a need.
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  And he loved you so much that he laid his son out on the cross of Calvary that
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  his shed blood could save you from your sins.
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  And my dear friends, he knew that you were dead without any life.
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  And he came to you when you knelt somewhere, some way, some place,
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  and you emptied your heart, and you raised it to God, and you said, cleanse this sinner.
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  I need you, Lord, and I know you.
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  I can believe in you, and I'm persuaded that you'll do that what you promised.
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  And the Lord come, and it cleansed you. And at that moment in time,
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  he breathes his life into you.
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  And old things were passed away, and all things become new when you were a new creature in Christ.
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  And things just looked a little different. And things felt a little different.
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  But you were here in the world with the oppressions and the chaos and the troubles
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  and the trials and all the yuckiness of life.
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  And somehow or another, we get our head turned away from knowing who God is.
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  We forget that we were dead in our trespasses and sin. And only the blood of
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  Jesus and his life of the Holy Spirit in us gave us life.
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  And we begin to look away from the things of God because somehow, some way,
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  we believe that what this world offers us has more value and is better than
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  what God has to say and do in our lives.
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  And when you hear that, you want to say to me, Kim, you're crazy. I don't believe that.
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  But I present to you the picture of your life today.
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  Take a walk backwards through the steps you made today and then you tell me.
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  Where is your affection what are you seeking are you seeking men's applause
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  have you spent all of your effort,
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  spent in trying to make it in this world and you've left god out of it my friend
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  you're not going to succeed and the devil may trick you into believing that
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  all that money you have and all the intelligence you have and the high positions you have is success.
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  But I present to you that you are empty.
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  And I think that you know it.
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  And that's why you just seek one more drink. That's why you seek one more pill.
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  That's why you seek one more promotion. That's why you seek one more degree.
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  That's why you're constantly moving, trying to make yourself feel valuable,
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  trying to make yourself feel worthwhile but my friend i present to you jesus,
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  who laid himself on a rugged cross to tell you you're worthwhile you are okay
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  i love you i created you in my image and you need to walk after my ways because
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  hey i know exactly what's best for you
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  and i came to give you life that you might have it more abundantly and in my life,
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  you'll find life,
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  that you could never dream of or ever believe was possible.
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  What are you thinking? And those of you who...
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  Don't know Christ as Savior. Just how happy are you?
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  How much security do you feel when you lay your head on your pillow at night?
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  What's going on in the world when you're asleep? Who's taking care of the kids when the lights are out?
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  Who's holding you when you can't hold yourself?
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  As a child of God, I have no promise of tomorrow, no different than you do.
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  But I know if I don't see tomorrow on this earth, it's goodbye world and hello God.
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  And when I lay my head down on my pillow at night, all is well because I'm resting
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  in the arms of an almighty God.
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  And as I seek him day by day, getting to know him better,
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  learning to hear him speak and whisper,
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  learning to dance with him through life learning how to play with him through the hours of every day,
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  learning how to be his friend as he so faithfully exhibits to me his friendship,
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  as I seek those things all the other things that I have need of,
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  wonderfully are met.
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  You see, the songwriter may have said it better than I could ever say it.
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  The things of this world grow strangely dim in the face of Jesus.
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  Nothing this world has can compare.
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  But what are you seeking? You see, he said that you don't have life except in me.
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  And then he said to set your affections on things above.
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  Are you in love with Jesus?
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  If you don't know him as personal saviors, certainly you're not.
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  But there's a tragedy across the churches of the world today.
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  Sitting in many of those pews are people who've divorced themselves from God,
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  who have walked away from the hand of the Almighty Creator,
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  who have lost that glimmer in their eye that says, Oh, how I love Jesus, and oh, how he loves me.
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  Have forgotten what it's like to walk hand in hand.
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  He walks with me, and he talks with me a long, nice, narrow way.
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  This Jesus that I'm talking about, he didn't create you and let you go.
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  He created you and stood and knocked on your heart's door, and he had a great plan for you,
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  and he still has a plan for you because you have time and opportunity right
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  now to confess your sins and he will cleanse you from all unrighteousness because
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  he said he would in 1 John 1.9.
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  You have the opportunity to take your eyes off the world and look above.
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  Let's compare it for a second.
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  The world will offer you false security. Jesus offers you eternity.
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  The world will offer you pleasure and sin for a season, and the Lord will offer you seasons of joy.
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  The world will offer you false security built on sinking sand,
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  and the Lord will order your footsteps.
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  The world will offer you darkness, but Jesus said, I am the light of the world.
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  Come, follow me. The world will give you trouble and chaos and all kinds of,
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  worry and anxiousness, just downright depression and oppression.
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  Jesus said, cast all your cares upon me, for I care for you.
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  And he said, hey, my burden's light and my yoke is easy.
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  Give me yours and I'll give you mine.
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  And he said i love you unconditionally all the time and every day where you send your affections.
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  It's a no-brainer the things of god they matter,
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  but perhaps the greatest truth,
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  we find in these first three verses of colossians chapter 3 is found in the
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  phrase your life is hid with Christ,
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  in God.
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  This world is not my home. I'm just a traveling through.
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  The things of this world can't touch me because I'm hid in Christ.
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  The life that I live isn't mine, it's Christ, and it's protected by a hand that cannot fail.
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  And all of that is wrapped inside of God.
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  And I can close my eyes in death, should he call my name tonight, and rest surely.
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  For life isn't in this world, and life isn't in the things that I have.
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  But my life is in Christ, and that's anchored in God.
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  Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.
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  What are you seeking?
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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  You can find our app by searching for Woman at the Well Ministries in your app
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  store or through our website at watwm.org.
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  a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  Woman at the Well Ministries is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
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  And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
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  To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
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  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers we are praying daily for our listeners remember
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  that God loves you you are.