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Transcript

Getting Rid of the Source · Travel With A Purpose

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, fellow co-journers.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dave Light, and welcome to Travel with a Purpose, a podcast designed to keep co-journers and friends informed, entertained, and inspired.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: One of the lessons we've learned over the years is that sometimes we spend a lot of time treating the symptoms of a problem instead of finding its source.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: During February 2021, East Texas and Camp B were hit by a powerful winter storm.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: We received several inches of snow, followed by days of freezing temperature.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And like many people, we thought we had weathered the storm pretty well.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Then we discovered water one morning throughout the entire sojourner office.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: What a mess.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: In places that water was over an inch deep.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: We opened the door and water ran out.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well what happened was one of the water pipes in the office had frozen.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It burst and sent water across the building.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: We'd grabbed mops, buckets, and towels and began cleaning up the mess.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: We'd mop up water only to watch more appear.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: No matter how hard we worked and we were working hard.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: The office stayed flooded.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well finally, we traced the water back to the source.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: We found a broken pipe, and we repaired it.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And only then could we begin cleaning up the damage.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Once the source was removed, the problem could finally be solved.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: That experience reminds me of something much more important in our spiritual lives.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: We often spend our energies trying to change our actions while overlooking the attitudes that produce them.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: We fight angry words while allowing bitterness to remain.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We struggle with selfish behavior while holding on to pride.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: We try to stop complaining without cultivating gratitude.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're busy mopping the floor while the broken pipe is still pouring water into the house.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well Jesus taught us that the source is the heart.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to his words in Matthew chapter 15, verse 19.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: The outward actions began long before anyone else sees them.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: They begin within.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: He said in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 31 and 32, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Notice that Paul doesn't simply tell us to speak or act differently.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: He tells us to become different people, replace bitterness with kindness, replace anger with compassion, replace malice with forgiveness.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And when the source changes, the fruit changes.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: As travelers, we know that preventive maintenance is always easier than repairing major damage later.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: We inspect tires before they fail, we service the engine before it breaks down, we repair a small leak before it becomes an expensive repair.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well our spiritual lives deserve the same attention.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of asking, How can I stop this behavior?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps we should ask what attitude is feeding it?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: When God transforms the heart, our actions begin to reflect his character.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: David understood this.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Remember when he prayed, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's part of Psalms chapter fifty one.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's verse ten.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't ask God to simply improve his behavior.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: He asked God to transform the source.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, as you travel this week, whether you're crossing the country or simply driving across town, remember the lesson from that broken water pipe it can't be.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Lasting solutions come when we address the source of the problem, not merely the symptoms.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for listening to this podcast.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: I invite you to subscribe and share it with others.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dave Leighton, and remember we glorify God as together we travel with a purpose.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Happy sojourning.