Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10128 - Your Flesh Life Will Do Great Damage - Genesis 20

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#10128 - Your Flesh Life Will Do Great Damage - Genesis 20 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's word with pastor and author.
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Ed, Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora,
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Colorado to learn more about the many resources available,
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through abounding Grace, Media, or to tune into our live stream
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Services. Visit us online at Calvary,
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co.'s Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now, here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. An amen.
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All right, open your Bibles. Would you to Genesis chapter 20?
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Genesis chapter 20? And I have entitled our message,
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your flesh will do great damage, your fresh flesh, life will do
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great damage. And I believe it's an
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understatement to say that life is full of ups and downs,
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especially for the Christian anyone's who's It's in Jesus for
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a short amount of time knows that there are ups and downs or
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victories and defeats the woman. The man that follows, God is
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going to make great strides. And you may walk in here today
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or tuned in and you have been making great Victorious.
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Strides in your relationship with Jesus.
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But you also know that in the very next breath or the very
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next decision, you can make huge mistakes.
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And big blunders. And to me it's a great joy and
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let me just ask the question that way, isn't it?
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A great joy to know right now that we have a gracious, patient
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and loving God, it's a good thing together.
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The Lord weaves all of our ups and downs together, sorts them
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out uses them for his glory and we're reminded that nothing is
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wasted by God. Nothing.
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So whatever it is. You're facing right now.
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Ever difficulty is going through your heart and your life, you
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know, or as the Bible says in Romans 8:28, and we know that
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all things work together for good to those who love God.
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And to those who are called according to his purpose and we
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have to remember that it's not just our willingness to sin or
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our willingness to compromise, or it's not just that, but we
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need to also remember with spiritual progress.
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Is there is much spiritual opposition.
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I don't think we can conclude for a moment that the enemy of
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our souls is pleased or happy in any way with the progress that's
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made in your life with the victories that you're
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experiencing with the UPS of your life.
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So there's great spiritual opposition, we can expect it, we
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can anticipate it, we know it's coming again.
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If you're taking notes, you can jot this down in.
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First Corinthians chapter 16 in verse nine.
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I'll read it to you from the new living Paul's writing.
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And he says, he says in First Corinthians 16:9, there is a
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wide open door for a great work here.
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And he's talking about a position, a place of course, but
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I think by application you go, man.
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God is ready to do a great thing, open doors.
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But there are many adversaries, the new King James says, and
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then Paul personalizes it, when he says there's many, that
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oppose me, and there's opposition, there's difficulty
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in John 16:33 again, from the new living.
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Jesus said, I told you all this, so that you may have peace in
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me. here on Earth you'll have many trials and Sorrows, but
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take heart because I've overcome the world and we're reminded not
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only is God gracious and patient and loving but he's our
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protector and our Shield And, you know, I've noticed over the
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years that as we live our lives, we all go through pretty much
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similar tests and trials, and even tribulations, but they
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affect us differently. So we go through different
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trials and testings, but they all affect us in different ways.
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For some, the trial that you're in right now is making you
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stronger, and it's giving you a new perspective of the strength
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of the Lord or abiding in Christ or depending on him.
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But for Others trials. I've seen Barry them.
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And Destroy them and pull them away.
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What was really just designed to deal with the Flesh and draw out
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more faith actually turned out to be receive, the response was
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In the Flesh. And so now, you're not only
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dealing with the Temptation in the trial.
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Now you're dealing with the consequences of the bad
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decisions made. While in that trial, I heard it
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said this way wants for some trials, seem to make them better
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for the battle. And for others trials seem to
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make them bitter in Retreat, and running away.
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I share those contrast because in chapter 20, here of Genesis
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were, are shifting back, our attention to Abraham in a focus
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from a lot and lot, and Abraham are two very different men.
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One walks by faith Abraham and one walked by his site, or by
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flush. It got him into big trouble.
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Lot ends up, losing everything, and that can't be overstated.
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We kind of use everything and we use those.
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Those broad words and don't really mean everything when we
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use it. But I mean it now he lost
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everything. He started out with so much and
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by the time he leaves, Sodom he loses everything in a deep
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painful way. And yet Abraham's contrasted he
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doesn't lose anything through this.
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He gains a greater Faith. He great gains a deeper
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friendship and relationship. He truly did live in fellowship
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with God. And so you have those contrast
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between law and Abraham or even in people in your own life where
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you may have people, you look up to you respect you Although you
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like you like to follow their example and then others, you see
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their example, you see their life, you know, I'm not going to
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go in that direction. But even the one you follow
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their example, you know, you have to understand like, Abraham
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as good as he is in contrast to lat.
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We must be reminded again Abraham's not perfect.
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Neither, is anyone of us and we're not perfect.
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I'm not entirely sure how that became the standard in
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Christianity or became the standard in her own
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measurements, but Abraham isn't perfect.
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And we've seen him fail over and over again.
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And chapter 20 is one of those chapters where you're going to
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shake your head again about Abraham.
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How is it that he can be known as the father of Faith?
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How is it that he represents a friend of God?
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Well, he is very same as you and me.
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Me, that's how you can be a man of Faith, a woman of Faith, a
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friend of God, he lived by faith, and he trusted God, even
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in the failures and he got back up and this is like this is like
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the key that I found is a place of success.
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You just get back up one more time than you fall.
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You don't stay down. But you keep moving forward.
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Humbly, repentant trusting God in the new season.
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And so, just to set you up in chapter 20, if you haven't read
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ahead, you going to read through some things, Abraham does here
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again and you're going to shake your head and just be careful.
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What's wrong with you Abraham? Actually, you should read this
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chapter in the mirror and say what's wrong with you.
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Getting upset again. What's what are you thinking?
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Didn't you learn your lesson Abraham will go ahead and look
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in the mirror. Haven't you learned your lesson
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yet? And before we beat up Abraham
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too much or Peter or any of the men that have failed or the
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women have failed in Scripture, We have 20 notice a similar
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pattern in our own lives ups and downs, victories and defeats
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falling, on our face and getting back up.
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It's a familiar pattern that we see in ourselves.
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So with all that in mind, let's pick up verse 1, chapter 20, so
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Abraham journeyed from there to the South and dwelt between
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Kadesh and shur and sojourned in guerard.
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He's going into the Philistine area.
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By the way, Abraham said of Sarah is Wife, she is my say,
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with me Church sister and this is the Q to Abraham.
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What is wrong with you? And remember, go to the mirror,
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this is a familiar sin, that Abraham is already failed wonton
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with his wife abimelek. It says the king of gerar sent
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and took Sarah. So he's on the move again.
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Abraham is we're not given any instruction, why?
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There's no sense of seeking The Lord or getting any direction or
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having some word from God. He knows what God's voice sounds
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like, he knows how to intercede, he knows how to pray, he knows
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how to ask God for help, there's no mention of that.
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There's just mentioned of him being on the move and he's
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heading into Philistine territory.
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Now, we don't know exactly why. Except one thing we know for
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certain, he didn't receive this direction from the Lord.
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There could be a hint of impatience here or just
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continuing to move. But this is a pattern of the
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flesh set way of doing things moving again. 30 years, earlier
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Abraham did the same thing, he moved without Direction and
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again, it pops up. And again it pops up again, it
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pops up. Remember Abraham, 30 years
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earlier in chapter 12, went down to Egypt and told Sarah, I'd to
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lie saying she was a sister, and that was a example.
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We learn of his fearfulness A weakness of his leadership but
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God restored him, you know, saved his wife, restored him
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encouraged him. And what does he do?
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Again when he comes into different territory, he repeats
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the same line. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 10
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and verse 3. The Bible says, though, we walk
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in the flesh, we do not war, according to the Flesh.
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And too often I believe in many Circles of Christianity.
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The devil gets more credit for the bad decisions, Christians
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make than the Christians taking responsibility for their fleshly
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decisions, the devil gets blamed for all sorts of things.
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He had nothing to do with. That it was a Temptation that
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was sent our way and that Temptation was bit and taken,
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and, and it was our responsibility.
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And I think a very quick Pathway to a place of restoration
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reconciliation with God is just personal responsibility,
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especially in a culture that doesn't like to take personal
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responsibility. It is an familiar refrain in our
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culture, to play the victim. Now, I don't know how to sort
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out in your life, sometimes, I don't even know how to sort out
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and my own life where there's a true victimization whether
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that's true. And I'm not saying in every
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case, it's not true, But the attention shouldn't be to the
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victim in some situation in our in our victimization, you know
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personally but rather the victory that's ours in Christ.
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Trusting him with the situations in our life.
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Remembering the sovereignty of God and not to learn.
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As the culture is taught us to play the victim and never take
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real responsibility for our own bad decisions and let me just
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clarify. So that doesn't I have been sick
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so I want to make My thinking is clear and my words are clear.
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I'm not speaking of a particular situation where indeed you were
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the victim of some violent crime or something that truly would be
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categorized like that. I'm talking about our sinful
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fleshly Behavior, or in a silly way when comedian years ago
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would say, well, the devil made me do it and let me just clear
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up biblically for you, the devil can't make you do anything.
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And the battle that we fight is really, we have a three-fold
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enemy. The Bible says the World, the
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Flesh and the devil and it's the devil that orchestrates through
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our world system to provoke our flesh and ultimately friends
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Brothers Sisters in Christ, we are 100% responsible for our own
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sinful decisions. There may be a lot of other
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factors that we can work through and and work on and lay before
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God for repentance and future, avoidance of sin, but until you
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take personal responsibility until what Paul would describe
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you have Godly sorrow or like David demonstrated.
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I have sinned against you God and you alone, you'll never
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experience the true. Humble repentance that will get
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you to the Des destination of forsaking sin.
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You always take a Serve it with you.
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You're always take a part of it with you until you really
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understand the severity of your sin, first toward God.
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And then toward others. Abraham here.
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He's repeating the same sin over and over again here. with his
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wife, the one that he loves the most He's such a place of
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walking. What we would call today Walking
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In the Flesh, the flesh life. Now, I know if you're new to the
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Bible, you need to Christianity. You think of the Flesh and you
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almost immediately think about the skin on your bones and
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sometimes the word in the Bible is used that way, but most
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often, when the flesh is used to describe your life or behavior
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following Jesus, it's speak a good way to remember the flow.
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Rush is to remember this phrase, the flesh equals old sinful
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habits. That's not a complete
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description of the flesh, but when a Christian operates and
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what we call, what the Bible calls the flush he or she is
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operating in a natural habitual way.
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That is not reflective of the will of God and so for many of
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us we were saved, we were born again later in life.
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I was in my early 20s so by the time I came to the place of
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being convicted of sin through the preaching of the Gospel.
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All the good news that Jesus Christ came to die for your sins
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and mine and the inviting me into relationship.
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By the time I got to that moment in time, I had lived a long life
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of rebellion against God and along the way, developed a lot
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of bad, sinful habits on how to deal with stuff, simple habits
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that included, avoidance sinful habits that included, not being
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honest, sinful habits that included drowning my issues and
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alcohol and drugs, sinful habits that That included anger or
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taking things into my own hands and then boom, that one midweek,
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Wednesday night evening, just like this responding to the
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gospel. I was immediately Born Again.
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In the Bible says, I'm a New Creation in Christ, old things
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have passed away, but one of the things that wasn't changed was
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my physical brain spiritually. A new man, but physically you
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couldn't tell the difference. Physically, you could look at me
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from one moment to the next and I had all the physical
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attributes that I had the moment before I was born again, and so
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spiritually. Now, I'm alive.
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I'm awakened to God spiritually. I now can understand the Bible
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because of you did, you know, the Bible itself?
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Says it can't be understood by anyone that isn't saved in
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relationship with God, that's why people get so frustrated the
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Bible. That's why when you tell and
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give a gift of a Bible to a unbelieving friend or co-worker,
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you direct them right to the Gospel of John because God uses
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supernaturally, the Gospel of John to bring about faith and
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unawareness and a conviction of synonym, Believers.
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And he will use everything about the life of Jesus to bring a
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person right to the end. And that's what the Gospel of
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John is to build Faith to bring people to Faith.
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It's a beautiful gift that God's given.
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So when you give a Bible Point, people to the Gospel of John is
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the most understandable. Oil and you follow along Jesus.
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So when you think to the time you were born again, physically,
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no major change. Spiritually, you're alive, which
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began a battle. In the Bible describes that as
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walking in the spirit, that's walking in the power of God or
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Walking In the Flesh. And I mean, if you were able to
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spend some time today, no matter if you had a good or a bad day,
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I'm certain, you could highlight something that you did or said
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or thought today, that reflected and old sinful habit pattern the
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way you've always handled things the way that you revert to some
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of you you avoid say you know Do you withdraw you don't want to
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deal with it and that worked for you sort of, I guess, kind of
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and when you were in the world but it really didn't work for
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you then and it definitely doesn't work for you.
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Now, because if you have conflict with someone, you have
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an issue with someone Jesus said, the spirit way, is you go
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to them. You and them alone, you share
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your grievance. If it's a brother or sister, if
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they hear you, you won your brother.
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If it's an unbeliever you that they get to witness the power of
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the Holy Spirit, trying to resolve something that they're
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probably not. I used to but if you blow it off
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and you go gossip about them and you get upset with them and you
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don't try to solve it, that's the flesh or Abraham.
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He doesn't quite have the spirit life that you and I have in the
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New Covenant, but he does have a contrast of following God, he
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knows what it is, like to hear God to obey God to intercede.
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He has a personal relationship with God or this And to lie
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again about his wife. I think we can.
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All agree was not from the Lord. Can I get an amen on that?
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So you as quick as you are for Abraham, learn to be quick on
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your own. And just say, hey, you know
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what, it's pretty clear what I did today, what I said today,
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what I thought today was not from you.
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God, you're not to come clean with us and stand up and say,
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amen. And I've got one and a men that
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I've got no, no, no, no. I already know you have one.
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Because I do too. I already know the point is not
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shame or humiliation, its freedom.
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When you confess your sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us
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and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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It is not shame to admit that we've sinned against a holy and
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righteous God, and neither, is it some guilt trip?
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When we tell someone to their face, hey, will you forgive me?
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It's freedom and all the things you think is freedom in your
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flesh is actually bondage. And self-deception and this is
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where Abraham is in this reminds of.
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So reminds me of our own Tendencies, Abraham reminds me
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how we can be delivered and we can be cleared and we can be
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encouraged and we can be set back on course by God himself
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intervening in our lives. Receiving our repentance for
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giving us cleansing us encouraging us.
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Only to find ourselves making the same mistakes.
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Again. We struggle with the flesh like
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Abraham because this is part of the battle.
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That's why the Bible tells us not to make any provision for
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the flesh. Because man, any time you feed
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the flesh, it's more hungry. It's never satisfied and never
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sits down there like a like after a a large Thanksgiving
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meal and say oh that was too much.
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The flesh. Never says, that's too much.
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And it will always take you farther and it will always take
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you beyond where you thought you would be.
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Will you ever come to that place in life where you want?
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You'll never struggle with your flesh.
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Know you'll never come to that place.
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It's a matter of fact, an indication from Paul's own life,
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Paul the Apostle, it seemed from his writings that the farther
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along that he was in the faith, the more aware of his weakness.
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He was And the more admitting he was.
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So that one of the final things, he writes of a man that God used
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to grade, these is I just, I'm the chief of Sinners.
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I mean, look at me. He writes again, if you want to
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jot it down in Romans chapter 7 about that internal struggle
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that he had the things he wanted to do.
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He didn't do and the things that he did, he didn't want to do.
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He just wrestled in this battle to follow Christ like you and
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like me and so notice In verse 3, God is going to rescue
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Abraham again. He says God came to abimelech in
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a Dream by night and said to him.
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Indeed you're a dead man because of the woman whom you've taken
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for she is a man's wife but abimelek and not come near her.
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And he said Lord which is a word of respect.
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Will you slay a righteous Nation?
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Also did he not say to me? She's my sister and she even,
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she herself said he's my brother in the Integrity of my heart and
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innocence of my hands. I have done this.
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I don't have a list of things like 10 things, the flesh does
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but if I did have a list by did develop it, this would be on the
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list when you operate in the flesh, you heard other people.
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Pool. When Christians Walk In the
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Flesh, Live In the Flesh, you heard other and I hesitate to
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use this word because I don't mean it in the salvific state,
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but you heard innocent people. Abimelech, just going through
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his life and, you know, this was probably an arrangement, not a
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romantic arrangement with Sarah. It's probably a more of a
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political, you know, kind of aligning himself with Abraham
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and and taking a wife into his Harem.
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It's not like a romantic thing here.
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However, he, he is that he's doing what was common in the day
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for an unbeliever. And now coming in contact with
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the man of Faith coming in contact with this friend of God,
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through this friend of God, sinful Behavior.
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He now has a put abimelek in a very bad place.
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In a worse place than he was before.
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Abraham came. As I was on the radio today,
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taking live calls, there was someone that called in an
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ominously to talk about the pain that hypocritical Christians
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certain group, I don't know who they were, but they can speak
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for all of our hypocrisies from time to time.
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But a group of hypocritical Christians that left a really
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bad taste in his son's mouth And now those hypocritical
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Christians who have come and gone, maybe they've repented,
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maybe they haven't, I don't know.
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But they moved on but the pain has stayed. and now his son is
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making bad decisions and in a position where he's justifying
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all his bad decisions because of some group of people, he met
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along the way that somehow misrepresented, Jesus, You know,
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I think don't have any ability to speak into their lives or
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anything, but I do have ability to speak into our lives and in
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our flesh damage is people, it hurts people.
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I mean, I know God will forgive and I know we'll get through it,
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but also a damages people. Can you imagine getting up
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waking up in the middle of the night?
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And God says you're a dead man. What?
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Yeah, you've got some ones wife. Well we did.
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That's not what he told me and now he's pleading for his life.
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I mean, here is Abraham, totally completely living in fear and in
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his flesh, he's even repeating a sent over which he learned an
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important lesson from He's putting a man in grave danger,
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but God is still faithful. God is faithful to intervene and
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to help him. God has so completely faithful.
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I've been using this phrase in my mind.
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God is so completely faithful and utterly reliable.
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There's no reason for us to test God and you know I think
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appalled by saying something like that and looking at
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Abraham's life is go. Well you know why not just might
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take my chances in the flesh don't take your chances in the
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flesh that's not what God is teaching us here.
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I think of what Paul wrote when he wrote I think it was to the
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Romans he He asked the question, shall we?
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Continue in sin that Grace May abound?
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And remember the new King James says, certainly not no way the
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grace of God is never an excuse to live in sin or to see how far
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we can get. But I love the gospel of grace.
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It's the grace of God that saved you, and me, I could think of so
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many times where God has blessed me when I have not been in the
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most least position of deserving it as Abraham's here.
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He's disease, receiving the blessing of God, God is
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literally saving his life rescue me from his own decisions,
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delivering him from his fear. I think of so many times gods,
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Blessings in my life in your life because of his grace,
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unmerited undeserved that would never, you know, we don't want
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to find ourselves receiving the grace of God, in vain.
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But rather responding in love and surrender.
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Drawing closer to him notice. In verse 5, it says, didn't he
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say to me? She's my sister and she even,
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she herself said, he's my brother again.
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Who else gets damaged here? His wife Because now she's going
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along with it. It says in the Integrity of my
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heart, this is the this is abimelek and the innocence of my
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hands I've done this and God said to him in a dream.
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Yes, I know that you did this thing and integrity of your
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heart and I also withheld you from sinning against me.
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Therefore, I did not let you touch her.
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This is God's hand in the background.
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The Unseen hand of God and Emma looks life.
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And how about in our lives, how modern our lives were god holds
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us back from sinning against him.
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He holds us back from Sydney. And, and then, you think we'll
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wait a minute said that start. Well, will we, will will read a
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simple truth, like that in the scriptures and then what we will
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do, will complicate it by saying we'll wait a minute.
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What about the sovereignty of God?
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And the Free Will of, man. And how about, we argue about
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that and forget about the gracious power of God in
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preventing you. However, he wants to do it, 99%
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him and one part of your free will 99% your feet.
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However, God wants to condescend.
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To your life and mine to hold me back from sin.
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There's only one response to that and that is, thank you
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Lord. Thank you for your graciousness
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and how many of us in our own testimony can think back of the
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years where we were in Rebellion, maybe some of you in
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a prodigal life or just things that as an unbeliever believer,
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and you think back as bad as it was just how gracious God was
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and not allowing it to get worse.
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And it just melts our hearts. And so God is speaking to him.
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Notice in verse 7. It says now therefore restore
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the man's wife for. He is a Prophet, this is the
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first mention of the word prophet of the title prophet.
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Abraham is a prophet. He's a spokesman for God
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speaking forth, the word of God, to the people of God, and also
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to the unbelieving world. So, restore the man's wife.
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He's a prophet, he will pray for you and you will live.
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If you do not restore her know that you will surely die and all
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who are yours. So abimelech Rose early in the
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morning called all his servants told.
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All these things in their hearing in the men were very
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afraid and abimelech called Abraham and said to him.
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What have you done to us? How have I offended you?
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That you brought on me and all my kingdom of great sin.
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You have done Deeds to me, that ought not to be done.
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And abimelech, verse 10 said, Abraham, what did you have in
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view that you have done this thing and Abraham said, because
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I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place that they
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will kill me on account of my wife.
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And that's where we come to the conclusion that Abraham acted in
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fear once again, same reason. He valued life.
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This was an example. He valued his own life over
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trust in God. Jesus would teach us something
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very similar, he who seeks to save his life will lose it.
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You seeks to lose, it will gain it.
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Notice in verse 12. Indeed, she's truly is my
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sister, she's the daughter of my father but not the daughter of
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my mother and she became my wife.
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And so again, we talked about this in the last time he did
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this. The reality of the distant
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relations of being half sister. Yes.
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But that did not take precedent over.
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She was his wife not was the primary relationship and he
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dismisses it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my
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father's house. Verse 13 that I said to her.
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This is your kindness that you should do for me and every place
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wherever we go. Save me.
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He is my brother and so that's his explanation.
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God intervenes so lame explanation, but that's what
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Abraham's feeling at the moment, verse 14, abimelech, took sheep,
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oxen, and male, and female servants, gave them to Abraham
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and He restored, Sarah, his wife to him and abimelech said, see
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my land is before you dwell where it pleases you and saris.
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He said, behold I have given your A thousand pieces of silver
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and deed this vindicate to you before all who are with you
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before all the others and thus she was reproved.
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So Abraham now praise to God and God healed abimelech, his wife
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and his maid servants and they bore children in the Lord, had
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closed up all the rooms of the House of abimelech, because of
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Sarah, Abraham's wife. Again, I'm encouraged.
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As God tells abimelech. I didn't let you sin.
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I didn't let you touch her another picture of God's
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faithfulness when Victory comes force in how easy it is for us
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to take credit for the power of God in our lives.
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How to take credit for? Well, I quit this or I tried
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this or I did this as the primary reason instead of giving
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God all the glory for the great things he has done.
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And I believe it's just one of those things.
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We won't know how active God was in our lives.
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Preventing us from further damage until we meet him face to
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face. I think it's going to be an
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amazing surprise of Heaven of just how active God has And in
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our lives because he is faithful, even when we are
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faithless, he doesn't deny himself.
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One last thing. Would you turn over to First
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Samuel chapter 15 with me, please for Samuel 15.
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A couple last things in the next few minutes.
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The first one is a reminder that the fear of man brings a snare.
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We've seen this come up a few times in Abraham's wife and
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perhaps is just an area where it's a continual need for us to
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lay before the Lord. But in 1st, Samuel 15 notice in
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verse 22, King Saul was given a command He was told to destroy
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the amalekites. Destroy them all.
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And his response was partial bead Ians.
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And God sends the prophet Samuel to confront and pick up with me
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in verse 22, for Samuel 15 in verse 22.
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Samuel tells Saul has the Lord as great Delight in burnt
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offerings. And sacrifices as in obeying,
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the voice of the Lord behold to obey, is better than sacrifice.
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And to heed than the fat of Rams for Rebellion is as the sin of
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Witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
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And because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he also
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has rejected. Adieu from being King and notice
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Saul's response. In verse 24, then Saul said to
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Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the
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Commandment of the Lord in your words because I feared the
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people and obeyed their voice. The fear of man, or a true
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cowardice. That's not tempered by the
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presence of God by faith. In our lives is a terrible
34:38
thing. It led Peter to deny the Lord it
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leads. King Saul did disobey get leads
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Abraham to sell out his wife and it can and will lead many of us
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into sad and miserable compromises.
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This unhealthy cowardice and fear, especially the fear of
35:00
man. And I know it's hard and
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becoming increasingly more challenging to stand strong in
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the crowds of the world today for the things of Christ.
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It seems like the oppression and the resistance and the
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difficulties are mounting like never before.
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I mean, people are just there's no more restraint, just calling
35:22
you names. I mean getting fired in the tip
35:25
of the, you know, and it just in a instant, giving bad
35:29
assignments, extra work, your ridiculed, your made fun of an
35:34
outcast. I mean on and on the list goes,
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you get kicked out of your house, you lose possessions, you
35:40
lose jobs all for the name of Christ, but we were taught
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remember in Hebrews that there is a cloud of witnesses that
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have gone before. Russ, men, that men and women
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that have given their lives for the faith.
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I mean, we went through the whole Hall of faith and then at
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the end, there were even people that weren't even worthy there.
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An unnamed of all the people that have gone before us, that
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have faced some of the things you faced and even worse.
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And so did, they were reminded with the Flesh of Abraham that
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in the spirit that were to stand strong in the confidence of the
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Lord. Your to stand strong.
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God will be your Defender. The psalmist said, when I cry
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out to you Psalm, 56, then my enemies will turn back this.
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I know, because God is for me. The other thing that I see here
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before we closes Abraham's out of this situation, God rescues
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him before it gets any worse and then He blesses them.
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Not only need to bless them to get them out of it, but then he
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leaves with all this stuff and some of you read the Bible.
36:52
With that sense of you do good, you get good, you do bad, you
36:55
get bad, this chapter bothers you and chapters like it it
36:59
bothers you. Because it's very
37:02
counterintuitive to how we behave and sometimes how we
37:06
treat each other, but it's counterintuitive because it's
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very instructive of the ways of God.
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There is blessing in Abraham's life, even through great
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failure. Now in Christ, it's the same
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thing. It's not that we can avoid all
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the consequences but sometimes God's even gracious with the
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consequences. but what you so we know you'll what we sow to the
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flesh, we're going to reap corruption in Galatians, but
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also if we sow to the spirit will reap Everlasting line,
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That's truth goes both ways but I see here that not only is he
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rescued, what? He's given more things.
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Now remember, part of the story in Abraham mean the significant
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story actually isn't about Abraham at all.
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It's about the seed. Messiah.
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God is setting up the pathway and the lineage for messiah to
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come to even rescue Abraham from this synth.
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To atone for the fullness of his life.
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His and Ours. And he didn't deserve any of
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these animals. They didn't belong to him, they
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didn't deserve any of this money, he didn't earn it, he
38:23
didn't work for it, he didn't do anything but except the exact
38:27
opposite. Even God giving lot of way out.
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He doesn't take it. Although he does get out.
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He loses everything but Abraham has a pattern of taking the way
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out that God gives him. And that leads him in a much
38:44
better Direction than lot. And just, like Paul said, no
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temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to,
38:50
man, but with every Temptation what has God given us?
38:54
A way of escape a way out? Take it quickly, follow
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Abraham's example in that. And I think with possessions you
39:06
know in the don't ever think your prosperity and financial
39:09
successes have anything to do with your cleverness or your
39:13
business dealings, or how good you are at something, your
39:16
entrepreneurial Spirit, or whatever it is.
39:18
That's being built up today. Don't think that God can change
39:22
anything in a moment. In a heartbeat.
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Your stocks could go down, don't even look.
39:30
Don't even check your 401k, if you have, don't even look, your
39:34
bank account can be emptied in a heartbeat.
39:37
Everything that you trust in and it's not just for materially
39:41
rich people. It's for all of us that we
39:44
wouldn't trust in uncertain riches.
39:46
The Bible says, but to trust in the Lord, and if he wants to
39:50
bless you, he'll take care of business, ask Abraham. and if he
39:54
wants to take everything away, he'll take care of business.
39:59
A slot. Either way.
40:04
His blessings are designed to build us up spiritually and
40:08
we're reminded that every good gift and every perfect gift is
40:11
from above. It comes to us from the Father
40:14
of Lights with whom. There is no variation, no,
40:17
shadow of turning. And he trusts us, he trusts you
40:21
with his resources, his gifts, his talents, that personality,
40:26
you have has been given to you on loan by God.
40:30
To be used for his glory. That willingness to open your
40:34
house that's been given to you by God.
40:37
That money though, that does all of that is from the Lord.
40:43
And it's his we're just Stewart's.
40:46
So for Abraham with him it won't take long from him to go from
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the valley of Despair. This really difficult chapter to
40:55
the mountaintops of success. God is going to take them very
40:58
quickly and I just think about, you might be in the valley
41:00
despair right now and you think you know, I've been, I've been
41:03
away from the Lord for ten years.
41:05
So, I've got to fight back, ten years.
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I'm going to give it all ten years and one day and then I can
41:10
experience the blessings of God. No, no!
41:13
Quick that word that was lame. There you go, for you guys
41:19
listening. That was supposed to be a snap
41:21
of my fingers but a very lame. One at that.
41:24
You're in that place where you think you got to go 10 years and
41:27
one day to somehow earn back, God's favor, he's is no, no no.
41:30
You come today, one decision. One choice and you'll read ahead
41:36
as you see in his life how quickly he begins to live in The
41:41
Bounty of the blessing of God. So father thank you for the
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warnings today or the encouragement or however it is
41:47
that you would want to use this text in our lives.
41:50
We know that you are wanting to help us understand the Beauty
41:57
and the glory, and the Majesty of your faithfulness.
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That you might. Give.
42:07
Of your Abundant Blessings to a men and women boys and girls
42:11
children that would receive them.
42:15
And Lord is your shaping and molding, our thoughts.
42:19
And our thinking about you helping us to adapt our life to
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the spirit life, to die to ourselves and to our flesh.
42:30
May we receive Abraham's warning today?
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Yes, he was delivered and yes he leaves more Bountiful but he had
42:38
one more we never find out how hurt and damage, Sarah, really
42:45
was We never we don't get the full background story of what
42:50
kind of conflict this continued in his home or what sort of
42:55
little things he had to deal with as a man.
43:00
And we just don't want to find out in our own lives Lord.
43:02
So lead us in the way of everlasting Deliver Us from
43:06
foolish thinking compromise positions situations, where we
43:12
might respond in the fear of, man.
43:14
Or just fear period. That we might walk in your
43:18
confidence because we agree with you that God.
43:22
You haven't given us a spirit of fear.
43:26
But you given us a spirit of power and love and even a sound
43:29
mind, we can think clearly about a situation and have Clarity.
43:35
And I just pray right now for those that might be waiting for
43:37
clarity that you would God give them the patients through the
43:42
fruit of your Holy Spirit, long-suffering to wait for the
43:45
clarity. To not make any big decisions
43:50
on, maybe it's a bad day, or fearful day.
43:56
And may you be among us, God may we be among you.
44:00
A true growing community of love and service to one another.
44:05
Not just Bible students. But friends of God.
44:09
Learning your ways but applying them in our lives, in Jesus
44:14
name. Amen.
44:16
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible.
44:18
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44:22
prayer. Call us at 877, 30 Grace.
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Church or download our free Calvary Church app be blessed as
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