Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E127 | Everyday Eurasia | Chad Gibbons

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S1-E127 | Everyday Eurasia | Chad Gibbons · Eurasia Region Podcast

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Hello and welcome to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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Inspiring Faith for Every Day. Each day we are on a journey
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with Jesus in our churches, our homes, our workplaces, and in so
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many different places around the world.
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Is it beautiful that no matter where we are, we can walk with
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him every single day? Jesus is the one who connects us
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all and stands at the very center of our lives day after
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day. Through this podcast, you'll
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hear voices from across the region sharing devotionals that
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reminds us of God's presence in our everyday moments.
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This week, we'll be journeying together with Chet Gibbons.
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Chet serves as the Neswing Discipleship International
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Coordinator for the Eurasia Region.
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As a missionary, he lives and serves alongside his wife
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Crystal from the regional office in Businger, Germany.
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We will take a look together at the five core principles of.
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NDI, welcome back to the Everyday Eurasia Podcast.
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I'm your host this week, Chad Gibbons.
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I'm the discipleship coordinator here on the Eurasia region.
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And this week we're talking discipleship.
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Specifically, we're talking about NDI, Nazarene Discipleship
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International, the discipleship arm of the Nazarene Church.
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And today we're looking at the third core principle of NDI.
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This is the principles that we hold on to as we become
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disciples and make disciples, and that is fervent prayer.
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Discipleship can't happen without prayer.
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Now I just have one thought for us today and that is I think
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sometimes our prayers are backwards.
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If you haven't prayed today, I encourage you to do so.
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But as you do it today, I want you to try something different.
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I, I, I believe this will help. I'm taking this idea from
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Colossians chapter one, verse 9 through 14, where Paul writes as
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he's talking to the the church in Colossi.
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There he says for this reason, since the day we heard about
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you, we have not stopped praying for you and listen to Paul's
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prayer for the church. We continually ask God to fill
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you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and
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understanding that the Spirit gives.
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His prayer is that God would fill them with the knowledge of
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His will. Why verse 10?
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So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please
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Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in
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the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power
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according to His glorious might. So that you may have great
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endurance and patience and giving joyful thanks to the
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Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His
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holy people in the Kingdom of light.
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For he has rescued us from the from the dominion of darkness
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and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we
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have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
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Wow, what amazing thing Paul wants for the church.
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But what does it start with? Paul says, my prayer for you is
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that you would be filled with the knowledge of God's will.
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Now that is ironic to me because I feel like a lot of our prayers
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are the exact opposite of that. We come to God and maybe we're
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in a difficult place in our lives.
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Maybe you're in a difficult place in your life right now.
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And if you're like me, you come to God and you say, God, I need
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help. I need you to Get Me Out of
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this. Or there's a doctor's
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appointment coming up or an interview coming up or something
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at work happening and you say, God, I need this to happen.
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I need so and so to do this. I need this job to come through.
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You have these ideas and you bring them to God and you say,
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God, please make this idea happen.
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In a sense, your prayer time is spent filling God with the
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knowledge of your will. Where Paul says my prayer for
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you is that you would be filled with the knowledge of God's
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will. So why do we spend all our time
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trying to fill God with the knowledge of our will?
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Certainly God knows our will. Certainly God knows what we need
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before we even ask him. Didn't Jesus say that?
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So why do we spend all of our time in prayer, telling God
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something he already knows, telling God, giving God ideas
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for what He needs to do for us? I'd like you to try this.
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As you pray, try not telling God what you need and instead today
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ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through
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all wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.
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In your prayer, try to be silent.
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Try not to say anything and ask God that He would fill you with
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what he wants to say instead. Lord, as we come before you now
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and as we go about our lives that have become so busy, I ask
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for each person listening to this podcast that that the most
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important thing would be that you would fill them with the
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knowledge of your will. I know there's many people going
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through many difficult things, very serious and even life
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threatening things, but I believe Lord the most important
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thing for all of us would be for you to fill us with the
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knowledge of your will through wisdom and all the understanding
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that the Spirit gives. Lord, let it be so today, in
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Jesus name, Amen. Thank you for listening to the
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everyday Eurasia podcast Inspiring Faith for Everyday.
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For more Everyday Stories, subscribe on this podcast
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newsletter. Snapshots for our newsletter and
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further information about the Eurasia region, visit our
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website. Eurasia Region Org.