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So if we haven't met my name is 
Mandy, I'm on staff here at 

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reality Boston. 
So you may have noticed if you 

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were with us before I'm had 
anticipating based on the 

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envelopes and what we're going 
to be teaching on today that I'm

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not going to be teaching on 
that, decide that I am going to 

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be teaching on Matthew chapter 4
which is a passage that I spent 

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a good amount of time in just 
during my personal devotion and 

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Bible Study last year. 
And so through that this passage

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became personally significant to
me and God No used it to 

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minister to me as this might be 
a little bit like reading my 

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diary today, but I feel like if 
there is a passage that I have 

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this Sunday talking about for 20
minutes straight, it would be. 

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This was a super going to do 
conveniently enough before we 

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get started. 
Now before also has really 

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Salient themes for the season of
Lent, which is coming up and it 

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overlaps as well. 
But this month's spiritual 

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formation guy that we've been 
putting up monthly and this 

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month's guide focuses on silence
and Stillness. 

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So, without a night out of the 
sermon today, where I'm gonna do

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something a little bit different
and we're going to set aside 

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some time where I will lead you 
through a guided a time of 

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reflection and prayer. 
Before we respond to God's word,

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in musical worship, essential 
sets the agenda for today, that 

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kind of came together in the 
last 48 hours, so you definitely

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need prayers. 
So, let me just open this 

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because I'm here to prepare and 
ask the Holy Spirit to meet with

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us. 
We're God. 

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We just thank you for the ways 
in which you are present to us. 

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Lord, God, you are the one who 
speaks through your word, you 

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are the word incarnate or Jesus.
And so we just have so much 

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faith that you can speak to us. 
When we come to, you just 

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Desiring to be taught by you, 
where we, thank you for what we 

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see in this passage or that. 
You are both Divine, but you're 

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also human, and we can look to 
your Humanity, we can look to 

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the ways in which you walk and 
think about things and pray 

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about things, Brussels of things
and in approach, difficult 

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challenges and be inspired with 
how it is a call. 

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In us to live and we thank you 
for the gift of your. 

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Holy spirit that fills us in the
powers us to live in the way 

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that you call us to. 
So let me just painting teaches 

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today, be present to us today, 
that help us to see more of who 

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you are. 
I was to have the confidence to 

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draw near to you with all of our
need and all of our weakness and

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over, Messina's God, we just 
pray that through our time 

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together today that we would see
you more clearly and that we 

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would have more confidence 
during your daily workout. 

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So you bring all these things in
Jesus name. 

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Amen. 
All right, go to Matthew. 

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The Book of Matthew is one of 
four beautiful tapestries that 

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illustrate the significance of 
who Jesus is. 

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So each of the gospels, he has 
its own nuanced, picture of what

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it means, that Jesus is the 
Messiah. 

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The Savior who comes in 
fulfillment, of centuries of 

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Jewish prophecies that he came 
to enable forgiveness for all of

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Humanity's sins to offer 
healing. 

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Our Brokenness and to bring 
about the restoration of the 

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world into a place where God's 
goodness and Grace completely 

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reshape our reality. 
So Matthew's gospel in 

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particular. 
Starts off with mystery and 

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momentum, there's a virgin birth
or these Persian astrologer is 

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traveling from afar and come 
worship. 

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The newborn king of the Jews was
a young Jesus and his family 

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fleeing from Egypt to escape 
danger. 

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And then finally returning to 
Israel, when an angel calls them

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home, so the narrative is 
dramatic, And otherworldly and 

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leads you to believe that 
something extraordinary is 

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happening. 
And then chapter 3, we see this 

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beautifully symbolic moment when
Jesus baptized with the Holy 

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Spirit descends on him and God 
the Father speaks favor and 

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blessing over the son, Jesus. 
So this point, the scene is 

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really set for Jesus to begin to
live out his mission to reveal 

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to the world who this 
long-awaited Messiah is and what

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it looks like for the Divine 
danis Act of humanity for God to

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enact his plan. 
An salvation. 

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But instead of launching into 
the story of Jesus, doing like 

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Messiah, like things like hewing
and Performing, Miracles, 

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Matthew Ford against with these 
words then Jesus was led by the 

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spirit Into the Wilderness to be
tempted by the devil. 

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So all this movement, emit, 
energy, and prophetic 

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fulfillment builds up to 40 days
and Jesus alone in the desert 

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with nothing to eat and nothing 
to do the pray, some - leave 

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your may be expecting like a 
crescendo an impressive launched

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Ministry. 
And what we get is over a month 

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isolation and fasting, this kind
of feels like an interruption 

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like an unexpected detour like a
burst of heavenly light followed

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by a descent into Gray fog. 
So why is this here? 

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The text says that Jesus was led
by the spirit Into the 

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Wilderness into a place of 
Temptation or testing as it 

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could also be translated. 
So this verse Jesus is 

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characterized as passive. 
He's being led, he is submitting

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himself to the guiding force of 
the Holy Spirit, who is active, 

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and remember the spirit has just
descended Upon Jesus after his 

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baptism. 
So the very first thing that the

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spirit does Does. 
And he's like, the very first 

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thing he does is to lead him 
into the desert into a place of 

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emptiness of hunger of weakness,
a challenge and stretching So 

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God the father has just anointed
Jesus for Ministry and the next 

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step. 
According to the wisdom of the 

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holy spirit is to retreat to 
fast and pray. 

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So when I'm reading Matthew and 
I reach this chapter and your 

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little theoretical level that 
the Temptation narrative has to 

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be important because everything 
in scripture is incredibly 

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intentional. 
But emotionally I feel a sense 

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of resistance because I don't 
want the pause. 

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I don't want the retreat into an
ascetic existence and I 

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definitely don't want to come 
face-to-face with my greatest 

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Temptations to sin and to 
abandon the path, God has called

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me to walk down. 
This is the hard truth that we 

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Face In this passage sometimes 
following God seeking his well 

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being obedient to his guidance 
leads us to places of a parent 

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emptiness and weakness. 
It leaves us the hard places. 

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It draws us deeper into silence 
and Stillness were left alone 

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with just who we are and who we 
believe God to thee. 

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And yet somehow the season in 
the wilderness is an essential 

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part of God's plan, in this 
preparation for a life of action

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and relationship and god-given 
purpose. 

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Jesus must first go deeper and 
human weakness. 

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So, have you ever been in a 
season of life? 

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That felt like Wilderness look 
at Desert, where you felt 

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spiritually dry, or you were 
acutely aware of your need of 

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what you're lacking, but there 
didn't seem to be any way to 

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save Earth. 
Thirst. 

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Maybe you simply found life to 
be exhausting but they didn't 

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seem to be any relief like 
walking a mile after mile 

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through the Wilderness in the 
scenery never seems to change in

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the journey, never seems to end.
If you've been through a time 

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that felt very much the testing 
your strength of your character 

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of your faith. 
Jesus had to do all the things 

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that God could prioritize in 
launching the messiah's ambition

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to humanity. 
He chose to experience the 

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extremes of human hunger 
emptiness and weakness, 40 days,

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40 days of solitude silence 
fasting. 

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And again, this seems like a 
disruption on the way to 

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Ministry, huge buildup, and only
let's pull that down. 

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But in reality, this empty 
desert based Health Everything 

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Jesus needed to take the next 
step of living out his calling. 

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Because in this space, Jesus was
not alone, the spirit was there 

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in a space, where Humanity 
encounter is the. 

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Holy spirit is a sanctuary, it's
Holy Ground. 

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And if you face of emptying, 
pouring out your desires and 

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burdening, your fear is 
wrestling with your weaknesses, 

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but it's also a place of being 
filled. 

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So we don't expect to be tempted
and tested when were in the 

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sanctuary to sometimes. 
That's what growth looks like. 

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That's what healing looks like. 
That's what transformation looks

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like. 
The Wilderness is a place to be 

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about drawn deeper into the 
heart of God. 

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And so I was thinking about this
and I have this image in my mind

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of a seed being planted to plant
the seed and Week's go by and 

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still no sprouting and there's 
no leaves and there's no 

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Greenery is know anything. 
So be tempting to think that 

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nothing's happening the below 
the surface, its roots are 

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growing and pushing through the 
soil, extending their region 

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becoming more deeply anchor and 
when that deep work is complete,

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then the seed is ready to sprout
to grow in ways of the world and

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see to her fruit. 
That could be a blessing to 

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others and I think that's what 
we see happening in Jesus's. 

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Feet into the Wilderness because
at the end, we see the fruit. 

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Do this triumph over Temptation,
after 40 days of hunger, pains 

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and emerging in prayer. 
Jesus emerges with this 

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resiliency, a confidence in the 
kind of mission. 

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He's been given an astounding be
Curative character and what we 

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see through his response to 
these Temptations, the depth of 

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Jesus surrender, the death of 
his humility, the death of his 

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trust in the father. 
These things are revealed 

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through that time in the world. 
Dennis from that testing. 

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This is true. 
I think for Humanity a large 

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going to that piece will be 
aware of our need for God to 

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sustain us where we are aware of
our dependence on him is the 

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path to deeper Faith under 40 
days of fasting. 

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We would assume that Jesus is at
his weakest right? 

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And probably that's true 
physically. 

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But what if spiritually Jesus is
at its strongest The each day 

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that he couldn't turn stones 
into bread and relieved his 

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hunger, but he didn't each day 
that he could have looked for a 

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shortcut to launch his ministry 
then evolved less waiting and 

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struggling. 
Like the big performative jump 

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off the roof of the roof of the 
mighty on the word stationary 

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and or like submitting to Satan 
to it, Glory over all the cities

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of the earth instead of taking 
the shortcut each day, that he 

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committed to surrendering to the
will of the father was a Jury 

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not just the final day where we 
see him overcoming, those final 

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three Temptations every day that
we've passed in and seek God 

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even when we feel dry, even if 
the Temptation threatens to 

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become overwhelming, even for 
long for relief or for short cut

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to the end of this difficult 
season. 

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Every day, our roots go deeper 
and we are one step closer to 

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seeing the growth and tasting 
the fruit. 

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Because growing in the faith 
requires us to experience. 

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Chi, especially in the hard 
places, we cannot merely 

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memorize throughs or recite. 
Good theology. 

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For understanding of God is only
abstract, we cannot grow roots. 

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So 134 invites us to taste and 
see that the Lord is good. 

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We need to got to meet us in our
places spiritual hunger, the 

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moments where we struggle. 
We discover that, we don't seem 

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to have what it takes. 
Move forward. 

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The pieces of weakness and 
emptiness are where we developed

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an appetite. 
For the things of God. 

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So you like the Beatitudes in 
Matthew 5 going to be spending a

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couple of months, just exploring
these in our next sermon series.

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But in the Beatitudes we see 
that those who are grieving and 

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longing for comfort with see 
that those who long to see 

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righteousness and Justice in 
this corrupted world are filled 

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those who lean into the way of 
meekness and mercy and Purity. 

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Despite living in cultures that 
promote the opposite. 

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Find the most drawing nearer to 
God. 

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Those who know they are. 
Empty for poor in spirit receive

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the fullness and the rich. - of 
the kingdom of God, those who 

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come to God. 
Full of need are in the perfect 

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position to discover, that he is
a provider. 

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He is generous and gracious, he 
is sufficient to read about the 

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Temptations of Jesus. 
We likely know, in theory that 

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we should seek strength in God's
word. 

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As Jesus says, that we should 
walk the path of humility that 

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we need to wait on God, to lead 
us in reveals purposes in his 

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timing. 
This is often not until really 

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tested that we Leave. 
These things are true in a way, 

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that transforms us. 
So there'll be no scripture has 

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the ability to sustain and 
revive us, but until we 

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experience it until we see that 
shift, our perspective or renew,

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our hope with a perfectly timed 
Bible passage or a Discerning 

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word from a friend or sermon, we
don't yet fully know that the 

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word of God is life. 
And in theory, we know that 

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taking shortcuts or making 
excuses, the ends justify the 

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means developing this is 
trouble. 

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But until we actually wait on 
God until we've practiced 

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surrendering. 
Our will to his wisdom again. 

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And again, we can't get taste. 
The pure sweetness of 

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discovering that cost faceless 
has but there is joy in serving 

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in and that he can bring about 
more Goods to our surrender than

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we could ever achieve trying to 
do things her own way. 

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In turn into a place of 
weakness, like Jesus did in the 

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desert feels vulnerable Humber 
hurts and it makes sense that 

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he'd rather just wrong way. 
But how will we know that God 

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can sustain us? 
Unless we let ourselves go 

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hungry, unless we stop filling 
ourselves with spiritual junk 

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food, things that distract us 
from loneliness and emptiness 

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and boredom opinion, but they 
really do nothing to truly 

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resolved. 
The deep ache inside of that. 

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Until we create space that only 
God in occupy will continue to 

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underestimate the sustaining and
satisfying. 

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His presence can be so many of 
you have heard me, tell the 

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story of how I got to Boston 
back in 2013, I moved here from 

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Los Angeles to join this church 
plant, when it was just a year 

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old, and I wasn't exactly sure 
what to expect. 

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But I was banking on God, doing,
big, exciting things in my life,

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I had hoped that surrendering to
his calling lead to growth that 

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fruitfulness. 
But my first year here was 

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honestly more like a desert 
season was lonely. 

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I was undergoing a really hard 
deep healing process from 

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painful things. 
In my family, life experience. 

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A lot of inertia and trying to 
find a job, trying to discern a 

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vocational direction, to develop
a new community and friendships.

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And I often feel frustrated, 
like each movement forward and 

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up feeling like a false start. 
And on top of that, I went 

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through a several month period 
where a job and My relationships

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at the time. 
Let me to ask really hard 

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questions about my faith and 
tempted me to compromise on what

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I believed, even just for the 
sake of making life, a little 

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bit easier. 
So didn't exactly want to walk 

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away from God or church, or the 
face. 

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But I just wants tired. 
Like I might have to give up by 

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default because pressing on 
Justin Bieber, possible. 

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After a long stretch struggling 
through the day-to-day God 

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brought this passage into my 
life into my attention from John

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chapter 6. 
So in John chapter 6, at this 

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point, in that narrative Jesus 
has a lot of followers has 

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become very popular but then he 
begins to teach things that are 

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difficult for people to receive 
that challenge people. 

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A lot of things truly looks like
so some of them walk away 

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because what Jesus is Calling 
them to just feels too hard. 

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So there's this moment where 
Jesus turns to his 12 disciples,

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his closest friends and he asked
them, do you want to go away as 

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well and Peter replies? 
Lord to whom shall we go? 

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You have the words of eternal 
life and we had believed and 

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have come to know that you are 
the Holy One. 

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That God that question struck a 
chord with me. 

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Lord to whom shall we go? 
The testing and the Temptation. 

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In my life had almost become 
overwhelming to me, but when it 

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came to that question, I knew I 
would walk away because yes 

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following God is hard and 
sometimes it feels that the 

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challenges are unrelenting. 
But I look around at the world 

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at my options for living without
God. 

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And remember, what that was like
the first 20 years of my life 

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before I knew Jesus, how I felt 
like and unanchored boat just 

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00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:57,500
tossed about in a stormy thieves
lost and Direction lesson in. 

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Hoping against hope that by some
chance, I wouldn't capsize. 

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The way to for God is hard but 
there's life on that path. 

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00:17:08,099 --> 00:17:11,800
There's the comfort of the Holy 
Spirit, there's reassurance and 

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being incurred in. 
What is true? 

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There's hope in a God who 
remains strong and steadfast a. 

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00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:22,800
We are at our weakness. 
So, Jesus Jesus has the words of

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eternal life. 
They believe that because I've 

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00:17:26,300 --> 00:17:30,300
experienced it somehow that is 
strength in Grace. 

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I kept going through that first 
Season. 

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And eventually the fog lifted I 
began to slowly build deeper 

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00:17:35,700 --> 00:17:38,800
Community to my surprise. 
I was has to be a community 

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00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,000
group leader and season where my
faith definitely still felt 

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00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,400
shaky. 
But I felt called to Preston, 

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00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:46,900
and I learned what it's like to 
lead from a place of weakness. 

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00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,400
It's incredibly hard but it's 
better. 

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00:17:51,300 --> 00:17:55,000
It's better to be human to be 
frail to be completely reliant 

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00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,800
on God, to make it possible for 
you to show up to minister to 

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00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:00,600
others. 
So, keep walking in the faith. 

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00:18:00,900 --> 00:18:04,200
It's Hard to better. 
Because in our weakness, we can 

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00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:08,300
actually experience that God's 
strength somehow enough in our 

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00:18:08,300 --> 00:18:10,700
emptiness. 
In our hunger, we discover that 

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he can fill us. 
So you can do this passage from 

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00:18:14,500 --> 00:18:16,800
Matthew for those last-minute 
pick. 

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00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,700
It feels surprisingly timely 
because land is just around the 

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00:18:20,700 --> 00:18:23,900
corner, let begins with Ash 
Wednesday, which is on fabric to

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00:18:23,908 --> 00:18:26,900
me, s coming up and it continues
until Easter. 

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00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:30,400
And this season in the church 
calendar is set aside for us to 

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00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:35,600
identify with Jesus, 40 days of 
fasting, praying and enduring 

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00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:39,100
Temptation for many of us who 
serve lent. 

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00:18:39,700 --> 00:18:42,500
It may honestly feel labor, 
taking doses, With bitter 

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00:18:42,500 --> 00:18:44,100
medicine. 
Know, we're getting a vegetable 

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00:18:44,100 --> 00:18:45,900
that you dislike the, you know, 
it's good for you to eat it 

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00:18:45,900 --> 00:18:50,400
anyway. 
In theory, we know that silence 

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00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:55,400
Stillness fasting dedicated time
for solitary prayer can 

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00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:56,800
strengthen our relationship with
God. 

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00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:01,000
But in reality, those Wilderness
faces are intimidating. 

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00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,100
They challenged Parts 
investment. 

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00:19:03,100 --> 00:19:04,700
May not feel ready to have 
challenged. 

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00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:07,100
You can simply being alone with 
our thoughts. 

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00:19:07,100 --> 00:19:09,200
Might make us aware of things. 
We've been working hard to 

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00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:11,600
ignore. 
If I'm honest, I'm gonna avoid, 

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00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:14,600
I want to avoid fasting. 
I don't like going to that place

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00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:17,000
of weakness. 
I'm worried. 

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00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,400
It'll bring out the worst in me.
I'm not sure what to do with the

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00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:21,100
hunger, pains. 
How am I supposed to just walk 

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00:19:21,100 --> 00:19:23,400
around like a normal person? 
Well, I'm fighting you craving 

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00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,100
that I can't fill, and this is 
something similar about silence 

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00:19:27,100 --> 00:19:30,500
and Solitude the idea of this 
drawing, to a quiet place to 

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00:19:30,500 --> 00:19:34,000
hear from God, sounds nice, but 
the reality can bring up 

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00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:38,100
unexpected anxieties. 
What if I try to seek God and I 

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00:19:38,108 --> 00:19:42,800
only found emptiness Listen for 
him, I don't do anything but the

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00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:47,600
a phobia of thoughts. 
What the time of solitude here 

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00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:50,400
is down the fragile walls. 
I felt to hide things in my life

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00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:54,300
that you feel lonely. 
Practices. 

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00:19:54,300 --> 00:19:58,600
Are these a literal or 
metaphorical Retreat Into the 

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00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:01,300
Wilderness. 
Make me so aware of them, 

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00:20:01,300 --> 00:20:04,300
because that's how easily I can 
go straight up Pickle. 

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00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:08,000
I can be, it seems easier to 
just not these things about 

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00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:09,500
myself to try to keep them 
hidden. 

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00:20:10,900 --> 00:20:13,800
But the Holy Spirit calls us out
into the open. 

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00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:18,300
The spirit, invites us to go 
deeper into that place of hunger

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00:20:18,300 --> 00:20:22,800
and vacancy when we clear a 
space for God, he begins to work

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00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,100
in new ways. 
Stretching Us in ways that may 

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00:20:25,100 --> 00:20:28,000
feel uncomfortable, shifting, 
things in ways that may be 

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00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,600
invisible at first, ultimately, 
we discover that Our Roots have 

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00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,400
grown deeper and more difficult 
Seasons come up in the future. 

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00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:39,400
We can recall those times when 
God met us in our emptiness and 

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00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:40,600
just like Jesus in the 
wilderness. 

355
00:20:40,700 --> 00:20:44,100
As we find, our faith has become
a stronger and much more 

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00:20:44,100 --> 00:20:50,800
difficult to shake. 
So as we reflect on the story of

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00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:54,500
Jesus Retreat Into the 
Wilderness and as we engage 

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00:20:54,500 --> 00:20:57,400
with, Lenten practices, like 
silent Stillness fasting and 

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00:20:57,400 --> 00:20:59,800
prayer. 
Remember that, these are not 

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00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,600
empty spaces. 
The spirit has something for 

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00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:04,800
you. 
Whether it feels like a 

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00:21:04,808 --> 00:21:08,000
spiritual battle for feels like 
the warmth of an intimate 

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00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,300
relationship or it feels like an
antifreeze with usual where 

364
00:21:12,300 --> 00:21:14,000
every sound Echoes. 
You're not sure if you're 

365
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,200
anything but your own voice no 
matter what that time a 

366
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:21,400
Stillness and Retreat feels like
trust God to take you deeper 

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00:21:22,300 --> 00:21:24,600
believe that when you let 
yourself be led into desert 

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00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:30,700
places, God can meet me there. 
Let's press in together and pray

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00:21:30,700 --> 00:21:33,300
that during the season. 
We will experience what we see. 

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00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,500
See in Jesus, in Matthew chapter
4, that we would develop a 

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00:21:36,508 --> 00:21:40,300
resilient faith upon confidence 
in the kind of mission, God 

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00:21:40,300 --> 00:21:43,600
calls us to, in a purity of 
character. 

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00:21:43,700 --> 00:21:47,600
That was shine, light into dark 
a dark and hungry world and draw

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00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:52,100
Others near to God. 
So before we begin our time of 

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00:21:52,100 --> 00:21:55,600
reflection of Mayor, I'd like to
end with three Confessor 

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00:21:55,600 --> 00:22:00,000
stations based on our passage 
today, innovate to just notice 

377
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:01,500
which one of these might stand 
out to you. 

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00:22:01,500 --> 00:22:04,100
Now, these are kind of my 
prayers for us as a church. 

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00:22:04,100 --> 00:22:09,300
So I'll beat them. 
Let the spirit leads you to 

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00:22:09,300 --> 00:22:13,800
place a deeper hunger so that 
you can taste and see that God 

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00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:21,200
himself is our greatest good. 
Let the spirit lead you to place

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00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,900
a silence and emptiness so that 
you can hear more. 

383
00:22:24,900 --> 00:22:28,400
Clearly the words of life. 
God wants to speak to you. 

384
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:34,200
Let the spirit lead you to a 
place where you are aware of 

385
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,700
your weakness. 
So that you will learn what it 

386
00:22:36,700 --> 00:22:38,500
looks like. 
Totally walking complete. 

387
00:22:38,500 --> 00:22:21,200
Reliance on got a string. 
Let the spirit lead you to place

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00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,900
a silence and emptiness so that 
you can hear more. 

389
00:22:24,900 --> 00:22:28,400
Clearly the words of life. 
God wants to speak to you. 

390
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:34,200
Let the spirit lead you to a 
place where you are aware of 

391
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,700
your weakness. 
So that you will learn what it 

392
00:22:36,700 --> 00:22:38,500
looks like. 
Totally walking complete. 

393
00:22:38,500 --> 00:22:40,400
Reliance on got a string.