Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Look . . . Im Walking! Msg 516

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Look . . . Im Walking! Msg 516 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: One of my favorite metaphors in the Scriptures is the
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Speaker 1: image of a person's.
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Speaker 2: Walk with God.
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Speaker 1: The Biblical story begins with God and Adam, who walked
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Speaker 1: together in the coolness of the garden, and then Abraham
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Speaker 1: a little later, chosen mysteriously and wondrously as the progenitor
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Speaker 1: of God's favored people, having received the promise, packed his
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Speaker 1: family and walked to a distant land. You may remember
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Speaker 1: the words he went, not knowing where he was going.
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Speaker 1: Abraham walked by faith, and then we were called. David,
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Speaker 1: the great Shepherd, king and poet Laureate of the Hebrew Scriptures,
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Speaker 1: declared in Psalm one nineteen, your word is a lamp
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Speaker 1: to my feet and a light for my path. David
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Speaker 1: had learned over the years the value of a step
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Speaker 1: by step walk with God, and as he grew to
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Speaker 1: become a man after God's own heart, that walk became
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Speaker 1: increasingly more consistent. Our savior, the one who left the
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Speaker 1: portals of the eternal, taking on flesh, humbling himself to
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Speaker 1: the point of becoming like us, also walked, and he
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Speaker 1: walked along the shore of Galilee. Imagine that, perhaps squinting
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Speaker 1: into the morning sun, the maker of the heavens and
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Speaker 1: the earth. Spotted Simon later to be called Peter, and
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Speaker 1: also Andrew, his brother, working on their fishing nets. He
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Speaker 1: called both of them, saying, follow me. That first call
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Speaker 1: became a personal invitation for all of us to walk
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Speaker 1: with Christ, to daily surrender our wills and learn obedience.
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Speaker 1: Even as the Son learned obedience. I'm fully convinced God
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Speaker 1: cares much more about how we walk than just about
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Speaker 1: anything else in our Christian lives. It's that daily, simple,
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Speaker 1: ongoing commitment, placing one foot in front of the other
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Speaker 1: by faith that pleases him the most. In today's message,
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Speaker 1: we're going to see what it looks like to walk
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Speaker 1: with God, a foundation of lesson in our learning together
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Speaker 1: the value of growing up in God's family. Various passages
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Speaker 1: in the New Testament come to mind, but primarily I'll
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Speaker 1: focus our time on one. It's Ephesians chapter five. Turn
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Speaker 1: there with me, Will you please and join with me?
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Speaker 1: As I read from the New Living Translation, the first
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Speaker 1: nine verses of Ephesians chapter five, Verse one begins, imitate God. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: in everything you do, because you are His dear children,
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Speaker 1: live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.
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Speaker 1: He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us,
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Speaker 1: a pleasing aroma to God. Let there be no sexual, immorality, impurity,
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Speaker 1: or greed among you. Such sins have no place among
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Speaker 1: God's people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes, these
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Speaker 1: are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.
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Speaker 1: You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy
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Speaker 1: person will inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God,
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Speaker 1: for a greedy person is an idolater worshiping the things
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Speaker 1: of this world world. Verse six continues, don't be fooled
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Speaker 1: by those who try to excuse these sins, for the
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Speaker 1: anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.
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Speaker 1: Don't participate in the things these people do. For once
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Speaker 1: you were full of darkness, but now you have light
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Speaker 1: from the Lord. So live as people of light, for
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Speaker 1: this light within you produces only what is good and
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Speaker 1: right and true.
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Speaker 2: I don't think there's anything quite like having a baby now,
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Speaker 2: I mean having a part in having a baby. I
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Speaker 2: look back at times and I think of the most
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Speaker 2: amazing places where I have seen the birth of babies announced.
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Speaker 2: For example, I have seen it written on flags and
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Speaker 2: banners that fly a above a hotel or tall buildings.
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Speaker 2: I've seen the announcement put on theater Marquis you ever
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Speaker 2: seen that it's a boy and there's some name that
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Speaker 2: you don't know, but it's so important that those who
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Speaker 2: drive by are supposed to read it. I have been
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Speaker 2: at a ballgame where we're watching the football game go on,
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Speaker 2: and suddenly everybody's eyes are drawn up above and there's
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Speaker 2: a biplane that's going by with a banner on the
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Speaker 2: back and it said it's a girl, and then the
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Speaker 2: name of the guy who was a ballplayer on the
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Speaker 2: field is announcing? Really a nice touch, huh it' isn't
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Speaker 2: that a clever idea? I went to a kind of
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Speaker 2: posh restaurant in the mid in the Midwest some time
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Speaker 2: ago with a group of friends, and the waiter was
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Speaker 2: unusually friendly. Of course, we had never seen each other,
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Speaker 2: and when we sat down, he gave us all very
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Speaker 2: nice menus, and we talked for a few minutes, and
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Speaker 2: he stayed unusually close to watch us, kind of holding
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Speaker 2: back a smile, And when we opened our menus, it
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Speaker 2: read it's a boy nine pounds twelve ounces. After we
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Speaker 2: talked to he was handing out cigars and making all
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Speaker 2: these great comments. And after we talked to him, he
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Speaker 2: said it was our eighth child. First boy. He didn't
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Speaker 2: stop till he got the boy. Isn't that great? You know?
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Speaker 2: The first thing God said to mankind, the first command
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Speaker 2: he gave the first couple, be fruitful, multiply, and fill
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Speaker 2: the earth. I smile when I quote that statement from
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Speaker 2: Genesis one, because I remember the words my mother told
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Speaker 2: me years ago. Let me tell you, just for a
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Speaker 2: few moments, about my parents. They were married October the fifth,
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Speaker 2: nineteen thirty They had their first child August fifth, nineteen
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Speaker 2: thirty one, ten months to the day. Thirteen months later
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Speaker 2: they had my sister. Just a little over two years later,
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Speaker 2: they had me. Now, while my mother was carrying me
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Speaker 2: with two others wrapped around her legs, they visited my
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Speaker 2: paternal grandmother, quite a lady pioneer, stock outspoken, strong willed,
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Speaker 2: and she saw my dear mother carrying another child and
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Speaker 2: two others, both still in diapers, running around her feet,
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Speaker 2: and she pulled my dad aside. She said, earl, now
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Speaker 2: listen to me. I know the Bible says be fruitful
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Speaker 2: and multiply and fill the earth. But Earl, you ever
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Speaker 2: expected one woman to do it all. Maybe you felt
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Speaker 2: like that as you were in the child bearing years,
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Speaker 2: sort of like you were doing it all. I want
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Speaker 2: to say something else about life, and that is, along
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Speaker 2: with the joy of seeing them born, is the fun
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Speaker 2: of watching them grow. I just said to Cynthia before
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Speaker 2: this occasion, I just said to her, there's nothing like
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Speaker 2: a family, is there? She said, no, there really isn't.
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Speaker 2: There is no possession, there is no travel experience there
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Speaker 2: is There is no new thing you can own. There
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Speaker 2: is no award you can receive, no achievement you can
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Speaker 2: earn that can come close to comparing to the joy
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Speaker 2: of a family. Nothing like it. When I say that
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Speaker 2: some of you haven't had a happy family life, and
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Speaker 2: I want to sigh when I represent your part in
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Speaker 2: this story. I wish that you had. I really do.
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Speaker 2: And so my answer to you is, if you didn't
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Speaker 2: have it before, now, then start it now. Now is
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Speaker 2: your chance. The joy of growth and the pleasures connected
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Speaker 2: with those little people, especially as they learn to walk,
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Speaker 2: nothing like it, nothing at all. I want to talk
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Speaker 2: about all of that, not the physical side of the
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Speaker 2: babies and the infants, but the spiritual side. For just
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Speaker 2: a little bit of time, I want you to look
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Speaker 2: in your Bible, if you have one with you, look
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Speaker 2: at Galatians chapter five, Galatians five. First of all, I
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Speaker 2: want us to understand what it means to walk. That
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Speaker 2: is some of the terms that the Lord uses in
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Speaker 2: his New Covenant. The New Testament regarding this matter of walking.
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Speaker 2: Galatians five sixteen puts it this way, walk by the spirit,
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Speaker 2: and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
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Speaker 2: The one way of expressing this business of walking as
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Speaker 2: an infant, walking as a youngster is walking by the spirit.
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Speaker 2: From Galatians, turned a little further to Colossians chapter one.
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Speaker 2: Colossians one, verse nine, paulis is praying for this reason.
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Speaker 2: Also since the day we heard of it, we have
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Speaker 2: not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you.
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Speaker 2: Here's his prayer, to ask that you may be filled
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Speaker 2: with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom
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Speaker 2: and understanding, so that you may walk. There it is again,
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Speaker 2: but not walk in the spirit. This says, so that
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Speaker 2: you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
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Speaker 2: to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every
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Speaker 2: good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Galatians
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Speaker 2: five talks about walking by the spirit. Colossians one talks
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Speaker 2: about well, verse ten, walking in a manner worthy of
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Speaker 2: the Lord. Turn the page. Chapter two, verse six talks
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Speaker 2: about walking again. As you therefore have received Christ, Jesus
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Speaker 2: the Lord. That's birth, So walk in him. That's infancy,
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Speaker 2: that's growth. Just as you received Christ. How was that
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Speaker 2: by faith? Trusting in what Christ has done? So keep
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Speaker 2: on walking, how trusting in what Christ can do? They
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Speaker 2: go together. There is a similarity in the two one other.
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Speaker 2: Before we land in Ephesians five, look at first Thessalonians
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Speaker 2: chapter two. We've looked at Galatians. We've looked at Colossians.
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Speaker 2: Look at first Thessalonians two, verse ten. You are witnesses,
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Speaker 2: and so is God. How devoutly, uprightly and blamelessly we
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Speaker 2: behaved towards you believers, just as you know how we
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Speaker 2: were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you
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Speaker 2: as a father would his own children. Now the verse
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Speaker 2: so that you may walk in a manner worthy of
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Speaker 2: the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
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Speaker 2: Let me tell you, all of you, kids, who are
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Speaker 2: listening right now. Let me tell you what brings pleasure
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Speaker 2: to your parents more than anything else. That is your
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Speaker 2: walking in a manner that is worthy of the name
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Speaker 2: of your God. Another writer of a little letter in
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Speaker 2: the New Testament says, I have no greater joy than
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Speaker 2: to hear my children are walking in the truth. And
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Speaker 2: isn't that so? Nothing thrills me like news from someone
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Speaker 2: else concerning one of my kids and saying, I'll tell
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Speaker 2: you that kid is walking in the truth, or I'll
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Speaker 2: tell you something you've got a lot to be proud of.
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Speaker 2: Your daughter is really honoring God. Nothing thrills me like that.
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Speaker 2: And what's true of earthly parents is exceptionally and especially
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Speaker 2: true of our heavenly parent. You can do nothing more
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Speaker 2: significant on earth than walk in a manner worthy of
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Speaker 2: your God. Now we've seen different ways it's expressed. Let's
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Speaker 2: land on one section of scripture. Let's talk about how
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Speaker 2: it's done. Ephesians five is the passage I want us
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Speaker 2: to look at. I won't be long, this will be concentrated,
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Speaker 2: so you'll have to give it your undivided attention. Now,
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Speaker 2: I know when we turn to Ephesians five and I
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Speaker 2: talk about explaining how to walk. I'm immediately without an analogy.
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Speaker 2: Nobody as has ever learned how to walk by being
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Speaker 2: instructed in it, isn't that interesting? In none of my
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Speaker 2: four children did I sit down with them and say, honey,
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Speaker 2: now this is how you are to walk. Take one
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Speaker 2: foot and put it out. No, no, one foot and
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Speaker 2: put it out in front of the other foot. Oh well, no,
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Speaker 2: you fell down. Now stand back up again. Take one foot,
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Speaker 2: And isn't it interesting? We think we can instruct people
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Speaker 2: and how to walk, but no one ever learned how
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Speaker 2: to walk by being instructed. So immediately I am back
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Speaker 2: to square one. All I can do is describe for
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Speaker 2: you the benefits, but I have to leave it between
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Speaker 2: you and your God to work out the mechanics. And
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Speaker 2: I know whereof I speak. My background takes me rather
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Speaker 2: quickly to a place where everything in that church was
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Speaker 2: explained in doctrinal terms. I mean it was squeaky clean
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Speaker 2: two by four truths I call them. Where people are
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Speaker 2: boom popped on the head with two by four truths
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Speaker 2: and told and harassed and warned, instructed you're expected to
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Speaker 2: walk In that context. My approach, therefore, is a little
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Speaker 2: more winsome. I hope, and a lot more tactful. First
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Speaker 2: of all, there's nothing I want to do more than
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Speaker 2: simply model it. If I'm not modeling it, I really
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Speaker 2: have very little to infect someone with as far as
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Speaker 2: the truth is concerned. But after modeling it, there are
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Speaker 2: a few things I think we can see in scripture
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Speaker 2: that will at least encourage a sooner walk or a
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Speaker 2: better walk. But honestly, I am cast on God, and
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Speaker 2: so are you. When it comes to your personal walk.
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Speaker 2: You can hear this, you can even memorize what you hear,
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Speaker 2: and your walk won't be any better just because you
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Speaker 2: heard the truth. What must happen is that you start
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Speaker 2: doing it on your own with God. Now, I'm assuming
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Speaker 2: you've been born into God's family. Therefore this truth verse
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Speaker 2: one is applicable to you. The command is imitate your Father.
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Speaker 2: He is our model. Therefore, be mimics of God. The
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Speaker 2: term mimic comes from the Greek word translated imitators word
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Speaker 2: make as beloved children. See, we're back in a family context,
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Speaker 2: and the reason we want to walk with God is
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Speaker 2: because it mimics his lifestyle. When we walk against God,
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Speaker 2: we don't mimic him, of course, not we give people
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Speaker 2: a double message. Our mouths say one thing, but our
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Speaker 2: walk says something quite quite different, and so it's throwing
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Speaker 2: people a curve. Our whole walk is to be a
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Speaker 2: walk in love. According to verse two, as we mimic
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Speaker 2: our father, our walk is to be in love. And
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Speaker 2: then the warnings as a good parent verse three. Watch
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Speaker 2: out for things that will break your walk, immorality, impurity, greed.
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Speaker 2: Don't let it even be named among you. Verse four.
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Speaker 2: How about dirty jokes and filthy silly, coarse talk. Now
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Speaker 2: that'll hurt your walk. Telling and laughing at stuff that's filthy.
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Speaker 2: It gives a double message. People want to believe the truth,
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Speaker 2: but you're modeling a lie. You don't mimic God when
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Speaker 2: you do that, see how practical it is. And then
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Speaker 2: he adds verse six. Don't be deceived. People will come
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Speaker 2: and say this is the truth, but it's empty talk.
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Speaker 2: Don't be deceived. As you grow out of infancy into childhood,
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Speaker 2: let your discernment take place. Verse seven. Don't be partners
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Speaker 2: with people who do. That sounds like parent child counsel,
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Speaker 2: doesn't it. It's what it is. It's exactly what it is.
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Speaker 2: You were formerly darkness and now you are light in
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Speaker 2: the Lord. Therefore verse eight, walk as children who reflect
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Speaker 2: the light. Not good truth, not good counsel. Talk about
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Speaker 2: something to take with you on a Monday morning. Talk
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Speaker 2: about something to carry with you as a salesperson on
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Speaker 2: the road or working in the marketplace in some part
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Speaker 2: of this concrete jungle called our commercial world. Walk as
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Speaker 2: children of a light. Now verse fifteen. Be careful how
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Speaker 2: you walk. Okay, let's get specific. There are some initial commands.
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Speaker 2: Be careful how you walk is one of them. In
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Speaker 2: daily life, it doesn't matter how you walk. Everybody has
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Speaker 2: his own gait, everybody has his own pace. I am
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Speaker 2: told by certain sightless friends of mine that they can
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Speaker 2: tell by the way a person walks toward them who
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Speaker 2: it is. They happen to know that individual. They don't
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Speaker 2: even have to talk, because everybody has a certain gait,
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Speaker 2: everybody's heels hit a certain way, and they can tell
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Speaker 2: just by studying the sound that the walk is different.
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Speaker 2: We can walk different ways in the physical life, but
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Speaker 2: in the Christian life, there is one way to walk,
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Speaker 2: and we're to be careful how to do it look
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Speaker 2: carefully Verse fifteen. Not as unwise, but as wise. Verse
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Speaker 2: sixteen not wasting your time, but being careful with the
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Speaker 2: use of your time. Furthermore, don't be foolish, but understand
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Speaker 2: what the will of the Lord is. Make the will
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Speaker 2: of the Lord your aim. Don't be foolish, but understand
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Speaker 2: what his will is. And now we've come to the
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Speaker 2: kernel of truth. What is called walking by the spirit
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Speaker 2: in Galatians five. What is called walking by faith in
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Speaker 2: Collisians too, or walking in a manner worthy of the
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Speaker 2: name of God in First Thessalonians is called being filled
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Speaker 2: with the spirit. And it's baby truth, not in importance,
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Speaker 2: but in foundational level. It is as significant as knowing
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Speaker 2: how to eat, how to talk, and how to obey.
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Speaker 2: But I meet Christians all the time who don't know
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Speaker 2: how to walk. They're walking by the flesh. If something
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Speaker 2: isn't working, they operate in the flesh to make it work.
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Speaker 2: They force their way in are They're determined to get
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Speaker 2: their way, And they've not learned to wait and to
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Speaker 2: trust God to work out situations. They've not learned how
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Speaker 2: to walk in the spirit. I look closely. I want
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Speaker 2: to spend the rest of our time. On verse eighteen,
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Speaker 2: I think if I were reading this for the very
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Speaker 2: first time, I'd be a little shocked. Look at the analogy.
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Speaker 2: Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation,
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Speaker 2: but be filled with the spirit. Now, wait a minute,
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Speaker 2: I mean, of all the analogies that could be used,
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Speaker 2: why use that one. Well, there's every reason to use
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Speaker 2: that one. Let me just take a few minutes and
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Speaker 2: kind of think out loud. When I was in the
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Speaker 2: Marine Corps, I met all kinds of fellows, and I
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Speaker 2: saw most of them drunk. Some of them were kind
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Speaker 2: of meek, wimpy, cast for milk toast types until they
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Speaker 2: got drunk. And then It's amazing what happened. These little
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Speaker 2: wimpy guys turned into monsters. These guys who never would
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Speaker 2: let out a peep when it came to singing, now
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Speaker 2: sang at the top of their voice. It was atrocious,
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Speaker 2: but they sang at the top of their voice. These guys,
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Speaker 2: who normally would be rather were well protected or protective
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Speaker 2: of their own safety, would take risks, and sometime the
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Speaker 2: following morning, when they were sober, they were a little
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Speaker 2: embarrassed about how wild they had acted the night before.
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Speaker 2: Sometime they didn't even remember how wild they had been.
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Speaker 2: What happens when wine. Too much wine, too much alcohol
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Speaker 2: comes into the body, you become a different person. You
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Speaker 2: are in the wrong sense of the word transformed. It's
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Speaker 2: called here dissipation. There's another word for it, riotous, out
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Speaker 2: of control. It's a picture of rowdiness to the point
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Speaker 2: of being completely out of control. Don't do that, says
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Speaker 2: this writer. But be filled with the spirit. That's another
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Speaker 2: kind of transformation. See this little word filled. Two ways
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Speaker 2: the writer could have described this by using a certain word.
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Speaker 2: One word is used for filling up a jar with
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Speaker 2: a liquid all the way to the top. That's not
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Speaker 2: the word used here. That's used with reference to the
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Speaker 2: indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Not don't let me lose
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Speaker 2: you here. But when you came into God's family, he
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Speaker 2: filled you up with his spirit. He gave you his
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Speaker 2: spirit to live within you forever, and he sealed his
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Speaker 2: spirit so that he will never depart. You have his spirit,
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Speaker 2: and he in dwells you. But that's not the word
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Speaker 2: used here. We're never commanded to be endwelt by the spirit.
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Speaker 2: It happened to us when we were born into God's family.
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Speaker 2: The other word that he could have used and did use,
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Speaker 2: is a word for filling sails on a boat with wind,
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Speaker 2: so that there is movement out of the boat's control.
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Speaker 2: That's the word used here. I'm so glad that word
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Speaker 2: is used. There's so many pictures you can draw from that.
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Speaker 2: If you like to sail, or if you hang around
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Speaker 2: people who do like to sail, they will tell you,
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Speaker 2: and you know by experience that there's nothing like that
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Speaker 2: perfect velocity of a wind to whip that boat through
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Speaker 2: the water at just the right speed and there's no sound,
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Speaker 2: just sh right through the water, and you look around,
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Speaker 2: there's a actually awake behind that boat, even though there's
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Speaker 2: no noise. True sailors hate motors. They just think it's
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Speaker 2: cool that you can just handle that rudder and just
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Speaker 2: slip right through the water with just the wind as
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Speaker 2: you're as you're fuel because the sails are we call
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Speaker 2: it filled with the wind, and the boat is moved
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Speaker 2: out of its own power in the direction wherever you
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Speaker 2: send it. That's the word used. Don't get drunk with wine,
27:36
Speaker 2: which leads to dissipation in all kinds of out of
27:39
Speaker 2: control lifestyle. But on the contrary, let the spirit of
27:45
Speaker 2: God fill your sails so that out of your own control,
27:51
Speaker 2: he carries you where he wants you to go, and
27:58
Speaker 2: that is an exciting way to live. Now, the bugaboo
28:04
Speaker 2: in all of this is sin, isn't it. I mean,
28:08
Speaker 2: so far we're tracking, you're connecting, and you're ready to
28:13
Speaker 2: applaud and say, that's what I want, that's what I've
28:16
Speaker 2: been looking for. Where's that boat? How can I connect
28:21
Speaker 2: with that wind? Because I want to move without a
28:24
Speaker 2: lot of noise and commotion, and I want to slip
28:27
Speaker 2: through this water of my life and get something accomplished
28:31
Speaker 2: for God's glory. I want his power to push me through.
28:35
Speaker 2: But chuck, look, I'm a sinner. I mean, I even
28:42
Speaker 2: though I'm in God's family, I still wrestle with my
28:45
Speaker 2: old nature. Well, if it's any encouragement, so do I.
28:51
Speaker 2: The best help I find is in Romans chapter six.
28:55
Speaker 2: So stick your finger right here. Go back to Romans six. Uh,
29:00
Speaker 2: don't let somebody else go back for you. See this
29:03
Speaker 2: is where we usually stop turning. Oh honey, you turn
29:06
Speaker 2: back to Romans six. And that's a lot of work
29:09
Speaker 2: to go back from visions to Romans. It isn't a
29:12
Speaker 2: lot of work. And if you don't go back, it
29:14
Speaker 2: won't make any difference to you. Two days from now,
29:17
Speaker 2: you look in your Bible for yourself. I'm want to
29:20
Speaker 2: give you three words, and I want you not to
29:23
Speaker 2: forget them. In a minute, we're going to repeat them together,
29:26
Speaker 2: because in the morning you're going to be saying, I'm
29:28
Speaker 2: on your own. It's a little project I head in
29:31
Speaker 2: mind that just puts wind in your sales. That's the
29:32
Speaker 2: reason I want to do this now. Chapter six of
29:35
Speaker 2: Romans talks about sin, and I won't bore you with
29:38
Speaker 2: a lot of details. Let me just put it this way.
29:41
Speaker 2: Now that you are in Christ, you have a new master.
29:46
Speaker 2: Before you were born into his family, the old master
29:50
Speaker 2: dominated your life. You couldn't stop old bad habits even
29:53
Speaker 2: if you tried, and how often you tried. You couldn't
29:57
Speaker 2: change your lifestyle. You couldn't stop cursing, you couldn't quit drinking,
30:01
Speaker 2: you couldn't stop running around. You couldn't live a lifestyle
30:05
Speaker 2: that honored God, no matter how hard you tried. You
30:08
Speaker 2: may not have been as bad as some, but you
30:10
Speaker 2: were bad in your own way because you couldn't dominate
30:13
Speaker 2: the sin within you. Suddenly, one day Christ really came
30:17
Speaker 2: into your life and you were born into his family.
30:20
Speaker 2: He gave you his spirit, which is tantamount to saying
30:23
Speaker 2: he gave you his power. Roman six talks about that.
30:27
Speaker 2: Look at verse six, knowing this that our old self
30:36
Speaker 2: was crucified with him, that our body of sin might
30:42
Speaker 2: be done away with that we should no longer be
30:45
Speaker 2: slaves to sin, for he who has died is freed
30:51
Speaker 2: from sin. Knowing is the first word, believe it or not.
30:59
Speaker 2: Almost every morning of my life I go through a
31:03
Speaker 2: little ritual. I've gotten to the place where I don't
31:07
Speaker 2: have to do it out loud, but I go through
31:09
Speaker 2: it in my head. I know God that you're my master,
31:16
Speaker 2: not sin, knowing that I am no longer enslaved to
31:22
Speaker 2: this old master who once ruled me, been freed from that.
31:29
Speaker 2: Verse nine Knowing says it again that Christ, having been
31:35
Speaker 2: raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death
31:39
Speaker 2: no longer is master over him. Not only am I
31:42
Speaker 2: not afraid of sin, I'm not afraid of death. In Christ,
31:47
Speaker 2: I have the mastery over both. Is that great news?
31:51
Speaker 2: Those things that plague people on the streets today have
31:55
Speaker 2: no reason to plague the Christian. Sin doesn't master me.
31:58
Speaker 2: Christ does. Sin doesn't have control over me. Christ can
32:05
Speaker 2: How do I make it happen. Next word, considering verse eleven,
32:12
Speaker 2: even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but
32:18
Speaker 2: alive to God in Christ Jesus. Now that's the secret link.
32:24
Speaker 2: I know in my head that Christ now is my master.
32:31
Speaker 2: It's essential for me, therefore, to make that a part
32:36
Speaker 2: of reality in my daily life. So I reckon it true.
32:43
Speaker 2: I consider it real. I remove it from the realm
32:49
Speaker 2: of just the mind, and I say, Lord God, I
32:54
Speaker 2: ask you to make it real today in my life.
33:00
Speaker 2: I lean on you. I trust you to do that.
33:03
Speaker 2: I have considered that wonderful truth now a reality. Verse twelve. Therefore,
33:14
Speaker 2: do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that
33:17
Speaker 2: you should obey its lusts, and do not go on
33:21
Speaker 2: presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments
33:24
Speaker 2: of unrighteousness. But keyword number three, presenting present yourselves to
33:34
Speaker 2: God as those alive from the dead, and your members
33:37
Speaker 2: as instruments of righteousness to God. What in the world
33:40
Speaker 2: does that mean? Sounds like a lot of words, but
33:43
Speaker 2: it isn't. I know that Christ is my master, and
33:48
Speaker 2: not sin, no longer to sin dominate me. I consider
33:53
Speaker 2: that to be real truth, something that I can live
33:57
Speaker 2: with and carry out in my life. Therefore, when sin
34:02
Speaker 2: rears its head and waves hoping I'll wave back, I
34:07
Speaker 2: at that moment present myself to God, claiming his strength
34:17
Speaker 2: if lust happens to be one of my battles. And
34:20
Speaker 2: I come to a new stand full of magazines, and
34:23
Speaker 2: I am trying to select one of the magazines that
34:26
Speaker 2: I want to buy, and I come across something that's pornographic.
34:30
Speaker 2: I see immediately the danger of putting that in my mind,
34:37
Speaker 2: and I present my mind as an instrument of righteousness
34:41
Speaker 2: to God, not as a weak instrument helpless at the
34:46
Speaker 2: mercy of this magazine. And I press on. I move
34:51
Speaker 2: on to that magazine I'm looking for. I don't get
34:55
Speaker 2: sidetracked in my daily life as I am involved with
34:59
Speaker 2: say and I have a battle with greed, and I
35:03
Speaker 2: find myself suddenly turning towards something that I know I
35:07
Speaker 2: could easily make into an idol of my life. I
35:10
Speaker 2: present myself to God not simply as a weak instrument
35:15
Speaker 2: to sin, but as an instrument of strength through God's power.
35:19
Speaker 2: My wind, my sail is full of his wind, and
35:22
Speaker 2: I move right on in his direction. It works every time,
35:28
Speaker 2: it does. You know, when I get hung up when
35:33
Speaker 2: I wave back, when I try to negotiate with that
35:38
Speaker 2: rattler in my sleeping bag, when I act like I
35:42
Speaker 2: can handle it, I fail to know, to consider and
35:47
Speaker 2: to present. You know what? We have spent too much
35:51
Speaker 2: of our life thinking about sin and how to deal
35:53
Speaker 2: with it, and not enough time thinking about God and
35:57
Speaker 2: claiming his strength. We teach brain knew Christians what first
36:01
Speaker 2: John one nine. That is one of the first verses
36:04
Speaker 2: I ever learned as a Christian. If we confess our sins,
36:07
Speaker 2: he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
36:10
Speaker 2: and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Great truth. I
36:13
Speaker 2: believe it. It's in the book. It's true. So I
36:16
Speaker 2: began my life sin conscious. I'm gonna sin. So when
36:21
Speaker 2: I sin, I want to present it to God. He's
36:24
Speaker 2: gonna forgive me. So my life was full of sin
36:27
Speaker 2: and confessing it and claiming his forgiveness and then moving on.
36:31
Speaker 2: And then I'd sin again, and then I'd confess it
36:33
Speaker 2: and he'd forgive me. I'd move on and I'd sin again,
36:36
Speaker 2: and I confess it. I mean, this thing is terrible.
36:40
Speaker 2: And I came across Roman six and I thought, where
36:42
Speaker 2: have you been all my life Roman six. I mean
36:48
Speaker 2: this says I don't have to sin. If I present
36:52
Speaker 2: my body as an instrument of weakness, I will, but
36:56
Speaker 2: I don't need to. I often illustrate it. On the road.
37:02
Speaker 2: If there is a sharp curve ahead, the state has
37:07
Speaker 2: a choice of what kind of sign to put there.
37:10
Speaker 2: One kind of sign could read keep going clinic at
37:14
Speaker 2: the bottom of the hill. That's first John one nine.
37:22
Speaker 2: Another sign could read danger curve ahead, slow down, speed
37:27
Speaker 2: limit twenty. That's Romans six. I mean, we've been going
37:32
Speaker 2: off the hill for years. We keep pumbling off the
37:36
Speaker 2: great clinics, wonderful hospitals, good X ray machines. We really
37:40
Speaker 2: patch them up well. We staff the clinics with people
37:43
Speaker 2: that are full of sin, wonder know how to solve it.
37:46
Speaker 2: But how few are painting signs that say, why do
37:49
Speaker 2: you have to speed around the hill? Slow down? You
37:54
Speaker 2: have a heavenly father who will give you the power
37:58
Speaker 2: to redirect your life, but you have to know, consider
38:04
Speaker 2: and then present. Say it with me, No consider present,
38:09
Speaker 2: Do it again, No consider present. Tomorrow morning when you
38:15
Speaker 2: get started, say those three words today. Lord, I know
38:22
Speaker 2: you are my savior, you are my master. I consider
38:26
Speaker 2: that to be truth to take with me today. I
38:30
Speaker 2: reckon it as real, and today, Lord, I present my
38:36
Speaker 2: moment by moment walk to you. Bring to my attention
38:41
Speaker 2: as soon as I am faced with a choice to
38:44
Speaker 2: sin or to walk in righteousness, bring this truth to
38:48
Speaker 2: my attention and enable me to present myself to you.
38:53
Speaker 2: And then as your day unfools, you know, it's little things.
38:57
Speaker 2: Backing out of the driveway. Car car, car, car, car, car, car,
39:02
Speaker 2: car car. That's my problem. I don't have some huge,
39:06
Speaker 2: terrible battle. I've got this car car car car problem.
39:10
Speaker 2: And I say, what is it gonna stop? Inside? That's
39:14
Speaker 2: what goes on. And I tend to be a little impatient.
39:17
Speaker 2: It's the understatement of the day. And I have to say, Lord,
39:23
Speaker 2: there are a million cars down the road, and I
39:26
Speaker 2: ask you to control my spirit before I back into one.
39:32
Speaker 2: As I get out of the driveway, I present myself
39:37
Speaker 2: to you. I present my weakness. Now, enable me, Lord
39:42
Speaker 2: to cope with that. Got it back to Ephesian spy.
39:47
Speaker 2: What happens when I do that? Oh it's great news.
39:51
Speaker 2: Take a look when I am filled with his spirit,
39:55
Speaker 2: having known and considered and presented myself to him. Oh,
40:00
Speaker 2: look at the practical results. There are five of them
40:03
Speaker 2: right here. Nineteen. I begin to speak to other people,
40:08
Speaker 2: so relationships become deeper and more meaningful. I speak in
40:14
Speaker 2: psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and I sing with
40:19
Speaker 2: grace in my heart, and I find my life becomes
40:22
Speaker 2: melodious and rhythmic. A song replaces cursing. The joy of
40:29
Speaker 2: these hymns and these choruses of worship becomes a part
40:34
Speaker 2: of my life. That's verse nineteen, Verse twenty. There is
40:38
Speaker 2: a spirit of gratitude that accompanies it, always giving thanks
40:43
Speaker 2: for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
40:47
Speaker 2: So there is a there is a thankfulness that accompanies
40:50
Speaker 2: this spirit filled walk. Fourth, there is genuine humility be
40:55
Speaker 2: subject to one another. If there is the fear, fear
41:00
Speaker 2: of God, in the fear of Christ, I'll tell you
41:07
Speaker 2: there are a few benefits better than that. When I
41:09
Speaker 2: walk by the spirit, I tell you I am easy
41:13
Speaker 2: to live with. When I don't, I am a bear.
41:20
Speaker 2: Now I'm going to confess to you, February was a
41:22
Speaker 2: tough month. I don't know why. It's supposed to be
41:26
Speaker 2: a great month. Valentine's Day and all that jazz. But
41:29
Speaker 2: it was a tough month, and so I was hard
41:32
Speaker 2: to live with and I didn't walk in the spirit
41:35
Speaker 2: much of the time. And I'm ashamed of that, but
41:38
Speaker 2: it's true, and March turned the corner for me. Cynthia
41:44
Speaker 2: was having a tough time putting up with my style,
41:49
Speaker 2: and I said to her on the eve of March,
41:56
Speaker 2: it's not like I was going to say the IDEs
41:58
Speaker 2: of March. And on the eve of March, marynch I said, honey,
42:02
Speaker 2: tell you what I commit I promise you this commitment
42:10
Speaker 2: that I'll be easier to live with in March. March
42:13
Speaker 2: is going to be a positive month for me. And
42:18
Speaker 2: she said something like, well, I'm glad to hear that.
42:22
Speaker 2: Very graciously she took me at my word. And you
42:26
Speaker 2: know what, It's true. March is working. I'm taking it
42:34
Speaker 2: a day at a time, and I am discovering that
42:38
Speaker 2: by knowing and considering and presenting myself to my father
42:44
Speaker 2: on a daily basis, I tell you, it's enough to
42:49
Speaker 2: make me believe own stuff. It is really really great. Furthermore,
42:57
Speaker 2: she's a happier woman and we got a better home.
43:02
Speaker 2: Same guy, But now I find myself filled with his power.
43:12
Speaker 2: The wind is in my sales. You see how you
43:17
Speaker 2: have to do it as a team spirit or with
43:19
Speaker 2: a team spirit. And this thing about life, this thing
43:23
Speaker 2: about living the Christian life, it is an automatic deal
43:27
Speaker 2: where now that you're born into His family, suddenly you're
43:30
Speaker 2: easy to live with. You're still a bear, You've still
43:33
Speaker 2: got the old nature, but now you've got hope for change.
43:38
Speaker 2: And you determined before God that you will walk in
43:41
Speaker 2: his power. You will walk in his spirit. And it's
43:45
Speaker 2: your move. You start walking. It's time to start right now.
43:54
Speaker 2: He can give you the power to do it. Now.
43:57
Speaker 2: Let me tell you one of my favorite illustrations. I'm
43:59
Speaker 2: waiting all this time to give you one of my
44:01
Speaker 2: favorite illustrations. Let's say that you cannot play the piano.
44:06
Speaker 2: You say, that's not hard to do, Bud, I can
44:09
Speaker 2: do chopsticks. That's the best I can do, advanced chopsticks.
44:14
Speaker 2: I can play it backwards. That's all I can do
44:18
Speaker 2: in the piano. One evening, you decide to go hear
44:21
Speaker 2: this great piano duo Nielsen and Young, and you set
44:25
Speaker 2: second row right there by these two massive concert grand pianos.
44:30
Speaker 2: And you see these guys. They look all around, they
44:32
Speaker 2: smile and they're playing magnificent music and you say, oh,
44:37
Speaker 2: I could only play like that. And your friend introduces
44:41
Speaker 2: you to Avid Young and Steven Nielson and they're gracious
44:44
Speaker 2: to talk to you backstage during the intermission and they
44:47
Speaker 2: say to you, you know, we've never told anyone this,
44:51
Speaker 2: but we have the ability to give you our strength
44:57
Speaker 2: and our spirit and you can play like we do.
45:01
Speaker 2: He said, come on, no, no, we can do it.
45:06
Speaker 2: I want that. Okay, don't tell anybody, and remember, remember
45:16
Speaker 2: we have to get the glory. You can't take the credit,
45:21
Speaker 2: or you're back to chopsticks. Okay, okay, Vamp, you've got that.
45:28
Speaker 2: You walk out time for the second part of the performance.
45:34
Speaker 2: Iv It introduces you to take his place at the
45:37
Speaker 2: keyboard and you sit down. Steven gives you that charming smile.
45:42
Speaker 2: You're playing and I'll tell you it's magnificent. You can't
45:45
Speaker 2: believe how good you are. I mean, it is magnificent.
45:49
Speaker 2: Steven is just taken back, and Avid is standing aside
45:53
Speaker 2: saying that's great. Keep it up. And when you finish,
45:58
Speaker 2: the people just standing it feeding the plot and they
46:03
Speaker 2: asked for an encore. Sure, you begin to play and
46:09
Speaker 2: while you're playing. You think I am really great back
46:19
Speaker 2: of Chopsticks. Isn't that a good illustration? I just thought
46:24
Speaker 2: of that. I'm back to chopsticks. When I say that,
46:30
Speaker 2: you say, we have made the Christian life something super complicated.
46:35
Speaker 2: We have made this walk mysterious, mystical and deep and profound,
46:40
Speaker 2: and something for professors of theology and guys that are
46:44
Speaker 2: eighty and over that are too old to do anything
46:47
Speaker 2: else but walk with God. This Christian life is for you, viril,
46:54
Speaker 2: young adult, single parent, married couple, teenager. It isn't for
47:05
Speaker 2: some stuffy guy stuck away in a seminary classroom. It's
47:09
Speaker 2: for you. It's for people like me. But all you
47:14
Speaker 2: have to do is let the wind fill your sail,
47:21
Speaker 2: and you go God's way for God's glory. When sin
47:26
Speaker 2: trips you up, you do claim his forgiveness. You count
47:30
Speaker 2: on him. You're as grieved as he is over it,
47:33
Speaker 2: and you agree that it's sin, and you come to
47:36
Speaker 2: terms with it, and you're back in that boat and
47:38
Speaker 2: the wind is again in your sails and you're moving
47:41
Speaker 2: right on. And do you notice something, The longer you
47:44
Speaker 2: live with God, the easier the walk. Have you noticed it?
47:48
Speaker 2: The more natural it comes. I'm finding that true. Well,
47:52
Speaker 2: there were tough months, as I said, but it begins
47:55
Speaker 2: to flow, begins to move. I want that for you,
48:02
Speaker 2: I want it for me. I'm tired of chopsticks. Aren't
48:07
Speaker 2: you good? Want us to bow together, our heavenly Father.
48:18
Speaker 1: We are so thankful that you have not left us
48:21
Speaker 1: to make it on our own to fend for ourselves
48:25
Speaker 1: in this perilous, sin strangled world in which we live.
48:30
Speaker 2: But we have your.
48:31
Speaker 1: Wondrous grace to guide us, to protect us, to provide
48:38
Speaker 1: us with everything we need to overcome in order to
48:42
Speaker 1: be victorious in our journey. All of that because of Christ.
48:48
Speaker 2: And because of.
48:49
Speaker 1: Him we no longer are destined to limp toward Heaven,
48:53
Speaker 1: stooped under the load of guilt, carrying only our meager
48:58
Speaker 1: resources in our bag of empty religion. Instead, you have
49:05
Speaker 1: granted to us the great enabling of your spirit, that
49:09
Speaker 1: we might be filled and strengthened and encouraged to soar
49:13
Speaker 1: with wings like eagles, to run, and not grow tired,
49:18
Speaker 1: to walk, and yet not faint. And therefore our pray, Father,
49:23
Speaker 1: that you will especially be near to those today who
49:27
Speaker 1: are hindered by sin's relentless grip, who simply cannot take
49:32
Speaker 1: another step towards growth because of that, perhaps bound by
49:37
Speaker 1: the insidious pull of pornography, the dulling effects of alcohol
49:44
Speaker 1: or some drug, the stinging shame of inadequacy, having gone
49:49
Speaker 1: all the way into adulthood, not once receiving the affirming
49:55
Speaker 1: words of a parent like you did for the lame
50:00
Speaker 1: beggar in Jerusalem. Lord, set all of these free, Set
50:06
Speaker 1: all of us free, Father, from the shackles of such
50:09
Speaker 1: stubborn and painful pasts. Break our addictions, calm our spirits,
50:18
Speaker 1: give us a renewed sense of security in the midst
50:21
Speaker 1: of an insecure past. Teach us first to walk not
50:27
Speaker 1: in our own strength, but in the power of your spirit,
50:30
Speaker 1: and then show us how to leap and to dance
50:34
Speaker 1: in the freedom and joy of Christ because of his grace. Finally, Lord,
50:39
Speaker 1: thank you for never giving up on us, even when
50:43
Speaker 1: we have so easily and willingly given up on ourselves
50:47
Speaker 1: and on others. We're so profoundly grateful for Christ, for
50:53
Speaker 1: his all sufficient sacrifice, the sacrifice of his body and
50:58
Speaker 1: his blood for us on that cruel cross, for his life.
51:04
Speaker 2: That is now ours by faith.
51:08
Speaker 1: We are so very thankful.
51:12
Speaker 2: We offer you.
51:13
Speaker 1: Our praise and all of the glory today, Father, in
51:18
Speaker 1: the matchless name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
51:22
Speaker 2: Amen.
51:25
Speaker 3: The preceding message look I'm Walking was copyrighted in nineteen
51:30
Speaker 3: eighty five, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
51:33
Speaker 3: sixteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.