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482 | The Alabaster Box · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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  well in John chapter four.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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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.
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  We invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Music.
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  Have you ever wondered if you have done all that you can for Jesus today?
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  He gave his all for you. What have you done for him?
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  Join us as we open God's Word and take a look at the account of the woman with the alabaster box.
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  Hello and welcome to this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  What a pleasure it is that you have chosen to spend these next few moments with
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  us, and we are just trusting and praying that God will just reveal himself to
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  us in very special and wonderful ways.
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  It's so interesting to me as a child of God, how I so often get up in the morning
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  and I feel the presence of God and I go through my routine of study and prayer.
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  And I wonder about this amazing gift of love that he's given me.
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  And I think about the great things that he's done for me. And I think about
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  the promises that he's made for me.
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  But I hardly ever think about what I'm going to do for him that day.
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  And I hardly ever think about my gift of my presence, my gift of my love,
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  my gift of my availability for his service that I'm going to hand him that day.
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  But as I'm reading in the scriptures in Mark chapter 14, verses three through
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  nine, and I would invite you to turn there with me.
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  I am reminded of this lady with the alabaster box.
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  And i believe in all of scriptures she
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  is given one of the highest honors because the
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  lord himself says that she did all
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  she could for him and as a testimony of his gratefulness and his appreciation
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  for the service that she has rendered to him he memorializes her in scripture
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  and as i was studying this passage of scripture and looking at what this lady had given to him,
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  I could not help but wonder what I had given back to my Savior.
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  I could not help but wonder what gift I had laid at his feet.
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  And it humbled my heart as I began to think that day after day goes by without
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  me having a conscious thought of what I want to prepare to lay before my Savior
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  as a tribute to my love and my appreciation and my service to him.
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  Now, I'm well aware that the scriptures tell me in James that it isn't about works.
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  But James also tells me that I'll show you my faith by showing you my works.
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  And Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, For by grace are you saved through faith,
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  and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works,
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  lest any man should boast.
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  So what we're discussing in
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  this lesson today has nothing to do with our works gaining our salvation.
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  What we're discussing today is that love of God, that mercy of His,
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  that grace that He just abounds and covers us with, and how it should instill
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  in our heart a need to give something back to him.
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  And I wonder how many of us have thought yet at this moment what we're going
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  to do in the preceding moments of our day for Jesus.
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  Now, I'm very well aware that many of us, especially those of us who are trying
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  desperately to serve him and those of us who have been called into his service in some formal way.
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  We think about daily what we're going to do in regards to his call in our lives.
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  But what the question I want to lay before you and before myself as we look
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  at this passage of Scripture is a question of what am I going to do for him
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  out of absolute love today?
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  Not out of obligation or duty to my call, not
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  out of a higher sense of love because i want to be doing things for him but
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  that special little extra touch that going beyond the call of duty that piece
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  of service that comes deep from within the heart that just has i love you stamped all over it,
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  You see, in Mark chapter 14 and verses 3 through 9, we are given a beautiful
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  picture of service with I love you stamped all over it. Please join me in prayer.
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  Our kind and most gracious, your Heavenly Father, as we come to you this evening,
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  Lord, we come thanking you for your love.
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  We come thanking you for your mercy and your grace, for your acceptance.
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  Heavenly Father, for the fact that you continue to stay with us when we oftentimes
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  do not do what you ask us to do and when we take your love and your mercy and your grace for granted.
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  Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this opportunity to tell you that we love you.
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  And Lord, we are forever grateful in our hearts for the fact that you tell us
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  every moment of every day how much you love us.
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  Lord, we ask for a special anointing from on high that you would allow us to
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  live I love you to you every day in our hearts and in our minds.
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  And Lord, that our lives would be a tribute to you and the love that you've shown us.
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  Lord, we ask that you would use our footsteps, that you would use our mouth,
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  that you would take our hands and our feet, and that you would use them as instruments
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  of your peace, of instruments of your gospel.
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  And your heavenly Father, that you would take this as a gift to you,
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  showing you how much we love you, and that you would just instill in our hearts
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  an amazing need to come before you and tell you how much we love you.
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  And lord that it wouldn't be lip service only but that it
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  would be out of our heart and it
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  would absolutely encompass who we are your heavenly
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  father i pray that each of us as we look through this scripture at
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  this very moment that our lives would be changed our
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  hearts would be turned towards you and your heavenly father that
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  you would be pleased with the glory and honor that our
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  lives will bring to you as we have studied what you have for us we
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  invite you into our lives we invite you into this lesson
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  lord and we thank you for the gift of the holy spirit
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  that reveals to us exactly what you would have each of us to know at this very
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  time and at this very moment lord be with us give us a sense of work ethic for
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  you that on that day of judgment when all of us are called into account for
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  the life that we have lived as you spoke to us in romans,
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  that you could look at us and you could say well done thy good and faithful
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  servant you have been faithful over the little and i'll make you ruler over many,
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  lord i pray that you would instill in us a kind of work a kind of desire a kind
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  of longing for you that would enable us your heavenly father to give us our
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  very give you our very best.
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  And dear Heavenly Father, that when we come to you on that end of time and we
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  begin to step into eternity, Lord, that you would look at us and you would say, she did all she could.
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  Lord, make the opportunities and the doors that open for us very plain.
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  Lord, don't let us miss a single chance or opportunity to do our very best service for you.
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  Lord, open our eyes that we might see the way that you've led before us.
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  Oh, give us this moment in time, holy vision, and a courage that comes only from you.
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  Lord, may you say to us, she did all she could.
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  To all these things we ask in thy most precious and holy name we pray.
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  To all of God's people said, amen. end
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  mark chapter 14 verses 3
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  through 9 and being in bethany in
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  the house of simon the leper as he sat at meat there
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  came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of
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  spinkner very precious and she
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  broke the box and poured it on his head and there
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  were some that had indignation within themselves and said
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  why was this waste of the ointment made for it
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  might have been sold for more than 300 pence and have
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  been given to the poor and they murmured against
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  her and jesus said let her
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  alone why trouble ye her she hath
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  wrought a good work on me for ye have the
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  poor with you always and whensoever ye will ye
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  may do them good but me ye have
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  not always she hath done what she could
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  oh did you hear what he said she hath
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  done what she could she has come a forehand to anoint my body to the bearing
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  verily i say unto you wheresoever the gospel shall be preached throughout the
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  whole world this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
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  Now, here comes a lady, and she's coming to Jesus.
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  And she has a plan in her mind. She's thought about this before time.
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  It wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment idea that she was going to come and she
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  was going to anoint Jesus with this precious ointment.
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  So the first thing I want you to recognize about the lady with the alabaster
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  box is that she knew where Jesus was.
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  She was familiar with his goings and his comings because she knew exactly where to find him.
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  Now, my friend, as you're listening to this lesson, I have a question for you.
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  Do you know about Jesus' goings and his comings?
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  The only way that you're going to find out about Jesus' goings and his comings
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  is to spend time in his holy word, to spend time in prayer before the fathers and his throne.
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  You see this lady wasn't hidden in the dark on where he would be she knew exactly where he was,
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  and jesus says come unto me he gives
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  you an invitation he says in revelations 3
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  that he stands at the door and he knocks and he wants to sup
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  with you and he wants to come in with you and he wants to spend time with
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  you but you need to have a relationship with
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  him and you need to recognize him for who he is that's
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  the second thing i want you to see about the lady with the alabaster box she
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  knew about his comings and his goings and she recognized who he was you see
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  she had forethought about this precious ointment she understood that he was worthy of her very best,
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  she understood who he was and she reverenced him and she gave him the glory
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  and the honor that was do him and she was preparing to give him glory and honor
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  with her very life and her actions.
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  As you begin to look through the scriptures, I implore you to ask within your heart.
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  Do you give him the honor and the glory that is due him with your life and with your heart?
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  You see, to give him the glory and honor that is due him with your heart,
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  that means he must be Lord of your heart and ruler of your heart.
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  That you must have given him the place of king of the throne of your heart.
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  And that he is the focus of your every thought and that he is the leader to
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  which you are following.
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  To give him the right place in your life, he has to be your all in all.
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  You need to recognize him for who he is.
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  Understanding what he can do and understanding what he has done for you.
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  Then you will begin to be motivated to give to him what is due him,
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  which is your very life, your allegiance, and most importantly, your heart.
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  The lady with the alabaster box did all of this.
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  And as a result, she prepared to give him the very best she had.
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  She prepared to give him the very best gift she could offer.
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  And I want you to see this was not an easy task for her, but it didn't stop
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  her what society would think.
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  She had to know that those around her was not going to be really approving of
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  her taking this alabaster ointment.
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  And pouring it upon the Savior. You see, the boys that were gathered round about
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  her felt that that was a waste.
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  They had all kinds of ideas what she could do with this money other than give
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  it to the Savior for his pleasure.
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  I want you to think about that for a moment because many of us have all kinds of ideas.
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  What we can do with our money and our gifts and our talents that the Lord has
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  bestowed upon us, other than giving them to him for his pleasure and his use.
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  Many of us have a hard time when it comes to releasing the almighty dollar.
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  And I say it like that because some of us are worshiping the dollar.
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  It's what controls us. It's what moves us.
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  It's what motivates us it's what causes
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  us to do a lot of things and
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  that ought not be and it was not the case with the woman
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  with the alabaster box what motivated her was
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  to give the very best she could give to give the gift that
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  was in her heart that was within her means that was all about
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  who she was to the savior of the universe she
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  was absolutely unconcerned with the
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  value monetarily wise of this
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  ointment all she was concerned with was
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  that was valuable enough to show in her heart and
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  in her life that when she gave it to the savior that
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  he was worth all that she had and it was the most precious
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  most valuable earthly possession she had and she wanted to give it to him for
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  his pleasure she didn't care what the social people said the pressure of everyone
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  else telling her that she should not invest in god's kingdom she should not give him her very best.
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  She ignored even no doubt what society
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  would say about how she could have used that for her own gain
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  and her own glory and i
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  want you to see that she didn't make a big could do about giving this
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  to jesus the people who made a big could do
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  about it were those that were around and couldn't understand the
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  motivation that she had to give this
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  to jesus you see she understood what
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  it meant to know and love the savior she
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  understood what it meant to give him praise and to give him glory she didn't
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  care what anyone else thought what is the social pressure that's keeping you
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  from serving the savior with all that you have and giving him the very best of your talents,
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  you see she wasn't weighing the cost either.
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  She wasn't weighing the cost of the ointment against its earthly value.
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  She could just see it as a means to give him the best she had.
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  You see, sometimes in our walk, we weigh the cost of the gift to Jesus.
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  And it's not always monetarily. Sometimes we weigh the cost of what it will
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  cost us in energy, in time, in self-sacrifice.
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  How funny is that? That we actually will sit and think, well,
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  if I go visit this sick person in the hospital, that means I've got to add another hour to my day.
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  And well, I don't like hospitals. And you know, that's somebody else's ministry.
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  Yet God has placed it on your heart.
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  How interesting that self-sacrifice is one of the first things we begin to weigh
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  against the cost and the gift.
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  Aren't you glad he never weighed?
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  Self-sacrifice against the cost of
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  the cross and the benefit of his
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  death for you see jesus gained nothing by
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  his death barrel and resurrection on the cross it was
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  all about his love for us and all about the benefits he was
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  going to give us he wasn't standing on that cross
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  and saying well if i do this i'm going to get that aren't
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  you glad because at any moment he could have
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  called 10 thousand angels to come and remove him
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  from that cross it was his love for you and
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  his love for me that held him there and my
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  friends he didn't weigh the cost the lady
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  with the alabaster box did not weigh the cost and
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  i want you to see something very clearly in this
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  passage of scripture in mark chapter 14 and verse 6 it says and jesus said let
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  her alone why trouble ye her she hath wrought a good work on me jesus sees the intent.
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  Of the heart. He knew exactly why she was giving him this honor of pouring this
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  precious ointment upon him.
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  He recognized the value of it,
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  and he knew that if you turned
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  this ointment into cash value that
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  just as the disciples had told him it
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  truly would have helped the poor but
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  he made an amazing statement when he said the poor are going to be with you
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  always and do for them as you can and much of scripture is devoted to teaching
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  us to help our brother and that is our responsibility to help those that are
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  in need and i fully believe with all of my heart it's the church of god and
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  i I mean, the children of God,
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  not the denomination, but if the children of God were doing what they were supposed
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  to be doing and following God as they were, it would not be the government's
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  job to help the needy and the poor.
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  Because he gives us abundance and we should live in the abundance principle.
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  And when we have something and we're not using it and someone else needs it,
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  he has given it to us to give to someone else, not to hoard up.
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  But we have the I might need a tomorrow mentality, and we have the take care
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  of me and no one else mentality, and we hoard up all the abundance that God
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  gives us, and what good is it?
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  And then we wonder why he doesn't give us even more. He gives us the things
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  we have that we might have what we have need of and to bless us and to be a blessing to others.
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  It's time we worked as a church as God asked us to do, and he said, love as I have loved.
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  And he laid his life down for those.
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  Who didn't even acknowledge him
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  yet you won't give your extra coat to a neighbor you claim to love oh my friends
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  he said do good to them but i'm not going to be here always and you're not going
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  to always have the opportunity to give your love and your grace and your gifts to me.
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  But when you have opportunity, love on me.
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  He understood her intent.
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  And he spoke very plainly how we should live.
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  The lady with the alabaster box did all she could.
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  She thought about it. She prepared for it. She sacrificed for it.
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  And she presented it. Not just a little bit.
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  Have you thought about that? She could have broken up the open the alabaster
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  box and dipped in and got a little bit of the ointment. and left the rest for
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  a rainy day or for herself.
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  But she doesn't. She brings the alabaster box before the God of the universe
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  whom she loves, who she understands and recognizes for who he is.
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  And she cracks open that alabaster box and she pours it on him every last drop.
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  And my friend, I want you to see that on Calvary, he poured every last drop
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  of his blood for you and me. He didn't hold back any.
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  You see, and it was sufficient to absolutely cleanse you from all unrighteousness
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  and to meet your every need.
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  He didn't hold back anything, and he did all that he could.
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  She didn't hold back anything from that alabaster box, and she did all that she could.
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  And as a reward to her, he says, wherever the gospel is preached, she will be spoken of.
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  And this that she has done, my friends, she did all that she could because she
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  loved him and recognized him.
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  Friends, what are you doing for Jesus?
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  He had not even died on the cross for her sins at that time,
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  yet she recognized him for who he was.
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  He's died on the cross for yours. He's bled and was mocked and suffered a cruel
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  death on Calvary because he loves you.
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  And he doesn't require you to love him first.
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  In 1 John, it says we love him because he first loved us.
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  He did all that he could and he gave all that he had.
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  And some of you have tasted the love and grace and forgiveness of an almighty God.
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  And you have turned your back upon the devotion, upon the love of the relationship,
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  upon the communion and the companionship.
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  But he's never turned his back on you.
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  My friend, he said to the lady with the alabaster box, she did all that she could.
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  What have you done for the Savior today?
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
• 23:29
  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  Music.