Latest / Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st / Heart Check

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Heart Check · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

0:09
Say that again. Good morning.
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My name is Jason Moore. I'm the student pastor here.
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If you're visiting with us here in person or online, our pastor,
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Kyle Walker, he is leading a revival down in Carrollton this
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week. So he's preaching this morning
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and tonight and the next three nights.
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I believe so if y'all could be praying for Kyle, he would much
0:30
appreciate it and and we look forward to him coming back next
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week. This morning we get a chance as
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I was speaking to get a chance to highlight a few of my
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students. So during prayer time and I was
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super excited for our three that came up and did the welcome.
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When you say, hey, I need some volunteers to to do the welcome
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in front of everyone. You don't expect 3 introverts to
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say, yeah, I want to do that. And I was so pumped.
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So thank you all so much for doing that.
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That that was that was exciting. So and then, yeah, give my hand.
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And so my friend Sam James is going to read our passage that
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we're going, we're continuing in first John, we're in chapter 3.
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We start in verse 19. So if you want to find that in
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your in your in your copy of God's word.
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And then Sam is this is this is Stephen, this is Pastor
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Stephen's son. Sam is going to read our passage
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for us this morning. So go ahead, Sam.
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First, John 319 through 24 says, By this we shall know that we
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are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him.
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For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our
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heart, and He knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not
1:48
condemn us, we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask
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we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do
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what pleases Him. And this is His commandment,
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that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love
2:02
one another just as He has commanded us.
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Whoever keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in him,
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and by this we know that He abides in us by the Spirit whom
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He has given us. Awesome.
2:17
Thank you so much, Sam. So just a little trivia
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knowledge for y'all. Sam feels called to the ministry
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and oh, that's yours. I'm sorry.
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Yeah, take yours. And so Sam, Phil's called to the
2:29
ministry and so he's a senior this year and he is, they're
2:32
figuring out exactly where he's going to land for college.
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But y'all can be praying for him and all that God has in store
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for him. I'm sure that deep voice he has,
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it's going to be it's going to be resonating and doing some
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awesome things for the Kingdom. So excited to see what's coming
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there. So there's a, if you were paying
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attention, I hope you were. There's a lot of heart talk in
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that passage. And so we're going to talk this,
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I'm titled this sermon Heart Check, which really goes along
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with our theme for first John. And I want to start with telling
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you about a movie. So in the, in the 90s, in the
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early 90s, a cinematic wonder piece was, was launched and, and
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it's a, it's a juggernaut in the film industry, one of the ones
3:16
that I've seen many times. In fact, when I was a teacher, I
3:19
would find excuses to play this movie in my classroom and we'd,
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we'd probably watch, I'd probably watch it 6-7 times a
3:25
year. So the, the movie has this one
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scene though, where what he's not the main character, but he
3:33
might as well because it's kind of his story.
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He is in a pickle and he's really struggling with something
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and he has a dream and Babe Ruth comes and visits him in his room
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and he basically says because this is it's a Sandlot because
3:49
that's the that's the movie. So Benny the jet Rodriguez is
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having this dream and because him and his buddies have messed
3:56
up with some baseball shenanigans and he has a stream
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that Babe Ruth comes and visits him, the great Bambino, the king
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of Crash and his dream and tells him what to do.
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And he he wraps up with this tagline.
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Follow your heart, kid, and you'll never go wrong.
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Don't that sound good? And then they did the whole
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thing with the dog. And if you've seen the movie,
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you know what's going on. If you haven't seen the movie,
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it's a good one. So this this the sentiment of
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follow your heart and you'll never go wrong.
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We hear that so much. And and I know when you hear a
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preacher say something like this in church, you may roll your
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eyes like, yeah, I've heard this before, but it's true.
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We just we hear this. We are inundated with this.
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If every children's show and children's movie just about will
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say that at some point, sometimes advice that were given
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to our kids, just follow your heart.
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Just follow your heart. It won't steer you wrong.
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And that sounds so good. And then I was like, yeah, I
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want to do that. That sounds really good.
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Then I read Jeremiah, Jeremiah 17 nine says the heart is
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deceitful above all things. Desperately sick.
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Who can understand it? Well, let goes all in Babe
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Ruth's face, doesn't it? Right there.
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I mean, good grief, what? And you know, the Bible is
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actually the one I should listen to.
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It is tricky. The heart of man.
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We are fickle. We change.
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Our heart is it goes with the whims and flows of society.
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If you don't believe me, let me tell you about the walls I've
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lived through. I've lived through wood paneling
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and I've lived through wallpaper and I've lived through faux
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painting and I've lived through all different types of taupe,
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whatever that is. So like our, and you know, when
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those times came to redecorate the house, your heart was set on
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that. And then it changes and you're
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like, I can't stand these walls anymore.
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Some of you may have just elbowed someone.
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I'm sorry if, if that was you, but our heart can be fickle and
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it can be very selfish. Like God said through Jeremiah,
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it can be deceitful, desperately sick.
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And so we need to do a heart check today because our our sick
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heart, a sick heart can really, really hinder our, our
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involvement with Christ, our growth as a believer, our our
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punch in this whole world, like the impact that we have here.
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And so we want to look at what the scripture says here.
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It begins with, by this we shall know.
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And we have to figure out what by this is.
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And, and one of the you can look at it both ways.
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You can look backwards and see that by this is referring to the
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passage before Kyle talked last week about the one word that
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defines a Christian. That word is what you might
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remember love very good. He'll be glad to know so that
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one word that defines Christians is love and we are supposed to
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be loving one another. It should be a characteristic of
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all that we do and and so by this and it wraps up that
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section wraps up by this little children.
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Let us not love and word or talk, but in deed and truth.
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And so there's action to our our love.
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There is truth to our love it there's an integrity to it.
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So by this we know that we are of the truth, but also by this
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to look forward at, at this heart issue that's going on
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here. So it says again, by this we
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shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts
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before him for whenever your heart, our heart condemns us.
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God is greater than our heart and he knows everything.
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Often times we can have some heart issues that go on.
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I've seen, you've probably know many people who have had had to
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deal with things regarding their heart.
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Maybe they've had to wear a little friend, a little heart
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monitor for a few weeks to see what was going on with their
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heart. Maybe they were getting short of
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breath when they shouldn't be. Maybe they were just kind of out
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of shape and their heart would race way often too often than it
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should. Something like that.
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When our heart, when our heart is in trouble, the rest of us
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are too. The rest of who we are gets in
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trouble too. And so I want to look at some
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conditions that we may have to we, we, we go through just to
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check them out. So let's do a heart check.
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We're here real here. If you're having chest pains, a
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spiritual in a spiritual sense, if you're having a physical
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chest pain, then you need to get that dealt with right now.
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Not me, not, not, not with with what I'm going to give you here.
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But if you're having spiritual chest pains, then we need to, we
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need to correct and deal with that right now because it's,
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it's, it is urgent. And so the first thing I want to
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talk about is a heart that's heavy, a heavy hearted person,
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11, who has a weight on their heart and this weight maybe look
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like this. Maybe you're a believer, you
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know, Christ as Lord and Savior, you're confident in that
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relationship. But you, you are burdened with
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sin. God has, has, has revealed sin
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in your life. You, it may even be habitual.
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You have a sin that you just keep going back to, and the
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shame and the guilt of that, it's sitting heavy on your
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heart. And while that's there, it has
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your attention and you feel ineffective.
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You feel like I can't because of this.
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I can't because this is pressing on me.
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Or it may be even a sin from the past.
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It may be I can't because I used to be this way.
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Well, let me remind you that there's power in the blood.
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And if you are a believer, then Christ's blood has washed away
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all of your sins. And I love to explain this
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because even adults sometimes get hung up on this.
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Oftentimes when we come to Christ, maybe you were a child,
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maybe you're a teenager, maybe you're in your 20s, maybe it was
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yesterday, I don't know. But whenever we come to Christ,
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oftentimes we think, Lord Jesus, please forgive me of my sin.
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And we think that like all the sins from birth till now, that's
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kind of oftentimes how we're approaching this.
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That's the ones you're aware of. And you're like, God, please
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forgive me my sins. And he does.
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He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins, He
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removes it far from you. But you got to understand.
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He's like, yeah, you're asking me something that you don't know
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what you're asking me. You're thinking it's just to
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hear. But I see all of it.
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Like from now until you die too. I know I am aware of the sins
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that will come after this moment.
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And I am forgiving you of all of it.
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It is an awesome deal. Like God, Jesus, like I hear
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your terms. I'm going to one up you and and
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I'm going to give you something even greater.
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So when he, he gives us salvation, we are saved from
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sin, period. All of them.
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And so now we have this flesh, this old self that keeps rising
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up and ramping up. And we have these tendencies to
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fall back into bad habits. And Jesus was aware of that.
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So what we have to do as believers is to confess.
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We have to go to Christ. We have to confess even we, we
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go to him, we ask him, we repent, we ask him for
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forgiveness. And he's like, yeah, all you did
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was just like, I'm, I'm just wiping it clean again.
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Like there's you're, you're good.
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I'm just going to wipe the surface off again.
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You're just seeing the surface. I'm seeing what's inside and
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inside you're beautiful. You're forgiven, You're pure.
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Let me wipe that off. You come to me asking for
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forgiveness. You come to me for repentance
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again. Let let's, let's get that out of
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here. Let's remove that weight.
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Let's lighten your load. Know that you are forgiven.
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Know that you are are are empowered to move beyond those
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sins and that weight. And so he does.
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We confess to him. James tells us and returns us to
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confess to one another says, therefore confess your sins to
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one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.
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And so we want we want this weight of sin gone, this heavy
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heartedness, then turn to Jesus heavy heartedness.
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Help get a brother or sister to help you confess.
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This is what's going on. I need some accountability in
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this. I don't want to be weighed down
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by this anymore. I want to be free to move and
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not think about this weight again.
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And so if you're heavy hearted, then then you should repent.
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You should come and confess and and be be removed from that
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again and free and accept the freedom that God has given you.
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Or perhaps you're half hearted someone who's half hearted as
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someone who they've been doing OK for a while.
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Maybe you're a believer. You've been a believer for a
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while. You've done things like you've
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been in church, you've been a participant in things, you've
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LED in things. Leaders get get half hearted in
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this too, but you get to a point that at some point you start
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thinking, is it worth it? Am I making a difference?
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Is, is, is anything that I've done having any kind of impact?
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And so you get to this point where you really start losing
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the vision. You start getting disillusioned
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of the mission that God has given you the the passion he has
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given you. And it starts to wane because
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you really just start where I'm not seeing the connection here.
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And what happens when we get that way is that we start, we
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take our eyes off Christ and we start looking at us, We start
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kind of having a little bit of a pity party.
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And like, well, I've done so much this way.
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And they still, I mean, I, I prepare and I teach and, and,
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and I, I listen to the things that, that they're saying and,
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and I bring food to them. And middle schoolers still make
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fun of me and they still call me bald and they still do all this
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stuff to me all the time. And so, I mean, it's easy to get
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in that trap, right? It can get it can get to where
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we, we are very disillusioned and our our efforts, our our
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ability to really be impactful as Kingdom workers, as as fellow
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missionaries for the gospel and as fellow bodies of members of
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the body of Christ. It just becomes half hearted,
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less effective because we're really focusing ourselves.
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We're focused on what our feelings are.
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We're focusing on, on what's going on with just me.
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And we lose focus on that. That is Christ.
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And so Jesus know that this was going to happen.
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And when we're asking questions of does it matter?
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What can I do? And Jesus is like, yeah, it does
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matter. And So what he says is to not
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grow weary and doing good. We find this in Galatians.
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It says don't grow weary and doing good, but keep it up.
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And so then it says, and let us not grow weary for doing good,
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for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.
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So if you are doing a heart check, if you're heavy hearted,
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then you need to ask for forgiveness and confess sin.
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If you're half hearted, then you need to really confess the sin
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of selfishness. And just don't be weary.
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Like find someone else that's in in the same service as you.
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Find someone else that's in in the walk with Christ as you
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build each other up. Encourage one another.
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If you're encouraging someone else, most likely you're going
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to start getting the encouragement you need.
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Ask God. I think this is OK Ask God for a
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God wink. Ask God every now and then say
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God is it. If it's if it would be your
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will. I would love to see some fruit
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from this. I don't think that's that's
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still looking at him. That's still talking to him
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first and that's still giving him the option because sometimes
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we do and sometimes we don't. Jeremiah another, another
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reference to him. He had a very successful
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ministry that we know of. But in his day and age, he was a
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failure. No converts, no one listened to
15:32
him. They, in fact, they threw him in
15:34
a in a mud hole and left him there hoping he'd die.
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I mean, he, he would have seen as a failure.
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And yet we know that he was a great success for the Lord and a
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champion for the Lord. So ask God to be involved, look
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to him, not yourself. Remember why you started serving
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to begin with. Remember why you started
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following the Lord to begin with.
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Remember why you sought him out in quiet times.
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Why you why you pray Remember that it's he is the reason and
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not you. And it will it will lighten your
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heart and you will not grow weary and doing those good
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things now. So if we're heavy hearted, we
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need to confess. If we're, if we're half hearted,
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we just need to reengage and not grow grow weary to, to get
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pumped up for, for the service the Lord has for us.
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Well, what if we're heart aching?
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What if we have a heartache now a heartache is someone who
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perhaps you've done well, yet it seems to all go back in your
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face again, a reference to Jeremiah, someone who was doing
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exactly what God wanted them to do.
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But the the reaction was not a great revival.
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The reaction was not aha moments from people.
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The reaction was like, what are you talking about?
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Mockery, things like this. You know, I realized that when I
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asked my teenagers to be a witness in their schools and I
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asked them to show the light of Christ in the hallways, in the
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classrooms of their schools. I know that they are, and they
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know that there are some people who would be against that.
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There are people who would irrationally or try to be
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rational, speak against their faith, try to squash them.
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Sometimes that's other students, sometimes it's adults.
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But there are people in their lives that would try to dissuade
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them from living the life that the Lord has for them.
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You and your workplaces, you and your, sometimes even in your
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family circles, there are people that if you are shining the
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light of Price, then then there's going to be an attack
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come your way. And it hurts like you know
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you're doing the right thing. You know, you're all in, you
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know, you're engaged and yet still there's some hurt that
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comes that way. And it it will, it will happen.
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And but God does not want us to not be discouraged by that.
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He doesn't want us to stop doing good.
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There are times and seasons where there's a there's a plan
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and it involves some kickback. And he said, look, when those
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people, when there, when there's heartache from other people and
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what they've said and their words sing, then love them.
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I mean, Jesus said, love your enemy.
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He's definitely going to say to to love those who you're
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serving. And this whole book is about
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love one another, love one another.
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Love is mentioned over and over and over again in first John and
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it is and it is mentioned in a way of command.
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Often, even in this passage we're looking at, we're reminded
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again, it is a command to love. And so Jesus is like, Yep, that
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happened to love them. Don't talk about them.
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Don't be passive aggressive on Facebook saying what you what
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you wish had happened. Don't don't just ignore them.
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Like love them. Well, how do I do that?
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That doesn't seem fair. It doesn't feel good right now.
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It it doesn't. But this is one of those passes.
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It tells us, tells us that if we were practicing love, stuff
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starts to happen. Like there is a growing
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confidence that comes in practicing love.
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First Corinthians 13 reminds us how to do that.
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Love is patient. Love is kind.
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That's that first one. There are times that you just
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have to be patient with people. They're not where you want them
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to be yet. And it may take a while, but be
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patient with them and continue to love.
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Love is patient. Love is kind.
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Love does not envy your bows. It does not arrogant or rude.
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It does not insist on its own way.
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It is not irritable or resentful.
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It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with
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the truth. Love bears all things, believes
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all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
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Love never ends. And so when you're experiencing
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heartache in this heart check and you feel like you're just
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stuck, then, then just love them.
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I know that sounds easy to say, but you trust the Lord God, How
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can I be patient with them? How, how do I be kind to them?
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What is something I can do to show kindness to them?
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Lord, I don't want to be irritable with them.
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Lord, I want to be better. I want to be, I want to treat
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them the way you see them and treat them.
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I, I want to embrace them the way you would.
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And so he will, he will guide you and, and strengthen you for
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that. And then there's another,
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there's heartbroken and heartbroken is, is a hard one.
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That is where there's been loss. That is where there has been a
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great bill deal of sorrow. Something has been removed from
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your life, something that, that your heart was very attached to
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and, and it's been broken. And I, I, I, I understood this
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when, when my daughter passed away, that's the first time I
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understood heartbreaking. I I I I had experienced ache.
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I'd experienced heavy hearted, I'd expense experience some some
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of these other things, but heartbroken.
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That's when you just don't know if things will ever be right
20:37
again. And I love that the Lord loves
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us. And there's a one, one verse
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that has helped me and I hope will help many of you if you're
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ever in that spot, as the Lord is near to the broken hearted
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and saves the crust and spirit. God has not given up on you.
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And you can hand him that broken heart as many times as you need
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to and he will fix it. Just keep handing it to him.
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Do not hold that hold the pieces and and be still with it.
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Just keep handing it to him. And every time he fixes it,
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you'll gain a little bit more strength.
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You'll give me a little bit better for it.
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So do a heart check. How are you right now?
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What does it look like in your life?
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Because this is this is, this is what it may look like.
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Often times if we're sick, we may not know we're sick.
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And what happens is we sit in it.
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And if you sit in the sick, then you're stuck.
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So check yourself right now. Is there a sin that is weighing
21:43
you down that is telling you, you're telling yourself, I'm not
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capable of doing what God wants me to do because I did this or
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I'm in the middle of this. If it's something you're in the
21:51
middle of, repent, confess, move on.
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If it's something that God's already forgiven you about
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something that you already gave to him, then then don't let
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Satan keep bringing that up. You are you are the victory in
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this situation. Now you have victory over it.
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Walk that way, but do not let your heart be heavy.
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If you are, if you are a heavy hearted, I mean, if you are have
22:13
half hearted, I mean, then and and you're just like it doesn't
22:17
matter anymore. Well, pep up buddy, like it's
22:21
OK, Get back in the game. You know, you, you started this,
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you started following the Lord for the right reasons.
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Remember those reasons. Come back to Christ.
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Come back to the to the bare essentials, back to
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fundamentals. That's what we always hear
22:33
around sports and activities. Come back to the fundamentals of
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what it means to be a follower of Christ and keep going.
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You've got this. Put your whole heart back into
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it again and see what God does. If your heart aching, then love
22:45
the people who who threw those darts at you.
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Love the people who were throwing those stones at you.
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Keep stay in there and show love.
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And it's going to drive them nuts because that is not the
22:54
reaction that they're expecting. And you were going to see some
22:56
awesome fruit from that. And if you are heartbroken, then
22:59
continue to hand that heart to the Lord.
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He is there to heal and to save you.
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You are not you are not at the end of your life and he is He is
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there to repair and keep you moving on now so if we have our
23:14
heart fixed, which is really the point of this whole passage.
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Let's look at the the word again beloved, if our heart this is
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verse 21 if our heart does not condemn us.
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So if we're if our hearts good and we're and we're in this with
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the Lord, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence
23:32
before God. This changes things like I can
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come to God knowing that he is here, knowing that he is hearing
23:38
me. I am actively involved in the
23:40
deeds and truths that show love that God has led me to do.
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If we come to the Lord with confidence, then that changes
23:47
the whole ball game when we come to the Lord with confidence.
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One of the things that, and it's like I put in your in your
23:52
program, that's like cardio. It's healthy for your heart.
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It's something to get your heart stronger and stronger.
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And one of the things you do is you pray.
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Like if you are confident in in your ability to approach God,
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then you will approach God and you will pray.
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And we want prayers that are potent.
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We want prayers that have punched that, that that move and
24:11
do things. And in order to do that, we have
24:13
to pray. William Faulkner is a author,
24:16
and one of the things he's quoted as saying is that read
24:20
everything. He was encouraging about
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children reading, like read everything, read junk, read good
24:24
things, but read everything. And his, his point was to to get
24:28
them reading and things like this.
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When it comes to prayer, especially with kids, I'm like,
24:32
pray, pray about whatever comes to mind.
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Just pray. Even even if it's simple
24:37
prayers, even if it's prayers that are just just an exercise,
24:40
What you're doing is you're exercising faith.
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And so just pray. And, but as you grow in your, in
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your walk with Christ, and as you mature in your walk with
24:47
Christ, as that heart gets healthier and as you're praying
24:50
more and more and more, that heart is getting stronger and
24:52
stronger. And your prayers not weighed
24:54
down by, by, by heart issues, those prayers driven by a
24:58
healthy heart that's growing in its faith and understanding with
25:00
Christ become potent, They become powerful.
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And so don't, if you're a sick heart, don't, don't sit in the
25:07
sick or you'll be stuck, but move, get moving with the Lord.
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And one of the ways you move is to pray.
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How is your prayer life? We are praying more at our
25:17
church now than we did when I first got here and I love it.
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And tonight we're going to pray some more.
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How many of you are like, yes, let's pray together.
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How many of you are like, Nah, I'm not coming that like, I
25:28
don't want to pray. Like where is prayer in your
25:31
life? Are you exercising this amazing
25:35
privilege we have? Because it's a privilege that we
25:37
get to come to God's presence and he hears us.
25:41
Are you exercising this privilege?
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If your heart is healthy when you come to him and you are
25:46
following the command to love, your prayer is becoming more and
25:50
more powerful. Your prayer is the kind of
25:53
prayer that you're not wondering if it's just bouncing off the
25:55
ceiling. You know you have an audience
25:57
with your Creator. You know you have an audience
25:59
with your Savior and you know that this conversation is not
26:01
futile. This conversation is not a waste
26:04
of time. This conversation is something
26:05
that I have to I've got to go God like I got to.
26:09
We'll keep talking in the car like this is something that you
26:11
want to stay engaged in throughout your day.
26:13
In fact, we're supposed to do that.
26:15
Thessalonians says that we're supposed to pray without
26:17
ceasing. This conversation with the Lord
26:19
should always be happening. And there's a sometimes used to
26:22
be more more focused, but your prayers will be more powerful
26:26
when your heart is good and you know your heart's good before
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the Lord. You will feel empowered and
26:31
confident to approach him and in that you will feel power and
26:35
confident to approach what he has for you as you move forward
26:38
because your prayers are potent and have impact.
26:43
The other part of this cardio is to to is to in practicing your
26:47
faith is is to be a a champion Lord.
26:50
Lord wants us to, to champion his causes to champion what he
26:54
has for us. And what he has for us is to is
26:57
to champion this love for one another.
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Like to show the world that there's a group of people that
27:04
come from all walks of life that God brings together and it
27:08
becomes this family that's amazing.
27:09
And we're in and we're accepting applications.
27:12
We're accepting other people to come in.
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We want people to come and know our Savior.
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We want people to be a part of who we are.
27:18
And we we practice and live out our faith by following his
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commandment. And that commandment again is
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given to us here. And this is the commandment,
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verse 23 that we believe in the name of of his Son Jesus Christ
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and love one another as he has commanded us.
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And so as we believe in the Lord, believing in the in the
27:42
Lord Jesus Christ that is accepting all of who he is.
27:46
That is knowing that he is not some Jesus that I get control
27:49
over. He is not some Jesus that I get
27:50
control. He is not like, OK, Lord, please
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do this for me. This Jesus that we we call on
27:57
to, to just satisfy needs and things like this.
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This is the Lord. This is the Lord we stand in awe
28:03
of. This is the Lord that we sing
28:04
and know that all of glory worships and adores and we
28:08
believe in the name of Jesus Christ and we get to approach
28:12
his throne. Our prayers are powerful. 11
28:16
scholar said it this way about prayer and approaching God so on
28:21
believing in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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He said not because keeping his commandments earns answers to
28:26
prayer, but because prayer is designed to give power in the
28:28
path of obedience. Prayer is God's way of making
28:31
Himself available for us when we are pouring ourselves out in
28:34
love for others. Prayer is the power to love.
28:40
Therefore we do not aim to love. If we do not aim to love, we
28:44
pray in vain. Prayer is not designed to
28:48
compound hoarded pleasures, and so we were supposed to have
28:54
potent prayer that reflects our practicing faith.
28:57
That practicing faith is is trusting and knowing that the
29:00
Lord Jesus is who he is the Son of God.
29:03
We're supposed to live victoriously as champion,
29:05
championing the idea of loving one another, championing the
29:08
idea that God is here to to raise us up as a people to do
29:12
mighty, mighty things. You see, John is talking to a
29:14
people who were desperate for some encouragement, who were
29:17
desperate to know that God was still with them because their
29:20
lives have been turned upside down because of things that the
29:23
government had done, because of things within the church, people
29:25
backbiting and and false teachers.
29:27
There have been a lot of attacks on these people and John is
29:30
coming in and he is loving. They say you can, We know that
29:33
you were gods because of all these tests.
29:34
And one of these tests is, are you practicing the faith?
29:39
Are you practicing potent prayer?
29:42
Are you lifting up things to Lord?
29:44
Are you aiming at love when you pray or are you just trying to
29:48
get stuff from God? You see, recognizing Jesus
29:51
Christ, then we follow His commandments and when we follow
29:54
His commandments and that is important to us, our prayer
29:57
requests will be on track with what He is all about.
30:00
And he is going to be granting those prayer requests because we
30:02
are, we are praying about the exact same thing that he's
30:04
thinking about. We are praying about the exact
30:07
same thing that he is wanting us to be all about.
30:09
South for your cardio, pray, see Jesus for who he is, the Lord of
30:16
all and talk to him. Aim at love for one another.
30:22
Pray about what it means to follow the commandment, to love
30:24
one another and see what he does with that.
30:29
And then he, he wraps up with more confidence for us about
30:33
abiding as, as whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and
30:37
God in him. And by this we know that he
30:39
abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us.
30:42
This is the first time in this letter that John explicitly
30:45
mentions the Holy Spirit. And so I think it's really a
30:49
great time. Now this is John who told us
30:51
some characteristics of the Spirit that he's the helper,
30:53
he's the comforter, he's there. He he he was the one coming that
30:57
got that Jesus was sending in his absence.
30:59
And so the the Holy Spirit, God living within us.
31:02
This is something that John definitely is is aware of and
31:05
knows and this is the first time he's mentioning it and I think
31:07
it's awesome. And he's like, you know what do
31:10
the things God has you for you to do work that love.
31:13
There should be a working of this.
31:14
There should be a following commandment.
31:15
There should be an exercise going on like I God told me to
31:18
love others. God help me to love others and
31:22
then do it. That is the truth and that is
31:24
the deeds. That is the working out.
31:25
And the more you do that, the more confident you are of the
31:28
presence of God working in your life.
31:30
You're all of a sudden you're like, I'm not the person I was a
31:32
while ago. I am not the person who was
31:35
stuck woe was me. I'm not the person who was
31:38
blaming past sins. I'm not the person who was was
31:41
blaming others for not being. I am just following the Lord.
31:45
I'm seeking him out. Stuff happens, but you know
31:47
what, He's still in charge. I know I'm aiming at love.
31:49
I'm asking him to help me love and he's doing it.
31:52
I have affection for people that I would not have before.
31:55
I have affections for people that that it doesn't matter what
31:58
they do. I'm committed to love them
32:00
because God has given me this and you start seeing the power
32:04
of the Spirit working through your life and you were amazed.
32:06
You're not, it's not a brag on yourself thing.
32:08
You were like, wow, God, I didn't know that could come out
32:11
of my mouth. God, I did not know I could be
32:14
that loving. I did not know I could have this
32:16
much joy no matter the circumstances.
32:18
I did not know that peace was something that I can embrace
32:21
despite the circumstances of life.
32:23
God, I did not know this. And it's all the fruit of the
32:25
Spirit coming out because you are committed to see in Christ
32:30
who He is, checking your heart, making sure you're not sitting
32:33
in the sick and you're moving. There's a progression, there's a
32:36
movement to it, and you are loving His people and it's
32:41
awesome. By this, you know that you abide
32:45
in us. So if you go in the sun,
32:49
summer's waning and it's gone now it's actually falling out.
32:53
But if you go into the sun and you stand there in the sun, the
32:58
light is there, but and by the light you can move and see and
33:03
do a lot of things, but also the warmth is there.
33:09
If you stand and bask in the sun, you can feel the warmth
33:12
hitting you. Often times as Christians, what
33:16
we do, we know that we're supposed to shine the light of
33:19
love, that God has given us a commandment to love one another.
33:23
And, and, and, and in that there's this effectual light
33:27
that happens that the world sees like what is going on with those
33:30
people that have such affection for one another.
33:33
They come from all walks of life.
33:34
There's teenagers and there's, and there's professionals and
33:38
there's, there's all these different walks of life
33:41
intermingled together and they love one another.
33:43
What is that? It shines the light of love.
33:48
And with that, it really highlights Christ, but as as an
33:51
individual, if we're in the light, we're feet, we're we're
33:55
seeing the light, we're experiencing the light, we're
33:57
feeling the warmth of it. That would be the kind of like
34:00
the spirit just warming us in the sunlight.
34:04
But if we get out of the light, if we, if we take a break, if
34:09
we, you know, take it, take some time off, not be as engaged as
34:14
as we start looking at more excuses like, well, I don't have
34:19
to show love to everyone all the time.
34:21
I mean, that's a Sunday thing, maybe a Wednesday thing.
34:23
Or if I go on a church trip, then I need to be up my game
34:26
there, something like that. And we start making excuses for
34:29
not following the command to love.
34:30
We start making excuses for, for, for.
34:33
Well, what we're doing is we're starting to go back to sit in
34:35
the sick and we're going to find ourselves stuck in what we step
34:38
out of the light and for a little bit we still feel the
34:41
warmth that was there, but we get cold real quick.
34:47
We get cold real quick and we know about the light and we can
34:49
even see what's going on in the light, but we have abandoned we
34:53
have abandoned our part in it. What's cool is that God's like
34:57
just come back. Just come right back.
35:01
Come right back and and get back involved.
35:05
Don't be hard hearted over and over again.
35:08
The Bible warns against the hard heartedness.
35:10
Hard A hard heart is one that that is rejected the Lord A hard
35:15
heart is one who has turned everything off to God.
35:18
They've stopped seeking It's it's it's stone dead and Jesus
35:24
is like don't get there. Stay with me.
35:27
Check your heart. Are you heavy hearted?
35:31
Are you half hearted? Are you heart aching?
35:34
Are you heartbroken? Don't be hard hearted.
35:37
Turn to the Lord and see what he has for you.
35:41
I'm going to here's our invitation today.
35:47
Perhaps you have a dead heart in a way that you've never known
35:51
the Lord so spiritually, there's no vitality there at all.
35:55
You you don't have a relationship with Christ and but
35:59
he wants the relationship with you.
36:01
Today's your your time to come and have a relationship with
36:03
him. And that the way you do that is
36:04
you just ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins, be your Lord
36:07
forever and commit your life to him.
36:09
It's a free, it's a free prayer with a forever salvation.
36:14
I invite you to do that. Perhaps you need to do a heart
36:17
check if if any of those things hits you, but that's where you
36:20
are, then I would ask you to take the steps necessary to
36:23
repent and get back on track with the Lord.
36:25
Will you stand as we worship and pray?
36:28
God, we love you. Thank you so much for today.
36:31
Lord, check our hearts. Help them to beat for you.
36:36
I pray God that we do not sit in the sick and stay stuck.
36:41
The God that you will heal our hearts and help us to move and
36:45
have our being in you. God, if there's anyone here who
36:48
needs to to deal with you Lord, that needs their heart
36:51
corrected, who needs to find salvation for the first time.
36:54
Lord, I pray you'll convict them and that they will do their do
36:57
business with you and we will celebrate with them.
36:59
We love you in Jesus name, Amen.