David Lee Martin

The greatest deposit you can make in your own future is to elevate someone else’s account of themselves.

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I want to offer some advice today about the most profitable service that you can offer. I believe this is completely guaranteed. And whatever sector you are seeking to establish yourself in this particular kind of strategy will always work. And I just want to say that one of the greatest ways that you can serve the world and the most profitable is to believe in someone else, to cheer them on, to speak positive affirmation of their worth, to speak positive affirmation over them, be active in it, you know, refused to agree with any mega esteem that they plaster upon themselves.

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I love this.

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This is what prompted me to think about this and write about it and speak about it. Today is what Paul wrote to his friends in Philippine Philippians 1:6 and I’m going to read from the message Bible. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Jesus Christ appears. I just love the absolute certainty that Paul approached his disciples, his friends, his followers with her.

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I never have been in the slightest doubt that God who started this great work in you will keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish.

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That kind of confidence in others, that kind of belief that others will complete and will find fulfilment in the call that God has placed up on their life is such a precious thing. And it’s something that you can offer to someone else today. You know, you may not have arrived at your final destination yet. In fact, I can almost guarantee that you haven’t. Nor am I.

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You know, the people that you’re connected with will still be on the road with you. Some may be a few steps ahead, some a few steps behind, some even miles up the road and some miles back down the way. You know, even that you may even find many of us stumbling along at times, but that doesn’t mean that that is where we’re destined to stay. We’re not destined to stay in the place that we are at today because we will, by God’s Grace and by active growth and pursuing Him, pursuing his Kingdom and pursuing the knowledge that we need to operate skilfully in our realm of expertise.

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We will move forward and we can.

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One of the ways in which we will do that is helping other people, move forward with us. You know, we all need encouraging voices to cheer us along the way. Even heaven, we’re told lines its balconies with a great cloud of witnesses, men and women who’ve handed the baton from generation to generation until we hold it in our hand today. Run your race well, run it with confidence. Run it with your heart, full of faith and ready to help someone else run theirs in a regardless of the hardness of the way at times, despite the setbacks, you can do this, your commitment to be all that you are called to be and your willingness to take risks to fulfil your leg of the race is admirable and blessed.

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I want to speak that over you. That all that you put your hand to will prosper. You know, the world measures by such wonky metrics, but God measures in a different currency. Now, it’s not that I want to discount some of the metrics that we measure our businesses by, etc. Etc.

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All of that may be important, but at the end of the day, there is a far more precious treasure that God is looking for us to accumulate. Your people. People, people are the most important thing to God, not prophets, but people. How can we best profit the people that we serve in a faith, love, hope, joy, peace. These are the things that fill the banks in heaven and faithful service ranks high in the stock market.

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Far more than just sails when you strip it all back. And God is looking for us to love people and help people. Yeah, that was the commandment. Love one another as I have loved you. And certainly one of the ways in which we can do that is to just speak confidence and Grace and affirmation into the lives of those who may be struggling.

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You know, when Gideon was hidden in Lee, the thing is, God sees the treasure in others, even when they don’t perceive it themselves. And we can learn to look with his eyes and draw that treasure out. Now, if you think of just a few of the stories in the Scriptures and there are many Gideon hiding in the wine press and God comes along, sent an angel and calls him mighty Jesus. And you know, you got flip flop, Simon. You know, 1 minute Lee ready to take on the world and the next minute denying the Lord who saved him.

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But Jesus called him Peter the Rock. Paul writes to Timothy. He clearly was feeling timid and ill equipped for his call in the pastor at you. And Paul reminds him, hey, Timothy, you may feel like that, but really, truly, you are a man of power, love, and a sound mind. And I just want to remind you today, the greatest deposit you can make in your own future is to elevate someone else’s account of themselves.

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Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at davidleemartin.com

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have a great day.

What is the one factor that runs throughout every and any opportunity to face? The golden thread that ties the whole thing together?

It’s actually simpler than you think.

YOU are the common factor in the enterprise equation.

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I often talk about being in the business of being myself in today’s fast paced digital world, it’s easy to just get caught in a confusing vortex of options, you know? Absolutely. The plethora of possibilities is one of the greatest blessings that this present generation enjoys, but it can also lead to creative paralysis. Unsuspecting digital entrepreneurs can be stricken with opportunity overdose like some poor no drug victim, you know, with there’s so much out there, should I be an author? What about tiktok of whatever the latest craze happens to be many offers or flagship courses.

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Comme coach. What about Amazon Merch? Should I follow the funnel? Guys jump into challenges or leap on the go live bandwagon to the list continues. Youtube mini sites, online workshops, Kindle at CPR or Pod podcast or premium coaching.

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I’m pretty sure by the time you listen to this, there’ll probably be several more choices that have been hitched to the list. So how do you choose? It’s a known fact that too many choices most often lead to no choice at all. Sometimes it’s just the easiest choices to choose, not to choose, and to put off that painful process of saying no to so many glistening possibilities. We don’t like to say no.

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What if we make the wrong decision? What if we choose the wrong thing? Make a bad call. You know what if we say no when we should have said yes and we miss out? Or what if we say yes when we should have said no and end up wasting our time and our money?

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And the problem is in that kind of place of possibility paralysis, we just stay stuck frozen in headlights with the stream of fresh opportunities hurtling towards us month after month, year after year. I want to say, like stop the traffic, stop the traffic and let me bring something obvious into this equation. What is the one factor that runs throughout every and any opportunity that you face? You know, the golden thread that ties the whole thing together. And I believe it’s actually a great deal simpler than you think.

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You are. The common factor in this enterprise equation. You know, the longevity of your enterprise, whatever it is, is going to be determined by the investment of your heart in its fulfilment. The Scriptures teach Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs Chapter 4:23, now the word issues that’s used here literally means the outgoings or the boundaries of the heart, the outgoings, the outworking and the boundaries of our lives are determined by what comes up and what flows from our spirit, the heart man, the inner man or the inner woman.

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You know, your financial and creative destiny right now, at this second, like in this instant resides within your spirit, not out there somewhere else. It’s not out of your reach. It’s closer than your very breath. No one else holds the wheel of your victory. You do.

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And tending carefully to the inner life is going to steer you to the right places, to the right people at the right time. I absolutely believe that. I believe. I believe that this is truth. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all of the things that the world is running after and seeking will be added to you.

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Now. It may not be added quite as quickly as you would like it to be. It may not be added in the manner that you would have expected or dreamt, but God is faithful. We count Him faithful. We judge him faithful.

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Even when we are faithless. He remains faithful because he cannot deny Himself and the results that we see the outgoings of our life. We’ll expand our boundaries and bring us in to whatever your promised land may be. But it’s finding that inner life is the first and foremost thing. It’s the most important thing.

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You know, I was an absolute opportunity hog and gobbling up every new idea that crossed my inbox, you know, dancing from one thing to the other and back again. My online business trajectory felt more like a whirling dervish than a steady climb, you know, just spinning around like, oh, wow, this opportunity over here and this one over there. And then it came to a point where the Holy Ghost one day to stop me in my tracks and pointed me to the story of Mary and Martha. If you’ve been around me for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard me say, this, like most preachers.

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Now I have about four stories that I tell.

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I just tell them in different ways at different times. But this was so profound for me. We read in Luke chapter 10:40 and 41. Martha was cumbered with much serving, and she came to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Bid her, therefore, that she helped me.

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And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things. Martha was cumbered, full of care and troubled about many things. And I at that time could totally relate. David, David, you were cumbered with many things. Yeah.

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Careful and troubled. Yes, Lord. Yes, I am. Those were the words of the Holy Ghost that he spoke that day. As I sat in this, I had a little chair.

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It wasn’t an armchair. It was like, I don’t even know what kind of chair it was like just just an office chair of some kind in the corner of my tiny office in the house that we had in London. And he spoke those words so clearly to me and then said, And I’m going to quit from the amplified Bible because I think that this brings it out so beautifully. But there is need of only one or but a few things. You know, I believe the entrepreneurial life is not meant to be one that’s frazzled to a crisp by a million demands.

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You know, the romanticised picture of the overworked ultradedicated marketplace genius sacrificing all for the sake of his startup is really quite farcicle. You know, there is nothing romantic about sacrificing your family and your health in pursuit of money and Fame. Jesus has a pathway prepared for you that is perfectly in pace with His will. And I honestly, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have rarely found God to be in a rush. I asked the Lord in that conversation.

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What? What am I one but a few things. And, you know, seven years later, I’ve made over a million dollars in Amazon royalties alone. And that’s, aside from other things now, I’m not saying that to Brag because there’s been lots of expenses involved in that. There’s been a lot of learning, there’s been investment in masterminds and my own education, etc.

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That’s not money that’s sitting in my bank, like just laughing in my bank account. But it does indicate that when we focus in on what is best fitted to our personality, it can lead to radical results. You know, it’s not to say that there have not been challenges, and there’s been a great deal of sweat equity poured in to this journey that I’ve taken. But my focus changed from everything and everyone to just one. But a few things that I’ve learned to do extremely well.

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The choice of direction was really determined by this question. And it’s maybe one that you could ask yourself at whatever junction you are at right now. And the question was simply this, what do I want to be doing five or ten years from now now? Not talking kind of vision board or any of that kind of stuff. Okay.

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Although I believe in that we can frame a future. Yeah, by words of faith, I believe that I believe in visionary and vision casting. Yeah, I do. I’ve seen it work. I’ve seen it happen.

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I’ve seen it in the Scriptures. But what I’m talking about here is more than just because sometimes we can get very cerebral about those things to think it’s like, okay, if I tick these various boxes, then that’s going to equal X or Y. Yeah, but I’m talking more about the heart. O, remember the heart issue, the issues of life flowing from there. I wanted to be a writer.

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That was when when I pulled it, stripped it all back. And I kind of just Lee just before the presence of God. Say, Lord, this is what I would love to do. This is where my heart feels most alive and most able to bring value to other people. And, you know, I was already writing, but I was also juggling several other opportunities.

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I felt like a circus clown. Website, business over here. T shirt thing going over here. Many, many kind of AdSense sites here, Bible school writing etc etc.

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Etc. Now the difference now is I’m much more in the business of being myself. I’m still working with the Holy Ghost. I’m still in conversation with the Holy Ghost.

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But, you know, in making that decision, Lord, I want to be a writer. You know, it just allowed me to drop some of the ballast that was stopping me, bringing my a game to the table in my chosen field. I was doing so many other things that I had no time or energy to dedicate to the very one or but a few things that in my heart of hearts I wanted to do. And I feel very much more now that I am in the business of being myself.

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I’m no longer running here and there earnestly hoping for an answer.

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Although I do fall into that trap at times and find myself kind of forgetting what I’m talking about today, that the answer lies within me. The Kingdom dwells within me and that I can come and in conversation with the King, who knows the end from the beginning, I can discover my next step. We’re told in Psalm 37, verse four, delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart that may cynically read this and say, Also, man, I want a posh.

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You know that this verse holds so much more than a brand new set of wheels on your driveway or whatever your thing may be. You know, God gives you the desires of your heart.

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He plants desires. And what I want to encourage you to do today is take some time and ask yourself, what are the deep, real, resonant desires that ring true in my heart? There’s a quote that the source of its unknown is attributed to numerous different people, so I won’t presume to know exactly who said it. But the quote goes something like this. There are two great days in a person’s life, the day they are born and the day they discover.

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Why in a moving into the fields of entrepreneurship takes real courage. The venture must be backed not primarily by money, because often to be honest, that’s in scarce supply, especially in the early stages, but by a heartfelt conviction and a sense of calling. I believe that business, Kingdom, business, you know, being out there in the marketplace, in whatever arena, whatever realm, you know, it’s a call to be salt and light in that marketplace, to generate wealth on many levels, not just financial. I believe that God’s people have got something of inestimable worth to bring into the marketplace and to begin to establish a strong voice in the world.

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And it doesn’t just come from behind the pulpit.

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It doesn’t just come from within the walls of the Church. God has a body of believers who are out there. The Church equips the Saints for the work of the Ministry. But the Saints are most often out there in the marketplace, doing whatever it is they do day by day by day, week by week. And there is a Kingdom calling to bring Grace into all of those situations and a Kingdom calling to create wealth through entrepreneurial wisdom and action.

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Now, your outgoings, the outgoings of your heart really are the creative crystallisation of all of that personal genius and dwells within you, your history, your experience, your expertise, you know, your take on the world, your view, your frame being brought to others so they can look through it and see the world through your eyes. You know, I believe that those crystallizations of Christ within us in all of the realms of existence, will flow out to the world and bring blessing to others. And the results of those genuine heartfelt creations will be abundant compensation.

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But it really begins here with embracing who you are. Your uniqueness is the ingredient that adds a special flavour to everything that you do.

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That leaves you really in a company of one, and you cannot compete. Nor can anyone compete with you, because no one else is who you are. No one else can bring what you bring. And of all the things that I can encourage you to do today, it is this come back to your heart. What do you carry inside?

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What is it that you deeply desire? What is the resonant chord that plays within you when you think? What do I want to do today? Five years from now? Ten years from now?

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What do I want to be doing? How do I want to be not spending your time, but sowing your time because we are here in service of others. You know, that’s really the entrepreneurial life is a life of service to others. And so whatever you choose to do, you know, you are ultimately in the business of being yourself. Building around that reality, learning and growing in the things that sit well with us that we feel fitted for and feel fitted for us is so important.

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Grow in confidence. Yeah. To the point where you’re able to jettison some of the things that don’t sit well with you. Yeah. Will it be easy?

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No, it won’t be easy. Will it be worth it? Absolutely. 100%. Well, thanks for listening.

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Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website. DavidLeeMartin.Com have a great day.

In what ways do you seek to fill your emotional bucket?

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The following message is one I preached in the Commonwealth Church in London. Friends of mine, Rod and Julie Anderson, and I’m Minister this like, way back in 2018. Some time and just by happen chance came across it today and thought I honestly thought as I was listening to it, I thought, Man, I feel like I lead to sit and hear this myself and to kind of because I’m recalibrating after a very emotional, emotionally up and down season over this past summer. And this was just a timely reminder.

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Now I realised most of the time this daily messages are much shorter. This is about 45 minutes long. So listen to what you will. Don’t listen to what you don’t, all good. But really in it. I speak about filling our emotional bucket coming and allowing Jesus to fill our soul and bring us into a place of peace and wholeness. I think it’d be something that will speak to certainly some of the people who are listening, and I pray that it would be a great blessing to you.

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Okay if I just be myself this morning. Yeah. I found that God works better when we just quit trying to be someone. You know, that God works through people. God has his way through people. God speaks through people. And if we’re trying to be someone or something that we’re not, we’ve got some kind of aspiration to appear a certain way to others. It’s like we actually get in our own way and we get in his way. And there’s a lot of truth in Hebrews chapter for War.

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It says when we cease from our own works, it gives him room to go to work. So I’m going to do my best to do that. I’m going to do my best to get out of my own way and let Jesus have some space. I always speak to the Lord. If I’m speaking somewhere, I just speak occasionally. Now I always ask a Lord and spend some time. I sat down the other day and my family have just moved home. So we’ve moved down to a place called Burgess Hill, moved out of London, and Lee in the least fit suburbs of some little place down south.

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And I actually like, peace and quiet. I like, I’m a peace and quiet guy. I’m like a country boy at heart. So I’m like, oh, yeah. And then I’ll come back into London, and it’s like the district lines down. There’s a breakdown on the A three. There’s a half marathon. I’m like. So I’ll go go here and here and here and here and here and here to get to Church. I’m like phrase God for Burgess Hill, I can walk from one end to the other in 20 minutes.

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But as you know, like moving, moving home is a busy thing, and God is a way maker. He’s a promise keeper. He’s a miracle worker. He is a light in the darkness. But, you know, something. God is a great friend. Got a great friend. I sat down with him and I say, Lord, I’m speaking on Sunday. What do you want me to say? Because I’ve been so busy. Anyone get busy here? Sometimes you know what you should be doing. You know where your priority should be, but you get busy doing all sorts of other stuff.

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And so, Lord, I’m speaking at. He says, My Darling son, that’s nice. He says, It’s good to speak with you again. How funny is it that life suddenly takes a turn and you ditch these moments for other things I’m like. And then he goes, he goes, no, precious son. But remember that it’s my voice that becomes the pathway that your feet walk upon. How about that? It’s my voice that becomes the pathway that your feet walk upon. My words are the bridge to your bright future.

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A future built on surety and not supposition. I will hold you up sun. And my words will be the Bull work bulwark against all that the world might throw you. So I looked up this word, surety. And a future built on surety, not Supposition. Surety. A guarantee, a promise, a pledge and assurance. It means freedom from care. That one drop a life filled Insurity, not supposition. Freedom from care. Freedom from danger, safety, security. It means stability and a state of peace. It means confidence, certitude. It means one who makes himself responsible for another.

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My Daddy is responsible for my future. And his voice is the pathway that I walk on. It’s so important that we hear his voice. And, no, I’m not talking about hearing a preacher. I’m talking about his voice speaking to our heart. I’m talking about my Darling son. Supposition, on the other hand, means a belief held without proof or certain knowledge and assumption. An assumption. And I think that times we hold a belief. It’s not necessarily without proof, but we’ve not got certain knowledge of it because certain knowledge doesn’t come just by knowing about it comes from his speaking within us.

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You know, there is a big difference between gods speaking and you? Ve got to hear me right here. Okay? Just hear me, right? Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. There’s a big difference between God speaking here, this thing and God speaking here. And this book on faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God. Just remember that faith doesn’t come by the word of God. I’m saying, listen, listen, hear me, right? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God. It’s the hearing that becomes the pathway.

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The man who builds his house on the rock is a man who hears and does what he says. You know, the guy built on the sand is that he heard. I didn’t do. And I just want to encourage you today to really open your heart to the voice of Jesus. And I want to talk to I want to talk really, from the perspective of Jesus as a very, very real friend, a very real friend to us. I love this. He said the ear of the Church, speaking of you guys, is toward me, leaning in to hear what I have to say.

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That’s a really strong commendation of the heart of this this house. I have something that I want to share. I’m so desperate to to somehow communicate something that’s really beginning to change my life in a profound way. Yeah. And I’m like, I’m really kind of digging into my heart and God help me to communicate this in a way that translates from what’s happening in here to what goes in here. When you hear Lee like that prayer, Lord, that we would have ears to hear what the spirit is saying because it’s not something that’s necessary.

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Easy to communicate. It’s not something that I find easy to communicate because it’s kind of brand new to me. And let’s begin by turning to 1 Thessalonians 5:23. So let’s turn that. It’s funny. I so want to do justice to what the Holy Ghost wants to say. You’re really nervous. It says he the very God of peace. Sanctify you Holy. I pray that God, your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved, blameless. So the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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I don’t what I want to bring out this morning. I want to, you know, this idea of being a three part being. Okay. So we are a spirit. We have a soul. We live in a body. You know, there’s a distinct the Bible does distinguish between these three. We’ve got the new mother, the spirit, the UK, the soul. I’m pretty sure that’s probably not how you say it. And the Soma, which is the body. I am a spirit. You are a spirit. You are a spirit. You have a soul mind will emotions, affections aversions.

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And you live in a body. You’ve got this temporary kind of tent that we live in until such a time as we get given a new one. What I want to talk about is our soul. It means that the seat of our feelings, our desires, our affections and our versions. It’s the seed of our emotions. As for many years. And I’m sure that this would be true for quite a number of people here. I was so focused on my spirit life and woefully neglected my soul.

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In fact, in fact, they even Lee prevailing teaching was, you don’t take any notice of your feelings, you know, it’s not about feeling. It’s all about faith. Yes. Anyone that kind of been there. You kind of just, you know, I feel this, but I deny it, man. I’m just going to confess the word, you know, maybe I’ll pray some more. Maybe I’ll fast some more. Lee let you into a secret. You are a complete person. You are a whole person now. We might use some of these distinctions to help us understand the workings of our humanity.

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We might use these distinctions to help us to grow as people and to understand where certain things, how certain things work so we can operate more effectively. But you are not the splinted individual and you cannot neglect one area of your being and fully operate in the other areas. If you neglect your body, guess what. Your spirit is going to have a hard time properly functioning if you neglect your soul, if you neglect your emotional life, the life of your mind and all of those things, your spirit is going to have a hard time fully finding expression because there’s going to be things that block its pathway to actually reach out and connect with the world.

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I met a lot of preachers who are the most onerous people on the planet, their spiritual Giants. And it’s like their emotional life is some stunted little boy performing for the circus. I’ve been there. And the funny thing is actually the roots of some of the ways that we act out is actually in the brokenness of asshole. We look to be satisfied. There’s this thing in our soul, in our feelings in that is seeking affirmation or seeking satisfaction, seeking something. And, you know, some people get they get into Ministry and suddenly they find that makes me feel good.

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I feel important. I feel wanted. I feel special or into a relationship or whatever it may be. And the way that kind of God brought me round to begin to look at this more in more depth in my own life. There are a couple of things, really, but my dad died last year and my dad and I, it wasn’t that we didn’t see eye to eye, but there wasn’t a great deal of deep, hard to hard communication. He was Lee like many men. He was a pretty closed book emotionally.

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And, you know, I guess throughout my life I was looking for the kind of affirmation that a father can give. But, you know, I’d get into Church life and I’d be looking for it from the pastor or whatever whatever authority figures were placed before me. It was an unhealthy and unhealthy route in my own soul that was looking for something from them that they could never give. I told you, I’m trying to be real. And what I found is that what I’ve noticed as I’ve observed my own life is that there are so many different things that people look to to satisfy and feel their emotional bucket.

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It’s like an emotional bucket that we have on the inside and Lee going to fill it somewhered. It’s like Emmanuel recognised me. Recognise me. Recognise me. You know, I’m in the pool pit. You know, I’m feeling special now. I’m feeling recognised. I’m feeling significant and feeling important. And my emotional bucket is feeling up. Yes. And we can look for it in so many different things. But what God showed me because I actually noticed this. I thought, Man, it’s like it’s like a little door opens for us in whatever it may be, it might be success in business.

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It might be in a relationship. It might be in some kind of generally a relational transaction of some time. And a little drop of affirmation comes and suddenly were like a Dyson Super sucker. The 700 over. And it’s like, we get a little drop. And suddenly it’s like, and we want to fill this bucket. I noticed that even in my own marriage, I noticed, like, man, I’m trying to get something from Larna that you’re honestly, man, I’m like, I’m like a desert sucking in the rain cloud.

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And I sat down as I do. Like I say, I mean, Jesus and I are good friends. And I said, what is that thing? Why? Why? Why am I like that? And I know I’m not the only one. And he took me to this the woman at the well. And in John chapter four. And I love this story. I love this story. And let’s turn to John 4:5 will start verse five. And Jesus comes to the city of Samaria, which is called Psycha, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

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And Jacobs well was there. And Jesus was weary with his journey. And he sat on the well. It was about the 6 hours. So it was about noon. It was midday. It was the heat of the day. It was hot. You know, people don’t come out to collect the water in the heat of the day. But Nevertheless, Lee is sitting. And then a woman of Samaria comes to draw water. And Jew said to give me a drink. And she said to him, how is it that you being a Jew as a drink of me, which I’m a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

00:20:11.540]
Now it is my. But, you know, we find out later on a little bit more about this woman. But it is my kind of supposition we were talking about. Supposition is my understanding that, you know, because this was not the typical time of day that you would go out to fill your water vessels, that this lady wasn’t coming out with the rest of the brood of women. She was rejected. She was ostracised. She felt very much alone. And she would come out when there was no one else there.

00:20:46.560]
And even here, the Jesus begins to interact with her. And she’s like, now, why are you talking to me? Don’t you understand that? I’m kind of you’re not supposed to talk to someone like me. And Jesus said, if you knew you the gift of God and who it is. Let’s say to you, give me a drink. He would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water and the woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with. And the well is deep from whence will you get this living water?

00:21:27.740]
Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us this well and drank there of himself and his children and his cattle? And Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water shall first again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I get give him shall be in him. A well of water springing up into everlasting life. And the woman said, sir, give me this water that I first not neither. Come here to draw.

00:22:06.820]
And then we get a little insight here. Jesus said to her, Go and call your husband and come back. Come here. And the woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to a, you have well said, I have no husband for you have had five husbands, and he whom thou now has is not the husband in this, he said truly. And the Holy Ghost pointed out to me, said, you know, this is emotional drain that you want to put on people, this requirement of your heart for this bucket to be filled.

00:22:50.880]
I mean, Lee, the thing is, there’s a lot of legitimate needs of the heart. You are not just a spirit. And hear, hear me. You do not just need Jesus or he would have put you on an island somewhere. There are legitimate needs of our soul that are equally as important and equally as valid as the needs of our spirit. And one of the biggest mistakes that I made in my development and my progress is this neglecting the emotional area of my life and giving no attention to the emotion, my emotional wholeness as a man, as a person not recognising, I guess number one, the validity of those needs and desires and longings and also not in not giving them a proper attention, not understanding that they are at work anyway, did they are affecting all of my relationships.

00:24:07.990]
They are affecting all of my transactions. They are affecting all of my pursuits in Ministry and all of these other things that we might put our hand to. All of that stuff on the inside is still at work and still affecting everything you think and do and say and feel. And sometimes we don’t want to look at it because, man, it’s a mess. It’s the little boy whose dad never really sat down with him and filled his emotional bucket. It’s a little girl who longed for her mother’s affirmation, but Mum just wasn’t there for her or it’s the teacher who rejected the great work that you did and didn’t recognise it.

00:25:02.640]
I realise that this is not kind of. It’s not just easy to communicate and I don’t want to get all psychological, okay. I don’t want to get all kinds of bog down in the weeds, like I’m drowning in such a man. But what I want, what I want to encourage is that you come to the well. You know, the woman wasn’t coming when she said, Give me this water. You know, the well that she was going to was marriage after marriage. After marriage, after marriage, I have a deep thirst in my soul.

00:25:54.260]
And I believe that a man can fill that first. And when the man didn’t fill the hole or the man ran off because he’s like, Man, what is this that I’ve married, she’s on to the next one. And so when she says, Give me this water, she’s not saying, man, I’m kind of thirsty. Could you just put a tap in my apartment? She’s saying, I’ve got a thirst on the inside that I have desperately been trying to find some relief from. And I am so broken.

00:26:41.600]
I’ve gone so far as to even live with a man in Shind. Now we’re not talking 21st century London, first century. Samaria, you better believe me. She was going out when no one else was there. The poor woman was so full of shame, so broken, so utterly despised that she couldn’t even she didn’t even have a friend to go out with. She wouldn’t go out in the early morning when it was cool. And she says, Give me this water. And that’s what I started saying when I felt that.

00:27:26.860]
And you like, you know, I might come into a Church like this. I don’t know, know. I’m trying to think of, you know, and, you know, you might start feeling all right. Well, the pass to say Hello or, you know, something you now I don’t know what kind of interactions you look for, you know, whatever it may be. But when I began to notice those, like, little kind of things in my heart that we’re reaching out for someone to satisfy something in me that I knew.

00:27:56.920]
Man, it’s my emotional bucket that I’m trying to feel. And I’m not trying to fill it in the right way. Jesus, give me this water. Give me this water. Give me this water. Because the thing is, Lee has a tendency to take this lovely emotional bucket that we begin with as a baby that satisfied on the breasts of our mother in the arms of our father. And, you know, hopefully that’s the way my wife wasn’t Larna’s emotional bucket was didn’t have mum to look after, didn’t have dad.

00:28:57.080]
She was even told by her grandparents. Or that is too important to come and spend time with you. And so often times I’m going to be okay if it were like this. But more often than not, just through things that happen, we end up looking a bit more like this. I guess I don’t want to be too romantic, but and we’re going through life like this. Fill my bucket. Fill my bucket, please, fill my bucket, please fill my bucket. Please fill my bucket, please. I want to be important.

00:29:55.100]
I want to be noticed. I want to be understood. I want to be recognised. Please, for my bucket. Please recognise me. Please understand me. And because this I know wants to feel like that. He wants to see this. Who wants to look at themselves and see this? And so we maybe put it behind there. Or we kind of maybe we could hide it behind Ministry. Maybe I could become a really important Minister. Maybe I could have a big congregation. And or maybe I could be a great businessman, my ipad and my laptop.

00:31:12.360]
And, you know, my wallet, wherever it is. Maybe maybe I could fill my bucket with money. Maybe that will satisfy me. Or I felt a bit odd getting on the train with a bucket and a hammer. Honestly, I thought I thought someone was going to pull pull the emergency like that. There’s a Nutter on the train. There’s one of those terrorist dudes, man. Yeah, it’s okay. I’m a Church Minister. Even worse, it’s a religious Nutter, you know, Jeremiah chapter 2:13

00:32:42.000]
For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and Hun out for themselves. Systems broken systems that can hold no water. And you know, when Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, he didn’t say, I’m going to fill your bucket come every day and I’ll fill your bucket because he understood that you can’t really feel that you can keep pouring in. And like I sometimes I know in the past I’ve tried to fill this bucket with experiences, spiritual experiences, you know, early nineties outpouring and different things.

00:33:30.070]
You can keep coming. And Like, fill my bucket. Fill my bucket. Come, Lord Jesus, come down, Jesus, come down, come down in our midst. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but Jesus has actually got something better than that. He said, this is going to be like a well, like a fountain within you springing up to everlasting life. I’m not coming to the waters to drink. I’ve got the water springing up within me. Give me this water. Give me this water so I don’t have to come here again and again and again and again.

00:34:08.160]
So I don’t have to keep going through the same motions and the same cycles and going round the same mountains in my heart. And my thinking, Lord, give me this water like a fountain within my heart springing up to everlasting life. Psalm 23 says he leads us by still waters and that he restores asshole. I really want to encourage you, man. And I always believe in, you know, that there are practical applications to what we teach. And I relight that this is not a subject that often tackled.

00:35:15.370]
I mean, maybe it is. I don’t know. I know. It wasn’t tackled very often in my journey. You know, in fact, sometimes it was frowned upon. You start talking about your emotional life and all of that kind of stuff. And it was like, Give me the spirit thing, you know what you’re talking about. But I found as I get older and as I’ve got older, that unresolved issues. We’ll always find expression at some point in the journey. Yeah. Where the Father has not been given access, where we’ve not come to the well and said, Jesus, give me this water can fill this gaping hole in my heart.

00:36:19.880]
Come fill this need for whatever it may be significant, understanding, affirmation, affection, success. And I just want the Father to change my perspective so dramatically, so radically come in and transform the way I approach life. So I’m no longer reaching out to something outside of myself to satisfy that which resides within me. But I understand that there is an in dwelling presence that is like a fountain springing up on the inside that can continually turn my desert soul into an Oasis. And then from that place of overflow, we can begin to actually reach out to others.

00:37:20.760]
And I found there’s only been so far that I can reach in my brokenness. I’m not talking brokenness in the right sense. You know, there are lots of terminologies Lee use in Christianity that, you know, we can get a bit mixed up about, you know, the brokenness that God is looking for is where we come. And we say, Give me this water. I recognise my own inadequacy to fulfil this need in my heart. I recognise. Not that I don’t deny my need for affection. I don’t deny my need for significance.

00:37:58.450]
I don’t deny my desire to be understood, to be recognised, to be known. But, Lord, I’m not going to try and get it from everyone else and everywhere else. You too, Lee. I was felt in adequatement with my dad because I was kind of an arty type. And he was Northern builder. I just felt so pony, so, like, weak and pathetic. Now it’s not necessarily how he saw me. It’s more about how I saw myself, you know, and I always looking for some kind of affirmation there.

00:38:38.000]
And then I thought, Well, if I if I can really succeed in business, then my emotional bucket will be filled. But guess what if I succeed in Ministry? Well, my wife and I planted three or four churches. We did okay. I was still empty, like the woman coming day after day, it would get filled. And then I’d be back and be like, oh, man, I’m thirsty and I would go and I would get filled. And then I’d come back and I was thirsty. And and the same in our business.

00:39:10.180]
I got a great business running now. German. It’s like, how a surprise. I’m actually quite good at this and, you know, but, you know, something empty bucket sometimes. What you think you want when you get it my daughter’s in Lee gym mast. She’s got more gold men. She’s got so many gold medals. It’s like it’s like Solomon, where you would pile up the silver. She’s got like, this big bottom drawer, you know, 55 medals. I would just Chuck them in. And what are you pursuing? What are you chasing are really just let’s be real with each other today.

00:39:55.240]
Let’s strip off the pretence and just, like, down and dirty heat of the day type stuff. Lee, God, I’m thirsty for this. Give me this water. Give me this water. And I wanted if it’s okay to open up the altar today, that what I’ve shared. And I just feel as though I shared it so inadequately. Honestly, I just Lee like, oh, God, I just in my speaking speak. But, you know, if you know that you you’re coming at you, you’re pursuing different things. And it’s not that any of those things are wrong.

00:40:58.860]
I mean, don’t don’t misunderstand me. Don’t feel me wrong. But you know that you’re asking something of whether it be business, whether it be your marriage or your relationship or your desire for a relationship or your bit. Or I don’t know. And there are so many things some people pursue education as if just having more knowledge is going to help them or Ministry. We think if we finally get in that pulpit or we do the worship leading at that Church, somehow we’ve made it. And, you know, we stand there and we feel just as empty standing on that stage as we did on the little stage in our cell group because we’ve never actually come and really made ourselves vulnerable.

00:41:46.200]
And said, Father, Oh, God. Now, my dad, do you and I had to begin to look because he was not there for me to fill the bucket anymore. He never did fill it emotionally. Never did. I mean, bless his heart. He tried, but I wouldn’t even let him to. It was like, I want it. And as soon as he whatever he tried to do, I would withhold because there was so much and forgiveness in my heart. And forgiveness can really block the fountain on the inside.

00:42:23.680]
I’m telling you, fear can really block the fountain. The sale said, what are some of the things that are blocking the fountain from springing up on the inside and watering this desert of our soul? Lord, what are some of the things? One of the things surprisingly said is this in some people’s hearts as a fear of terror, that like a fear of the future that somehow the future is terribly insecure, something to be feared and say it prevents you from really stepping out boldly and confidently because there’s a holding back on the inside.

00:43:11.340]
Inevitably, there is going to be people like the woman here at the well who are looking at relationships as a pool that they can come and drink from. And like I say, it’s not necessarily that those feelings and desires are inappropriate or wrong. But it’s just that the that they’re somehow rooted and entangled with other things that God wants to just untangle there as some guys here. You think, man, if only I could if I do this or be this, then the if then I want to tell you if the certainly my experience is, you know, I’ve been in the if I’ve come to the ten and I’m at

00:44:13.210]
the other side of it.

00:44:13.990]
And I’m like, what? Give me a break. And what I’m realising is it’s right now, it’s right now. Jesus is here right now. And if you want to come and just drink at the well, you stand up and you come and you stand here this morning and, well, Lee, where the Holy Spirit leads us. Yeah. Just come up. God wants to bring us to complete wholeness. He wants us to come. Yeah. Just come as a whole person and that that is the thing that I guess I’ve been discovering.

00:45:14.730]
I’ve been discovering that I’m a whole person. I’m not just a spirit, not just a body. I’m not just a soul. I am. I am me. I am David, you know, boots and all warts and all emotions and all questions and all the whole package. You know, you get me. You get the whole package. And God’s, like I’ve been waiting for so long for this. I’ve been waiting for so long where you would quit coming as some more or something other than what you are. I want you to come just with everything, everything that you are.

00:46:01.030]
We’re not trying. We’re not trying. We’re not trying. We’re really doing it. Father Lee, come this morning to the well to see yourself coming to that well and see Jesus see Jesus. And he’s there offering the same thing that he offered to this woman who came. He said, Give me a drink. And she said, you know, well, how you going to get water? You got nothing to draw with. And he said, you know, if you knew who I was, you would have asked me. And I would have given you living water that’s going to spring up on the inside of you.

00:47:14.330]
And I want in Jesus name, my prayer today is that we unlock something on the inside, unlock a spring, dislodge things that stand in the way of that living water flowing and bringing saturation and satisfaction, not just to your inner man, not just to your spirit man, but to your soul. It is going to spill over into your emotions. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.Com. Have a great day.

Life happens. Sometimes it happens brutally fast. Others it creeps up on you and you lose sight of the ball. Either way, the reset button needs to be pressed.

Equilibrium in all things comes from centering your efforts on the one thing that matters. That one thing is relationship with Jesus Christ.

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00:00:00.000]
I want to share today, something arising from a conversation I had with Larna yesterday. We went out for coffee, and I was just really sharing with her how tired I was feeling and just from if we’ve had a very unusual and somewhat manic summer, and I feel as I’m playing catch up and I can get I can fall into the trap of getting very, very immersed in my work. And I guess like many. And I think this is probably more typical of men, but I’m sure I’m sure I’m open to be corrected in that assumption, but we can again a great deal of our self worth and significance from the things that we do.

00:00:52.960]
But the truth is that life happens and sometimes it can be brutal, you know, other times it creeps up on you and you just simply lose sight of the ball.

00:01:04.300]
You get busy doing often times good things. But in that you kind of lose sight of the bigger game that you’re playing, you know, and either way, sometimes the reset button needs to be pressed. I believe, with all my heart, you know, just without any question, that equilibrium in our lives, where all things are in their proper place comes from centering, our efforts on the one thing that matters, and that one thing should be relationship with Jesus. This is really true balance. Extreme devotion is reality, and everything else is on the circumferences, even creativity, which I speak of a lot, even your business, your family, your hopes, your aspirations, all of it.

00:01:58.920]
There is not a goal that is great without Jesus at the helm. And no victory is sweet without His smile. Jesus, to me, is the very meaning of life, because without Him there would be no life. By his words were told, the whole universe is held together and consists. He holds things together.

00:02:23.770]
And when we stand before him to give account for the life that we have lived, where will our boasting be in that day, all of our boasts will fall to the floor and even the crowns, even the accolades event, even the wonderful things bestowed up on us. I got himself will be thrown at his feet as we worship and recognise His Lordship. There’s no one accolade that will pass the pearly gates other than those that bring honour to His name. Nothing grand and glorious in the narrow eyes of men will have a plant in God’s presence.

00:03:03.820]
Every knee will bow the great and the low, the first and the last.

00:03:09.280]
All all will be humbled to confess that they are not God because on that great day only one name will Grace the lips of Kings. Only one name will be the praise of purpose and tame the tongue of the world. The name of Jesus Christ. I often ask myself and come around to this, and I called this. I called this share this thought, these ideas, pressing the reset button and this is one of the questions that presses that button for me.

00:03:46.280]
How will I fare when that moment arrives? When I stand before the King, will you hear the words, good and faithful servant to your great relief? Or will you be shocked to hear I never knew you? There’ll be no buts. And if they won’t work on that day, there’ll be no more opportunity for tomorrow.

00:04:12.920]
I will or give me one more chance. Or then I will change. There’s a time when time stops and the future. A long, eternal future without horizon begins now and forever will be forged in an instant. And you’ll stand right there in the eye of the storm.

00:04:36.220]
When eternity strikes, time becomes meaningless. Where will your boasting be? How will the values that you are living by stack up? What selfish laudations will you be flying on that day? What flag will you lift?

00:04:55.580]
It’s not popular to talk about being fearful, but you should be. And so should I. You know, for all my pontification and pious declarations, they will count for zero when I tremble in God’s Holy presence. When the one that today I call friend cast his eye over my life. He will do so as a judge, not my body.

00:05:22.000]
No longer. You know, he’ll no longer be a religious side dish added to an overflowing plate. He won’t be an option or a favourable choice in the polls. He will be all in all. His glory will stretch the full span and nothing else will matter.

00:05:44.610]
His light. The brightness of his coming will bleach the glamour of all that seemed important, completely bare. Nothing else will matter. Zero. Nada, nothing.

00:05:58.980]
Only Jesus well discover that our tiny minds were incapable of comprehending the terrible implications of truth or apprehension of what is real is honestly so shallow and will be shown to be so. The tears that are spoken of in the Book of Revelation that he wipes away will surely be ones of regret that while we lived, we did not make the main thing. The main thing that we made our name, the forefront, not his fear, deserves a strong place at the table. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

00:06:46.100]
Goodness and severity belong in the same room.

00:06:50.560]
A gospel that doesn’t acknowledge Holiness is a lopsided lie that leads men astray. And one day we will all stand before God to give account. Now our Salvation is assured and the goodness of God is without question. But it is not just the goodness of God that descriptions speak about. It also talks of His severity to live life with only the end of our own nose in the frame is foolishness.

00:07:25.950]
Indeed, the universe doesn’t orbit around our selfish desires or our greedy proclamations, or our tailored list of wants as much as the world would want to usher us into a sense that the universe is just awaiting our bidding. Oh, God forbid that we will fall into such a trap. God forbid that we would forget that there’s one who rules over all and who deserves our worship and our praise above all else. Whether we abound, whether we’re a based. What does it matter?

00:08:05.720]
He is the King and whatever our lot in life he has back. What would it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul. All that exists 10,000 times 10,000. Galaxies swirling through endless space. Right down to a quantum slice of the tiniest atom.

00:08:32.220]
Everything that ever was and ever will be all were created for his pleasure and his praise. Rocks cry out the heavens. Declare one name. And it’s not the name of David. It’s not your name.

00:08:48.000]
It’s not the name of the famous or the famous. Not the legendary of the talented, not the rich, the clever, the wise in their own eyes or the glamorous. Go getters there’s only one name, one name. Jesus. Jesus is Lord today.

00:09:07.120]
Yesterday, forever and my prayer today as I came before the presence of God. After such a busy. Such a diversion from the real thing. Such a time of immersion. It in just the business of life.

00:09:27.420]
I just break out of it and I say no more. Lord, you are the King and I want to live like it is so well. Thanks for listening. Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website.

00:09:48.470]
A DavidLeeMartin.Com have a great day.

It is easy to lose sight of the treasure that you carry. My prayer today is that you will rediscover yourself and find ways to share your beauty with the world.

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00:00:00.000]
I spent this last week pondering some of the parables of Jesus and, you know, with the Scriptures, they can be applied very, very directly within the context that they are written. But I believe that they also contain deep principles that can be understood and can inform us in many, many different aspects of life. I mean, truly, the word of God is like a beautiful diamond with so many facets. And I’ve been pondering some of Jesus parables with respect to a book that I’m kind of cooking at the moment that I began to write aimed very specifically at Christian entrepreneurs, men and women who want to kind of breakthrough and begin to make a financial living from their creativity.

00:00:51.120]
And I was thinking about the parable of the lost coin and how when Jesus speaks about this, he talks about this lady who loses one of her precious coins and looks everywhere in order to find it.

00:01:07.740]
I’m sure we can all relate in that we’ve all at some time lost something that we urgently wanted to rediscover and find. Where has it gone? You know, and this lady loses this gold coin. And I think sometimes we can feel as though our creative calling that our creativity is like one of those coins that somehow has been lost in the flurry of life. You know, it’s almost like we hear these sermons about how God has a magnificent plan for our lives, a destiny that is perfectly shaped for us to embody and gloriously fulfil.

00:01:53.620]
And we come away. A human is very encouraging to sit under those kind of truths being toward. But sometimes we can go away. And we can be like the lady in our house thinking, wow, that all sounded so precious and so valuable and so wonderful. But man, where has my coin gone?

00:02:13.280]
Who’s hidden it or who’s stolen it? Because despite the promise of this wonderful plan that God has for me, despite these promises of the destiny that is called me to fulfil, I feel as though somehow it alludes me. You know, many people feel like that. I believe, chasing dreams, looking under every stone, hoping that finally their day will come. And if a want of a better picture, the lottery of life will open up its treasures and all will be made plain.

00:02:47.720]
We know that we’ve got a creative gift. We understand. We know deep on the inside that there is a significant destiny car ing us upward and onward. But really the rough edges of life of often worn away our resolve almost to the bone and the idea of stepping out. Whereas at one time when we were this invincible young man or woman, Lee just looking to take life by the take, life on used to be an exciting prospect, but now it just feels frightening.

00:03:26.640]
The idea of step up and stepping out again, the idea of climbing into the ring, we feel sometimes and just one more disappointment might be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back and then plaster this against the backdrop of screaming voices on the Internet, pulling us in every direction with all sorts of inflated promises and opportunities the bombardment can feel wearing. You know, this grand design that God has for our lives can be shaved thin by all sorts of devilish tools. It comes from all sorts of directions.

00:04:08.580]
You Satan is not choosy. If diminishing your sense of worth works, then that is attack you’ll take if keeping you frantically chasing the next shiny object in the hope that your breakthrough is hidden behind some other sales page and you plaster your life with endless opportunities to pry your credit card from its until either your bank account or your resolve runs dry.

00:04:34.240]
And then, on the other side, it can be the drip, drip drip of discouragement that kills that awesome creative spirit that you are and causes you to crawl into a shady place to Lee a shadow life, living your dreams through someone else. You know the list goes on. The devil is a master player in a creativity on the one hand, is applauded by the world and the Kings and Queens of self expression are lifted up as almost otherworldly examples of human genius. Meanwhile, on planet Earth, creative aspirations are often frowned upon in a creative a lampooned as dreamers, unrealistic folks who’ve lost touch with reality.

00:05:26.600]
Now the questions are asked.

00:05:28.710]
What makes you think that you can make it as an artist and author, an actor? Whatever it may be, how would how would your message be of interest to anyone behind a tiny, insignificant crew of equally helpless, hopeless Lee? And that may sound really horrible to say. I even felt awful writing it, but the devil is not polite. He will prod and provoke and be dis, consistently pack away until you Lee.

00:06:08.880]
And just I want today I want to urge you to pick up spiritual arms and wage war against his lies. You know, the devil is not a Pansy. He holds nothing back in the war against those who bear the image of the one he hates. And he’s got nothing, no power whatsoever to create anything himself. All he can do is stage a heist of the genius of God’s, image bearers and twist that inherent creativity in lamentable and destructive ways or else try and stuff it so far back down inside of them that it never gets the opportunity to express itself and release life and bring transformation to others.

00:06:59.100]
You know, you are a unique and marvellous gift to humanity and there is not an in history you can offer what you carry to the table. I read this quote from Martha Graham. She was a pioneering dance dancer and choreographer, and she said this there is a vitality, a life force and energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all of time. This expression is unique.

00:07:29.380]
If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost. I know you carry a precious treasure on the inside. It’s your creative nature, the very image and likeness of the one who made you. And you know, like the lost coin in Jesus Parable, you find it in Luke chapter 15. This creative nature, this unction, this anointing has to be reclaimed.

00:07:56.580]
Well, I’ll read from the parable. It says, what woman having ten silver coins if she loses one coin, does not like a lamp. Sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it. And when she found it, she called her friends and neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me. So I found the peace that I lost.

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So many souls are lost to eternity, but many more never actually live life, even if they have been redeemed. Even if their future, their eternity has been secured. The bright, creative light that they carry has been dimmed and hidden away. Now I just want to encourage you. Don’t allow Satan to keep you in the dark any longer.

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Light your lamp and search incessantly until you find that spark that you once carried. That missing piece that fits everything else into place. You know, your redemption is not just an insurance policy. It’s an invitation to live fully and freely here on the Earth, adding value to the world through the unique expression that bears your name. How do we find that lost coin of creativity?

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I’d love to be able to tell you that it’s that like just a click finger solution, you know, click your fingers in all as well. It’s a pressing problem. But honestly, there is not an easy option for all of the quick, easy, cheap effortless answers that the marketing world wants to foist upon you. The reality is that most things take work. If it were easy, effortless and cheap, everyone would live in the luxury fulfilment joyously sharing their authentic self with an adoring audience.

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But again, let’s come back down to planet Earth. That’s where we’re stationed at this time. The process of discovery is often often requires digging through a few layers of dirt, excuses, insecurities, roadblocks reasonings, fears, failings feelings. Fumblings, discovering your awesome is like digging in to the dirt. You discover.

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You need sometimes to shift a lot of Earth before you hit the precious vein that carries your voice to the world. You know, the lady in the parable hunted tirelessly until and I believe that you need I need to do the same. The journey can be challenging. The temptation to turn around and head back to the village with your tail between your legs will press on you at times. Shame even can sneak up on you and poke its bony finger in your face.

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Spewing a river of I told you so. But honestly, the prize is worth the work. The delight is worth the digging because not just for you, but the ones that you will help and encourage. Lee, there are not many devotionals that really stick with me for decades, but one story that I read in one of the very first devotional books that I read, Streams in the Desert by Lee Coman has never left me. The author relates it far better than I can, but I’m going to try and kind of re tell the story in the way that I remember it.

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The picture that she paints in this particular devotional is of a small girl who finds a cocoon, and inside she can see the encase butterfly struggling to escape its woven womb, thinking to do the exhausted creature a favour, the girl carefully slices the cocoon open and waits for the beauty of the full form butterfly to take wing and Grace the world with its wonder. Instead, the beautiful creature falls from the opening and dies limp and helpless in her hand. What she didn’t realise was that it was actually the very struggle, the pressing against resistance, the pushing and straining to break the mould and finally find the full expression of its nature that pumped the blood into its wings and allowed it to fly.

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When finally the casing would crack. I believe it’s the same with our personal gifts and our full formed personality.

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It becomes over time, sometimes can become encased in layers of resistance, and on that playful, believing child is wrapped up out of sight. You know, the dreams can still call to us as we grow. But when we respond, we discover that it’s not so easy to act up on them. It’s not so easy to step out of what’s considered ordinary or normal and begin to express ourselves more fully and freely and authentically. You know, we want to be liked, we want to be considered normal.

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We want to fit in with the crowd, all of these things. Sometimes Lee back from just claiming our inheritance, claiming who we are and saying, yes, I’m here and I’m ready to be counted. Being yourself without fear and full of faith. You would think it would be a cinch. But I found that it’s not always the case.

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It’s actually a great quest to reclaim and rediscover your beauty and to let it fly. And like that butterfly, we need to learn to harness the resistance. We need to let its squeeze that deeper reality from the depths of who we are as a child of the Creator. O understand that the pressing through is all part of the great creators plan, that your mess and your message are often intertwined, that your journey will be the very thing that helps others reach their destination. Paul speaks of this so beautifully in Philippians, and I just love the way he puts this in Philippians 3:12.

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He says, not that I’ve already attained or that I’m already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus is laid hold of me. Christ Jesus is laid hold of you for a reason and a purpose. And you are now called to lay hold of that for which he is laid hold of you, pressing forward, meaning to endeavour earnestly, to acquire, to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of you. And you do this every day, daily building habits that respect your dreams and hopes, disciplines that lean into the person you believe yourself to be.

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You know, you are willing to face the prospect of a hard climb or a long dig, your desire to write or sing or paint or dance overrides the world’s.

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Baying discouragements de a creative friend. Make your desire to make something beautiful a priority. Don’t back off. Whatever your circumstances may say, whatever voice is standing your way, push through them, pressing toward your own Mark. That Mark that’s been set and planted by God Himself in your heart.

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For me, it’s to be a writer. You know these words, this recording, this chapter. They’re all part of pushing my cocoon. I feel the creative juice flowing through my veins as I do, even if hidden from the world. And we can sometimes feel that.

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That’s the case. There is a bursting beauty that will one day burst forth and break out and bring something wonderful showing down on some days that’s easy to believe in other days, it may not be so. Sometimes you may feel it’s inevitable. It will, of course, it’s going to happen. And then others know you may feel more like that, Caterpillar cold away in the darkness and reluctant to emerge.

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The important thing is to keep pressing, regardless of the feelings. To recognise that there is a unique expression that only you can bring and to do all you can to transform those ideas into action. For you. It might be words on a page like myself. It might be images, painted sketches done, an instrument, played a new song, song but keep digging.

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Keep pushing in a you are special. No one else can go deep enough to draw you out. That’s a journey that only you can fully undertake. Others may help and direct. They may act as guides, but at the end of the day, your love and wonder is not going to be a pale reflection of someone else’s experience.

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It will be a glowing testimony of who God has made you and you alone. To be this treasure. You know, this treasure of creativity may be lost for yours is reaching for your attention today. It’s the treasure of creativity calling to be recognised and to be released in your life. Well, thanks for listening.

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Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.Com. Have a great day.