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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to have you listening.

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Speaker 2: Today's topic is about living a life of passion. We'll

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Speaker 2: return with the devotional after a brief message from one

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Speaker 2: of our sponsors. A Heart Ignited with purposed Passion, written

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Speaker 2: and read by Emily Rose Massey. Not that I have

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Speaker 2: already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press

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Speaker 2: on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has

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Speaker 2: made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that

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Speaker 2: I have made at my own, but one thing I

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Speaker 2: do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what

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Speaker 2: lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the

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Speaker 2: prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians,

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Speaker 2: Chapter three, verses twelve through fourteen. What excites you and

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Speaker 2: drives your passion? Being made in the image of God

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Speaker 2: means that we all have passion. The important question we

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Speaker 2: must ask ourselves is is my passion directed inward? Or

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Speaker 2: does it fuel me to pursue Christ and His purposes.

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Speaker 2: Our drive and passion for the Lord and his kingdom

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Speaker 2: is related to our devotion to Him and reveals our

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Speaker 2: purpose of knowing Christ and serving Christ. Most of all

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Speaker 2: reading and studying the scriptures should fuel our passion, because

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Speaker 2: it's said that's our eyes upon the Lord and helps

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Speaker 2: us take our eyes off of ourselves. What motivates your

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Speaker 2: drive towards Christ? For the apostle Paul, it was the

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Speaker 2: prize if the upward call of God. Not that I

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Speaker 2: have already obtained this or am already perfect. But I

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Speaker 2: press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus

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Speaker 2: has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider

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Speaker 2: that I have made it my own, but one thing

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Speaker 2: I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward.

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Speaker 1: To what lies ahead.

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Speaker 2: I press on toward the goal for the prize, the

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Speaker 2: upward call of God in Christ Jesus Philippians, chapter three,

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Speaker 2: verses twelve through fourteen. Intersecting life and faith. We can

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Speaker 2: remind our hearts that if we are born again, Christ

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Speaker 2: purchase our life for a purpose and has made us

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Speaker 2: his own. He did this so that we could bear

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Speaker 2: fruit for his glory. Christ reached down and rescued me,

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Speaker 2: so I should always be reaching for Christ. We press

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Speaker 2: on to make knowing Christ relationally and serving him faithfully,

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Speaker 2: and we must press on even more when we feel weak.

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Speaker 2: We can look to Christ and ask for strength to

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Speaker 2: keep going, and He will be faithful to give us

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Speaker 2: his abundant grace. We shouldn't be entangled by our past sins, sorrows,

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Speaker 2: or even successes, as those things will distract us and

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Speaker 2: hold us back from pressing on in our race to

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Speaker 2: pursue Christ and his purpose. If you are lacking in

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Speaker 2: passion regarding the things of God, perhaps you can write

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Speaker 2: down some temptations and convictions regarding distractions that may be

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Speaker 2: draining your zeal for the Lord. It is easy to

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Speaker 2: become entangled by worldly pursuits, but God's grace is available

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Speaker 2: to us to turn away from anything that would keep

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Speaker 2: us from running hard after Christ. May the Lord give

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Speaker 2: us zeal and an increased pace and an increased engagement

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Speaker 2: in kingdom pursuits as we press toward the prize. Ultimately,

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Speaker 2: christ Likeness is our prize. Let us seek the Lord

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Speaker 2: and ask him to increase our passion to become more

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Speaker 2: like him. He is faithful to give us more zeal,

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Speaker 2: especially if our aim is that He would receive all

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Speaker 2: the glory not ourselves. Are you reaching for the upward call,

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Speaker 2: longing to become more christ Like in your pursuits? And

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Speaker 2: in the fruit of your life. What worldly pursuits might

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Speaker 2: be hindering you from being conformed to the image of Christ.

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Speaker 2: Let us not resist the call of taking up our

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Speaker 2: cross and following Jesus. Our flesh is weak, but we

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Speaker 2: must trust that we can find strength and grace in Christ.

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Speaker 2: To keep pressing forward, straining for the prize. Ask the

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Speaker 2: Lord to ignite as zeal in your soul for God

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Speaker 2: and His kingdom. In your striving and running. We must

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Speaker 2: trust that God chooses the pace as we move forward,

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Speaker 2: winking arms with other believers. He empowers us with his

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Speaker 2: spirit and is faithful to complete the work he has started.

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Speaker 2: Run your race for God's glory, fixing your eyes on Heaven.

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Speaker 1: The Crosswalk Devotional is a production of Life Audio and

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Speaker 1: Salem Media. If you liked what you heard today, please

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