Sermon
Ep 352 | The Passionate Life - Chris Osburn 11-1-20
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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It's good to see everybody who has made it out.
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This morning. We're so thankful for your
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presence and I pray that something that I can say this
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morning will be beneficial to you.
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Whether you're an unbelieving, Christian, or unbelieving
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person, or a Christian that follows Jesus.
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I hope that we can reinvigorate ourselves in some way.
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This morning, we're going to be studying a little bit in First
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Peter chapter 2 verses 11 and 12 and first Peter was written to
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the The Christians in that time who were dispersed because of
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the destruction of Jerusalem and who under under extreme
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persecution, and this was a letter to Peter or from Peter to
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these Christians to kind of just hold on, keep fighting, keep
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pressing on. And even though that was the
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application and those days, we can certainly take the things
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that Peter wrote and apply those to our lives today.
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Well, we First Peter chapter 2 verses 1 through 11, I'm sorry
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verses 11 through 12. It says they're not going to be
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reading through with the English Standard Version.
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It says beloved I urge you as sojourners and Exiles to abstain
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from the passions of the flesh which wage war.
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Ensure Soul keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so
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that when they speak against you as evildoers they may see your
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good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
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And in this lesson, I want to show two realities in the world
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that that we can apply based on what God has told us in these
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passages. And I want us to urge us in a
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couple ways based on those realities on how to apply those
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at this time. And I want to use the word urge
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because I think that's the right word.
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It's a we have some urgency that we need to be that that is in
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these verses that we need to apply.
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I urge you to the language is of a passion that is written here
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by Peter and there's a lot of emotion in these two verses and
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I want us to understand the reality is I'm going to go
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through just to of these and understand him and think on
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them, and one reality tends us to earn Heaven urging.
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And based on that reality 80 in the second reality will have an
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urging based on that reality as well.
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So the first reality based on these verses that we have here
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is that we live in a world that Wars against our souls 1st Peter
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2:11 says that there are passions in our flesh that are
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driven by the world in ways that wage war on our soul.
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God is telling us there is a battle going on.
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Spiritually, that is Waging War on our soul and it's urgent.
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We need to feel the urgency that Peter is telling us here.
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And our soul, the war that is going on.
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Our soul can be destroyed. I'm not saying it God singing.
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And there is a war that is waging that we need to be aware
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of. There are passions desires
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thoughts ways in this world that are working to destroy our soul
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little by little. It's not an instant thing.
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It's a slow process that Wars against our soul.
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We, you know, on TV or streaming online our phone social media,
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and the world of business school and home.
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Everywhere that we look, The war is inescapable and it is
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intentional. And if we think about it, there
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are so few things on TV or streaming online that are
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designed that are designed to actually nourish our soul, and
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our passion for God app developers on our phone.
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You know, the engineers behind Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
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Tick-Tock, they're not thinking, how can I nurture people's
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passion for God? That is not the point that
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they're going for, whatever news outlets that.
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We choose to watch any news outlet has an agenda.
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And we're not talking about just a political agenda, we're
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talking about a spiritual agenda to show you that good and evil
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that are often contrary to the word of God.
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So we need to be urging ourselves.
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I want to urge you to not be foolish at the world that we
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live in is not neutral. The world.
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We are in inundates us all the time with messages from every
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moment of every day. all day long, all week, long saying that
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money Acclaim Entertainment sex drink drugs and success or what
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we need, And we don't want to buy that message.
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It is a lie. We need to open our eyes and
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there is a battle and the word that God uses here is the word
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War waging at every moment in this world to pull us away from
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God, to pull us away from the world or to pull you toward the
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world and away from his word and to pull you away from what
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matters, most in the world. And that is why Jesus said for
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for what will it profit? A man, if he gains the whole
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world and forfeits his own, Sola Matthew 16:26.
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That tells us that our soul can be lost that passage right
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there. Tells us our soul can be lost
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and when the soul is lost, there's no way to get it back.
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When the war for our soul is lost, its lost forever.
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And the Bible teaches very clearly that when we die.
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Our souls continue on. And you, and I will enter into a
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never into it either Everlasting Joy with God or either or
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Everlasting judgment away from God.
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And, you know, we may see, say, you know, Everlasting judgment,
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you know. I thought God was good, I
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thought God was loving and yes, he is.
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God loves us so so much. He loves us so much. even though
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you and I have Deserved judgment before him for our sins.
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He loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us.
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To die on the cross to pay the price for your and our sins to
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endure the Judgment that we deserve.
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So that when we believe and obey the gospel Jesus to save us from
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our sins to save our soul. God will forgive us, if we
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follow the gospel, The Bible is also saying that you can gain
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the whole world. You can have everything in this
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world and still lose your soul. What matters most in the world
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is not what we have. On the day we die.
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The only thing that will matter is if we have Jesus and in light
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of that reality, there is a world, you know, that wages war
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against our soul, based upon God's word, the urging that I
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want to give Is. We need to resist the world.
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1st, Peter 2:11. Says.
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Abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against
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your soul abstain from those passions and desires.
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We need to actively resist. Those passions that this world
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has upon us and this is where this passage really kind of
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convicted me. there are so many of you and myself, who tend to
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sometimes professed Christianity, we are Christians.
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But sometimes we are sleeping through the middle of a war.
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That we are not actively resisting the world.
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Living for this world. We don't realize that we
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forgotten that we are strangers and aliens in this world.
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That means we don't live for what this world lives for.
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We don't live for what the advertisers are selling on
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social media or offering or for such pride and money and success
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that the world issues as lures. These are lures that the world
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wants you to believe we're good. We don't live for those things.
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We resist the lures of the world and this means we must be on
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guard when watching things when listening to things when hearing
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things. And when reading things, We
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can't. Scroll through our phone
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mindlessly. We don't listen to or read the
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news mindlessly. We need to guard our minds, our
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thoughts, our emotions, in your subsequent words and actions.
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We don't think like the world thinks we don't feel like the
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world, fearless or desire desire.
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What the world desires? We don't speak like the world
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speaks We don't act like the world acts.
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Why? Because we're Exiles were aliens
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were different from the world. We're living for a whole
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different world. It's not like, we're just
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foreigners here, we're, you know, we're just we're from
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another, some people can say, you know, from another plan, in
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a sense, if we're working for something else, we're not
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working for this world. And that changes everything on
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how we view first. Peter 21 says that we are to put
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away. All malice, deceit, hypocrisy,
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envy and slander. We are to resist those things.
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We don't tear down people in this world.
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We are to love our enemies. That's our statute.
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That's our posture. That's what we stand for.
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We pray for them. if you spend more time, despising people in
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your mind, then praying for them.
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I think we could say that we are living for the world that is
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since in that way, and we are losing the battle.
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Constantly thinking about despising, Persinger or hate or
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whatever the case may be, we are losing a battle.
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We are sojourners and pilgrims are Exiles.
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That means we think talk and live differently.
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And verse 12 says, keep your conduct Among the Gentiles,
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honorable and the reference here is to Gentiles.
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The word Gentiles here is way of saying that those who are
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unbelievers in that time, those who do not go not know God.
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And the Bible says, to honor God with your contact conduct show
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that there's another way to live reserved resist.
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The luring Temptations of the world that Temptations to sexual
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immorality in a world that is so skewed.
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God's design for men and women. For marriage.
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We are to live differently. According to First Corinthians 6
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and 1st Thessalonians 4. We resist Temptations to anger
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disputes dissensions in a world that thrives on fighting and
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quarreling James for, we live differently than that.
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We resist Temptations to love money and ORD resources in the
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world. We live differently.
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We sacrifice money. We give away our resources for
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people in need in this world. First Timothy 6.
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That is what God is urging us to do today to resist the world
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abstain from the passions of Flesh live for other passions
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and better Passions. We might read this verse
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sometimes and think that the Bible is calling us to a
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passionate passionate list life to emotionless empty, empty
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Hollow boring, avoiding all the good stuff in this world.
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No, that's that's not what he's telling us to do here.
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It's interesting that in these two verses.
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There's two sentences in the English, but in the original
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it's actually one sentence. It's one continuous thought they
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go together. God is calling us for a life of
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full of passion, full of emotion, full of zeal for that,
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which really matters. And that's what which really
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fits over its really fills and we'll see that in the second
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reality here. So, the first reality is we live
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in a world that Wars against our soul and the second reality.
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Is that we live in a world that wants to belittle God.
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We get to First Peter 2:12. The Bible says keep your conduct
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among the Gent tiles, honorable, so that So that this means
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there's a purpose here. So what's the purpose?
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So that when they speak against you as evildoers, here's what
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will happen. They may see your good deeds and
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then do what, then you will glorify God on the day of
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visitation. So the end of all this is
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ultimately for the glory of God, all we do is for the glory of
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God. The major problem in this world.
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Is that is that we live in a world that wants to belittle
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God. And that God is not being
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glorified. So if we look around in the
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world will see a world. That is saying they're all kinds
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of problems that are more important.
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But here, the Bible saying clearly that the major problem
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in this world if is that God is not being glorified, we need to
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reorient our thinking. We need to live in a world or we
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live in a world where God is ignored.
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If we just look at the apps on our phone watch TV stream
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online. Scroll through social media,
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listen to National conversation. The fear of God is nowhere to be
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found. Not just in the world. but also,
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I fear sometimes we be little God in this world as well.
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We don't understand the magnitude of what we're working
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for. Sometimes we patronize God, by
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the way, we do things. So you know scores of people in
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the church, you know, just check off a box.
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Yeah, we went this week. By tending service and then
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ignore his word, the rest of the week long and they're silent
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about him through the entire week.
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Offer Ritu routine. Patronizing, prayers done it.
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Maybe just before a meal or never, but never really falling
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on our faces and giving all of our emotion to God In Prayer in
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so many ways. We built Our Lives not centered
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on God. The Majestic Mighty supreme
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authority over all instead, we live in a world with just
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constructed a church culture in which we have built Our Lives
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centered on ourselves. That's sometimes as a reality,
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we live in a world that wants to be little God, to minimize
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ignore, and not makes me not make much of him.
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So what do we do then in this world?
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Urging number one, was that we resist the world.
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We abstain from the passions of the Flesh and the ways of this
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world that are belittling God. Now, the second urging is we
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live with a different passion. Everything we do now is filtered
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through that different passion of passion for God in this
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world. Now we can ask ourselves through
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that filter, does the way that I'm spending my time or money?
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Does the way that I speak or post does the way I work.
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Does the way I relate to my spouse?
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My kids, my family, my friends, my co-workers, do these reflect
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passion for God, or my words, what I post and the
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relationships are they shouting passion for God?
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And for his glory in the world? We resist the world on one hand
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then we engage the world for the glory of God.
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That's what first Peter 2:12 is instructing us to do honor God
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with your conduct so that when they speak against you as
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evildoers And that's an interesting phrase.
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What does evildoers mean? It means when we think believe
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desire and live from differently from this world with a passion
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for God, we will be spoken against in this world. and the
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verse doesn't say if, but it says when when that happens, not
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if it happens, but when it happens, As followers of Jesus,
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who believe the world word of God, we have some very different
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views than the world around us and some very unpopular views,
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even offensive views, that would be labeled evil in our culture.
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You think about it? We believe God creates, all
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people, wonderfully and beautifully as either male or
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female Genesis 1:26-27. This is foundational.
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Truth from the first chapter Bible and it is labeled evil
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discriminatory and unloving in our culture.
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We Believe marriage is designed by God for one man.
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In one moment woman together. Genesis 2:24, that is a belief,
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our country has labeled bigotry. We actually believe that any
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sexual activity of any kind outside of marriage between one
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man. And one woman is a sin against
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God first Corinthians 6, verse Thessalonians 4.
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We believe that a husband is the leader of the home, just as
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Jesus is the leader of the church is Fusion, spy.
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We believe, abortion is murder of an innocent life, being
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formed in a mother's womb, Psalms 139 we could keep going
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on and on and on with this list, based on God's word.
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That are completely contrary to what this world wants to
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believe. And the crazy one that we
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believe. Believe that a virgin gave birth
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to a baby and he grew up and never did one thing wrong his
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entire life. He died and three late Days
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Later Rose. And walked out of his tomb and
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he flew up to heaven without any mechanical assistance.
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And one day he's going to come back that is offensive to the
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world in some respects. So if we trust God and His word,
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we will believe some things that are very different from this
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world. Things that would lead to
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mockery insult slander and will lead you to be ostracized in
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this world. We believe things in this world
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that that labels it as evil, wrong harmless and dangerous.
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When the world thinks it's like that, like this, not if, but
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when we need to ask, if we are going to hold fast to God's
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truth, The major issue facing us today and facing the church.
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Are we going to hold fast to trust in God's word?
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Or are we going to compromise our beliefs for the sake of
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Acceptance? In this world?
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We need to pray for God's help to not compromise.
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We have a choice to make. We have, you have to make that
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conscious Choice. Are we going to trust the world
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or we going to trust in God's word?
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What's it going to be? Teenagers college students or
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young adults, whatever the case you may be in, you know, I know
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you guys are getting so much pressure to see God's word as
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maybe Antiquated or outdated, offensive, or even evil.
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We're you guys are tempted every day by messages.
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All around you in this world to leave it behind and Trust in the
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world. And I want to urge you guys
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today to not do it, don't Do it. Don't trust in the world.
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The latest trends or the newest, most popular accepted way of
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looking at things. The that is the essence of sin
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thinking that you know, what is true and right better than God
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does. It leads to death leads to the
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death that we don't want. At least two destruction of your
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soul. We need to trust in God's world
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and not just with teenagers or college students or young adults
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every single person in this war who wants to belittle God and
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criticizes word want to urge everybody here to trust in God's
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word, no matter what it costs in your life.
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Work, friendships influence. Trust in his word and don't lose
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your soul. Then following this, the Bible
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says, To lead such honorable lives filled with good deeds.
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That when others think those people aren't loving over there.
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Our Lives will have evidence of a different story.
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We need to live at. So when they attack and slander
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and speak against you, they will look at you and see the Good
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Deeds that bring glory to God. In other words, don't just
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resist the world and what it has to offer, but engage it to prove
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them wrong. That's what's God.
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God is telling us to do, do the good things.
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Do the Good Deeds live honorable life so that when they come at
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you with the attacks you got evidence to prove otherwise That
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is not a passionless emotionless, empty hollow life.
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That is a life that is full of showing the world, how good God
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is. And that when, when they think
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that those people over there, may be closed-minded, an
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arrogant, they will look and see a church, every week with
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intentional work to help those who may need help in the
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congregation with children or families, with special needs are
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to help those, who are elderly, hear that?
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Aren't able to do things on their own anymore.
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We show the goodness of and the love of God to families with
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unique challenges. We got a brother that's going to
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be going in for procedure here. The next couple days that we
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need to figure out how we're going to help that family out,
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because they're going to be down and out.
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It's our responsibility to help. When the people in the world are
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tempted to think that they have into, they may have an offensive
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view of marriage and family, we show them what it looks like for
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a husband to lay down his life for his wife.
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To serve to cherish to nourish to love and to build up his
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wife. When marriage is may break down,
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we show them how to fight for a marriage.
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To fight for what God has instituted.
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And when they are tempted to think that it's a maybe a bunch
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of religious people in a prudish bubble over there, we show them.
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A Congregation of people going and sacrificing time and money
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for the spread of the Gospel. Not so that they're think that
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maybe that congregational their own plans road, is greater that
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person's rate. This was great, that would miss
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the entire point. We're not living for ourselves.
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We're living for God, so that they will see the goodness of
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the good deeds. And glorify God, everything we
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do is for glorifying God, not for glorifying us.
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In a world that belittles God, we want to point to the glory
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and goodness of God, want to live with passion to do that.
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And we need to let that affect the way we speak.
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Think Post Live relate to other people filter, everything
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through that lens and ask, how is what I'm doing today right
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now glorifying, God, Then show that you're a pilgrim.
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Is Soldier some translations. Here, say stranger here or
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sojourn living for that which matters forever of the day of
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visitation Peter reminds us here in the Bible reminds us that
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there is a day coming. When it's all going to be clear
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that this world and all it is offered is not worthy of our
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trust. Not worthy of our passion.
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On that day, it will be clear that God and His word, or 100%
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worthy of everything that we have to give to him.
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That day will make it extremely, clear?
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So we live for that day in our own life, we need to guard our
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minds guarded desires. It's to abstain from the
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passions of the flesh to resist the world, engage the world, but
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not just with good deeds. The picture here is deeper than
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that? Yes, the Good Deeds.
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All kinds of good things including the Examples.
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I mentioned. But in the middle, those good
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deeds. We need to be proclaiming God
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and his word. The God who loves us so much
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that he gave his son to die on a cross for our sins, he did this.
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So that when they stand for God, on that day they will be ready
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to glorify him because they will have been brought to trust in
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him. We're going to be glorifying God
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on the final day. Every knee will bow.
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Whether you're bowing now, others in the world don't
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believe in him. There's going to be a day.
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When everybody is going to get on their knees and praise God,
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whether they want to or not. So we need to prepare for that
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day. We need to live our life of
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passion Preparing People for that day.
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Even as we fight our own battles in our own heart, we need to
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help others around us. so, with all that said, I want to ask Are
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you ready to stand before? God?
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Are we ready? Are we confident that we're
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going to have eternal life with God?
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When that day comes? Do we know for sure?
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That we're going to be in heaven with him, one of these days.
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If your answer to that is not a resounding.
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Yes. if you don't know, and we need to make that, right?
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You need to have confidence. and we are told we can have
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confidence in knowing So, are you ready to meet God if she
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decides to come back later today tomorrow, whatever it may be, we
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ready? We thank you for listening to
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our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.
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Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional
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information or you would like to receive a free Bible
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correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at True
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Church of Christ Bakersfield.com.
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Our service times are on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and
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Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Please make plans to join us.
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We would love for you to be our honored guest.