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Speaker 1: Life Audio Thank you for listening to Your Nightly Scripture,

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Speaker 1: a calming, scripture-centered devotional podcast designed to help you end

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Speaker 1: each day with God's Word in your mind and on

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Speaker 1: your heart. Right after this short word from our sponsors,

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Speaker 1: we'll reflect on tonight's scripture, Hebrews chapter 3. Tonight's scripture

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Speaker 1: reflection is written by Sophia Bricker and read by Leah Gerard.

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Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter 3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters who share

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Speaker 1: in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom

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Speaker 1: we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was

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Speaker 1: faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses

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Speaker 1: was faithful in all God's house. Jesus said, Moses was

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Speaker 1: faithful as a servant in all God's house, bearing witness

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Speaker 1: to what would be spoken by God in the future.

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Speaker 1: But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house,

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Speaker 1: and we are His house. if indeed we hold firmly

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Speaker 1: to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

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Speaker 1: So as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear

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Speaker 1: His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did

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Speaker 1: in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness,

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Speaker 1: where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty

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Speaker 1: years they saw what I did. That is why I

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Speaker 1: was angry with that generation. I said, their hearts are

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Speaker 1: always going astray, and they have not known my ways.

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Speaker 1: So I declared on oath in my anger, they shall

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Speaker 1: never enter my rest. See to it, brothers and sisters,

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Speaker 1: that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that

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Speaker 1: turns away from the living God, but encourage one another daily,

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Speaker 1: as long as it is called today, so that none

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Speaker 1: of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have

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Speaker 1: come to share in Christ's if indeed we hold our

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Speaker 1: original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just

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Speaker 1: been said, today, if you hear his voice, do not

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Speaker 1: harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. Who

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Speaker 1: were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all

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Speaker 1: those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was

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Speaker 1: he angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned?

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Speaker 1: whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did

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Speaker 1: God swear that they would never enter his rest, if

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Speaker 1: not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they

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Speaker 1: were not able to enter because of their unbelief. If

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Speaker 1: anyone had a reason to give up, it was Athanasius.

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Speaker 1: He had been exiled multiple times and slandered by many,

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Speaker 1: Others urged him to give in to the theology of

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Speaker 1: the Arians, but he refused. The matter in question, the

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Speaker 1: divinity of Christ, was too important for him to cave to,

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Speaker 1: even though it would have been easier for him to

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Speaker 1: do so. Standing firm on the truth of Scripture, Athanasius

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Speaker 1: continued in a faithful defense of Jesus' identity as God,

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Speaker 1: despite intense struggle and persecution. He advocated for the truth

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Speaker 1: presented at the Council of Nicaea expressed in the Nicene Creed.

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Speaker 1: We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son

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Speaker 1: of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God,

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Speaker 1: light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made,

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Speaker 1: of one being with the Father. The things most worth

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Speaker 1: doing are often the most difficult. In the Bible, That's

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Speaker 1: one of the reasons the Israelites did not enter the

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Speaker 1: Promised Land as instructed. It appeared too challenging. The report

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Speaker 1: of the spies, except Joshua and Caleb, discouraged Israel because

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Speaker 1: they focused only on the size of the enemies and

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Speaker 1: the threat of going to battle against them. Read Numbers 13, 31-33.

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Speaker 1: So they took the easier route. They gave up. In

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Speaker 1: doing so, they not only faced 40 years of wandering

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Speaker 1: in the wilderness, they also lost their chance of entering

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Speaker 1: the promise of God because of unfaithfulness, as we read

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Speaker 1: in Numbers 14, 26-35. Long-term faithfulness may seem like the

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Speaker 1: harder route with the struggles that are sure to come,

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Speaker 1: leaving us discouraged and weary, yet giving up and caving

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Speaker 1: in to sin is the cowardly option. It offers nothing

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Speaker 1: of value, only a fleeting, selfish relief of not having

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Speaker 1: to endure suffering for the sake of obedience. Thankfully, we

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Speaker 1: do not have to attempt to tread the path of

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Speaker 1: obedience alone or in our own strength. Jesus, our great

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Speaker 1: High Priest, has gone before us as one fully faithful

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Speaker 1: to the Father. To remain steadfast, Hebrews 3.1 encourages us

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Speaker 1: to fix your thoughts on Jesus and whom we acknowledge

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Speaker 1: as our Apostle and High Priest. With Him, nothing is impossible,

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Speaker 1: for He gives us the courage to keep going, even

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Speaker 1: when it would be easier to give up. Lord, set

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Speaker 1: my eyes on You so that I focus on the

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Speaker 1: goal and purpose of life, to know You and to

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Speaker 1: love You with all my heart, soul, and strength. The

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Speaker 1: more I focus on you, the less I will obsess

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Speaker 1: over the obstacles that stand in the way of obedience.

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Speaker 1: The temptation is strong, O Savior, to give up, for

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Speaker 1: it would be easy to do so. No one would

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Speaker 1: notice if I did, none but you. Give me the

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Speaker 1: strength to keep going because I cannot do this alone.

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Speaker 1: Enable me to stand firm in the promises of your word,

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Speaker 1: meditating on the faithfulness that You have shown me throughout time. Truly,

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Speaker 1: 2 Timothy 2.13 assures me that You remain faithful even

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Speaker 1: when I am faithless. In Your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.

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Speaker 1: How did tonight's scripture speak to you? Share your thoughts

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Speaker 1: in the Your Nightly Scripture Forum Discussions.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to Your Nightly Scripture. Tonight's scripture

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Speaker 2: was read from the New International Version by Biblica. All

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Speaker 2: sure that your day begins and ends today. centered on

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Speaker 2: the Word of God.