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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.