Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 443 | Sin Has No Power over God and His Presence (part 1)

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443 | Sin Has No Power over God and His Presence (part 1) · 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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  Living her life for Christ She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl,
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  There is no doubt the devil is powerful and is the prince of the power of the air.
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  However, he is not more powerful than God, and he can't take you down if you
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  allow God to fight your battles.
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  Come join us on a journey through the scriptures as Kim Miller of Women at the
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  Well Ministries opens the Bible and allows it to reveal the truth about the power God has over sin.
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  With God on your side, man can do nothing to you, sin can't overpower you,
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  and you will be victorious.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  I think all of us know what it means to be tempted.
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  We know what it means to want deep within our soul to do the wrong thing,
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  and knowing that we can't do it because that wouldn't be pleasing to God.
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  And God certainly gives us everything we need to be holy.
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  He gives us everything we need to not fall into temptation.
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  But I think sometimes many of us forget how powerful God really is.
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  And I think sometimes we don't fall into the big class of sins,
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  but all sin is sin, and anything done without faith is sin, and there isn't any categories of sin.
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  We categorize them, but sin is sin in the eyes of God.
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  But most of us are not fighting these big battles with wanting to physically
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  kill someone or wanting to steal something or wanting to harm another,
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  we aren't fighting those kind of battles.
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  We fight battles like not being kind when we should,
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  about not having enough faith to do exactly what God says, about not being courageous in our faith.
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  Perhaps not reading when we're supposed to
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  read his word these are the kind of things that tend
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  to trip us up and then there are times
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  in our life when we have a trial or an obstacle or opposition that makes us
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  want to retreat and be like jonah and and go to tarsus instead of Nineveh, where he was told to go.
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  There are just times we don't do what we are supposed to do,
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  or we're deeply, deeply tempted to not to.
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  And so the next few minutes that we spend together,
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  I want to just talk about what God has given every true believer to help us
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  in those situations where the world and flesh and the devil will try to shower us with doubt.
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  But I've got good news. We serve a living, risen Savior.
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  And He loves us.
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  And He is more than enough. And in Him, you are more than enough to conquer
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  that battle because He will fight it for you.
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  Let's pray. Lord, I ask that you would open up our heart and our minds to hear
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  exactly what you have to say for us,
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  that you would give us the courage to reflect deeply into our hearts and our
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  minds and to just hand you every doubt.
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  Lord, to present to you every question,
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  that we might hear the words that you have for us so that we could courageously
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  fight the battles and the path you've set before us.
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  Lord, give us strength. Give us a heart that desires your will.
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  Lord, give us a faith that is strong and true. Restore unto us the joy of our salvation.
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  Help us to run with patience the race you set before us.
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  Lord, remove me from this message.
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  May your words go out with anointing and with power. And in Jesus' name, we pray.
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  I want to bring to your attention a very familiar account from the book of Daniel in Daniel chapter 3.
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  Most of us are familiar with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
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  Most of us are very familiar with they wouldn't bow and they wouldn't bend,
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  and so they were thrown into the fiery furnace, and their faith was so strong
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  that God would deliver them that they expressed that to the king.
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  But we don't often dwell upon what happened or what didn't happen in the fire.
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  And so, I want to spend some time today talking about the fire of our life.
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  Not the fire of zeal and zealousness for which we serve the Lord,
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  but the fire of problems and temptations and struggles and pain and suffering and suffering.
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  That we're going to have in this world. It matters what you do in the fire.
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  God is always going to show up, and God is always going to do his part,
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  but it matters what you do in the fire.
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  And I would submit to you that if you're not in a fire right now,
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  you've either just come out of a fire, or truth be told, you're getting ready to go into a fire.
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  And so having information on what God says to do in the fire and having an assurance
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  of what happens when God is the fourth man in the fire is going to dictate how successfully,
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  we go through the fire.
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  So I want you to turn in your Bibles, please, to Daniel chapter 3,
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  beginning in verse 14, and we're going to read 14 through 28.
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  So we're going to drop ourselves in the middle of this account,
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  but it's going to give us the picture that we are looking at today.
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  What do we do when we are in the fire?
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  In verse 14, it reads like this, Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them,
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  Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods,
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  nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
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  Now, if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet,
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  flute, harp, sacrament, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music,
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  you shall fall down and worship the image which I have made. Well,
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  But if you worship not, you should be cast that same hour into the midst of
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  a burning, fiery furnace.
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  And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
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  There was a history of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego serving only the one true living God.
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  And so Nebuchadnezzar is coming in front of them.
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  He's had them brought before him. And he's telling them one last time,
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  look, I'm going to have them do this. They're going to play this music.
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  And you're going to bow down, and you're going to worship me.
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  But if you don't, then you're going to be thrown into the fiery furnace.
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  Verse 16 is an example of absolute faith and how we as Christians are to face the impending fire.
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  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,
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  O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
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  Look, we don't have to wait and we don't have to pay a lot of attention in how
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  we're going to answer you because we know what we're going to say.
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  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
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  furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
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  So these three Hebrew children are looking at the king, Nebuchadnezzar,
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  And they are expressing who their king is.
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  They're speaking to this man, to the storm, in the fire, the power of their God.
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  In the midst of a very difficult situation.
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  Their faith was so strong and so true, and they had prepared their hearts and
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  their minds over time for this moment.
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  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not come out of the womb with this kind of faith.
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  They did not just suddenly read and decide they were going to believe in God this strongly.
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  I believe you can follow the lives of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
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  and you will determine, as I have determined,
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  that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had a life of learning that God was real,
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  that God was true, and that they believed who he said he was.
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  My friends, there is no substitute for continual, consistent praise and worship
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  and study of the Word of God.
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  The more you know Him, the more you understand His character.
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  The more you read His promises, the more real they become to you.
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  And you don't know when your moment of fire is coming,
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  but you can be prepared regardless of the intensity or the type of trial or
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  fire you're going to experience.
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  So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they give us this picture of preparation.
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  They had a in-time, real-time, up-to-date relationship with God.
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  At that moment when the fire was coming, in the intense of the heat of the impending
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  trial and storm they were getting ready to go in,
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  in the fire they were facing, they were prepared because their faith was up to date.
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  They weren't living on something that happened a long time ago.
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  They had a consistent, continual relationship with God.
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  In verse 17, we pick up and it says, If it be so, our God, whom we serve,
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  is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us
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  out of thine hand, O king.
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  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods,
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  nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
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  They knew God's capability.
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  They knew God's power. and they knew God was right, even if his answer did not match their desire.
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  Did you hear that? Let's try that again.
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  They knew God was right, even if his answer didn't match their desire.
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  They weren't praying to God and dictating to him what needed to happen.
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  They trusted that he knew what needed to happen.
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  They trusted that his ways were higher than their ways and that he was God no matter what.
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  We know that Romans 8, 28 says that all things work together for the good to
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  them that love the Lord, to them that are called according to his purpose.
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  We have the entire scriptures to read and to know.
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  These individuals were living prior to the cross.
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  They did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit moved from
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  place to place, but we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
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  we who believe in Jesus and are living according to his commandments.
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  We have the entire 66 books to read to know his accounts, that we would understand
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  that we know he's given all that we need,
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  that we would be holy, that we know that he promised that he would never leave us nor forsake us.
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  We understand that he said that he would give us all things that we need and
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  supply every need we have, and even the strength to do what it is he's called us to do.
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  The three Hebrew children didn't have all of that, but they had a walking,
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  working relationship with God.
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  And they believed him to be right regardless. Now, for some of us,
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  this is a place for pause.
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  This is where we stop and we take a reflection upon our walk with God.
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  The old song that was sung much when I was young, How long has it been since
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  you've spent time with the Lord?
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  How long has it been since you knew that he loved you?
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  We need to check our relationship.
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  And we need to be in good standing and constant and continual connection with him.
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  These Hebrew children did, and their circumstances didn't dictate their faith.
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  Friends, do you have a relationship with God that is based on the truth that he is God?
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  That he is right?
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  That his ways do not need our approval or need to meet with our desires?
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  Or do you have a casual relationship, one in which as long as it's going your.
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  Way, you're okay with him.
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  And as long as his ideas and commandments follow your will and your desires,
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  then they're good and you do them and all's good.
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  But the moment he begins to convict and he begins to correct,
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  you begin to neglect, and you begin to walk away.
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  Friends, check your relationship.
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  His sheep know his voice, and they follow him.
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  In verse 19, he says this, Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury,
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  and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, he was angry.
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  Someone was defying him as king.
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  Therefore, he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace one,
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  seven times more than it was want to be heated.
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  So he, out of anger, he was doing even more sin.
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  Out of anger, he was making matters worse.
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  Out of anger, he was trying to show who was boss, but he was really only going
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  to let God be even strongly, more strongly elevated and seen.
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  And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bond Shadrach,
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  Meshach, and Abednego and to cast him into the burning fiery furnace.
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  These men were bound in their coats, their hosen and their hats,
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  and their other garments and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
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  Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding
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  hot, The flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
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  Just throwing them in, just getting close enough to throw these three Hebrew
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  children into the fire, killed those.
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  I want you to see something with that.
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  Sin is never isolated to just you.
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  Nebuchadnezzar is the person who is instigating this fury and this anger and
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  this sin against God and his children.
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  Nebuchadnezzar is the one that wants the Hebrew children to pay because they
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  are serving the one true living God and not him.
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  But it's not Nebuchadnezzar who dies.
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  It's the men who followed the
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  sinful actions of king
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  nebuchadnezzar you're not living
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  isolated on your own people are following you your children are watching you
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  and if you're not reading your scripture they're probably not reading it either
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  and they're going to be responsible for not having read it they're going to
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  be responsible for the truths and the word that is in it,
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  yet they're not going to see you as an example.
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  They are following your example of neglecting the Word of God and neglecting God.
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  The habits that you have, they hurt the people around you. They take money away from families.
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  They cause you to be a person that you're not.
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  The inability to have self-control, it changes you.
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  His visage, his outer appearance was changed because of his inner anger.
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  Anger isn't isolated. It's always propelled upon someone else.
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  It's always seen and felt by someone who's the victim of your wrath.
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  Friends, you are not sinning and sinning alone.
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  You are taking a host of people down with you, some of them as innocent,
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  perhaps, as these men whose job was to do what the king said.
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  And in doing that, in following his command, they lose their lives.
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  These three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down,
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  bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
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  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and
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  said unto his counselors, Do not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fiery furnace?
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  Now here's what happens.
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  The men throw the three Hebrew children into the fire, and it says that Nebuchadnezzar made haste.
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  And so quickly, he's looking into the fire and he's asking, didn't we send three into the fire?
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  And verse 24 says.
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  They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
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  25 says this, He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose,
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  walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt.
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  And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
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  The three Hebrew children are now in the fire.
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  The fire is not coming at them. They're not in a pre-visit of the fire,
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  like when he's asking them and they have all this opportunity to deny God,
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  which is a fiery furnace in itself, but they are literally in the fire.
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  But I want you to see that immediately they see God. Thank you.
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  King Nebuchadnezzar says he made haste and he looked in and he saw that there was four in the fire.
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  I want you to spend some time with me here as we look at this.
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  This is where we're going to spend the bulk of our message, is that we have
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  four in the fire and three were sent in.
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  There is a fourth man in the fire, and he was already there.
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  How do I know that? Because there was no time for him not to be.
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  No, it's significant that they didn't have to call upon him.
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  It's significant that they didn't have to wait on him. They had no time to wait.
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  When the big men threw the three boys in, they fell dead immediately.
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  So there would have been no time for them to wait for God to get in the fire.
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  And they needed a God that was bigger than the fire, bigger than the trial,
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  and bigger than their pain and suffering.
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  And I submit to you, as we look at this fourth man in the fire and we look at
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  the three Hebrew children going through the fire,
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  that this same God that was the fourth man in their fire is the same God that
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  wants to be your constant companion,
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  that wants to be in fellowship with you as you walk in step with him,
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  following his word and his ways.
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  I want you to see that sin doesn't have any power over God.
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  And when you're in his presence, sin can't touch you. How do I know this?
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  Because in verse 26, it says, Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of
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  the burning fiery furnace, and he spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach,
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  and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hither.
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  Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire.
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  They were able to be tossed into a fire and walk out of a fire.
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  They didn't ask to be tossed into the fire, but they were capable of walking out of the fire.
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  Because the same faith that did not allow them to bend to another God,
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  to fall victim to their doubt, to do the wrong thing.
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  That same faith that wouldn't allow them to do that is the same faith that strengthened
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  them to walk out of the fire.
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  Because when they got in the fire, they were not alone.
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  Jesus Christ, God himself, was in the fire.
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  It killed people that got close, but they got in the fire, and they were not...
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  Working with their abilities. They were not relying upon their skill sets.
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  They weren't being dependent upon their strengths.
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  They were fully dependent and fully in the presence and fully in a line with
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  the fourth man in the fire who was God.
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  In the fire, they were submitted and yielded. They understand that 1 John 4
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  says, you are God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is
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  he that is in you than he that is in the world.
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  Outside that fiery furnace was a world of people waiting to see the testimony
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  that God didn't spare them from the fire, but he brought them through the fire.
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  Sparing them from the fire would have been a short-lived memory,
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  but I promise you every single person who saw the three men tossed into the
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  fire and watched the two men fall dead and then watched them walk out one at
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  a time in perfect synchrony to God himself.
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  When they watched him, nobody forgot that story.
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  Some hundreds of years later, we're reading it, and we're being inspired and motivated by it.
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  They had to go through the fire to show us we're not alone at any point.
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  In verse 27, and the princes, governors, and captains, and the kings,
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  counselors being gathered together saw these men. Everybody saw it.
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  God was alive, and he was on display.
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  Upon the body the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed,
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  neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
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  Let me tell you how powerful our God is. Thank you.
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  The fire had been so hot that getting near the fire killed those that threw the Hebrew children in.
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  But God didn't just protect the Hebrew children.
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  He eliminated the source of the sin.
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  And you say, well, King Nebuchadnezzar is still there, and he was the one causing the sin.
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  King Nebuchadnezzar is a changed man. just as his face had changed from one
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  that was cocky and arrogant to one that was furious and angry.
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  He's now looking into the fire.
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  He's now looking at these individuals, three boys, who no longer were in the
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  fire, but they had spent some time in the fire, and they come out as if they've never been in there.
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  Now, it is my understanding that the fire was most likely built with wood.
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  When you burn wood, even for a moment, there's a smell. There's a smoke.
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  There's nothing like the smell of burnt flesh. Their coats would have disintegrated in moments.
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  Their hair would not only have been sinned, but their bodies would have been melted.
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  But though the fire was going and the flames were around them, it had no power.
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  Because sin has no power over God, and sin cannot have power in his presence.
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  The devil must flee at the name of Jesus.
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  It's not your problems you need to worry about. It's your relationship with Jesus Christ.
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  Jesus is greater than all, and his power is unsurpassed, and sin can't even touch him.
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  And you have Jesus living in you in the form of the Holy Spirit.
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  Therefore, when you're in the presence of God, when you are walking in alignment
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  with him, the devil can't touch you because in his presence, he's the powerful one.
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  We're reminded of God's promise to protect us in the fire and in the storms.
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  In Isaiah 43, 2, When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.
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  And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.
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  When thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned.
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  Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
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  The fire the sin
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  the trouble the trauma
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  none of that has any power over you the bible says that for sin shall not have
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  dominion over you for you're not under the law but under grace Romans 6, 4.
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  Friends, God's grace is what covered the Hebrew children.
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  God's power is what protected the Hebrew children.
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  And he snuffed out the source of the sin in the flames and made it non-impactful
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  because it had to bow to his greatness.
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  Friends, sin has no power over God. And in his presence, you have complete victory.
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  Join us in part two of Sin Has No Power Over God and His Presence.
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  Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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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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  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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  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.
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  Music.