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This program is made possible by the partners

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of Joyce Meyer Ministries. I'm

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Joyce Meyer and I believe

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that God can heal you everywhere you

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hurt. Galatians

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chapter 3 verse 1 starts out, Oh

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you foolish Galatians, who

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has bewitched you? It

0:26

was before your eyes that Jesus

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Christ was publicly portrayed as

0:31

crucified. So

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let me ask you a question. Did

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you receive the Spirit

0:40

by works of the law or

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by hearing with faith? So

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let me just ask you this. How

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were you saved? Were

0:51

you saved? Were you born again? Did

0:53

you receive Christ, the

0:55

forgiveness of your sins by anything you

0:57

did? It

1:04

was all based on what Jesus

1:06

did. And you

1:11

were told what he did, or you read

1:13

about what he did, and you believed it.

1:17

And when you believed it, you

1:20

received Christ as your Savior. Being

1:25

born again, receiving Christ as your Savior

1:28

is just so easy that people

1:31

just miss it. Because we

1:33

always think there's something that we must do

1:35

to earn God's

1:37

favor. But

1:40

you can't earn favor. Favor,

1:44

now listen to me, is based on

1:46

relationship. It's

1:48

not based on me earning it, it's based on

1:51

relationship. If I go to someone and I say,

1:53

can you do me a favor, I'm

1:56

going to go to somebody that I have a relationship

1:58

with. that I

2:01

believe will do that

2:03

for me just because I'm asking them

2:05

to. Well,

2:09

favor or the grace

2:11

of God is said to be

2:13

God's undeserved favor. So by

2:16

grace are

2:18

you saved through faith? It

2:21

is the gift of God, not of works, lest

2:24

any man can boast. So

2:27

anyone here today who's not received Christ

2:29

as your savior, I

2:31

mean, it's just so simple that it would just

2:33

be downright insanity

2:36

to leave this place today without

2:39

receiving Christ as your savior because there's

2:41

nothing that you have to do other

2:44

than really be sorry for your sins,

2:46

be willing to turn away from them, receive

2:50

Christ, receive a new life, and then

2:52

be ready to go out of here

2:54

letting the Holy Spirit teach you how

2:56

to live and behave as a

2:59

child of God. So somehow

3:02

or another, people

3:05

normally don't receive Christ until

3:07

they finally realize that they

3:09

are just hopeless

3:14

and helpless and that they

3:16

cannot fix anything in their life. Life

3:19

is a mess. They can't do anything about it.

3:24

I need you, God. So

3:26

finally we give up and

3:29

we receive Jesus. Wouldn't you say that it's

3:31

kind of pretty much that way?

3:34

And so we receive Christ by faith,

3:38

but then it's not very long and we start hearing

3:41

our reading, we

3:43

read the Bible, we read books, we go

3:45

to church, we hear messages, and we start

3:47

to hear about the things

3:49

that we should do and the things we shouldn't

3:51

do. And

3:54

so we start feeling this need to

3:56

change, to improve.

4:00

There's a desire that comes along

4:02

with salvation to be

4:04

more like Jesus. How many of

4:07

you really want to be more

4:09

like Jesus? Well,

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of course you do. When you hear preaching,

4:14

if you don't know how to respond to it properly,

4:16

it can

4:18

actually make you more miserable than you

4:20

were when you

4:22

came in because now you've

4:24

found out some more things that you need to

4:26

do or not do, and

4:29

you're already not doing such a good job at

4:33

doing or not doing the things

4:35

you already have been learning. So

4:37

now here you are. You've been a Christian for

4:39

five years, and you have now this list of

4:42

about a thousand behaviors that need to change, and

4:45

you really want to change, and you try to

4:47

change, and you

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pray to change, and

4:53

you try to change, and

4:56

you try to change, and

4:59

you try to change, and

5:01

you tell God how you're trying to

5:03

change. I'm trying

5:06

to change, but nothing

5:09

changes. As

5:11

a matter of fact, you

5:14

may even act worse than you

5:16

did before you found

5:18

out about all these things that you weren't supposed

5:20

to be doing because

5:22

before somebody told you they were wrong, you

5:24

thought you were okay. Well,

5:30

like everybody else, I went through that, and

5:33

to be honest, anybody who really loves God, I

5:36

mean, if you really love God, you're going to

5:38

want to change. I

5:41

mean, there's something wrong with you. If

5:44

you say that you're born again,

5:46

you've received that, and you

5:48

can go and hear preaching

5:51

and know that you're not

5:53

behaving according to the word, then just silence here.

5:58

It's a good thing when you want to change. And

6:02

we can change, but we can't

6:04

change by self-effort. You

6:11

can't make up your own plan on how you're going to

6:13

change. God

6:16

has to change you. Now,

6:19

that doesn't mean there's nothing for you

6:21

to do. We always have a part. We're

6:24

partners with God. He

6:26

has a part, and we have a part. But

6:29

the part that God has given us in

6:32

this change that needs to take place in

6:34

our life, and

6:36

I might add a change that

6:38

is taking place little by little

6:40

all of our lives, we've

6:44

not arrived, nor will any

6:46

of us arrive at that place of

6:48

perfection. We will still be being

6:52

worked on by God when

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Jesus comes back to get us. In

6:58

the twinkling of an eye, we shall all

7:00

be changed. Come

7:03

on. When He comes

7:05

back, whatever's left

7:07

to be done in us will be done just

7:11

like that. And to

7:13

be honest with you, I don't think God

7:16

cares whether you've arrived or not, but He

7:18

does expect when He returns to find each

7:20

of us pressing toward that mark

7:22

of perfection. The Word of God

7:24

should help us. So

7:27

God has a part. We have a part.

7:30

We cannot do God's part. And

7:33

now listen, we're going to stay next, and He will

7:35

not do our part. Did

7:39

you hear me? So

7:41

we need to figure out what is His part

7:43

and what is my part. Because

7:45

what we end up doing a lot of times is we

7:48

don't do our part, and we end up trying to do

7:50

His part. So

7:53

we try to change ourselves, which

7:56

is something we can't do, but

7:58

What God tells us we can do is

8:00

we can do it. you should lose and

8:02

are responsible To do is number one. Agree.

8:05

With that could. Always

8:07

be in agreement with God if

8:10

God shows you something. In the

8:12

Bible. And then convicts

8:14

you that your behavior is not in

8:16

line with one. His words was, the

8:18

first thing you do is say god,

8:20

you're right. And I'm wrong. The

8:24

second thing you do is you don't

8:27

blame your problems on anybody else. You

8:29

take responsibility for them because as long

8:31

as we're blame and. We

8:34

never get over our problems. I

8:36

was abuse actually by. My dad

8:38

and I had a lot of

8:40

problems that were caused from the

8:42

way I was treated. But.

8:46

As I grew into a young adults.

8:50

The. Things that happened to me

8:52

became an excuse. For bad

8:54

behavior. Come.

8:56

On now. listen to me. Well. If

8:59

I wouldn't have been abused. Then

9:01

I wouldn't be this way. And

9:05

God finally got across to me.

9:07

Yes! The. Abuse you went

9:09

through has caused many of

9:11

these problems in your personality.

9:15

But. Don't let them be an excuse

9:17

to stay that way. Say Here's

9:19

the thing I want you to

9:21

understand, no matter how bad of

9:23

a templar. You've got. You.

9:27

Can get well. No

9:31

matter how sort of say Freedom Bill

9:33

New Cr. Toward somebody who hurt you. You.

9:36

Can completely be free from

9:38

where. You. Can forgive

9:40

them. You can even love live on

9:42

trade for them. And

9:45

you can even have an understanding

9:47

that only God can give you

9:49

about why they do the same

9:51

as they do. But

9:54

not as long as you're blaming.

9:57

And making excuses. is anybody

9:59

in here here So,

10:04

number one, if you want to make

10:06

any progress from being here, first

10:08

thing you need to do, I'm

10:11

sure that if you

10:13

were here last night and this morning and now you're here

10:15

this afternoon, there's not one of you that can

10:17

get out of this building and not

10:20

say that God convicted you about

10:22

something. I

10:25

mean, has anybody been here and

10:27

you've already thought, you know, God,

10:29

that really needs to change in my life. So

10:32

see, I'm doing my job. And

10:38

so if you love God, you're going to want to go home and change.

10:41

But the first thing that's got to

10:43

happen is you have to take complete

10:45

responsibility for your current actions. No matter

10:47

how you got to where you are, the

10:53

only way you're going to get out of

10:55

it is to take full responsibility for it.

10:59

Then to admit that you cannot help

11:01

yourself. You cannot

11:03

change yourself. God, I agree with you.

11:06

I am guilty. What

11:09

you say about me is true. I'm

11:11

not going to blame anybody else. I'm not making

11:14

any excuses. I stand before you

11:16

just as guilty as I can be. I'm

11:19

sorry. I want to change. But

11:21

I cannot change myself. Please

11:24

change me. And

11:33

then it's like God says, okay,

11:35

I'll do that and here's what I need

11:37

you to do. So

11:39

now I'm going to tell you your part. Your

11:42

part is to go home, study

11:46

the word of God in the

11:48

area where you have the problem. The

11:53

word of God is like medicine. If

11:56

I cut my finger, I don't stick an

11:59

aspirin in it. If

12:02

I have a headache, I don't put a band-aid on

12:04

my forehead. We're

12:08

smart enough to know what medicine to take

12:10

for what ailment, but

12:13

somehow we think if we just

12:15

randomly read the Word of God that

12:17

that should fix all of our problems. Well,

12:21

I read the Bible every morning. I don't know why I

12:23

still have these problems. Well, if

12:25

you have a bad temper, reading stories

12:27

on how you could be successful in

12:29

life is not going to help you

12:31

get over having a bad temper. Come

12:36

on, you ought to have the job of doing this

12:38

and see the looks you get sometimes when you're trying

12:41

to teach people

12:44

things that they need. You

12:46

know, it's like trying to feed

12:48

a kid spinach. It's

12:53

like my kids, when they were little, I

12:55

remember they loved the smashed up Gerber peaches,

12:59

you know, little baby food in jars, peaches. And I liked

13:01

them too, so I'd give them a bite and then

13:03

I'd take a bite. But

13:08

you know, if you're a good parent, then you start

13:13

slipping in a spoonful of carrots or

13:15

a spoonful of spinach. Those

13:17

aren't so good because they

13:20

don't do much to hide the nasty taste. And

13:24

so you

13:27

train them to the point where they think

13:29

peaches are coming, they go, and

13:33

then you throw in a spoonful of spinach and they go,

13:37

and I know when you guys are spitting back out what

13:39

I'm trying to give you. So

13:46

I give you a little bit of peaches. Tell

13:51

you how great you are, how wonderful you are. Then

13:54

when you least expect it, here comes a spoonful

13:56

of spinach. And here's the thing.

13:59

I'm a good parent. mama so you can go all

14:02

you want to but I'll

14:04

scrape it up off your chin and keep putting

14:06

it back in your mouth if

14:12

I want to get one spoonful of spinach in

14:14

you today it's

14:17

worth it because you're not going to grow up and

14:20

survive and be strong in the

14:22

Lord on dessert all the time

14:24

so we have to tell you

14:26

more than just you're wonderful you're

14:28

anointed God loves you he's got

14:30

a good plan for your life we

14:32

have to also slip in there it's

14:34

time to grow up it's time to

14:36

mature it's time to stop making excuses

14:39

it's time to stop blaming everybody else

14:42

come on and

14:48

so you need to go home and you need

14:51

to take your

14:53

time and you

14:55

need to diligently study

14:58

the Word of God in the area

15:00

where you're having a problem there's

15:04

power inherent in the Word of God

15:06

to do the work

15:08

in us that needs to be done if

15:12

we will go to the Word and

15:15

study it and meditate on it

15:18

not trying to change yourself but

15:22

trusting the Word of God to do that work

15:24

in you and spending

15:28

time with God and it doesn't really

15:30

matter to me what you do when

15:32

you spend time with God you can

15:34

sit there and stare out the window

15:36

for all I care but the point

15:38

is you say to God you're the

15:40

only one that can help me I cannot

15:44

change myself I

15:46

cannot help myself but I

15:48

believe there's power in your words so I'm

15:50

gonna study your word I'm gonna meditate on

15:52

your word and I am gonna sit here

15:54

in your presence and trust

15:57

that rather I feel anything or I

15:59

don't feel anything that you are

16:01

working in me and you are changing

16:03

me. Now

16:09

I don't know how to make it any simpler than that.

16:13

Take your medicine,

16:15

the word of God, which

16:18

is medicine for your soul. Study

16:21

in the area where you're having a problem.

16:26

I mean if you're having a problem forgiving

16:28

somebody, then don't just try to forgive them.

16:31

Study every scripture you can

16:33

find on forgiving your

16:36

enemies. And study them

16:38

and read them and write them out

16:40

in longhand and look up the definitions

16:42

of them and meditate on those scriptures.

16:45

And before long you'll start finding that

16:47

you can do it. And

16:57

let me say it again. It's

16:59

not going to happen just by trying.

17:03

We make an effort, but

17:06

it's an effort made in

17:08

and with the Holy Spirit. It's not

17:10

self-effort, but

17:13

it's leaning on God. Apart from me, Jesus

17:15

said you can do nothing. So

17:18

works of the flesh are

17:22

works of the law, which

17:25

is what Galatians is talking about, are

17:30

works that don't work. They're

17:34

our energy trying to do what only God

17:36

can do. Every

17:38

victory that comes in your life, you will have

17:40

a part in it. It may

17:42

even be that God will tell you in

17:45

this battle, I want you to do absolutely

17:47

nothing but

17:49

be patient and wait on me. Maybe

17:54

you'll be in a battle and God will tell you,

17:56

I want you to... fast

18:00

for three days and

18:04

spend that time praying or maybe God

18:06

will tell you I want you to

18:08

sow a special seed a special offering

18:14

whatever God shows you to do do it

18:18

but don't just come up with your own plans

18:21

and I alluded to this this morning or last night

18:24

but I had such problems with my

18:26

mouth and I so

18:28

distinctly remember when

18:30

I started hearing messages about the power of

18:32

words I mean I knew I was in big trouble

18:37

I mean if you say really stupid things

18:43

and so I wanted

18:45

to change I wanted

18:47

to not get in trouble with

18:51

my mouth but

18:54

a fleshly plan is always one that's way

18:56

out of balance it's not going to work

18:58

and so my plan to not

19:01

get in trouble with my mouth was to say nothing

19:06

well I'm just I'm just I'm gonna say

19:09

anything tomorrow nothing

19:13

does anybody know what I'm talking about you just like I'm

19:15

just gonna be quiet I'm not gonna say anything well

19:18

first of all if you're a big talker I can tell

19:20

you now you ain't gonna be quiet and

19:23

you're not gonna go all day and not say anything and

19:27

even if you did it wouldn't change anything

19:29

because you're still talking inside and

19:38

so here's what would happen I would I

19:41

could force myself to maybe be real quiet

19:43

for a day or two but I

19:46

would start to feel depressed and

19:50

it was so confusing me I thought I'm

19:53

trying to do the right thing why

19:55

is it making me feel depressed and God

19:57

said because nothing's changing on the inside Come

20:02

on. See,

20:05

that's why no matter how much you try to

20:07

force yourself to do the right thing,

20:09

only God can change you from the

20:11

inside out. And if the

20:13

inside doesn't change, then

20:16

nothing is ever going to change permanently. When

20:21

we make a positive change in our lives,

20:23

we want it to stick with us. Joyce

20:26

just said the only way to make

20:28

change permanent is for God to do

20:30

it from the inside out. And

20:33

that is so true. We can't do

20:35

it all on our own, but we

20:37

can do our part and we need

20:39

to do our part by filling our

20:42

mind and souls with His Word every

20:44

day. I want to encourage you to

20:46

dive into the book of Galatians for

20:48

yourself and see what other great life

20:50

lessons are in those pages. There's

20:52

so much good stuff in there.

20:55

And we have the perfect book to

20:57

help you go deeper in the Word.

21:00

This is Galatians, a biblical

21:02

study. This is a

21:04

book of practical insights for everyday

21:06

Christian living, from what it

21:08

means to be qualified by God to

21:11

walking in the Spirit and so much

21:13

more. Each chapter includes

21:15

focus verses, things that

21:17

you can memorize, things to really get

21:20

into your spirit and teaching and encouragement

21:22

from Joyce. And room for

21:24

you to write about what you've learned. And

21:27

just to make sure you've got plenty

21:29

of room will also include the joy

21:31

of the Lord is my strength, the

21:33

journal for those of you who really

21:35

love to write through whatever situation you're

21:37

facing. And that is another great way

21:40

to really get it into you and

21:42

make it stick. That change can become

21:44

a permanent thing with God's help. Now

21:47

coming up, food as a love language.

21:49

You've probably heard that phrase meant as a joke,

21:52

but for so many around the world, helping

21:54

them put a meal on the table is a

21:56

shining example of God's love. Stay

21:58

with us to see how... food is bringing

22:01

hope to a community trapped in

22:03

isolation. You

22:30

can also buy the app or buy your own store. You can also find

22:32

a store in your app store and download the new Joyce Meyer Ministries app

22:34

today. Traveling

22:44

near the Utah-Arizona border, you

22:46

can't help but notice the

22:48

spectacular scenery. The

22:50

expansive landscape and lofty

22:52

mountains embody freedom. It's

22:55

hard to believe this area has been

22:57

a prison for thousands of people. Colorado

23:03

City, Arizona and the neighboring

23:05

town, Hilldale, Utah, are

23:08

home to a polygamous cult known as

23:10

the FLDS, the

23:12

fundamentalist Latter-day Saints. Their

23:15

infamous leader, Warren Jeff, had more than

23:17

75 wives, some as young as 12 years

23:19

old. He

23:23

isolated the community and controlled

23:25

every aspect of their lives. Today,

23:28

Jeff is serving a life sentence

23:31

for child sexual assault, but

23:33

the cult and the devastation remain.

23:38

The higher ups and the truths left, they

23:40

took a lot of the prosperity they had built

23:42

with them. And so

23:44

the latest Census Bureau information is

23:47

that Colorado City proper suffers a 49.9% poverty

23:49

rate. It's

23:52

11.2% average nationally. And

23:55

so there's a lot of need here.

23:57

One of this community's greatest needs is

23:59

food. Joyce Meyer Ministries

24:01

is honored to support the Short Creek

24:03

Dream Center, which feeds over

24:05

1,500 people through

24:07

the City Health Food Bank. And

24:10

we give out an immense amount of food. Like

24:12

I said, there's a large percentage of

24:14

poverty right here. And so we do almost 100,000

24:17

pounds of food average a month, which

24:22

is a crazy amount for a single food

24:24

bank. Yeah! Sorry,

24:26

we started a little late, just got

24:28

a little busy today. Alright, we appreciate

24:31

your service. You guys are

24:34

good. Richard Brown is the

24:36

manager here. Most of

24:38

the families are single parents with

24:40

their children. Without this, they wouldn't have no

24:43

place to get food. This food

24:45

bank feeds more than 60% of the

24:47

community. Anyone

24:50

who needs food can simply drive up

24:52

and get all the essentials loaded into

24:54

their car. I

24:56

am here because I

24:59

utilize this as well as the

25:02

pandemic took a toll on some of our

25:05

income. I also have a

25:07

friend who's pretty much housebound that I pick up

25:09

stuff for her and her family. If

25:11

someone can't make it to the food

25:13

bank, Richard and his team will make

25:15

a special delivery. And that's

25:17

why we have a box truck. We take

25:19

it to 20 families

25:21

Friday and Saturdays. And

25:23

the kids, they're just saying to

25:25

kids when we drop them off at the

25:28

doors that they just say thank you. We

25:30

have thin mints right there. Then we like

25:32

to give them a little cash. So wait

25:34

everyone more thin mints. It's the sweets. I

25:36

give them sweets. I started off just giving

25:38

them candy and it's just been a routine

25:40

now. They come by and say, we heard

25:42

you guys give out candy. And so, that's

25:44

just a smile on their faces that really

25:46

makes us happy. Spreading the

25:49

joy and love of Jesus in such

25:51

a practical way, paves the

25:53

way for people to find freedom in

25:55

Christ. close

26:00

the naked and you build their

26:02

trust. And really the answer is,

26:04

is Jesus in people's life. That's

26:07

freedom. But before we can get

26:09

to that topic, because religion

26:11

was part of the abuse, we have to

26:13

be very gentle and just really let the

26:15

Holy Spirit go ahead of us. Because

26:18

these are his people. This

26:25

definitely, definitely is providing a

26:27

good thing. It represents hope. It represents

26:29

the bridge to get from where they

26:31

are to where they want to be. If

26:35

you'd like to be part of that bridge,

26:37

I invite you to join us. With

26:39

your special gift, we can feed

26:41

hungry children and their families in

26:43

this community and all over the

26:45

world. Call or click

26:48

today and together we can

26:50

make it different. You

26:57

know, the people of this community have

26:59

been through so much and it's so

27:01

inspiring to see when a practical need

27:03

is met, like providing food. It's able

27:06

to do so much more for the

27:08

people here. It's not just a box

27:10

of food. It is hope for the

27:12

future. This is a reminder to

27:14

all of us. We don't always have to

27:17

leave the country to find people in desperate

27:19

need. They are right here and we can

27:21

make a difference. We can make a lasting

27:23

impact on their lives and those around the

27:25

world when we work together. We invite

27:28

you to join us by giving a

27:30

special gift today to all of our

27:32

outreaches here at Joyce Meyer Ministries. And

27:35

you will continue helping these precious people

27:37

and others all around the world. Give

27:39

whatever you can. Just pray about it.

27:41

Ask God what he might want you

27:44

to be a part of. And

27:46

when you give, it will help people

27:48

right here in the United States. Wonderful

27:50

people like you just met. And it

27:52

will help people all over the world

27:54

with things like not

27:57

having good clean water. Can you imagine how amazing

27:59

it is? important that is. Not having medical

28:01

care. What if you don't even have an

28:03

aspirin when you have a headache? You can

28:05

help make a difference in these areas. So

28:08

reach out today. Go to our

28:10

website joycemeyer.org. Give us a call

28:12

and do what you can. We

28:14

appreciate you so very much and

28:17

we love doing this together with

28:19

you. For more

28:21

information visit joycemeyer.org. This

28:25

program has been made possible by the partners

28:27

of Joyce Meyer Ministries.