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Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Welcome to Pillar's Abide in Me Podcast, a weekly opportunity to abide in Christ through weekly pillar sermon and worship reflections. I'm Trish.

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And I'm Christian. For this week's reflections, we invite you into the practice of Lectio Divina. This is an invitation to slow down and simply listen with a posture towards God and Scripture. Quiet your mind, breathe deeply, and allow yourself to receive these words from the message version of the book of Ephesians, chapter 2. Consider words or phrases that rise to the surface.

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It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it. All of us doing what we felt like doing. When we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own with no help from us. Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Now take a few moments and reflect on the passage we just read.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it. All of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it. All of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own with no help from us. Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Let's take another moment and listen to what the Spirit of God has to say.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it. All of us doing what we felt like doing when we felt like doing it. All of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own with no help from us. Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

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For our part as a pillar community, we'd love to be praying for you. So feel free to reach out to us at abide at pillarchurch.com. As you take these words into your day, hear this from the Apostle Paul. God can do anything, you know. Far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams. He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us. His spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church. Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus. Glory down all the generations. Glory through all millennia. Oh yes.