(189) “How Ready Is the Bride?”

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It's a long, long road to maturity. And there are some young people that because they've been

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walking closely with the Lord, they can be more mature at 18 than some folks that are in their

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50s or 60s that never let the Holy Spirit deal with their stuff.

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God promises in Joel 2, 28 to pour out his Spirit on all humanity. Welcome to Global Outpouring,

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where we contend for that promise outpouring. We equip for that outpouring so that we may engage

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in that very outpouring. I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss. Welcome to the podcast today.

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We are going to talk about something that's very, very important about the bride and how

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ready she is or is she. I had a prophetic dream I want to share with you that will help us understand.

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We are so happy that you have joined us today on this podcast. We know that this is so important,

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that we are contending for the outpouring and contending for the maturing of the bride. That's

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really what this this episode is all about. But before we get started, we want to encourage you

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to be sure that you have gone to our website and made sure that you are on our mailing list

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So, I had a dream recently, but it goes along with the idea of the bride being ready. Revelation

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chapter 19 verses 7 and 8 talk about the bride. This is from the Passion Translation.

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Let us rejoice and exalt him and give him glory because the wedding celebration of the lamb has

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come and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, shining bright and clear has been given to

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her to wear, and the fine linen represents the righteous deeds of his holy believers.

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So, this group of holy believers, that is the bride, are mature and are walking with the

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Holy Spirit and walking in this place where they are doing the works of the Lord, these righteous

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deeds in tandem with the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the leading of the Holy Spirit. Philip,

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would you please read 1 John 3, 1 through 3 in the Passion Translation?

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Look with wonder at the depth of the Father's marvelous love that he has lavished on us.

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He has called us and made us his very own beloved children. The reason the world doesn't recognize

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who we are is that they didn't recognize him. Yeah. Beloved, we are God's children right now.

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However, it is not yet apparent what we will become, but we do know that when it is finally

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made visible, we will be just like him. For we will see him as he truly is, and all who focus

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their hope on him will always be purifying themselves just as Jesus is pure. You know,

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this is really the bottom line about relationship with him. It's about becoming like him. Yes.

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Uh-huh. You know, whenever we catch a glimpse in the Spirit, when we're reading the Word and we

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catch a glimpse of his character, it makes us, if we really love him, it makes us want to be like him.

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Yes. Uh-huh. I've heard that there are Orthodox

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rabbis that will only marry a couple if they look like brother and sister. In other words,

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they have to be a lot alike. Yeah. Uh-huh. You know, and I remember that when I'm giving advice

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to young people about who to marry, I point out to them one of the reasons why you and I have had

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such a successful marriage is because our backgrounds are very much the same. Yes, that's

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true. You know, we grew up in Christian homes with an understanding of right and wrong based on the

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Bible. Uh-huh. And you know, we just see eye to eye on pretty much everything with regard to the

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Scripture. Yeah, and plus we're musicians and... Yes....it's just a lot in common, and God just

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brought us together. Yeah, and our voices even blend. You know, it was obvious that we belonged

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together. You know, that little song that I wrote for our wedding. I was born for you,

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you were born for me, God had planned our lives from before eternity. Should I get my guitar?

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Ha ha ha ha. He made you to be my husband and me to be your wife, for you fulfill the things

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that are missing in my life. And I fulfill in you the things you're missing too. It's a marvelous

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song. And we've done it for a number of weddings. Yeah, yeah, it's a good song. Yeah, we each wrote

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a song for each other at the wedding, and the other one never heard it until the day of the

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wedding. Until the service itself. The actual service itself. Yeah, that was really quite

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amazing. And then we had one that we rehearsed together. Yeah. But you know, the point is that

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a bride and groom should be complementary to each other where they're filling in, you know,

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one, the one has a strength where the other one has a weakness so that the two together make

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a real strong couple. And where you have strengths together, you go together. And not weakness that

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you don't have the same weaknesses. Yeah. You know? That's right. Yeah, that's true. We were

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in Kyrgyzstan, I remember, in the lobby. And a bride and a groom walked in newly married.

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And you could tell by looking at the face of the bride and groom and the parents that were with

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them that this was an arranged marriage. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They did not look happy. We got a nice

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picture of it too. She looked angry and he looked scared. And they were, you know, it was like,

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okay, this is it. We're married now. So happy together. Wow. Yeah, yeah, it didn't look like

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it was going to be easy to get this marriage off the ground, you know? And it's not that I'm totally

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against arranged marriages because I know that among, for instance, we have friends who are from

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India, that the marriage was arranged by the parents. But they were godly, spirit-filled

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believers who were looking for the right spouse for their children. Yeah. And, you know, we knew

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the bride's family, right? And she told our founder, Sister Gwen, that they had had this

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arranged marriage, but they loved each other very dearly. And their parents had had the wisdom to

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look for the one that is just going to be the absolute perfect connection for their daughter

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and the groom's parents for their son. Isn't that what the Holy Spirit is trying to do with us

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for Jesus? Absolutely. That is exactly what's going on. So I liked what you just read in 1 John 3.3.

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All who focus their hope on him will always be purifying themselves just as Jesus is pure.

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It's not that we know him perfectly yet, but every time we catch some new revelation of him,

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it's like his life begins to start. I'm thinking about like bubbling inside of us. That aspect

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begins to bloom. That aspect begins to blossom. Yeah. And 2 Corinthians 7.1 says,

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having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of

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the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. This is part of the growing up process

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of going from the flesh life into the spirit life. And I love Hebrews 12.14 that says,

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follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. You want to see

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the Lord? You want to see him as he is? Work on letting the Holy Spirit work his holiness. It's

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about yielding to him. It's not about, this isn't about doing works. We're going to do this because

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it's the right thing to do. It's about doing this because we love him. Yes. And he loves us. And so

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because of his love being worked in us, I mean, isn't becoming a bride all really all about love?

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Yeah. Yeah. And I also like 2 Peter 1.4 that says, we're given unto us exceeding great and

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precious promises that by these, you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped

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the corruption that is in the world through lust. As we push away from that dock of the world and

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push out into the ocean of the love of God. Yeah, that's very well put. And push out into his

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wonderful spirit led kingdom. We're being freed from all of those things that have been

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filthiness in our life earlier and coming into this maturity. That's what he's trying to get us to do.

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So in 1 John 4 17, it says, herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of

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judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. So it's another picture of the bride becoming like

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the bridegroom and representing the bridegroom in the earth. So this dream that I had early on in

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November in the dream, I was in someplace that may have been like the meeting rooms for a hotel or a

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conference center. And I walked past a room that seemed to be set up for a wedding. And I went into

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the next room. I just noticed the room that was, you can tell when something's been set up for a

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wedding. And I found this little girl who was wearing a wedding dress. It was a long white dress.

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She was fixing her baby fine hair and putting on mascara. She looked to be about four or five years

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old, a little bit pudgy, like she hadn't lost her baby fat yet. She wasn't an obese child.

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Just how a little child kind of has that little bit of pudginess that as they get more active

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and run around, that kind of just melts away. So that's what she looked like, like this little

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little pudgy, not having lost her baby fat child. So I kind of assumed that she was pretending.

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And so I thought I'd kind of play along with it and asked her if I could bless her

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as she's preparing to be a bride. I'm thinking I'm going to help her get an idea that

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you need to have a blessing before you get married, right?

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Yeah, some years down the road.

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Some years down the road. But when I realized that she was actually preparing herself,

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like she's the bride for the wedding in the next room, I got alarmed. I got quite alarmed.

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And I asked how old she was and she told me 12. Well, she didn't look 12, but even if she was 12,

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that's still way too young. By this time, a man had walked in. Now he was dressed in a military

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uniform. So he had like they were kind of blue colored pants with a gold stripe down the leg.

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And he had on a white dress shirt, but he didn't have his jacket on or the tie or,

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you know, any or the hat that goes with that uniform. I don't know what kind of uniform it

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was, but it looked military. And he had a flat hair, flat top haircut. He was probably in his

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fifties or sixties. I asked the little girl if her parents knew about this and, or if they approved.

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And I looked up at the man as though he might know the answer to this question. And

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he was about to answer. And then I woke up. So this dream was telling me, okay,

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the bride is trying to make herself ready, but she's still way immature.

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She is not ready. She's not representing the bridegroom. She's not ready to be a bride.

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This is not, you know, a child bride. Like, like in some cultures, they have child brides

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in, in, in Hindu culture and in, in Islamic culture, sometimes they'll, there will be child

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brides. And I don't know what other cultures do that too, but, but I know that there's such a

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thing as child brides. Yeah, pretty young. But this, this was our culture. Well,

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this was our culture, Western culture. And it was not that she should be a child bride. This should

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be a mature bride and she wasn't ready. So as I've pondered this, and I actually preached a

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message about it already for our Friday night live worship that we have, you can see that on our

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YouTube channel or our Facebook page. We'll, we'll put a link to it in the show notes. And by the way,

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you can go there anytime to our Facebook page or our YouTube channel and catch a lot of the,

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the material that we have out there. There's a lot of good content from lots of several years of

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material out there, but I just, I just want to encourage you that, that what we're about to talk

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about today is rather different from what I preached a few weeks ago. And, and I just want

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to encourage you that if, if you're interested in this message, there's more to it that you can, you

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can go out and, and get there. But I, I just want to talk about some of the, the things that are

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issues in the body of Christ that I think we need to address so that we can help the bride grow up.

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Lots of times you find that there are adults that are grown up on the outside, but not on the inside,

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but not on the inside. And when they get caught into a situation, that's when it comes out.

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Mm hmm. It's true. It's true. When you get under pressure, you'll find out what is going on,

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what is going on on the inside. And lots of times there are childhood traumas or wounds that will

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cause you to get stunted in your growth and your emotional growth and your, your

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mental maturing doesn't happen the way it should. And you're, you know, your body goes ahead and

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grows up and, and you look like you're an adult, but there's something inside of you that, that got

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stunted in its growth. I actually wrote about it in my book, Rich Wounds, An Eternal Perspective

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on Suffering. And this is, this is something that I'm, I'm kind of passionate about helping people

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understand that when you have these flesh flashes where you're behaving like you're a child,

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um, you need to go back with the Holy Spirit and deal with whatever caused the wound and,

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and let that, let the Holy Spirit bring you healing. You know, you can do that with, with prayer.

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You can do that with Holy Communion. You can, you can use Holy Communion to help you,

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um, overcome something that happened as a child. Um, Shirley Smith talked about those kind of things

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in, uh, in a couple of episodes that we did with her and we can put the, the links to that in the

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show notes, especially the things that caused her to end up with cancer because she hadn't dealt with

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childhood wounds and she hadn't dealt with unforgiveness. Those are things that will cause

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the bride to behave in an immature way. And it's important that we understand that a mature bride

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representing Jesus is going to look and act like Jesus. So, you know, reading the Gospels,

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read them over and over again and, and learn what Jesus did, learn how he dealt with things, learn

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how he, he operated, learn how he thinks, let the Holy Spirit help you to overcome these things.

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Um, our friend Dean Braxton has, has, uh, explained lots of things to us about what it's like in heaven

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because he had an experience where he was there for an hour and 45 minutes and we have a number

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of episodes with him and we've got another one coming up soon. And, um, he talks about how every

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time he looked at the father or every time he looked at Jesus, he was more wonderful than the

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previous moment. That's amazing. Yeah. And if we're made in his image, that means we should be

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growing all the time. You don't just get to a certain point and say, okay, I'm growing up now

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because it's probably really not true. It's not like you're 19 or 18. Well, I can vote now. I'm

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an adult. Yeah, right. I'm considered an adult, but that's not always true. Yeah. It's, it's, uh,

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it's, it's a long, long road to maturity. And there, there are some, there are some young people

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that because they've been walking closely with the Lord, they can be more mature at 18. Yeah.

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Then some folks that are in their fifties or sixties that never let the Holy Spirit deal with

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their stuff. And you're always learning. And you're always learning. Yeah. Always, always,

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always learning, always growing. We're going to continue to grow and learn all through eternity.

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Yes. Cause if, if the father's doing that all the time now, he's probably always going to be doing

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that because he's the one who was and who is, and who is to come. And it means that he always

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is what he always has been. And he always will be what he always is and always has been, you know,

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he's, he's, he's our father and he doesn't change. But at the same time, he continues to get

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more wonderful and more awesome and more glorious. And, and that's what the bride needs to continue

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to keep in her focus that we be like Jesus, that we continue to grow and we continue to grow.

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We continue to walk with him and, and let him bring us into maturity. So that's,

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that's what he's, he's trying to get us to be into our prime. Hallelujah.

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Yeah. So one of the things that, that you're going to find in this love walk is being like,

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first Corinthians 13 talks about, and I don't want to take time to go into it a whole lot, but

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cause we, we did that not so very long ago on a podcast. And we can put the link to that,

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to that episode in the show notes as well. But, but just the idea of it's all about love,

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it's all about learning to walk in love. It's all about his kind of love, God's kind of love

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that is developing in us, that we become that mature bride that, and, and one of the, one of

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the places in first Corinthians 13 in the amplified classic, there's a line in there that is so,

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that's so important to me in verse five. Oh, let me read verse four. I'll just read two verses,

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but you can go study the whole chapter. Love endures long and is patient and kind.

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Love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy. It's good. Is not boastful or vainglorious,

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does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited, arrogant and inflated with pride.

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It is not rude, unmanorly and does not act unbecomingly. Love, God's love in us does not

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insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking. It is not touchy or fretful

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or resentful. And this is the line. It takes no account of the evil done to it. It pays no

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attention to a suffered wrong. Beautiful. Unoffendable. Unoffendable. Uh-huh. It's very

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good. Wow. So the bride gets into agreement with the father's heart and, and even receives

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correction. And this is about learning to walk in kingdom lifestyle. So what is, what does

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Hebrews 12 say? We're just going to discuss verses one through 17 from the Passion

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Translation, because it so opens up the picture of, of what God is doing in our lives to help us come

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into maturity. Okay. As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds

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Oh, I love that. Yeah. Reminds me of driving up the mountain in the fog. It's all around you.

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All around. So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into.

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Then we will be able to run life's marathon race with passion and determination. Yes. For the path

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has been already marked out before us. We look away from the natural realm and we fasten our gaze

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onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith's perfection.

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His example is this. Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his,

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he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation. Wow, that's good. And now sits

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exalted at the right hand of the throne of God. So consider carefully how Jesus faced such

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intense opposition from sinners who opposed their own souls so that you won't become worn down and

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cave in under life's pressures. Oh, it's life's pressures. Okay. If you are an olive,

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what is it going to take to get olive oil? You got to get crushed. Crushed and intense pressure.

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And intense pressure. Yeah. Okay. If you're a rose, what's it going to take to produce perfume?

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Crushing. And if you know how they process olives, you want to get it all done by the first pressing.

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That's the best oil. Yeah, the best oil is the first pressing, but there's like three major

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pressings. Yeah. So, you know, it's about life's woundings and pressures and those kind of things

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are meant to produce something good. So learn it all the first time. Yeah, much as you can. Yeah.

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Okay. After all, you have not yet reached the point of sweating blood in your opposition to sin.

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And have you forgotten his encouraging words spoken to you as his children?

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He said, my child, don't underestimate the value of the discipline and training of the Lord God,

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or get depressed when he has to correct you. For the Lord's training of your life is the evidence

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of his faithful love. And when he draws you to himself, it proves you are his delightful child.

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Fully embrace God's correction as part of your training, for he is doing what any loving father

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does for his children. For who has ever heard of a child who never had to be corrected? Yeah, really.

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Yeah, really. We all should welcome God's discipline as a validation of authentic sonship.

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For if we have never once endured his correction, it only proves that we are strangers and not sons.

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Amen. And isn't it true that we respect our earthly fathers even though they corrected and

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disciplined us? Then we should demonstrate an even greater respect for God, our spiritual father,

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as we submit to his life-giving discipline. Our parents corrected us for the short time of our

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childhood as it seemed good to them, but God corrects us throughout our lives for our own good,

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giving us an invitation to share his holiness. Oh. Now all discipline seems to be more pain than

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pleasure at the time. Yeah. Yet later it will produce a transformation of character,

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bringing a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who yield to it. Yes. A quick insert,

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I remember a pastor, facilitator of the pastors in Buffalo said, I prayed the Lord didn't give my

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children anointing but integrity. Yeah, at first he was praying. First he was praying that. Yeah.

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But then he says, no, they need to have integrity before they really get anointed. Yes. Otherwise.

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There's lots of people with an anointing with no integrity and they're in trouble.

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And it doesn't go good. And verse 12, so be made strong even in your weakness by lifting up your

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tired hands in prayer and worship and strengthen the weak knees for as you keep walking forward

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on God's paths, all your stumbling ways will be divinely healed. Beautiful. In every relationship,

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be swift to choose peace over competition and run swiftly toward holiness for those who are not holy

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will not see the Lord. That's amazing. That's a powerful statement. You can be a ministry,

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you know, of all kinds of different ministry, but if you're not where you should be in the spirit,

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yeah, you know, it's, you're only fooling yourself in the end. Right. Watch over each other to make

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sure that no one misses the revelation of God's grace. Yes. And make sure no one lives with a

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root of bitterness sprouting within them, which will only cause trouble and poison the hearts of

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many. Be careful that no one among you lives in immorality, becoming careless about God's blessings

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like Esau who traded away his rights as the firstborn for a simple meal.

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And we know that later on when he wanted to inherit his father's blessing,

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he was turned away even though he begged for it with bitter tears, for it was too late then to

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repent. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So Esau, when he came in from the field and he was hungry, Jacob was making

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lentil soup and, you know, Esau begged, please give me some of that lentil soup. And Jacob decided to

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take advantage of the opportunity and said, I'll trade you for your right of the firstborn. I mean,

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they were twins. So Esau was, you know, just barely older by minutes probably. And, you know,

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he said, well, what good is it going to do me to have the firstborn right, which means you get a

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double portion, a double portion of the inheritance. What good is that going to do me if I'm going to

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die of starvation? I'm so hungry. Oh, I'm so hungry. Oh, I'm going to die. I'm starving.

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And in that moment, he valued his stomach more than his future. Wow. Uh-huh. We have to be so

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careful that we don't put the flesh in front of our inheritance, in front of our destiny. Don't,

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don't let that moment of, of, oh, I, I could just really enjoy this in this moment. Oh, God will

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forgive me. Oh, it's, oh, what's that saying? It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.

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That's a really bad attitude that, that is, is giving your flesh permission to go and do something

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that you know better. You know, you should not do that. And, you know, you think, you think you can

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presume on the goodness of God. Well, he is going to forgive when you repent, but, but there's

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something about that attitude that is going to make you like Esau and you're going to lose it in

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the end. So this is, this is one of those things that we have to walk so carefully that we, that

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we love God enough to obey him for the first time. You know, Romans, Romans five, three to five goes

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along with this. And I'm going to read it from the Amplified Classic. It says, moreover, let us also

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be full of joy. Now let us exalt and triumph in our troubles. You don't expect that, do you?

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Let us exalt and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure

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and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance and endurance fortitude

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develops maturity of character, approved faith and tried integrity and character of this sort

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produces the habit of joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints

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or deludes or shames us for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit

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who's been given to us. So when you are in a pressure time, that's the time that you need to

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be looking to Jesus and thinking about what he endured so that you get the, the opportunity

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and the, and the understanding and the revelation that we can actually rejoice when we're going

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through something because it's going to produce good fruit in us. You know, no, nobody's enjoying

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correction when it happens, but we have to get there if we want to be that mature bride.

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He's got to work out the stuff and get it out of us because it, it has no place in us.

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And second Corinthians four 17 says for our light affliction, which is, but for a moment

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works for us a far more exceeding an eternal weight of glory. That's what this is. We're trying to,

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to leave behind the flash and get with the spirit. Let's, let's look at Galatians five 13 to 26 in

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the passion translation. Beloved ones, God has called us to live a life of freedom in the Holy

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Spirit, but don't view this wonderful freedom as an opportunity to set up a base of operations in

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the natural realm. Oh, that's so well put. Freedom means that we become so completely free of

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self-indulgence that we become servants of one another, expressing love in all we do. Beautiful.

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For love completes the laws of God. All of the law can be summarized in one grand statement.

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Demonstrate love to your neighbor, even as you care for and love yourself. But if you continue

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to criticize and come against each other over minor issues, you're acting like wild beasts trying

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to destroy one another. Oh my, Oh yeah. Don't we see that? You know, I want to make a comment here.

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We were at the table with Dean Braxton recently. Oh my. And he made a comment that I have meditated

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on ever since where he was saying that talking about somebody that I don't have any idea who

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he's talking about, but some friend. And he says, you know, other folks want to fix him,

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but he's just my friend. And when, when we make a major thing out of a minor thing

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in somebody's life, instead of pulling back and just loving them and pray for them,

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and just loving them and pray for them, ask the Lord to, to help them in whatever that issue is,

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if it's important to the Lord, cause he's, cause the Lord is working with all of us.

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But if we try to be the Holy Spirit to other people, now there's, there's a place where it is

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correct to correct the brethren, but you've got to know that you've been sent by the Holy Spirit to

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do that. And not that you're trying to be like the substitute Holy Spirit doing the Holy Spirit's

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job when he hasn't given it to you to do. That's another one of those immature things that where

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we can just love people and love them regardless of their character flaws or quirks. It's mostly

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the quirks. It's the annoying things. We want to fix the annoying things. And you know, I've,

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I've had that in my heart. Sometimes I want to fix them. I just want to fix them. But if I can

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just learn to, to love and love with God's love and, and pray instead of trying to intervene,

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I believe it's going to bring better fruit if we do it by the Spirit and not by the flesh.

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Yes.

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So go on.

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Okay. As you yield freely and fully to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit,

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you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.

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That's it.

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Yeah.

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Cravings of the self-life.

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For your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit and hinder him from living free

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within you.

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Wow.

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And the Holy Spirit's intense cravings hinder your old self-life from dominating you.

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There you go.

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So then the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh

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and the new creation life in the Spirit. It's kind of like a

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spiritual life in the Spirit. It's kind of like sometimes you see the illustration.

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There's a little angel on this shoulder and there's a little demon on the other one.

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They're both speaking into an ear.

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But when you are brought into the full freedom of the Spirit of grace,

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you'll no longer be under the dominion of the law, but soaring above it.

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The cravings of the self-life are obvious. Sexual immorality, lustful thoughts, pornography,

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chasing after things instead of God, manipulating others, hatred of those.

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Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. Slow down.

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Yeah. Now let's think about these in terms of the bride.

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This sounds like this is 2000 years ago this was written, but that sounds just like today.

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Yes. And it sounds like.

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And a more of an increase of all this stuff to within even just every year it seems to be getting

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worse.

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Right. It's the world life. This is the world life.

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The world life, the self-life, the flesh. It's the flesh.

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So, you know, you've got all those sexual immorality kind of things.

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So many people think that that's okay. And they're still going to church and

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not feeling convicted whatsoever.

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The presence of God isn't there. That's why they're not convicted.

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I remember in my earlier years, I went to the more social church because there wasn't any

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Holy Spirit there to convict me. It was not operating there.

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There you go. There you go.

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Yeah.

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So go on. I just, you know, this list.

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Good point.

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This list is important for us to recognize if there's any one thing that we hear as Philip

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is reading this. Let the Holy Spirit begin to work in us to undo these things.

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Because we don't want to be in that immature self-life.

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Yeah.

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We want to be walking in the spirit in maturity.

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I'll say those other ones again and then I'll just keep going.

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Okay.

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The cravings of the self-life are obvious. Sexual immorality, lustful thoughts, pornography,

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chasing after things instead of God, manipulating others.

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Manipulating.

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Manipulating others. That's a sin.

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That's a sin? Yeah.

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It's flesh.

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Flesh, flesh.

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Yeah.

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Okay. We'll go on.

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Hatred of those who get in your way. Senseless arguments.

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Senseless arguments.

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Yeah.

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You mean that's not okay?

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It's vain. Yeah, it can lead to vain imaginations.

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Resentment when others are favored. Boy, that sure happens in the church.

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Temper tantrums.

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That's childish behavior.

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Yeah. Angry corals.

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That's childish behavior too.

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Only think of yourself. That's an adult problem. A lot.

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Well, but that starts with childhood. I mean babies, babies are only selfish.

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Self-preservation.

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Right.

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Born with it.

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Born with, born with I'm the most important thing in the room.

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Or on the planet.

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Or on the planet, yeah.

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To the parents who's taking care of them.

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Wah, feed me. Wah, I'm wet. Change me.

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Okay. Being in love with your own opinions.

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Ooh.

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Ooh, yeah. Being envious of the blessings of others. Murder. Uncontrolled.

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Murder can also be character assassination.

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Okay. One's in the spirit, one's in the flesh.

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Yeah. I mean one is, one is physical and one is,

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didn't Jesus say even if you're angry with your brother it's the same as murder?

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Yeah. Okay. Uncontrolled addictions.

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Uh-oh.

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Wild.

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Yeah.

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Wild parties and all other similar behavior.

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When's the last time you heard all this in your Sunday morning pulpit?

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Mm.

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Ooh. Okay. Haven't I already warned you that those who use their freedom for those things

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will not inherit the kingdom realm of God? That sounds like...

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It's a realm.

395
00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:56,400
It's a realm.

396
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:58,560
The kingdom of God is different realms.

397
00:39:58,560 --> 00:39:59,680
Right. But...

398
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:04,800
We think of levels, but I've heard it better described as realm, not a level.

399
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:05,120
Yes.

400
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:09,200
Because a level kind of goes up, maybe one, then maybe you'll get knocked down another level,

401
00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:11,200
but it's really a realm.

402
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:12,640
Mm-hmm. It's true.

403
00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:13,920
It's unto itself.

404
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,160
And what we're talking about is the bridal realm.

405
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:16,720
Yeah.

406
00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:18,320
The bridal realm in the kingdom.

407
00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:23,600
Mm-hmm. And so if we're participating in any of those things, if we're allowing those things,

408
00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:28,560
if we're allowing that immature behavior, we're not a mature bride.

409
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:33,760
Yeah. Okay. Let's go on. Okay, this is verse 22 and 23.

410
00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:40,480
But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions.

411
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:41,360
I love this.

412
00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:46,640
Joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that induces,

413
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:55,120
kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails,

414
00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:58,160
gentleness of heart and strength of spirit.

415
00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:03,600
Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.

416
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:10,800
Keep in mind that we who belong to Jesus, the Anointed One, have already experienced crucifixion.

417
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:16,800
For everything connected with our self-life was put to death on the cross and crucified with Messiah.

418
00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:20,800
We must live in the Holy Spirit and follow after him.

419
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:26,960
So may we never be arrogant or look down on another, for each of us is an original.

420
00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:32,960
We must forsake all jealousy that diminishes the value of others.

421
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:38,880
It's like a painting. You know, an original painting has the mark, has the signature in it.

422
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:39,360
Mm-hmm.

423
00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:44,880
That's the one that's valuable, far more than the print that's taking after it.

424
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:45,280
Right.

425
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:46,720
So we're originals.

426
00:41:46,720 --> 00:41:47,520
Beautiful.

427
00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:49,120
We're not supposed to be copycats.

428
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:56,000
You know, we're not supposed to copy after each other and model after this, this or that.

429
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:57,520
We have to be our own mold.

430
00:41:58,160 --> 00:41:58,880
Amen.

431
00:41:58,880 --> 00:41:59,680
Amen.

432
00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:01,200
Beautiful. Beautiful.

433
00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:06,960
I loved what you just said about if the Spirit is the source of our life,

434
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:12,560
we must also allow the Spirit to direct every aspect of our lives.

435
00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:20,560
And that's what it is becoming into this mature bride that looks like Jesus.

436
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:27,920
I love how Song of Solomon talks about, I think it's like four or five different times

437
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:32,560
where the bridegroom is calling the bride, my sister, my spouse.

438
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:33,120
Mm-hmm.

439
00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:39,360
He wants us to be just like him, that we have a brother and sister relationship

440
00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:49,040
that leads to that intimate relationship of bride and bridegroom where we completely become one with him.

441
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:50,080
Yes.

442
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:56,480
And just be that mature bride that looks like him in the earth, that behaves like him in the earth,

443
00:42:56,480 --> 00:43:02,400
that is doing the works that he did in the earth, that's doing the all the work that he did in the

444
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:10,480
earth, all of the exploits that like Daniel talks about, that they that know their God will be strong

445
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:11,440
and do exploits.

446
00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:11,940
Yes.

447
00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:18,560
And Jesus said, the works that I do, will you do also and greater works.

448
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,560
This comes from walking in the Spirit.

449
00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:28,320
It's not about doing works for the works sake.

450
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:32,000
It's about walking in love with him.

451
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:32,960
Let's pray.

452
00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:39,200
Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we lift up your bride before you.

453
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:50,000
Oh Jesus, your precious bride, the one that you want to marry, the one that that you are being held

454
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:58,240
in the heavens until this bride is grown up and mature and ready to be that wonderful bride.

455
00:43:58,240 --> 00:43:59,360
Bride of heaven.

456
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:05,760
Lord, we're asking you to work on us, to make us like you.

457
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:14,320
Holy Spirit, have your way in our lives and cause your bride to grow up into maturity,

458
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:16,960
to be just like you in these days.

459
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:20,240
In Jesus name, amen.

460
00:44:20,240 --> 00:44:20,740
Amen.

461
00:44:20,740 --> 00:44:31,860
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462
00:44:31,860 --> 00:44:33,540
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463
00:44:34,260 --> 00:44:39,540
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464
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465
00:44:42,340 --> 00:44:47,700
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466
00:44:47,700 --> 00:44:49,540
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467
00:44:49,540 --> 00:44:53,220
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468
00:44:53,780 --> 00:44:56,500
Until next time, this is Sharon Buss.

469
00:44:56,500 --> 00:44:58,020
And I'm Philip Buss.

470
00:44:58,020 --> 00:45:20,420
God bless you with this overwhelming, loving presence.