HOW TO LIVE ABUNDANTLY (249)

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I want to welcome you to the Quality Christian Living Podcast.

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I am your host, David Friend.

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We are in our series dealing with success, prosperity, and abundance.

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Today's podcast is entitled How to Live Abundantly.

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I'm really looking forward to this one.

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Today we are going to understand, get a better understanding of the word abundance and what

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it is and what it means to us.

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What should that word mean to us?

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We're going to look at why did Jesus say He wanted us to live life more abundantly.

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What was that all about?

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We want to understand how Christians can prosper, be successful, and live abundantly.

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We're going to learn the seven steps to abundant living and let me challenge you.

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I have a little challenge in today's podcast.

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Let me challenge you to evaluate your thoughts on abundance.

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Wish I could talk to you in person, but that's a very important question.

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How do you feel about abundance?

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Before we get into that, let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, once again, I thank you for the opportunity I have to bring this podcast

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to those who've listened in today.

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I pray that you would bless it and that you would anoint it.

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I invite the Holy Spirit to come in and do what only He can do, and that is to take this

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to a higher level.

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Take this to a level I can't even imagine or even think about.

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I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would guide my thoughts, help us to clarify what your

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word says about specific things about these issues.

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I pray that those who are listening in today, their hearts would be open.

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I pray that they would yield and submit to the leading and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

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As we go through this podcast today, they'll receive something very special.

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I believe that's going to take place.

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I'll be careful now to give you the praise and glory for it.

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In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.

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All right.

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Now let's get into the topic, how to live abundantly.

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You know, the greatest abundance we will ever experience on earth is when we are forgiven

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of our sins and become follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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When we pray that prayer and we ask Jesus into our life, we become a new creation.

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We become a totally different person.

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We are forgiven of the sins we've committed in our life and those sins will never be remembered

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again.

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How could we live more abundantly than that?

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That quite frankly is the beginning of living abundantly when we receive Jesus Christ as

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our Lord and Savior.

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If you've not done that, I'd just like you to say, Father, I'm sorry for the sins I've

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committed.

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I repent of my sins.

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Ask you to forgive me and cleanse me of all unrighteousness.

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I receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior and I promise to serve Him all the days of my life.

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Now if you prayed that prayer and you really meant it, that really is all we need to do

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to receive Jesus Christ.

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Now you need to get into a good church.

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You need to find a church that preaches the truth, which is the entire Word of God so

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that you can be blessed by it and grow in your faith.

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I hadn't planned to do that, but I believe the Holy Spirit intervened and kind of interrupted

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this podcast so I could do that at that time.

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So I pray that someone out there was blessed to understand how to become a follower of Jesus

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Christ and live the abundant life.

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So then when we become Christians, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us.

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He brings abundance to our thoughts and our actions.

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Think about that.

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Just even our thoughts, He brings abundance and the actions that we take, He brings abundance.

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As believers, we receive the abundant promise.

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We find in one of the scriptures, it's becoming one of my all time favorites and that's in

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Romans chapter 8 and verse 1.

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I'm going to read that to you.

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It's in the new international version and it says here, therefore there is no condemnation

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for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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I'll define that in just a second, but what does that mean to us relating to abundant

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living?

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Some of you might say, well, my understanding of that scripture is that there's no condemnation

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because we've been forgiven.

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That's true.

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And that's really what most people think it is, but there's far more outreaching information.

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I think far reaching definition and expanded definition of what that really means that

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there is no condemnation.

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Let me give you an example.

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In John chapter 10 and verse 10, Jesus was talking to His disciples and He said that

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the devil or Satan comes to steal, to kill and destroy.

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And then Jesus said, but I've come to give life and give it to you more abundantly.

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Now stealing and killing and destroying people, I would say is definitely condemnation.

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And so therefore if Jesus said that we can live a righteous life and we can live a godly

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life and then we can live that life more abundantly and there's no condemnation in us, then why

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would that not also apply to not only our salvation, but our experiences in life, our

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health and our welfare, our finances, our marriage.

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There's no condemnation in our marriage.

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There's no condemnation in our health.

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There's no condemnation in our walk with God because Jesus defeated Satan and his attack

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upon Christians upon followers of Jesus Christ.

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Therefore Romans 8, 1, therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ

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Jesus.

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I want you to receive that for every aspect of your life.

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If you have a physical problem, there's really no condemnation for you.

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So I pray in Jesus' name that you'll be healed.

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If you're dealing with a financial challenge, I pray in Jesus' name that you would receive

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the blessings that you need and that financial need would be solved and taken away in the

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name of Jesus.

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And I can go on and on and list many, many things that no condemnation applies to.

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So you can't live the abundant life and be walking around in condemnation.

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And a lot of folks carry condemnation because they struggle with the things that they've

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done in the past that maybe God cannot forgive them of that.

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But remember, there is no condemnation for those past sins.

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They're removed as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered again.

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So when we look upon abundant living, that applies to many things, many, many things

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in our life.

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We're living a quality, full life.

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It's not just getting by or existing, should I say.

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It's not trying to make it from day to day and just trying to somehow I'm going to get

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through this thing.

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It's not making a statement like, how are you doing today?

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And someone responds with, well, I'm still breathing.

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I'm still standing up.

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I'm not laying down in the ground.

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Those types of statements may be kind of cute and whatever, but they really are not helpful

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in understanding how we can live an abundant life.

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We don't say when someone tells us how you're doing or how you're feeling today, we need

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to come back with them and say things like this.

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We should respond to a question of how are you today and how are things with you.

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I think we should respond with something like, I'm blessed and I'm highly favored or I'm

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a child of God or something that points to God, to points to the abundant living that

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we have access to.

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Now whether you're living in that abundant living right now, if you're living in that

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situation or you're not living into it, that doesn't mean that you cannot speak about

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living abundantly and claim that promise for your life and see your life change to where

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comments like, if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.

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We need to get rid of that stuff, get it out of our vocabulary and just receive the fact

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that we are a child of God.

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We are highly favored and we are a child of the Almighty God, the maker of heaven and

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earth, the maker of all creation.

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Okay, let's move on here.

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I have a couple thoughts I want to talk about just specifically abundant living.

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As a believer in Jesus, let me tell you what I think abundant living is.

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It's defined as living according to God's will and according to the purpose He has

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for us in our life.

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When we do that, we're going to live abundantly.

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Now that doesn't mean you're guaranteed a mansion to live in and gorgeous cars to drive

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and tons of money in the bank.

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It just simply means this.

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Abundant living is defined as living according to God's will and fulfilling your purpose

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in life.

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Here's another one.

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It is described by Jesus in Matthew 6, 24 and 25.

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Let me read that to you.

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Now Jesus is speaking here.

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He's talking to His disciples.

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It's really a teaching about money and possession.

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It applies very much to what we're talking about here for success, prospering and abundant

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living.

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Specifically in this podcast, we're dealing with the subject of just abundant living

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or living the life abundantly.

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Jesus says these words.

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It's in Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 24.

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Jesus says, No one can serve two masters, for you will hate one and love the other.

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You will be devoted to one and despise the other.

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You cannot serve both God and money.

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So right up front, He's dealing with the issue of finances, success, prosperity.

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What some people refer to as money being abundance.

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Well, money can be a part of abundance, but it's not all there is to abundance, not by

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a long shot.

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Verse 25, Jesus says this.

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That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life.

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Whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear, isn't life more than

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food and your body more than clothing?

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Look at the birds.

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They don't plant or harvest or store food in the barns, for your heavenly Father feeds

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them and aren't you far more valuable to Him than they are?

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Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

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Think about that.

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Here Jesus is talking about something that attacks us and comes up after us and makes

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us worry and be concerned and be anxious about things and He's telling you don't worry about

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that stuff because God's got to take care of He's in control of everything.

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He wants you to live the abundant life and don't worry.

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You see, abundant living is not having worry and anxiety in our life.

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Oh, things come up and we have challenges and those things, but we've got to push our

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trust in God.

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The Bible tells us to be anxious for nothing, but with everything, with our prayers, petitions

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and thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to God and the peace of God that best

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is all understanding will guard our heart and guard our mind in Christ Jesus.

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When we get that scripture and we put it inside of us, I believe we're living above.

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Abundantly, abundant living is what every Christian desires.

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As a matter of fact, abundant living is peace.

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It's a great definition of it.

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Abundant living is brought on by the Holy Spirit.

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He provides comfort and joy and happiness and contentment.

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Abundant living is Psalm 46 and 1 in the New International Version.

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God is our refuge and strength and ever present help and trouble.

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When we believe that, when we get that into our heart and our mind and into our soul,

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we will understand what abundant living is all about and how to live that life.

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Abundant living is having our financial needs met.

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Matter of fact, even more finances than we'll need, more than enough.

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I'm sure some of you out there are saying, I'll take that.

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I'll take a little of that more than enough finances to meet our needs.

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Well, I believe that God wants us to be able to be blessed financially so that we'll have

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our needs met and we will have an abundance to help others, to reach out to others.

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That's how the church should operate.

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When the church sets up its offering and they take the offering or receive it, however they

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do, those funds should come in to support what the church is doing and also provide

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for the needs of their community.

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Okay, let me move on now to something I said in my introduction.

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That is that I'm going to give you seven steps to obtain abundant living.

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Now, this is not a guarantee, but it's all for close to that because if we follow what

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God's Word tells us to do, if we do that, I'm not saying this is going to cover all

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of God's Word.

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If we learn how to follow the teachings that Lord gives us, I can guarantee you that we

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will all live the abundant life.

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If we follow His direction for our finances, His directions for our family, our marriages,

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parenting, all the things that we're supposed to do and that God gives us instructions on,

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if we follow that, we would live the abundant life.

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So since we're not going to get into the entire Word and cover it all, let's just cover a

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few points.

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I'll give you seven points I think that may be helpful to keeping it a little bit condensed

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to help all of us understand that there really are steps to obtain abundance in our life

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and not just financial but abundance in every area of our life.

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In 1 John chapter 4 and verse 4 in the new international version, let me read you this

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scripture.

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You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them.

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That's the challenges of life because, now listen to this, here's the most important

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part of this scripture.

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The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

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Wow.

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We should learn to live that every day.

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We should believe that.

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Yes, every one of us needs to learn how to believe that statement.

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You see, we must live daily with that promise.

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Let me read the promise again and talk a little bit about it as we go through it.

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The one who is in you, that's the Holy Spirit.

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That's the power of God.

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Living and dwelling in us.

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Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and

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Savior.

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The Holy Spirit comes to dwell on us.

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Now there's the gift of tongues and the gift of the Holy Spirit that come into play but

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that's not what I'm talking about right now.

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I'm just saying that the one who is in you, which is the spirit of the living God, comes

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into us when we become a child of God and receive Jesus our Lord and Savior.

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We cleanse ourselves all the sins that we've done in our life and we have a new life for

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a new creation.

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The Holy Spirit comes in.

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So the one who is in you is greater.

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Now that means that the Holy Spirit is greater than anything outside, anything out in the

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world.

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Any demon in hell, any devil that's out there, any angry people that don't like you, relatives

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that are opposed to you or against you, friends that have turned against you, a husband that

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turned on you and left you, or a wife that turned on you and left you, all of those things,

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the one who is in you, the Holy Spirit is greater than the one who's in the world it

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says.

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So that means this.

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That means there's nothing out there that is more difficult or more challenging for

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the Holy Spirit than what he can handle.

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He can handle anything.

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Nothing is impossible with him.

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There's nothing impossible with God.

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And in our life, we've got to remember that the one that's in us, the one who's dwelling

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and living in us is greater than a diagnosis of cancer because I've had several of those

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in my life and been told I wasn't going to live, but the one who is in me is greater

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than a diagnosis of cancer.

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The one who is in me is greater than any financial failure that I might have.

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The one who is in us is greater than the child that's turned on us and has become a prodigal

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child.

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You see, the reason that I'm spending so much time on this one and I made it the first

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one in my seven steps to obtain abundant living is because we've got to believe this.

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Otherwise, we can't live abundantly.

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We've got to believe that the one who is in us is greater than those who are against

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us or those in the world.

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And we've got to believe in the word of God says, if God is for us, who can be against

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us?

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It really doesn't matter who's against us.

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If God is for us, those scriptures are the things that carry us.

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Those are the words of God that carry us through the challenges of life.

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It doesn't matter what we come through.

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We can live abundantly.

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When I was diagnosed with cancer 22 years ago, lost my right kidney, they were concerned

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about it spreading all over me and all that stuff.

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I had to rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit to help me through it.

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I had to rely upon God's word.

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I had to learn how to trust in the Lord with all my heart, lean not on Him, my own understanding

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and all my way, acknowledge Him and He would direct my path.

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That's Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 5.

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Those are the things we've got to understand in order to live abundantly.

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And that's why I'm emphasizing this because that needs to be a part of our life.

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Maybe some of you out there might want to take a little piece of paper and write it

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on there or put it on your phone or something to keep that in front of you that the one

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who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

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Alright, I made my point.

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I'm going to move on.

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Step number two, we live abundantly when we never use the word lucky or luck.

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Now you might say, well, that's not very deep.

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Well, it really is very deep.

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You see, the word luck is a word that the world uses.

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They created that.

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They created that so that we could take our reliance upon God away, that we would place

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our hope and luck rather than in God.

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And yet so many people use that word constantly.

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When I'm around Christians and they say, well, you're lucky or you're lucky about this or

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I'm lucky about that, I always tell them, no, we really should say that we're blessed.

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Because of Christians, we should always believe that God wants to bless us.

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And I suggest we never use the word luck.

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There's something one of my former pastors used to say.

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He says, when there's a word that you think is wrong or something you don't want in your

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house, go to your dictionaries and find that word and scratch it out or cut it out.

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Get it out of there so that even your kids can't relate to that word.

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I think that's kind of an interesting point.

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But in reality, as believers in Jesus Christ, to live the abundant life, it has nothing

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to do with luck.

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It has nothing to do with coincidence or circumstances because luck will fail us when we're having

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problems and trials and challenges.

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But our faith in God and being blessed will carry us through that and we can still live

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that abundant life.

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Right, number three, to live abundantly, we should share our faith with others.

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I think that's a very important point because it builds our faith.

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When we share our faith with someone else, we're building our faith.

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When I tell someone that I'm blessed, if they don't ask me why, I'm going to tell

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them why I am.

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I'm blessed because I know that God cares for me.

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And or just something to let them know that I just believe that there's a higher source

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of blessing than just what's happening around us.

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So we've got to understand to live abundantly, we've got to openly share the faith that we

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have in Jesus Christ with others.

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I don't mean that you can grab your Bible and go down the road and just start beating

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on the Bible and yelling at people to get saved.

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That's not what I'm talking about.

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But we should share our faith.

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The fact that the testimony that we have is something that will bless someone else.

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Jesus gave his disciples an order and it's called the Great Commission.

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He told them to do this.

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He didn't say, I like to think about maybe talking to people about Jesus or if he kind

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fit it into your schedule somehow or maybe when you're out fishing that maybe you might

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want to drop a little word like God is good or something.

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Jesus said very specifically that he told them to go out in the world.

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Matthew chapter 22 verses 18 and 19 in the new international version it says this.

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Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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And then verse 19, listen to this very direct.

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He didn't say, I hope you will or maybe you will or if you find time to do this, he says,

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therefore go and make disciples of all nations.

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That means people baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy

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Spirit.

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The Great Commission was given to us by Jesus, not as a suggestion, but something he tells

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us that we need to do.

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And I know for some people it's very difficult for them to share their faith, but we've got

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to teach ourselves that what we have we need to share with someone else.

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You can do it in a soft manner.

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You can just simply say that you go to church and you can start the conversation there.

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You can say that you were at church the other day and you heard a wonderful message or you

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met this wonderful person in church or just somehow bring your church relationship into

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the discussion you're having with people.

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That opens up the window for you to have a discussion where you can share your faith.

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I would also encourage you the way I many times get to share my faith is when I'm saying

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I'm at a coffee shop or I'm really checking out someplace.

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I'll just turn to someone and just say, you know, just smile at them or just say something

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like, you know, it's nice outside, whatever, or it's raining or whatever, just to get the

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thing rolling and say, you know, I'm just happy to be here.

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They'll look at me kind of find out.

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I'll say, you know, because I was diagnosed with incurable cancer several years ago and

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that was only told I had a short time to live, but now look what's happened.

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You might think, well, that's a little heavy.

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That's not really at all.

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The people, they're open to that.

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They enjoy that.

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I'll say that, you know, I just want to know I believe in prayer and so I know God blesses

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us and helps us.

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So matter of fact, is there anything that I could pray with you about?

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This is a perfect stranger.

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You might say, well, boy, that's brash.

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No, it's not at all.

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You know, in all the people, and there have been a lot of people over the years, I won't

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boast about it, but just as often as I can possibly do it, I want to ask people, is there

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anything I can pray with you about?

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Let me give you an example.

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And please don't, please forgive me for the personal reference, but I wound up in the

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hospital.

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I went for 72 days every day.

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I had to get antibiotic treatments to take away an infection that was in my back.

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So 72 straight days.

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Every day for three hours, I had to go through this process.

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And I didn't think much about it because all of a sudden I found there was an opportunity.

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I was going to the hospital and I was going to be meeting with a nurse and whether that

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nurse is a man or a woman, they would have to work with me for a period of about three

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hours.

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And I would go in there and I got to talking to them and I would tell them, by the way,

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I'm making a list of all the nurses here and I'm making a list of their first names

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so my wife and I can pray for them.

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And you're one of them.

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So I put your name on my list.

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And I'm telling you, every single time I mentioned that, someone would say, oh, that's really

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sweet.

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Oh, that's so nice.

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And I would say something like, is there anything in particular I can pray with you about?

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Now here I'm there to get treatment of medication and they're there to help me, but it's an

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opportunity.

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It's a wonderful opportunity.

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I'm not suggesting you go to the hospital to do this.

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Stay away from the hospital.

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I want you to stay away from all hospitals because, quite frankly, people die there.

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I know that's a weak joke, but nonetheless, I had to put that in there.

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We've got to understand that people need help.

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People need Jesus.

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We need to share our faith.

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And any opportunity we have, ask someone if you can pray for them or tell them you're

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praying for them.

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When you do, you make a connection.

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And many times, it opens up to an opportunity to share your faith.

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Okay, step number four to live life abundantly.

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Remember, our past mistakes must not be repeated.

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That's an interesting point.

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It's very short and sweet, but quite frankly, past experiences can really hurt us.

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They can bring us down.

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But past experiences can also bring forth current bondage and not abundance.

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We should grow from our past mistakes and move into abundant living.

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We should not allow our past issues and mistakes and sins and the things that have been in

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our life to rob us of living that abundant life.

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Number five, seek knowledge to have abundance.

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In Matthew chapter 13 and verse 12, Jesus said this,

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Those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance

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of knowledge.

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But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be

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taken away from them.

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The part I want you to remember more than anything else in that particular scripture

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when it first starts out, it says, Those who listen to my teaching, more understanding

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will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge.

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You see, knowledge is one of the key steps to living the abundant life.

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And the knowledge that we need is the word of God.

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We need to get wisdom from God.

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We need to have the word of God in our life daily so that we receive guidance and direction

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from him and from his word.

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All right, step number six, for abundance in our finances, put God first in our giving.

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I'm going to give you a little suggestion here.

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I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this because I preached an awful lot over in prior

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podcasts and did a whole series on finances recently.

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And I just want to make a statement about that.

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For abundance living, living that abundant life in our finances, we need to put God first

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in our giving and in all of our decisions that we make.

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We should pray and ask God, should we do that or not?

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Ask the Holy Spirit to help us with it.

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If you get confused about something you're praying about, then I believe you got your

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answer because when we're confused, I believe it's not of God because God is not the author

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of confusion, but he's the author of peace.

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So there, if I, we need to put God first in our giving.

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Let me give an example, just a short one here.

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I suggest in your finances, give 10% of what you make to the Lord.

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That means to your local church.

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Give 10% to yourself to save and put a savings account and live on the other 80%.

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Now you can't do that overnight.

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I realize that, but we should reevaluate our finances so that we can live on 80% of what

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we make and save 10% and give 10% to the work of the Lord.

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By doing that, you're preparing for your future.

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You're blessing the work of God.

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You're thankful to God for what he's done for you and you're meeting your needs.

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Matter of fact, you might want to have an ultimate goal of giving the Lord or the church

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that you go to 20% of what you make, save 20% and live on 60% of what you make.

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That means really working out an understanding of what you really need in your daily life.

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Because I can tell you right now, if you give 20% or 10% to the work of the Lord, it's going

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to make you a better steward of the money that you have.

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What you have left over, you're going to be better at managing it if you've given some

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of it away.

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And if you save 10 or 20% of the money that you have now, whether you're a young person

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or middle-aged person or even older person, if we can learn to save, then we will not

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lack, quite frankly, in the area of our finances and we will have an abundance in our finances.

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Move on to number seven.

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Step number seven when it comes to understanding the way to obtain abundant living.

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Don't listen to those who believe that Christians cannot be successful or prosper or live abundantly.

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Their argument, and I've had them right on my face and telling me, you can't talk about

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that.

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You can't talk about success.

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You can't talk about finances.

463
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:44,520
You can't talk about those things.

464
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:48,160
Their argument to me has always been that these things are showing your self-centeredness

465
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:49,760
and you're being selfish.

466
00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:55,400
Our response to that should be, in God's word, it encourages us to be successful.

467
00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,160
It encourages us to prosper.

468
00:23:57,160 --> 00:23:59,120
It encourages us to live the abundant life.

469
00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:03,720
So that pretty much dismisses the argument that people have that say, it's self-centeredness

470
00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:05,600
and all that to talk about these things.

471
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:07,960
And I even had a guy recently make a statement.

472
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:11,440
He said, I can't believe you want to talk on success because to know where in the Word

473
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,680
of God does it talk about success.

474
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:17,640
So I immediately went to the Word of God and started looking, whatever, some translations

475
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:19,960
use the word success multiple times.

476
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:22,240
In the Old Testament, it's used quite frequently.

477
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,280
In the book of Proverbs and Psalms, it's used quite frequently.

478
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:26,480
And also in the New Testament.

479
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:28,600
So you know so much for that argument.

480
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,600
But we just know that God wants to bless us.

481
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:36,960
Once again, why would God put over 2,000 references in his word?

482
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:42,680
Old and New Testament talking about finances, prosperity, success, living abundantly and

483
00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:43,680
all those things.

484
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:45,440
Why would he spend so much time on that?

485
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:50,320
Now he talks about how to get it and how good it should be and why it can bless us and how

486
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:51,840
we can make that happen in our life.

487
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:56,120
But he also warns us many times in the Word of God to avoid those things and don't let

488
00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:58,920
those things rob us of a blessing with God.

489
00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:03,440
Don't let success, don't let prosperity, do not let abundant living that's seeking

490
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,040
for it rob you of the fullness of God.

491
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,680
I made a statement in a prayer podcast and I said, whatever you do, I think it was on

492
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,000
prosperity, whatever you do, don't seek prosperity.

493
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:13,960
Well that applies to abundance.

494
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:15,800
You should not seek success.

495
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:17,280
We should not seek prosperity.

496
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:22,280
We should not seek abundant living because only thing we should do is first seek the

497
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,960
kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things will be added unto us.

498
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:27,400
So seek God first.

499
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:32,440
But if we seek God and we get into His Word, we will find and God will bring to us through

500
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:37,720
His teaching in His words these issues of success, prosperity and living abundantly.

501
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:38,920
It's all in the Word of God.

502
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,280
You'll find it there but just don't seek it.

503
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:42,280
Seek God.

504
00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:45,760
I'm going to close out this podcast now because I'm kind of running out of time and I want

505
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:50,240
to spend a moment very quickly to tell you about what's coming up in my next podcast.

506
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:55,080
As a matter of fact, I've been talking about spiritual prosperity and financial prosperity.

507
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,280
I've been talking about abundant living and all those types of things.

508
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,800
Well, I'm going to talk about how we can have it all, how we can have spiritual growth and

509
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:04,600
these other blessings in our life.

510
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:09,320
So my next podcast coming up is entitled How to Have It All.

511
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:12,400
People come to me sometimes and say, Pastor, I appreciate you talking about giving to the

512
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:14,640
church or that you do this or you do that.

513
00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:15,640
But I just can't do that.

514
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:18,680
I can't afford to give to the church and still pay my bills.

515
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:23,400
And I think when we feel that way, we're robbing God or the opportunity to teach us how to

516
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:24,600
get these things in order.

517
00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:29,760
And we're refusing to discipline ourselves and to allow ourselves to lean upon the Holy

518
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:33,560
Spirit and lean upon the Word of God and trust God to take care of these things in our life.

519
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,520
So I believe that we can have it all.

520
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:41,600
But having it all means to me is that we can grow spiritually and grow financially, that

521
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:46,360
we can grow in our walk with God and operate with the Holy Spirit in us and help people

522
00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:50,600
and witness people and share our faith and be successful in business, that we can do

523
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:51,600
all those things.

524
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:53,880
There are no limitations on God.

525
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:58,480
God wants to bless us in every area of our life, whether it be our home, our family, whether

526
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:03,000
it be our job, the career that we have, the work that we do, the possessions that we own,

527
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:06,680
the money that we give to the church, all those things he wants to bless us in those

528
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:07,680
areas.

529
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:09,160
And so let's not limit God.

530
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:10,160
Let God be God.

531
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,040
That means let him do what he is going to do.

532
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:17,840
So let me just give you a couple little lines that will be included in this next podcast,

533
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:18,840
how to have it all.

534
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:21,680
Let me show you what having it all means.

535
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:27,040
We're going to discover how God's Word can show us we can have more than we think we

536
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:28,040
can.

537
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:31,760
That doesn't mean we're greedy because he wants to bless us with more than we think we

538
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:33,100
can be blessed with.

539
00:27:33,100 --> 00:27:34,280
That's in every area of our life.

540
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:37,480
How much is enough for you is something we'll talk about.

541
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:43,920
And we will look into the good and bad sides of being successful and prospering and seeking

542
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,680
the abundant light because we should never seek any of these.

543
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:52,840
And how does a Christian keep in balance the blessings of God, his walk with God and his

544
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:54,800
work, his home and his family?

545
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:55,800
It's going to be fun.

546
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:56,800
I'm looking forward to it.

547
00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:58,520
So with that, let me just close this in prayer.

548
00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:00,880
Father, thank you for blessing this podcast.

549
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:05,000
I pray those that listened in, received it with a positive open of heart and under the

550
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,000
anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit.

551
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:08,000
Bless them and keep them.

552
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,720
I pray and I'll thank you for it now and give you the glory in Jesus' name.

553
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:11,720
I pray, amen.

554
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:16,040
If you'd like to know more about quality Christian living, you can do that by going to my webpage

555
00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,360
at davidcfriendauthor.com.

556
00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:21,640
And when you go there, the front page has a link to these podcasts.

557
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:25,520
This is podcast number 249.

558
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:29,320
And that means we've done a lot of podcasts and there are series on business, there's

559
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:33,720
series on finances, there's series on the gifts of the Spirit, the manifestations of

560
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,000
the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit.

561
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:42,360
There's a series of messages on faith for miracles and one dealing with how we can increase

562
00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:44,920
our faith and be blessed of the Lord to do that.

563
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:46,760
So I hope that you'll enjoy that.

564
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,400
In addition to that, if you would like to know more about my writings, you can just scroll

565
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:54,000
down on that front page and you'll see a reference to some books that I've written.

566
00:28:54,000 --> 00:29:00,640
If you would like to subscribe to my podcast, you can do that by going to cpnshows.com or

567
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:02,720
wherever you listen to your podcast.

568
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:06,200
So I'm wrapping this up, but so thankful that you listened in today.

569
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:10,440
I want to close this with just a few words that I'd like to share at the end of each

570
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:11,440
podcast.

571
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:13,440
May the Lord bless you and keep you.

572
00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:15,200
May his face shine upon you.

573
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,520
May he be gracious to you and give you peace.

574
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:21,160
May you prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.

575
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:26,440
So until next time, I pray that God will richly bless you and I pray that you'll walk in the

576
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:31,520
fullness of God and you'll live that life abundant living that Jesus said.

577
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:35,120
He wants us to live life and live it more abundantly.

578
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:36,120
That's what this is about.

579
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:37,240
It's not getting rich.

580
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:39,360
It's not about having more money than the next guy.

581
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:41,000
It's living that abundant life.

582
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,720
It's having the power of God in our life.

583
00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:45,720
It's being led by the Spirit of God.

584
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:49,240
It's being instructed by his word and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

585
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,200
So thank you once again for listening into the Quality Christian Living podcast and I

586
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,000
am your host, David Fren.

587
00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:19,760
Once again, may God richly bless you.