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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, Jessica Fenroukel, and after the short word

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Speaker 1: from our sponsor, we'll dive into today's Bible verse Neamiyah

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Speaker 1: chapter nine, verse seventeen. Today's Bible verses Neamiah chapter nine,

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Speaker 1: verse seventeen. They refused to listen and failed to remember

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Speaker 1: the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff necked,

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Speaker 1: and in their rebellion, appointed a leader in order to

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Speaker 1: return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God,

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Speaker 1: gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love.

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Speaker 1: Have you ever been hopelessly lost? In the past, we

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Speaker 1: could pull over at a convenience store to buy a

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Speaker 1: map or ask for directions. Today, most of us rely

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Speaker 1: on our navigation systems to guide the way. But maybe

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Speaker 1: the volume was accidentally turned down, or you were deep

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Speaker 1: in conversation and you miss the turn. Then you miss

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Speaker 1: another one, and another one. Your frustration grows, but a

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Speaker 1: calm voice repeats, recalculating it doesn't scold or insult. Instead,

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Speaker 1: a new route appears. Sometimes our spiritual growth feels a

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Speaker 1: bit like that drive. We missed a turn or two.

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Speaker 1: We get hopelessly lost in the weeds of why and

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Speaker 1: what for, and believe we know the best way, and

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Speaker 1: before we know it, we've wandered further away from God

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Speaker 1: than we meant to go. Neamiah, chapter nine, verse seventeen

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Speaker 1: reminds us of God's remarkable ability to forgive. Even when

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Speaker 1: the Israelite people were rebellious, stubborn, and proud, God stayed merciful, gracious, compassionate,

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Speaker 1: and patient. God is ready to recalculate the way back

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Speaker 1: to him. After Niamiah had led the Israelite people to

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Speaker 1: rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, the entire nation gathered before Ezra.

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Speaker 1: Years before the Babylonians had conquered the Kingdom of Judah

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Speaker 1: and the walls were destroyed. They took most of the

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Speaker 1: Israelite people captive and dispersed them throughout the Babylonian Empire.

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Speaker 1: Only a few remained on their ancestral land. Later, after

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Speaker 1: Persia conquered Babylon, the Persian king sent Neemiah back to

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Speaker 1: Jerusalem to rebuild the wall, and as the wall went up,

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Speaker 1: the Holy spirit did a significant work in their hearts

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Speaker 1: and brought them to humble repentance. That brings us to

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Speaker 1: today's Verse, where the people are assembled while they've been fasting,

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Speaker 1: They're wearing sackcloth, and they've sprinkled dust on their heads.

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Speaker 1: They confess the sins of their nation, their own sins,

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Speaker 1: and their ancestor sins. Throughout their history, we discovered they

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Speaker 1: persisted in refusing to obey God or to remember his

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Speaker 1: wonder and power. When someone stiffens their neck, they demonstrate

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Speaker 1: their resistance to be humble before God. Ezra recounted all

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Speaker 1: the ways in which the nation failed to trust God,

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Speaker 1: and the people responded with humility. Their decision to fast

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Speaker 1: from food showed they were spiritually poor before God. Sackcloth,

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Speaker 1: which is a burlap like material, and dust sprinkled on

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Speaker 1: their heads symbolized that normal comforts were unimportant. Humbly, standing

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Speaker 1: before God and each other was their number one priority.

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Speaker 1: They admitted they acted proudly, hardened their necks, and refused

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Speaker 1: to obey and rejected freedom when God demonstrated his great

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Speaker 1: and mighty works on their behalf. But God is still gracious,

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Speaker 1: He is full of grace and mercy. He is slow

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Speaker 1: to anger and filled with abundant kindness. He did not

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Speaker 1: abandon them when they turned away from him. The Israelites

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Speaker 1: might have refused to listen and failed to remember and

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Speaker 1: rejected God's leadership, but He didn't reject them or desert them.

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Speaker 1: God is forgiving, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding

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Speaker 1: in love. God is merciful and ready to forgive those

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Speaker 1: who have turned away from Him and rebelled against His

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Speaker 1: standards if they repent. Repentance is admitting we missed the

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Speaker 1: mark when it comes to right living. Repentance is changing

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Speaker 1: our attitude toward God and turning from our way to

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Speaker 1: following His way. There is nothing to keep God from

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Speaker 1: pardoning us except our refusal to come to him through

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Speaker 1: his head son, Jesus Christ. When we show a sincere

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Speaker 1: desire to know God and to let him lead, he

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Speaker 1: is patient with our faults and failures. Not only did

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Speaker 1: the Israelite stand before Ezra and Nehemida hear their failures recounted,

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Speaker 1: but they also celebrated all God had done and is

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Speaker 1: able to do. He is God, Lord, Father, faithful, He's

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Speaker 1: a covenant maker and keeper. He is righteousness, our deliverer

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Speaker 1: and provider. The Lord sees us when we feel unseen.

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Speaker 1: He guides our steps, and he is full of majesty. Today,

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Speaker 1: if one of those attributes of God's character stood out

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Speaker 1: to you, write it down on a piece of paper,

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Speaker 1: take a picture of it, and make it your phone wallpaper.

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Speaker 1: His mercy is greater than any failure. Let's pray, Lord, God,

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Speaker 1: I thank you so much that your mercy is greater

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Speaker 1: than our greatest failures. Lord, they you do not reject,

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Speaker 1: You do not forsake, Lord, but you are slow to anger.

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Speaker 1: You are compassionate and full of mercy. God. We come

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Speaker 1: to you today repentant of determining that our way is

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Speaker 1: better than yours. God, we repent for having a stiff

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Speaker 1: necked attitude. Lord. We repent for accusing you of neglecting us,

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Speaker 1: accusing you of not being there for us. God, we

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Speaker 1: repent so God, I asked that you would just do

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Speaker 1: a mighty work in our hearts. Today, as we stand

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Speaker 1: humbly before you, Lord, we receive your mercy in Jesus name,

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Speaker 1: we pray Amen.