TIME OUT with Pastor Ben Talley June 29th 2020

Whitten Baptist Church

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Good morning, y 'all. My name is Benjamin Talley. I am the associate pastor at Wooten Memorial Baptist Church, and this is another time out.

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So, it's a beautiful day today. Good morning,

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Samantha. So, just woke up this morning, and I just thought it was a good day to spend some time in the

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Word, and came across Psalm 73, and all this technology stuff.

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But, came across Psalm 73, and, hey

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Christian, hey Mercedes, and it was kind of provoking to me.

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Have you ever, when you were a kid, do you remember your parents saying,

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I know what's good for you? You know, they say, well, you'd want to do something, and it would be like, no, you can't do that, because I know what's good for you.

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Good morning, Heather. Good morning, Rodney. Well, God's Word tells us what is good for us, and we discover that in Psalm 73.

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Psalm 73 is a good psalm, as any psalm is, because it's the

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Word of God. But, that's obvious. Psalm 73, if you look in,

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I believe it, we'll look at verses 27 and 28.

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And it says this, it says, For behold, those who are far from you shall perish.

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You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. And this is the verse we'll focus on, verse 28.

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It says, But for me, it is good to be near God.

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I have made the Lord my refuge, that I might tell of all your works.

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So, he says, For behold, those who are far from you shall perish.

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You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. Good morning,

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Brittany. So, the thing is, is that all those who are far off shall perish, because they're unfaithful to him.

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God requires faithfulness. Now, we fail in faithfulness sometimes, but, you know, the beauty of it all is grace, because even when we are unfaithful,

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He is faithful. So, he says, he says further in verse 28, he says,

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But for me, it is good to be near God. Closeness to God is good for us, because it brings moral character.

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Closeness to God is good for us, because it brings moral character. So, the closer you are to God, the more your character changes.

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The holier you get, the closer you get to God, the more your character changes.

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We should pursue holiness. We should pursue being set apart in the way we act, the way we think, the way we operate, you know, the way we treat people, you know, the way we respond to different situations, you know, things like that.

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So, the closer you are to God, the more and more we hate those things that He hates, and the more we love the things

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He loves. You know, the things that I used to love,

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I don't love anymore. I don't like anymore. I have a distaste for them.

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So, that, and he said in the Psalm, he said, It is good for me to be near to God.

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And if you're not, if you're not drawing near to God, and you're not changing, well, first of all, if you claim to have a relationship with God, and your character is not changing, or your attitudes and your affections are not changing for the things of God, or anything like that, then

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I would strongly call into question if you have a relationship with God or not. So, that's what

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I would, that's what I would strongly say. And then, another thing

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I want you to see is that making

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God your refuge in a time of trouble is good for us because it brings peace. He says,

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I have made the Lord my refuge. I have made the Lord my refuge.

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You know, I remember when

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I was a kid, I would want to get home so bad from school, from riding the bus.

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You know, I used to ride the bus when I was a kid. But I would want to run home just so I could get home and get into my own room, or get into my own house, sit down on the sofa and watch cartoons or whatever.

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I wanted to get home so bad. Well, you know, that's the kind of relationship we should have with God.

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You know, the fact that we want to run to Him, we want to get to Him so quickly, you know, whenever we're going through distress or anything like that.

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Even just to share things with Him. Man, you know, just the excitement, the joy of just getting alone with God.

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Just being, man, God, I really need to talk to you right now. Lord, I really need to get alone with you right now. Just the excitement of just getting alone with Him.

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You know, just rushing into your room and just saying, God, I just really need some time with you.

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You know, just that desire, that hunger, man,

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God, I want you right now. You know, that's what

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I think Jesus had. You know, the way He would slip away from the crowds and go to be alone with God.

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I'm pretty sure His conversations in His mind when He was around the crowds went kind of like that.

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You know, man, God, I just want to get alone with you right now. You know, just to have that alone time.

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That's the kind of refuge God delights in being.

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He wants to be that type of refuge for you. Just to be that type of refuge for you.

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So, you know, another thing is He says that I may tell of all your good works.

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Telling of all His works in our lives is good for us, and it brings lost souls to Him.

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You know, when people hear your stories, hey, Paul, how are you, man?

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So when people hear your stories of what

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He's done in your life, man, when they see how He's worked and how

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He's just done amazing things in your life, the things He's brought you through, the things

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He's accomplished, and the things He's blessed you with, you know, they know.

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And you know, you can honestly say, I've tasted and I've seen that the

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Lord is good. You know, and when they see that, they know, and they know the power of God in your life.

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And they want that, you know, for those who He's drawing, who He's working in.

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If He's working in their life, then they'll want Him, and they'll be like, man,

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I want what you got, you know. I'll never forget, I was working at Macaroni Grill, and there was a busser that worked with me, and he said, he said, man,

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I just, I don't have, I don't have

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Jesus like that. Like, I never experienced like that. He said, you know,

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I don't know what you got, but, you know, I want it, you know.

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You know, I've had similar stories like that. Now, those of you who know me, you know, you know,

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I struggle with depression and things like that, but when you're real about your circumstances, when you're real about your struggles, and people see how you handle your struggles and things like that, they see the joy you have.

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They see how you handle your problems and stuff like that. They really want the

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God that meets you at your darkest needs, and at your deepest needs, excuse me, at your deepest needs.

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So, man, just telling of all His works is what we're supposed to be doing. We're supposed to be sharing the love of God.

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We're supposed to be sharing all that He does, and this is proper evangelism, just sharing all that He can do in their life.

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Not just all that they, that they can do, that He can do in their life, but what

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He's already done, what He's already done for them, for their sake, and for the world's sake, the fact that He's already lived a sinless and perfect life, the fact that He's taken punishment, the perfect atonement for their sin, that He's risen from the grave after being killed and buried, and that He's ascended on high, raising above every enemy, exalting

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Himself above every authority, and He's coming again to judge the living and the dead.

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Guys, it's a beautiful day. It's a good day to be alive in Jesus Christ. Preach the message of the good news.