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"I've been a Christian for three years,

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and I sometimes feel I can't do anything for God.

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I feel like I'm immature and a young Christian.

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And it feels like it will take years

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before I mature into the standard man of God.

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How can I testify to my friends and those around me

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when I am still weak and in need of growing?

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Sometimes I feel like I'm not mature enough

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to do something for Christ.

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Sometimes when I fall into sin I feel like

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I'm not ready to go to school or to speak to people.

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I only feel ready when my mind is focused on Christ

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and when I lead a more mature walk.

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I don't think this is the Biblical mindset,

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but I'm not sure."

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I'm just going to end by saying one thing to Ken.

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There are a number of things that could be said,

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but Ken, I would have you go to Scripture,

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and very specifically to Mark 5:15,

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maybe even start a little earlier there,

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because it's the account of the demoniac,

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the man that was full of the legion of demons.

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Once that man was delivered

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and he was set in his right mind,

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you remember he was at times chained

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and he would break the chains.

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He ran around in the tombs.

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He would slash himself.

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He would cry out.

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People couldn't even go that way.

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I mean, he was just fierce,

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and we actually understand from Matthew's Gospel

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that there were two men.

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But, what happened after this man was

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set in his right mind,

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delivered of all these legion of demons,

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the people from that area came to Jesus.

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They saw the demon possessed man,

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the one who had had the legion

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sitting there clothed and in his right mind.

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They were afraid.

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Those that had seen it described to them

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what had happened to the demon possessed man

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and to the pigs.

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You remember, the legion of demons

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went out into the pigs,

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and the pigs all ran down into the ocean

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over the cliff into the ocean.

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They died.

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They began to beg Jesus to depart

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from their region.

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And as He was getting into the boat,

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the man who had been possessed with the demons

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begged Him that he might be with Him.

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And He did not permit him, but said to him,

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"Go home to your friends,

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and tell them how much the Lord has done for you,

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and how He has had mercy on you."

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And, Ken, no matter how immature you are,

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no matter how recently saved you are,

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let that man be an example for us.

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Christ did not think he was too immature

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to go speak to his family and his friends

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and his kinsmen and his city.

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We have to be careful about that whole attitude.

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We don't feel like we can do anything for God.

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It's not really as though God needs us to do anything.

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In fact, what Scripture makes very clear

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is without Christ we can do nothing,

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and if we're not abiding in Him,

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we can do nothing.

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And when we talk that talk, I just don't feel like

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I can do anything for God,

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the fact is the best thing,

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the smallest thing, the most trifling thing

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that we can ever do that's worth anything,

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He has done through us.

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We are His workmanship

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created in Christ Jesus for good works.

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And if we're not abiding in Him,

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and He's not supporting it and strengthening it,

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and giving us the grace to carry it out,

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we simply can't go there.

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God is not waiting around for us.

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Didn't God say in the Psalms,

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"Look, if I were hungry I would not come to you."

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Why? Because all the food is His.

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He doesn't need us in that fashion.

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And if there's uncleanness in the life,

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then it's true, and we hear it on Sunday afternoon.

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You're a fit vessel when you're a clean vessel.

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And if there's sin in the life,

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we need to repent of the sin.

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Clean vessels will get used.

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They'll be profitable for the Master's use.

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That's what Paul taught Timothy.