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Where Are Your Affections? · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey y'all, it's friendly. Welcome back to In the
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  Stillness, Happy Monday New Week.
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  I hope y'all had such a special time yesterday celebrating our
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  risen Savior on Easter Sunday and just remembering that Jesus
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  is alive and that we have full victory in him.
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  I pray that that truth is still sitting fresh on your heart and
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  continues to as we step into this new week.
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  Today we are going to be circling back to first John, and
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  I'm going to read from first John chapter 2 through verses 15
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  to 17. Don't set the affections of your
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  heart on this world or in loving the things of the world.
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  The love of the Father and the love of the world are
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  incompatible. For all that the world can offer
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  us the gratification of our flesh, the allurement of the
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  things of the world, and the obsession with status and
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  importance, none of these things come from the Father, but from
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  the world. This world and its desires are
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  in the process of passing away, but those who love to do the
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  will of God live forever. OK, I want to start here because
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  I think this passage can sometimes be misunderstood or
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  taken out of context. This is not saying to hate
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  people or reject God's creation because what God creates is
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  good. He is good.
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  But what John is warning us here is about this system of the
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  world, its values, priorities, the things that are celebrated
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  that are actually rooted in sin and influenced by the one of the
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  world, the enemy. And we have to remember,
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  Scripture tells us greater is he who is in us than he who is in
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  the world. So the Spirit of God that is
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  living within you, if you are a believer, has already overcome
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  the enemy. So we're not called to fear it,
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  but we are called to be aware. I think these verses also
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  connect so well with Romans 12/2, which commands us.
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  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
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  renewing of your mind. Your worldliness is not just
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  external, it's actually internal.
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  That's where it starts. It's not just about who you're
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  around, where you go, or what your daily life looks like.
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  Of course, those things matter and are important, but it begins
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  in your heart and that's what then shows up on the outside.
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  So the way that you spend your time, your resources, your
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  money, your energy, the relationships and friendships
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  that you invest in those things reveal what you truly value.
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  They show where your priorities line up, and this is so
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  important. You can avoid worldly things on
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  the outside while still holding on to them in your heart, while
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  still entertaining them. You can look like a good
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  Christian, check all the boxes, do all the right things and
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  still be far from God, still not really know him deeply or
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  personally. Scripture talks about how there
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  will be people who say, Lord, didn't we do all these things in
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  your name? And he will respond, depart from
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  me. I never knew you.
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  That is so, so sobering to think about.
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  But I think that we need to sit with the question, what matters
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  most to you? Is it appearing holy, or is it
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  actually truly being holy? Because then John breaks this
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  down even more and he shows us three specific areas where the
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  world can pull us in. What's crazy is looking at these
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  three things, we see the same strategies of the enemy all the
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  way back to the Garden of Eden with Eve, and then again with
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  Jesus being tempted in the wilderness in Matthew 4.
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  Guys, the enemy has not changed his tactics.
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  In the first is the lust of the flesh.
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  This is a preoccupation with satisfying your physical
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  desires, things like sexual immorality or idolatry.
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  When I say preoccupation, this implies that it becomes so
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  important that it starts pushing everything else out.
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  It becomes your greatest desire above God.
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  And yes, these desires can be natural and God has created
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  them, but they are meant to be under His design, and they're
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  also never meant to replace our desire for Him.
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  Secondly, the lust of the eyes. This is an attraction to things
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  like materialism, appearance, and constantly wanting more.
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  You're accumulating, comparing, constantly chasing what looks
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  good. But Scripture reminds us that we
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  are to store up treasures in heaven, not on earth, where
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  moths can destroy and thieves can rob.
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  Because everything here, it fades, it vanishes.
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  Our life is a mist, it's a vapor.
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  It is so quick in the grand scheme of things, even our
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  physical appearance. It's really humbling to think
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  about. But time and gravity will win.
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  Trends regarding style and fashion, Those change.
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  Nothing here is stable or lasting.
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  And thirdly is the pride of life.
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  This is an obsession with status and importance.
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  So your name, what your title or job is, your success, your
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  circle or group, All three of these, ultimately, they divide
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  your heart. They dilute your love for God
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  because they compete and split your affection between him and
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  the world. And God does not share.
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  God is holy. Our Father is completely set
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  apart. He is not looking for partial
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  devotion. He doesn't just want good
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  enough, He wants your whole heart.
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  There is no room for 1/2 in half out mindset.
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  We are called to be in the world but not of the world.
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  To love people, to be around others like Jesus was but not to
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  compromise to the world standards.
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  And at the end of the day I believe it comes down to this.
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  You either love God and hate sin or you choose sin over God.
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  That is a wake up call. I was having a conversation with
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  a friend the other day and she wrote down something that I
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  actually asked if I could take a picture of 'cause it was so so
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  cool to see written out and it really stuck with me.
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  It said do not entertain serpent strategies.
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  God has already told you that you have a royal inheritance, so
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  y'all do not entertain them. I was asking myself as I've been
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  sitting with it, am I entertaining anything?
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  Am I giving space to any thoughts, desires, or even
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  compromises that are pulling my heart away from God?
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  Because the enemy is subtle. He's been using the same things
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  since the very beginning. So practically, what do we do
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  then? Well, obviously we turn to
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  scripture for the direction and Colossians 3 verse 2 tells us to
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  set our minds on things above, not on earthly things.
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  And we look to the fruit of the Spirit.
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  We have self-control through the Holy Spirit.
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  So we ask God for more. And first, Peter 55, it tells us
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  to clothe ourselves in humility. So these things are a daily
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  posture of the heart. Something that I really felt
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  like the Lord literally wrote down on my notes this morning
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  was you cannot fully enjoy the fullness of God's blessings with
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  a distracted or divided heart. It's like being in one place but
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  wishing that you were somewhere else.
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  You miss what is right in front of you and when this passage is
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  talking about doing the will of God.
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  As we've seen in the last verse, it's not just saying a one time
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  decision. This word in the Greek implies
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  that it is a habitual, continuous lifestyle and
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  decision. So it's not just when it's
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  convenient for you, not just when it aligns with what you
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  want, but choosing His will every single day, denying
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  yourself, taking up your cross and following Jesus and
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  believing and trusting that His way is always, always better.
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  Remembering that this world is constantly passing away.
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  The clock is ticking. Everything that people chase,
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  everything that seems so important right now, it will not
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  last. But the one who does the will of
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  God, it says who loves to do the will of God, that person lives
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  into eternity. So with that, I'm going to go
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  ahead and close this out in prayer.
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  Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your word.
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  Thank you for the way that it sharpens us through the truth.
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  I ask that you would just search our hearts, God, and would you
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  reveal anything in us that is divided or distracted?
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  Would You help us to love you fully, not just from the
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  outside, but from within Internally?
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  I pray for discernment that we would recognize the enemy's
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  tactics and that You would give us strength by Your Spirit to
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  resist them. Teach us to set our minds on
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  things above, and may we be sensitive to Your Spirit to walk
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  in obedience to Your will every single day, not just when we
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  want to. But Lord, may we just deny
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  ourselves every day and choose even when it's hard.
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  May we love to do Your will. God, we trust that Your way is
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  always better and we give you our hearts to You completely.
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  We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
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  OK guys, well that's today's episode.
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  I hope you all have a great rest of your Monday.
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  I'm really looking forward to the rest of the things that the
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  Lord is going to continue teaching us, and I will see
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  y'all on the next episode.