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When someone tells you that you're called to a higher purpose, how do you react?
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Are you apprehensive?
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Do you feel like you're not the right person for the job?
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Or do you take the opportunity head on, even if you aren't quite prepared for it?
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Well, no matter how you react, it's something that we all go through at some point in our
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lives, it is not exactly the easiest thing to handle.
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And that's why on this season, we'll be looking at how to handle our purpose with one of my
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favorite shows ever, and whether you consider it an anime or not, it's kind of up to you.
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But that show is Avatar The Last Airbender.
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Hey, what's going on guys?
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My name is Nate, and you're listening to the Otaku Liberation, a show where we help you
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break the chains that will hold you back in your life by connecting some biblical principles
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with themes from your favorite anime.
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And without further ado, let's get right on into it.
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So the whole idea of purpose, right?
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It seems to be this whole mystical journey that we all kind of go through, that we all
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trying to figure out in our lives.
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And I don't know about you, but I honestly wish I had some instructions, some really
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clear instructions on what I need to do at every given moment, because I just think my
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life will be a lot easier.
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Maybe that's just me.
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Who knows?
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But what I do know is that God did create all of us for a purpose.
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And honestly, that overarching purpose is the same, is to bring people to the kingdom,
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to bring them to salvation, to help them know him in a better light.
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But the method that each of us uses is going to be different and be tailor made to how
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God made us.
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So before we get too deep into it, the verse I want to cover for this episode is Ephesians
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chapter two, verse 10.
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It says, for we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
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prepared in advance for us to do.
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And the Lord said it better than I could, right?
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He created us for good works, for us to do good works.
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And I guess the good thing is those works are already prepared for us, right?
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They're already here just waiting for us to really mature enough and to get to the point
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where we can handle it.
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And that's a long and daunting process, but it's one that honestly, once you get to the
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other side of it and you look back to see where you started, that's his own reward,
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at least for me.
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Again, you guys let me know if you feel the same or maybe I'm just talking crazy.
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Who knows?
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After all, I'm just in here in my room talking into this mic.
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So I just have to pretend that you guys understand what I'm talking about.
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But the reason why I chose Avatar is one, like I say, is one of my favorite shows ever
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so I figured why not do a season on it.
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But two, it's one of those shows that's been a cult classic that a lot of people, both
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who are in my generation who saw it when it first came out and those who are just discovering
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now can all agree that it's a masterpiece.
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It's very well done and there's so many different things that you can pick from it.
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So just a little bit of the overview.
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Avatar Last Airbender was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Brian Konietzko.
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Sorry, Brian.
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It originally aired from 2001 to 2008.
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So early 2000s, just kind of finding its footing.
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For me, going back and rewatching it, because I rewatched it in preparation for this season
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and there's so many things that I didn't notice when I watched it the first time as a kid.
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Or maybe I did notice a bit the meaning of it didn't really hit home until I got older
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and just really understood the weight of the story.
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I mean, getting at this 12 year old kid who's in charge of ending a hundred year old war.
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Just think about how massive that is.
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And we're talking about our purpose.
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That's how big our purpose is here on earth.
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And sorry, just the gravity of it can make it seem impossible at times.
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And that's just the way God wants it.
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He wants it to feel like we can't do it on our own because we can't.
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But with him, everything is possible.
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And he and everything.
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So the points I want to go over in today's episode is one, the mission and two, the method.
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So in Avatar, the mission was the nations, right?
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Joining the four nations together and ending this war that was started by the Fire Nation.
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Though in a world where people have these special abilities called bending, where they
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can control the four different elements, air, water, earth and fire, the world is actually
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divided into the separate nations.
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So you have the Air Nomads who are a peaceful people who are pretty deeply connected with
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nature.
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They value freedom, enlightenment and detachment from worldly desires.
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Then you have the Water Tribe who are divided into the North and South Poles.
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They value community, family and spirituality.
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Then you have the Earth Kingdom, which is the largest and most diverse nation representing
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various landscapes and cultures.
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And they cherish tradition and respect for authority.
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And lastly is the Fire Nation, a militaristic nation who promotes ambition, discipline and
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loyalty to the nation.
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And one, I love, I just love the world building of the show because it goes deep into each
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of these nations, into their cultures.
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As you're watching the show, you begin to understand the differences that they all have,
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but also some of the similarities that they all have.
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And it mirrors today's world and the way we are now in like in real life.
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We have these different nations, different countries, and heck, even we have different
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cultures within our own countries.
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And it's just as amazing to me how a lot of us can, can see the same thing, hear the same
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thing, but interpret things differently.
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And a world so divided, it makes you wonder, how can they ever be united?
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How can they ever be brought together to be this one big, you know, happy family, right,
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that we all envision?
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But I mean, that's, but again, that's, that's the mission.
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That's the mission Aang has.
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He has, he has to end the war and not only that, but bring unity back into the world
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because that's what the, the Avatar is supposed to do.
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The Avatar represents unity.
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It represents your wholeness in a sense.
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And just like how he's in charge of the four nations of in his own world, we're in charge
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of the people in the nations here on earth.
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And again, God wants all to, to be brought into heaven, to be brought together under
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unity.
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And I mean, again, that's the reason why Jesus died.
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He died for all of us, not just me, not just you, not just believers.
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He died for everybody.
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And I hope that, you know, one, we just wake up and realize, Hey, you know, let's stop
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sinning and living.
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And lastly, you'll live the way God intended us to live.
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And the mission, the mission is, is grand.
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It's huge.
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It is, it's impossible to do by ourselves, but that's why God gave us the tools to at
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least begin.
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That's why he gave us the Bible to read and understand his word.
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That's why he, he promotes community.
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That's why we go to church and have, you know, different smaller groups outside of the church,
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you know, with your friends, your family, and just, just doing life together.
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And I don't want you to get so lost in, in the mission and just think, man, I don't even
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know where to begin with this.
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I don't even know why God chose me to do this.
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You know, all these different things that honestly have gone through my head before.
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If I'm just being completely honest, transparent, there's sometimes even now I'm thinking, God,
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I'm not the right person for this.
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And then he, you know, he slaps me and says, yes, you are.
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Okay.
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Maybe he doesn't slap me, but it's what it feels like sometimes.
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So that's, that's the mission.
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And now the method that, you know, God uses that the world needed an avatar is actually
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the people in this case, the avatar himself.
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And like I said, the avatar is someone who has to be a bridge between all four of the
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nations.
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And in order to do that first, he or they, they have the ability to master all four of
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the different elements because the different bending arts and stuff are typically only
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to one culture or the other air bending to the air nomads, fire bending, fire nation,
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et cetera, et cetera.
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But the avatar is the one person who can actually learn and master all four of them.
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And it goes beyond just learning the actual martial art of bending.
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It goes into actually understanding all four of the cultures.
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The avatar is tasked with actually keeping the balance in the world while also acting
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as a bridge between the physical and the spiritual.
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Now if you're a believer, this sounds vaguely familiar, right?
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You know, as, as Christians were called to be in the world, not of the world we have
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in order to help and to help heal the world, we have to understand it.
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But us being as Christians believe as Christ followers, we are called to a higher standard.
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So it's hard.
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It is just hard because we're here.
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We want to save the world.
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So we have to actually live in it, but we also know we are true home is, is in heaven.
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And sometimes bridging that gap for ourselves is hard, let alone for people who are lost.
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And that's why it's important to just really understand why God made you who he called
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you to be and who he is and what his heart says.
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And all of that just comes from being in the word, being in the scripture, praying and
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praying and fasting, all of these different tools that we have, but it's a gradual process.
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You know, it's a journey.
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This whole thing about purpose and understanding why we were made, why we are here is something
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that's going to take a lifetime.
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And we may not even fully figure it out until we're standing in front of them for judgment.
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That's the way it feels sometimes.
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But that's why just like the avatar who is acting as this bridge is, is I think the whole,
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the whole, what's the word I'm looking for?
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The whole depiction of somebody being a bridge between the two worlds that you live in.
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It just, it sums up, it sums up being a Christian perfectly to me.
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And it just, I couldn't have said it any better or given a better illustration.
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And it's also kind of daunting because you're someone who wields this awesome power, but
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you also have so much responsibility.
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We have awesome power because we're made in God's image.
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We can do anything because he can do anything as long as we do it with him.
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And that power is in each and every one of us.
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But like the Spider-Man cliche, with great power comes with great responsibility.
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And it can be daunting to those who either don't want the responsibility, which is fair.
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I mean, after all, you didn't ask to be a shepherd.
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You didn't ask for this.
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But whether you ask for it or not, that's what God calls you to do, calls you to be.
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And for those of us who are destined to do great things are often the ones who are asked
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the most of.
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And again, God's placed you here for a purpose, to act as a bridge between his kingdom and
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those who don't know him.
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And because he has you here for a great purpose, he's going to ask a lot out of you, a lot
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from you, but he's also going to pour into you just as much, if not even more, because
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he knows living on this earth is hard enough.
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Just trying to survive, let alone trying to help and bring other people along for the
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riot and to do what we were called to do.
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So I mean, he knows that he fully understands that.
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That's why he's prepared these things for us.
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That's why he continues to pour into us.
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Because again, he knows it's hard.
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He knows it's hard.
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He knows it's going to be a difficult journey.
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But it's going to be so worth it in the end.
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And sometimes I wish we were kind of like the Avatar because again, when the Avatar
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is told of their identity, because they don't know right away, kind of like how we are,
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we don't know about God and all that when we're born, right?
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Someone has to tell us.
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And typically the Avatar are told when they turn 16 that they are in fact the Avatar
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and that begins their training for the different elements and all these different things.
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But what they have, which I wish we had, is that they have the ability to actually communicate
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with their past lives.
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So the way the Avatar works is they are actually a fusion between a human and the spirit.
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And the spirit is actually what allows them to be able to bend the four elements because
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it's acting as like a medium of sorts.
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And every time the Avatar dies, they get reincarnated into what's known as the Avatar cycle.
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And it goes from each element.
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It goes from air to water to earth to fire.
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So in Avatar the last airbender is an airbender first, right?
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Because his past life he was a firebender and in his next life he's going to be a waterbender.
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But the Avatar have this kind of built in instruction manual being their past lives.
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They can actually tap into that and be able to communicate with some of their past lives.
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Just get more insight, more instruction, more direction just to help them along this journey.
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And I mean, I'm sorry, even though I've written all this stuff down from my script,
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sitting here talking about it just really opened my eyes to a lot of different things
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is that one, we have the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, right?
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So that's the spirit.
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And we're never truly dead because we're going to live forever in heaven.
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And now though we can't really talk to our past lives because we only have the one life,
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right?
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We have to look to those who came before us in the Bible, right?
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These people died thousands of years ago.
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They lived and died thousands of years ago, even more so actually.
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And just we have those instructions just there for us.
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We just have to know where to look, how to look, and how to interpret it.
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And I'm sorry, I can keep going on and on about it because I love this stuff, guys.
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You know it by now.
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I'm in season what, seven?
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I can keep going on and on.
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But the key point I want you to get from today's episode is that God has a purpose for your
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life.
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It's a big one, it's a daunting one, but He has equipped you with everything that you
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need and it's a step-by-step process.
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He doesn't expect you to have all the answers right now or ever because we're never going
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to have all the answers.
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But what He does want you to do is just to be obedient to Him and to take those steps
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to begin walking in your purpose or even just begin finding your purpose, right?
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Because I believe I found what mine is right now, but I'm still working out the kinks.
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And who knows, five, six years from now it may change in pivot because God may say, you
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know, that wasn't it.
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You were close, but that's not it.
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And I just got to be ready to move.
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And it may suck, but hey, that's what I'm here for, right?
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But until that happens, or if that happens, you guys are going to hear me week in, week
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out talk about anime and the Lord and how the two can actually come together and benefit
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all of our lives.
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But hey, if you like what you heard today and you want to take a deeper look into today's
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episode, head on over to the otaku liberation.net where you'll find a blog article that covers
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today's episode in a little more detail.
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And don't forget to join me next week as we take a deep dive into the last end render
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himself, that's Avatar Aang, and see what it looks like when you aren't really ready
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for your purpose when your purpose comes calling.
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And hey, always remember, you are the main character of your story and that story doesn't
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end until he says so.
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Alright, be blessed.
