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Today we are going to take a posture of peace by resting in God's affection for us.

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Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything.

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Together we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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In Romans chapter 5 verses 1 through 8 it says,

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Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God,

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through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace

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in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so,

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but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance,

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character, and character hope. And hope does not put us to shame. Because God's love has been

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poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. You see,

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at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very

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rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly

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dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners,

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Christ died for us. It's a very special week. We are celebrating two whole years of posture.

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The very first episode aired on February 16th, 2020. And here we are. If you're new to posture,

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welcome. If you've been a part of this community for any length of time, I am so thankful for you.

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It is truly amazing to me that we can connect in this way. Every week, all over the world,

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through our screens, for such a time as this. It is such an awesome time to be alive. Don't let

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anyone tell you differently. Now the whole reason that I started posture is for you. I had this

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shared desire with God to knock on people's screens, maybe even disrupt your scrolling.

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Not to just give you more information, but to present you with an invitation to fully realize

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the majesty of Jesus and the magnitude of this life in Christ that we have been given.

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I'm kind of sentimental. I wanted to mark the moment today. So I really wanted to say something

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like, if I could say anything to you guys after two years of being here, what is the one thing I

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want you to know? And the message has actually always stayed the same with posture. We've taken

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it from many different angles, but the message is this. Jesus didn't just come to give us good

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things like peace, love, joy, healing. He came to give us himself and not just a piece of himself,

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but his whole self. It's so much better than we think, guys. Colossians 2, 9 through 10 says,

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all the fullness of God dwells in Christ and in Christ, you were brought to fullness. Other

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translations say you are complete in him. No matter what translation you read, it's all speaking

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to something that has happened, not something that is going to happen. This is very good news.

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It means his fullness is your starting point today. It's not in some far off destination you

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have to try to earn access to by surviving this obstacle course of life here on earth. No,

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it's yours. Everything Jesus is, is yours. Now, some of you know my story from past episodes.

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It's really, you know, my testimony is a foundation of why I started posture.

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When I was in the chokehold of anxiety and panic, living a lifestyle fueled by the fumes of hustle,

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can anyone relate? Believing that being a good Christian meant being a busy Christian,

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believing that being sold out for Christ meant being completely burnt out for Christ.

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When I was in that desperate place, that dark pit, I knew I needed a change and I so desperately

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wanted peace because I thought peace was the opposite of the anxiety and the panic and the

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burnout that I was living through. And I thought, therefore, that peace might be the kryptonite,

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so to speak, of all the issues that I was facing. Peace would be the thing

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that would solve all of my problems. I knew I needed peace. And here's the thing. I knew

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that peace had been promised to me. I read scriptures like John 14, 27 and John 16,

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33, where Jesus promised me his peace, but there was a gap.

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Between the promises that I was reading in scripture, and what I was actually experiencing in my life.

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There was a gap between the peace I had been promised and the crippling anxiety and panic that I was living with.

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Maybe you've experienced the gap too.

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Maybe you see promises for joy, but you're battling depression.

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Or you see the promises for healing in scripture, but you're sick.

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Or you see the promises for victory, but you feel so defeated all the time.

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And when we face this gap, so many of us have good hearts.

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We want to love God. We want to believe Him so badly that we try to fill the gap in order to make sense of it all.

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And some of us do this by adhering to bad theologies.

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Theology that says that healing is not for today, it passed away with the apostles.

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Or perfect peace cannot be fully experienced in a broken world.

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We have to wait for heaven to experience peace.

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All kinds of nonsense.

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And I'm not making fun of anyone.

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This is coming mostly from a good heart.

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A heart that wants to believe God in the midst of unbelievable circumstances.

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But what we do when we try to fill that gap often is we try to dilute His promises.

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By leaving them in the past or putting them off in the future instead of fully embracing them in our present.

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In our here and now.

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This is what I was doing when I faced that gap of peace.

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I tried to fill it.

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I tried to fill it with one big if.

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I believed if I just loved God more.

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If I just loved God more, then He would give me this peace that He promised me.

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If I just loved God more, then I would figure out how to access this healing for the anxiety that I was facing.

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If I just loved God more, this Christian life would finally be working.

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If I just loved God more, that gap between what I was reading in the Bible and what I was actually experiencing in my circumstances, my thoughts, my emotions, my relationships.

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That gap would finally be closed and I would finally be doing it.

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I would finally be living the good life.

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I would be living the Christian life.

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But here's what I discovered.

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You and I are not called to live a Christian life.

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We were given a life to live in Christ.

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Not a life with a Christian badge slapped on it.

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That's religion.

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A life in Christ.

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What does that mean?

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A life in Christ is not a formula to follow.

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It's not a standard to achieve.

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It's not a code to crack.

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It's not a wage to earn.

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It's relationship.

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It's union.

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It's oneness with Jesus.

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Absolutely no separation.

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Nothing between you and him.

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Jesus did not come to earth to make us love him more.

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In fact, Jesus didn't come to earth to make us do anything.

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Jesus came to give us something.

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He came to give us himself.

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Now Romans 5.8, I just read it.

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It says,

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But God demonstrates his own love for us in this.

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While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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Life in Christ is not gained by loving God.

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Life in Christ was given by his love for you.

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And how it started is how it is sustained.

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By his love.

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Not your love.

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Now I know this is extremely offensive to the religious spirit.

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Because it cannot control you.

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Nor can it condemn you when your standing in God is secured in his love for you.

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Not susceptible to the ebbs and flows of your love for him.

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It's offensive to the religious spirit.

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I know some people are going to be so mad at me for saying this.

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For telling you this.

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I can feel the heat coming through the screen right now.

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But you need to know the truth.

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You need to know the truth.

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It will set you free.

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God is this good.

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God made every provision for you to be reconciled to him once and for all.

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So there would never, ever, ever again be separation from him.

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Jesus is not another holy hoop for you to jump through in order to gain God's favor.

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Jesus is the favor.

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He is the blessing.

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Jesus is the provision.

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He is God's love for you poured out.

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And it's time that we break off every religious entrapment once and for all.

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And rest in God's affection for us.

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The gap was filled not by my loving God more.

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It was never filled by my loving God more.

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It was filled.

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with a realization of God's total, complete affection for me.

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I had the promises for peace, John 14, 27, John 16, 33.

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And I said, Jesus, if you gave me your peace, where did it go?

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Where is it? Is it coming back? Can I make it come back?

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And I heard him say, I am right here.

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And I realized the whole time that I was searching for peace

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and striving for peace, trying to make it happen for me to fix all of my issues,

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that whole time, the presence of peace himself was already in me.

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And he was not leaving me and he was not forsaking me

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because it wasn't my love for him keeping him there.

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It was his love for me.

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I don't want you to take my word for it.

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I want you to take Jesus's word for it.

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Listen to the prayer that Jesus prayed for you.

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In John 17, I know we've read it before.

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This is a powerful prayer that Jesus prayed for you.

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We're going to start reading in verse 20.

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Jesus said, my prayer is not for them alone, meaning the disciples.

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I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.

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That's you and me.

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That all of them may be one father just as you are in me and I am in you.

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May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

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I have given them my glory that you have given me.

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That they may be one as we are one.

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I in them and you in me so that they may be brought to complete unity.

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Complete union.

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Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

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Father, I want those you have given to me to be where I am and to see my glory.

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The glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

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Righteous father, though the world does not know you, I know you.

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And they know that you have sent me.

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I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known.

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In order that the love you have for me may be in them.

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And that I myself may be in them.

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Everything you desire today, peace, joy, healing, it's found in him.

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And he's in you.

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And when you become convinced of this truth, which is faith by the way, being convinced of the truth.

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When you become convinced of this truth, you live differently.

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In Christ, we discover a victorious, glorious lifestyle of perfect peace.

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Even in the midst of an imperfect world.

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Living an imperfect life.

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Dealing with imperfect circumstances.

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I want to be the answer to Jesus' prayer.

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I want to let him love me.

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I want to fully receive him.

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I want to fully believe him.

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I want my love for him to be a response to his perfect love for me.

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I don't want my love for him to be a resistance to his finished work.

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Like, no, no, no, Jesus.

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Let me love you.

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Let me make myself worthy of your work.

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Let me put my finishing touches on your cross.

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By doing good works and behaving well.

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And jumping through all of the hoops.

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No.

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Because anything I could produce on my own is filthy rags.

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We have been given something so much better.

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I want to encourage you today.

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Lay down the works.

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Stop trying to fill in all the gaps.

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Just receive his love today and let them fill in the gaps.

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And mark the moment in your own head and heart by saying it out loud.

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You can do it when you're alone.

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But say it out loud.

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Mark the moment.

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Say, Lord, I lay down all of the striving and I receive your love for me.

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And then ask the Holy Spirit to do what he does best.

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And help you learn how to receive and rest in the affection that God has for you.

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And watch.

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Just watch.

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As it transforms you and the world around you.

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[♪ music playing ♪