Have you ever wondered
how you can have a closer
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walk with Jesus?
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Stay tuned and we'll share with
you how you can do just that
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in this edition of
Walking With Jesus.
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Greetings, I'm Eric
Garloff, your host for
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Walking With Jesus.
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In today's episode of Walking
With Jesus we're going to be
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talking about how we mature
in Jesus, or how we grow up in
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Jesus, and walk with
Him on a daily basis.
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The Bible gives us much to guide
us in this area, and I pray that
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this episode will be a
tremendous blessing to your
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understanding of what it
means to mature in Christ.
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Many people, after
yielding their life to Christ,
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and accepting Jesus as their
Lord, at some point tend to stop
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walking with Jesus
and begin to go it alone.
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They take back into their own
hands the control of their life
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in which they
had given to Christ.
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It's as if they themselves
now have somehow found the power
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to over sin and temptation
all by themselves and no longer
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need the Holy Spirit in
their life to empower them
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or to protect them.
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Friends, when we do
this we are taking ourselves
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out of God's hand.
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We're removing ourselves
from His wisdom, His guidance,
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and His protection.
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We are disconnecting
ourselves from the very source
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of our spiritual life.
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We cannot go it alone.
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We need to draw our energies,
our wisdom, and our very life
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from the Source of Life
on a moment by moment basis.
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Jesus speaks about
our dependence on God
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in Matthew 6:25-33 which says:
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If that is how God
clothes the grass of the field,
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which is here today and tomorrow
is thrown into the fire,
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will He not much more clothe
you, Oh ye of little faith?
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So do not worry
saying what shall we eat,
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or what shall we
drink, or what shall we wear?
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In essence, Jesus is telling us
here that we should rest in Him.
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We shouldn't go about our day
worried as to how our provisions
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will be assured, but
instead He bids us to seek first
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the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and in so doing
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all of our provisions
will be given to us by Him.
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It's a matter of keeping our
focus on the One who gives us
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forgiveness of sin and
salvation for our very life.
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It's a matter of
leaving our life in God's hands
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and not trying to
regain control over it.
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It's a matter of trusting
God and taking Him at His word.
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Let's compare this new birth
experience with the actual birth
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of a new born baby.
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When a baby is born can
he take care of himself?
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Can he feed himself,
or change his diaper,
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or drive himself to
the doctor for a checkup?
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Of course not!
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He needs his parents to love
him, nurture him, care for him,
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and direct him
in the right path.
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So it is with us.
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When we experience
the new birth in Jesus
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our heavenly father loves
us, cares for us, and places us
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on the right path.
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Now, when this baby
becomes a few years older,
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and he's able to feed
himself, and dress himself,
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does this mean that
he's now ready to face
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the world on his own?
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Of course not.
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He still needs to rely on
his parents for his daily needs
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and protection.
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So it is with us
as we grow in Jesus.
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We need to rely on Him
every day for our provisions.
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Reading from the book
Steps to Christ, page 46 and 47,
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we find this passage:
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Drawing your life from
Him, you will not wither
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nor be fruitless.
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You will be like a tree planted
by the rivers of the water.
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Many have an idea that they must
do some part of the work alone.
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They have trusted in Christ
for the forgiveness of sin,
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but now they seek by their
own efforts to live aright,
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but every such effort must fail.
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And what beautiful
thoughts these are indeed.
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It's a fact of life,
friends, when you cut a branch
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from a tree, or from a
vine, the branch begins to die.
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It's been separated
from the source of its life.
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Its leaves wither, dry, crumble
into pieces and blow away.
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Who would even consider
being removed from the vine
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or cutting themselves
off from the source of life
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when understood like this?
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Yet, my friend, this is what we
then do when we try to take back
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control of our life
once we've given it to Jesus.
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The new birth experience is like
placing a seed into the soil
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and giving it water.
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By the way, water is
a symbol of the baptism
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of the Holy Spirit.
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Then, in a few days, the seed
sprouts and brings forth life.
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This sprout of new
life is tender and delicate.
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If you disconnect it from the
source of life by pulling it up
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out of the ground, it
quickly withers and dies.
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So it is with us if we
disconnect ourselves from Jesus.
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Colossians 2:6,10 says this:
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Now let me ask you this.
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Verse 6 said, As you have
received Christ so walk in him.
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How have you received Christ?
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I hope your answer to this
question is that you've received
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Him by faith.
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Isn't that right?
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By faith we come to
Him and trust in Him.
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So if we received Him by
faith then we are also to walk
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with Jesus by faith, Amen?
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This is the key to growing
up and maturing in Jesus Christ.
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We do it by faith
in the Son of God.
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Verse 7 in Colossians
2 said that we are rooted
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and established in the faith.
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Being rooted is a
symbol, or another way of saying
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getting our
nourishment from our faith.
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Just as a seedling
is rooted in the soil,
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getting its nourishment from it,
so our roots in Jesus are found
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within our faith in
Jesus, which provides us our
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spiritual nourishment.
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Over and over Jesus
used things in nature
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to teach us spiritual lessons.
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One such lesson I've
learned at home over the years,
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while tending to our lawn,
is that when you don't water
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your grass during the hot summer
months, the grass turns brown
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and goes dormant.
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It doesn't actually die, that is
unless the ground gets that hot
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and dry that the
roots themselves dry up
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and wither away.
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When the lawn does go dormant,
you can begin watering it again
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and over a period of a few weeks
the grass will return again.
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The grass plants wake
up out of their dormancy
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and send up new
blades of grass; new shoots,
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turning your lawn green again.
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Now another side effect of not
properly caring for your lawn
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is that weeds will
begin taking it over.
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It almost seems that the hotter,
and the dryer the weather gets,
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the more the weeds will
grow, but when the grass is full
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and healthy it forms a
barrier against the weeds.
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That's not to say that you won't
get weeds, but with the proper
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proper fertilization and weed
control, you'll have a beautiful
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looking lawn again.
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The fertilizer adds the right
amount of nutrients to the lawn
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so that it will grow full
and healthy with a deep vibrant
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green color, and along with
the watering this will produce
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the best lawn.
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Now let me tell
you about weed control.
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Weed control comes
in two basic forms.
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The first is what's
known as a pre-emergent.
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It's normally put down early in
the spring, and it prevents many
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of the weeds from
growing in the first place.
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The second type of weed control
is targeted at weeds that have
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already come up.
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Some varieties of weeds
are very hard to control
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once they emerge.
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Crabgrass is one of
them, so you really want to use
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the pre-emergent early in the
spring to keep this crabgrass
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from growing up into your lawn.
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Here's how I think
about my lawn as compared
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to my spiritual life.
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When I keep myself in God's
word it's like watering the lawn
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to keep it alive and growing.
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When I follow God's
word by putting into action,
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within my life, those things
that I'm learning in the Bible,
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then that's like applying
the fertilizer to the lawn,
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making my spiritual life
vibrant and causing it to grow
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and mature at an
even faster rate.
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This gives my spiritual
life a special vibrancy, color,
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and enthusiasm.
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Now when I read the Bible and
God shows me that I have some
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weeds growing in my life, then I
need to apply the weed control,
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which is, by faith, taking
God at His word, and yielding my
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sin, or my temptation over
to Him, and allowing Him to
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eradicate that weed,
or that sin, from my life.
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Thus it is that the Christian
grows and matures as he reads
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and applies
God's word to His life.
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Through faith, just as
you receive Jesus Christ,
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so you walk in Him.
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Steps to Christ, page 47
gives us some very important
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information to guide us
in being able to do this,
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and I'd like to
share it with you.
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It says:
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Now wouldn't that be a
great way to start out your day?
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When I read this I liken it to
the pre-emergent weed control.
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If we give ourselves to
God first thing in the morning
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we are taking the first
step each day to prevent
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the spiritual weeds from
coming up in the first place.
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In closing this episode I'd like
to leave you with one last quote
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from Steps to Christ, and it's
found on page 48, which says:
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Let the mind dwell upon
His love, upon the beauty,
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the perfection of His character.
00:12:59.40\00:13:01.28
Christ in His self-denial,
Christ in His humiliation,
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Christ in His
purity and holiness,
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Christ in His matchless love,
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this is the subject of
the soul's contemplation.
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It is by living Him, copying
Him, depending wholly upon Him
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that you are to be
transformed into His likeness.
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Well now, to be found
in the likeness of Jesus,
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to have the character of Jesus
really is the ultimate goal now,
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isn't it?
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To be growing and maturing
in Jesus each and every day
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is the will of
God for His people.
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May God's rich blessings be
upon you, and your loved ones
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as you find
yourself walking with Jesus.
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When you walk with
Jesus your faith will grow,
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and His love will
guide you in life.
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We pray you will draw
closer to Jesus every day.
00:13:54.29\00:13:57.50
Our next episode shows us
how to be happy while working
00:13:57.53\00:14:03.15
for the happiness of others.
00:14:03.18\00:14:04.89
Please be sure to join us.
00:14:04.92\00:14:07.04