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Speaker 1: Life Audio The Bible Study Podcast, Episode nine hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty two. Today, The Bible Study Podcast continues the study

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Speaker 1: of the Gospel of Luke as we wrap up chapter eighteen.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bible Study Podcast. I'm your host, Chris Kristensen.

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Speaker 1: We're going to wrap up chapter eighteen this time possibly

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Speaker 1: move on to chapter nineteen. We shall see, But first

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Speaker 1: a word from this sponsor. Chapter nineteen of Luke, Jesus

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Speaker 1: predicts his death a third time. Starting in verse thirty one,

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Speaker 1: Jesus took the twelve aside and told them we are

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Speaker 1: going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by

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Speaker 1: the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.

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Speaker 1: He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will

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Speaker 1: mock him, insult him, and spit on him. They will

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Speaker 1: flog him and kill him. On the third day he

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Speaker 1: will rise again. The disciples did not understand any of this.

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Speaker 1: Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not

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Speaker 1: know what he was talking about. Now, it seems fairly

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Speaker 1: obvious to us, obviously looking backwards, and that when he's

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Speaker 1: talking about the Son of Man, he's first of all

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Speaker 1: talking about himself, and he's used that phrase before. But

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Speaker 1: It's said that the meaning was hidden from them. They

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Speaker 1: didn't understand. And this is again the third time he said,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to Jerusalem and I'm going to die. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to be turned over to the Gentiles, going to

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Speaker 1: be mocked, insulted, spit on, flogged and killed. So it

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Speaker 1: seems fairly obvious it wasn't to them at the time.

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Speaker 1: It was very different from what they expected. Is part

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Speaker 1: of the reason I think that it's difficult for them

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Speaker 1: to understand. Continues on. A blind beggar receives his sight.

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Speaker 1: As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by

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Speaker 1: the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by,

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Speaker 1: he asked what was happening. They told him Jesus of

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Speaker 1: Nazareth is passing by. He called out, Jesus, son of David,

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Speaker 1: have mercy on me. Those who led the way rebuked

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Speaker 1: him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted

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Speaker 1: all the more, son of David, have mercy on me.

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Speaker 1: Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him.

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Speaker 1: When he came near, Jesus asked him, what do you

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Speaker 1: want me to do for you? Lord? I want to

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Speaker 1: see he replied. Jesus said to him, receive your sight.

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Speaker 1: Your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight

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Speaker 1: and followed Jesus praising God. When all the people saw it,

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Speaker 1: they also praised God. So this blind man is just

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Speaker 1: doing what he does. He's in the roadside, begging because

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Speaker 1: whatever job he used to have, if he had his before,

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Speaker 1: he can't do anymore. Or maybe he's been blind all

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Speaker 1: his life. He doesn't say, but he's begging and something changes.

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Speaker 1: He hears that Jesus is passing by. And Jesus is

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Speaker 1: well known at this time, he has probably been ministering

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Speaker 1: for about two years. He is getting close to Good

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Speaker 1: Friday at this point, he's heading to Jerusalem, as he

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Speaker 1: just told the disciples. And while the blind man doesn't

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Speaker 1: know it that this might be his last opportunity, he

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Speaker 1: acts as if he knew it. He acts as if

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Speaker 1: this is the only opportunity, and so he shouts. He

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Speaker 1: does what he can to get the attention of Jesus,

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Speaker 1: even though people are shushing him. Don't bother Jesus, which

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Speaker 1: is interesting because Jesus has healed blind people already. Why

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Speaker 1: are they telling him to be quiet? Because it's interrupting

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Speaker 1: something Jesus is said, or he's just not that important

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Speaker 1: to them, or it doesn't say why, but he is

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Speaker 1: not discouraged. I think of the passage we had, what

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Speaker 1: was it two weeks ago with the woman who is

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Speaker 1: going to the unjust judge and won't let up. This

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Speaker 1: blind man has that kind of resilience. It doesn't matter

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Speaker 1: who tells me to be quiet. Jesus is here and

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Speaker 1: I'm going to get his attention. So they bring him

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Speaker 1: to Jesus. What do you want? Which seems like an

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Speaker 1: obvious question, but it gives the man a chance to see, Lord,

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Speaker 1: I want to see. That's it, a Lord, I want

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Speaker 1: to see. Okay, receive your sight. And the man receives

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Speaker 1: his sight, and what does he do? What should you do?

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Speaker 1: He follows Jesus. He follows Jesus, praising God, and now

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Speaker 1: everybody's on board. Now everybody is praising God for this miracle,

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Speaker 1: even probably those people who were shushing this man and

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Speaker 1: telling him to be quiet and go away. He didn't,

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Speaker 1: he shouldn't, and because he doesn't, he is healed. Moving

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Speaker 1: on to chapter nineteen, we're actually going to leave chapter

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Speaker 1: eighteen today and talk about Zachias, the tax collector. Jesus

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Speaker 1: entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there

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Speaker 1: by the name of Zechias. He was the chief tax

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Speaker 1: collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was,

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Speaker 1: but because he was short, he could not see over

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Speaker 1: the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore

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Speaker 1: tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

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Speaker 1: When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said

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Speaker 1: to him, Zichius, come down immediately. I must stay at

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Speaker 1: your house today. So he came down at once and

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Speaker 1: welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began

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Speaker 1: to mutter, he has gone to be the guest of

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Speaker 1: a sinner. But Zakias stood up and said to the Lord. Look, Lord,

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Speaker 1: here and now I give half of my possessions to

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Speaker 1: the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything,

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Speaker 1: I will pay back four times the amount Jesus said

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Speaker 1: to him. Today, salvation has come to this house, because

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Speaker 1: this man too is a son of Abraham. For the

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Speaker 1: son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

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Speaker 1: So this is a great Sunday school story. I remember

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Speaker 1: hearing about Sakias. When I was in Sunday School as

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Speaker 1: a kid. This short guy who climbs a tree and

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Speaker 1: Jesus sees him. There is more to the story than

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Speaker 1: we get in the Sunday School version. So he's a

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Speaker 1: chief tax collector and is wealthy. So remember again that

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Speaker 1: a chief tax collector is a tax farmer for Rome.

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Speaker 1: He has bought the ability to tax the people. The

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Speaker 1: rules are less clear than they are today, and you

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Speaker 1: know how unclear they are today in terms of how

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Speaker 1: much you owe, And so the tax collector would collect

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Speaker 1: as much as he could, which is why he is wealthy.

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Speaker 1: Some of what he collects he sends to Rome, and

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Speaker 1: some he gets to keep. That's what a tax collector's

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Speaker 1: position is. Again, at tax a farmer, you buy the

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Speaker 1: right and then if you can collect more than that fine,

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Speaker 1: you get wealthy. And what is cheating and what is

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Speaker 1: not is a little is a little unclear. So this

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Speaker 1: guy who is working for the occupying government and so

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Speaker 1: many people see as a trader and a sinner just

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Speaker 1: because of what he does, no matter how he does it,

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Speaker 1: whether he does it fairly or not, he wants to

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Speaker 1: see Jesus doesn't say he wants to meet Jesus. He

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Speaker 1: just wants to see Jesus, and so he climbs a tree.

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Speaker 1: You don't climb a tree to necessarily have, you know,

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Speaker 1: expecting that Jesus is going to look up and say, hey, Zechias. Well,

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Speaker 1: first of all, he knows your name. Come down, I

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Speaker 1: must stay at your house. This is not, I think

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Speaker 1: what Sechius was expecting to have happened. He just wanted

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Speaker 1: to see the guy. But he comes down and welcomes

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Speaker 1: him and says he's talking to me. Sure, yes, come

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Speaker 1: to my house. And then he starts to hear the muttering. Right,

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Speaker 1: everybody is hearing the muttering. This person is going into

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Speaker 1: the house. He's going to be a guest of a sinner.

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Speaker 1: And Zakias says, hey, I'm going to give half what

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Speaker 1: I have to the poor right away, and then I'll

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Speaker 1: give back money if I've cheated anybody. Let me behave

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Speaker 1: in a way that is consistent with Jesus accepting me. Right,

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Speaker 1: Jesus has said this person, but he's going to say

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Speaker 1: this person is the son of man, but has said

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Speaker 1: I want to be in your house. I want to

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Speaker 1: be with you. And he says, if Jesus wants to

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Speaker 1: be with me. I want to be that kind of person.

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Speaker 1: I want to be a better person. And so he

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Speaker 1: changes right there at that spot in public, and Jesus says, yes,

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Speaker 1: Salvation has come to this house. This man is the

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Speaker 1: son of Abraham. And this is why I'm here is

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Speaker 1: for this Kias. Is the reason why Jesus came wasn't

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Speaker 1: for those religious leaders who were standing up at the

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Speaker 1: temple saying, boy, I'm glad I'm not a tax collector.

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Speaker 1: It was for the people whose relationship with God was

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Speaker 1: broken that Jesus came to fix, like Zechias, like you,

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Speaker 1: and like me. And with that, we're going to end

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Speaker 1: this episode of the Bible Study Podcast. If you have

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Speaker 1: any questions, send an email to Chris two x at

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Speaker 1: gmail dot com, or, better yet, leave a comment on

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Speaker 1: this episode at the Bible Study podcast dot com. And

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Speaker 1: as always, thanks so much for listening. I want to

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Speaker 1: take just a second to thank the team at Life

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Speaker 1: Audio for their partnership with us on this podcast. If

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Speaker 1: you go to lifeaudio dot com, you'll 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