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491 | Forgetting the Past and Moving Forward · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman
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  at the Well Ministries, where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus
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  like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org, we invite you to sit down with us as we look
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  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living a life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  The Lord has said he has come to give you an abundant life.
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  He has explained that you can do all things in his strength and with his supplied resources.
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  Yet we let Satan beat us down with our past. Join us in this broadcast of Woman
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  at the Well Ministries as Kim takes us on a journey through the scriptures,
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  revealing that our guilt is gone and the future is ours.
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  Truly, the best is yet to come.
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  Hello, and thank you again for joining us as we look through this passage of
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  scripture in the book of Philippians in chapter 3, beginning in verse 13, including verse 14.
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  He says, Brethren, I count not myself to apprehended, but this one thing I do,
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  forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before.
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  Press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
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  What an absolutely uplifting and encouraging passage of Scripture.
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  It amazes me how easily the devil will grab our attention and begin to beat
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  us using the weapon of our past.
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  It's so amazing how effective the devil is at stopping us in our tracks by using
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  the memory of our errors.
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  But as we go through the scriptures today, I want you to open up your heart.
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  And allow your mind to be filled with the scriptures, the very words of Jesus Christ.
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  Because God was made man of flesh, and he walked among men, and he dwelt among
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  us, and the word was his flesh.
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  And Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, with the divine orchestration
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  of God Almighty, penned these words.
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  And he's told us some very important things.
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  And each of these things that he tells us in the book of Philippians 3, verses 13 and 14,
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  is our defense against one of the most effective weapons the devil has in his arsenal.
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  And that is merely our past.
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  And he uses it so well that we don't realize it's him that's using it.
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  We just think it's us remembering.
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  But I want to present a fact to you. And that fact is this.
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  Jesus didn't make any junk. And he didn't throw the mold away.
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  And he didn't throw the clay away. When we make mistakes, he puts a little pressure on us.
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  And that pressure molds us and moves us to be more of what he wants us to be.
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  But rest assured, he never threw the clay away.
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  And when Jesus looks at you, he sees your potential of who you can be in him.
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  It is irrelevant what you did in your flesh and in your own strength.
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  But the day that you came to Jesus Christ, humbly and on your knees.
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  And you come to him recognizing that you were a sinner in need of a savior.
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  I want you to know that when you came to him and you laid to him your burden
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  of sin, it wasn't just the good things you had done in the flesh.
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  You knelt before the God of the universe.
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  And you handed him your broken pieces. You handed him your mistakes.
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  You handed him the errors of your way. You handed him the blackened parts of your heart.
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  You handed him your past. And he handed you your future.
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  Your past belonged to you. And in the book of Romans, I believe it is in the
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  sixth chapter, he says, sin hath no more dominion over us.
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  And we are no longer servants to sin. And the reason we're no longer servants
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  to sin is because on that day,
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  when you realized you were a
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  sinner and you accepted the saving grace of Jesus Christ and his sinless,
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  perfect blood cleansed you from all unrighteousness,
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  he covered your past and he cleaned your blackened heart.
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  And when he looks at you, he sees his blood and he sees his potential and he
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  sees what you can do in him.
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  He sees what you can do through him. He sees the mighty work of his glory expressed
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  in the modification of your life.
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  When Jesus looks at you, he says, behold, father, this is my child. Did you hear me?
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  When you came to the cross that day and you knelt, you handed him your past.
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  And he said, my child, my child.
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  And he called you by name. Do you remember in John chapter 11.
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  Mary and Martha are doing their stuff.
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  And Jesus says to Martha, Martha, Martha, when Lazarus in John chapter 11 was dead.
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  Oh, listen to me, folks. When Lazarus was dead, But he said, Lazarus, come forth.
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  And when you came to the throne of God with your burdened heart.
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  Lifting it up to Jesus and asking him to save your soul, you were dead in your trespasses and sins.
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  And no matter who you are, no matter where you were,
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  no matter what you were doing just moments before meeting the King of Kings
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  and the Lord of Lords, he called you by name and he said Kim I died for you give me your heart.
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  And give me your life, and I will give you life.
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  Because in John chapter 10, he says that the thief comes to steal.
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  See, this is what Satan's come to do. He's come to take away your joy.
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  He's come, and also, also in vain, to take away your hope.
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  For my hope is not built in me,
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  but it's built in nothing less than Jesus Christ and his righteousness.
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  And my hope is in Jesus. So he can't take my hope, but he'll steal my joy if
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  I lay it out there for him to steal.
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  If I've got my head in the wrong place, which is not in the word of God,
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  and not worshiping and praising him, and not dwelling upon the promises that he's given me,
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  and if I allow the devil to linger in my mind and chat with me as Eve did in the garden.
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  The weapon of people's past will nail
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  you i'm a blessed individual and
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  that the god of the universe found me and i
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  didn't run when i was very young and i was saved when i was five but i've made
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  mistakes i've made errors and i know who i am and satan will look at me and
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  say to me you can't do that but he doesn't do it in a way that i know who he
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  is he's not standing there in red underpants with horns out of his head.
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  It's in a form of friends or acquaintances, or in a quiet still of the night, or when I'm afraid.
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  And he just starts talking. And it's so amazing to me.
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  We give so much time to the devil and very little to God.
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  For some of us, before the last amen on the Sunday morning serving is said,
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  we already got our minds going on what lunch is.
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  Hope we beat the Methodist church out down the road so we can get to the best
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  tables in the restaurant.
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  We've already checked out because Satan has checked in.
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  And we gave him the key to our mind, said, have it, talk to me.
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  And when he gets in, he doesn't have good things to say because you see,
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  the Lord said he'd come to steal, but he said, I have come to give you life.
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  And not just any life, my friend, but an abundant life.
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  My friends, there was a lot took place in that moment in time when you received
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  Jesus Christ as your Savior.
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  And don't ever forget that he took you just as you were.
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  And he took your faults and your mistakes and he cast them into the sea of forgetfulness
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  as far as the east is from the west.
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  And as it has been said, and I've always loved, he stuck a sign up right in the center of it.
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  And I heard it the other day attributed to Corrie Ten Boom. And he said, no fishing.
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  I don't know who said it, but it's a divine truce.
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  God remembers them no more. And he chose to take you just as you are.
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  And he didn't say from this day forward, you have to be perfect.
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  He did do the, from this day forward, I'll take you to have and to hold.
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  He didn't say anything but having to be perfect.
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  Because in 1 John 1, 9, he says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and
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  just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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  You see, Paul tells me I need to forget those things which are behind and reach.
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  Do you hear me? These are active verbs.
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  This requires some action
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  on our part we need
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  to forget about the past do you
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  really think that god is powerful
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  enough to take you from here to
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  a place you've never seen through the portals of
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  death but he can't get over your
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  past he's willing to
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  let you come and live in a home not made with
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  hands eternal into the heavens a mansion that he
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  has built for you he says in my father's house
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  are many mansions and if it were not so i would have told you not go
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  to prepare a place for you that where i am you may be also you think.
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  He would invite you to his house if he thought you weren't worthy to be there
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  no because through his blood you are worthy do you think his blood is so powerless
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  that it can only forgive the little things and by the way what you may think
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  is little may be big things to other people. But I got good news for you.
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  Sin is sin in God's eyes. He makes no differentials. They're all covered by the blood.
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  And Paul says that he knows one thing. I don't know it all.
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  Which would be a really good place maybe for us all just to park for a while
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  and realize that we don't know it all.
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  I don't pretend to know the scriptures. Every word.
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  Every principle. But I do know that the mysteries of God are revealed to those
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  who seek him. Because he says, seek and ye shall find.
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  Ask and ye shall receive.
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  Knock and it shall be given unto you. In a little different order in Matthew
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  7, 7. But that's what he says.
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  And he does a lot. And he says, the mysteries of God are revealed in the word.
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  And I can truly know God because I can truly know Jesus.
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  Because from Genesis to Revelations, that's what it's talking about.
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  And he reveals himself to me every time I read.
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  So truthfully, what I don't know in the word of God is my fault.
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  And there's some things I don't fully understand, but I don't have to understand.
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  I just got to believe. I just need to know.
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  I need to know that he's God. He's God in Genesis and he's God in Revelations.
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  He's even God in Amos and Obadiah.
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  I may not know what he says real well in that. Maybe you don't.
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  But there's stuff in there.
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  Stuff that you're accountable for stuff to enrich you and make you grow,
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  but plus is I don't know it all but this I know forget those things which are behind,
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  that means we need to let our past go in doing so that means we need to let
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  the sins of our past go you need to let the activities,
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  of your sinful past go you no longer need to be hanging out.
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  In places of iniquity. Strong drink has no place in your life.
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  Gambling. The only gambling that needs to be in our life is getting out and getting in the car.
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  Gambling whether today I'm putting my life in his hands and we're going to heaven,
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  or I'm going to go to work and I'm going to come home.
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  But it's not a gamble, because I place my life in his hands,
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  and I'm going to end up exactly where he wants me to go.
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  And if I'm where he wants me to go, there's joy unspeakable and full of glory,
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  a peace that passes all understanding.
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  But I've got to forget my past. And that means we need to forget the mistakes.
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  But it also means we need to forget the sinful, wicked ways of the flesh.
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  They no longer have dominion over us. Oh, my friends.
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  In Philippians 4, 13, and 19, he tells us that we can do all things through
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  Christ which strengthens us, and he tells us that he'll supply all of our needs
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  according to his riches. Isn't that nice?
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  You know, accountants are so big on numbers, and they're exact.
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  I'm so glad that my accountant is Jesus Christ, and I'm so glad that he said,
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  I'll supply all of your needs according to my riches in glory.
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  Don't worry about the zeros. Don't worry about the decimal points.
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  Don't worry about the stuff coming in. You listen, you obey,
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  you trust, and I guarantee you, it will work.
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  But we have to be prudent with what God gives us. And we have to obey.
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  And we have to give when he says give, even if it seems like it hurts.
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  You know what really hurts is when you don't.
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  God has a purpose for Woman at the Well Ministries, and it's to spread the love
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  of God, the grace and the mercy to make him real to all people.
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  My job, he's called me on how thankful and blessed and honored I am to be someone
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  who's able to tell you the things that he tells me.
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  This thing I know, I don't know it all, but I know what he told me.
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  He said, do it. It's your job to help me get it done.
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  I can't worry about that. We need to keep the past in the past.
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  And we need to be new creatures. In 1 Corinthians 5, 17, he says,
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  Behold, old things are passed away and all things are become new.
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  I'm a new creature in Christ Jesus.
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  So it's active. The first thing he says is forget the past and reach forth unto
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  those things which are before us.
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  Truly, the best is yet to come. Heaven awaits the child of God.
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  The crystal seas, the golden avenue, the pearly gates, the angels singing,
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  the prophets of old, friends and family who have gone on before.
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  Hey, but did I tell you the sun never sets because Jesus Christ,
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  the Lamb of God, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings is the sun and he shines all the time.
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  And you no longer have to access through him,
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  through the Holy Spirit, you're looking face to face at the Lamb of God who
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  died for you, who took you just as you are. But you gotta reach.
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  You see, somebody somewhere got messed up and thought that Christianity was a spectator sport.
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  And you sit on the bench, you'll, yay, Jesus.
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  Good job, Holy Spirit. it.
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  No, we were called to serve. We were called to work in his army.
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  We were privileged to be part of his plan.
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  We need to carry the ball. We need to hold the word of God deep in our hearts
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  and give it out to the world because that's what he says. We need to reach.
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  Do you know in Jeremiah 29 11 he tells
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  us he's got plans for us a hope
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  and an expected end a future he
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  expects great things of you hey whoa
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  stop listen to me nobody may
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  have never believed in you in your whole life no one
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  may have ever expected you
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  to do anything worth a dime but i've
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  got great news the god of the universe when he hung between heaven and hell
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  suspended on the cross had you on his mind and in jeremiah 29 11 he said i haven't
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  expected in for you and in john 10 10 he said not me he said i came to give
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  you life and they might have it more abundantly.
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  Oh, he believes in you. Because if you'll give yourself to him,
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  you'll soar like an eagle to heights unknown.
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  You're looking for somebody to believe in you. Jesus believes in you. Enough to die for you.
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  You're looking for somebody to love you. He loves you. Enough to die for you.
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  Press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling. You know what the high calling of God is?
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  And that's a whole subject in itself. but in
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  the few moments that we have left I want you to know the high calling of God
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  is to live the abundant life to live a life that is filled with his love and
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  his mercy and his grace and when you're in the valley to know that he's carrying
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  you through when you're climbing up the mountain he's pushing you forward and
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  when you're at the top looking over he's blessing you with all he has,
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  the abundant life is not abundance it's joy unspeakable and full of glory and
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  it's knowing and trusting and believing and living in the center of God's will.
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  And he said, you could have it. He said, call unto me and I will show thee great
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  and mighty things which thou knowest not.
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  The psalmist David said that daily he loadeth us with his benefits.
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  Oh, my friends, you need to press. You need to reach. And you need to forget.
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  He doesn't remember it. Who are you to bring it up?
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  And he tells us that if we resist the devil, He will flee.
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  So I want all of you with me, unless you're in a place that you'd be totally
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  embarrassed, to do this one thing right now and say, get thee behind me, Satan.
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  Get thee behind me, Satan. You don't belong here.
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  You don't belong in my life. And I don't have to listen to your lies because
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  greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. And he believes in me.
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  And I believe in him.
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  Oh, this moment. forget the past, because truly, the best is yet to come. Thank you.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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  You can find our app by searching for Woman at the Well Ministries in your app
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  store or through our website at WATWM.org.
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  If you visit our website, you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits,
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  a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  Woman at the Well Ministries is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving
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  our Heavenly Father. and it is through your loving and generous support that
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  our ministry continues to bless others.
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  To learn how to partner with Women at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
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  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you. You are loved.
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  Music.