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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at BibleStudyHeadquarters.com. You're listening

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Speaker 1: to Daily Devotions with Pastor John. I'm John Stonge, and

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Speaker 1: today's devotion is inspired by Ephesians 5, verses 19 and 20,

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Speaker 1: which says, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and

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Speaker 1: spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with

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Speaker 1: your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God

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Speaker 1: the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 1: The relationships the Lord has initiated within the church are helpful, inspiring,

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Speaker 1: and edifying. Many of us can quickly speak of people

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Speaker 1: that the Lord has introduced us to through our common

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Speaker 1: faith in Him that have gone out of their way

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Speaker 1: to remind us of the joy and truth of His gospel.

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Speaker 1: As our hearts rejoice over the undeserved blessings we have

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Speaker 1: received from Jesus, it's logical that that would begin to

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Speaker 1: overflow in our conversations. The Scripture encourages us to direct

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Speaker 1: this overflow toward each other. so that the church would

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Speaker 1: be mutually encouraged and built up. Because of the hardships

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Speaker 1: and challenges we regularly face in this world, it can

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Speaker 1: be somewhat easy to adopt a sour countenance in response.

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Speaker 1: But the joy we find in Jesus supersedes everything this

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Speaker 1: world throws at us. Our joy is not dependent on

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Speaker 1: our circumstances because it's anchored in Christ. Therefore, we can

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Speaker 1: be people who are internally grateful and externally expressive about

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Speaker 1: the thankfulness we feel. Let the joy of Christ expressively

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Speaker 1: flow from you toward others today. Let's pray. Lord, we

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Speaker 1: thank you for your word, and we thank you for

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Speaker 1: the privilege that it is to be able to read

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Speaker 1: this portion of Scripture today from the book of Ephesians.

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Speaker 1: And Lord, in this portion of your word, You teach

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Speaker 1: us how we're to address one another. You tell us

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Speaker 1: here to address one another in psalms and hymns and

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Speaker 1: spiritual songs. You encourage us to sing and make melody

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Speaker 1: to you with our hearts and to give thanks to

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Speaker 1: you always for everything because you are genuinely good to us.

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Speaker 1: And Lord, we're grateful for our brothers and sisters in Christ,

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Speaker 1: the people that encourage us in our walk with you

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Speaker 1: and the people that we have the opportunity to express

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Speaker 1: these things toward. And Lord, as you continue to refresh

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Speaker 1: our hearts with the truth of your gospel, and as

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Speaker 1: you continue to minister to us in so many ways,

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Speaker 1: you foster joy within us. And we have the privilege

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Speaker 1: to express that joy to one another. So Lord, in

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Speaker 1: the midst of whatever circumstances we may be presently facing,

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Speaker 1: we pray that by your grace, we would continue to

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Speaker 1: express joy, knowing that our circumstances never need to dampen

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Speaker 1: our joy. and that the joy we express would honor

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Speaker 1: you and would build up our brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Speaker 1: Thank you again, Lord, for this reminder from your word today.

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Speaker 1: And we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.