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This 14th verse:
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To make every effort;
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to be diligent He says.
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Be diligent.
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And in what direction?
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Well, you've got to seek
food for your souls.
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You've got to get away...
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to a conference;
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travel a long distance to be here.
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Drive 15 hours.
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Drive through the night.
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Drive just to be here.
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And search for things that can nourish you
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and build up your knowledge
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and your graciousness.
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You don't want to be unfruitful
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and static, but there's a dynamism,
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and a maturing, and a beauty;
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and a fragrance,
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and a loveliness about your life.
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You're seeking for
truths that will do that;
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that will produce love,
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and joy, and peace,
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and long-suffering, and gentleness,
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and goodness, and faithfulness,
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and meekness, and self-control.
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You've got to fall in love with the Bible.
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You've got to search it.
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You've got to ransack it.
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You've got to sit under the best ministry
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you can on a Sunday.
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You've got to read the best books.
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You've got to sit and listen
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to older Christians as they talk together
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and they reminisce
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about how God has dealt
with them over the years.
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And learn from them
the mysterious influence
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that one Christian can have over another.
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You seek good fellowship
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with other Christians,
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and you hunger after truth.
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You want the Word of God to come
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not in word only,
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but in power and the Holy Spirit
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and much assurance.
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Fall in love.
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Meditate upon Scripture.
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And, praying Scripture.
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So you read a verse like this,
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"But grow in the grace and knowledge
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of our Lord and Savior," and you say,
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"Lord, me too. I want to grow.
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I want to grow.
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This week, I've got a special time here;
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special privileges.
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Help me to grow
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in the grace and knowledge of my Savior,
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Jesus Christ."
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Because your souls won't grow
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without food.
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And there's no food for the soul
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like the Word of God.
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There's no place to be better
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than before the face of Jesus Christ.
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Taken from the 2018 Fellowship Conference.