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{\b\fs48 Episode 1562: Made You Alive\b0}

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{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

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{ Thanks for joining me on episode 1,562 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. }

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{\b\cf3 Jonathan Rivera:\b0}

{ I'm Jonathan Rivera. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasure to live out your calling. Having the ability to deliver the right words to the right person at the right time is key.}

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{And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this The Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend Scott Mader.}

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{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ To practice the disciplines of gratitude, to practice the disciplines of the divine work of spiritual growth and spiritual understanding to live deeper into our faith each and every day, to hold that tension of being in grace and living }

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{ into grace all of the time. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.}

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{If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the inspired Stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself. Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.}

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{In today's spiritual foundation episode, I talk about Colossians chapter two verses six through 19. I share how we are called to flourish in our transformation of redemption, and I also share how it calls for us to live in the divine work within us. Colossians chapter two verses six through 19 says, as you therefore have received Christ, Jesus the Lord }

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{ continue to walk in him.}

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{Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith just as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving. Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles of the world and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells, bodily, and you have come to fullness in him.}

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{Who is the head of every ruler and authority? In him. Also, you are circumcised with a spiritual circumcision by the removal of the body of the flesh and the circumcision of Christ. When you are buried with him in baptism, you are also raised with him through faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead.}

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{And when you were dead in trespasses and this uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him. And he forgave all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, }

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{ nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them triumphing over them in it.}

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{Therefore, do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food or drink or of observing festivals, new moons or Sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the body belongs to Christ. Do not let anyone disqualify you. Insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, initiatory visions puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking and not holding fast to the head from whom the whole body nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons grows with a growth that is from God.}

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{Have you seen those memes, how your email found me? Some image of a person hiding, beaten down, drowning, or in some desperate situation with the words how your email found me scrawled across the edges of it. }

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{ It might be a commentary on the average worker, state of mind, or a nod at the shallow state of corporate etiquette that causes us to begin an email with, I hope this email finds you well, or maybe it's just a bit of fun and overanalyzing.}

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{It kind of ruins the joke. It's probably that one, but Paul seems to be starting this part of the letter to the Colossians with, I hope this email finds you well. And then he goes a little further and to prove that he really means it, but isn't just doing a platitude. He goes on and tells us how we are.}

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{Like somebody who can diagnose you from a distance or a good friend who can read you in a way that no one else has before. Like maybe a counselor or your spouse who knows the secrets in your inner being and knows your past and your hangups and your potential, and tends to set your feet on a path that leads you forward in flourishing.}

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{ }

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{It may. Wonder how he would even know you that well, and it would let us be skeptical of that. After all, there are a lot of people that claim to know you, but really don't. There are many people who think they can read into who you are, know your thoughts, tell you what would it would take to make you better, stronger, smarter, prettier, whatever.}

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{Often they're trying to sell you something and it's good to be a little skeptical. But if you take a look at the text, Paul really isn't asking for the church here to do anything other than stay the course. He doesn't seem to be selling anything. Instead, it's an invitation to see what we've already done and to see ourselves through the eyes of someone who loves us more than we ever could comprehend or deserve.}

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{See, that's the secret. }

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{ Paul doesn't know us in this. Instead, he knows Christ. He knows the one who loves you, the one who made you alive and transformed and redeemed your life. And Paul here is just calling us to keep living, to live that life, the life of one alive. And that's what we want. We want those moments of being alive, of feeling alive, not just living our life, but being alive in it.}

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{And that's what Paul is saying here. I hope this letter finds you alive. But he wants us to not just be living and alive, but aware of that life, aware of the gratitude that it calls for, aware of the gift that we've been given and how we are now called to live out that potential in its fullness. He wants us to root }

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{ ourselves in the teaching and the knowledge of faith and love.}

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{To live that love and gratitude abounding in Thanksgiving, knowing what is owed to God, what is owed to others, and how connected and interwoven we all are. Recognizing our own privilege and things that have set us aside. And also recognizing that we are called to lift others up, not drive them down. I.}

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{That is what allows us to be strong in our faith, to hold fast to our roots. That's what keeps us being in the world, but not of the world, not held up by the world and captured by the deceitful messages that are shared. Doesn't mean however, that we can't continue to learn and grow in our }

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{ faith and understand it in more wisdom and deepness.}

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{I. This isn't about being calcified in belief or opinion thinking. We've got it all figured out. We figured out all the truths and the rules, and we now are got the message and we've got everything perfect and we don't need to worry about it anymore. Instead, it's about growing deeper in that understanding of what it truly means to be fully alive in Christ and Christ's teachings.}

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{It changes us. It doesn't change us that we have been redeemed. It doesn't change us that we've been raised or brought back from the dead. It doesn't change that we have made, been made alive, but it does deepen that process. We are both fully saved by grace and constantly called to transform our lives again and again.}

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{ Sometimes you hear of people who have a dramatic transformation story, a moment of transformation that seems to pull their life back from the brink, and maybe you have one of those stories, or maybe your story is one of being raised in the church and being alive from the very, very beginning and bathed in that each and every day.}

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{And you think to yourself, my transformation is not as dramatic or special as someone else's, but the truth is all transformations and experiences are worthy of testimony and gratitude. Yeah, because the truth is, when we answer the question, when were we saved, the right answer is always right now, this morning, this moment, because we're saved again and again, and called to transform our life into life, that's what this text is calling for us to do.}

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{ }

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{To practice the disciplines of gratitude, to practice the disciplines of the divine work of spiritual growth and spiritual understanding to live deeper into our faith each and every day, to hold that tension of being in grace and living into grace all of the time. Thanks for listening.}

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{Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship.}

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{And like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get }

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{ notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there. Until next time, invest your time. Your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.}

}