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542 | Carry the Light · 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 with us as we look
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  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Mary carried baby Jesus, who was the light of the world.
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  Therefore, Mary carried the light. She didn't fully comprehend that she was carrying the light.
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  Though she delivered him into the world and thereby brought light into the world,
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  Mary didn't fully understand that he would not only deliver her,
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  but that he would deliver the whole world.
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  Join us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim reveals what
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  the scriptures say regarding carrying the light.
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  Embrace your inner Mary and carry the light.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  What a glorious time of year it is as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
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  We look at the story of Jesus and his birth from many different angles,
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  but today I want you to think about it in terms of Mary and the fact that she was carrying the light.
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  You have to know that Mary knew that something incredible and special was growing inside of her.
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  The angel of the Lord had come and spoken to her about what was going to be.
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  And she knew that she had not known a man and yet she was conceived this child.
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  And she was approximately 15 years old. And at 15, we've got a lot of things going on in our mind.
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  And many of us can't even possibly comprehend what it would be like to be having a child at age 15.
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  But to honestly know that you are carrying the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
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  Perhaps at that time, all of that had not processed and been realized in her
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  mind. but she knew she was carrying the son of God, Emmanuel, Jesus.
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  And I wonder how long it took her to really fully realize that this baby she
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  was carrying was the light of life.
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  Because we are told in John 8, verse 12, these words.
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  Then Jesus spake again to them, saying, I am the light of the world.
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  He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
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  It's this verse I want you to use as your lens to view and process everything
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  hereafter that we talk about in here.
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  I want you to look through every other truth that we speak based on the fact
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  that Jesus is the light, and those that follow him, those that know him,
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  those that are born again, those that are saved,
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  they don't walk in darkness, but they walk in light.
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  And that light gives them life.
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  The gospel of Jesus is peace.
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  His law is love. And he is the light of life.
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  When you think about light, you know some things.
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  You know that light shows us the way.
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  And this baby that Mary was carrying, It was showing us the way from here to there.
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  It was showing us how we would get from a sinful, wicked, fleshly world to a
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  heavenly, pure, holy home.
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  Where Jesus is the light and there's no darkness at all.
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  Jesus is the light and Mary carried the light, but we too carry the light.
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  And we must carry it purposely and consciously.
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  Daily we must take up our cross and follow the Lord, because he is the way, the truth, and the life.
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  And no man cometh unto the Father but by him.
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  So Mary, as she carries this babe,
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  She's carrying the light. And I submit to you, too, that each and every one
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  of us who have received the free gift of salvation,
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  by His grace and through faith in Jesus Christ, we carry the light.
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  The birth of Jesus Christ changed everything.
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  It provided for fallen man redemption.
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  Redemption, and just as Mary brought light into the world through her son Jesus,
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  which was the light and is the light,
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  we too bring light into the world as we display and demonstrate Jesus, as we walk in his ways,
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  as we allow him to cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness,
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  as we allow him to illuminate our heart and to remove all darkness.
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  Jesus is the light. Mary carried Jesus.
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  And Jesus dwells inside of us in the form of the Holy Spirit.
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  So you and I carry the light.
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  Read with me, please. Matthew 1, verses 18 through 25.
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  Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was
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  espoused to Joseph, before they came together, She was found the child of the Holy Ghost.
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  Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public
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  example, was minded to put away privily.
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  But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
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  unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto
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  thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
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  And she shall bring forth a son and thou
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  shall call his name jesus for he shall
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  save his people from their sins now all
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  this was done that it might be fulfilled which was
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  spoken of the lord by the prophet saying behold a virgin shall be shall be with
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  child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name emmanuel which
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  being interpreted is god with us then joseph being raised from sleep,
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  did as the angel the Lord had bidden him,
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  and took unto him his wife,
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  and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son,
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  and he called his name Jesus.
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  It's a popular song called Mary Did You Know, but it makes each and every one
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  of us wonder what did Mary know?
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  And while she was thinking about wedding plans and visualizing her future with
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  such amazing hope, she couldn't have imagined the hope that was within her.
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  Mary was bringing into this world conceived by the Holy Ghost, Jesus,
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  the light of the world, the one in whose blood we are washed,
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  The one who paid the penalty for our sins, though he didn't owe a penalty at all.
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  One who loves us even though he knew we would reject him and fail him.
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  One whose sole purpose was to come and to seek and to save those which were lost.
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  Mary carried the light. This anticipation of a child for anyone is great,
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  but she was carrying Christ.
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  Oh, I can't imagine what she must have been thinking.
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  Mary was carrying the child. She was going to deliver Jesus.
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  But the reality of it was Jesus would deliver her.
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  He was the child of promise that the angel spoke of. And he was sent to light the world.
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  We read in Scripture.
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  John 9.5 says as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
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  This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that
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  God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
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  Light is pure. It shows the way.
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  It illuminates the path we are to take.
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  It allows us to take a step with surety and to be confident that where we're
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  stepping is going to be safe and secure.
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  And if we continue to put one step in front of the other, if we're going in
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  the direction we should go, then light will help us reach the place we are intending to be.
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  And this is what Jesus does.
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  He shines the light into the darkness, leading the way to the holy heavens,
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  to the pure life, to the way everlasting.
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  Light dispels darkness.
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  All through scriptures when we look at light
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  and we look at darkness we see that light represents things
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  that are pure and holy again light lights the way and the way we should go darkness
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  represents sinful things wicked things and it clouds the way it hides the path darkness obscures,
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  the way we should go.
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  Darkness doesn't give us peace or surety when we take our steps.
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  We're not exactly sure where our foot's going to land.
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  But Jesus, who is the light, he gives us peace that passes understanding,
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  a joy unspeakable and full of glory.
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  He walks us from this place to our heavenly home.
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  He was born to show the way. He was sent to teach us the law of love and the gospel of peace.
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  He was given so that we would not need to live in darkness anymore.
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  He came to show us the way.
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  Light is consistently associated with truth and eternal life.
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  All throughout Scripture, we see that light...
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  Is eternal life, and darkness is untruth and death.
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  And we know that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
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  through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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  This baby that Mary is carrying is giving us the light.
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  If you've not received him, if you've not embraced the truth of who God is,
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  you're going to experience death twice, both spiritually and physically.
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  But Mary carried the light.
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  This light is Jesus, and Jesus shows us the way, because Jesus was God and the
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  source of all light and life.
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  He was fully man, and he was fully God.
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  This baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger is the same God and the same Jesus,
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  that we see hanging on the cross of calvary who
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  willingly gave his life and shed his
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  sinless spotless blood that all that would believe in.
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  Him would be washed white as snow and on that third day he rose victorious over
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  hell death and the grave in john chapter 1 verses 4 and 5 he says in him was
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  life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in darkness and
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  the darkness comprehended it not.
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  Friends, in him is life. He promises us in John 10.10 that it came that we might
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  have life and have it more abundantly.
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  His light is to shine upon all men that we would have the light of life.
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  Darkness represents our deeds of evilness.
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  And the light are our deeds of life. And he come to shine into our hearts that
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  our sinful ways that we are born into this world with, according to Romans 3.23,
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  would be illuminated so that we could freely choose and believe in the only
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  begotten Son of God that we might have eternal life.
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  This light shines on the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it.
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  It can't put it out it
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  can't absorb it and it can't
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  not receive it when you place light
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  in a dark room it is seen from all
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  angles it dispels darkness light shines in darkness and it's visible darkness
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  has never overpowered it darkness
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  has never put it out darkness cannot absorb it And Jesus declares,
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  I will show you the way to Jesus.
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  I will show you the way to God.
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  And Mary is carrying the light that is going to do just that.
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  Jesus is the source of our light. Jesus is the basis and foundation of our salvation.
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  Jesus is our strength. The battle isn't ours. It belongs to the Lord.
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  The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength
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  of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
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  Psalms 27, 1.
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  We must carry the light.
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  Mary carried the light.
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  And she delivered Jesus, and Jesus delivers us.
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  We must carry the light because Jesus is in us when we receive him as Savior.
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  And if we say that we have fellowship with him and we walk in darkness,
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  we lie and do not the truth.
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  We cannot say that we love the Lord and then not walk in his ways.
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  We must carry the light. And we must do so purposely.
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  We must do so with the intent to show other people the way to Jesus.
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  Just as Mary carried the light that shows us the way to heaven,
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  we have to carry the light in this sin and dark full world.
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  To show other people the way to Jesus. In fact, in Matthew 5,
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  verses 14 through 16, we are told these words.
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  You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
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  Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick
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  it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
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  Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
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  your Father which is in heaven.
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  Mary carried the light.
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  Jesus is the light. Jesus chooses to dwell in the hearts of every believer who's
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  willing to deny themselves and
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  pick up their cross and walk in the commandments and the ways of Jesus.
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  And as we obey the Lord, our light shines to others.
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  As we do the commandments and we love one another as God has loved us,
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  as we are holy because he is holy, as we are making decisions based on the purity
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  of the light that is shining the dark areas in our life that we ask God to rid
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  us of, as we begin to walk in the ways of Jesus Christ,
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  it'll be our works, it'll be our deeds, it'll be our life that glorifies our
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  Father because it shows that we are different.
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  We are created new creatures in Christ Jesus because the old things are passed
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  away and all things have become new because the light has illuminated the path
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  to heaven through Jesus, his son,
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  and Jesus has cleansed us from all unrighteousness.
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  And we have a desire and a need and a motivation and we are inspired to do the
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  things that Christ asked us
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  to do and we become a light that is bright in this wicked, sinful world.
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  Jesus in us compels us to light the way for others.
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  We have to carry the light. We have to be the light in this world.
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  We have to show others who Jesus is.
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  We have to walk in his ways. Just as Mary had to carry baby Jesus,
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  who was the light of the world, and she did it with
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  purpose and she did it with intent and she
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  was careful as she was carrying the
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  light we too carry the light of jesus in
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  us because we are born again new creations
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  in christ jesus his workmanship created for good works and as we draw not to
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  him he draws near to us and the more we let him fill us and the more we let
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  him infiltrate us the brighter our light shines.
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  This world is counting on you to show them Jesus.
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  They could read it in his word, but they're not inclined to do so.
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  They could hear about it at church, but are unlikely to be there.
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  But you have been deposited in their world.
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  You've been dispersed in their activities.
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  And you are different because Jesus lives inside of you.
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  And you have the light of life in you and he's calling you to carry the light all of us,
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  must embrace our inner Mary she carried the light and as born-again Christians
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  we carry the light and she delivered upon the promise of God and she did what
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  was asked of her to do we too must deliver on the promise of God and do what he's asking us to do.
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  As he said in Matthew 5, 16, so let your light shine before men that they may
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  see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.
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  A little 10-year-old girl named Piper wrote this poem. And I would ask you to.
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  Carefully examine every word. Thou art the light.
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  When I'm lost, when it's dark, when I'm scared, you're in my heart.
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  I know you're there when life is stormy. You're by my side. You'll never leave me.
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  When it's hard, when it's dark, just remember he's in your heart.
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  In troubled times, he is the light. He makes the darkness turn too bright.
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  Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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  Friends, be the light.
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  Embrace the light. And carry the light.
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  Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast.
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  You can visit the show notes for 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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  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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  You can find our app by searching for Woman at the Well Ministries in your app
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  store or through our website at watwm.org.
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  We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash watwm. If you visit our website,
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  you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits, a daily devotion written by Kim and
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  delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  Woman at the Well Ministries is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
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  And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
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  To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
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  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you. You are loved.