Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 579 | Study to Shew Thyself Approved: Unlocking 2 Timothy 2:15

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579 | Study to Shew Thyself Approved: Unlocking 2 Timothy 2:15 · 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 and listen to Jesus.
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  With us as we look to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen
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  your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Are you meeting God's basic expectations for your life?
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  God's Word says that in order to be an approved worker for God,
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  we must study His Word to correctly know the fullness of God.
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  Join us in this program of Woman at the Well Ministries as we look at God's
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  Word to see one of God's most basic commandments for our lives.
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  Hello. I think that oftentimes when someone says to us about the commandments
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  of God, our minds can't help but go back to the Old Testament and we sort of
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  see Moses in our mind and we see those 10 commandments.
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  But you know, the Bible is filled with commandments and they're not necessarily
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  all in those first 10 that we read about in the Old Testament.
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  So what we'd like to do in this program is bring out a commandment of God that
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  I think is often overlooked by his children.
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  And that commandment is found in 2 Timothy 2.15. And it isn't stated as this
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  is a commandment, but it is absolutely written in such a way that you know that it is a commandment.
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  And it is God speaking to Timothy. So we know that he is telling us exactly
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  what he means and what he wants.
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  And that is found in 2 Timothy 2.15.
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  And it's actually God speaking to Paul who wrote the book of Timothy and Paul speaking to Timothy.
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  So God is directly talking to Paul and then Paul is directly speaking to Timothy.
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  And then we have the benefit of reading what God has said and being able to apply it to our lives.
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  And 2 Timothy 2.15 says, Study to show thyself approved unto God,
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  a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
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  How many times have you found yourself in a congregation where the man or woman
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  or whoever it may be in front of you is expounding upon what they call the Word
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  of God and something is not ringing true to your heart?
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  The Holy Spirit inside of you is just telling you that what they say is just
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  a little off of center of what God would have you to understand from that scripture.
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  We find that often, and usually that is something that has come from some study
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  that we have done, or it's come from something that we have thought about in
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  our lives, and we've heard other people, and we've prayed about it, and God has showed us.
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  But what happens is, sometimes we sit in congregations, and we just take the
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  word of that person who's expounding what they call the scriptures to us as
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  being verbatim and truthful.
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  And unfortunately, many of us find ourselves in a congregation and we're not
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  even carrying the sword of the Lord with us.
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  We just listen to what someone says and assume that they're reading to us the word of God.
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  That's incredibly dangerous in our spiritual walk because the Bible is the sword
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  of the Lord and it is where we get our truth and it is the weapon that we use against the devil.
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  If you recall, when Jesus was being tempted on the mount by Satan himself,
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  he quoted scripture to him And he tells us that it's by his word,
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  the bread of life, that we live, and that we need to know what he has to say.
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  And this scripture tells us that we are to study.
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  To show ourselves approved now
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  if you look up in the dictionary what the word approved
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  means what we see is that it means satisfied or being able to meet requirements
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  that someone has so when god says study to show thyself approved he's simply
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  telling us a basic requirement.
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  Of being his child. He wants us to study his word.
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  That's a basic expectation of God. And if you think about that for just a moment,
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  why would God expect you to study his word?
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  Well, it's fairly easy to answer that question because from Genesis to Revelations,
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  we are fully able to see Jesus.
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  By being fully able to see Jesus, we are fully able to know God.
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  And if we don't understand the scriptures and we don't read the scriptures and
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  we don't study the scriptures, more than just glossing over them,
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  then we miss the promises of God. We miss the truths that he has for us.
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  We don't fully know what it means to be a Christian.
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  And what also happens is we don't fully know God because it's through reading
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  his scriptures, through meditating upon his word, through praying to him that
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  we are able to know God in his fullness.
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  So it's a basic expectation because he said, I come to give you life and that
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  you might have it more abundantly.
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  So what he's asking you is, is I am life and I want to give you me and I want
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  you to understand me and I want you to know me.
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  And he says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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  So he wants to have a personal relationship with you because you have to come
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  to know him as your personal savior.
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  As we read a little bit further in that verse, it says that it's a workman that
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  needeth not to be ashamed now god has put us on this earth to be his lights
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  he's told us that we are the salt of the earth he asked us to go you into all
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  the world and teach and preach.
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  You see, he has a purpose for us, and that purpose is to reflect him.
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  We are to be a person who shows God to all those around us.
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  Well, it's incredibly difficult to do that if we don't know him personally.
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  It's also incredibly difficult to do that if we don't know him intimately and
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  if we don't know him well.
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  And he says, I want you to be a workman that's not ashamed.
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  You see, when I call on you, I want you to be equipped and I want you to be
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  ready. And God says that he will supply all of your needs according to his riches and glory.
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  And he says that you can do all things in his strength.
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  But the keys to both of those resources that we have in our life is that we
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  are doing it in his strength and his riches.
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  The only way that we can tap into those is to understand them,
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  is to be a part of them, is to have a relationship with him,
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  is to be able to have access to them.
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  And we have access to them through Jesus Christ, his son.
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  So when God calls upon you to do a task he.
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  Fully equips you but the question is have you been preparing as he's asked you
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  to do have you reached out from that fruit of grace and their fruit of knowledge
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  that he puts in your path and put them in your heart in that card of knowledge
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  that you have of Jesus Christ have you worked.
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  For him so that you'd be prepared to be a good workman for him what kind of soldier are you,
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  in the lord's army then i want you
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  to see that he says that he doesn't want you to be ashamed so he wants you to
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  study and then he says rightly dividing the word of truth he wants you to know
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  what the bible says he warns us that in the latter days that there'll be people
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  who are false prophets and false teachers.
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  And if you're not grounded and rooted in the word of the Lord,
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  if you're still a babe eating off of the milk of God's scriptures,
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  when those people come in,
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  they'll be able to sway you and they'll be able to turn your eyes aside.
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  And the devil's very conniving and he's very deceitful and he knows exactly how to get to you.
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  So my friends, if we're reading the word,
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  then we know the truth and the truth shall set
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  you free you see there's lots of false
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  doctrines out there lots of people would tell you have to work for
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  salvation well if you've ever read ephesians 2 8 and 9 you know immediately
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  that's a false doctrine because he says for by grace are ye saved and that not
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  of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast but
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  if you've not been in ephesians if you've not been in his word and someone comes
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  to you and he says Because God expects you to work.
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  Then you may not be able to comprehend the breadth and depth of his word,
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  and you may be led astray.
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  And maybe they'll twist a word
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  on you in the book of James. He says that faith without works is dead.
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  And James says that he will show you his faith by his works,
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  but he doesn't tell you that his works will get you to heaven because he understands
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  that it's not about him. It's about the finished work of Calvary.
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  But you see, people who are good with words, people who are great orators,
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  They can manipulate you into believing what they want you to believe.
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  And maybe they've got blinders on their eyes, and maybe they have actually ill
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  motives. But for whatever reason, they're teaching you a false doctrine.
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  And my friends, you can't preach a false doctrine if you know the truth.
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  Because the truth will set you free, and it will open up your heart and allow
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  you to speak the things of God that are real.
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  The Bible says that His Word won't go void.
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  So, my friends, if you have spent time in God's Word, and you're actually teaching
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  the Word to others, then you know that it will take fruit, and it'll take root, and it'll grow.
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  And they'll be a product of His work through you in someone else's life.
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  Don't you want to see the people in your life come to know Jesus as Savior?
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  My friends, it's going to be very difficult for them to do that if they don't
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  see a difference in you than the world.
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  The Bible says that we are to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
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  Those good works come from a heart that understands and knows Jesus Christ as Savior.
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  It comes from a life that is filled with knowledge of Him, and that knowledge
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  has led you to a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
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  That comes from opening up his word and studying what he has to say.
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  My friends, it's no accident when you're close to God, because God's staying in the same place.
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  His arms are open wide, and they're nail scarred, showing the proof that he
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  loved you, exhibiting what it cost him to buy your salvation.
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  And he bids you come unto him, and he loves you, And he wants a personal relationship
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  with you He wants to have more for you than fire insurance.
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  Salvation isn't just a means of escaping hell. It's a means of enjoying life.
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  It's a means of having life because he is life.
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  And when we study his word, oh, the psalmist David said that he hid his word
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  in his heart that he might not sin against God.
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  My dear friends, that's where we want to be in life.
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  We want to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that he can speak to us as we cram
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  into our hearts and into our minds the Word of God so that the Holy Spirit can
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  bring it to remembrance, as he said before.
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  Oh, my friends, we want to be walking, talking exhibitors of the life of Christ.
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  Not because we count ourselves equal as Christ, but because we know we have his light in us.
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  We can be a conduit through which he flows.
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  My friends, it's a commandment from God. But this commandment,
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  as all other commandments, are for our good.
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  To live the life he called us to be the people he would have us to be my friends
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  study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed
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  rightly dividing the word of truth.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  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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  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.