Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 306 | Conversations - The Armor of God - The Belt of Truth

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306 | Conversations - The Armor of God - The Belt of Truth · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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  well in John chapter four.
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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,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen Your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living her life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  In this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
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  join Kim Miller and Erica Close in a conversation as we walk with Jesus.
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  In today's conversation, we continue our series on wearing the armor of God
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  as we journey through life.
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  In today's podcast, we continue our study of Ephesians 6, 10 through 17,
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  and chat about wearing the belt of truth.
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  Well, hello, everyone, and thank you to this week's podcast. My name is Erica Close.
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  Hello, and I'm Kim Miller. Thank you for joining us as we look a little deeper
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  into the armor of God so that we, as his children,
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  as his ambassadors, and as his warriors, are able to withstand the fiery darts
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  of the devil. Absolutely.
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  So the armor of God is found in Ephesians chapter 6, and I'm just going to read
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  Ephesians 6, 10 through 17.
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  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
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  Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
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  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
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  against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
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  against spiritual wickedness in high places.
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  Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand
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  in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
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  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the
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  breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
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  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench
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  all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the
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  sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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  So today, as Kim said, we are talking about the belt of truth.
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  The passage in Ephesians 14 talks about having your loins girt about with truth.
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  But when we describe that, we commonly talk about it as the belt.
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  So as we look at our scripture today and begin to think about how a belt works,
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  a belt holds everything up.
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  It holds it tight.
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  It's what secured the only weapon in the armor of God, which we will talk about
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  soon, which is the sword of the Spirit.
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  But when you think of a belt, it holds things together. It holds things tight.
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  And it allows you to not worry about losing something because it stays tight on you.
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  And so when we begin to think about the belt of truth and we look at what truth
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  is, the Bible says in John chapter 14 and verse 6,
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  he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
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  So Jesus himself is truth.
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  And we see in John 1, 14 that he says, And the word was made flesh and dwelt.
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  Among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
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  Father, full of grace and truth.
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  So what we realize is that Jesus is truth.
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  The word of God is Jesus in written form.
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  That's how we learn about him. It's how we know who he is.
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  That's how we understand the characteristics of him and thereby understand the
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  characteristics of God.
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  It is there that we learn who the Holy Spirit is and how he is a companion with us.
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  It's there where we learn the promises of God, such as he will never leave us or forsake us.
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  And so when we begin to understand what truth is, we understand that the foundation
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  of truth is Jesus Christ.
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  And so when we have our faith in Jesus, then we have begun to spend everything
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  else in our life around him.
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  We are guaranteed to be living in the truth.
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  And when you want to know what is truth and what is a lie, you look to the scriptures.
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  If it's in alignment with the scriptures, then it is truth. It is contrary to
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  the scriptures, then it is false.
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  And that is the simple, direct way of testing all things concerning whether
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  it be true or whether it be false.
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  If God is in it and it lines up with his word, it is true.
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  If it is contrary to what you know to be true that God says,
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  does, and has us to do, you know it to be false.
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  And we prove that within Scripture itself with John 14, 6 and John 1, 14.
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  So it's incredibly great that
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  as we talk about what's going to hold it all together is Jesus Christ.
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  And he's that belt of truth. And he holds us together.
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  He holds the world together. together and he allows all things to be done in his order.
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  It may not be our order or our will, but it's done in his order.
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  And it's that belt of truth that holds it all together.
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  I love that the belt of truth secures us to Jesus. Amen.
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  Right. It secures me to him. And I think it's also serves as a reminder of what you spoke about,
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  that we have to sift all things through scripture to find the truth,
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  because we know that the devil is constantly going to be telling us lie after
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  lie after lie. That's how he works.
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  Right? He is constantly lying to us, causing us to not understand truth,
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  to see a lie over truth, and thus to then follow him instead of following Jesus.
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  So if we have the belt of truth and we are securely tied to Jesus,
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  we're ever closer to that truth.
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  So it should be even easier for us to sift that truth out from the lies.
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  You know, I was reading in John chapter 18 when Jesus is talking to Pilate.
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  And in 1837 we read.
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  And I love that, because the truth of who God is, the truth of who the Holy
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  Spirit is, the truth of who Jesus is, all of that existed forever.
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  Truth is truth. And it's been around for as long as God himself has been around, forever. ever.
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  But Jesus came to this world to be the earthly embodiment of all of that truth.
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  And he carried it at all times well.
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  And he carried it and he interpreted the truth for us.
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  When he taught and he talked in parables and he taught his disciples and he
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  had conversations with people, it's like he was the earthly demonstration of
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  the truth of that God had already spoken.
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  Created. And so we have no excuse for understanding the truth because it's been
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  interpreted to us in human fashion, right?
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  It's not hidden from us.
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  Because he demonstrated it, had it written for us and puts the Holy Spirit in
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  us to teach us and lead us and guide us in all truth.
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  Because in In John 17, 17, he speaks of his word being true.
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  At the end of John 18, 37, he says, Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
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  If we are of Jesus, we are of the truth.
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  And his voice, which is the voice of the Holy Spirit, is in us. We can hear the truth.
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  We just have to have ourselves tuned to listen to it.
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  It doesn't mean like every time we have a question about whether something is
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  truth, that we have to come home and go through every single scripture in our Bibles.
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  When we know Jesus and we have the Holy Spirit in us and we know his word,
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  the Holy Spirit can use his word to let us know what is truth and what is a lie.
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  And it's interesting what you said, when we know his word.
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  And you're right. We're responsible for all of it.
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  However, many of us don't even study it. Right.
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  And 2 Timothy 2.15 gives us that charge that we're to study.
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  To show ourselves approved unto God. A workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
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  Rightly dividing the word of truth. And that, my friend, is what he's asking us to do.
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  And so the Holy Spirit brings to mind those things that we have need of when we have need of them.
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  But they have to be in there. You can't remember what you never knew.
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  You can learn what you never ever knew, but you cannot remember.
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  And he says he brings to remembrance those things.
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  And it's interesting to me how you were talking about how he said that those
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  that were in him, you know, everyone that is of the truth, hears the word.
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  And that's why the word falls on stony ground to the world, because their heart
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  isn't conditioned by Jesus.
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  Jesus Holy Spirit isn't dwelling in them and
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  they don't have fertile soil also there's
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  a difference about what we mean when we're talking about hearing in this instance
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  in the scripture what he's saying is those who hear and do it so you can let
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  words come through your ears and even process the meaning but he's saying those
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  who hear it process the meaning and then demonstrate.
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  It in their lives.
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  And so the people who are hearers,
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  Can't just be hearing. They've got to be hearers and doers of the word.
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  And we see that in scripture later.
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  But he's talking about you hear him when you know him because you've placed
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  your faith in him and you're demonstrating the commandments he's asked you to live.
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  Absolutely. You know, it's interesting. Last week, when we were talking about
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  the shield of faith, I talked about how I had been thinking a lot about how
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  when we're in a situation,
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  we're called to completely live as if we were full of faith.
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  I talked about how I have been thinking a lot lately, you know,
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  if I was completely full of faith, how would I be responding in this situation?
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  And I've thought about that ever since we recorded that podcast, which was a week ago.
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  And I was thinking just today about that and then thinking about,
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  you know, this concept of truth that we were talking about.
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  And it made me think, you know, what would our lives look like if we were 100% sold out,
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  believing that every single word in this Bible that I hold up right here, every word was true.
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  This was the ultimate truth.
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  What would our lives look like? What would our world look like?
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  It wouldn't look like it looks now. Well, if you think about it,
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  in Mark 9, 23, it says, all things are possible to him that believeth.
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  It gives us a parable about the mustard seed and having enough faith.
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  So if we were all living, as you're asking, with faith-filled lives to the degree
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  that he's asking us, wow, how powerful we would be.
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  And how we would be so...
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  Without doubt. And we would we would have we'd have no cortisol in our lives
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  because there'd be no stress. There'd be no stress.
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  There would be no anxiety.
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  And if we believed all the truth to the point we were talking about before,
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  we would have we would be living as if we know the truth. Which I believe would
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  draw all men unto him because he is truth.
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  And he says, if you lift me up, I'll draw all men unto him.
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  And the people that would be coming to him would be happening in droves. Absolutely.
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  That's incredible. Well, I want to take us to the Old Testament for a moment, Erica.
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  All right. And I want to look specifically at Psalms 25, verse 5, that says this.
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  He says in 25, 5.
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  In this psalm, the psalmist David is talking about his confidence in prayer
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  and how he's praying for help in a time of affliction.
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  But I want to read the verses surrounding that verse 5.
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  In verse 4, he says, show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths.
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  And the psalmist David then opens up in that next verse, as I just read you, to lead him in truth.
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  So he's saying that the paths of Jesus are truth.
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  And we know that because we read in your hearing John 14, 6,
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  which said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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  And no man comes to the Father but by him. So when we follow him.
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  Our end result is being in front of God.
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  And when we see this, he's saying, lead me, show me.
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  Now, when we ask the Lord to show us something, I wonder what we do on our part to be able to see.
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  Are you opening up the word of God and allowing him to speak to you in ways
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  like you've never heard him before?
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  Are you seeking him with your whole heart, which he says you will find him?
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  Are you loving him with your whole mind, heart, strength, body, everything you have?
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  And are you finally being still and knowing that he is God?
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  It's more than just words and lip service.
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  We have to purpose our heart. We have to submit our will.
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  And we have to open our mind to the truths of God. so then that we can follow
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  him and that he can lead us in truth and he can teach us.
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  But it all starts with recognizing that he is God.
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  And you can't have the faith we're talking about without having a personal relationship with Jesus.
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  And you can't have a personal relationship with Jesus without believing in him.
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  And when you believe in him, you receive his gift of salvation.
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  You know, I love that concept that you just talked about. It's big, right?
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  It's big and it's important. It's about how, I think,
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  how big God is and how we cannot deny who He is and deny His power and deny
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  His authority and deny that He is truth in any way. And it takes me to.
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  The book of Hebrews. And in Hebrews chapter 6, it's all about faith,
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  but it talks about truth. It talks about God being the God of truth.
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  And in Hebrews 6.18, it says that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie,
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  we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.
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  As Christians, we have the absolute faith in God and in his Son, Jesus.
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  And when we believe in truth and we believe that God is truth,
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  we believe that all the things that God has said are truth.
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  And it's not just truth because he said it.
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  It's truth because it's impossible that he could ever say anything that wasn't truth.
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  That's not an option with God.
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  God only says truth.
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  And in this verse, it sets forth that it's impossible that God could lie,
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  that everything that God says is truth. But then the verse talks about the why,
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  to give us a consolation, right?
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  To come after us, to give us a place to go.
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  Those of us who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Praise God.
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  Right. He gave us the hope. The hope that is set before us is Jesus, right?
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  We have Jesus as the promise of eternal life, as the promise of heaven,
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  as the promise of a life lived with the Lord.
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  But he did all of that. He spoke all of this truth,
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  speaking the world into existence, speaking all this truth that we might have
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  a consolation that in spite of this world, we have a hope that hope's name is
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  Jesus and we can lay hold of him.
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  We can reach out and touch him.
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  And it comes down to this practical concept of, do you believe he's truth?
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  You have to believe he's truth. And if we believe he's truth,
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  it's easy to place our faith in that.
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  I think truth and faith are intricately intertwined. Yes.
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  But you place your faith in what you know is going to happen.
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  You've placed your faith in what you believe to be true. Exactly.
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  So if you really believe he's true, then there's some things we need to probably check out in our lives.
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  And that comes down to Romans 8, 28. And this is a great verse.
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  And you can bank on it in good times, bad times, and all times in between.
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  But it's clearly easier to bank on in the good times. But he says this, and we know.
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  Now, see, I love it that he doesn't say it could be, or I think this might be the case, or I heard.
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  He says, and we know. No.
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  And before we pillow our head to bed tonight, we need to come to that same conclusion that we know.
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  And here's what he knows, that all things, not the things we like,
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  not the things that are easy on us, not the things that we would choose.
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  Not the good things only. But he says, we know all things.
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  They work together. The good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between,
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  they work together for good to them that love God.
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  To them who are called according to his purpose.
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  Every born-again believer has been called called to do a work for the Lord.
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  Every individual who was ever born has been called to serve Him,
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  but not everyone has accepted the call.
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  Though when you understand that God is truth, that Jesus is true,
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  He is the way, by placing our faith in Him, we receive the free gift of salvation,
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  and we know that we have a home not made with hands eternal into the heavens.
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  When we understand that truth, what we're saying is our life and what he chooses
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  to allow in it, the blessings he gives,
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  the trials and tribulations that come our way,
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  all of it works together for the amazing call he has on our lives.
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  And the amazing blessings he has for us and to mold us and make us into who he would have us to be.
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  So before we pillow our head on tonight for bed,
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  we got to shore up the faith that we know that he's true and that he said he'd
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  never leave us nor forsake us and that everything that comes our way is a stepping
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  stone to the glory he's creating in us, for us.
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  And that we would be. It is my prayer that you know him, that you know he is
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  truth, and that you are committed to following him.
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  It is our hope that you'll take a few minutes, shore up your faith,
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  that you sit in Romans 8, 28, and you can honestly speak, we know.
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  Happiness is circumstantial. Joy is not.
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  Joy comes from the Lord, and joy comes in the morning. Remember you are loved.
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  Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  Thank you to the gospel group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  Music.