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505 | Throwback - Back to Basics · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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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 a 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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  As with all things in life, every
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  now and then, it pays to go back to the basics of our Christian walk.
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  The effects of time on our faith can cause us to become complacent and even unappreciative.
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  Join us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim walks us through
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  the scriptures, reminding us of the basics of our life in Christ.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us. And I really love it when God allows us
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  to just stop for a moment and take a look at all that he has done.
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  And God allows us to do that all the time. He says, be still and know that I am God.
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  He says, when you've done all that you can do, just stand. But I think we get
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  so busy doing and so focused on moving forward that sometimes we lose sight
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  of what it is that we're served.
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  In fact, we get so busy sometimes serving God that we forget the God we serve.
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  And so for the next few moments, what I'd like to do is just walk through those
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  truths that we know that set Jesus apart.
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  From everyone else and everything else. That truth that ignited a fire in us,
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  that helped us to see who he was, the truth of who we serve,
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  so that we can just fall in love with him all over again.
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  I had the privilege and the honor growing up to play tennis.
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  I played very competitively. And as a result of that, I worked very hard at it.
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  And I had a coach, and it took up an enormous amount of my time and taught me many, many things.
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  And God used it in many ways in my life.
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  And what I found out to be true about tennis is that life is a lot like it.
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  One, those who serve well, they win.
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  You serve Christ well, and you serve him with all of your heart,
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  your soul, and your mind, and you'll be greatly rewarded because you can't outgive him.
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  The second thing I learned about tennis was it was an amazing thing.
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  We spent years learning the game and was successful in the game.
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  Yet 10 years into the game, I can remember spending days doing what I did on
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  the very first day of practice, just sitting and focusing on the ball.
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  Every so often, something would creep up in my swing.
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  And I often had something that would just sort of creep up in my backswing of my forehand.
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  And I would feel like everything was fine.
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  And I would be missing shots by inches or somehow otherwise missing them.
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  And my coach would take me back to the court after the tournament was over,
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  and he would simply go back to the basics of the swing.
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  We would do the transfer of weight, focus on the ball, racket back.
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  Step into the ball, you know, and we would go over this pattern of what the
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  swing should look like over and over and over and over again.
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  Years after I had learned the shot, we would find ourselves going back over
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  the basics one more time.
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  And the reason we went back to the basics so often was so that when things would
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  creep up in my swing, we could easily recognize what they were and we could
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  get them out because there was no place for them in the game.
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  Because even the slightest modification to the swing had very negative results to the game.
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  And what I learned about this, as far as the Christian life goes,
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  is there's no room for even the slightest hint of sin.
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  Remember, he said abstain from all appearance of evil.
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  And so I believe we need to go back to the basics.
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  Remember he said, be ye holy for I'm holy. He said, study to show thyself approved
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  under God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word
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  of truth. He said, study.
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  When's the last time you picked up his word and actually studied what he had to say?
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  How can you possibly claim his promises?
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  If you don't know who they are and what they are.
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  I submit to you that there are so many Christians out there living below their
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  privileges, myself included, because he said that he came to give me a life
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  and to give it more abundantly.
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  He said, be careful for nothing.
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  Be careful for nothing. He said, I know the things that you have need of before you even ask.
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  He said, consider the lilies. They neither toil nor spin, and there's not a
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  kingdom with more splendor than them.
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  He said, cast all your care upon me, for I care for you. He said,
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  follow me. Now, that's a game plan.
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  He said, I am the way. That's a strategy.
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  Friends, he wrote everything we needed to know.
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  In Hebrews chapter 4, verses 14 through 16, he invites us to come boldly to the throne of God.
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  I am telling you nothing that as children of God you don't already know.
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  But perhaps it's been a long time since you really took a close look at who
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  he was and the bare truths of Jesus Christ.
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  You see, the message is simple.
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  It's we, his children, who make it complicated.
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  He said, suffer the little children to come unto me. Of such is the kingdom of God.
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  Talk to a child about Jesus.
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  And they are so in tune with him. The world hasn't hardened them.
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  They haven't got their eyes off and all these other things. Jesus is real.
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  It's so exciting to me. when I was a little kid. I just did not like darkness.
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  Still not real fond of it, but I just didn't like darkness. And the verse in
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  the Bible says, the men that love darkness rather than light, their deeds are evil.
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  And so as I started to get a little bit older and my parents would turn on a
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  nightlight or want to turn the light off for me to go to bed, I would say, oh no, no.
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  Men who love darkness rather than light. Their deeds are evil.
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  And so they put a nightlight in my room, and I just struggled.
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  My mom, when I was growing up, was very ill and very sick, and I just,
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  the nighttime just seemed like a very scary place.
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  And I remember as a child, when I would get ready to go to bed at night,
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  that I would do everything I could until I just couldn't stand up any longer
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  because I just didn't want to face the dark.
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  And I remember one night, my parents came in to talk to me, and they did every night.
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  And I remember my mom and dad said to me, Kimmy, you know Jesus,
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  he never sleeps, and he never slumbers.
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  And he's awake, so you don't have to be.
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  And as a child, that is all it took because I knew he was watching me and I believed it.
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  And you could turn the light off. You could do anything you wanted to because
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  I was safe in the arms of Jesus.
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  As an adult, I know that same truth, but somehow it's more difficult for me
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  to just close my eyes and say, okay, Jesus, watch out for me.
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  And it's harder for me to feel like I've crawled up in his arms.
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  I honestly could feel it as a child.
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  And you know what it is, is because the child has basic information. You know what he has?
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  Jesus loves me.
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  Music.
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  Tells me so. That's what they know.
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  We, on the other hand, we seem to just throw so much garbage in.
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  But right now, this very moment, I want you to just cut out all the extras.
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  Sort of like when you're writing an outline, and you just put down those few
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  points that you want to do or you want to talk about. Don't fill them in.
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  Just hang on to the points. And the first point I want you to hang on to is this.
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  In Luke 2 11, he said, for unto you is born this day in the city of David,
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  a savior, which is Christ the Lord. He came.
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  What does that even mean?
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  He left the splendor of heaven, king of kings, Lord of lords,
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  a place that our mind cannot even comprehend.
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  And he left it all. And why?
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  Luke 19.10 says he came to seek and to save those which were lost.
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  Truth number one in the basics is this. He came.
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  He came. And he came so that I could go to be where he is.
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  The other thing you see about the life of Christ is that he walked among men.
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  In Acts 10.38, He did good stuff.
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  He said, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power,
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  who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.
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  Remember, he who thought it was not robbery to count himself equal with God.
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  We can fully know Jesus through the scriptures from Genesis to Revelations.
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  And we can fully know god by fully
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  knowing jesus and that same jesus
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  that went about doing good went about healing went about doing all the things
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  that he did so that we might have faith and confidence in him who was tempted
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  like as we are yet without sin that same jesus lives in you and he lives in
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  me in the form of the holy spirit,
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  That same Jesus loves you. How much does he love you?
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  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
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  that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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  God loves you so much, he gave his only son.
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  Jesus loves you so much, he gave his life.
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  You think you're hurting?
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  Bring it to Jesus, the balm of Gilead.
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  You think nobody understands the pain you're in?
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  Jesus knows. He knows what it's like to be lonely.
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  You see, he was suspended between heaven and hell on the rugged cross of Calvary.
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  And when he took your sins upon his shoulders, God couldn't look upon him because
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  he couldn't look upon sin.
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  And he absolutely stood in the gap for me and for you, totally alone because he loves you.
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  What a truth what a
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  basic truth so many
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  places in the scripture it talks of
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  him healing people but in matthew chapter
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  8 and verse 15 he heals peter's mother-in-law but in matthew 9 chapter chapter
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  9 verses 20 through 22 we're introduced to an amazing woman she was a woman
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  who had an issue of blood for many years.
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  She had seen many physicians and nobody could heal her.
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  But she heard that Jesus was coming. And through the pain and the weakness,
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  the incredible hardship of getting a sick body out to where he was,
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  she came knowing that he would heal her.
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  And I want you to see what happens.
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  There's a throng of people everywhere.
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  She reaches out and touches the hem of his garment.
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  And Jesus turns around and said, who touched me? Because he felt virtue leave him.
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  And the woman is caught right there in the presence of Jesus.
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  And he says, our faith has made thee whole. You see, nobody else would have
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  been able to distinguish the touch.
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  Amongst all of those people, in fact, the disciples who were with him was wondering,
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  what do you mean who touched you?
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  How could we possibly know amongst the gazillion fingers that are reaching out to you?
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  But he knew basic concept
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  here no matter how busy the world
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  is no matter how you seem to
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  blend in no matter how indistinguishable you
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  think you are you are special to
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  him you are an individual that
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  he created in his likeness and he
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  died for you not for
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  corporate mankind not for the church corporate but for the individual little
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  guy big guy big girl little girl smart girl well-educated person doesn't matter
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  who you are he said whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved.
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  Basic concept, you are the reason he hung on the cross, died,
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  shed his blood, and rose again, that you might have life eternal,
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  and that you might have life abundantly.
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  Oh, what a basic concept. He came, which meant he left what he had,
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  and he came with a mission.
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  In luke 19 10 again he says that he came to seek and to save those which were lost.
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  And in john chapter 10 and verse 10 he said the thief cometh
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  not but for to steal and to kill that be the devil folks and to
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  destroy i am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly he came
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  he walked among us he had a mission and in luke chapter 23 we see the account
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  month of his crucifixion.
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  But you see, I've got something glorious to tell you.
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  He went to that cross. And Hebrews tells us that without the shedding of blood,
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  there is no remission of sin.
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  And we had a sin debt that we couldn't pay because Romans 3.23 says that all
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  have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
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  And it took the perfect, sinless, spotless lamb of God to lay his life down
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  and shed his blood that we might go free. And he did that.
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  And he had no place to be buried, and so he was buried in a borrowed tomb.
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  They put him in this tomb, and he had told his friends. He had told his family.
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  He had told his followers that on the third day, I'm going to rise.
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  But let me tell you something. On that third day, when Jesus rose from the grave, nobody was there.
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  But you see, he had a mission. And he wasn't detoured by our rejection.
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  He isn't stopped by our unbelief. You see, he loves us unconditionally because
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  he proved that because nobody was there to see him come out of the grave.
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  But there was a Mary who loved him.
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  You see, she had felt the forgiveness of her sins.
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  She had lived a life that had been possessed with demons and he had taken and
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  healed her, removing from her those demons.
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  And that gratitude for her swelled up for him swelled up within her because
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  she knew what she'd been redeemed from and she'd been saved from.
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  Some of us right now, this very moment, need to take a look at what God has
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  saved us from, what he's redeemed us out of, where he's taking us to,
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  and what he's done, the work of grace in our life, what he's produced.
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  Unworthy as we are, he loves us and he loves us unconditionally.
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  And he went to that tomb. One day goes by, two days goes by,
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  and there's a party in hell.
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  The devil thinks we got him.
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  I knew that he wasn't all that, but suddenly, the earth begins to shake.
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  Hell loses its victory. Death has no more sting, and the grave can't hold him,
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  and he rises in victory over hell, death, and the grave.
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  And when Mary goes to the tomb, the stones rolled away.
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  She looks, and this angel says there, why stand you gazing? He's not here.
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  And Mary goes back to tell. And Peter and John come running to the tomb.
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  And Peter and his impetuous self just comes flying in there. And the tomb is empty.
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  Oh, but friends, he left something.
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  There was a folded napkin. And the custom of that day was that while you were.
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  Eating, if you needed to get up and walk around a couple times or something
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  to shake the food down, but you didn't finish your meal and you were coming back.
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  You folded your napkin very specifically and in a nice way so that the people
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  who were waiting your table or clearing up after you would leave your food because
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  they knew you were coming back.
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  And when Peter ran into that tomb that day, he didn't find Jesus because he
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  rose just like he said he would.
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  But you know what he found? He found the napkin.
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  Folded, that said, I'm coming back.
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  I'm coming back. And my friend, the basic truth you need to understand is,
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  is that he came, he lived, he died, he rose again, and he sits at the right hand of the father.
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  But one day, the father is going to say, son, go get your children.
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  And on that glorious day, he's going to break the eastern sky and the trumpet's going to sound.
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  And all of the dead in Christ shall rise and there shall we ever be caught up with the Lord.
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  Friends, the grave has no victory because there's nobody in the grave.
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  When it comes that day that Christ calls you home and it's appointed unto man
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  once to die and after this the judgment.
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  When this old body of yours draws its last breath.
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  It's goodbye world and hello God.
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  But where you spend eternity depends on the decision you make.
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  And those whose names are not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life shall
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  be cast into hellfire and it's immediate.
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  My daddy went home to be with the Lord many years
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  ago and I go to the graveside and I place flowers on that but I'm so comforted
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  in knowing that that's just dust under my feet and someday the dust shall sing
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  but my daddy right now is in heaven at the throne of God,
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  praising and singing and enjoying all the things that God has for his people
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  that my little mind can't understand.
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  But one day, the graves are going to open, and we're going to be caught up in
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  the air, and somehow they're going to get back together again,
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  and Jesus is going to reign supreme because he's coming back,
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  and those that remain will be caught up to, and will be ever with the Lord.
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  My friends, there's a basic truth. He came, he lived, he walked among men,
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  and whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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  For greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
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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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  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,
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  Happy Girl. We greatly appreciate your prayers.
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  We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Music.