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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. It

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is Thursday, March the 12th. Before we get into

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the episode, I do want to share a little behind

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the scenes of what's gone on. As you notice,

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if you're listening to the podcast, we don't

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have advertisements anymore. We stepped away

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from the ad agency that we were using because

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they didn't align necessarily with everything

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we were hoping to get across here on the podcast.

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But there are still expenses. If you would ever

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feel led to support what's going on, the work

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behind the podcast, we encourage you. I would

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encourage you. You can give. There's a link in

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the description, the top of the episode description

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that you're listening to right now. There's a

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link there. You can donate. Any amount is whatever

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can help offset some cost. If not, again, the

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Lord's work is still going to go on. We're going

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to make it work however we can make it work.

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But today, let's jump right in to see what the

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Lord is going to have us do. We are in Hebrews

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chapter number 5 today. This is the great high

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priest. I love Hebrews. It's such a good book

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in the Bible. It references so much of the Old

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Testament. If you know anything about the Old

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Testament and Jewish history and what's gone

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on with the Hebrew nation, you're going to see

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incredible things out of the book of Hebrews.

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And so in chapter 5, it talks about specifically

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Jesus being the best high priest. I did a sermon

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series through the book of Hebrews at one point

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last year, I believe, and we titled the series

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Better, because everything that we see about

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Jesus is just better. He's a better high priest.

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sacrificed. He's a better everything. And this

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is the chapter specifically where it talks about

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him being a high priest. And I want to share

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just a couple of verses out of this. It's a short

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chapter today, a little bit lighter reading than

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maybe yesterday when we were in Exodus chapter

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12. I want to read a couple of verses of scripture

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to you today and share just a little bit. The

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first 10 verses are about him being the high

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priest, giving an explanation. I want to read

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verses 7 through 10, and then we'll talk about

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it for just a second. The Bible says this, In

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the days of his flesh Jesus offered up prayers

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and supplications with loud cries and tears to

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him who was able to save him from death, and

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he was heard because of his reverence. Although

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he was a son, he learned obedience through what

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he suffered, and being made perfect, he became

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the source of eternal salvation to all who obey

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him. This is a really convicting scripture. First,

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it gives us the understanding that Jesus suffered.

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He suffered. He was obedient to the point of

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death. He was obedient, but he suffered. What

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does that mean? We look at it, we think Jesus

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was God, though. This gives us an understanding

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that he cried, he had tears, he had brokenness.

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He entered into the human suffering. Why? Because

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he had to be the better human sacrifice. That's

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why. He had to be the sacrifice for all of us.

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So he had to enter into our flesh, into our brokenness,

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into our weakness, and he had to suffer. That's

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what he had to do. So the scripture shows us

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he suffered. And then because of his suffering,

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he was obedient to the Lord. He even told God,

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the Father, he said, if this cup can pass from

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me, I would like for that to happen. Why? I don't

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want to drink this in. I don't want to take your

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wrath on. I don't want to do this. But I'm going

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to be obedient. And then what does it say? He

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enters into human suffering so that he can be

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the faithful human that takes on the wrath of

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God. But then he says in verse number nine, there's

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a little moment in there that makes me a little

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bit nervous, right? The moment is after being

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made perfect, he became the source of eternal

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salvation to all who what? To all who obey him.

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Now, that is not a works -based salvation. You

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don't have to do things in order to be saved.

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This is a salvation that produces obedience.

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Salvation, it doesn't just pardon the rebels.

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Salvation, the gift of salvation, it transforms

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the rebels into followers, faithful followers

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that are obedient to the Lord. Whatever Jesus

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is telling you to do, do it. If you understood

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how deep his suffering and how deep his obedience

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and how deep his reverence, then we would obey,

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right? We would obey. Why? Because he did all

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that out of love for us. It's incredible. So

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to all who obey get this eternal gift and reward

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of salvation. He says in the last couple of verses,

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I want to read just another verse to you down

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in verse number... 11, and probably a little

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bit more. Listen to what it says in verse 11.

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Now, that word dull of hearing doesn't mean they're

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not good audio learners. That's not what it means.

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Rather, it's a place, it's a position of their

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heart. It's the moral condition of the way the

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believers were responding to the way circumstances

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in life were treating them. It says you're not

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even listening anymore. You're not allowing it

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to soak. into your life and it changed you. And

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here's what he says. He goes on then next and

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he says, by this time you ought to be teachers

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and you need somebody to teach you again. He

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says, you should be teachers by now and you're

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acting like children. He goes on and says, you've

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got to survive on milk and not meat. You've got

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to survive on, somebody's got to spoon feed you

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all the time. He says, there's a problem here.

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The writer of Hebrews is kind of ruthless in

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this moment. He says, by now, with the amount

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of information you have, you should be teaching

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others. But here's the problem. It's not a lack

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of information. They've got the information.

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It's not a lack of information. It's a lack of

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responsiveness. It's a lack of them saying, I'm

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going to respond to the information that I have.

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What is a high priest? What is a priest? A priest,

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they deal, guess what priests deal with? Their

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number one priority, to deal with sin. That's

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what a priest's job is. Who better to deal with

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sin than Jesus? He has dealt with our sin. That's

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what it means when it talks about the high priest.

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Yes, he's the connector to God. Yes, he's the

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one we go to. He's the one we pray through. His

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power and his connection to God is how we are

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connected to God. But here's what, priests deal

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with sin. Jesus has dealt with sin, ultimately.

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He's the ultimate person to deal with sin. Now

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we have this information. He's dealt with this

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and he's now in this position where we go through

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him to get to God. And now what are we doing

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about it? How are we responding to that? That's

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what the writer of Hebrews is saying. You guys

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haven't responded at all. I'm having to spoon

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feed you all the time. You're not growing in

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your faith. And where does the growth lead? To

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maturity, right? He says you are not mature believers.

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So what does the maturation process look like?

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What does maturity mean? How do you grow in maturity?

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Well, it's pretty simple. Maturity comes by practice.

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It's obedience that is repeated over and over

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and over again, and then discernment begins to

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get sharpened. You're able to discern right and

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wrong. You're able to then rightly divide the

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word and able to understand, is this the spirit

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talking? Is this the spirit leading me or is

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this the enemy leading me? Maturity is just repetition.

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Maturity is growth and saying, I'm going to be

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obedient. Now and again and again and again and

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again until my discernment is so sharp that I

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know exactly where I need to be going. I know

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exactly the way the Lord wants me to respond.

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If you say today, I'm just not a mature believer.

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Well, I'll tell you this. Just obey today. Right

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now. I'm not asking you to be the wisest person

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in the world. I'm not asking you to be the most

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mature Christian in the church. I'm just saying

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just obey today. Why? Because one step of obedience

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leads you closer to maturity. You obey today,

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you obey tomorrow. You obey right now, you obey

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in 10 minutes. Whatever the Lord is telling you

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to do, obey. Obedience repeated ends up with

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discernment sharpened. That's how it works. If

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you stay immature, you become really easy prey

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for the enemy. I don't want anybody to be easy

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prey for the enemy. So let's mature in our faith

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together. Let's know that we have a high priest

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that has dealt with our sin. And then let's grow.

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Let's grow. How do we grow? By being obedient

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today. Be obedient today. Whatever the Lord is

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telling you to do. Maybe you need to send a message

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to a friend or a loved one. Or maybe you need

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to get in the Word a little bit longer. Maybe

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you need to pray a little bit longer. Maybe you

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need to give a little bit more. Whatever it is

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that the Lord is telling you to do, obey Him

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today. Why? Because obedience that gets repeated

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will sharpen your discernment so that you know

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where it is the Lord's leading you. How great

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would it be? I don't know if you've ever been

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around people that just seem to have the inside

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track with God. In the moment, they're like,

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oh, this is what the Lord wants me to do. You're

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like, how did you get there? Through repeated

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steps of obedience. That's how. Today, I encourage

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you, obey right now whatever the Lord is wanting

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you to do.