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Thriving in our Choices Part 3

Living Proof with Beth Moore

November 17, 2020

27:29

Talking today about tools to help us choose wisely.

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Thriving in our Choices Part 3

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But the thingabout hatred is
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it does not just becomea killer in the relationship
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with the personthat is its target.
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It becomes a murdererto its host.
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Jesus compared hatred to murder,and there's a reason for that.
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Hatred killsall sorts of things.
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Hatred cannot doanything but kill.
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♪♪♪
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♪♪♪
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Would you turn with me, please,to Luke, chapter 10?
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Oh, we're gonna have fun today.
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We are gonna havesome fun today.
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See, I think Bible studyis a blast.
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We have to get involvedwith it
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and get in there with it,
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not separatethe Word of God
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from the mouth of God,does anybody hear
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what I'm saying to themthis morning?
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And when we're havingour study time at home,
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when we're readingour Scriptures,
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perhaps in the morning,that we're engaging with him,
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and we're--we speak to him,we're dialoguing with him,
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that he's speaking to usthrough his Word
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and we are speaking back.
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Luke, chapter 10--I want to read
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what, to any of youreally familiar with the Gospels
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and familiar with some of these
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really, reallywell-known stories,
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you will already start smiling
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by the time I get throughthe first verse.
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It is verse 38of Luke, chapter 10,
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that says, "Now as theywent on their way,
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"Jesus entered a village.
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"And a woman named Marthawelcomed him into her house.
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And she had a sistercalled Mary."
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Now, this drives me crazy.
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I got no answer for you.
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I got all sorts of questions
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I don't have any answers forwhatsoever.
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But one of the thingsthat drives me crazy--
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and you can checkany of your major translations--
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that she is "named" Martha
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and the other womanis "called" Mary.
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Why?Why?
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Why was she--why wasn't she named Mary?
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One was named Marthaand the other was called Mary.
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Well, there can be--
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there's several meaningsto the name Mary,
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but one of those wordscan mean bitter,
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it's like the waters of Marahin the Old Testament,
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and you just have to wonder,why?
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Why was she called Mary?
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"And she sat at the Lord's feetand listened to his teaching."
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He was--I need somebodyto go with me here.
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He was Bible teaching.
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I want you to understandwhat is happening here
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because you are watchingsomething revolutionary,
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and sometimes we can missthe forest for the trees.
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And I want you to understandwith me that Mary was
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in there at Jesus's feet,listening to him teach.
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Women in theology class,right here in Luke chapter 10.
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I want you to understandthat we are here today--
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let me just, like, publicly,unabashedly, unashamedly--
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in the studiesof the Scriptures,
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because Mary was invitedinto Bible class.
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There's no telling howall the men looked up at her
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and thought,"What are you doing here?
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"Surely, sheis serving coffee.
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I'll have onewith cream and sugar."
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Only she's going, like,
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"You're gonna have to getMartha.
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I'm coming in to study."
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[audience laughing]
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I love our brothers so much,I love our sisters so much,
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and I love the factthat the Word of God
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invites us allto the feet of Jesus.
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And it says, "But Martha,"verse 40,
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"was distractedwith much serving.
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"And she went up to himand said,
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"'Lord, do you not care
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that my sister has left meto serve alone?'"
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[audience laughing]
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(Beth Moore)I love this part:"'Tell her then to help me.'
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"But the Lord answered her,'Martha, Martha,
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"'you are anxious and troubledabout many things,
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but one thing is necessary.'"
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Doesn't mean a whole lotof things aren't important.
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One of the most important partsof the segment
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is that we understandthat there is
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lots and lots to be done.
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But he says but one thingis absolutely necessary.
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"Mary has chosenthe good portion,
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which will not be taken awayfrom her."
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The NET says it this way:"Mary has chosen the best part."
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You and I have gathered hereto talk about choices,
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about becoming choosyin a land of a million choices.
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We're compilingeight tools, eight tools
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so that we can be set up
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in a way to makechoice kinds of decisions.
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And we're seeing it right here,just in the day-to-day.
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I want you to notice a coupleof different things with me
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because we're lookingat the passage
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and thinking to ourselves,you know, we're always hoping
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a Martha's somewhereat our gathering.
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I mean, like, who's gonna dothe dessert tray?
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I mean, one of the first thingsI'm thinking about
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when we're goingto somebody's house
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for some kind of gathering--what are we gonna eat?
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That's what I'm wondering about.
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And so, did the housenot have to be prepared
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with all the--she was distracted,
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the Word of God says,with all the preparations.
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Well, here's the deal.
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She just didn't keepthe "pre" in the preparation,
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anybody got it with me?
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Because after hewas still going,
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he's in there teaching,
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she's in there fiddlingwith the napkin rings.
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And you might say,and I get this, totally,
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I mean, well, like,well, somebody had to cook.
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Well, really,all somebody had to do
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was, like, bring a snack.
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Maybe a--just a coupleof loaves and fishes.
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Because, I mean, all you haveto do is look at Jesus and go,
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could you feed us here?
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Starving, starving.
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[audience laughing]
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So, I mean, it's not like therewasn't anything to do about it.
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He could do it, he could do it.
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But I want you to notice,because this is so us.
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I don't know if anybody elsefeels this way,
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but there are a coupleof different words going here.
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Notice it saysshe was distracted,
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she was distracted.
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It's from the Greek lexical termperispao, perispao,
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and that "peri," P-E-R-I,means around, around.
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It can be, like,just starting out this way
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and it literally--and that "spao" mean
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to just shoot outdifferent directions.
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So she's just runningin circles, she's here,
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she's there, she's here,she's there.
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I mean, just likethe pitter-patter
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of her little feet,
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constantly, constantly,and she's just distracted.
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And it says, "You areanxious and troubled--"
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anxious,it's an interesting word.
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It comesfrom a Greek lexical term,
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merimnao, merimnao,and it means anxious care.
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There are other Greek wordsthat mean care and concern.
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We are called to careand concern ourselves
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with one another and with thingsthat need to be done,
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care for our households,
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care for the workthat we've been given to do,
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care for our loved ones.
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We're told all of that.
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This is a different word here.
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This is not just care,
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it's care with a side orderof anxiety.
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It's anxious care,
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and it says anxious careand troubled.
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That word--I thought this wasso interesting
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because that anxious care
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and the sense of the wordin my Bible software,
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my Logos program,it says this,
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and I'm quoting,"to think moodily."
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It's care with--in a bad mood,is anybody getting that with me?
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Like, it's not just care,it's that I care
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and I'm in a really bad moodabout it.
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I mean, it's just like,you know, because you were--
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the last time you were--"I'm trying to take of you!"
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You know what I'm talking about?Like--
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[audience laughing]
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So, I mean, this is us.
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We get this, we get this.
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Do you--I truly believe,
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I truly believeit could be said
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that at the end of it all,
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especially in the dayin which we live,
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it is highly likely
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with all the thingswe've got pulling at us,
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that more of us will not fulfillour callings to the ministries--
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and all of us have been assignedone, all of us.
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You don't have to thinkin vocational terms,
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just, God's given us alla calling, purpose to live out.
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And it is very possiblethat more of us
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will miss that over distractionsthan depravity.
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We're distracted,doing a thousand things at once,
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and we're in a bad moodabout it.
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It's not just that we'redistracted,
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it's that it's giving us anxietyand it's making us moody.
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I wanna say that again.
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Our--all our distractionsare making us anxious
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and moody, troubled, troubled.
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You know the kind, just upset.
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That was a synonymfor the Greek word,
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just upset, just upset.
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I can tell you who didn't havea good time that day.
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There is no conceivable world
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in which they could have thankedMartha enough.
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I need somebody to hear it.
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When we think,"Not one person thanked me!
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Not one!"
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You know what I'm talking about?
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Not one--but listen,I can tell you,
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I am not a great cook.
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But I cook a few things...
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And so when I knowI have killed it--
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this is why I don't get
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to really kill itin the kitchen,
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is because I cannot keepfrom being prideful about it.
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When I know, when I know Ikilled the Thanksgiving dinner,
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I might as well have wrungthe turkey's neck myself
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and plucked the thing.
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And I mean, I just,
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my dressing was perfect,the whole thing.
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I look--I set my fork down,I set it down kinda heavily,
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set my fork down,and I looked at my family,
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and I said, "Nobodyneeds to tell me it's good,
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I already know it."
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[audience laughing]
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Anybody knowwhat I'm talking about?
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I mean, just,full-on Martha, full-on.
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I mean, you cannot thank usenough
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when we're in a bad moodabout it,
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cannot thank us enough.
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So Mary had chosenwhat was best,
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and it could not be takenfrom her.
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All right, we've already madetwo points together.
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I wanna hear our motto,because it's gonna become
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very important to us.
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What's our eight-word motto?I need to hear it, okay?
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(audience)Therefore choose life,
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for He is your life.
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(Beth)Isn't thatthe most beautiful thing?
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If you needlepoint,you need to needlepoint that.
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If you print--that needs to go up.
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That's the most beautiful thing.
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Therefore choose life,for he is your life.
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There's this gorgeous portionin Colossians that says,
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"When he who is your lifeshall appear in glory,
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you shall also appear with him."
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It's so powerfulbecause in both Testaments,
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it's saying the same thing.
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When Jesus said to them,"I am the way,
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I am the truth,I am the life,"
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life is in me,
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therefore choose life,
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because I am your life.
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So our first two--let me hear your first one,
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number one: quashfalse voices about choices.
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Number two.
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(audience)Recognize every choose-fuse.
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(Beth)You and Iare going to learn how,
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in the momentthat a choose-fuse goes off,
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where we can give ita name, okay.
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Like, oho, I remember this one,there it goes.
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And we've got this windowof opportunity
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that you can callwhat you want,
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I call it pre-idiocy,
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that I've got this moment that Ican make a different decision.
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And I'mma tell you something,at first it's
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really, really hardbecause all this time
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we've been thinking,well, no, it's not just hard,
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it's impossible.
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Like there was just this surgeof that detonator going off,
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and we just--one reason why I say
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in that intense sexual passionthat we were talking about,
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you know, this is one reason why
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the New Testamenttells us to flee,
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that there comes a timewhen you run from something.
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You don't just like...
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When, I mean,
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when you're, like,just detonating inside,
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you run for your life.
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Hi, I'm Selena,and this is Natalie.
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We know this has beenone of the most difficult years
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for us collectively.
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But we want you to knowthat God has not once been
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far from you in all of this.
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(Natalie)We've put togethera personal box set
00:13:32.971 --> 00:13:35.006
that will include a Bible,a daily devotional,
00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:38.376
a digital downloadof Beth's full teaching,
00:13:38.409 --> 00:13:41.145
a journal, and a pen.
00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:42.981
In the teaching includedwith your quiet time box,
00:13:43.014 --> 00:13:46.117
Beth shares an exampleof how she does
00:13:46.150 --> 00:13:48.586
her daily personal timewith the Lord.
00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:50.955
It's not necessarilysomething we need to copy.
00:13:50.989 --> 00:13:54.025
Your individual relationshipwith Jesus
00:13:54.058 --> 00:13:56.494
gets to be its own thing.
00:13:56.527 --> 00:13:58.963
Perhaps you knowa new believer
00:13:58.997 --> 00:14:00.732
or just someone lookingto get more committed
00:14:00.765 --> 00:14:02.834
to the Word this year.
00:14:02.867 --> 00:14:04.335
This would be the perfect giftto help inspire them
00:14:04.369 --> 00:14:06.738
to find joyin the Scriptures daily.
00:14:06.771 --> 00:14:09.774
(Natalie)These tools, as Beth says,
00:14:09.807 --> 00:14:11.576
allows the Wordto speak over you
00:14:11.609 --> 00:14:14.612
before the world does.
00:14:14.646 --> 00:14:17.215
We look forwardto seeing you next week.
00:14:17.248 --> 00:14:19.918
(Beth)I gotta tell you,
00:14:30.194 --> 00:14:31.496
we have all been through a lotin the last years,
00:14:31.529 --> 00:14:34.799
and I have never in my life,I say to you,
00:14:34.832 --> 00:14:38.603
I have never had more confidence
00:14:38.636 --> 00:14:41.606
in the pure gospelof our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:46.477
♪ O my soul ♪
00:14:46.511 --> 00:14:47.812
♪ Lift up the nameof the one who saves ♪
00:14:47.845 --> 00:14:51.049
♪ He reigns forever ♪
00:14:51.082 --> 00:14:52.684
♪ O my soul ♪
00:14:52.717 --> 00:14:54.152
♪ Lift up your praise ♪
00:14:54.185 --> 00:14:55.887
♪ I will riseand bless the Lord ♪
00:14:55.920 --> 00:14:58.589
♪ O my soul ♪
00:14:58.623 --> 00:15:01.526
♪ O my soul ♪
00:15:01.993 --> 00:15:04.529
♪ O my soul ♪
00:15:05.163 --> 00:15:07.799
♪ O my soul ♪
00:15:08.433 --> 00:15:11.135
Let me tell you something.
00:15:13.037 --> 00:15:14.339
He's come to speak in powerto us this weekend,
00:15:14.372 --> 00:15:16.874
because his Wordis fresh and alive.
00:15:16.908 --> 00:15:19.978
That's the miracleof the Scriptures.
00:15:20.011 --> 00:15:22.814
(announcer)Come join us in a city near you.
00:15:23.915 --> 00:15:26.317
When, I mean,
00:15:29.887 --> 00:15:31.189
when you're, like,just detonating inside,
00:15:31.222 --> 00:15:34.625
you run for your life.
00:15:34.659 --> 00:15:36.627
That's what you do,you run for your life.
00:15:36.661 --> 00:15:39.030
So that's one and two,let's get to three.
00:15:39.063 --> 00:15:41.032
Number three is this:
00:15:41.065 --> 00:15:42.367
let a few BIG Choicesmake a thousand smaller ones.
00:15:42.400 --> 00:15:46.537
I love this point.
00:15:46.571 --> 00:15:48.172
Behold, the artof simplification.
00:15:48.206 --> 00:15:53.244
I still love to makelots of choices,
00:15:53.277 --> 00:15:56.014
but I also love itwhen a few big choices
00:15:56.047 --> 00:16:00.385
already have automatically madea lot of smaller choices for me.
00:16:00.418 --> 00:16:04.455
That's just a relief.
00:16:04.489 --> 00:16:05.790
I don't have to go backthrough that,
00:16:05.823 --> 00:16:07.625
I just keep looking backat this one because,
00:16:07.658 --> 00:16:09.694
you know, well, that one--I made that choice,
00:16:09.727 --> 00:16:11.829
so it keeps making these for mein the daily
00:16:11.863 --> 00:16:15.066
because I made this oneover the life.
00:16:15.099 --> 00:16:17.402
Is that making any senseto anybody here?
00:16:17.435 --> 00:16:20.171
When a few big choices
00:16:20.204 --> 00:16:21.506
make innumerable small ones,I love that.
00:16:21.539 --> 00:16:23.741
Now, I'm gonna throw outa few examples,
00:16:23.775 --> 00:16:25.410
but I need you to knowahead of time,
00:16:25.443 --> 00:16:27.211
I am a work in progress here.
00:16:27.245 --> 00:16:30.014
Sometimes I do thisbetter than others.
00:16:30.048 --> 00:16:32.550
I just, I mostly--this is what I pursue,
00:16:32.583 --> 00:16:36.421
even in the onesI'm gonna use
00:16:36.454 --> 00:16:37.989
for a personal example.
00:16:38.022 --> 00:16:39.357
But I just want youto see them with me,
00:16:39.390 --> 00:16:40.992
ways we can make
00:16:41.025 --> 00:16:42.326
some really bigoverarching decisions
00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:44.629
that already, like--
00:16:44.662 --> 00:16:45.963
I don't have to think about thatagain.
00:16:45.997 --> 00:16:47.298
Today, I can just--
00:16:47.331 --> 00:16:48.633
I'm choosingwhat I already chose.
00:16:48.666 --> 00:16:50.468
So think through it a minute.
00:16:50.501 --> 00:16:51.803
For instance, I want youto jot down 1 Corinthians 6:12
00:16:51.836 --> 00:16:55.673
because it is so important.
00:16:55.706 --> 00:16:57.141
It's so important in a culture,and this would have been true,
00:16:57.175 --> 00:17:00.978
I mean, this would've been trueamong the Romans,
00:17:01.012 --> 00:17:03.014
in the time of Christ,
00:17:03.047 --> 00:17:05.049
this has just been truesince there has been
00:17:05.083 --> 00:17:06.818
any population of humanityon the earth,
00:17:06.851 --> 00:17:10.521
but so much so nowin the world in which we live,
00:17:10.555 --> 00:17:13.891
that the word moderation
00:17:13.925 --> 00:17:15.226
has all but dropped outof our dictionary.
00:17:15.259 --> 00:17:17.228
We don't even knowwhat it means.
00:17:17.261 --> 00:17:18.930
We wouldn't even knowhow to spell it
00:17:18.963 --> 00:17:20.832
because it's just--we just don't have it.
00:17:20.865 --> 00:17:22.567
And I want you to see1 Corinthians 6:12.
00:17:22.600 --> 00:17:25.103
I wanna read it to you out ofthe Revised Standard Version
00:17:25.136 --> 00:17:28.206
because I lovethe way it's worded.
00:17:28.239 --> 00:17:30.274
It says this: "All thingsare lawful for me,
00:17:30.308 --> 00:17:34.178
"but not all things are helpful.
00:17:34.212 --> 00:17:36.280
"All things are lawful for me,
00:17:36.314 --> 00:17:38.182
but I will not be enslavedby anything."
00:17:38.216 --> 00:17:41.552
In other words, there area lot of things that are
00:17:41.586 --> 00:17:43.354
just, like, I mean, we're just,like, we're free in the Spirit.
00:17:43.387 --> 00:17:46.524
We don't have the law over uswith every tedious detail
00:17:46.557 --> 00:17:53.297
like they didunder the old covenant.
00:17:53.331 --> 00:17:55.867
So we live by the law of loveand by the law of the Spirit,
00:17:55.900 --> 00:18:00.471
and certainlythere are commands.
00:18:00.505 --> 00:18:02.640
We have commandsin the New Testament.
00:18:02.673 --> 00:18:05.309
But we are notunder the yoke of the law,
00:18:05.343 --> 00:18:07.745
and so, he says, okay,this is Paul talking.
00:18:07.778 --> 00:18:09.814
So all things are lawful,but not all things are helpful.
00:18:09.847 --> 00:18:12.517
I don't wanna be masteredby anything,
00:18:12.550 --> 00:18:14.552
I will not be enslavedto anything.
00:18:14.585 --> 00:18:16.487
So let me just throw outthis example,
00:18:16.521 --> 00:18:18.122
because I come from a family
00:18:18.156 --> 00:18:19.457
where alcoholismis absolutely rampant.
00:18:19.490 --> 00:18:22.493
And I can tell youthat it is not bondage
00:18:22.527 --> 00:18:25.630
for the family memberI have right now
00:18:25.663 --> 00:18:27.899
that is livingsoberly and sanely
00:18:27.932 --> 00:18:32.637
after a very, very--very, veryinsane kind of journey.
00:18:32.670 --> 00:18:39.310
And some of you knowwhat I'm talking about,
00:18:39.343 --> 00:18:40.878
and you've had that--it's in your family as well,
00:18:40.912 --> 00:18:43.548
so, you can just picturewith me where all this can go,
00:18:43.581 --> 00:18:46.184
into every possible extremeyou can imagine.
00:18:46.217 --> 00:18:49.921
But I can tell you that,
00:18:49.954 --> 00:18:51.255
to this particular loved oneof mine,
00:18:51.289 --> 00:18:54.225
it is not bondageto say no to a drink,
00:18:54.258 --> 00:18:56.894
it is her freedom,
00:18:56.928 --> 00:18:59.263
because when she picks that up,she's back in.
00:18:59.297 --> 00:19:02.567
She says it's not the second sipI'm back in with,
00:19:02.600 --> 00:19:05.736
it's the first sip.
00:19:05.770 --> 00:19:07.071
She said it may be
00:19:07.104 --> 00:19:08.406
that it's not unlawful for mein the Scriptures,
00:19:08.439 --> 00:19:12.543
it's not sinful--
00:19:12.577 --> 00:19:13.878
what may not be sinfulfor someone else
00:19:13.911 --> 00:19:16.547
is bondage to me.
00:19:16.581 --> 00:19:18.416
So you got to know,you got to know
00:19:18.449 --> 00:19:21.352
your own heart and mindbefore the Lord
00:19:21.385 --> 00:19:23.087
and know that,you know what?
00:19:23.120 --> 00:19:24.622
I might be free to do that.
00:19:24.655 --> 00:19:25.957
You might be free to do that,and you might do just fine.
00:19:25.990 --> 00:19:29.093
But I can tell you right now,I walk into that trap
00:19:29.126 --> 00:19:31.696
and I am back into an addiction like that,
00:19:31.729 --> 00:19:37.435
that I'm backinto that slavery.
00:19:37.468 --> 00:19:39.737
Because if you've chosensobriety and sanity,
00:19:39.770 --> 00:19:43.541
then you've madeyour daily choice,
00:19:43.574 --> 00:19:45.810
and you just keep choosingit again,
00:19:45.843 --> 00:19:47.612
because this is what--
00:19:47.645 --> 00:19:48.946
I don't haveto think it through,
00:19:48.980 --> 00:19:50.514
I have chosen this to bethe rule over my life
00:19:50.548 --> 00:19:56.387
so that I can be free,so I choose it again daily.
00:19:56.420 --> 00:19:59.490
All right, marriage,obvious one.
00:19:59.523 --> 00:20:01.125
That means that your spouse,
00:20:01.158 --> 00:20:04.562
that the fact that you madethis overriding, big choice,
00:20:04.595 --> 00:20:08.566
and I made this overridingbig choice to marry,
00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:12.436
that that means I'm not havingsex with others regardless,
00:20:12.470 --> 00:20:16.774
regardless of the opportunitiesand temptations.
00:20:16.807 --> 00:20:20.044
Anybody going with me there?
00:20:20.077 --> 00:20:21.746
That choicehas already been made.
00:20:21.779 --> 00:20:24.248
I wanna tell you something
00:20:24.282 --> 00:20:27.051
that I think you'll be ableto relate to.
00:20:27.084 --> 00:20:28.886
I thought, how much of thiscan I really say with--
00:20:28.919 --> 00:20:31.389
and not get too personal?
00:20:31.422 --> 00:20:32.890
But I think that many of usthat are married
00:20:32.923 --> 00:20:36.394
or have been married
00:20:36.427 --> 00:20:37.862
can understand thisand go here on this.
00:20:37.895 --> 00:20:40.564
But I, you know, I think--I had this idea,
00:20:40.598 --> 00:20:42.633
and I don't know why,
00:20:42.667 --> 00:20:44.035
I don't know wherethis came from.
00:20:44.068 --> 00:20:45.436
I think I just had this ideathat, I mean, to my husband,
00:20:45.469 --> 00:20:51.509
there would never, ever beanother woman on earth.
00:20:51.542 --> 00:20:55.446
He wouldn't even notice them.
00:20:55.479 --> 00:20:58.783
Because you just think,this is how I want it to be.
00:20:58.816 --> 00:21:01.819
It's the way I need it to be.
00:21:01.852 --> 00:21:03.587
I told you I dealtwith insecurity,
00:21:03.621 --> 00:21:05.022
so you can imagine,
00:21:05.056 --> 00:21:06.357
just, like, there's alwayssomebody cuter,
00:21:06.390 --> 00:21:09.293
always some--you know,it's always gonna be that way,
00:21:09.327 --> 00:21:11.128
always gonna be that way.
00:21:11.162 --> 00:21:12.463
And I'm--my husbandhas been faithful to me,
00:21:12.496 --> 00:21:15.466
but I--we went througha time of,
00:21:15.499 --> 00:21:18.269
well, one of a number of times,
00:21:18.302 --> 00:21:20.838
of just strugglewith this or that.
00:21:20.871 --> 00:21:22.873
And I can--I felt threatenedin a particular situation.
00:21:22.907 --> 00:21:27.611
And I think, you know,sometimes we wives ask more
00:21:27.645 --> 00:21:30.715
than we can handlethe answers to.
00:21:30.748 --> 00:21:34.485
Can I just say that?
00:21:34.518 --> 00:21:35.820
Let's--shall we not go eating
00:21:35.853 --> 00:21:39.323
from the tree of the knowledgeof good and evil?
00:21:39.357 --> 00:21:42.893
We don't really have to askour loved one
00:21:42.927 --> 00:21:46.764
if a thought ever goes throughtheir mind about anyone.
00:21:46.797 --> 00:21:50.134
Can I just say, don't go there?
00:21:50.167 --> 00:21:52.803
Don't go there,just don't even go there.
00:21:52.837 --> 00:21:54.538
I'm not sayingI went there or not,
00:21:54.572 --> 00:21:56.273
I'm just saying that,you know--
00:21:56.307 --> 00:21:59.577
I just was having this struggle.
00:21:59.610 --> 00:22:01.345
And I'll never forgetwhat he said to me.
00:22:01.379 --> 00:22:04.081
It didn't satisfy everything,
00:22:04.115 --> 00:22:05.416
but I've thought about ita million times.
00:22:05.449 --> 00:22:07.385
He said, "Elizabeth,I choose you every day."
00:22:07.418 --> 00:22:11.455
It's like, but do you want to?
00:22:14.825 --> 00:22:18.396
[audience laughing]
00:22:18.429 --> 00:22:23.401
[audience laughing]
00:22:23.434 --> 00:22:26.804
You know, I never get enough,never, it's never enough.
00:22:26.837 --> 00:22:30.674
But, I mean, think about that.
00:22:30.708 --> 00:22:33.644
I mean, that's pretty good.
00:22:33.677 --> 00:22:35.312
I mean, what are weexpecting out of somebody?
00:22:35.346 --> 00:22:39.483
What we're really gettingis mostly good decisions.
00:22:39.517 --> 00:22:45.890
But, yeah, yeah,I think that works.
00:22:45.923 --> 00:22:50.861
But one of the thingsthat I do is,
00:22:50.895 --> 00:22:53.264
I don't think whether or notI'm gonna work out
00:22:53.297 --> 00:22:55.533
in the morning.
00:22:55.566 --> 00:22:57.435
I don't--I can't--if I do that,I won't do it half the time.
00:22:57.468 --> 00:23:00.638
I probably won't ever do it.
00:23:00.671 --> 00:23:02.006
I made a decision years ago
00:23:02.039 --> 00:23:03.574
that if I was gonna really stayenergetic and healthy,
00:23:03.607 --> 00:23:06.277
I was really gonna have to tryto keep up
00:23:06.310 --> 00:23:09.480
some level of fitness.
00:23:09.513 --> 00:23:11.882
And so I made the decisionyears and years and years ago,
00:23:11.916 --> 00:23:14.218
I mean, in my early 20s,and when I roll out of bed,
00:23:14.251 --> 00:23:17.388
I already know I'm going to,I have my quiet time first
00:23:17.421 --> 00:23:19.557
and then I knowI'm going to work out.
00:23:19.590 --> 00:23:21.058
I never even--I have to beabsolutely sick not to do it.
00:23:21.091 --> 00:23:25.229
And I don't think,"Shall I do it today?"
00:23:25.262 --> 00:23:27.731
Because if I do that,
00:23:27.765 --> 00:23:29.200
you know what I'm gonna sayto my "shall" self?
00:23:29.233 --> 00:23:32.136
I shall not.
00:23:32.169 --> 00:23:34.271
So, you know, I already madethat decision.
00:23:34.305 --> 00:23:36.707
I talked to a woman hererecently, said, "Miss Beth,
00:23:36.740 --> 00:23:39.944
"do you rememberwhen I had that talk with you
00:23:39.977 --> 00:23:42.847
"about whether or not Ishould stay with my job
00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:45.749
that every single day,I couldn't--"
00:23:45.783 --> 00:23:47.451
it was a ministry job.
00:23:47.485 --> 00:23:48.786
"Every single day,I couldn't decide
00:23:48.819 --> 00:23:50.621
"whether to staywith that job or not.
00:23:50.654 --> 00:23:52.256
"Am I supposed to be hereor not?
00:23:52.289 --> 00:23:53.624
"Am I supposed to be hereor not?
00:23:53.724 --> 00:23:54.992
Am I supposed to be here?"
00:23:55.025 --> 00:23:56.327
And she said, "Do you rememberwhen you prayed over me
00:23:56.360 --> 00:23:57.995
"and then you said, my name,and you said, 'Why don't you,
00:23:58.028 --> 00:24:00.698
"'until God moves you,just, like, do this job?
00:24:00.731 --> 00:24:04.201
"'Just do it.
00:24:04.235 --> 00:24:05.536
Put everything you've gotinto it.'"
00:24:05.569 --> 00:24:06.871
She said, "It changed my life."
00:24:06.904 --> 00:24:08.806
Because she said,"I just decided," she said,
00:24:08.839 --> 00:24:10.908
"Well, I'm not gonna worryabout it.
00:24:10.941 --> 00:24:12.243
"If he wants to move me,he can move me.
00:24:12.276 --> 00:24:14.311
"And until then,
00:24:14.345 --> 00:24:15.646
I'm just gonna make a choiceto do this job."
00:24:15.679 --> 00:24:17.314
Anybody got that with me?
00:24:17.348 --> 00:24:18.682
Maybe that will speakto somebody.
00:24:18.716 --> 00:24:20.518
Okay, let me throw out,I think, just one more.
00:24:20.551 --> 00:24:26.056
If you're going to undertakea project,
00:24:26.090 --> 00:24:28.626
when you say or when I sayyes to a big project,
00:24:28.659 --> 00:24:32.897
what we're sayingwhen we say that big yes--
00:24:32.930 --> 00:24:35.666
we are saying noto tons of other things.
00:24:35.699 --> 00:24:39.603
And we have to stick with itbecause any project,
00:24:39.637 --> 00:24:42.740
you know, in the day we live,you've got a work project.
00:24:42.773 --> 00:24:44.909
If you're a writer and you thinkyou're ever going to finish that
00:24:44.942 --> 00:24:48.579
book while you are doingten thousand other things,
00:24:48.612 --> 00:24:51.615
you can forget it.
00:24:51.649 --> 00:24:53.717
It will not happen.
00:24:53.751 --> 00:24:55.986
It is gonna be the tyranny,the urgent--
00:24:56.020 --> 00:24:57.855
there will always be
00:24:57.888 --> 00:24:59.189
a million other thingsfor you to do.
00:24:59.223 --> 00:25:00.824
And, my word, there's Facebook.
00:25:00.858 --> 00:25:04.161
I mean, we haven't even--we haven't updated--
00:25:04.194 --> 00:25:07.865
and, you know,we'll get all ready
00:25:07.898 --> 00:25:10.200
to work on our project,and then you know what we'll do?
00:25:10.234 --> 00:25:13.270
We will take a picture of itfor Instagram.
00:25:13.304 --> 00:25:17.408
Instead of actually doingthe work,
00:25:17.441 --> 00:25:19.476
let's take a pictureof our desk for Instagram!
00:25:19.510 --> 00:25:24.848
And then, let's seehow many people liked it!
00:25:24.882 --> 00:25:28.886
It's insane, it's insane.
00:25:28.919 --> 00:25:32.423
You know what your quicksand is.
00:25:32.456 --> 00:25:34.458
We've all got some.
00:25:34.491 --> 00:25:36.093
You've got yours, I've got mine,that on my path,
00:25:36.126 --> 00:25:38.696
if I'm ever gonna getsunk down--
00:25:38.729 --> 00:25:40.698
you know what yours is,I know what mine is.
00:25:40.731 --> 00:25:43.167
And for me, it is Twitter.
00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:45.636
I'm not--I dosome of the other stuff,
00:25:45.669 --> 00:25:47.738
but I'm not as into itbecause I like words,
00:25:47.771 --> 00:25:51.375
and I like ideas,and I like discussions,
00:25:51.408 --> 00:25:55.579
and occasional debate.
00:25:55.613 --> 00:25:56.914
I was just, like,you know, I like--
00:25:56.947 --> 00:25:59.450
that's my thing,that's kinda--
00:25:59.483 --> 00:26:02.586
I'm just a word person.
00:26:02.620 --> 00:26:04.154
Other people, you know,it's gonna be pictures;
00:26:04.188 --> 00:26:05.589
other people,it's gonna be other things.
00:26:05.623 --> 00:26:06.957
But what is your quicksand?
00:26:06.991 --> 00:26:08.525
And so, I wrote outa little rhyme
00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:10.461
because I was going backinto writing
00:26:10.494 --> 00:26:12.863
and so I needed to makea commitment
00:26:12.896 --> 00:26:15.733
for my writing days,or it wasn't gonna happen.
00:26:15.766 --> 00:26:17.901
And I knew this ismy biggest distraction.
00:26:17.935 --> 00:26:19.770
So I wrote out this little rhymefor my writing days,
00:26:19.803 --> 00:26:22.840
and it says this:"Twitter free nine to three.
00:26:22.873 --> 00:26:25.275
"Nine to four prosper more.
00:26:25.309 --> 00:26:26.777
"Nine to five expect to thrive."
00:26:26.810 --> 00:26:31.315
So I look at that clock,
00:26:31.348 --> 00:26:32.650
'cause I'm, like,I'm always wanting to check it,
00:26:32.683 --> 00:26:34.785
always wanting to check.
00:26:34.818 --> 00:26:36.487
It ain't 3 p.m.
00:26:36.520 --> 00:26:38.789
And, I mean, there's 4,4's really good,
00:26:38.822 --> 00:26:40.791
but, man, I want to thrive.
00:26:40.824 --> 00:26:42.660
♪♪♪
00:26:42.693 --> 00:26:46.664
♪♪♪
00:26:46.697 --> 00:26:51.335
We are chosen in him,and, listen carefully, chosen
00:26:53.837 --> 00:26:58.475
before the foundationof the world.
00:26:58.509 --> 00:27:01.378
That means that he already kneweverything about you.
00:27:01.412 --> 00:27:06.817
He knew every pathetic decisionI was ever going to make,
00:27:06.850 --> 00:27:12.389
and he still says,"You did not choose me.
00:27:12.423 --> 00:27:15.859
I chose you."
00:27:15.893 --> 00:27:18.629
(male announcer)"Living Proof"would like to send you
00:27:20.798 --> 00:27:22.132
a thank-you giftfor your donation.
00:27:22.166 --> 00:27:23.901
Visit bethmoore.org today.
00:27:23.934 --> 00:27:26.737

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Thriving in our Choices Part 3

Thriving in our Choices Part 3

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Thriving in our Choices Part 3

Thriving in our Choices Part 3

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