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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey everyone, welcome back to How to Say

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Speaker 1: the Bible. I'm your host, Nicole Yunis. I'm so glad

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Speaker 1: to be here. I'm so excited about our upgrade. Here.

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Speaker 1: If you're joining us on YouTube, we have a beautiful

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Speaker 1: studio and it's great to just be able to focus

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Speaker 1: with you as we open our Bibles together. So, as

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Speaker 1: you know, we are in the Gospel of Mark. We

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Speaker 1: started last week and we're just going to work our

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Speaker 1: way through, basically chapter by chapter together asking really simple

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Speaker 1: questions of the text. As you know, one of the

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Speaker 1: things that we really want to focus on is making

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Speaker 1: sure that we understand what the listeners or readers of

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Speaker 1: this in the original context would have been getting from

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Speaker 1: what they were reading. Then we're going to build a

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Speaker 1: bridge over to our day and how this impacts us

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Speaker 1: and what does it mean for us. So I've put

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Speaker 1: a title on chapter two, and my title mark chapter

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Speaker 1: two is that the Spirit brings freedom. So let's take

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Speaker 1: a minute and really try to review. We're just going

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Speaker 1: to zoom over the top. There's so much going on

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Speaker 1: in the Book of Mark. Of all the gospels, this

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Speaker 1: is the action gospel. This is where you see sort

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Speaker 1: of quick movement between places and experiences and Jesus's miracles

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Speaker 1: and his teachings. And I love to start here, especially

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Speaker 1: if you're new to the Bible or it's just been

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Speaker 1: a while before you've kind of like re engaged with

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Speaker 1: who is the person of Jesus. It is really easy,

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Speaker 1: especially right now in our day and age, to hear

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Speaker 1: all of this like Jesus plus everything else, Jesus plus politics,

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Speaker 1: Jesus plus policy, Jesus plus culture, and the Gospel of

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Speaker 1: Mark is really about who is Jesus to you? And

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Speaker 1: it's a place to really start and ask the question

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Speaker 1: who is this man and what is he about? What

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Speaker 1: does he teach, and what is he what does he heal?

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Speaker 1: And who is he for? And who is he against?

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Speaker 1: And we're going to see a lot of that today

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Speaker 1: in March chapter tie. So if you have your Bible,

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Speaker 1: go ahead and open to Mark chapter two today. I'm

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Speaker 1: u a, I'm using a real big Bible today. This

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Speaker 1: is an NIV study Bible. So we've talked about translations before.

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Speaker 1: There's different translations. All of them are translated by Greek

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Speaker 1: and Hebrew scholars, but the purpose of the translation is

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Speaker 1: a little bit different. So we have all the way

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Speaker 1: from word for word translations, which are sometimes a little

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Speaker 1: bit more clunky in the English, to a thought for

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Speaker 1: thought translation. So we go kind of all the way

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Speaker 1: from the New King James Version, the English Standard version,

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Speaker 1: which is like that word for word, and then all

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Speaker 1: the way over to Thought for Thought, which is like

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Speaker 1: a New Living Translation, which I often read out of

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Speaker 1: in this podcast. But today I'm in the NIV, which

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Speaker 1: is a little bit right in the middle. It's the

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Speaker 1: New International Version. And this is a big Bible because

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Speaker 1: it's a study Bible. And you know I've talked with

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Speaker 1: you guys before about study Bibles. I've given you links

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Speaker 1: on my newsletters to go grab a study Bible. This

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Speaker 1: is a very small investment for an incredible amount of return.

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Speaker 1: A study Bible has usually twenty to three thirty thousand

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Speaker 1: study notes in it, and it's not just one person's

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Speaker 1: thoughts about the text or the scripture of the book.

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Speaker 1: It is a whole consortium of scholars who've come together,

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Speaker 1: usually over the course of years, to bring together the

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Speaker 1: best thought around the original context, the history, some of

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Speaker 1: the theological points. So it really is this treasure for

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Speaker 1: you where you don't need another commentary. You don't need

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Speaker 1: another devotion. You can actually just use what's here in

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Speaker 1: the book, and really for this whole gospel, what's here

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Speaker 1: in the study Bible is all I'm using as I'm

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Speaker 1: teaching with you. So we're just discovering together and using

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Speaker 1: how these study notes bring us through scripture and teach

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Speaker 1: us different things about these different chapters. Okay, so let's

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Speaker 1: dive into March chapter two. If you have not read

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Speaker 1: chapter two yet, this is a great time to pause

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Speaker 1: the video, pause the podcast. Read the chapter. I'm going

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Speaker 1: to give you like the Nicole Standard version, which is

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Speaker 1: not exactly the same, but it's a great chance to

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Speaker 1: stop and read the chapter if you haven't yet. And

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Speaker 1: what you're going to notice is that there is a

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Speaker 1: lot going on. So let me give you a zoom

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Speaker 1: over on the chapter. We'll start with our first question,

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Speaker 1: which is just what does it say? Before we go

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Speaker 1: anywhere in the Bible. We just want to make sure

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Speaker 1: I can recount what I've read, and I'm looking and

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Speaker 1: listening for things that are interesting to me, things that

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Speaker 1: I don't understand, things that make me question. I'm starting

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Speaker 1: to write down maybe a few notes around kind of

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Speaker 1: tone and what's happening, so that if I was telling

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Speaker 1: my friend, for instance, hey, I read March chapter two

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Speaker 1: this morning, I'd be able to say, and here's like

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Speaker 1: three things that happened in the chapter. It's amazing how

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Speaker 1: we can read and we can be, especially in the Bible.

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Speaker 1: I think, super focused on what's in this for me,

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Speaker 1: like what is God going to give me? Like what

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Speaker 1: word of encouragement do I have this morning? And the

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Speaker 1: reality is we can sometimes skip over even knowing actually

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Speaker 1: what's happening. So we always want to start with what's

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Speaker 1: actually happening in this chapter. So I made you a

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Speaker 1: little diagram for today, so if you're over on YouTube

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Speaker 1: you can see it, just a little arrowed down and up.

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Speaker 1: Because this is what I think happens in this cha

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Speaker 1: is that what is happening in here is bookended by

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Speaker 1: two things. The first thing that happens is that Jesus

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Speaker 1: heals this paralyzed man. Crowds are coming. Jesus is so

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Speaker 1: popular right away, all of these people are desperate for healing,

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Speaker 1: for presents. They like know something's different about this man,

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Speaker 1: and we know that Jesus comes here to the place

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Speaker 1: that he is. In chapter two, and it's so crowded

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Speaker 1: in the house that nobody can get access to Jesus.

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Speaker 1: And there's a couple of these guys who have a

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Speaker 1: friend who's paralyzed, and they're so desperate to put their

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Speaker 1: friend in front of Jesus that they actually rip open

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Speaker 1: the roof and drop their friend down right in front

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Speaker 1: of Jesus. And the first thing that happens here is

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Speaker 1: that Jesus shows that he has authority to forgive sin,

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Speaker 1: so he's healing this guy. But the beginning of the

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Speaker 1: chapter is that Jesus has authority to forgive sin. We

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Speaker 1: see then that there is already conflict developing between Jesus

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Speaker 1: and religious authorities. And then Jesus makes this statement that

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Speaker 1: might feel a little bit strange to us. He uses

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Speaker 1: an analogy that maybe we've never heard before. He talks

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Speaker 1: about wine skins, and he makes the analogy to say

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Speaker 1: that you would not put new wine in old wine skins,

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Speaker 1: because if you put new wine in old wine skins,

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Speaker 1: they'll burst. New wine needs new wine skins. So we've

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Speaker 1: got this kind of mysterious, very Eastern parabled metaphor analogy

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Speaker 1: that Jesus is giving in the middle of all of

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Speaker 1: this action. So that's kind of the bottom part of

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Speaker 1: this chapter. And then we go back up and we

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Speaker 1: see that Jesus now proclaims his authority not only over

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Speaker 1: the law as he talks about the Sabbath, but also

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Speaker 1: over creation because he stills a storm. So our fly

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Speaker 1: over to chapter two is that we've got these bookends

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Speaker 1: of Jesus declaring and showing that he has authority to

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Speaker 1: forgive sin. He makes this metaphor about something new happening

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Speaker 1: that it's not going to be able to fit into

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Speaker 1: an old struckg sure that this new covenant, this new promise,

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Speaker 1: this new thing which is him his person, is going

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Speaker 1: to be the change, the change agent, the change point.

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Speaker 1: And then we see he has authority over the law

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Speaker 1: and over creation. Okay, so let's break that down a

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Speaker 1: little bit in kind of three confrontations that we see

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Speaker 1: happening in scripture, and listen, if you are a people pleaser,

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Speaker 1: and if you think being a Christian means that everyone

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Speaker 1: likes me, I have some news for you. Not everyone

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Speaker 1: likes Jesus. In fact, he actually says to his followers,

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Speaker 1: if they hate you, they hated me. First, we are

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Speaker 1: not here necessarily to be and seek the approval of

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Speaker 1: all people. And we see this here because Jesus makes

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Speaker 1: it super clear that the number one priority in his

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Speaker 1: life is obedience to the Father, whatever that means, and

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Speaker 1: that he is very dead set on relieving affliction, on

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Speaker 1: expressing mercy, on teaching what the Kingdom of God is

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Speaker 1: really like, and anyone who opposes that he opposes them

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Speaker 1: see him have These confrontations begin to happen in this chapter.

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Speaker 1: The first confrontation happens when he's healing this paralyzed man.

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Speaker 1: So this man is dropped in front of him, and

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Speaker 1: it says that Jesus knew what was in the heart

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Speaker 1: of religious leaders because as he is having this moment

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Speaker 1: with this man and he says, to this man who

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Speaker 1: has a clear injury in front of him, a clear illness,

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Speaker 1: it's clear to everyone what the priority would be for

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Speaker 1: this man. He's obviously there for healing. But before Jesus

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Speaker 1: heals him, which he does. Before he heals him, he says,

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Speaker 1: so that you know that the Son of Man has

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Speaker 1: authority to forgive sin. Your sins are forgiven like he

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Speaker 1: forgives his sin first. And in the midst of this

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Speaker 1: there's some religious leaders, some teachers of the law. This

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Speaker 1: would be like the pastors of the day, and they

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Speaker 1: are like grumbling about, like who is this man? Who

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Speaker 1: how dare he say that he can forgive sin? It

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Speaker 1: says that Jesus knew what was in their heart. And

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Speaker 1: the first confrontation comes when he sees what is in

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Speaker 1: their heart, and he is distressed by the fact that

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Speaker 1: these guys are so caught up in what they think

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Speaker 1: is right that they don't see that something beautiful is

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Speaker 1: happening right in front of them. And this is the

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Speaker 1: moment where Jesus says, so that you know I have

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Speaker 1: authority to forgive sin, get up, take up your mat,

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Speaker 1: and walk. And he heals this man, who goes out,

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Speaker 1: of course rejoicing. That's the first confrontation. The second thing

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Speaker 1: that happens is now Jesus turns his attention in verses

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Speaker 1: thirteen through seventeen actually to the guys who are there

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Speaker 1: with him, and this is what he says to them.

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Speaker 1: He goes out and he says, I'm sorry. A little

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Speaker 1: bit back from there, he says in verse eight, why

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Speaker 1: are you thinking about the things? This is when they're

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Speaker 1: talking about grumbling about how can you say this, and

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Speaker 1: he says, I want you to know the son a

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Speaker 1: man has authority on earth to forgive sins. So that's

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Speaker 1: the first thing that he does. The second confrontation, now

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Speaker 1: we're going to get to that in verse thirteen and seventeen,

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Speaker 1: is actually with his disciples, with the people who are

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Speaker 1: already following him, because Jesus now goes out and he

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Speaker 1: begins to call others to him, and in calling Levi,

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Speaker 1: he calls a tax collector. Now, in our day, if

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Speaker 1: we were going to make a connection to what it

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Speaker 1: would be like to be a tax collector, this was

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Speaker 1: a Jewish person who was working for Roman authority. So

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Speaker 1: they were kind of working for the enemy. Oftentimes they

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Speaker 1: would skim off of the top of their own countrymen.

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Speaker 1: Whatever they were requiring. This was probably a little bit

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Speaker 1: like a toll booth. If you were walking down through

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Speaker 1: a different region, you would have to pay at tax

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Speaker 1: to be in that area. And so this guy Levi

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Speaker 1: is likely very he's kind of he's kind of a sleeve.

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Speaker 1: Like it would be a guy that you would think, ooh,

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Speaker 1: like think of something that in our day and age,

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Speaker 1: we'd be like, that's not that's not a great business

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Speaker 1: to be in, whether that's like a personal injury lawyer,

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Speaker 1: seems to be preying on people who were in difficult circumstances.

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Speaker 1: He would not be a respected dude. And this is

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Speaker 1: the guy that Jesus calls to himself. Not only that,

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Speaker 1: but that night he actually has dinner at Levi's house

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Speaker 1: and it says that he was eating with sinners quote unquote.

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Speaker 1: So's he's consorting with people that often religious leaders weren't.

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Speaker 1: And so now we get this second confrontation where Jesus

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Speaker 1: is calling out this idea of what it means to

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Speaker 1: and he says this line, this is in verse seventeen.

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Speaker 1: He says, it's not the healthy who need a doctor,

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Speaker 1: but the sick. I've not come to call the righteous,

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Speaker 1: but sinners. So we've got this second confrontation of truth

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Speaker 1: that that then is happening in this chapter. And then

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Speaker 1: we have a third confrontation of truth when Jesus talks

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Speaker 1: about being Lord of the Sabbath. This is kind of

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Speaker 1: at the end of the chapter we've got the story

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Speaker 1: going ahead, and says that on a sabbath, Jesus was

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Speaker 1: going through the grain fields, and as they walked along,

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Speaker 1: they begin to pick up some heads of grain, and

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Speaker 1: once again the religious leaders are like, why are you

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Speaker 1: doing something that is not lawful on the Sabbath. So

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Speaker 1: a little word, a little backstory on Sabbath. The concept

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Speaker 1: has been around since the Ten Commandments. This is from

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Speaker 1: the beginning as God established his relationship with his people

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Speaker 1: back in Genesis and Exodus, when he calls his people

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Speaker 1: to himself, he says, the way people are going to

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Speaker 1: know about who I am is by the way you

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Speaker 1: live your life. And then he gives them a set

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Speaker 1: of decrees in how to live their life, and one

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Speaker 1: of those decrees was Sabbath. This idea that you rest

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Speaker 1: from your work, that you trust God for his provision,

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Speaker 1: and that you rest your animals and your servants and

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Speaker 1: everybody rests. While over the years, as these religious leaders

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Speaker 1: would interpret the law, they would add rules to so

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Speaker 1: many things. It would be like, well, now it's not

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Speaker 1: just about the Sabbath. It's about all of these rules

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Speaker 1: and regulations connected to the Sabbath. And they would lay

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Speaker 1: these burdens upon the people, very very specific things that

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Speaker 1: they could and could not do in order to be righteous.

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Speaker 1: And as they did that, and a lot of times,

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, don't forget these religious leaders. A

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Speaker 1: lot of them were like trying to do the right thing.

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Speaker 1: They wanted to be righteous, they wanted to follow God,

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Speaker 1: but they lost their way a little bit in all

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Speaker 1: of these rules. And so here Jesus is coming on

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Speaker 1: the scene, healing people, setting people free, and it says

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Speaker 1: that he specifically picked this grain on the Sabbath. And

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Speaker 1: so once again the religious leaders are going to confront

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Speaker 1: him and they're asking why are they doing things that

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Speaker 1: are unlawful on the Sabbath? And Jesus answers him this

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Speaker 1: in verse twenty five. Have you ever read what David

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Speaker 1: did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?

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Speaker 1: And he talks about this moment that we actually read

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Speaker 1: about in the Old Testament where David comes into the

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Speaker 1: high priest's house and asks for bread, which would have

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Speaker 1: been not kosher at the time, but because it was

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Speaker 1: a higher order, like there was a higher law at play,

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Speaker 1: it was okay to do that thing. So what we

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Speaker 1: start to see happening as we get into work, is

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Speaker 1: that these religious leaders want to confront Jesus on these

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Speaker 1: points of the law. Jesus will best them over and

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Speaker 1: over again with what the spirit of the law actually means.

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Speaker 1: So all through this chapter we've got these confrontations happening

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Speaker 1: that have some questions maybe for us to ask. I

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Speaker 1: think in the first confrontation, we have to ask, do

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Speaker 1: I understand that my faith, my life, my purposes, my understanding,

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Speaker 1: my motivations, my desires. It starts in my heart. This

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Speaker 1: is what Jesus is looking into. And these religious leaders

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Speaker 1: who look righteous on the outside are actually very far

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Speaker 1: from God in their hearts. In the second confrontation, we

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Speaker 1: have this moment where we've got this convicting word where

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Speaker 1: Jesus says, I haven't come to call the healthy, but

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Speaker 1: the sick, like I am here to save sinners. Like.

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Speaker 1: One of the best ways that we identify ourselves with

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Speaker 1: Jesus is identifying ourselves sinners, understanding that we are some

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Speaker 1: messed up people, that we fail, that we are limited,

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Speaker 1: that we try and we fail, and we try again,

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Speaker 1: and God is drawn to the part of our hearts

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Speaker 1: that knows who we really are. That we aren't trying

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Speaker 1: to pretend that we're anything that we're not, because what

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Speaker 1: Jesus says is where he is is where sinners are,

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Speaker 1: and this is while he's eating with the tax collectors

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Speaker 1: and the sinners. And then this third confrontation as he

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Speaker 1: confronts the religious leaders again who are like, hey, it's

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Speaker 1: unlawful for you to do what you're doing on the Sabbath,

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Speaker 1: we really start to have to ask the question, how

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Speaker 1: do we understand what the higher law of love is

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Speaker 1: when it comes to following Jesus, Because as these guys

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Speaker 1: get caught up in these little rules, they lose the

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Speaker 1: main point. They lose the point of what and who

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Speaker 1: God is and what he wants for his people. And

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Speaker 1: so we have to answer the question, do I know

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Speaker 1: what it means to live from a higher law? Not

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Speaker 1: just from what I think is checking the box of

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Speaker 1: what it means to be a good Christian, but what

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Speaker 1: it actually looks like to live my life in such

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Speaker 1: a way where love is the way that I'm walking

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Speaker 1: through the world with this higher understanding of compassion and love. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so we're going to ask ourselves what is this mean

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Speaker 1: for me? As we wrap up for today, I wrote

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Speaker 1: down a couple of things about what we learn here

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Speaker 1: about Jesus's power and Jesus's priorities, which we've talked about

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Speaker 1: that really is our theological principles, the things that carry

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Speaker 1: over from the original listeners that they would have heard

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Speaker 1: at the beginning and now when we hear it today.

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Speaker 1: We're looking for those truths that are the same either way.

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Speaker 1: And I think what we're getting here for sure is

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Speaker 1: this beginning, and we're going to see it as the

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Speaker 1: chapters roll on. This beginning understanding of asking ourselves the question,

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Speaker 1: what are Jesus' priorities? If I am going to follow

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Speaker 1: the way of Jesus, if I'm going to walk the

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Speaker 1: way that Jesus walked, what are his priorities in this gospel?

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Speaker 1: Who does he care about? Who does he make time for?

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Speaker 1: And what we see is that it's people who are

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Speaker 1: desperate to know him, to be healed, to follow, and

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Speaker 1: to listen to what he's teaching. Those are the people

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Speaker 1: that Jesus is around. And we want to understand Jesus's power,

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Speaker 1: which we're starting to really see here that Jesus takes

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Speaker 1: priority over the spiritual realm when he forgives that man's sins,

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Speaker 1: but he also takes priority over the physical realm when

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Speaker 1: he's able to heal the body of diseases, when he's

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Speaker 1: able to calm a storm, when he's able to make

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Speaker 1: bread out of just a little bit of something, which

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Speaker 1: we'll see coming up for us here. So what does

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Speaker 1: this mean for me? These are the things I would

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Speaker 1: take away today. First, Jesus came for sinners, so he

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Speaker 1: identifies with us in that, not in trying hard to

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Speaker 1: be righteous, but in understanding who we really are. The

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Speaker 1: second thing that I take from this chapter that I

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Speaker 1: want to invite you to just live with, is this

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Speaker 1: idea that Jesus is constantly setting people free. He's constantly

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Speaker 1: moving toward people to invite them to freedom. Does your

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Speaker 1: life look more free because you follow Jesus? Do you

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Speaker 1: feel more we're free in who you really are? Do

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Speaker 1: you feel more free in being able to fail and

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Speaker 1: try again? Do you feel more free in the way

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Speaker 1: that you love, in the way that you forgive, in

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Speaker 1: the way that you express compassion, Because that is the

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Speaker 1: measure of whether or not we're actually following Jesus. And

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Speaker 1: then the last thing is what do you need to

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Speaker 1: be freed from. If that call to freedom just sounds

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Speaker 1: so good to you right now, and you know that

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Speaker 1: you are caught up in spiraling thoughts of negativity, or

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Speaker 1: you're just feeling so deeply insecure, you're living with regret.

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Speaker 1: What do you need to be freed from? Because you

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Speaker 1: can ask for help, because Jesus is always moving towards

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Speaker 1: setting people free. All right, you guys, that's it for today,

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Speaker 1: So glad that you're here with us, and we'll be

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Speaker 1: back next week from March. Chapter three. How to Study

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Speaker 1: the Bible with Nicole Unis is a production of Life

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Speaker 1: Audio and Salem Media. If you like what you heard today,

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Speaker 1: please take a second to rate and review the podcast

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