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Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone, The Implications Of Matthew 4:4
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Feb 20, 2025
We read the following in Matthew 4,1-4: And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he ( Jesus)was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. What does this tell us immediately? We learn from this that Jesus put a high premium on the Old Testament ( the law and the prophets) or He wouldn’t have been quoting it. But my goal today is to take a closer look at Matthew 4:4, in order to understand what our Lord was teaching us, see video Scripture References: Deuteronomy 6:4-6 Deuteronomy 8:1-3 1 Kings 19:1-8 Hebrews 11:6 1 Corinthians 10:31
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hello good morning this is tarib at
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tives.com
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i hope you are having a great week and
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today we are going to be looking at
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matthew 4
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verse 4 and i highlighted the main verse
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scripture says man does not leave our
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bread alone
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and we're going to study the
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implications of this and uh i just
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wanted to
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say at the outset that you know as
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believers we are told
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to diligently study the word of god and
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correctly divide it
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so i will invite you really as a
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believer it's our duty
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we've called we've been called to do
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this so i want you to really pay
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attention to the word of god because we
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have to study it and understand it
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because the lack of understanding causes
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us to
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misapply scripture and we misquote it so
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i'm not claiming that i know everything
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because i don't i'm always fearful when
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i when i push the word of god because
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i'm thinking lord i don't want to do or
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say anything
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that is not consistent with truth so
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i will invite you because we are we've
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been told by the lord himself that
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the spirit himself will guide us into
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all the truth so
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when i approach the word of god i'm
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always saying to the lord please
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lead me to say exactly what your word is
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saying because you've given me your
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spirit
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and and and we have to study the word of
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god within its context to understand it
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and we always have to rely fully on his
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spirit because
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man always earth so this is my
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admonition and exhortation to you to
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really be diligent and to be
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uh consistent when you study the
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scripture don't pull things out of
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context
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will stay within the context and always
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ask
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for guidance all right so now let's dive
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into the introduction
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so basically we read on the following in
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matthew 4 verse 1 4
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after fasting 40 days and nights he
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meaning jesus was hungry and the tempter
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came
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and said to him if you are the son of
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god
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command these stones to become loaves of
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bread
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well he said it is written
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man shall not leave by bread alone
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but by every word that comes from the
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mouth of god
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so now jesus was quoting on deuteronomy
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8 verse 3.
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now what do we learn immediately now we
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learn from this
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that jesus put a high premium
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on the old testament scripture the law
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and the prophet
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because if he didn't he would not have
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been quoting
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deuteronomy 8 okay but my goal
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is to take a closer look at matthew 4
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verse 4.
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we need to understand what our lord is
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teaching us
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so let's do that so as you can see
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i put some words in red and
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i wanted to specifically focus on those
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to truly explain to you what's going on
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here
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now scripture say and after
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fasting 40 days a night he was hungry
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and then later on he responds to the
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enemy
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as he is being tempted mention only by
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bread alone
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but by every word that comes from the
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mouth of god
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notice that the tempted didn't entice
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jesus until
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the fasting days were over the tempter
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never came to jesus
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through the 40 days he came after they
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were done
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and this is important because i'm
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assuming again i'm saying i'm assuming
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i don't know if this is what god jesus
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was thinking so i'm assuming that as
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jesus was going through those days
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maybe he wasn't hungry or thinking about
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food or eating
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because the bible clearly says that
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hunger struck him
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after the days were over so the question
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that we have is this how was he able to
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go 40 days without food
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i can't even go five six hours without
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food i began to get all funny
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now this is what we need to learn he was
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sustained
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by god by the living word of god
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okay jesus fully depended
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on the spirit of god to sustain him
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through the 40 days
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and the spirit indeed strengthened him
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now we're going to go to first kings 19
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verse 1 to 8
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and there's something similar there that
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elijah is going through
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so let's do that so first king 19 verse
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1 to 8.
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now this is when elijah had just
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annihilated
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the prophet of baal and ahab tells
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jezebel and she goes
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she tells she sends a messenger to
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elijah tells and tells him i'm gonna
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kill you
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so he runs for his life and i'm gonna
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pick up from verse four
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but he himself went a day's journey into
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the wilderness and came and sat down
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under a broom tree and he asked
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that he might die saying it is enough
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now o lord take away my life for i am no
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better
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than my father's and he lay down and
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slept
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under a broom tree and behold and
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an angel touched him and said to him
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arise and eat
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and he looked and behold the help there
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was at his head
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a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of
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water
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and he ate and drank and laid down again
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and the angel of the lord came again a
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second time and touched him and said
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arise and eat for the journey is too
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great for you
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and he arose and ate and drank
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and went into the strength of that food
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40 days and forty night
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to whole rep the mount of god okay this
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is elijah's own experience with
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fasting for 40 days a night now
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again elijah fastest for 40 days
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just like our lord and scripture clearly
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tells us that he
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went in the strength of that food for 40
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days and 40 night
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and you have to remember who fed him the
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food the angel of the lord
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so the lord knew how to sustain elijah
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for 40 days a night
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he gave him exactly what he needed to be
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sustained
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now i'm hoping i'm making a bit of sense
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here but i want you to see that god's
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commands
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are living as jesus declared
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man doesn't live by bread alone but by
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every word that comes from the mouth of
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god
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that is consistent with jesus's word so
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jesus went through the 40 days without
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food
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by depending fully on the spirit of god
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when the days were over he was hungry
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and that shows his humanity he was fully
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god and fully men
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now he didn't grumble but he was
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immediately enticed by the enemy
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yet he didn't succumb to the temptation
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of hunger
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he remembered that if the spirit of god
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can sustain me for 40 days
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then he will also sustain me through
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this temptation
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of hunger and as a result he quotes
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deuteronomy 8 verse 3. so now we're
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going to go to deuteronomy 8 and we're
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going to understand why the people of
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israel were
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tested with hunger and we're gonna see
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how that connects with our lord
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here so let's go to chapter eight now
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this is before they
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enter the promised land so jesus moses
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is giving them
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his final words or admonition
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and i'll pick up from verse one the
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whole commandment that i command you
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today
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you shall be careful to do that you may
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leave and multiply and go in and possess
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the land
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that the lord swore to give to your
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fathers and you shall remember
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the whole way that the lord your god has
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led you this forty years into the
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wilderness
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that he might humble you testing you to
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know
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what was in your heart whether you would
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keep his commandments or not
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and he humbled you and let your hunger
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and fed you with manner
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which you did not know nor did your
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fathers know
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that he might know he might make you
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know that man does not live by bread
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alone
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but man leaves by every word that comes
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from the man for the lord
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now let's go back to our presentation
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here
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so basically
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we see that the people of israel go
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through 40 day 40 years of testing
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okay and
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they were tested for a specific purpose
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that god might humble them testing them
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to see what was in their minds and heart
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whether they would obey god's word or
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not so one of the ways they were tested
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was hunger he allowed him to hunger
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and then he fed him with manna from
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above for a specific purpose
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that he might make them know that man
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does not live by bread alone but man
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lives by every
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word that comes from the mouth of god
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so you see they did not know the manner
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so god had to allow them to go hungry
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and he was trying to teach them that i
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am the one who sustained you
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i am the one who provide you with your
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daily bread well that's not the only
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thing
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he was also trying to teach them that
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men's ultimate goal in life
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isn't to leave for the fulfillment of
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physical needs
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and appetite such as hunger now i'm not
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saying that
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as as people we we need to starve
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ourselves to death
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to prove that god that we love god
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because some people do that
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you know asceticism they just go hungry
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they're just trying to fast all these
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days just
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to show off sometimes it can be pride
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prideful
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or sometimes we can be doing that to
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test god that's not what i'm saying
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but what i'm saying is this we need to
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realize that every breath
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and everything we do must be the result
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of god's commands
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even eating and drinking and this is why
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paul said
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whether you drink or eat and whatever
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you do
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do it for the glory of the lord this is
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first corinthians 10 31
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because whatever we do whether we eat or
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we drink these are mundane activities
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these are stuff that we actually need
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but this is just like eating and
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drinking
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paul is saying even when you eat you
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drink whatever you do
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do it for the glory of the lord and he's
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going to give us the reason why he says
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that
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because if you go to romans 14 23 paul
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also said
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for whatever does not proceed from faith
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is sin
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so if you if you're eating and drinking
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is not from faith
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you're sinning this is the word of god
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so if you're doing if you're eating or
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drinking according to your own
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mind or your own uh word
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you're sinning basically if you're
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eating or drinking is not consistent
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with the word of god in the sense that
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if god didn't ordain that
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for that specific time then you're
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sinning if what you're doing is not
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consistent with
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the mind of god or the thoughts of god
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or the will of god
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then you're sinning that's what the
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scripture is saying
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so paul was basically paraphrasing jesus
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words in matthew 4
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4 men shall not live by bread alone but
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by every word that comes
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from the mouth of god so basically jesus
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never did anything outside the will or
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commands of god
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when jesus fasted is because god
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commanded it when he when he healed the
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sick is because the spirit of god
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commanded it so whatever jesus did
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god was doing this is what jesus said
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the father and i are one if you go to
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john 5 19 of john 5 30 and john 8 28
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we're going to read those
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and we'll see exactly what this means
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so you see in john 5 19 so jesus said to
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them
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truly truly i say to you the son can do
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nothing
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on his own accord well only what he sees
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the father doing for whatever the father
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does
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that the son does likewise so god jesus
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was making himself equal to god because
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he is god
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in john 5 30 i can do nothing on my own
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as i hear a judge and my judgment is
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just
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because i stick on my own will when the
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will of him who sent me
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and in john 8 28 so jesus said to them
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when you have lifted up the son of man
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then you will know that i am he and that
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i do nothing
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on my own authority but but speak
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as the father taught me when jesus was
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calling god his father he was making
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himself equal to god
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because he is god now you see
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what i'm saying here right so
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basically jesus said i do nothing on my
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own accord
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as i see the father go i go so
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and this is the commitment that god
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demands of us from us
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if you go to deuteronomy 6 45 scripture
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says
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hear o israel the lord our god the lord
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is one
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you shall love the lord your god with
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all your heart with all your mind and
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all your all your soul
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and all your might now show me anyone
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that can do that
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this is the kind of dedication god
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requires of us
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total devotion to him and this is why
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the bible says that there is none
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righteous
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because none of us can do that on the
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side of eternity
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this is why we fully depend on the
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imputed righteousness of christ
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our daily failures are meant to lead us
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back to god to fully rely on god's grace
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alone
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through the work of christ on the cross
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to make us right before god
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now hebrews 11 6 says and without faith
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it's impossible to please god
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because whoever draw near to god must
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believe that he exists and that he
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rewards
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those who seek him and this is again
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like consistent with
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matthew 4 4. this is the basically the
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same thing
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so roman 10 17 tells us that faith comes
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by hearing
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and hearing by the word of god basically
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without god's word working in us to will
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and
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act according to his purpose it's
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impossible for us to please god
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you and i can't acquire faith by our own
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will
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because it is god's instrument
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created by god himself and given to us
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in order that we might receive strength
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to live righteously before god
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so god supplies the faith we need
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through his living word
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we hear it and we obey because god's
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word is alive
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and then that faith produces an action
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in our lives through the word of god and
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that action glorifies god
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because he came from god in accordance
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with isaiah 55
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11. let's go to isaiah 55 11 and you
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will understand
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this is god speaking through the prophet
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isaiah
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so shall my word be that goes out from
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my mouth
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it shall not return to me empty but it
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shall accomplish that which are purposed
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and shall succeed in the thing for which
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are sent it
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so this is why jesus was saying man does
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not live by bread alone but by every
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word that proceeds from the mouth of god
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because god is the initiator god
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initiates the faith in us
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through his word and and that word
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transforms us so that we can do
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what god wants for us to do you see that
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and jesus
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was the only one that truly lived it out
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day in and day out he did
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nothing outside the will of his father
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everything that jesus did was
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exactly what god wanted to do it was
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exactly the will of god when he ate
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is because god the father wanted him to
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eat when he drank
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that's because he lived he ate and drank
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according to the will of god when he
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healed the sick it's because god wanted
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him to heal the sick so whatever jesus
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did
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god was doing and this is why we need
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the spirit of god to live
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because without the spirit of god we
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can't please god
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scripture says without faith it's
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impossible to please god and faith comes
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from the word of god
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so we need desperately to be
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completely dependent on the spirit of
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god because jesus himself said
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apart from me you can do nothing he said
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remain in me
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and i remain in you if you remain in we
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me and my
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my words remain in you you will bear
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much much more fruit
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this is why jesus also says ask and it
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shall be given to you
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ask for what ask for more of the holy
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spirit because
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without this holy spirit there's nothing
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we can do
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and the spirit of god loves the word of
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god and the spirit of god
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uses the word of god to teach us to be
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godly and to live righteous life before
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before god
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so at the end of the day we can take
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zero credit for our righteous deeds
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because they come from the powerful and
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effective word of god
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this is why it's important that we get
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into the word of god because when we
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don't know the word of god
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how are we going to do things that
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please please god
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because the spirit of god loves the word
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of god so he takes the word of god
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and make it known to us and as it makes
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it known to us
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we in turn become transformed remember
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what paul said be transformed by the
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renewing of your mind
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okay how do we get transformed by the
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word of god the word of god is powerful
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and active
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and it transforms us so that we can live
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consistently
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with the mind of god or the heart of god
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or the will of god
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so man does not live by bread alone but
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by every word that proceeds from the
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mouth of god it has
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greater implications it's not just for
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food it's for everything that we do
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in life okay i'll encourage you to go
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back and read that passage again and
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then ask the holy spirit
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to enlighten you on that have a
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wonderful day and i'll see you next time