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Welcome to Bible on the Beach.

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Again, today we're in the hills up here right by my house.

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Got some beautiful waves this morning down at Trussells.

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So glad that you can be with us today.

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We'll be in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 through 21.

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Paul says, so I kneel humbly in awe

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before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

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So right away Paul points out our relationship with God.

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We're to kneel and we're to be humble.

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Now it sounds simple, but it's amazing to me

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how many people miss this all the time.

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Our relationship with God is not premised

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upon us telling God all the things that we're going to do.

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Our relationship with God is premised upon he's God,

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we're not, which means we come to him with humility.

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Famous theologian was once asked,

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what are the best Christian virtues?

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The response was humility, humility, humility.

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That's how it is in our life.

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God asked us to come to him with humility.

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And so you'll find this in the writings of Paul.

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We see it pointed out very clearly again right here.

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He says, the perfect father of every father and child

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in heaven and on earth.

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So it may feel like at times that earthly parents were

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either really planned or really a mistake.

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Well, there might be accidental parents,

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but there aren't any accidental people.

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God knew each and every one of us

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were going to be born where we were going to live,

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how our upbringing was going to be.

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You come to the place in your life

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where you pivot from your earthly parents

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to looking to God to be your father.

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Parents, some of them do a wonderful job.

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Some of them are in process.

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I know I myself am, but God's perfect.

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So we look to God to meet all of our needs

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according to his riches in Christ Jesus.

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He says, and I pray that he would

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unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor

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until supernatural strength floods your innermost being

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with his divine might and explosive power.

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A lot to unpack here.

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Did you know that there's a supernatural strength that

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comes from God each and every day when we call upon him

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to help us?

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You may just want to say right now,

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God, I ask that you would give me your supernatural strength,

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that you would flood me with your living water

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from the inside out to meet my needs and the needs

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of the people around me.

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That is the abundant life that Jesus came to give us.

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Verse 17, he says, then by constantly using your faith,

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the life of Christ will be released deep inside you.

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That's that living water that it's

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talking about in John 4.

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Jesus offers us a water, a living water

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that flows up from the inside that comes to us

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with explosive power, talks about.

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It's what we want in our life, that living, flowing water

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in us and through us.

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Now, verse 17 says, then by constantly using your faith,

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the life of Christ will be released deep inside of you.

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Every work of God is a deep work of God,

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meaning that God transforms us literally from the inside out.

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He says, and the resting place of his love

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will become the very source, the root of his life.

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Everything good in our life flows out of our understanding

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of God's amazing, unfathomable, deep and wide love.

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His love makes us secure.

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His love makes us safe.

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His love allows us to live for him and him alone.

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He says in verse 18, then you will

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be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences,

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the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ

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in all of its dimensions.

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How deeply intimate and far reaching is his love?

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I think about when I was 17 years old, over 30 years ago,

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God's love reached into my life and changed my life.

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God met me where I was at.

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God will meet you where you're at today.

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He'll come to you.

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The Bible says he's a manual God with us, not God far from us.

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God with us right next to us.

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Invite him into your life.

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Ask him to help you right now.

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And Jesus will.

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He'll come and help you right now.

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He says how enduring and inclusive it is.

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Endless love beyond measurement.

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That's what I've experienced in my life.

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Endless, amazing love that transcends our understanding.

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This extravagant love pours into you

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until you are filled with the overflowing

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of the fullness of God.

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Our best beliefs, ideas, and theology

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are rooted in the simple, amazing love of Jesus

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for each and every one of us.

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Verse 20 says, never doubt God's mighty power

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to work in you and accomplish all of this.

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You see, when we understand God's love,

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his mighty power begins to flow and operate in our life.

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He says you will achieve infinitely more

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than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream,

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and exceed your wildest imaginations.

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Now, I've known that's been true in my life.

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I never would have imagined about three years ago

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when I took a step of faith from a large church

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that I really loved working at, Saddleback Church.

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I wanted to be there for the rest of my life.

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God tapped me on the shoulder, told me,

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no, I want you to do something smaller.

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I want to use you to go into all the little nooks and crannies

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that the big church has missed.

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People ask me, how was it to work at Saddleback?

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How was it to work at a small church?

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My answer is, both of them have been wonderful.

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Just a matter of what God asked you to do with your life.

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I never would have imagined that we'd start myself, Bobby Ramsey

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and Adam in a Jiu-Jitsu studio.

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Three years later, we'd have produced 6,695 liters of water,

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clean water for people, and help plant 24 churches in five

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countries, helping about 800 people each week.

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Amazing.

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Never thought that would even be possible.

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But when you step out, you take a step of faith,

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God goes with you, God gives you the favor, God helps you.

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God does it all versus us thinking that we did it.

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I didn't do it.

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God did it.

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And that's a wonderful feeling.

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He says, he will outdo them all, and his miraculous power

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constantly energizes you.

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Boy, I found that to be true in my life.

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God's amazing, miraculous power, every time I needed it,

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God came and he helped me to do it.

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I give him all the credit, all the glory,

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in every possible way.

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Now, verse 21, he says, now we offer up to God

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all the glorious praise that arises from every church

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and every generation through Jesus Christ,

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and that we will yet be manifest through time and eternity.

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See, this is God's will, the constant planting

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and regeneration of the church and the people of God.

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It's never ending.

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We just get to be a part of it.

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Jesus called the first 12, he discipled them.

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Day of Pentecost came, he gathered more believers,

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he called them, he scattered them,

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and that's what he's been doing from the beginning

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of the church.

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What God's done in a small way through myself

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taking a little step of faith, that's what God's been doing

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from the beginning.

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This isn't new.

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This is what God's always done, the constant regeneration,

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the constant planting, the constant expansion

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of the kingdom of God into every nook and cranny,

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into every space, place, and race for every face

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so that Jesus can be known all over the world.

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That's what we get to be a part of.

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It's exciting.

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That's why I love to pastor people.

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I love to preach the word.

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I love to plant churches.

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I love to help provide water all for Jesus,

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and it's a great, very fulfilling, exciting life to live.

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Thanks so much for joining me today.

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I hope that this is encouraging to you.

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Life's hard enough.

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I hope when you turn on Bible on the Beach,

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it brings a 10 to 12 minute encouragement

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smile to your face every single day.

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Until next time, love you, be blessed, have a great day.