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517 | Throwback - Instructions for an Abundant Life · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman
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  at the Well Ministries, where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus
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  like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org, we invite you to sit down with us as we look
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  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living a life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  Life is full of choices. The consequences of our choices impact our lives in many ways.
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  We can choose to trust God and live the abundant life, or we can choose to live
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  in our own strength and as the world lives and live a life filled with bitter
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  disappointment and sorrow.
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  Join us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries, as Kim discusses
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  God's instructions for an abundant life.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  And we are looking to the scriptures to see just what it is that God says we
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  need to do to live the life that He has planned for us.
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  And we know that in Jeremiah 29, 11, and let's just go there and look for just
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  a second, where our actual text that we're going to do our lesson from today
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  is going to come from Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 7.
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  But we want to move to Jeremiah, and that's often referred to as one of the minor prophets.
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  And we're going to read Jeremiah 29 and 11. We hear it quoted a lot,
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  and we often hear it quoted in an NIV version.
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  But we want to look at what God says about the plans that he has for us in Jeremiah 29 and verse 11.
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  That verse reads in the King James Version as this, For I know the thoughts
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  that I think toward you, saith the Lord.
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  Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end.
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  First of all, I want you to see that the God of the universe thinks about you.
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  And what an amazing, wonderful, comforting thought that is to know that God thinks about us.
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  And we know that he thinks about us intuitively when we realize that he loved
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  us before we first loved him.
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  And he loved us so much that before we even knew we had a sin debt.
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  He gave us the payment for that sin when he gave us his son who gave his life
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  on the cross of Calvary for us.
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  So as you're beginning to think about things in your life right now,
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  and you're beginning to wonder about what is going on,
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  and maybe the things that you're feeling are scary, and maybe the things that
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  you're feeling don't make a lot of sense to you, and you're just really concerned
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  about what is going to happen next.
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  I want you to remember that God is in control.
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  And I want you to remember that the greatest need you've ever experienced in
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  your life and the greatest need that you could ever experience in your life
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  was the need for salvation.
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  And you experienced that need before
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  you even realized you had
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  it because in Romans 3
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  23 he says that all have sinned and come short of
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  the glory of God and he tells us that without the shedding of blood there is
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  no remission of sins in Hebrews and that need that you had was so great that
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  the consequences of not having that sin debt paid was that you would spend eternity
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  in a place made for the devil and his angels.
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  And you would spend your life in hell unless there was some way your sin debt
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  could be paid and that your sins could be washed away as Christ did on the cross of Calvary.
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  And there wasn't any other way it could happen.
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  And when he was on the cross, though you were not even born yet, you were on his mind.
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  And as you begin to think that every other need that you have in your life.
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  Hails in comparison and you begin to realize that god thinks about you right
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  now and as we continue to read in that verse in jeremiah he said that he had
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  thoughts toward you to give you peace,
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  and an expected end so often we hear it quoted from a different translation
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  that says i know of the plans that I have toward you, to prosper you,
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  to give you a hope and a future.
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  I want you to take a close look at what that King James Version says.
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  He says, I know the thoughts I have toward you, and they're for peace.
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  He's thinking about you, and he's instilling in you the ability to have peace.
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  And when we think about the things that we have, when we think about the things
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  that mean so much to us, it's hard to place a price tag on peace.
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  Yet in the very same token, if you look at what people will do to gain peace,
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  it's amazing the lengths that people will go to to have peace.
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  The amount of money that they'll spend on books and going to counselors and
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  every other little thing that they think might help them gain peace,
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  they're more than willing to go after.
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  But as we begin to look in this lesson today, I want you to see that Christ is free.
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  And he died for all. He says in Romans 10, 13, that whosoever shall call upon
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  the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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  And his gift of peace is for all.
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  He says, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee,
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  because he trusteth in thee.
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  We're going to speak today out of Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 through 7.
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  And it's all about what God says we need to do to have the abundant life.
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  And we're going to see that there is a peace that passeth all understanding.
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  And a joy unspeakable and full of glory and it all begins with the fact that
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  christ is thinking toward you he's thinking about you and their thoughts of peace.
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  If he's thinking about peace for you, and the psalmist David said that daily
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  he loadeth you with benefits.
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  And Isaiah told us that God would keep us in perfect peace if we just stayed our mind on him.
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  If you really begin to realize that that biggest need you've ever had or ever
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  will have was taken care of before you even realized you had it.
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  And you begin to read a little further in the
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  new testament and you see in john chapter 17 that jesus
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  prays for us you see that he ever liveth to make intercession for us later on
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  in the scriptures when you really begin to grasp all of these things and realize
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  that god is truly in control and you can trust him then regardless of what your
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  problem is that you're facing right now.
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  There is hope because that hope is found in jesus christ and not only is there hope,
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  but there is peace friends there is a limit to what i can do to help someone,
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  there is a limit to what you can do to help someone my knowledge is finite my
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  resources on my own are limited.
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  My strength in my own fleshly self is limited.
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  But if you would, please, let's take a stroll through the scriptures and let's
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  go to Philippians and the New Testament.
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  And let's see what he says. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 13,
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  he says, I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.
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  In 419, he says, but my God shall supply all of your need according to his riches
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  in glory by Christ Jesus.
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  So we see in Jeremiah that the Lord thinks about us and that there are thoughts
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  of peace and not of evil and that he has an expected end for us.
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  He has a plan, a strategy.
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  He's laid out how he wants us to live and how he wants us to prosper.
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  And if we follow him in obedience, then we will walk in his will and in his
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  ways. And the things that he has for us are beyond our comprehension.
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  But we know they're good, that they bring peace.
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  We see that he prays for us in John chapter 17.
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  And we see that he ever liveth to make intercession for us.
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  And as we look in John chapter 3, we see that the greatest need we ever had,
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  he has already taken care of.
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  And all we have to do is ask.
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  In Revelations chapter 3, we see that he knocks on our door to remind us that
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  we have that need. and he shows himself to us daily in many many ways so that
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  we realize we have a need and that we must trust in him.
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  He was so adamant that he loved us so much because we were created in his image,
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  that he decided to come and walk among us so that when he invites us to come
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  to him and when the Holy Spirit draws us to him and we stand in his presence,
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  we have the absolute assurance of knowing that not only is he capable of answering our need,
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  not only is he the great I am that he was for Abraham in the Old Testament,
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  And he still is for you because he changeth not.
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  He is the same today as he was yesterday. And he'll be the same tomorrow as
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  he is today because he changeth not.
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  And he not only is the great I am, but he understands what you feel.
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  You see, sometimes it's incredibly difficult to put into words what you're feeling in your heart.
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  And maybe you've worried that if
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  you just can't say it right if you
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  can't get on those hands and knees and begin
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  to explain to him what you're feeling that maybe the answer won't come friends
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  that's that's not how it works you see because i have a high priest who was
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  tempted like as i am yet without sin i have a high priest who went through everything
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  that i feel who saw everything that I see,
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  who felt everything that I feel, and yet he overcame.
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  And he did that so that when I come to him, as he boldly asked me to do,
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  and he says, come boldly to the throne of grace, that I might obtain help in time of need.
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  I might obtain mercy from the great I am.
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  That when I come to him, I have full assurance that my needs will be met.
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  According to what is best for me.
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  That doesn't mean that every answer I have received from the Lord has been the one I asked.
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  But without a doubt, it has been the one I needed. And it has been the one that was best for me.
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  You see, I'm telling you this because I want you to understand that as we walk
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  into Proverbs chapter 3 and begin with verse 5, and he says,
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  trust in the Lord, I want you to see you can.
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  Because you see that is the very beginning of living in the abundant life that's
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  the very beginning of living in the peace that he has planned for us to have
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  that's the very beginning,
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  of walking by faith and not by sight it's the very beginning of tapping into
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  all that he has for us and living in his strength and not our own in relying
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  upon his resources and not our own he He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the hills thereof.
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  He created the gold.
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  He created the gems. He created the sun and the moon and the stars.
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  And he named them one by one.
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  Yet he formed you in your mother's womb. And he says he knows you.
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  He even knows the number of hairs on your head.
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  He knows the number of sand grains. cumulative on all the seashores.
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  And you and I can't even count the number of sand grains in a palm full of sand.
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  You see, he says to begin with, to trust in the Lord.
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  And he's made it easy to do so. But the devil walketh about as a roaring lion,
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  sinking whom he may devour, and he's deceived many of us.
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  And Peter come to Jesus, and he wanted to be washed all over again.
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  And Jesus said, no, let me just wash your feet. Let's get the dust of the world off of us.
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  And some of us right now need to get the dust of the world off of us.
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  And some of us need to get the world out of us. And some of us need to look
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  at the Satan and say, get thee behind me.
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  Most of us need to get our head in the book, the holy word of God.
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  And our knees need to get a little bit scuffed from the time we spend in prayer.
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  Because he said that I have come to give you life and that you might have it more abundantly.
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  The opening part of that verse in John chapter 10 and verse 10 is this.
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  The thief cometh not but to steal and to kill and to destroy.
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  And if you're not serving Jesus Christ, you're serving the devil.
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  And Jesus' purpose was to come that you might have life and have it more abundantly
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  because he said, I have come to seek and to save those which were lost.
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  It's such a simple choice. It's such a simple decision.
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  Yet it's so difficult for some of us to make because we're so duped in sin.
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  All the devil wants is to destroy you. Yet you give him your allegiance by rejecting Jesus Christ.
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  You see, the entire plan of Satan is to steal your soul.
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  The entire plan of Christ was to feel your need before you even have it.
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  But it requires that you trust in him with all
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  your heart see some of us are guilty
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  of a half-hearted trust we trust
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  in him when it goes our way and it's so easy for us to look at our friends and
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  our neighbors and tell them about the grace and the mercy and the love of god
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  when they're going through traumatic events in their life and your life is seemingly
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  rolling along smoothly.
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  I used to have a friend who would constantly explain to me how wonderful her faith was.
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  And she would constantly talk to me about how she never once doubted what God would do.
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  And she was in a time in her life when the things of this world didn't really have a hold on her,
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  and the things that she needed to do were never brushing
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  up against things that she didn't want to
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  do and the things that were troubling
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  her were minute and small and she
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  sometimes would kind of look down her nose upon people who were going through
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  incredible struggles and were still keeping on keeping on and still on the firing
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  line for god but every now and then would get just a little bit stressed and
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  every now and then would just kind of spin their wheels for a second and begin
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  to take their eyes off of god and begin to look at the storm and wonder oh why me,
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  but one day things changed in that young lady's life she grew up a little bit
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  and some things started taking place and i and i noticed that like the rest
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  of us she began to waver just a bit.
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  And i noticed something very important at
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  that time was i noticed that i needed
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  to look at my life and stay in close contact with
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  god and try to stay as close to him as
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  possible that i might be a blessing to others and that i might live
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  the life that he had planned for me but i needed never tell
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  anyone about my faith i needed to let my life show my faith and jesus says in
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  first john 1 9 that if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive
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  us our sins and to cleanse us
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  from all unrighteousness and that i need to love him with all of my heart,
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  I can't have a faith that only works when things are going good.
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  Job comes to my mind as a man who was a virtue of faith.
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  And as things got harder and harder on him, he clung tighter and tighter to the God of the universe.
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  My mind is taken quickly to Daniel and the lion's den.
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  And when the thing started getting really rough for him and he was in the midst
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  of the lion's den, he grew great peace.
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  From knowing he was in the hands of God. You see, the abundant life is focused
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  on trusting in God and not leaning on your own understanding.
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  Things just simply will not make sense.
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  Sometimes your ways are not going to be what is the way it's supposed to be.
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  And the Bible's clear that his ways are not always our ways,
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  but his ways are always the right way.
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  And we spoke earlier in this lesson about two
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  key verses you need to keep in your mind and that
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  was philippians 4 13 about doing it in his strength and
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  philippians 4 19 about depending on his resources
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  and not your own it all comes with
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  trusting in god and not yourself knowing that we have the absolute confidence
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  that he is capable he is able he is willing and he's already met the greatest
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  need will ever have and everything else is under his feet.
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  Nothing will shock him. That unexpected bill you got this week may have shocked you.
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  It didn't come as a surprise to him.
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  And he's already got the answers in the works.
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  What we need to do is make sure that we're listening to what he says so that
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  we're there to receive the blessing of his supply,
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  the blessing of his richness and his grace and his glory in our life so that
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  as our lives are lived out the way that he has planned them to live that we
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  will live the abundant life.
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  And abundance is not wealth of worldly means.
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  Abundance is peace and joy.
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  In the time of trouble in all times. Abundance is living in the blessings of
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  God that often are material.
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  But it's a peace in your mind that the world didn't give you,
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  and the world can't take away.
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  It's a peace in your mind and your heart that the world can't give you.
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  No matter how hard you try or how hard you work at it, it won't happen.
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  But if you just submit yourself under the mighty hand of God.
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  He will exalt you in due time. Those are his words, not mine.
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  He says, in all thy ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. He has the plan.
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  He created you for such a time as this.
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  Don't ever forget that. Esther said for such a time as this.
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  And he has molded you and he has made you and he has worked with you and he
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  has taught you and he has guided you and he has led you for such a time as this.
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  And don't you ever think he's going to drop you now. That hand is sure.
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  The anchor holds and grips the solid rock. In Jesus Christ, I stand.
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  Knowing who he is, I have a firm foundation.
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  And it's not slippery, but
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  it's solid my hope is built
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  on nothing less than jesus christ and i
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  believe in my heart of hearts that there is an abundant life promised to all
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  of his children and it begins with trusting in him with all of your heart and
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  not doing it half-heartedly and not doing it just sometimes but during the bad
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  times the good times the hard times the sweet times the wonderful times the beautiful times,
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  ugly times, you just trust.
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  Because that hand that you're holding, it never changes.
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  That hand that you're holding loves you just as much in the storm as he does in the sunshine.
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  But he gives you more protection in the storm than he did in the sunshine.
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  And he's the cleft of the rock in which you can hide.
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  And he calls to you and says, come unto
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  me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest
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  life can be scary but if you just remember that he said he'd direct your past
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  if you just acknowledge him he said be not wise in thine own eyes depart from
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  evil be not wise in thine own eyes walk away from your fleshly desires,
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  walk away from the control of your life stop fighting him and allow him to let,
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  You live the life he planned for you.
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  Allow him to guide your footsteps, to take you where he wants you to be,
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  that he can give to you that peace. He not only promised.
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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.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
• 23:06
  or on our website at watwm.org, we invite you to sit down with us as we look
• 23:12
  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily.