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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily

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Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day

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Speaker 1: to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jennifer Doetzler, and after this short word

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Speaker 1: from our sponsor, we'll dive into today's Bible Verse, James

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Speaker 1: One nineteen. James one nineteen says, understand this, my dear

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Speaker 1: brothers and sisters. You must all be quick to listen,

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Speaker 1: slow to speak, and slow to get angry. This is

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Speaker 1: a powerful verse that teaches us how to live and

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Speaker 1: experience the life that God intended for us. If you've

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Speaker 1: been feeling like your response to life and to circumstances

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Speaker 1: and situations and maybe even to others has been the

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Speaker 1: opposite of the fruit of the spirit, or if you've

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Speaker 1: been finding yourself easily bumped, easily offended, or having the

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Speaker 1: desire to immediately explain yourself prove your side of the story,

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Speaker 1: this verse is for you. James was writing to a

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Speaker 1: people who were facing all kinds of trials. There were

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Speaker 1: trials of many types. There was famine, poverty, persecution. They

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Speaker 1: were in tough situations as new believers, and they were

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Speaker 1: looking for direction. They were looking for wisdom. They were

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Speaker 1: looking for instruction on how to live like Christ. You see,

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Speaker 1: James knew as a leader that the people needed some support.

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Speaker 1: They needed a reminder on how to respond like Christ's

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Speaker 1: so more than theological understanding, they needed direction on how

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Speaker 1: to live, some practical guidance on what it looked like

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Speaker 1: to be followers of Christ. When we look at the

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Speaker 1: context of the Book of James, we find that these

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Speaker 1: believers experiencing heavy persecution and trials. Their entire world was

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Speaker 1: flipped upside down. The tension was running high, and life

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Speaker 1: wasn't looking like what they had hoped. So even though

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Speaker 1: their natural instinct was to fight back, argue, or invent

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Speaker 1: their anger, James rejected that thought and way of living

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Speaker 1: and was reminding them of who they are in this

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Speaker 1: new life in Christ. James told the people to return

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Speaker 1: to christ like ways. He called all people to be

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Speaker 1: quick to listen, to be quick to understand. He reminded

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Speaker 1: them to be slow to speak, to resist the urge

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Speaker 1: to have an immediate answer, to defend themselves or prove

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Speaker 1: their point, or maybe even put someone in their place. Instead,

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Speaker 1: James was calling them to pause long enough for wisdom,

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Speaker 1: to pause for humility and to pause to allow the

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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit to shape their words. And then James completes

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Speaker 1: the thought by telling them to be slow to anger.

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Speaker 1: In other words, that means they were not to be

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Speaker 1: people who are easily stirred up or who are quick

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Speaker 1: to become frustrated or react out of hurt. They were

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Speaker 1: to become people whose responses and whose hearts or surrendered

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Speaker 1: to the Lord. James was redefining true spiritual maturity and growth.

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Speaker 1: He was teaching the early followers of Christ that eternal

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Speaker 1: reward and growth to become more like Christ meant living

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Speaker 1: in a way that was countercultural to the world. Some

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Speaker 1: people might think that this verse is behavior modification, but

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Speaker 1: this is actually the true heart and transformation. Once Jesus

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Speaker 1: is in control of your life, how we live and

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Speaker 1: respond is Christ's followers changes. When we allow the Wholy

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Speaker 1: Spirit to form us and guide us, we no longer

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Speaker 1: desire to be right. We desire to be righteous for Christ.

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Speaker 1: We want to live a righteous life that honors the

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Speaker 1: Lord with our thoughts, our words, our actions, with our hearts.

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Speaker 1: We understand that being wise doesn't always make sense to

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Speaker 1: the world around us, and that's okay. We understand that

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Speaker 1: being wise may even look foolish to the world. As

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Speaker 1: followers of Jesus, we choose to think the best and

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Speaker 1: speak the best of others. We choose to let go

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Speaker 1: of an offense. We choose forgiveness instead of unforgiveness. We

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Speaker 1: choose wholeness and healing. We choose restoration instead of resentment,

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Speaker 1: and we choose to trust God regardless of our circumstances.

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Speaker 1: As we begin to quiet down our own voices and

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Speaker 1: truly hear the word of God, we see the Lord

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Speaker 1: provide the power to change our hearts, to change our minds,

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Speaker 1: and all ultimately change the way we live. This isn't

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Speaker 1: a temporary patch for our temper, but a true transformation

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Speaker 1: that only happens with the Lord. Even the early Church

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Speaker 1: knew the difference of a disciplined life versus an undisciplined life.

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Speaker 1: It was evident when a true Christ's follower was around

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Speaker 1: because they were different. Like James and Strucks, we must.

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Speaker 2: Go to the Lord for true transformation and seek Him

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Speaker 2: as our wisdom and strength. And as we do this,

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Speaker 2: like the early Church, we'll see the fruit of God

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Speaker 2: in our lives. We'll see the fruit of the Holy

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Speaker 2: spirit begin to appear and will look very different from

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Speaker 2: the world around us. We'll see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness,

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Speaker 2: and self control. I want to encourage you today to

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Speaker 2: take a moment to remind yourself to be quick to hear,

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Speaker 2: slow to speak, and slow to anger. Let's pray, Holy Father,

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you for your instruction and direction in

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Speaker 2: our lives. We know that without you we are prone

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Speaker 2: to becoming selfish and responding in ways that don't honor you.

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Speaker 2: So for that we repent of our old ways and

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Speaker 2: ask Lord that you would help us to become more

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Speaker 2: like you in every way. In our thoughts, our words,

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Speaker 2: our actions continue to transform us, mold us, shape us into.

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Speaker 1: Who You've called us to be. Thank you, Lord for

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Speaker 1: not only transforming our hearts, but also transforming our minds

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Speaker 1: and the way we live. We love you and need

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Speaker 1: you in Jesus' name.

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Speaker 2: Amen,