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576 | Denying Yourself · 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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  Are you carrying the burdens of your own life, or have you denied your own self
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  and picked up the cross that Christ has asked you to carry?
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  For in denying ourselves, did we find the key to truly finding Christ?
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  Join us in this program of Woman at the Well Ministries as we look to the scriptures
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  to see all that we gain when we lose our own lives for Christ's sake.
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  Hello, and welcome to this program of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  and just thanks for spending this time with us and having the heart to look
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  at His Word and see what He says to us in His Scriptures.
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  In this broadcast, we're going to be looking at Matthew 16, verses 24-27.
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  And this is a phrase that I think we
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  hear often in our lives about denying ourselves and taking up the cross.
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  However, I think that when it comes to applying it to our lives,
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  we sort of just gloss over it.
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  Because sometimes it's difficult to deny ourselves.
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  In fact, most often it is difficult to deny ourselves, our wants,
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  our desires, our wishes.
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  And that's the very first part of
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  living in the will of god is that we must
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  realize that what we want
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  what we desire what our
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  plans are unless they are centered in the
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  will of god unless they have been handed to us
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  by him are of no avail
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  we will never reach our fullest potential
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  until we allow god to take
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  full control of our lives and you
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  see there are many people within the sound of my voice that
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  the one thing that is keeping them from giving
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  their hearts to god is because they are afraid
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  that if they give their hearts to god then god
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  will take over their lives you see
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  the lord has great plans for us and
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  the devil has deceived us and try to make us believe that we the creation are
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  greater than the creator and this lord has said if you'll come follow me i have
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  plans for you to prosper you to give you hope and to give you a future.
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  But Satan has said, Oh, Kim, you don't need to bother God with that.
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  You don't need to talk to God about that.
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  He gave you a brain. He gave you intelligence. You can make that decision.
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  And the next thing I know, like Eve, I'm hanging out too long.
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  I'm lingering in the wrong place. And I'm having a conversation with the wrong person.
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  You see how weird that is? we won't
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  talk to god about the things that
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  take place in our lives about the things that
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  we need to make decisions about but we
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  will have long conversations with the devil because as
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  he's tempting us we sit there and let him do it instead
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  of saying resist the devil and he will flee from you instead of
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  saying say and get thee behind me instead of quoting quoting
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  scriptures that scare him to death we
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  say well yeah god has given me intelligence and he's got so much to do and yes
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  i can do this on my own and there we we have it the fall of our life as eve had the fall of man.
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  Because we are chatting with the wrong person. Why is that?
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  Because we get so puffed up in ourselves. We get so caught up with who we are.
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  And we get so determined to do the things that we want.
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  And you know what the fact of the matter is, my friend? We don't know what's best for us.
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  No more than you knew what was best for you when you were a little child.
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  There's a reason why he says we are the sons of God. there's
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  a reason why he says you are my children because he
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  is father god and he knows what's best and he understands all
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  that there is to know about what tomorrow holds and
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  more importantly he holds tomorrow and he is
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  wanting to carry you from
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  today through tomorrow in the best life you can
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  possibly have because he said i have come to give you
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  life and that you might have it more abundantly in john chapter
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  10 verse 10 and only when we're
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  following after him can we actually live the
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  fullest of lives but we can't get that through our six calls because we spent
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  too much time chatting with the wrong person you say kim i don't have any conversations
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  with the devil so this lesson isn't for me oh my friends i want you to just
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  take a little look in your head,
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  for just a moment and get out your little mental calculator and do some air
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  math as my friend says And I want you to tell me or tell yourselves,
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  how much time did you spend yesterday watching TV?
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  How much time of that time was spent listening to innuendos,
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  to hearing language that God doesn't approve,
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  to seeing things that you would never let anyone else do in your house,
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  but you invite them in every day through that little box that sits in your living
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  room and probably three or four other rooms of your house. Thank you.
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  How many times yesterday did God nudge your heart to do something and you thought
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  of 10 reasons why he couldn't do it?
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  How many times yesterday did he call upon you to read his word and you chose
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  to do something else instead?
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  You see, when we choose to do something, no matter what it is,
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  what we're saying is this is more important than something else.
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  When we say, I don't have time to read my Bible, But what we're saying is the
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  other 398 things we did that day was more important.
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  When we say we don't have time to pray, what we're saying is the other things
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  we did that day are more important.
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  And when it's all said and done, when we say we don't have time to spend with
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  you, we're saying that all the other things I do are more important.
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  And that's where it comes down to with our lives is that God gets shoved over
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  to the side with every decision.
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  He gets shoved over to the side with every desire and want till eventually he's
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  over here and we're far from him and we're walking away from him and we're doing
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  all the things that we want to do and we don't even hear the word of God anymore
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  because we've ignored it.
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  What we do hear is that voice within us that says, I've got to be the best.
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  That voice within us that says, I've got to have the most.
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  That voice within us that says, I am the best and I have the most.
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  And the next thing you know, you're living in self-sufficiency and you're headed for a fall.
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  The psalmist David says that pride goeth before a fall.
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  And it'll take you down faster than anything else because pride removes you from God.
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  Because when you are proud in your own right, you're not leaning on the everlasting arms of God.
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  And it all starts by not
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  being able to discipline yourself to the
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  point that you will deny the things that
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  are truly just what you want and pick
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  up the cross which is the path that god
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  wants for you he never promised that
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  your road would be easy he never promised that
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  your burden would be light what he did promise was
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  that he would go with you what he did promise was
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  that he would supply all of your needs what he did promise
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  was that in his strength you would overcome what
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  he did promise was that was greater is he that is in you
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  than he that is in the world what he did promise was is
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  that you would be victorious what he did promise was
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  that you would have power better than you could think more
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  than you could even ask if only we'd let his power flow through
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  you what he did promise was that he was
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  a rewarder of them that diligently seek him what
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  he did promise was that if you seek you will find what he
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  did promise was that you could ask and you would receive what he did promise
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  was is that you would knock and it would be open unto you what he did promise
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  was is that you could trade your burdens for his burdens and you could give
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  him the heavy ones and you could take the light ones what he did promise and
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  that he backed with his life was that you take up my cross.
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  And I will give you life eternal.
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  What he did promise was that you cannot give me. I will press it down,
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  I will pile it up, and I will give it to you more than you can even imagine.
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  But you must believe in him.
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  And not in yourselves. You see, he made it plain in Ephesians 2,
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  8, and 9 when he said, For by grace are you saved through faith,
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  and that not of yourselves.
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  It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
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  I, for one, am so excited that my salvation isn't about me.
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  Because one day I'm up, and one day I'm down. One day I'm good,
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  and one day I'm bad. One day I'm on it, one day I'm off it.
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  One day it makes sense, one day it doesn't. One day I'm strong, one day I'm weak.
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  And wouldn't I be in sorry shape if on the days I'm off would be the days the
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  devil was coming after me.
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  And the truth of the matter is, is the devil coming after me all the time.
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  So I'm glad it's not about me, but it's about him. And I'm glad I can close
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  my eyes and open my heart and God will defend.
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  And I'm so glad that I'm his child. So Jesus prays for me.
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  And I'm glad that he talks to God about me. And I hope he has lots of things to say.
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  You know, if I was, if God had a refrigerator, I'd be a picture on it.
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  And he would be saying things about, hey, that's my honor student.
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  Or hey, that's my kid. She's just done this. Or hey, that's my girl.
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  Have you seen her? You know, like we do our children.
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  You know, like we do the people that we love about. Find a grandmother and ask
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  her if she's got a picture of her grandkids and you've got another 20 minutes
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  to stand there and talk to them. Find a proud parent.
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  And look at their wallet. They've always got something to say.
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  And my Bible says that I am the child of God. And that God loves me.
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  And that Jesus prays for me. And that Jesus ever liveth to make intercession.
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  That means he's talking about me.
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  And he's interceding for me. In ways that I'll never know. And that he prays for me.
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  Jesus prays for me. And all he asks, said, I believe in him.
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  Matthew chapter 16, verses 24 through 27. Then said Jesus unto his disciple,
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  If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his
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  life for my sake shall find it.
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  For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
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  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? for
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  the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his
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  angels and then he shall reward every man according to
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  his works there's a payday coming there's a
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  payday coming and for those who
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  have walked true to god for those
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  who have denied their worldly wants
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  and i'm not saying that you can't have any of the pleasures of
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  this world i'm saying that they can't own you and that
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  they can't be where your heart is and i'm
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  saying that god and his will
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  and his way has to be preeminent and most important and
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  what i really want you to see in this passage of scripture is what is standing
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  between you and a personal relationship with god my friends i have a dear friend
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  and she's so afraid that she will have to yield to something.
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  And that she will no longer be commander-in-chief of her life,
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  that she won't give her heart over to God.
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  And there's no possible way that I can seem to make her understand that she's
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  not commander-in-chief of her life now.
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  She's been duped by the devil, and she's thinking that she is all that and a
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  bag of chips, and that she's completely able to guide her own footsteps,
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  and she's completely able to sustain everything she needs.
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  But the truth of the matter is everything she has is
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  a gift from god and the truth of the matter
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  is is that everything she's built and
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  put her faith and trust in is not only on sinking
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  sand it's a puff of air because
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  her strength could be gone in just a moment should her
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  health fail and her intelligence could be
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  gone in just a moment should she
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  have some sort of brain issue and her wealth can be gone just like this if the
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  stock market should happen to not go her way see there's no security in anything
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  that we do in ourselves because we don't have the ability to predict the future.
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  But we do have the opportunity to protect the future by placing it in the only hands who can hold it.
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  But instead, we grip so tight to our life. We grip so tight to our wants and our desires.
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  I recently spoke to somebody the other day that said, you know,
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  I love God, but I'm not willing to give up this relationship that I'm in. And it's not a godly one.
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  She's living with a man out of marriage. And she says, if I go to church and
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  if I become close to God, he may make me give up this relationship.
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  And I asked her, I said, do you ever think that if God ever got in the relationship,
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  how wonderful it might be?
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  Oh, but he won't let me live in sin anymore. I said, you won't need to.
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  His relationships are better than any that you could have. And if you turn your
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  lives over to god and you allow his love to flow between the two of you You
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  can't even imagine The joy And love that will bring,
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  But you see she's settling for less And she lives in false security,
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  But she's not willing to deny that worldly pleasure for a moment because she's
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  afraid she might lose it So basically what she's done is she's exchanged,
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  That simple worldly pleasure,
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  in exchange for hell i
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  spoke to someone else the other day who said
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  to me i know i'm going to hell but i like the life i'm living
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  and if i stop living the life i'm living then i won't have the fun i have here
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  anymore just saying that chills my soul and she's exchanging a few Two moments
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  of what she thinks is fun for a lifetime of hell.
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  Life is but a vapor, and she's miserable now. She can't sleep. She can't eat.
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  Nothing about her life is right. But in her mind, she thinks that's worth trading eternity for.
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  My friends, what are you exchanging for your soul?
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  There is nothing that can compare to the love of God and all those different
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  men that you're sifting through or all those extramarital affairs that you're
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  having, they're still not satisfying you or you wouldn't still be having them.
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  Those two or three extra drinks you take every day of alcohol that are numbing
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  you, they're not satisfying you or the next morning when you got up,
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  it wouldn't be what you were doing, seeking something else.
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  My friends, when I get up in the morning, I'm not seeking anything else.
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  The god that fills me with his love and
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  his grace and his glory is more than enough that's
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  joy unspeakable and full of glory it's a
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  peace that passeth all understanding and you say kim well your life is my life
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  isn't easy i have burdens and trials and chaos just like you but god is not
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  the author of confusion so when chaos fills my life i know that somebody's not in the right place,
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  When trials come my way, there are opportunities to see the glory of God shine.
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  Now, do I always take that attitude? No, because I'm very human.
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  And sometimes, just like each of you, I will just wallow in self-pity,
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  and I will take my eyes off of God. And when I do, I sink like Peter did in the storm.
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  But when I am looking straight at God, Thank you.
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  When I survey the wonders of the cross, when I see the suffering that he did just for me,
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  when in my infinite mind's eye, in my finite mind's eye, I see the infinite
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  pain and suffering that he endured because he loved me.
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  I often can't get past the cat of nine tails. There was a long whip of nine lashes.
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  And at the end was some sharp object that when it hit his skin, it pulled the flesh.
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  And he took that for me. And by those stripes, I'm healed, Isaiah says.
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  The sickness of sin
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  the death of sin has no more dominion
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  over me because i have been saved by his stripes and that blood that he shed
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  for me on calvary when he died and he rose again that bought my salvation so
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  it seems so trivial to say that the cross that i bear.
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  Is difficult the cross that
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  each of us must bear is the cross of calvary
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  and we bear it to the extent that we
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  claim to the world that jesus christ is lord
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  we don't bear it to the extent of death
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  for most of us we barely face ridicule
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  over being a christian yet we
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  are so timid in our faith most of
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  your friends know your political persuasion most of your
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  friends know which sports teams you love most of
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  your friends know the dream car you want few of
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  your friends know any of the attributes of the characteristics of the god that
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  dwells in you but you'll shout those other things to the top of the mountains
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  oh but i don't want to be offensive i don't want to talk about god it may turn
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  them off you don't care to tell them about what political persuasion you are
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  and people gets so mad about that.
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  And when it's all said and done, God places in the thrones of this world the people he wants there.
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  But you have the opportunity to display the God of the universe through your
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  every step, through taking your cross and glorifying God through everything that you do.
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  You have the opportunity to show someone else a better way.
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  You have the opportunity to let God be exalted in your life.
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  But instead you won't discipline yourself,
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  and you go for that short gain and we're gluttons on the world we're gut gluttons
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  with the world's sin and we just eat it up.
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  Until the world can't see any difference in us. But he said,
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  to deny yourself and take up your cross.
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  We need to deny the things in our lives that move us away from God.
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  And we need to deny self-will and say, not my will, Lord, but yours be done.
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  And you, my dear friends, need to determine what it is that you're exchanging for your soul.
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  Because he said, whosoever's name is not found written in the Lamb's book of
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  life shall be cast into hellfire. and that pleasure of sin for a season you're
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  paying for every day. Your life isn't happy.
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  You don't have peace. And you really don't know what joy is.
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  And you're gambling. Not today, Kim. Maybe tomorrow.
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  You're gambling that you have tomorrow, but you see the only person who knows
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  whether you have tomorrow or even the next breath isn't you, excuse me, or isn't me.
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  The only one who knows that is God. and you're playing Russian roulette with your life.
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  And not only are you playing Russian roulette about where you're going to spend
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  eternity, but each day that you put off living and working with him is a day
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  that you miss living in the blessings and fullness of God.
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  My friend, what is it that you will exchange for your soul?
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  What's worth going to hell for? The real answer is nothing. And the truth is hell is real.
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  And for those of you who know him, really, how beneficial is it living in your own strength?
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  You are frail and you are weak and you are nothing without him.
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  It's time that we deny ourselves and take up his cross. Thank you.
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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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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  website. Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  Remember that God loves you.