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Speaker 1: Life Audio, Hi, their faith listeners, Welcome to the Bible

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Speaker 1: Explained Podcast on this lovely Thursday morning. So there's two

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Speaker 1: special things that are going on today. The first thing

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Speaker 1: is that it's the start of Passover. And the second

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Speaker 1: thing is that it's Monday Thursday, not Monday Thursday, but

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Speaker 1: Monday Thursday. Monday Thursday is essentially the celebration of the

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Speaker 1: Last Supper and the night that Jesus went to the Cross.

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Speaker 1: So this weekend is one of the most important weekends

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Speaker 1: in the Christian calendar because on Sunday there is going

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Speaker 1: to be Easter. So I'd like to hear about all

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Speaker 1: of you guys and what your Easter traditions are, and

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Speaker 1: also your Good Friday traditions as well. One of the

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Speaker 1: traditions I had growing up was my mom and I

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Speaker 1: used to make these cookies every single year. They were

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Speaker 1: called empty tomb cookies, and they are essentially like hollow

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Speaker 1: on the inside. I don't remember how we made these things,

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Speaker 1: but they were not very tasty. They were very very sugary,

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Speaker 1: and you'd break them open and they looked like a

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Speaker 1: rock on the outside, and the ensign was like empty.

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Speaker 1: And that was something my mom and I used to

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Speaker 1: do every single year to celebrate Easter was to make

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Speaker 1: empty tomb cookies and then I'd bring them the church

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Speaker 1: and the kids would eat them all. So yeah, that

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Speaker 1: was that was always fun. So I'd like to hear

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Speaker 1: about all of your family's Easter traditions as well. You

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Speaker 1: can contact me via the link in the description. And

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Speaker 1: also if you have a prayer quest, always feel free

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Speaker 1: to reach out and let me know what that prayer

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Speaker 1: quest is and I'll write you down in my prayer

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Speaker 1: journal and pray for you for the week, faithful listeners.

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Speaker 1: Before we get into Hebrews chapter four today, here's a

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Speaker 1: quick word from a sponsor. Okay, let's go ahead and

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Speaker 1: read Hebrews four, verses eight through sixteen. We're gonna be

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Speaker 1: talking more about entering into the Sabbath arrest, and also

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about how the Bible is alive

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Speaker 1: and active, and not to mention how Jesus is our

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Speaker 1: high Priest, probably the most important thing in this entire chapter,

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Speaker 1: though they're all very important. So I'm really excited to

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Speaker 1: finish out Hebrew's four with you guys. So I've got

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Speaker 1: my web version here with me, but feel free to

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Speaker 1: grab the version of the Bible that you prefer this morning,

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Speaker 1: and let's read Hebrews four eight through sixteen together. For

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Speaker 1: if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have

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Speaker 1: spoken afterword of another day. There remains, therefore a sabbath

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Speaker 1: rest for the people of God. For he who has

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Speaker 1: entered into his rest, has himself also rested from his works,

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Speaker 1: as God did from his. Let's therefore give diligence to

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Speaker 1: enter into that rest. Let anyone fall after the same

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Speaker 1: example of disobedience. For the Word of God is living,

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Speaker 1: inactive and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even

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Speaker 1: to the dividing of soul and spirit of both joints

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Speaker 1: and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and

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Speaker 1: intentions of the heart. There is no creature that is

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Speaker 1: hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and

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Speaker 1: laid open and before the eyes of Him, to whom

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Speaker 1: we must give an account. Having then a great high

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Speaker 1: priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus, the Son

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Speaker 1: of God. Let's hold tightly to our confession, for we

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Speaker 1: didn't have a high priest who can't be touched with

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Speaker 1: feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in

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Speaker 1: all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let's

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Speaker 1: therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of Grace,

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Speaker 1: that we may receive mercy and may find grace for

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Speaker 1: our help in time of need. If you guys listen

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Speaker 1: to the episode that I did on Tuesday, you'll remember

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Speaker 1: that I talked a lot about the Sabbath day of

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Speaker 1: rest and how the people in the days of Jesus

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Speaker 1: were making it very miserable. In fact, Jesus was always

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Speaker 1: getting into fights with the Pharisees about their views of

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Speaker 1: the Sabbath day because they'd get really mad at Jesus

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Speaker 1: for helping people, for healing, for performing miracles on the

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Speaker 1: Sabbath and they'd say that is unlawful for you to

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Speaker 1: do on the Sabbath day, and Jesus would be like, okay,

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Speaker 1: where does it say in the Old Testament that it's

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Speaker 1: unlowe to help somebody on the Sabbath day. So Jesus

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Speaker 1: was always getting into fights with the Pharisees because the

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Speaker 1: Pharisees were bringing all of these works based rules into

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Speaker 1: the Sabbath day, and what Jesus says at the very

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Speaker 1: end of Mark chapter two, he says man was not

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Speaker 1: made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man,

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Speaker 1: meaning that the Sabbath day was a good day for

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Speaker 1: human beings. It was a day that people actually needed,

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Speaker 1: a day of no work, a day of recovery, and

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Speaker 1: also a day of getting closer to God and also

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Speaker 1: your fellow Yahweh worshippers essentially. So we talked a lot

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Speaker 1: on Tuesday about how not to celebrate the Sabbath, and

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Speaker 1: now today I'd like to discuss how we do actually

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Speaker 1: celebrate the Sabbath. So, starting in verse eight, it says,

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Speaker 1: for if Joshua had given them rest, he would not

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Speaker 1: have spoken afterward of another day. Okay, so I'm going

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Speaker 1: to take some liberties and rephrase that verse a little bit. Basically,

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Speaker 1: what it means is if Joshua had given the children

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Speaker 1: of Israel rest back in the Old Testament, he or

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Speaker 1: God would not have spoken afterward of another day. So

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Speaker 1: what the author is doing here is he's telling the

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Speaker 1: Israelite people, because remember the Book of Hebrews was written

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Speaker 1: to the Hebrews, who was written to the Israelite people,

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Speaker 1: who kind of had this skewed idea of what the

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Speaker 1: rest of God meant. They thought that rest meant the

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Speaker 1: rest that Joshua had given the people back in the

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Speaker 1: Old Testament, essentially going into the Promised Land and being

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Speaker 1: freed of all the enemies of the nations, so having

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Speaker 1: a rest from earthly conflict. Essentially, that's what the Hebrews

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Speaker 1: believed God's rest meant. But the author is saying, no,

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Speaker 1: that is not what God means by his rest, because

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Speaker 1: if that is what God meant, he wouldn't have talked

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Speaker 1: about another day in the future. So that means that

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Speaker 1: the Israelite people never actually experienced any form of rest,

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Speaker 1: even during the times when they were happy in the

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Speaker 1: Promised Land and they had very few enemies, which was

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Speaker 1: only on occasion, by the way, we've been going through

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Speaker 1: the kings over on the Old Testament side of stuff,

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Speaker 1: and very few times do the Israelites ever really have

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Speaker 1: true rest and relaxation. It's on a handful of occasions.

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Speaker 1: So the rest never really came for the Israelite people.

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Speaker 1: But that was what the Israelites were always striving for,

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Speaker 1: you know, even when they were looking for their Messiah,

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Speaker 1: they were looking for somebody that would free them from

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Speaker 1: their earthly burdens and all their enemies. They were looking

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Speaker 1: for a warrior of sorts that would bring Israel to

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Speaker 1: its highest glory and all of the Israelite people would

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Speaker 1: live in paradise on earth. That's what they wanted. But

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Speaker 1: the others saying, no, God has something so much better

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Speaker 1: in store for you than that. He says, there remains, therefore,

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Speaker 1: a Sabbath rest for the people of God. So what

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Speaker 1: he means by a Sabbath rest is not the weekly

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Speaker 1: Saturday Sabbath rest that the people knew about, but an

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Speaker 1: eternal soul rest, a rest that lasts for eternity, not

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Speaker 1: just for one day, or not just for a lifetime

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Speaker 1: here on earth even, but for all of eternity. So

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Speaker 1: it says in verse ten that he who has entered

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Speaker 1: into his rest has also rested from his works, as

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Speaker 1: God did from his Let's therefore give diligence to enter

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Speaker 1: into that rest. Let anyone fall after the same example

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Speaker 1: of disobedience. So, in other words, the author is saying

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Speaker 1: that we need to pre enter into God's rest. You know,

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Speaker 1: if the rest of God is like this eternal soul rest,

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Speaker 1: that we are going to experience someday we can have

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Speaker 1: a taste of that here on earth. And how we

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Speaker 1: have a taste of that is by resting from our works,

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Speaker 1: kind of like how God on the seventh Day rested

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Speaker 1: from all of his works after he was done creating.

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Speaker 1: He took a full day to rest and relax to

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Speaker 1: do that exact same thing. We need to stop thinking

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Speaker 1: that our works can save us. It is not about

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Speaker 1: what we do for God. That is not what saves us.

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Speaker 1: What saves us is our faith in God. And that's

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Speaker 1: why the author says here, let's give diligence therefore to

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Speaker 1: enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same

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Speaker 1: example of disobedience. So let's not be like the people

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Speaker 1: in the wilderness who refused to enter into God's rest

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Speaker 1: because of their disobedience. The author here is saying that

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Speaker 1: if you continue to work for your salvation, that is

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Speaker 1: a form of disobedience. So don't do that. You can

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Speaker 1: have a taste of God's rest on earth right now,

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Speaker 1: so enter into it. Stop trying to do works in

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Speaker 1: order to gain your self salvation. It's not going to work,

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Speaker 1: and it's a form of disobedience. So how do we

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Speaker 1: enter into this rest that the author is talking about here. Well,

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Speaker 1: a lot of people say that the Sabbath day is

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Speaker 1: not necessary for Christians to celebrate nowadays, and I've never

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Speaker 1: really jumped on board with that idea. Even though there's

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Speaker 1: nothing in the New Testament that says we have to

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Speaker 1: take a Sabbath day, it is found in the Old Testament.

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Speaker 1: And God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So

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Speaker 1: if something was so important to God that it was

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Speaker 1: basically the first thing he ever mandated that he rested

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Speaker 1: on the Seventh Day himself, then it must be important

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Speaker 1: to him now right. And Jesus himself said that the

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Speaker 1: Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

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Speaker 1: So even though there's nothing in the New Testament that

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Speaker 1: says we take a Sabbath day of rest, that doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean that we shouldn't do it. Like I said on

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Speaker 1: Tuesday and also earlier in this episode, the idea of

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Speaker 1: a Sabbath day is just to take a day to

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Speaker 1: get closer to God, I believe personally for me that

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Speaker 1: includes going to church, but there are other ways that

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Speaker 1: you can be close to God. Well, maybe you can

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Speaker 1: take some time to sit outside if the weather is

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Speaker 1: nice and read your Bible and drink your coffee or

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Speaker 1: your tea for you crazy tea drinkers. You can spend

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Speaker 1: some time in prayer. Maybe you can take a walk

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Speaker 1: and just reflect on God and the beauty of his creation.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you can take some time exercising, thanking God for

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Speaker 1: the body that he gave you, Thanking God that you

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Speaker 1: have a body to take care of. Maybe you can

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Speaker 1: spend some time with your family, with your kids, Thank

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Speaker 1: God for the kids that he gave you. If you

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Speaker 1: don't have kids, spend some time with your dogs, take

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Speaker 1: them out on a walk. Thank God for the animals

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Speaker 1: that he gave you. These are all things you can

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Speaker 1: do to take a Sabbath rest for yourself. But I

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Speaker 1: would argue that it has to include some act of

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Speaker 1: thankfulness or prayer or reflection on God for it to

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Speaker 1: be the most meaningful, because I know, for me, the

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Speaker 1: times when I feel the most rested is not when

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Speaker 1: I'm sitting there scrolling on my phone or vegging out

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Speaker 1: in front of the TV. In fact, I don't feel

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Speaker 1: rested after those times. I feel even more unrested because

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Speaker 1: now I'm like, oh man, you know I got nothing done.

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Speaker 1: The times when I feel The most rested is when

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Speaker 1: I have genuine fellowship with God, either through reading his

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Speaker 1: word or praying to him, or getting close to Him

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Speaker 1: in some other way, or fellowshipping with fellow Christians at church.

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Speaker 1: Those are the times when I feel the closest to God.

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Speaker 1: There really is something like soul gratifying about those moments

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Speaker 1: with God. So I would argue that, yes, you do

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Speaker 1: need to rest and relax on the Sabbath day, but

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Speaker 1: it's not just about that. There needs to be some

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Speaker 1: form of fellowship with God as well in order for

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Speaker 1: it to be the most meaningful. So even though the

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Speaker 1: Sabbath day is not something that I've ever really considered

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Speaker 1: doing on a weekly basis before, I do personally think

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Speaker 1: it's important and I do try to take Sabbath rests

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Speaker 1: when I can. It's not always weekly, i admit, but

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Speaker 1: I understand the importance of it because the times when

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Speaker 1: I do take it are the times when I feel

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Speaker 1: the most refreshed. So I recommend, even though I'm kind

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Speaker 1: of hypocritical in this, I recommend that you guys try

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Speaker 1: to take a weekly Sabbath day. It's gonna be good

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Speaker 1: for you. It's gonna be good for your family. It's

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Speaker 1: gonna be good for your pets. Even a Sabbath day

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Speaker 1: of rest is good for everybody, taking time off and

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Speaker 1: reflecting on God. So now that we've talked about the

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Speaker 1: Sabbath day of rest, let's finish out Hebrews four, starting

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Speaker 1: in verse twelve. For the Word of God is living

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Speaker 1: and active, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing

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Speaker 1: even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both

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Speaker 1: joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts

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Speaker 1: and intentions of the heart. There is no creature that

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Speaker 1: is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked

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Speaker 1: and laid open before the eyes of Him, to whom

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Speaker 1: we must give an account. So the Word of God,

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Speaker 1: obviously is talking about the words of Jesus, the words

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Speaker 1: that God gave the prophets in the Old Testament and

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Speaker 1: the Bible as a whole. It says the Word of

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Speaker 1: God is living and active. You know, so many people

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Speaker 1: think that the Bible is just filled with old fables

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Speaker 1: and old stories, and it's out of date and it's

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Speaker 1: out of touch. But I personally have the opposite view

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Speaker 1: of the Bible. I do believe that it is living

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Speaker 1: and active, because there are so many times where I've

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Speaker 1: sat down to read the Bible and I'm just like, wow,

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Speaker 1: that spoke to my situation that I am struggling with today.

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Speaker 1: The Bible really is alive and active. It is for everybody,

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Speaker 1: for every single generation. It might have been written a

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Speaker 1: long time ago, but it's God's words, and God's words

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Speaker 1: are alive and active because He's God. It says, the

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Speaker 1: word of God is sharper than any two edged sword,

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Speaker 1: piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit of

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Speaker 1: both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the

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Speaker 1: thoughts and intentions of the heart. So that's not to

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Speaker 1: say that the author was thinking of the Bible cutting

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Speaker 1: through somebody and like piercing them and cutting them up.

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Speaker 1: What the author is saying there is that the Bible

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Speaker 1: can reach the deepest recesses of your mind and soul.

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Speaker 1: God's words are that powerful that it reaches every innermost

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Speaker 1: thought that you have. Essentially, the Bible convicts us. It

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Speaker 1: tells us what we're doing wrong, It teaches us the

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Speaker 1: way to go. It says it's able to discern the

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Speaker 1: thoughts and intentions of the heart. So God himself can

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Speaker 1: read our thoughts. He knows what's going on inside of

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Speaker 1: our hearts, inside of our minds. He knows all of it.

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Speaker 1: It says, there is no creature that is hidden from

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Speaker 1: his sight. All things are naked and laid open before

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Speaker 1: the eyes of Him, to whom we must give an account.

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Speaker 1: So God knows everything. He knows every little detail about you,

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Speaker 1: what you're thinking, and what you're feeling. Everything to him,

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Speaker 1: it says, is naked. We can't cover it up in

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Speaker 1: front of him. He already knows. We cannot cover up

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Speaker 1: a single thought that we have in front of God

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Speaker 1: because he's that powerful. He knows every thought and intention

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Speaker 1: that we have. And someday, it says, we're going to

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Speaker 1: give an account to him. And honestly, that sounds really

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Speaker 1: scary that somebody that is that all knowing is going

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Speaker 1: to judge us for every single thought that we had. Right,

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Speaker 1: But there's hope in verse fourteen, having been a great

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Speaker 1: high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the

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Speaker 1: Son of God. Let's hold tightly to our confession. We

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Speaker 1: have a great high priest who we can confess to.

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Speaker 1: And it's not the pastor it's not the priest. It

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Speaker 1: is Jesus himself. He is our great high priest, and

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Speaker 1: he is also the of God, so we can confess

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Speaker 1: everything to him. It says in verse fifteen, we don't

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Speaker 1: have a high priest who can't be touched with the

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Speaker 1: feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in

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Speaker 1: all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Jesus

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Speaker 1: knows all about us, not just because he's God and

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Speaker 1: he can see every thought and intention that we have,

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Speaker 1: but also because he's struggled in the same way that

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Speaker 1: we have. It says he is touched with the feeling

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Speaker 1: of our infirmities. He knows what pain feels like, he

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Speaker 1: knows what we are struggling with because he was a

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Speaker 1: human being and went through all of those same things.

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Speaker 1: He went through sickness and tiredness and misery and throwing

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Speaker 1: up and headaches. And it also says that he was

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Speaker 1: in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.

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Speaker 1: So every temptation that you and I have experienced on earth,

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Speaker 1: whether it's the temptation of sexual lust, or the temptation

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Speaker 1: of gluttony and overeating, or the temptation of money greed.

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Speaker 1: Jesus himself also experienced all these temptations because he was human,

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Speaker 1: But he experienced all these temptations without sin, which, by

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Speaker 1: the way, brings me to a point. It is not

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Speaker 1: a sin to be tempted, obviously, because Jesus himself was tempted.

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Speaker 1: It's a sin to give in to those temptations. Jesus

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Speaker 1: never gave in to the temptations that he was tempted with,

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Speaker 1: but we do. But because Jesus was tempted with the

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Speaker 1: same things and feels our infirmities, he can understand what

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Speaker 1: we're going through, and he has mercy and grace for

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Speaker 1: what we are going through as well. And that's why

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Speaker 1: we can go to Jesus with every single thing that

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Speaker 1: we've ever done and tell him all about it. It

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Speaker 1: says in verse sixteen. Let's therefore draw near with boldness

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Speaker 1: to the throne of Grace, that we may receive mercy

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Speaker 1: and may find grace for help in time of need.

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Speaker 1: So come to Jesus boldly with these sins, to him saying,

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Speaker 1: Jesus I sinned, or Jesus, I am struggling right now

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Speaker 1: because I feel sick, or Jesus I am struggling because

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Speaker 1: of some other issue, that I have come boldly before

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Speaker 1: Jesus is thrown and receive the grace that he gives.

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Speaker 1: That's a command in scripture. It says that we may

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Speaker 1: receive mercy and may find grace for help in time

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Speaker 1: of need. All right, well, this ends Hebrews chapter four,

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Speaker 1: and it really gives us, I think, a message of

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Speaker 1: hope that we have a high priest who understands everything

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Speaker 1: that we are going through. So he knows, he understands

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Speaker 1: when you come to him with some need, with some sin,

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Speaker 1: he understands completely. So it's a message of hope for sure,

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Speaker 1: faithful listeners. Before I say happy listening and God blessed

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Speaker 1: to all of you, here is a word from a sponsor.

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Speaker 1: All right, faithful listeners, it is past over week, and

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Speaker 1: as you guys know, tomorrow is good for so even

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Speaker 1: though I normally do Fridays for the members, tomorrow I'm

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Speaker 1: going to be putting out a special episode for all

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Speaker 1: of you guys, a good Friday episode where we're going

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Speaker 1: to talk about Jesus on the Cross essentially, and I'm

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Speaker 1: really looking forward to a great episode with you guys tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: So I hope all of you tune in for a

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Speaker 1: good reflection of Jesus's sacrifice for each and every one

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Speaker 1: of us faith listeners. I will see all of you

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Speaker 1: guys tomorrow for Good Friday. Until then, happy listening and

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Speaker 1: God bless. I just want to take a second to

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Speaker 1: thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with

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Speaker 1: me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if you

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Speaker 1: go to lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of

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Speaker 1: other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows

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Speaker 1: about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.