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Proverbs chapter 3. If you've never read the book of Proverbs before, I would encourage

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you to do that. There is good stuff in the book of Proverbs and it is likely, if you're

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like me, hopefully you're better than me, but if you're even a little like me, you'll

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find a lot of stuff in there that you say, man, I need to do better at that. And so it's

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a short book, short chapters, and it's a lot of good wisdom and instruction in the book

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of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 3 is a great chapter to read. You might want to read it

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this week. It's good stuff in there, but we're only going to look at two little verses today.

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Proverbs chapter 3, verses 7 and 8.

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Don't consider yourself to be wise. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. This will be

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healing for your body and strengthening for your bones. Let's pray. God, we come to you

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today and I pray that your Holy Spirit would be among us this morning. I pray that we would

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hear from you today, God, that you would speak to us, that your word would speak to us, that

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even in these few seconds that it took us to see and read and hear that word, God, that

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even now that you're working in our life, God, I pray that you'd help us to be free

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of the worries and distractions of this world, dear Lord. We come here today with a lot going

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on in our lives, but I pray that in these few minutes that you would just help us to

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seek you and to find you, dear Lord. I pray that you would hide me behind the cross, take

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away any pride or any fear in my life, dear Lord, and I would be able to preach and teach

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in a way that brings glory and honor to you. And I pray that you'd be with us. And I ask

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these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

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What we see here, I think, in these couple of verses is we see what I would call a problem,

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we see a solution, and we see a result to all of these things playing out. Now, the

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very first part of verse 7 here says, do not be wise in your own eyes. Well, that's the

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problem. That's the problem sometimes that you and I face is we begin to be a little

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proud. We begin to be wise in our own eyes, and that certainly is a problem. We see that

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idea all throughout Scripture, the idea of being proud or the idea of thinking too much

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of oneself. And so this proverb here gives us some good instruction. This is instruction

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for a problem that probably we all face at some point in our life. And that is we begin

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to be successful or we begin to get good at something or we begin to get so caught up

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in our ideas and our thoughts and the way that we see things and the way that we do

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things and the way that we think that we begin to become wise in our own eyes. We begin to

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think our way is the best and that we know best and that what we say is right and that

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what we do is right. And we begin to become wise in our own eyes, and that brings about

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all kinds of problems in our life. The biggest problem that comes from that is, is when we

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become wise in our own eyes, we begin to think so much about ourselves and what we think

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and what we know that we don't begin to trust God and seek God the way we should. That we

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don't seek the wisdom of God because we've kind of got it figured out. We know, I know,

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my way is the right way, my way is the best way. I'm wise. But maybe sometimes when we

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think we're wise, maybe we are not as wise as we think we are. So maybe passages like

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this are good passages for us to look at. Maybe you don't fall into this trap today,

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as God. Maybe some of us are battling this very thing today. This idea that we become

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wise in our own eyes, that we think our way is right and everything we do is right and

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everybody else is wrong. And the problem is, we kind of become our own God. And in doing

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so, we become foolish. Sometimes we fall into that trap. We think we are wise when in all

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actuality we are quite foolish. That's one reason why the book of Proverbs is so beautiful.

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Because it talks a lot about foolishness in there. And lo and behold, sometimes I'm reading

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those things, I think, that's all about me. No, I wouldn't say, oh, I'm a fool. But God's

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Word would say otherwise sometimes. That's why God's Word is important for us to read.

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Because we don't maybe always see these things in us. We might not see that we become wise

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in our own eyes. But sometimes if we look at scriptures, we begin to realize that maybe

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I've not been trusting in God. Maybe I've been trusting in my own way. And maybe I don't

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know everything. Maybe I think I know everything in my way is right. But maybe I don't know

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everything. And so the problem in our life sometimes is that we become wise in our own

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eyes, but what we need to remember is that we must seek God's wisdom. That we must seek

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God's guidance. That we don't know everything. That God's ways are higher than our ways and

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God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And we need to remember these beautiful lessons

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in scripture. That when we think we know it all or when we think we're wiser than God

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because things aren't going the way that we think they need to go, we need to pump the

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brakes a little bit. And we need to realize that there's a wisdom greater than ours. And

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that wisdom that we see in scripture is Jesus Christ. That is true wisdom. To be fully dependent

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on Jesus Christ, to fully seek to live for Him and to follow His examples, that's where

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wisdom comes from. But foolishness comes from living for ourselves and following our own

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ways. And so as the book of Proverbs is so good at doing, it points out things that we

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need to be aware of. Real simple, real short things. That's one of the things that's beautiful

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about Proverbs. There's lots of little one or two line things in there that just kind

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of hit home sometimes. So it's good for us to refresh our minds with these words or maybe

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to hear them for the first time if you've never read the book of Proverbs. So this is

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the problem that we face today. Don't be wise in our own eyes. Okay, so what's the solution

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when we sin in that way? When we become to live in foolishness and we've become sinful

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and we've become wise in our own eyes, what is the solution to our problem? Well, it tells

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us in the next part of that verse. Don't consider yourself to be wise. Fear the Lord and turn

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away from evil. Now when we're kind of living for ourselves and we think we are wise, we

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kind of push God to the side as we talked about. But what we need to remember is that

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one day we're going to have to stand before God. And God's standards are not our standards.

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Now in our wise eyes, we think everything we do and say and the way we go about it is

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right. But God doesn't judge by what we think. One day we're going to stand before God, the

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God who created us, the God who created the heavens and the earth, and we will have to

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answer for Him, to Him, for the things that we have done, for what He says to do, what

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He says is right and what is wrong, what He says is good and what is evil. And when we

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begin to put too much emphasis on ourself and our wise in our own eyes, then God always

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takes a back seat. But the scripture tells us this, and we see this often in the scripture,

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that we need to fear God, that we need to fear God to know that we will stand before

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Him, to know that it's not our way that matters, that it is God's way that matters. What is

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God's way? Well, we must look at God's Word. Now, most importantly, when we talk about

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God's way, we're talking about Jesus Christ who is the way, first and foremost. When we

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talk about things that scripture points us to and the most important thing that we want

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to see in scripture, when we talk about God's commands and God's instructions, we want to

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see Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died for us so that our sins could be forgiven.

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And that, 1 Corinthians tells us, is wisdom. Now, the world would call it foolishness,

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but the scripture says there is where wisdom begins. That is the wisdom of God and Jesus

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Christ. And so if we're going to realize that our way is not the best, then we have to acknowledge

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that there is a better way. And there is only one way, and that is Jesus Christ, and that

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is the way of God. And so God's Word is full of instructions. Not only the good news of

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the gospel of Jesus who gave His life so that your sins could be forgiven, but also the

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examples of how Jesus lived His life, of how He taught, of how He interacted with the people,

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of how He had compassion, of how He brought grace. And God's Word is full of good instruction.

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God's Word is full of proverbs that tell us instruction on how to be the man or the woman

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that God wants us to be, that show us what it means to live a life of wisdom, to show

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us what it means to live a life of humility, to show us what it means to avoid these things

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that are foolish in our life. And so we need to realize that we're not just living for

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ourselves and that the things that we do and the things that we say and the way that we

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act, one day we will have to answer to God for those things. So the writer of the proverb

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here says, hold up. Don't think too highly of yourself, but focus your attention on God

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and know the greatness of God. And so the solution to our problem of sin and thinking

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too much of our self is reading God's Word and seeing that we are hopeless and helpless

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without God, that we are hopeless and helpless without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that

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we are fully dependent on God. And that's part of our problem sometimes as we become

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too dependent on ourself and on our own abilities and we find ourselves in trouble and in pain

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and in heartache and struggling. Why? Because our abilities are insufficient. Our strength

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is insufficient. But God is the one who has the ability to deliver us. God is the one

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who has the strength to get us through those things in life and it's God's Word and the

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hope that we have in Jesus Christ that's our encouragement, that we aren't good enough,

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that we can never be good enough before God, that our sin is, it's before us. We are just

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sinners, deserving of death. But yet Jesus Christ comes and He dies for us so that we

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may receive grace. And so this proverb, I believe, is pointing us from not looking at

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ourself because we're just a bunch of evil sinners. Now you may not want to hear that

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today. We may not like to think of ourself in that way, but we are. And we can justify

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by saying, well, yeah, there's people that's worse than me. Well, sure, there's people

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that's worse than you. But at the end of the day, we're sinners and our sin is bad, maybe

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worse than we care to admit today. And that's why we need to continue to be in God's Word.

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That's why we come every week and we study God's Word. That's why when you're at home,

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you study God's Word or you listen to something on the radio that's helping to teach you God's

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Word, you come to Sunday school because we want to live by God's Word. That we don't

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become wise in our own eyes, but that we learn the greatness of God and that we fear Him,

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that we fear God, and that we know that God is good and that God is love, but that He's

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God. And God calls us to a higher standard. He calls us to His standard. So the solution

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to our problem of sin and being proud and wise in our own eyes is to fear the Lord and

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to turn away from evil. Now, that should be obvious to us that we need to turn away from

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evil, but maybe we need to be reminded of that. We might be surprised that maybe a lot

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of the struggles that we're going through in our life might get a lot better if we just

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simply turn away from evil. There might be a lot of heartaches and pain and stresses

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and difficulties and things that we are going through in life that are simply a result of

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us living in evil, of us living in sin. Well, today is the day that we need to recognize

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that in our life. We need to stop doing things our way. We need to fear God, and we need

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to turn away from evil. It might be amazing to you how quickly that when you turn away

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from evil and turn to God, that our situations get better. Now, sometimes maybe we say, well,

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you know, I love God, but yet we don't turn away from the evil. And we're kind of trying

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to walk with one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world, and that's not going to

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work out for us. So we need to recognize today that if there's sin in our life, if there's

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evil in our life, that we need to repent of that, that we need to turn away from that

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evil. That's what repentance is, to turn away, to do a 180. You're going in one direction.

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It's time to go in the other direction. And Jesus Christ has paved the way for us. He

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has made a way where there wasn't a way, and it's a narrow path. It's hard to follow. It's

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hard to live by the Word of God. It's hard to do the things that God commands. It's not

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easy. It's a narrow path, and the path of the world is broad. But the scripture says

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it leads to destruction. But Jesus has provided us a narrow way, and it's a way that leads

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to eternal life. It's a way that leads to righteousness through Jesus Christ. And maybe

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there are some today, and it's time, today it's time, that we quit trying to justify

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our sin, and we say, I'm not going to live for myself anymore. I'm not going to live

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in my pride anymore, but I'm going to trust God. I'm going to fear Him, and I'm going

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to come to Him, and I'm going to seek Him so that He may restore me, that we're going

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to turn from our evil ways. The problem is our sin and our pride. The solution is to

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fear God and turn from our evil. And the result, we see that in verse 8. This will be healing

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for your body and strengthening for your bones. Now, it's interesting that we see this kind

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of language sometimes. Now, I understand that sometimes in the scripture when we see this

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language about our actions and our bones, it's kind of figurative in some way, but I

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think it's literal in some way too. That our spiritual life and the choices we make

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and the sin that we live in and the evil that we do, it affects us not only spiritually,

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but it affects us physically. When we're living for the world and we're involved in things

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we shouldn't be, and we're letting stress and worry get the best of us, it affects us

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in a physical way. It affects our bodies today. There are probably some of us in here today,

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and our bodies feel worn out. We've got headaches. We've just got pains. We've got chest pains

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or whatever it may be. I mean, there's a variety of pains that come in a physical sense that

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are a result from our stress and from the things that we go through. And some of the

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results that we experience are results of our sin. And it brings pain to our body, and

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it affects us. We can't sleep at night. We're tired. We're worn out, and that affects us.

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And so our sin and the choices that we make, they affect us not only spiritually, but they

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affect us physically. And maybe today some of our physical problems could be alleviated

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if we simply turn to God. If we turn from our evil and we turn to God and we trusted

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Him and we stop living for ourselves and living the way the world tells us is the way we should

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live and we start living for God, not only are we going to feel better in our spirit

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and our soul will be lifted up, but physically I believe we begin to feel better. When we

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begin to trust God, there's a certain grace that comes. And when we begin to push out

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and turn away from all this evil, then our body can begin to heal, spiritually speaking

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and physically speaking. And we see this type of language all throughout the Proverbs. We

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see this type of language about our body or our bones being healed or sometimes our bones

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being crushed. The Psalms and the Proverbs use that type of language. Here's some good

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scriptures for us to consider today. Proverbs chapter 14 verse 30, a tranquil heart is life

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to the body, but jealousy is rottenness to the bones. Okay, so maybe jealousy is our

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problem or maybe it's another sin, but whatever the sin may be, it's going to be rottenness

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to our bones. It's going to affect us to our core and everything that's in us and the way

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that we feel and the way that we act and the way that we respond and our attitude. All

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of those things come when we live in sin, it affects us in a lot of ways. We feel bad

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in a lot of ways and our attitude shows that. But there's a solution to that. We don't have

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to have this rottenness in our bones. If we turn away from our sin, there's certainly

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some goodness and some joy that can come. And what does it say in that proverb? It says

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a tranquil heart is life to the body, a sound heart or a heart that's calm. So maybe we

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need to pray today that God change our heart. Maybe there's a lot of anger and a lot of

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bitterness. Maybe there's a lot of fury in our heart. Maybe there's some hatred in our

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heart. Maybe our heart is dwelling on sins instead of dwelling on the things of God.

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And that makes turmoil. That produces a storm. For some of us, there may be a storm raging

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on in our hearts and in our minds today. But we need to pray that God would change our

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heart, that he would give us a tranquil or a calm heart or a sound heart, a heart that's

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at peace. All of these are the different words that your translations may use here. But that's

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what we want is a heart that's at peace. And a heart that's at peace brings peace in our

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life. It brings peace in our mind. It brings peace in our relationship because it changes

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how we deal with other people. When we are rotten to the bone, we treat other people

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rottenly. But when our heart is at peace, we treat other people with peace. When our

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heart is calm, we are calm toward other people. So the Proverbs is full of scriptures like

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these that kind of show us how our life needs to be. Proverbs chapter 16 verse 24. Pleasant

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words are a honeycomb sweet to the taste and health to the body. Pleasant words. What kind

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of words do you speak? Well, that may determine how you feel. It may determine how other people

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around you, how they feel. What does it say? Pleasant words are honeycomb sweet to the

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taste and health to the body. What kind of words do you speak? Are they pleasant words?

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Are they pleasant words? We like to hear pleasant words. Nobody wants to hear somebody coming

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to them that's rotten to the bone, that has something negative to say all the time, that's

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always in a bad mood, that's always talking bad about other people. That's not pleasant.

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That doesn't make you feel good. And it doesn't make the person that say those words feel

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good. And so maybe we could change our life a lot if we just simply change our vocabulary.

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If we simply begin to speak pleasant words. Words that are uplifting. Not words that tear

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people down. Not words of gossip. Not words of talking people behind their back. Not words

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of negativity. But simply pleasant words. Words that when people see us, they don't

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dread to see us because oh, here comes so and so. It's going to be all bad all the time.

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And then we have to fight against it. Some of us are more pessimistic, some of us are

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more optimistic. But nobody wants to hear a bunch of unpleasant words all the time.

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And you might be surprised that if you just change your vocabulary and you change how

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you speak and the things you say, and you begin to speak to people in a pleasant way,

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and you begin to talk about those around you in a pleasant way, and when others say something

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negative about someone, you say something pleasant. You might be surprised at just how

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much that changes your life. And not only your life, but it's going to change those

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lives of those that you encounter too. It's beautiful when you get a pleasant word. I

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know somebody, they have a ministry and every morning they text message a bunch of people

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and every morning it's a pleasant word. And it's good for us to get a pleasant word. And

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why? Because the scripture says pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the taste and health

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to the body. We need healing in our bodies today. We want to feel good. We want to feel

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good spiritually. We want to feel good physically. And there's a connection there. We may not

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point those connections out enough. We may not recognize that it's there, but there's

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a connection there. When we're living in the peace of God and not living in sin, there's

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a joy in our life that's there. It's much different than when there's rottenness to

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our core and we're living in sin. So one way to help in that is to speak pleasant words.

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Proverbs chapter 15 verse 30, bright eyes cheer the heart. Good news strengthens the

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bones. And sometimes you see people that you see them come and they're, they're cheery

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and they're happy. And sometimes it might even make you mad. I don't know why they're

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so happy all the time. Sometimes we don't like people like that. But man, it's a beautiful

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thing when you see someone that comes to you and has bright eyes, someone who is cheerful,

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someone who brings joy. There's certain people that you see. And it's true for all of us.

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There's some people you see and you don't want to see them. There's other people you

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see and boy, you are glad to see them. Well, we don't want to be those people that nobody

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wants to see. We want to be those people that are pleasant to be around. We want to be those

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who bring joy to people's lives. We want to bring those who bring encouragement to people's

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lives. And these proverbs I think are so beautiful and there's so many of them. We won't look

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at all of them today, but there's so many of these passages that we see that speak languages

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like this. This good instruction for us today, brothers and sisters in Christ, that one,

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we want to be those who are bright-eyed. And what does it say? Bright-eyed, bright eyes

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cheer the heart, good news strengthens the bone. So we want to be those who come with

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joy and who bring good news. Now, I suspect there are some people, we probably all know

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somebody, and you know that whatever they say is going to be something negative. It

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can be the best thing in the world. Everything can be great. And they are going to find something

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negative. It's just in them. They can't help it. We have to fight against that. Maybe we

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all have that just a little bit. But we don't like to hear bad news. Good news. Good news

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brings healing to the body. Good news is good for the heart. So maybe we need to make a

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purpose. If we're one of those that's a little more negative about things, maybe we need

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to try to make it a purpose to look for the good. And some of you may be saying there

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ain't no good, even as I say that. Well, some of us may have to look hard at others. But

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there's good out there. There's good out there, and we need to see it. We are so overwhelmed

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on our news and on our Facebook feeds and Snapchat and Instagram with negativity. There's

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stuff all over the place. But we need to look and realize that there is good out there.

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We need to see the goodness of God, and we need to seek out the good news, and we need

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to praise God for the good news. And we don't need to be so negative. Even when bad things

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happen, we say, oh, the air conditioner, it's only blowing half cold. It's not very cold.

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That's the worst thing in the world. Or maybe we should say, well, good news, at least it's

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blowing half cold. It could not be blowing at all. And praise the Lord, it's blowing

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a little bit because it's hot outside. So maybe we need to kind of change our mindset,

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and we need to change our heart, and we need to change our attitude that we are those who

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look for the good and see the good. It's not that we're pretending that bad doesn't exist.

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I'm not telling you to do that. I know that bad exists. I'm aware that bad exists. I'm

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aware that difficulties exist. I'm aware that there's pain in our life. But I'm also

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aware that there is goodness. And I'm aware that pleasant words and bright eyes and good

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news are good for the heart, and they bring healing to the body because God's word says

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it is. And our hearts need to be uplifted, and our bodies need to be restored. We come

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today and we read God's word because that's what we need. And so maybe some of you come

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today and you come here and you feel like your bones are crushed. We look at these passages

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and proverbs that talk about, you know, these things are healing to our bones. But we also

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see in the scripture, it talks about our bones being crushed. We see that a lot in the Psalm,

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Psalm 32, verse 3, Psalm of David here. He says, When I kept silent, my bones became

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brittle from my groaning all day long. Now, we want to be those whose bodies are restored

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and whose bones are healed and there's healing in our body. But we have to start somewhere.

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We have to start somewhere for that healing to begin. And we start here with God's word.

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We start at Jesus Christ. And we come here today and no doubt there are some times in

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our life, and maybe some of you feel this today, that we feel like David. That we are

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in the midst of our sin and we know that our sin is not good and our sin is just weighing

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us down. And what does he say? He says, When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from

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my groaning all day long. And in our sin, we groan because it makes us feel bad and

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we can't get any comfort and we can't get any rest and it feels like we're about to

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break to our innermost being. It feels like we cannot take anymore. And David said, When

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I kept silent, I felt this way. Well, we don't want to be those who keep silent today. We

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come here today, we want to be those who are healed, that our soul is healed through Jesus

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Christ, that our bodies are healed, that we are those who do the work of God. And so today,

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we no longer need to remain silent. If you're in sin and you feel broken and you feel ashamed

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and you feel like you can't make it, then today is the day that you need to speak up.

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Because so long as we keep silent, we feel this way. But the moment that we come to God

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and say, God, I seek you in my brokenness, in my sinfulness, in my pride. God, I cannot

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do it. I'm tired of doing it my way. God, I'm going to do it your way. God, I'm coming

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to you and I'm coming to Jesus Christ. And God, I open my mouth to you and I call out

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to you today. We don't want to be silent today in our sin. If there's struggle and there's

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pain today, don't be silent, but call out to the Lord. Psalm chapter 6 verse 2, Be gracious

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to me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking. So you say, OK,

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I want to speak today. What do I speak? The Psalms are good. If you want to learn how

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to pray, the Psalms are a good thing to read. You read beautiful language in there. You

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read some of these prayers of David and they're genuine. They're not sugarcoated. He just

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acknowledges his rottenness and how he feels and what's going on. And some of you may need

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to do that today. Maybe all of us need to do that today. We just need to speak up before

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the Lord and we need to call on him. And what do we say? What did David say? He said, Be

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gracious to me, Lord, for I am weak. That might need to be our prayer today. That might

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need to be your prayer and my prayer. God, we need your grace. God, I am weak today.

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God, this world has gotten the better of me. The things and the stresses of this world

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have just about crushed my bones. God, I am weak. My sin has gotten the better of me.

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But God, I ask you to be gracious to me because God, I am weak. God, I am laying on the mat.

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I've been knocked out. I have no more strength. I cannot go another round. But God, I know

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that you are in my corner. So be gracious to me and pick me up and give me a little

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bit of that living water and wipe me off and tell me, keep going. Run the race with endurance.

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Don't give up. Don't get caught up in the sin that so easily ensnares, but trust Jesus

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Christ. Maybe that needs to be our prayer today. God, be gracious to me for I am weak.

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Psalm chapter 51 verse 8, let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones you have crushed

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rejoice. That's what we want. We want that same type of restoration that David got, that

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same type of restoration come to our life, that we would be those who were restored.

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Let me hear joy and gladness. That's what we want today. We want to feel the joy and

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the gladness of God. And we can feel that through what Jesus Christ has done when we

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repent of our sins and when we come to Him and when we seek Him. Let me hear joy and

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gladness that the bones you have crushed rejoice. Isn't that an interesting language? David

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says the bones you have crushed. The fact of the matter is, is that sometimes God disciplines

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us and it's hard. We don't like to be disciplined, but God disciplines us because He loves us.

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Don't doubt that today. Sometimes we go through difficulties in life and hard times and we

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say, God, why are you doing this to me? God, you must not love me, but maybe just the opposite

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is true. It may be that God allows us to be crushed sometimes because God wants us to

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seek Him and to call out to Him and to find joy and gladness. And He knows we cannot find

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it any other way. So let the bones that God has crushed rejoice today. God disciplines

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us sometimes and it's hard and it's difficult, but God wants to restore you today. If we're

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living in sin today, then we need to repent so that restoration can take place. Last scripture

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today, Proverbs chapter three, just a little further down from where we started. Proverbs

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chapter three, verse 11 says, do not despise the Lord's instruction, my son, and do not

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loathe His discipline. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves just as a father, the son

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He delights in. Perhaps some of us come here today and we feel the Lord's discipline in

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our life. We kind of feel that conviction. We feel that. But we come here today to read

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God's word, to read God's instruction. Why? Because it brings healing to our bones. It

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brings health to our body. So maybe today we need to come before the Lord and listen

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to His instruction. His instruction that tells us, I provided a way for you through my son,

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Jesus Christ, that there's forgiveness of your sins, that I can change your life, that

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I can work in you, that I can transform your heart, that I can make you into a better man

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or a better woman today. God's instruction is good for us and we see just a smidgen of

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it here today. But perhaps today it's time for us to stop being wise in our own eyes,

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to fear the Lord and to turn away from evil so that there may be healing in our bodies

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today. So that there may be healing in our soul today. If you're hurting today, if you're

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in pain today, I can tell you there's healing. It's available. It comes through Jesus Christ.

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If you repent of your sins and put your faith in Him, He'll change your life. God's word

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is full of instructions on how we need to live. We may just need to change the way we're

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living. We may need to change the way we speak. We may just need to speak some pleasant words.

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We may need to change our attitude. We may need to look for the positive. We may need

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to be encouraging to other people. And maybe in those very simple acts, it may have more

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of an impact on you than you could ever imagine and I can assure you it'll have an impact

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on those you encounter. God's word is full of instruction to bring joy and healing to

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our bodies today. But that healing begins with Jesus Christ. I pray that if you don't

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know Him, you would. Let's pray. Father God, we come to you. We thank you for your good

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word. God, there are certainly areas in our lives that we need to recognize are not good.

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And by not good, dear Lord, that's a pretty way of saying that we are just right in sinners.

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So help us to see those areas today. God, maybe even coming into this building, we kind

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of knew it already. We usually do, dear Lord. Your Holy Spirit's convicted us. I pray that

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we would listen to those convictions, that we would seek you, dear Lord, today, that

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we would come to you for forgiveness. God, I pray that, God, maybe there are some here

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today and they're just struggling in that way. I pray that you'd give them grace and

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mercy. I pray that you'd give them strength. I pray, God, that if we've been walking in

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our own wisdom, in what we would call wisdom, dear Lord, but what you'd call foolishness,

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that we'd stop doing that, dear Lord, that we wouldn't consider ourselves to be wise

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today. But God, we'd fear you today, that we'd come to you to know that you are God,

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that you are in control. God, help us to turn away from the evils. They are ever before

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us. The things we say, the things we do, the way we act, even the thoughts in our minds

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that sometimes we let get away from us. Dear Lord, in every way, evil is before us, but

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I pray that we would be those who would turn from that evil, that we would come to you,

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dear Lord, and for what? For healing. God, we want to be healed today. God, maybe there

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are some here today that are just broken, that just feel that their bones are brittle

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like those of David, that just feel crushed, that feel like they cannot go another step.

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Dear Lord, I pray today that they would turn from their sins, that they would come to you,

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that they'd put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, that they would find healing today.

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God, healing and restoration, it comes through your grace, through Jesus, and I pray that

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we would all find that today. God, help us to see how we live our life. Help us to check

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our words, to check our attitude, to not be those, dear Lord, that people dread, but to

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be those who bring encouragement and who bring pleasant words. God, help us to seek to be

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those. God, so that you can help us to be better people and so we can help others, dear

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Lord, to see your love and your grace and your mercy. So God, I pray today for each

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one that's in here. Dear Lord, I don't know everybody's name, but you do. You know which

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ones are hurting today. You know which ones need healing today, and I pray that they would

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come to you, that they would seek you, that they would call out to you today. God, you

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would hear them if they would, and I pray that their heart would just call out to you

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this morning. I pray that you would bring healing and bring peace to their life, to

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their mind, to their soul today. God, I just pray that you would be with us. Those who

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don't know Jesus Christ, maybe today is the day that they've made that decision to put

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their faith in Him. For those who are yours, dear Lord, maybe we're just struggling, that

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we would find strength and encouragement in you, dear Lord. Bring healing to us today,

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God. Now I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.