The Tickling of Ears

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Shalom, grace and peace.

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In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

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My name is Daniel Miller, and this is the Notes I Leave podcast.

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As always, thank you so much for joining us today on the Notes

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I Leave podcast.

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The title of this episode is the Tickling of the Ears.

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There's so many different ways that you could go with a title

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like that, but today I want to focus on a verse in Second John,

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a couple verses, three verses actually, in Second John.

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That really, for me stood out this morning as I'm going through

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my Bible study.

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And for me, that is really the best way it can work is if the

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morning of the podcast, that I am able to receive the nourishment

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that God provides in His Word.

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Almost always, I receive that nourishment throughout the week

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and I make note of a verse that stands out and I pray on that verse.

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And that oftentimes becomes the subject matter of the Notes I

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Leave again with the intent being a note or a lesson or something

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I've learned over the years that can be applicable to someone

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who is taught by me, someone who disciples me, someone who walks

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alongside me in this life.

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My children, my wife, my family members, anyone who could find

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the message to be of value.

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And I have been blessed so much over the course of my life and

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have learned so much and forgot so much and need to be reminded

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of so much that God's Word does that.

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And as I go through it, it brings up lessons that I've learned

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over the years that I can share.

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And that really is the sum of what I'm trying to accomplish with

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this podcast going forward.

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You know, at Biblical Anatomy Academy, we're writing a textbook.

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It is unlike any other textbook that has ever existed and perhaps,

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God willing, will ever exist.

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That is what I see a large part of my focus here on Earth and

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the plan that God has for me here on Earth to be.

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And everyone has their unique gifting to sort of interject.

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And he uses us all as tools for his will to be done.

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And so there likely won't be anyone like me with the skill set

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available to do exactly what I'm doing now.

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I hope there are many that can come alongside and can continue

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on what I'm doing, but they're going to have their own wrinkles

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that they put on it.

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That's going to be different than what I have contributed and

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in conjunction or parallel perhaps to Biblical Anatomy Academy

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is this podcast.

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So it's not going to be as systematic and not going to be, and

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so far hasn't been as systematic as the book will be and as previous

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podcasts that I've done have been, but it'll be something that

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is always in tune with where the Holy Spirit is leading me to

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bring up these things that perhaps I haven't thought about in

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a while lately.

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A lot of things about eschatology and end times have been coming

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about basically this entire year.

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In February of this year, I started a course, a college course

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on ecclesiology, the study of church and eschatology, the study

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of end times.

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And it got me noticing things in a new way.

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It's kind of perhaps like when you get a vehicle and you didn't

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notice that vehicle on the road at all until you got one, and

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then you notice them everywhere, like everybody now has the same

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vehicle you do.

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Now that I've learned a decent amount about eschatology, I'm seeing

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it come up all over.

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And really where the tickling of ears comes from is a direct warning

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from Jesus to not believe in false prophets and not believe the

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things that they will tell you.

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And the way he lets us know that we should beware and know that

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they are false prophets is not only by the fruit that they show,

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or in this case the lack of fruit that they show, but how reliant

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they are on the teaches teachings of Jesus as opposed to their own teachings.

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And where this can be difficult is when people teach God's Word,

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but it's the first little snippet and then they go from there.

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They get the attention of God's people and then they take that

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attention where they want to go with it.

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I pray that that never be anything that I teach.

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And if I get that far off track with things that the Holy Spirit

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smacks me in the face and gets me back on track because that is

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the last thing I want to do.

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The teachings of Christ are sufficient in all that we need.

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I don't need to add anything to it.

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I can give you my experience and kind of show you its application

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for my life and hopefully that sits on you well and you can make

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your own applications there.

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But those are applications of what God has taught, not additions

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to okay, so again, welcome.

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Thank you for joining us this week.

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The Lord has put on my heart what his teachings encompass.

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And we as Christians, a lot of times I don't think this is a Christian

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trait, more so much so as it is a flesh trait that we want to know everything.

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Intellectualism is something that I've struggled with in the past

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and still struggle with on trying to Prove myself with how smart

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I am, which is totally unfruitful, ridiculous.

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Nothing I have is of me.

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It's all things that the Lord has provided me with.

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So that fight for intellectualism, particularly in the days before,

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in the years before I accepted Christ, was completely sinful in nature.

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It was all about needing words of affirmation from people.

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But once we receive the words of Christ, we no longer need the

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words of affirmation from other people.

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In another podcast, I'll talk about the antidepressant of Christianity

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and how Christianity I am diagnosed with major depression and

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Christianity Jesus has been the sole healing in my depression.

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No medications that have been prescribed in the past do any good.

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It's only been Jesus healing me of that in my life.

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And so I'll dedicate a podcast to that in the future.

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But this episode here ties in closely with that, that his teachings are sufficient.

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It is sufficient to the healing that we need.

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It is sufficient to everything that we need.

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And so the Lord guides us only in the teachings that we need.

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And as humans, as fleshly men, fleshly humans, we want to have

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all the answers.

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And we can really get into some scary situations, particularly

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with eschatology and going down rabbit holes that I don't think

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that we need to go down.

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What Jesus teaches us is that we need to be prepared for those

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end times, despite knowing no one knowing when those times will come.

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He tells us what those times will look like, to be prepared for

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it, to always be prepared.

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But he doesn't give us an alarm clock on this specific date.

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And this is pretty relevant because Charlie Kirk was assassinated

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about a month ago, and I can't believe it's been that long already.

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But shortly thereafter, there was, and I don't know exactly where

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this started, by the time it met my ears, it had gone through

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social media quite a bit.

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And, you know, there's your first warning.

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Social media, maybe don't listen to that.

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But nevertheless, there was a pastor that had predicted the day

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of the Rapture, which I believe he predicted would be the 23rd,

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24th of September.

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And people were going wild with it.

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There's videos out there of people selling all their possessions

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because the Rapture is coming.

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And it just reminds me of the tickling of ears.

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I mean, scripture specifically, through the words of Jesus Christ,

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says, no one will know the hour.

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And so I just.

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I kind of just sat back and wondered, what are we?

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What are we thinking?

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What are we getting ourselves into?

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What are we believing here?

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That is something that is outside the scope of What Christ has

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taught us to follow in through his teachings.

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And so with that, I'm going to take you to.

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We'll talk on this more after this verse, but I want to take you

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to Second John, the first chapter, the only chapter of Second

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John, in verses 9 through 11.

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So let's read that.

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Let's see how that kind of falls on us, how the Spirit guides

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us in that.

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And then we will.

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We'll keep elaborating further after that.

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So verse nine.

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Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of

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Christ does not have God, the one who abides in the teaching.

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He has both the Father and the Son.

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If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not

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receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting.

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For the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

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That is black and white, and there is no punches pulled on that.

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I do imagine over the years that that verse has perhaps been misinterpreted

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with people that are spreading the Gospel by knocking on doors

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and those forms of evangelism.

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I can see that as being something that would stand out to someone.

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But for me, it's not saying you can't go knock on people's doors

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and you can't spread the gospel.

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It's stating that you need to be aligned with what Christ taught

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his teachings and not your own teachings.

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So certainly people that have knocked on my door, other people's

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doors, and I'm not advocating that that's the best way to spread the gospel. I'm not.

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But there undoubtedly have been people on both sides, people that

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are tickling ears and people that are doing the right thing in

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terms of spreading God's word.

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All I know definitively, besides the teachings of Christ, and that's really. That's sufficient.

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That's all I need to know.

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That's all the nourishment that I need.

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And I can end right there.

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But I do also know through his teachings that the world is full

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of noise and confusion.

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Scripture tells us that God is not a God of confusion.

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And if we put those things together, we realize that when we find

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ourself in the midst of chaos, like the prediction of the Rapture

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and all the confusion surrounding that and the confusion of Charlie

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Kirk's death and all those things, we need not be anxious.

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All we need to do is go back to God's Word and remind ourselves

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that he is not a God of confusion.

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When we are seeking God, it should be crystal clear.

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It should be concise Comprehensive, nourishing, and with unquenchable,

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unbelievable depth to it.

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I'm not suggesting that we can read God's Word and we can have

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a full understanding of what it is stating, what he is stating

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through His Word.

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I'm not suggesting that at all.

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But I am suggesting that what we need to know is available to

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us in simple, concise, digestible terminology.

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I think that's the beauty of translations.

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And I might get some pushback on translations.

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And there are people with opinions that one translation is better

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than another or there are translations to completely stay away from.

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But for me, when I gave my life to Christ, I think I needed the

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NLT translation in modern English to understand the teachings of Christ.

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I shortly thereafter worked to the NIV and felt that that was

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really speaking to me.

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A fairly short stint there, and I was on to the ESV and felt that

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that was speaking to me, that I was really receiving the teachings

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of Christ effectively through that translation.

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I have since moved to the NASB and use the Amplified Bible sort

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of as my commentary on that.

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If I had to say I have a favorite translation, it would be the Amplified Bible.

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If I tell you which Bible I'm in most, it would be the nasb.

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That's the sort of daily driver that I'm in to do my Bible study.

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But if I could only choose one Bible translation to have, I would

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likely choose the Amplified Bible because it gives me the most

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information that I can dissect, that I can digest and do what

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I need to and understand what Christ wants me to know, what I

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need to know.

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I believe that we as humans are on a need to know basis.

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We don't need to know everything.

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We think we do, but we don't.

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And what God has provided in His Word is more so much more than

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sufficient to fill the need that we have.

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I do believe that God's Word has a depth that we will never reach.

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And the beauty in that is different people will reach different

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depths and that will be based off of their need in a way that

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only God can fully comprehend.

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And I think that's such a beautiful uniqueness to God's Word and

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what separates the Bible from any other document that has ever

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existed or set of documents that has ever existed.

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And so I want to encourage you all today that God's Word is all you need.

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The good news, the bad news, it's all there.

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The Gospel of Jesus Christ is there.

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That's all that you need.

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And even after you commit yourself to Christ, that you turn your

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life over to him, as I did you years ago, you will have everything

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you need in God's word to sustain you for the rest of your days,

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no matter how many days you have left on earth. And.

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And with that, it will help you resist the noise, the chaos and

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confusion of the world.

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You know, I was searching for a quote that would be fitting of

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this podcast and I couldn't find anything that was quite right.

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And so I started kind of thinking about how I might phrase something

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and so unique.

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Normally I find a famous quote out there from Charles Spurgeon

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or last week we had Stephen Covey.

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A number of different individuals I've quoted on the podcast.

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But today I'm going to give you what's on my heart in my own words.

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And that quote is the nourishing Word of God need not compete

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with the noise and confusion of the world. It just.

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There's no need for the Word of God to compete and it doesn't

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compete with it because it doesn't need to compete.

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There is no hope for the world.

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The only hope is in the Word of God.

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And the Word of God is sufficient to our daily need, every need

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that we could ever have.

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So my question is, do we ever, and if so, how often achieve the

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stillness and quiet necessary to escape the world?

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I think this is one of the devil's most clever tactics.

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There is so much noise and devices and alerts.

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I think I even noticed my iPad back here go off in the middle

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of this podcast.

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At some time, there's so much alerting us to the ways of the world

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and the things that are going on.

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And again, please don't misconstrue my words.

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I'm not stating that technology is evil.

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I'm not stating that good things can't be accomplished.

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I'm reaching you through forms of technology right now.

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It can be harnessed to do good things, but it can very easily

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become distracting and it can become very excessive.

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And so we need to be cautious of that.

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We need to know that the only teaching we need is the teaching

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of Jesus Christ.

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We need to be cautious of what the world delivers, even if it

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is a sheep in wolves clothing, even if the teaching sounds like

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Christ, but it's not.

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And that's really where we can protect ourselves by being in God's

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Word every day as frequently as possible, because we'll recognize

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that so much more quickly than we would otherwise.

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With that being said, I'm going to go ahead and sign off and then

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sign on to the Members Only section.

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And as always, I love you and thank you for your time you spent

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with me today. God Bless.

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Until next time.

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May the peace of Christ dwell richly in you.

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And may I also express maranantha, which is an Aramaic word translating

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to come Lord Jesus.