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This is your daily reminder. God has not run

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out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome

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to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back, New

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Mercies Today. Tuesday, February the 10th, I

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just want to share. We're reading in Titus chapter

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3 today, and I don't want to read through the

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whole text because I know I'm going to read this

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again another point this week, but I want to

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jump in and just talk about a couple of verses

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specifically in Titus 3. Letter from Paul to

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Titus, a great church leader. I want to read

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verses 3 through 7. This is what stood out to

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me today, and I guess that the call today is

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really remember who you were and where God found

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you and what you're really doing. Sometimes as

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believers, I think we get so far in our Christian

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journey, we forget where we came from. I used

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to tell people that somebody... I knew that was

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a great believer, a man I would trust with my

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whole life, had a terrible story. I didn't know

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him until after he had become a Christian and

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a believer. And he was just the most passionate

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man I'd ever been around. I mean, he absolutely

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loved Jesus so much. It's like he loved Jesus

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more than I did. And I thought, what is the deal?

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And he used to tell me, he used to break down

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and say, I was so far gone that I had no hope

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until Jesus showed up. Like I had no hope. And

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in my mind, I thought, well, none of us did.

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And I began to realize that sometimes we forget

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where we were. And I think if we go back, as

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Paul encourages. With Titus here, if you go back

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and remember just what kind of person you were,

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now you may say, well, I was a kid before I knew

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Jesus. Yeah, but you know, you had no hope, right?

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No hope. I want to read a few verses here, beginning

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in Titus 3, chapter number 3, verse 3. The Bible

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says this, For we ourselves were once foolish,

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disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions

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and pleasures, passing our days in malice and

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envy. hated by others and hating one another.

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But when the goodness and loving kindness of

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God our Savior appeared, he saved us. Not because

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of works done by us in righteousness, but according

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to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration

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and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured

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out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

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So that being justified by his grace, we might

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become heirs according to the hope of eternal

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life. This is wrecking me today. And I hope and

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pray it wrecks you a little bit. And it reminds

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you of where you came from. It says we were once

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ourselves foolish. Do you know what foolishness

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is? It's not knowing truth or not acting on truth.

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You may have had truth around you, but you were

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acting in a foolish way, a way that was against

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truth. You were that way. I was that way. We

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have all been that way. Before salvation showed

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up in our lives, we were foolish. We did things

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that were in rebellion to God. That is foolishness.

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If we could just see a picture of God's throne

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and just watch the scene in heaven right now,

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and we would do, if we did anything contrary

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to that, we would be absolute fools. The thing

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I like to say is we'd be idiots, right? We'd

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be absolute idiots. How foolish can we be to

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know this God created us and loved us and still

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act opposite of the way he wanted us to? That's

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foolishness. Once ourselves, all of us that are

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believers now, we were once living in opposition

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to the truth. We were foolish. He says we were

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disobedient. Not only were we living in a foolish

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manner, we were also disobeying what God told

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us to do. He said, live this way. And we said,

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no, we're not going to. We rebelled against him.

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We were disobedient. Don't think that just because

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you're a Christian now and you've kind of figured

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some things out now that you don't forget where

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you came from. You were once disobedient. It

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says we were once led astray. Do you know what

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led astray means? You were tempted and fooled

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by a lesser thing. That hurts. As I'm reading

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this today, I was once led astray, meaning the

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enemy, who one day, by the way, is going to bow

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and proclaim Jesus is Lord. Now, it's going to

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be too late for him. He's still going to be separated

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from God's glory and his presence forever. He

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is so foolish and such a loser. And he has once

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led us astray. Don't ever forget that. Don't

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ever forget. You were once lured by the enemy

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to stay out of God's presence. That's what we

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once were. We also were once slaves to various

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passions and pleasures. You know what a slave

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is, right? It's somebody that doesn't get to

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choose their own. They don't get to choose what

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they do. They have no freedom. You once had no

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freedom from whatever was holding you back. You

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were once a slave to that. I was once a slave

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to the sinful nature that I had. Because of our

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disobedience, we were slaves to the world's passions

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and the world's pleasures. Then it says passing

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our day in malice and envy. We were once walking

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around, I want that. I don't have that. I don't

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have that. I don't have that. One of the best

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explanations of the Garden of Eden I could realize

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was that it says the tree was in the middle of

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the garden. It was in the midst of the garden

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or in the middle of the garden. So do you realize

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Adam and Eve had to walk past everything God

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had given them to get to the one thing they weren't

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supposed to touch? They had to walk past abundance

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to find the lack. They had to walk past all that

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God had given them and see the one thing that

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God said, don't eat of this tree. I can't help

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but think most of us in our life have so much.

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If you are listening to this or watching this

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today, you have a device or a resource that 100

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years ago, 10, 15 years ago, you didn't have,

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right? We have so much abundance, and yet we

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focus on what we lack. That's how you walked

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before you were a Christian. That's what you

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did. You walked around and said, I don't have

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this. I don't have this. I don't have this. I'm

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envious. I've got malice. I don't like. It says

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you were hated and hating. You were hated by

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people and you were hating other people. That's

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what you did before you were a believer because

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you're of the world. And the world is where Satan

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is roaming and messing and doing things in. That's

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what's gone on. It says, but. I love that but

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in the scripture, but when the goodness and loving

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kindness of God our Savior came, let me tell

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you, if it wasn't for his goodness, if it wasn't

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for his kindness, we would be in a very, very

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miserable, terrible place. We don't think about

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that every day, and we should. Shame on us. When

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the loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,

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when that happened, verse 5, the first phrase,

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he saved us. Are you walking around saved today

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or are you walking around in envy, in malice,

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in slavery? Are you walking around today in those

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passions and those worldly lusts that are still

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pulling you and still bring? Are you walking

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around in being foolish? Are you walking around

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led astray? Are you walking around in disobedience

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or are you walking around saved? Are you living

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saved today or are you living? foolishly, unsaved,

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walking around like you've got something else

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that's more important or more valuable to you.

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His loving kindness saved us, not because of

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anything we did. Well, yeah, I read just before

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that the things I did were terrible. He didn't

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save us because of what I did. He didn't save

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me because of what I did. He didn't save you

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because of what you did. He saved us because

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of his loving kindness, according to his mercy,

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not because of ours, because of his great mercy.

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By the washing of regeneration and renewal of

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the Holy Spirit. That's why he saved you and

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how he saved you. He washed you by the Holy Spirit

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of God. And verse number six, whom he poured

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out richly on us through what? Through who? Through

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Jesus Christ, our Savior. It was all the work

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of Jesus, every bit of it. If our life does not

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point people to Jesus, we're living wrong. I'm

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telling you, as I read this more and more and

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more, and why did he do it? For what reason?

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Because he gets us. That's why he did it. It

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says, so that being justified by grace, we might

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become heirs. You know what an heir is, right?

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It's a family member. It's one who receives from

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a family. We are an heir according to the hope

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of eternal life. I get to live forever in a home

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that God builds for me. I don't have to go build

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my home in heaven. He's doing it. I don't have

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to do anything to get what God wants to give

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me in heaven. I am an heir of his. Why? Because

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Jesus. That's it. That's the only reason. There

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is no other reason I get anything that God gives.

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It's because of Jesus. It's not because of how

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much money I gave. It's not because of how many

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times I spoke to people and encouraged people.

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It's because Jesus. came and died and lives again.

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And then he gives me, he washes me by regeneration.

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This beautiful spirit of God comes over me. And

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because of that, I get to receive everything,

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all the benefits of being a son of God. That's

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what I get to receive. Why are we walking around

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led astray and disobedient? Stop. Just stop.

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That's what we once were. There's way more in

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Titus 3. Don't have any more time to jump into

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it today, but an encouragement to you today is

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live saved. Live verse five out, but he saved

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us. Not because of anything we did, but because

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he's awesome. If somebody took a bullet for you

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and they lost their life and you were rescued,

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my guess is you would tell everybody how great

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that person was. That would be my guess. Well,

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here's the deal. Jesus took more than a bullet

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for you. He took on every mistake you've ever

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made, every problem you've ever had, every foolishness,

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every time you were led astray, every disobedient

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move. He took all of it. Every time you slipped

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into worldly passions, every time you allowed

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any of that to end your life, he died and took

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on the wrath for all of that so that we could

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be heirs of God's family. Go live like it today.