Latest / Time with God with John North / Matthew 25 Pt. 3

Transcript

Matthew 25 Pt. 3 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. Welcome to another day. And as we get
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  Speaker 1: into this day, you know the best way to start
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: every day of your life is by taking some time
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: with God. Uh, to some people that sounds old fashioned.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Why would he do that? That sounds a bit hokey,
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  Speaker 1: but really it is not. It's the best part of
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  Speaker 1: your life.
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  Speaker 1: Your relationship with God, just think about it. God, think
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  Speaker 1: about this entire universe and the fact that with His will,
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  Speaker 1: the force of His will, He created everything that is.
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  Speaker 1: And the God who has that kind of power and
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  Speaker 1: purpose and wisdom and insight, who made life like it is,
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  Speaker 1: who created you in your mother's womb, that God.
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  Speaker 1: He wants to know you and walk with you and
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  Speaker 1: wants to reveal himself to you and is inviting you
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  Speaker 1: to get involved in his ongoing work in this world
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  Speaker 1: that is so mind boggling, so amazing we ought to
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  Speaker 1: be taking every opportunity to respond to him when he
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  Speaker 1: reaches out to us.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the ways he's reached out to us
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  Speaker 1: is in His word, the Bible. And so to take
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  Speaker 1: time every day to open your Bible and say, God
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  Speaker 1: speak to me.
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  Speaker 1: It is one of the best ways to build your
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  Speaker 1: relationship with Him and to grow to be a person
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  Speaker 1: whose life makes a difference, because that's what God wants
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  Speaker 1: for us. And not only does He want it for us,
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  Speaker 1: but He is going to hold us ultimately accountable to
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  Speaker 1: Him for how we've used our lives. We're focusing this
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  Speaker 1: week on a story Jesus told in the Bible to
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  Speaker 1: emphasise this point that one day He's coming back and
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  Speaker 1: He's going to wrap up life on this planet.
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  Speaker 1: And he's going to hold us accountable for our lives.
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  Speaker 1: And he says it's just like a man about to
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  Speaker 1: go on a journey.
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  Speaker 1: This is the picture of him ascending to the Father,
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  Speaker 1: leaving the earth, leaving the disciples, and this man called
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  Speaker 1: his own servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To
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  Speaker 1: one he gave 5 talents, that's a weight of gold,
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  Speaker 1: and to another 2 and to another 1, each according
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  Speaker 1: to his own ability, and he went on his journey.
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  Speaker 1: And immediately the one who'd received the 5 talents went
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  Speaker 1: and traded with them and gained 5 more talents in
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  Speaker 1: the same way, the one who'd received 2 talents gained
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  Speaker 1: 2 more.
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  Speaker 1: And the one who received one was afraid he might
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  Speaker 1: lose some. And so he dug a hole in the
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  Speaker 1: ground and hid his master's money. It says after a
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  Speaker 1: long time, the master of those slaves came and settled
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  Speaker 1: accounts with them. Well, it's been a long time since
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  Speaker 1: Jesus was walking on earth, hasn't it?
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  Speaker 1: And one of these days when we don't expect it.
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  Speaker 1: He's coming back
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  Speaker 1: And he's going to settle accounts with us. He's going
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  Speaker 1: to say, What have you done with what I gave
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  Speaker 1: you in life?
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  Speaker 1: And you know these who used their money well and
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  Speaker 1: gained interest for their master, when he settled accounts with
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  Speaker 1: them and saw what they had done, he said, Well done,
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  Speaker 1: good and faithful servant. You've been so faithful with what
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  Speaker 1: I gave you. I may give you so much more
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  Speaker 1: and come on into the joy of your master.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't that the kind of message you want to receive
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  Speaker 1: from God at the end of your life? You've done
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  Speaker 1: so well. I'm so glad with how you've invested your life.
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  Speaker 1: You've made a difference in ways that honour me and
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  Speaker 1: please me.
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  Speaker 1: Well, how are you going to do that with your life?
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  Speaker 1: Don't you know it happens one day at a time.
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  Speaker 1: You can't just think about your whole life, think about today.
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  Speaker 1: What is there in today where you have choices to
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  Speaker 1: make that will either honour God or dishonour God?
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  Speaker 1: Bring him glory or bring him shame.
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  Speaker 1: What can you do to make God look good in
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  Speaker 1: the world today through your life? Well then, do it.
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  Speaker 1: Get your life going in that direction. Think about the
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  Speaker 1: desires of your life. You know, your desires can drive you.
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  Speaker 1: You can either be disciplined with your desires or you
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  Speaker 1: can focus them.
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  Speaker 1: When we don't always want to spend time with God
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  Speaker 1: each day, and there's often other things that are totally
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  Speaker 1: secular or or even wrong that are very appealing to us.
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  Speaker 1: But when you cultivate the habit of disciplining yourself to
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  Speaker 1: listen to God and spend time reading the Bible, spend
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  Speaker 1: time with other people who love God, the more your
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  Speaker 1: desires will be disciplined.
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  Speaker 1: To focus on the things that are pleasing to God.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.