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584 | Without Faith We Cannot Please God · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  God is in control.
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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 and listen to Jesus.
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  With us as we look to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen
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  your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Do you know the keys to pleasing God? One of the most basic ways we can please Him is with our faith.
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  The Bible tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith.
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  Join us in this program of Woman at the Well Ministries as we open God's Word
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  and explore a key way we can please God.
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  I'd like to take this moment in time to just look at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6.
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  Most of us who are familiar with the scriptures refer to this chapter as the Hall of Fame of Faith.
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  And as children of God, we have proclaimed our faith in God.
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  And we have proclaimed that we have a personal relationship with him and that
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  we have placed our trust in him to be our Savior.
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  However, I believe for many of us, at least through periods of our life and
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  through seasons of our life, we sort of live less a life of faith than we should.
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  And we still place our faith in him for his saving power and his saving grace.
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  But we don't allow him to have full reign of our life and to be the king of the throne of our heart.
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  And as we study Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6, it's my prayer and my intent
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  that all of us looking at this scripture will be able to motivate ourselves
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  to be able to be more faithful Christians.
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  And that doesn't just mean that we're more loyal to studying,
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  which we need to be, that we're more loyal to a life of prayer,
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  which we absolutely need to be.
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  It means that we exercise our faith. I have to laugh when I say that,
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  because in Timothy, we're told that bodily exercise profiteth little.
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  Yet many of us spend hours and many, many mega dollars, people who won't even
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  tie the dime to the church of God,
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  meaning God's church, will pay hundreds of dollars for gym passes that,
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  unfortunately, like many of you,
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  I don't use all that well either.
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  But my friends, when it comes to exercising our faith, we don't want any part of it.
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  And we don't really want to go through some of the things it takes to exercise
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  our faith. But yet faith is so important.
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  James tells us that he shows his faith by his works.
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  But the writer of Hebrews says the all-important concept of faith.
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  He says, but without faith, it is impossible to please him.
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  For he that cometh to god must believe that he
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  is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
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  seek him now let's just take that verse apart for
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  the next few moments it says but without faith it
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  is impossible to please him now that makes great
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  sense when we look at it deeply but when
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  we look at it on the surface it's a little sketchy maybe
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  to us because we think if we work for god
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  and do the things that he asks that he should be pleased with us and he is but
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  that's exercising faith and we think that if we are obedient to god that he
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  should be pleased with us and he is because that's exercising faith you see
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  it's very easy to understand.
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  Why god would say that it would be impossible to
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  please him without faith first of
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  all because without faith you wouldn't have a personal relationship with
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  him and he said that he come to seek and to save those
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  that were lost and he tells us in romans 3 23
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  that we are all have sinned and come short of the glory of god.
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  And therefore we all are lost so without
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  faith it would be impossible to please him it also
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  seems very intuitive if we look at
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  it very closely that without faith
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  we couldn't please him because faith is the
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  giving of ourselves to him
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  it's placing our trust in
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  god it's looking at god for who
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  he is and realizing his
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  omnipotence his omniscience his love for us his grace and his mercy and it means
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  that we are forsaking all others and clinging to god for our sustenance for
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  our hope basically it's our hope.
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  And my friends, I want you to really see how important that is.
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  Because we can't please him unless he becomes our all in all and our absolute hope.
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  Now, I wonder why it is that it's so hard for us to do that.
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  Well, I think that sometimes it's so hard for us to do that because we let so
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  much of the world climb into our lives.
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  So it's impossible to please him without faith.
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  But my friends, why is it that we let so many other things get into our lives?
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  Hebrews 11.1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
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  the evidence of things not seen.
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  You see, we want to see it kind of world. Two plus two equals four.
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  If I pay this amount of money, I get this back.
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  We want to be able to figure things out. And if I can see it and I can figure
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  it out, there's no faith in that.
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  But God says without faith, it's impossible to please him. We can't see him physically.
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  But if you speak to someone who has a personal relationship with him,
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  they can see his handiwork in their lives all through it.
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  My friends, that's what it takes to please him.
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  And you see, he says that when you come to God, you must believe that he is.
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  First of all, the reason that you come to him is because you believe he can
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  help you. And there is scripture after scripture that tells us that.
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  First of all, he says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden.
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  He also says that he will let you come and give him your problems.
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  In Hebrews chapter 4 and verses 14 through 16, he says that we can come boldly
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  to the throne of God, that we may find help in time of trouble.
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  But you see, the act of coming to him is an exercise of faith.
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  Because when you come to him, he expects you to believe that he will take care of your every need.
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  That he expects you to believe that when you come to him, that you believe that
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  you have a relationship with him.
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  And you see, what he says is that you must believe that he is.
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  That means you must believe who he is. You must understand the power that he has.
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  You must understand the sin debt that he paid that he did not owe.
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  You must understand that he is the creator of all things, that all things are under his feet.
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  He says you must believe that he is.
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  In other words, when you come to him in faith, you got to know him.
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  Then he says that you must know that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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  You see, faith is what's going to allow us to humble our hearts and bow our
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  knees to an almighty God.
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  You see, it's going to be what allows us to know that it is the substance of the things we hope for.
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  And it's the evidence of things unseen.
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  I can't see him physically standing with me right now, but my faith knows that he is.
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  You see, we have to exercise faith to have a relationship with him.
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  The Bible says that he gives to every man a measure of faith.
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  He wants us to have a relationship with him. We have to cultivate that faith,
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  and we have to sit down and believe in who he is.
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  I want you to understand the difference between knowledge and faith.
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  If in this room right now it began to come up and engulf in flames,
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  there's a door just to the right of me i know that if i turn that handle in
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  that door that i can get out of this engulfed flame room should that happen
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  but i can stand here all i want.
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  Knowing that that door will open if i turn the knob that i will become part
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  of the flame consumed by the fire with that knowledge.
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  But the very moment I scurry to my right, put my hand on that doorknob and open
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  it and walk through it, I've escaped the fire.
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  Jesus Christ is that doorknob. He is the means by which we have a relationship with God.
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  Jesus Christ, and placing my faith in him and trusting him to be my savior recognizing
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  who he is that he's the god of the universe the creator of all things the savior
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  of the world the one who loved me so much that he paid my sin debt.
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  When I do this, I have a personal relationship.
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  And then I have the opportunity to come to him and bring him my burdens.
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  To exercise my faith. Not to go to some psychiatrist or not to go to some self-help book.
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  Not to go to my own knowledge. Not to do what I think is right.
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  But I can exercise my faith and go to him because I know he's God.
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  And I know he has plans for me, to prosper me, to give me a hope.
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  And I know he knows the way. And so I'll come to him and I say,
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  God, and I lay my burdens on him.
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  But you know, he also wants to have a relationship with us that just isn't crisis bound.
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  He doesn't want to just continually put fires out in our life.
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  He wants us to come to him and say, hey, God, this is this morning.
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  And I have a whole day ahead of me. Hey, what do you want me to do?
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  This is your day. This is your life. Take me and use me as you'd see fit.
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  And then he says that he'll reward those that diligently seek him.
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  You see, he's not lost. So many people say, I found God.
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  God isn't lost. We are. We need to exercise our faith and let our eyes see who he is for who he is.
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  And when we diligently seek him, he will truly reward us.
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  And part of that reward is a relationship with him. And part of that reward is a friendship.
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  And much of that reward are blessings untold.
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  You see, he says, if we ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find,
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  knock and it shall be opened unto you. That's in Matthew 7, 7.
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  That entire activity, asking, seeking, and knocking, all is driven by faith.
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  And I want you to think right now, this very moment.
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  Do you know him as personal savior? and have you placed your faith in him to
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  lead this life in addition to leading you into the next?
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you. You are loved.