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

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

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

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jessicavin Rochel, and after the short word

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Speaker 1: from our sponsor, will dive into our lunch series When

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Speaker 1: God Meets You in the Wilderness with Today's Bible verse

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Speaker 1: Mark chapter eight, verse two. Today's Bible Verses Mark chapter eight,

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Speaker 1: verse two. I have compassion for these people. They have

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Speaker 1: already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.

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Speaker 1: I remember feeling overwhelmed as I face the mounting mess

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Speaker 1: in my kitchen. If I kept facing the window, I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't see the mess behind me. There were toys littered

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Speaker 1: all over the kitchen floor, and the island was covered

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Speaker 1: in papers in various school projects, and a grape was

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Speaker 1: slowly turning into a raisin because I was too busy

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Speaker 1: to sweep the floor. The exhaustion was palpable, and I

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Speaker 1: questioned whether I could manage to get everything done in

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Speaker 1: four short hours. A group of women would arrive for

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Speaker 1: a Bible study. At that moment, my phone rang, and

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Speaker 1: it was a friend on the other end. She must

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Speaker 1: have heard the exhaustion in my voice, because she said,

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Speaker 1: hang on, I'm coming over. Without hesitation, she packed up

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Speaker 1: her kiddos, drove twenty miles to my home, and joined

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Speaker 1: me in the tackling of the chaos for a Bible

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Speaker 1: study she didn't even attend. She scrubbed my sink, loaded

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Speaker 1: my dishwasher, and swept up that grape, turning to the raisin.

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Speaker 1: Her kindness transformed a stressful day into one of grace.

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Speaker 1: Just as Jesus saw the needs of the crowd and

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Speaker 1: was moved to act, my friend recognized my need and

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Speaker 1: responded with compassion. In Mark chapter eight, verse two, Jesus

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Speaker 1: said he had compassion for the people with him. He

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Speaker 1: didn't just see numbers. He saw their hunger, their exhaustion,

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Speaker 1: and their need. His compassion moved him to act, just

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Speaker 1: as it moved my friend to act. This compassion, though,

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Speaker 1: wasn't limited to that one singular moment. Jesus consistently showed

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Speaker 1: care to those around him, whether it was the Samaritan

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Speaker 1: woman at the well or through his parables. That same

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Speaker 1: compassion Jesus had then is also for us today, and

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Speaker 1: this compassion caused him to commit himself to death on

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Speaker 1: the cross so that we might be made right with God.

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Speaker 1: One of God's greatest character traits is his compassion. Compassion

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Speaker 1: is a deep, heartfelt emotion involving deep sorrow for another

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Speaker 1: person's suffering, that is, willing to take action to help

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Speaker 1: a person in need. Jesus exemplified this, and he expects

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Speaker 1: his followers to develop it. Compassion led Jesus to cleanse, heal,

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Speaker 1: and teach while he lived on earth. Jesus calls himself

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Speaker 1: a good shepherd because of his compassion for us. He

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Speaker 1: is merciful, faithful, and sympathetic to our weaknesses because he

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Speaker 1: is compassionate. There were approximately four thousand people in the

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Speaker 1: wilderness with Jesus for three days. We don't know whether

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Speaker 1: they arrived without food or they ran out of food,

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Speaker 1: but we do know that they were hungry and wouldn't

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Speaker 1: make the long trick home without fainting. Before us picture

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Speaker 1: a famished multitude and a compassionate Jesus. He then turned

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Speaker 1: to his disciples and invited them into the dilemma of

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Speaker 1: needing food for the people. He asked them, what do

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Speaker 1: we do? Sadly, the disciples didn't remember Jesus's past miracle

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Speaker 1: of feeding over five thousand, and once again they asked,

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Speaker 1: how isn't it just like human nature to forget the

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Speaker 1: miracles of God. We face one wilderness journey and wonder

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Speaker 1: how we'll make it through, and God faithfully and gently

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Speaker 1: walks us through it, and then out the other side.

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Speaker 1: We rejoice and continue happily onward until we're faced with

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Speaker 1: another wilderness journey. Then we forget God's past faithfulness and

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Speaker 1: ask once again, how will we make it through? The

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Speaker 1: Bounty of Jesus's compassion is inexhaustible, but we often forget.

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Speaker 1: We forget he is full of warm and tender feelings

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Speaker 1: for us and what we face our wilderness may feel

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Speaker 1: like it stretches into infinity with no end in sight.

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Speaker 1: But Jesus shows us compassion in the moment, and he

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Speaker 1: shows us how to walk through it. With the four

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Speaker 1: thousand people, he took the seven loaves the disciples had

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Speaker 1: with them, broke it and fed the people. Then he

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Speaker 1: repeated it with the two small fish. Jesus multiplied what

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Speaker 1: the disciples gave. He helped them see that He is

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Speaker 1: greater than any problem they face, and he invited them

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Speaker 1: into the miracle. When he asked them to give him

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Speaker 1: their bread. Our Lent series centers on God meeting us

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Speaker 1: in the wilderness. What miracle is God asking you to

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Speaker 1: step into. Is it to surrender control? Or could it

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Speaker 1: be to reach out to some in your circle who

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Speaker 1: needs to experience compassion. You could be part of a

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Speaker 1: miracle God wants to work in their heart. As you

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Speaker 1: go about your day, consider how you might show compassion

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Speaker 1: to those in need. Compassion has the power to transform lives,

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Speaker 1: just as it did for me. Let's pray, Heavenly Father,

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Speaker 1: thank you so very much for this beautiful day. Thank

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Speaker 1: you for this lunch series. As we consider how you

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Speaker 1: meet us in our wilderness, how you are with us

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Speaker 1: and God, I'm grateful for your compassion. I'm grateful that

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Speaker 1: you don't just see our need, but you act on

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Speaker 1: our behalf. God, we praise your name, we trust you,

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Speaker 1: and we believe that you are meeting us in our

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Speaker 1: wilderness season. In Jesus' name, Amen,