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Am I being a Christian in His presence only or am I going to choose to be a Christian

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when I'm surrounded by friends?

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In this episode we're talking about becoming a mature believer and the two verses I will

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mainly be talking about are verses 12 and 13 of Philippians chapter 2. So let's turn there and

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just read them real quick.

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Before we even jump into that I want to set this episode just well. In the first

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11 verses Paul is challenging us of the right heart. He's telling us have a humble heart,

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have the same mind that was in Christ which was the mind of humility. That's the challenge in

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the first 11 verses and then after we have a right heart, now we can begin to grow in the

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kingdom of God. The heart is the root, it's the foundation and if your foundations are not set

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well then there's nothing else that you could do after that that will make you successful.

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So the first 11 verses of chapter 2 is him encouraging and employing us have the right

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heart and uses Jesus as an example how he had the right heart. After we have the right heart

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now he starts telling us how we can now mature as believers and the verse I want to look at is

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in Proverbs 4 23. It says,

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This verse echoes the importance of having a healthy heart because that is how we grow in

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the Lord. Paul was challenging them and us today to have a humble heart because that is the

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healthiest type of heart. Once you have a humble heart now you can grow in the Lord

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and in these two verses you kind of see a glimpse because the rest of the chapter talks about

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growing in the Lord but in these two verses you kind of see a glimpse of how to grow.

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Let's jump to verse 12 of chapter 2 and let's look at the first part of verse 12

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and this is probably every pastor's dream, every pastor's desire that what you teach your people

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they will take it home and leave it out. In the church today we have a lot of part-time Christians.

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Christians who are Christians, very strong Christians in the church or in front of people

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but when they go home where they're alone they're a completely different animal. They're mean,

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they're rude, there's not the love of God that they put front in the church is nowhere to be

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seen. Paul is commending the Philippians here saying, he's saying this is what I'm gonna repeat

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that, Therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but much more

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in my absence. Who you are at home or in private is who you truly are. If you're mean in private

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that's who you are but all the other faces that people put on when they get out their houses

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that's not them and it's very tiring. It's exhausting to have to pretend to be something

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that you're not and I want to encourage this. Be who you are. Let the Lord change you into His image

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so you can be that everywhere you go. For me the longest thing for the longest time that I

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would struggle with in private I was a good Christian but in public I was trying to put

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forth this image of a rebellious just party dude and that was never me and I would be exhausted

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because I would try to pretend to be something that I'm not and then one day the Lord just

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challenged me and He didn't even say anything and I was just studying the word and this

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understanding just came into my heart. It was like a download and the Lord was just saying

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are you going to stay who you are or are you going to change depending on your environment

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and there was no words. He didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. I just sat there with my

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arms folded and I just was quiet. I was probably quiet maybe I was quiet for 30 seconds but it

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felt like I was quiet forever and I just sat there and I just began to process and understand

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am I being a Christian in His presence only or am I being or am I going to choose to be

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a Christian when I'm surrounded by friends. That's the challenge. Are you going to stand

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on the truth of God's word regardless of what's around you. Remember Paul is writing this letter

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in a prison. He's not in his house with people helping around that's and he's

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saying, live out who you are, whether he's there or not there.

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So that's what I was talking about in the two episodes ago.

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There's a lot of people who paid the price for this gospel,

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and we cannot flip-flop and choose who we want to be around who.

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If you're a Christian, be a Christian.

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And that's how you become a mature believer,

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by growing in who God says you are,

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and being that everywhere you go,

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not changing based on your environment.

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So now let's go to the latter half of verse 12.

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And I'm going to read that latter half in three different translations,

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because they all bring out something very interesting.

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In the New King James, it says this,

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In the complete Jewish Bible, it says,

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In the NLT, it says this,

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Obeying God with deep reverence and fear.

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Now, before we go any further,

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the Greek word of the word salvation is the word soteria.

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And it means this,

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That is why salvation is more than just being saved.

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When we're added into the kingdom of God,

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there are a lot more things that are available to us.

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And so I feel sad sometimes when all we talk about,

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about salvation is just being saved. That's a piece of the pie.

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There are other slices in this thing.

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And we limit ourselves to just like, I'm saved. That's all I need. And I'm good.

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But we must grow from salvation into other different things.

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It starts with salvation, but it doesn't end with salvation.

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When Holy Spirit says, work out your own salvation,

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He's talking about the full benefits of salvation,

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which is more than being saved. If you're struggling with anxiety,

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work out the peace of God that comes through your salvation of fear.

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If you're struggling with sexual sin,

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work out the purity of God that comes through your salvation of a

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lust. If you're struggling with pride,

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work out the humility of God that comes through your salvation of a

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self. If you struggle with health issues,

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work out the healing power of God that comes through your salvation of a

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sickness. Salvation is more than being saved.

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In Psalms 103,

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you see other benefits of salvation.

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I'm going to read it real quick.

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Bless the Lord all my soul and all that is within me bless His holy

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name.

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Bless the Lord all my soul and forget not all His

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benefits, who forgives all your iniquities,

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who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction,

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who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,

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who satisfies your mouth with good things so that

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your youth is renewed like eagles.

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That's all part of salvation.

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It's not just being saved.

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So now let's talk about working out our own salvation.

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To understand how to work out your own salvation,

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you must know that we are spirit being,

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we have a soul and we live in this physical body.

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And in the last episode I talked about that.

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So I'm not going to really go into much depth about that.

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The day we get saved,

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only our spirit is made righteous or saved.

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Our soul is being made saved or righteous and our bodies will be

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made righteous or saved on resurrection morning.

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So it's a continuous thing and you'll hear a lot of people say already,

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not yet. And that's why they say that. We are already saved,

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meaning our spirit is saved.

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Not yet in terms of our soul is not yet saved because we have to renew our

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mind. We have to do all these different things and our bodies will be saved

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on resurrection morning or when we go to heaven and we get our new bodies.

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So it's a progression. It's not a one-time deal.

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Look at James one verse 21,

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therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and

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receive with meekness the implanted word,

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which is able to save your souls.

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This letter was being written to believers.

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It was not just written to everybody.

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This was a letter for believers and he's telling them the implanted word of

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God can save their souls.

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What James means is this. Our spirit is saved. Awesome. Great.

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But your soul has to be saved by the word of God.

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So when Holy Spirit says to work out our own salvation,

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he means to manifest our salvation from our

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spirit into our soul and into our body.

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Work out what has happened within you to your outsides because nobody can see

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you being saved. How can people tell you're saved? By your fruit and that

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fruit is produced with a renewed mind. Our soul is made up of our mind, will

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and emotions. We work out our salvations to our souls by renewing our mind

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according to Romans 12 2 and this is what it says. And do not be conformed to

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this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove

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what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. When you renew your

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mind you're proving what is a good acceptable and perfect will of God and

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that's how you work out your salvation. You read the scriptures, you renew your

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mind and then you see God tells me through his word to walk in love. So what

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do I do? I meditate on that. I study love. I study what does love look like in the

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kingdom. It's very unconditional and then once I have that understanding I begin

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to walk it out. So that is me working out my salvation. When you renew your mind

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according to the Word of God, your will will be changed and your emotions

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will be tamed. When you renew your mind according to the Word of God, this is

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remember the process of becoming a mature believer. This is how we work out

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our salvation. When you renew your mind according to the Word of God, your will

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your decision maker will be changed and now you begin to want to do things that

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God wants to do and your emotions will be tamed. You're not just gonna do what

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you feel like because now there's a higher power within you. You're gonna

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express your emotions according to the Word of God and your emotions will be

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tamed. Do you know that a lot of crime are done out of passion? Out of

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unrestrained emotions? Because that's then the emotions have not been tamed and

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the only way to tame the emotions is through renewing your mind. In chapter 12

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of Romans verse 1 says this,

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I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your

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bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your

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reasonable service. So if the task for the soul is to renew it, the

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task for our body is to sacrifice. I'm gonna repeat that. If the task for the

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soul is to renew it, the task for the body is to sacrifice. We cannot let our

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bodies do what they feel like doing. We cannot let our bodies go in a sin. We

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have to tame. We have to sacrifice. We have to bring it in and say no. In 1

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Corinthians 9 27 Paul says this, I put my body under subjection so that I

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myself might not be a castaway. He had to bring his body, bring his flesh and tell

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you will not sin. This is what you're going to do. We are going to pray. So if

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you renew your mind and then you are bringing your body in a subjection

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you're becoming a mature believer because you're not just acting willy-nilly.

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You're letting the leadership of the Holy Spirit lead you. We cannot let our

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bodies be involved in sin. We have to choose to not to do that. It's our

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decision. God is not gonna decide it for us. He gives us a will so that we can

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tell ourselves no. You are going to study the Bible and you are going to pray. We

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must set our bodies apart from sin and present it to God for his purpose. That's

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why you bring your body under subjection. You work out your own

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salvation by renewing your mind and making your body a living sacrifice and

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setting it apart from sin. And verse 13 is probably a relief for me and I'm

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appreciating it for a lot of people. It reminds us that God is right there with

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us in this journey of becoming a mature believer. For it is God and this is what

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verse 13 says. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His

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good pleasure. It is Him. So this is how it works. We renew our mind. We study

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the Bible. We tell our bodies no you're not gonna sin. And as we're doing this

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the Holy Spirit is working in us. He's changing our hearts. He's taking the

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words that we are studying and giving us a revelation. He's taking the sacrifice

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so we can pray and making the prayer time a powerful time and a sweet time.

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That's how we do it together. That's how we partner with the Holy Spirit. Holy

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Spirit tells us that it is He who works in us to give us the will to do His good

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pleasure. There have been times in my personal life where the last thing I've

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wanted was to spend time with the Lord. But because of

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of the Holy Spirit working with me.

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He helps me give me the confidence.

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He helps me remind myself like,

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hey, this is more important than watching TV.

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This is more important than hanging out with my friends.

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We become mature believers by working out our salvation

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and by trusting Holy Spirit to work in us.

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That's the journey of becoming a mature believer.

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We study, we pray, and we partner with the Holy Spirit

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in that journey.

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Becoming a mature believer is a process

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that does not happen overnight.

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On this journey, you will have highs and lows,

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but the most important thing we must remember

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is that we are not alone.

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We have God, the Holy Spirit with us

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throughout the whole journey.

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That's why I love verse 13.

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And I'm just gonna read again

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because it just blesses my soul.

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For it is God who works in you,

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both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

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Amen?