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A Need For Change · Wetumpka Church of Christ Online

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  In Acts chapter 9. We see a man who is in desperate
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  need of change. And we're going to get to solve
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  course. We know him more lovingly as the
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  Apostle Paul, but we know, when were originally introduced to
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  him in scripture. He is a man that was going in
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  the opposite direction of where he needed to be going a man who
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  is desperately in need of radical change and you may not
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  be as in need of change right now, as saw was in Acts chapter
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  9, but I have a feeling that all of us in some Aspect of our
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  life. We begin this new year in
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  desperate need of change. I know most of us, share a
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  similar experience when one year ends and a new year begins.
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  A lot of us go through a period of self reflection and
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  contemplation. What do I want to do differently
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  in the coming year that I did in the past?
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  What are some things I need to change about myself in the
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  coming year from the ways that I have been doing things in the
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  past and a lot of us spend a little bit of time going through
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  Through a period of reflection and introspection and
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  determining. If there are things that we need
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  to change in our life and all of us, If we're honest with
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  ourselves, have something have something because we're human
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  beings and we're imperfect. And we're always going to be
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  imperfect. As long as we're in the flesh.
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  There's something that we can do better.
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  There's something that we can improve upon.
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  There's maybe something that we need to completely and radically
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  change. Here's the good news.
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  If change was impossible, then God would not have made it an
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  essential component of the Salvation process.
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  We talked about a few weeks ago when we study Psalm 51, we
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  talked about the biblical definition of repentance.
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  And when you understand repentance, in the way that the
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  Bible defines that word, the way that the Bible defines that act,
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  I believe it is indisputable, that, that is the most difficult
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  part of the Salvation process. It's interesting to me that In
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  the religious World. A lot of people get hung up on
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  baptism. Is it essential?
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  Is it not? And there's this big argument
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  and debate on the role that baptism plays in Salvation?
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  Baptism is a walk in the park is a piece of cake is about the
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  easiest thing you can possibly do in comparison to repenting
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  the way that the Bible defines repentance and what's
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  interesting and ironic is in the religious world.
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  There's not a debate about whether or not repentance is
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  essential for salvation, you talk To anyone who claims to be
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  a bible-believing Christian and you ask them.
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  Do you believe you have to repent in order to go to heaven
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  and you will hardly ever run into someone who says no, I
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  don't believe you have to do that.
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  Almost everyone universally as part of the religious community
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  that believes in. Jesus Christ.
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  And believe the Bible is the word of God.
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  There's not going to be any debate about whether or not
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  repentance is essential for salvation.
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  If you repent the way, the Bible defines, repentance repentance,
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  is way harder to do than baptism.
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  In fact, most of what's involved in baptism, is somebody doing it
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  for you, right? Baptism, is in large part, a
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  very passive act and I don't understand why the religious
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  world we get. So caught up in baptism being a
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  work. It's not anything you're doing
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  to earn your salvation, but repentance repentance is a
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  change. It literally means the word that
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  the Greek word that is translated, as repent of New
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  Testament. It means to change one's mind or
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  purpose to change the inner. Man, it is a complete and
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  revolutionary change from the inside out.
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  That's what David realized he needed to do.
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  When he wrote Psalm 51. He realized he needed a radical
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  revolutionary change from the inside out.
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  You desire, repentance, you desire, a change in the inward,
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  most Parts David said, in that song.
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  And so of change was impossible because I know what some people
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  do is you get in that new year and those bad habits start
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  creeping back in, and you say, it's just going to be just like,
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  it's In the last 20 years. I just I'm not able to change
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  this particular Behavior, or I'm not able to rid myself of this
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  particular habit. It's just too difficult is too
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  tough change is not impossible. If it were God would not have
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  made it such a huge part of the Salvation process.
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  Now, we understand when it comes to repentance, repentance is not
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  just a change of mind. It's not just having this this
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  mental exercise that you purchase put yourself through
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  repentance also involves a change of action.
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  You remember, Luke, chapter 3, when John was preaching,
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  repentance for the remission repentance, baptism for the
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  remission of sins. When he was preaching this
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  concept of repentance, there, were those who came out to see
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  him in the wilderness and they said, what should we do?
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  And John never responded to that question by.
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  You don't need to do anything. He always responded with.
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  Okay. Here's what you need to do.
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  You remember on one occasion, the publicans who came out the
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  tax collectors who came out to John, in the wilderness.
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  They said, what should we do? He said, well, don't take from
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  others more than you are legally authorized.
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  To take. In other words, if you were
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  practicing unscrupulous business practices in your work, then
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  you're going to need to change that right now.
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  Soldiers, came out to him and said to John, what should we do?
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  And he said, do not treat the people that you have authority
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  over those, that you were having to arrest or those that you have
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  to deal with. Don't treat them unfairly.
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  Don't treat them in ways that violate their rights be content
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  with your wages. So he's telling them you're
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  going to have to change. If you've got a certain way in
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  which you go about your job that involves unethical behavior and
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  moral Behavior, going to change that right now.
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  If you're someone who has a bad attitude about your
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  compensation, for your job, you're going to need to change
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  that attitude. Right now everyone who came out
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  to John and asked that question. What should we do as he was
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  preaching this sermon of repentance.
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  He said, here's something you've got to do.
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  So John never just said, well, it's just a mental exercise.
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  It's not anything that you're going.
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  To do physically, it's not any visible change.
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  You're going to have to make repentance is all in the mind.
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  Well, repentance begins in the mind, but then it leads to a
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  change of action. Now, let's go back to Acts
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  chapter 9 for a moment. And let's look at that, man.
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  Saul, who we? Of course.
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  Refer to. Now as the Apostle Paul.
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  This was a man. Who when we read about him on
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  the road to Damascus, getting ready to persecute a rest and
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  harass Christians. Those who are followers of Jesus
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  Christ. This was a man who was in
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  desperate need of radical change.
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  In the fact. The matter is the Apostle Paul
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  known as Saul and Acts chapter 9 needed to change.
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  Almost everything about who he was.
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  In the passage that Brooks read for us a few moments ago and
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  Philippians chapter 3, Paul tells a little bit about
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  himself. And he begins before he gets
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  into the things that you see on the screen.
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  He begins by saying if anybody has a right to be confident in
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  their flesh. In other words, if anybody has a
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  right to boast about their pedigree or their
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  accomplishments, physically speaking.
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  Nobody has more things to brag about or be confident in from a
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  fleshly perspective than me. And so Paul starts listing off
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  these things circumcised on the eighth day of the nation of
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  Israel, The Tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews.
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  What does that mean? What does Paul mean when he says
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  a Hebrew of Hebrews commentators?
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  Give different perspectives on what that means.
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  It may mean the fact that Paul has just told us right before
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  that. He is of The Tribe of Benjamin
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  and maybe that Paul spent a lot of time on ancestry.com and was
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  able to track his family tree all the way back to Abraham.
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  Well, it not on ancestry.com. But apparently Paul was able to
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  trace his family tree through genealogical records all the way
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  back to Abraham. So it may be that that Paul is
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  saying, listen. I've got a pure Jewish bloodline
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  that may be part of what he's talking about here.
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  It may be. What Paul is talking about here
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  is the fact that he was so proud of his Jewish ancestry of his
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  Heritage of being a Hebrew that he Refrain from doing any of the
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  things, many of his Brethren were doing and embracing the
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  Greek culture. It may be that while some of his
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  Jewish Brethren spoke Greek, is their primary language.
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  Paul was not going to do that. Hebrew was the language of his
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  forefathers. That's the language.
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  He was going to speak those who were kind of assimilating
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  integration culture during the time of Paul, who are maybe
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  observing some of the Greek holidays, those who are
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  practicing. Some of the Greek Customs who
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  were allowing some of the Greek culture to Filtrate their lives.
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  It maybe Paul is saying here. I have not embraced anything
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  other than what is part of our Jewish Heritage, a Hebrew of the
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  Hebrews. I speak Hebrew.
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  I value the pentateuch value, the teachings of the Old
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  Testament concerning the law. What does he say?
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  Or concerning Zeal? Persecuting the church.
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  He said he was a Pharisee concerning the law blameless.
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  In other words, what Paul is saying about the law before his
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  encounter? With Christ and the radical
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  change that he went through in his heart.
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  And his mind. He valued Above All Else, his
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  bloodline his Heritage, the god of the Old Testament.
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  The god of the law of Moses that law.
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  He practiced it with Zeal with fervor.
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  He tried to practice it to the utmost of his ability.
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  And what does he say in verse 7 of Philippians, 3, but what
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  things were gain to me. So, Paul put great stock in the
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  fact that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews circumcised on the
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  eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, a devout
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  follower of the law of Moses, those things that were gain to
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  Me. So Paul took great pride to
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  Great Value in his physical lineage in the Jewish blood that
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  ran through his veins. And now when he encounters Jesus
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  Christ on the road to Damascus, he shortly learns after that
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  that bloodline in this new covenant.
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  Bloodline. When you're following Jesus,
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  Christ means nothing. That there is now a spiritual
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  family that Jesus has now brought together, Jew, and Greek
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  Jew, and Gentile. And there's no distinguishing
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  between those who were of Jewish Heritage and those who are not.
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  And so Paul is having change everything.
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  About the things that he is held dear for his entire life up
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  until his Encounter With Jesus Christ.
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  And so, Paul is having to go through a radical change of mind
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  of heart that led to a change, of course, in action and
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  behavior. So what does he say in verse 8,
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  in Philippians, 3 for his sake, I have suffered.
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  Notice how its worded their I have suffered loss.
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  Do you think he was easy for Paul for everything that he had
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  held dear for everything that he had valued?
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  He had based his identity. On the his love for his
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  Brethren, his pedigree, his lineage, his forefathers.
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  The law that they had been given by God, through Moses, all of
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  these things. He based his very identity.
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  He based his value. He based his sense of worth on
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  these things. I have suffered the loss of all
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  these things and he didn't just start there or stop there.
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  He says I count them as rubbish. As waste.
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  As refuse not only do I no longer value those things.
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  I view them as being something, worth discarding, throwing away
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  in comparison to gaining Christ. Paul went through this radical
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  change of mind and heart that as you, well know, as you continue
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  to read through the scriptures, LED through a radical change of
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  action and behavior. I don't think there's anything
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  that you were holding deer in your life right now.
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  That is of more value to you. As the things that Paul held
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  dear to him, that he let go of, so that he could gain Christ.
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  And so if you're in need of radical change this morning, I
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  can tell you this. It's not impossible and we have
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  precedent in scripture of those that needed to make incredibly
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  radical changes in their life and successfully did.
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  So in order to gain Christ, their last couple of moments
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  this morning, as we want time for our elders to make a report
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  to us this morning. I just want to ask us a couple
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  of quick questions. Are there things that you need
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  to change in 2020? If you've taken a look at
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  yourself, done some time of reflection, introspection of you
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  come to the conclusion that in 2020.
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  You'll be best served by changing your priorities.
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  Matthew 6, verse 33. Jesus says seek first, the
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  kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these
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  things. The things they had talked about
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  earlier food, clothing, and shelter and the preceding
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  verses. All these things will be added
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  unto you. But seek first, the kingdom of
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  God, maybe there's a reordering a restructuring of your
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  priorities that needs to take place. 20/20.
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  Maybe that is the radical change.
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  You need to make maybe you need to change your attitude.
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  Maybe you're struggling with bitterness.
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  Maybe you're struggling with apathy, indifference.
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  Maybe you're struggling with some habitual sin, that has
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  become a slave master to you. Maybe there is a radical
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  revolutionary change of attitude that you need to go through in
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  2020. Maybe you need to make a change
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  regarding Bible, study prayer, life.
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  Maybe you're not that digit. Diligent student of the Bible
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  that Paul instructed, Timothy and through that instruction
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  instructs, all of us to be. As we spend time in the word of
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  God. Maybe your prayer life has
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  become stale as become stagnant. Paul tells us in second
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  Thessalonians 5 and verse 17 to pray without ceasing and in
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  other words to make it just something that you find
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  yourself. Habitually going to in the good
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  times and the bad where your mind immediately is taking you,
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  the things that you're going through out your life throughout
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  the day. You're finding yourself in
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  prayer to God because it's just your go-to when things go.
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  Well, thank you, Lord. For that judicial.
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  When you're struggling with something and Lord.
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  I need your help your strength to get through this next hour.
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  This next thing, when I'm about to have to go through in my
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  life. Maybe your your dedication to
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  God's word into prayer becomes stagnant.
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  It's a change. Need to make this year.
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  Maybe you need to develop a new craving.
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  We're going to explain that here in just a second.
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  I've been doing some reading recently on on habits, on where
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  they come from, how we form them.
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  How can we change them? There has been an extensive
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  amount of study and research that has been done.
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  Not just in the the psychological Community been in
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  the medical community concerning habits, and we don't have time
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  to get into all that this morning, but there's just one
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  aspect of habits that I Reflect on just for a moment and that is
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  what fuels, our habitual activities.
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  Involves a craving that when we think of this this phrase, or
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  this term, craving lot of times, think about regarding food, We
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  crave a donut or We crave Pizza. We crave that kind of thing
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  craving is can exist in a lot of different ways.
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  They don't necessarily have to do anything with food.
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  It may be that you're struggling with gossip and you crave.
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  The feeling that you get when you hear new information,
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  especially if it's information of a negative standpoint about
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  someone. And so you crave, the feeling
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  that you get, when you hear new information, something that's
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  scandalous. Something.
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  That's maybe you're someone who you have this craving.
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  For fulfilling the lust of the flesh.
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  And you constantly are looking for ways to fuel that craving.
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  There are some who crave exercise notice.
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  I said, there are some I didn't make this a personal anecdote.
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  There's some who crave exercise because they crave the feeling
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  that they get either during or after.
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  And so, what fuels a habit is a craving.
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  Now, what those who have studied habits have found?
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  Is that once your brain Embraces a habit?
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  It is there from now on that. There's the bad news it never
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  completely it goes so far into the inner workings of your brain
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  that it's always there. But what scientists have found
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  is is what you can do is develop new Cravings that crowd out the
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  old ones. So if you have a craving that is
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  - that is bad. That fuels your desire to engage
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  in Behavior, actions. Attitudes that are harmful to
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  you, especially spiritually. What?
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  Can do is develop new Cravings that your brain will then use as
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  energy to focus upon crowding, out those old bad negative ones.
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  And so those those old habits never go away is kind of view it
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  this way. There may be a song from your
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  childhood that you love that. You listen to all the time.
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  But maybe you have 20 30 years that go by and you don't hear
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  that song a single time and then all of a sudden that song is
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  played some where the song comes on the radio.
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  You've not heard it in 20 or 30 years, but your love of the
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  song, Never disappeared. All of a sudden, you're singing
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  the words with the song, you know, the tune, you know, the
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  words, you're snapping, your fingers, you're tapping your
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  foot. You've not heard in 20 or 30
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  years, but your love of the song is still there.
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  It never was removed from your mind is the same way with things
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  that become habitual in our lives.
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  They never completely go away, but we can do, it may be the
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  reason why you didn't listen to that song over 20 or 30 years.
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  Is you began listening to other songs or you began doing other
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  things during that time where you used to spend time,
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  listening to the radio. And so you developed other
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  things, that took the time that used to be devoted to listening
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  to an enjoying that particular song.
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  And so, what we are capable of doing as human beings is though,
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  we cannot completely remove something that we allowed to
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  become habitual in our life. We can crowd it out with other
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  things. So that our mind is now focused
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  on those new habits. Those new behaviors and there's
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  no room left. Now, for our mind to spend time
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  on that habit, that's deep down in the recesses of our mind.
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  Now, I want us to go back as we close this morning to Psalm
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  42:1. It's a verse that's been turned
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  into music and we sing it regularly As the deer pants for
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  streams of water. So my soul Longs after you and
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  other words. So, my soul, craves you.
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  You may remember if you were at the family Retreat, I believe it
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  was last year. We talked about this particular
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  passage and we talked about dear.
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  And the fact that deer get most of the water that they need from
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  their diet. So if you see a deer that is
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  guzzling water, from a water source, like a river or a lake
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  or a stream. It means that that deer was near
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  the point of death. It needed water, so desperately.
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  So sheds, new light on that verse where As the deer pants
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  for the water if a deer is going to water source to drink.
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  From that water source. It means that it has gotten to
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  the point where it is dehydrated, where it is near
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  death and it needs water more than it needs.
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  Anything else? And that deer knows I've got to
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  get somewhere. I'm not getting enough water
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  from my diet. I've got to get somewhere and
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  drink if I want to live. And so what the psalmist is
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  saying, we need to develop this craving in the same way that a
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  deer when he gets in crisis mode and has to go to a water source.
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  Because it's near the point of death.
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  We need to have that same craving for God.
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  That same craving for a relationship with him for time,
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  spent with him, with time, spent with his people.
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  And so it may be that you've got Cravings in your life that lead
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  to destructive behaviors. You can replace those starting
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  today. With Cravings that are more
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  wholesome. With Cravings that are more
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  beneficial to you spiritually, physically emotionally.
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  It's not impossible. Is it easy?
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  No. Is it impossible?
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  Absolutely, not. God, can help us change if we
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  allow him. To be the necessary change in
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  our life. Maybe you're here this morning.
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  You're not a child of God. We pray that you'll accept the
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  Lord's, invitation begin the new year and the best Note possible
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  becoming a child of the Lord by faith repenting of your sins,
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  confessing Christ being baptized into Christ, having your sins
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  washed away coming out of that water and New Creation.
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  If you've done that, but you've strayed and need to come back
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  home or you just need encouragement.
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  We'd love to pray within for you now is to get