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More insight from Solomon
13 Plays4 years ago
Vernon continues the discussion of life and work learning from the wisdom of Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. Remember, Solomon had it all and did it all and can save you and me from a bunch of heartache.
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Transcript
Introduction to Ecclesiastes and Solomon's Wisdom
00:00:02
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This is your host Vernon Terrell with Grace Ministries International and it's time for Walking Free. And today I want to continue talking about Ecclesiastes and looking at
00:00:29
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The one who did everything, he did it all. He had it all. He did it all. He went before us. So we don't have to make some of the same mistakes. That's what a good mentor is for. Maybe one who's a little farther ahead in their journey and we get to ask them questions or glean from their experience. And that's what we're doing with Solomon.
The Purpose and Futility of Labor
00:00:58
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And remember he started out in Ecclesiastes chapter one and verse three. And he said, what advantage does man have in all his work, which he does under the sun? Like, what are you doing all of this for? What's it all about? Why are you working and working and working? Is that the most important thing
00:01:26
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And we went through some gyms through Ecclesiastes one, two, and three, kind of flying through just a bit. And I like just as a quick recap.
00:01:44
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He asked again in chapter two, verse 22, what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days, his task is painful and grievous. Even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is vanity. And as we asked last week, does that sound familiar?
00:02:14
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Is your mind just mulling over all the things, all of that work stuff, or maybe if you're in ministry, all of that ministry stuff and it just doesn't rest? Well, according to Solomon, this too is vanity, emptiness, futility. And he said,
00:02:40
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Look, there's nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good or to find good in his labor. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God for who can eat and who can have enjoyment without him.
Finding Joy in Work as a Gift from God
00:03:00
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You know, labor is a gift from God. Nothing wrong with labor. Labor is good.
00:03:08
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And we need to find the good in the labor, but the labor and the money and the stuff, that's not the goal of it. Yes, we can have goals, material goals, and want to buy a house or want to buy a car safe or something. Nothing wrong with that. That's good stewardship, good planning. But if your mind is never at rest,
00:03:35
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If you're lying awake at night thinking about all those things, you might want to stop to pause. Perhaps that's a red flag or at minimum a yellow flag that says warning.
00:03:55
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Is my hope fixed on all of that? Am I just working for some end that is really emptiness and vanity and futility? Find enjoyment in your labor. Find enjoyment in him, for who can eat and drink? Who can have enjoyment without God, without Christ in you?
00:04:24
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He continued in chapter three, he said, look, there is nothing better, verse 12, for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime. Do good in your lifetime. Jesus said it this way, love. Love one another. That's what it's all about. Sharing Christ.
00:04:53
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through your words, through your life, loving as he loved, allowing him to love through you in your lifetime. That's where you're going to find ultimate satisfaction. He said in verse 13, every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor. It's the gift of God. I want you, everyone who's eating and drinking, and that's most of us, if not, we're not gonna be around much longer.
00:05:25
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See good and find the good in your labor. That's the gift of God. That theme just keeps coming up over and over again. Verse 22 of chapter three, and then we're gonna jump into chapter four. He said, I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities.
00:05:55
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for that is his lot, for who will bring him to see what will occur after him. No one, you're not gonna get in the DeLorean and go to the future to see what happens at the end. So be happy in your activities.
00:06:24
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So I want you to find the good. I want you to find the good in whatever you're doing. If you're going to work, find the good. If you're ministering and serving, find the good. Find the good in your activities. If you're in recreation and you're out there on a vacation, you know some people when they take a vacation, they don't vacate. They may vacate logistically, but they don't vacate mentally. They're not happy in their activities. Some are so,
00:06:53
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busy planning and trying to get to the next thing. They're not enjoying the activities. They're trying to get to the next one. That was me. I confess I did some of that. I was so busy planning and making sure we were on schedule or schedule that I didn't enjoy the activity. Enjoy the activity. Be happy in the activity.
00:07:21
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This is what our mentor, Solomon, is telling us. Yes, we are a people of grace. Yes, we believe that Christ in us, the hope of glory, expresses his life through us in victory and power and in love, one to another. Jesus found time.
00:07:48
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to enjoy his labor, to enjoy the activities, to enjoy the kids that randomly came up. He said, don't hinder them, let them come. Yeah, let them come. I like kids. Kids are cool. So our mentor, Solomon, as we continue going through him, chronicling his journey of trying to understand all the toil of labor, what's all this about?
Facing Oppression and Offering Comfort
00:08:20
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What's life all about? And it goes a little dark in chapter four, verse one, it goes, then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And we see that man with the internet, with news 24 seven, we see all kind of oppression under the sun all the time.
00:08:52
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Solomon said, behold, I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them. And on the side of their oppressors was power, but they also had no one to comfort them. Wouldn't it be cool if we could be the ones to comfort those who are the oppressed?
00:09:21
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You see them, don't you? You see them at your church, maybe at the youth group. You see them at work. You see the heaviness. It's just all over them. The Holy Spirit is the comforter, and the Holy Spirit is in you. And we can comfort in the same way that we've been comforted.
00:09:51
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we could be that hand of comfort that Solomon in his day said, I see the tears. There's just no one there to comfort them. Why not be a gap filler? Why don't you and I ask God to open our eyes to those around us who may feel oppressed. They may feel heavy.
00:10:19
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And we may be the instrument that God uses to comfort, even with just our presence, maybe with our words, more so with our ears and good questions, just to listen. When people are downtrodden and heavy and maybe in a state of depression or worry,
00:10:46
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They're not looking necessarily for our advice. They're looking for our understanding and our empathy, not pity, but grace. That's what we can be for them. Ask God, as I do, when I go and work with students and often in
00:11:11
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almost any environment, I say, Father, who would you have me encourage in this moment, in this place? Let that be your prayer as well. And you'll find sometimes it seems like, well, I just said a couple hellos, but even that minimal connection can be impactful to somebody.
00:11:38
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God's using you, don't sell yourself short. In verse two of chapter four he goes, kinda sad, he goes, I congratulated the dead, metaphorically, who are already dead, more than the living who are still living, because of all this he's seeing, but better off than both of them is the one who never existed
00:12:05
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who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun. He's just, this stuff is real in his mind and I know we felt that way too. We see the evil in the world and it's like, I don't wanna bring anybody in this climate, in this world, but they didn't even exist. And that's just the state of the world.
00:12:34
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It was that way in Solomon's day. It's the same today. It's gonna get worse. Christianity is not God blessing us and keeping us from all the ills of the world. It's His promise that He's with us and never forsakes us as we walk in this world and through this world. Because we know this world is not our home.
00:13:03
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And Jesus is always for us walking with us. That's encouraging. Don't think that just because you come upon hard times or you see others going through hard times that God has abandoned the ship. No. He's right here walking with us, weeping with us, loving with us.
00:13:31
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and we truly are, we are his hands and his feet and his heart, expressing his love to all those in this world. And he said in verse four, Ecclesiastes four, four, I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. Kind of how he sees it, summing it up, this too.
00:13:59
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is vanity and striving after the wind.
Rest Over Continuous Labor
00:14:02
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The fool folds his hand and consumes his own flesh. Yeah, that's foolish, not doing anything. And he says this in verse six, one hand full of rest is better than two fifths full of labor and striving after wind. We need to learn to rest. We need to work.
00:14:30
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Find the good in the labor, labor is good, but don't be so full of labor, striving after the win, after that empty materialism or all the riches and all the money, striving after that, it just slips through your finger, you can't keep it, and as Solomon says, the one who has it after you, who knows if they're gonna be wise with it. Work, labor,
00:14:59
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Gain, that's fine. But one handful of rest is better than all that. Learn to rest, learn how to take time to rest. Take naps. Here's your permission, take a nap. Jesus napped, naps are good. Nothing wrong with naps. He continues in verse seven, I looked again at vanity under the sun.
00:15:26
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And he said this, and he just continues this thing. There was a certain man, he says, without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches, and he never asked, for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure?
00:15:52
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This too is vanity and it's a grievous task. Isn't that crazy? He's working long hours, long nights. He has no one to really care for for all this that he's doing and he never stopped to ask the question, why am I doing this? Who am I doing it for? He never took time to take pleasure in his labor.
00:16:20
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to enjoy the fruits of his labor, to learn to rest even from his labor. Don't fall into the trap. And then it's like he takes a right turn, but it's all related. He says, look, don't go life alone. Don't do this alone.
00:16:46
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Two, verse nine, chapter four, are better than one. Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together, they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two
00:17:15
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can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. I heard this at a wedding I recently attended and they said the husband and the wife or the two that come together and then that third person is Jesus right in their relationship and that three-fold cord is not easily broken. When two can come together
00:17:44
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under the lordship of Jesus Christ and their marriage, who are seeking Him, understanding and surrendering to Him. And we use that word, I know some people don't like that word. God's not our enemy. We don't surrender, but where we abandon all of our striving after our own way and surrender that
00:18:13
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and entrust ourself to our Savior together as a couple. Man, that is the ultimate marriage right there. But if you're single, don't go it alone. Don't be the lone ranger. I have a tendency to do that. It's better with other people. It's better finding a group that you can connect with
00:18:45
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In my church, we call them small groups, whatever that looks like for you. I want you to find companions, find and connect with people you can do life with, Sunday school, church, friends, work companions, ministry companions, that you can share life that are unified with the same purpose.
00:19:14
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that you can grow and serve and love together. That's power. Well, he continues and says, a poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction.
Continuous Learning and Growth
00:19:36
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Camp on that one. Don't stop learning. You know when we get to be a certain age,
00:19:44
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And it's like, yeah, I've read that. Oh, I know about that. I hope you and I never stop learning. What have you read today? What book have you read recently? Audiobook. What podcast have you listened to recently? While you're listening to this one, I'm grateful. I hope it's helpful. Are you learning? Are you growing? Are you reading? Don't let that mind get answered.
00:20:12
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have atrophy where that muscle just starts to degenerate for lack of use. It just goes numb. You're not exercising it. Exercise your brain. Read, study, learn, memorize, grow. If you watch something, watch something once in a while that's instructive.
00:20:40
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Find other people who like to learn. Do something new. Go out and do something different. Yesterday, now you'll laugh, yesterday I went kayaking. I have never kayaked in my life. Never. And Michelle and I went kayaking. She's really good at kayaking.
00:21:07
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I'm a rookie. I kept thinking, I'm gonna flip this kayak. It was a double kayak. I went, oh, this is gonna be embarrassing. You know what? That's walking by faith. I'm serious, that is walking by faith. When you don't know what you're doing, you don't know where you're going, you've never done it before, that's walking by faith. And you just say, Lord, I trust you in the kayak.
00:21:32
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Help me to understand how to kayak. And then you listen, you learn, and that takes humility, and that's okay. Learn something new, do something new. Don't be that old, foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction. And he continues as he said,
00:22:01
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For he has come out of prison to become king even though he was born poor in his kingdom. I have seen all the living, and you know when you're born poor, that's a lot of motivation not to be poor, isn't it? I have seen all the living under the sun, thronged to the side of the second land who replaces him. There is no end to all the people, to all who are before them, and even the ones who will come
00:22:26
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later will not be happy with them, for this too is vanity and striving after the wind. When you have, you tend to feel entitled, and not, I don't mean that in a mean way, but when we have, we're born with things and stuff, we don't know what it's like not to have,
00:22:56
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We kind of get a little lacy, don't we, at times? It's like, well, we've always had it. We didn't have to go work for it and scrape and get it. And there's two flesh patterns that can grow out of all of that. The one who was poor is always striving to get, and sometimes they get into this pattern where they need more and more and more, and they get value from that, and that is vanity and vanity. And then the one who has and doesn't understand the value of labor
00:23:26
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And they just stop learning and stop growing. That's dangerous and that's vanity. Always learn, always strive to learn and grow in your faith and to ask God to teach you. Well,
00:23:51
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He continues, and I'm gonna wrap up a little bit in chapter five, because it's a short chapter.
Listening in God's Presence
00:23:56
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He says, look, guard your steps as you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools. And often the sacrifice of fools is a lot of talking and a lot of doing activity just to do it. He goes, when you're coming to the house of God, draw near to listen. Let me encourage you to listen. Ask God to reveal himself to you. Ask God to
00:24:21
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reveal his word to you and just listen. He goes to those who are just offering the sacrifice of fools. He goes, they do not know they're doing evil. Don't be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God for God is in heaven. You're on earth. Let your words be few for the dream comes through much effort.
00:24:49
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Do you have a dream? Has God given you a dream, a vision of something that is just impressed on your heart to maybe to serve, to minister, to love, to impact the world or your community? Well, the dream comes through much effort. It doesn't just happen. It takes effort and the voice of a fool through many words.
00:25:17
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That's why I say on this podcast, and the tagline doesn't always fit, but it may be time for you to stop talking and start walking. If God's given you a dream, stop talking about it and start walking toward it. Start moving in the direction, or as my pastor would say, it's direction, not intention that leads you to your destination.
00:25:45
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All the good intentions of the world aren't gonna lead you toward your dream, toward your vision, if you're just parked in neutral, or if you're going in the opposite direction, just talking about it. Stop talking, start walking by faith. Ask God, what is the next step? What is your next task? Sometimes, sometimes it is
00:26:14
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time for you to stop walking and to stop and to rest and to listen. But for many of us, we've been talking and sitting too long and we need to get up, stand up, start walking. Oh, this Christian life, I just can't do it. I can't walk in and I can't
00:26:37
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Well, you know what? But I know I'm holy and righteous.
Walking in Holiness and Sincerity
00:26:41
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I understand my identity in Christ and I'm forgiven. Okay, stand up and walk in your holiness. You're holy, start walking in it. You're righteous, start walking in it. You're loving, start loving. Who? Your neighbor, your family, your kids, your spouse, your work companions.
00:27:06
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There's plenty of people out there that you can go love. Well, how do I know which one? All of them, all of the above. He goes, don't be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. He's in heaven. You're on earth. Let your words be few.
00:27:37
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When you make a vow to God, don't be late paying it. He takes no delight in fools. Sometimes we're hasty. God, if we get down, God, if you just get me out of this, no, don't go there. If you just do this for me, I'll do X, Y, and Z. No, don't go there. Solomon says, pay your vow. It's better that you should not vow than you should vow and not pay. And don't, God's not out to get you. No, it's not some unpardonable sin.
00:28:10
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It's not. He goes, don't let your speech cause you to sin and don't say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry on your account of your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For in many dreams, in many words, there is emptiness. He goes, rather fear God, be in awe of God. Don't use your many words and your recognize
00:28:39
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the futility of your own way, and depending on your own way to get your own needs met and to realize those visions, fear God, trust God, listen to God, walk in his path, into the vision, into the impression, whatever word you want to use as he's leading you, walk in that way, fearing God, not afraid of God,
00:29:10
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It's like in all of his power, he is powerful and he is for you. He's not against you. He's angry at all those things that you depend on. He wants to break away all of that stuff because he loves you so much.
00:29:35
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That's why He gave His one and only Son. That whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. And when you received that forgiveness, you became His child. You received His Spirit. And you became a brand new creation in Christ. And He wants you to know it. He wants you to own it. He wants you to walk in it.
00:30:02
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Don't use your many words of all you're gonna do. Stop that. Thank God for what he's, all the many things he's already done in you. And start walking in that. Let me finish in verse 18.
00:30:22
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of chapter five, he said, here's what I've seen to be good and fitting to eat, to drink, enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life, which God has given him, for this is his reward. Would you do that? Would you make it a point to choose to enjoy yourself and your labor and your ministry and your serving today?
00:30:47
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Furthermore, verse 19, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and to rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. Wealth is not bad.
00:31:03
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If God's given you that, and by the way, if you're in the United States or North America, or if you have a house, a roof over your head, something to drive, food to eat, you are among the top three to five percentage of the wealthiest people in the world. You're rich, and if you have Christ in you, you have uncountable riches in him.
00:31:34
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And he's empowered you and he says, rejoice in your labor, rejoice in what you have. It's a gift of God. And he finishes in verse 20 of this chapter, for he will not often consider the years of his life because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart. Don't you want that?
00:31:59
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Allow God to fill you up, enjoy what you have, enjoy what God has given you, enjoy the people God has allowed you to be in relationship with. And God keeps you occupied with the gladness of your heart. Find the joy where you are right now. And as I said earlier, it may be time
00:32:26
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for you to stop talking about it, stop wishing it, stop using all those words. It may be time to stop talking and to start walking by faith and finding joy in all God has provided.
00:32:50
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You've been listening to Walking Free, a production of Grace Ministries International in Marietta, Georgia. For more information, go to our website at gmint.org. That's gminc.org.