Latest / Time with God with John North / What To Do When You Are Far From God Pt. 5

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What To Do When You Are Far From God Pt. 5 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. We've been looking all week at this beautiful
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  Speaker 1: theme of what to do when you are far from God.
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  Speaker 1: That may not sound like a beautiful theme, and you
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  Speaker 1: may look at your own life and say, Well, I'm
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  Speaker 1: far from God. I've never given God a place in
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  Speaker 1: my life. Or maybe I remember when God was front
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  Speaker 1: and centre in my life, but I've gone so far
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  Speaker 1: away from Him.
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  Speaker 1: And when I look at my life, I know I've
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  Speaker 1: made a mess of things. I need God back in
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  Speaker 1: my life. Well, what are the steps to getting right
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  Speaker 1: with God? That's what we've been looking at all week.
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  Speaker 1: On Monday, we looked at step one, which is to
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  Speaker 1: recognise that you need God.
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  Speaker 1: And Jesus told a story about a young man who
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  Speaker 1: went far away from his father and ended up being
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  Speaker 1: reconciled as kind of a parable of our lives when
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  Speaker 1: we move away from God and then are made right
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  Speaker 1: with Him again, and the first step in that young
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  Speaker 1: man's life was to recognise that he'd tried to push
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  Speaker 1: his father away, but he'd only made a mess of
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  Speaker 1: his own life and how much better things were for
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  Speaker 1: the people in his father's house.
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  Speaker 1: And so he came step number 2. He came to
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  Speaker 1: his father on his father's terms, and this is what
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  Speaker 1: you have to do come to God on God's terms.
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  Speaker 1: Come to God and acknowledge the mess you make of
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  Speaker 1: your life when you do it on your own and
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  Speaker 1: how much you need Him. Ask Him to come into
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  Speaker 1: your brokenness and bring healing and wholeness.
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  Speaker 1: Step number 3, accept God's love for you. When that
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  Speaker 1: son started to come back to his father with his
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  Speaker 1: prepared speech of how he was coming on his father's terms.
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  Speaker 1: He was still a long way away when his father
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  Speaker 1: recognised him and started running. He wanted his son to
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  Speaker 1: know how much he loved him. When he found him,
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  Speaker 1: he flung his arms around him, kissed his neck. Ah, son,
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  Speaker 1: I'm so glad you're home. His son started to stammer
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  Speaker 1: out his prepared speech, and the
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  Speaker 1: Father just cut in and said to his servants, Bring
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  Speaker 1: the best robe, the father's robe. Bring the ring that
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  Speaker 1: represents being a part of our family again. Bring the
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  Speaker 1: shoes for his feet. He restored him at his own expense,
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  Speaker 1: and this is step number 4. Receive God's grace. God's
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  Speaker 1: grace means God gives you what you don't deserve. You
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  Speaker 1: know you don't deserve it.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus died on the cross so that there would be
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  Speaker 1: forgiveness for you. He paid the penalty. He took even
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  Speaker 1: the anger of the Father that you deserve so that
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  Speaker 1: that could be wiped away. And when the Father sees you,
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  Speaker 1: He's ready to receive you and accept you. So receive
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  Speaker 1: God's grace. Just say thank you, God, for doing for
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  Speaker 1: me what I could not do for myself. I was
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  Speaker 1: in a desperate place I couldn't get out of.
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  Speaker 1: And you have made a way for me to be
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  Speaker 1: right with you again at your own expense. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Receive God's forgiveness. You may feel like you've done so
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  Speaker 1: much that there's no way God wants to see you.
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  Speaker 1: He does want to see you. In fact, the moment
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  Speaker 1: you decide I'm going to make things right with God,
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  Speaker 1: he's running down the road to throw his arms around you.
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  Speaker 1: That's his heart towards you.
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  Speaker 1: Not folding his arms and tapping his toe and thinking, well, uh,
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  Speaker 1: I can't wait to give him a piece of my mind. No,
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  Speaker 1: that's gone, that's taken care of at the cross of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: God is ready to embrace you and welcome you, receive
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  Speaker 1: His forgiveness, receive His grace in your life. The apostle
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  Speaker 1: Paul says in one place, where sin abounded.
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  Speaker 1: Grace abounded all the more. God's grace is bigger than
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  Speaker 1: no matter what you've done. His grace is bigger.
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  Speaker 1: Step number 5 in getting right with God when you
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  Speaker 1: find that you are far from God is this Once
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  Speaker 1: you have received God's forgiveness, God's grace, God's love for you,
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  Speaker 1: step number 5, don't listen to those who still want
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  Speaker 1: to judge you for the things that you have done
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  Speaker 1: that God has forgiven you for. Don't listen to them.
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  Speaker 1: There'll be people who don't want to do what God
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  Speaker 1: has done and run to you with forgiveness and grace,
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  Speaker 1: who want to hold over you those things that you've done.
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  Speaker 1: Don't listen to them, including yourself.
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  Speaker 1: Because there'll be that voice in your head that keeps
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  Speaker 1: telling you, you're such a bad person, you're not worthy
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  Speaker 1: of this. Don't listen to that. Listen to the voice
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  Speaker 1: of God. When that son came back to his father,
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  Speaker 1: his older brother, who'd stayed with his father, was really
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  Speaker 1: angry that the father accepted him back. He tried to
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  Speaker 1: tell the father, that's not right. You shouldn't do that.
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  Speaker 1: I'm the one who stayed with you. He didn't. You
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't be throwing this feast for him. And the father's answer, Son.
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  Speaker 1: You are always with me. All that is mine is yours,
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  Speaker 1: but it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this.
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  Speaker 1: Your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost
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  Speaker 1: and is found, and that is you when you get
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  Speaker 1: right with God.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.