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Speaker 1: Let us pray. Others said that it is Elias, and

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Speaker 1: others said that it is a prophet or one of

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Speaker 1: the prophets Mark six fifteen. Through the life of John

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Speaker 1: the Baptist, I see that the ultimate sign of life

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Speaker 1: well lived is to say that, no matter where I

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Speaker 1: end up, I can with full confidence say that I

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Speaker 1: lived and represented Christ in everything I did. In the

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Speaker 1: face of persecution, I will praise you. In the face

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Speaker 1: of ridicule, I will praise you. Even when my head

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Speaker 1: is on the chopping block and I could lose everything.

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Speaker 1: I know that in Jesus he'll restore what the enemy

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Speaker 1: has stolen from me. My strength comes from the fact

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Speaker 1: that Jesus conquered sin and death, and because he did,

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Speaker 1: conquering the trial and obstacles on the journey to my

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Speaker 1: destiny is a given, for greater is he who is

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Speaker 1: in me than he that is in the world. In Jesus' name, Amen,

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Speaker 1: thank you for praying with us today. Continue your time

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Speaker 1: with God by listening to today's Bible story, brought to

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Speaker 1: you by Bible in a year dot.

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Speaker 2: Com John the Baptist.

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Speaker 3: In our last story, Jesus healed a man who had

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Speaker 3: been lame and sick for over thirty eight years. The

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Speaker 3: man had been sick for so long that he lost

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Speaker 3: all hope of being healed. More so, he fell into

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Speaker 3: a cycle of bitterness. He felt helpless, alone, and angry

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Speaker 3: at the world. Yet one moment with Jesus changed his

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Speaker 3: life forever, and the Pharisees continued to hate him for

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Speaker 3: his mighty works. Now we learn about the fate of

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Speaker 3: John the Baptist, the man who prepared the way of Jesus,

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Speaker 3: meets a bitter end. However, John's story does not end

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Speaker 3: without hope. It ends with a promise inspired by the Gospels.

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Speaker 4: Hello, this is Jack Graham with today's episode of the

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Speaker 4: Bible in a Year. Thank you for joining us. In

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Speaker 4: yesterday's episode, we heard how Jesus healed a man who

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Speaker 4: was crippled and helpless, even hopeless. Years of being overlooked

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Speaker 4: by society and left alone to find for himself had

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Speaker 4: left this man stuck and bitter, plagued with a sense

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Speaker 4: of scarcity and hopelessness. But Jesus changed it all with

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Speaker 4: his words of healing and comfort. Still, the religious crowd,

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Speaker 4: led by the Pharisees, hated Jesus for challenging their type

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Speaker 4: fisted rule over the people's hearts. Today we'll discover how

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Speaker 4: how John the Baptist earthly story ends. This man who

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Speaker 4: heralded the coming of the Messiah will die at the

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Speaker 4: hands of an evil, hateful king and his wife. Let's

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Speaker 4: listen to the word of God.

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Speaker 3: Now, blood sprayed across the stone walls of John's jail cell.

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Speaker 3: Herod's guards drove their fists into his stomach, then across

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Speaker 3: his head. John's grunts echoed through the prison halls as

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Speaker 3: they relentlessly beat him. He fell to the floor, unable

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Speaker 3: to prop himself up. Before he could take a breath,

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Speaker 3: a guard's foot went upward and cracked a few of

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Speaker 3: his ribs. He screamed in agony and closed his eyes.

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Speaker 3: All he could hear were the guards leaving his jail cell.

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Speaker 3: Then all went black. John had been captured by Herod.

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Speaker 3: He was taken because he called out against Herod, who

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Speaker 3: stole his brother's wife Herodius out of anger. Herod captured

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Speaker 3: John to silence him, so he wrought in his cell

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Speaker 3: until Herod decided what to do with him. Even though

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Speaker 3: John was captured, Herod still feared him. He knew that

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Speaker 3: he was a righteous man, and John held the quiet

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Speaker 3: strength of a prophet. However, Herodias, Herod's stolen wife, teemed

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Speaker 3: with hatred against him. She wanted his head rolling off

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Speaker 3: his shoulders. She wanted him hung from his own entrails.

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Speaker 3: Her contempt for him ran deep. It was Herod's birthday,

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Speaker 3: and a large party was held in his honor. Drinks

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Speaker 3: flowed endlessly, and Herod grew loud and boisterous. Herodias watched

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Speaker 3: Herod laugh among his friends. She knew that he was

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Speaker 3: in prime condition to manipulate. Herodias sent out her daughter,

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Speaker 3: a beautiful young woman, to dance before Herod and his guests.

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Speaker 3: She moved sensually to the erotic music. Herod locked his

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Speaker 3: gaze onto her young hips. He was mesmerized and aroused.

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Speaker 3: Dull of thinking, Herod blurted out as ask me anything,

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Speaker 3: His words slurred in his cheeks. Blushed, Ask me anything,

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Speaker 3: and I will do it. I will give you up

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Speaker 3: to half my kingdom. The room was hot, and the

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Speaker 3: daughter moved sensually towards Herod. Her fingers wrapped around a

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Speaker 3: few strands of his hair. She leaned her lips closely

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Speaker 3: towards Herod's ear and whispered, give me the head of

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Speaker 3: John the Baptist. Herod's eyes widened at the request. Her

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Speaker 3: words sobered him. He looked at his friends. They were

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Speaker 3: expecting him to keep his word. Additionally, he thought there

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Speaker 3: may be a chance for him to sleep with his stepdaughter.

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Speaker 3: Out of embarrassment, drunkenness, and foolishness, Herod sent for his

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Speaker 3: men to execute John. John's cell doors opened abruptly. He

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Speaker 3: saw the silhouette of two guards holding chains in an axe.

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Speaker 3: John sighed deeply. He knew it was time. He stood

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Speaker 3: to his feet and walked towards them. They bound him

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Speaker 3: and drug him out to the back of the palace.

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Speaker 3: John thought about his life and purpose. He had proclaimed

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Speaker 3: and prepared the way of Jesus. Thousands had followed him

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Speaker 3: and then left him to follow the Messiah. As John

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Speaker 3: was shoved to his knees, he remembered the words he

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Speaker 3: once spoke on the Jordan River, he must increase and

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Speaker 3: I must decrease. The words held much more weight now.

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Speaker 3: As John's head was shoved under the cold stone table,

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Speaker 3: he thought about the Christ. His joy was complete and

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Speaker 3: his purpose was fulfilled. Death would be a welcomed friend

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Speaker 3: for the one who came after him would prove death

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Speaker 3: to be powerless. He would strip away its sting, and

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Speaker 3: life everlasting would follow. John smiled, closed his eyes and

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Speaker 3: allowed the axe to fall on his neck. John's head

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Speaker 3: was handed to Herodia on a silver platter. Her pupils

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Speaker 3: widened at the sight of it. However, the momentary pleasure

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Speaker 3: was replaced with sickness. She thought John the Baptist was

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Speaker 3: the source of her embarrassment and shame. However, looking at

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Speaker 3: his lifeless head laying on a platter offered her no solace.

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Speaker 3: She still felt empty. Her revenge fell flat, as all

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Speaker 3: revenge does. Her soul would not be satisfied, and her

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Speaker 3: sins would eventually find her out. The next day, John's

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Speaker 3: friends gathered his body and laid it in a tomb.

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Speaker 3: Months had passed and Jesus's name had become so well

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Speaker 3: known that even Herod's servants were talking about him. He

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Speaker 3: heard of his miracles and words of power. Herod's heart raced,

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Speaker 3: for he had a feeling that Jesus was John himself,

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Speaker 3: risen from the dead. It was wrong, of course, John

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Speaker 3: was buried and de dirt and would not raise again. However,

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Speaker 3: Jesus would one day die, and unlike John, he would

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Speaker 3: rise again. He would rise above the sting of death.

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Speaker 3: He would rise above the power of sin and darkness.

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Speaker 3: He would rise where all men fell, and those who

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Speaker 3: believed in him would rise with him.

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Speaker 4: Today's reading begins in a prison cell. John the Baptist,

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Speaker 4: the prophet who foretold the coming Messiah, had angered the

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Speaker 4: Jewish ruler, King Herod. This was the son of the

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Speaker 4: maniacal Herod the Great, who tried to have an infant

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Speaker 4: Jesus killed. And like his father, this Herod was not

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Speaker 4: opposed to spilling the blood of those who challenged him

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Speaker 4: or spoke out against him. And that's precisely what John

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Speaker 4: the Baptist had done. He'd called out Herod for stealing

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Speaker 4: his own brother's wife, a wicked woman named Herodius. The

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Speaker 4: rule of these two and their persecution of John is

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Speaker 4: reminiscent of some of Israel's evil kings and queens, like

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Speaker 4: Aheb and Jezebel. They had no regard for men of God,

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Speaker 4: so as John said in a cell, they were still

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Speaker 4: not satisfied. He needed to be disposed of, canceled. But

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Speaker 4: Herod was also fearful of the people who loved John,

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Speaker 4: so he was reluctant to have him killed. His wife, Herodius, however,

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Speaker 4: had no interest in such caution, so she hatched a plan,

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Speaker 4: an evil plot, to ensure that John would be put

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Speaker 4: to death. She sent her daughter Saloon to dance for

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Speaker 4: Herod and his court on his birthday. Herod, surely intoxicated

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Speaker 4: from his partying, was pleased with Salome's dance and vowed

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Speaker 4: to give her whatever she asked. This is always a

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Speaker 4: dangerous promise to make, and Herod would soon regret his offer,

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Speaker 4: for at her mother's direction, she made her request. She

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Speaker 4: wanted the head of John the Baptist on a platter,

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Speaker 4: and so John, after having served God's purpose for him

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Speaker 4: on earth, went quietly into death. That day. His head

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Speaker 4: was cut off without any ceremony or dignity for this

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Speaker 4: man of God. But there is no doubt that when

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Speaker 4: he entered eternity, he was in the presence of God,

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Speaker 4: immediately rejoicing in heaven, heard the words well done, good

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Speaker 4: and faithful servant he had announced, and made a way

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Speaker 4: for the coming of the Lord, the Messiah Jesus, who

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Speaker 4: was going to take away the sins of the world

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Speaker 4: in Matthew fourteen, verses thirteen to fourteen. Here's what we read. Now.

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Speaker 4: When Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a

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Speaker 4: boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the

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Speaker 4: crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

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Speaker 4: And when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd,

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Speaker 4: and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

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Speaker 4: Jesus mourned the death of his forerunner and friend and

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Speaker 4: family member, John the Baptist. This man had meant so

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Speaker 4: much to the Lord Jesus, and though he isolated himself

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Speaker 4: in grief for a while, he soon saw the need

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Speaker 4: of the people who followed him. Christ had compassion and

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Speaker 4: mercy upon each one. It's another sign of God's unending

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Speaker 4: grace and mercy and his willingness to hear and answer

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Speaker 4: the Christ of his people. You see Jesus as God,

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Speaker 4: and in his deity he can heal. He is also

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Speaker 4: man in his humanity. He had compassion for people, so

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Speaker 4: as God and man, he loved each one. Jesus knew

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Speaker 4: that soon he also would die, He would be killed, crucified,

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Speaker 4: and Herod himself would also have a hand in it,

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Speaker 4: But unlike John, whose body remained in the ground, Jesus

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Speaker 4: would rise victorious, conquering sin and death as the Savior,

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Speaker 4: the redeemer of all who would call upon his name.

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Speaker 4: John's life was well lived because he fulfilled his purpose.

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Speaker 4: He served with courage and boldness and faithfulness all the

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Speaker 4: way to heaven. Oh, that the same might be said

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Speaker 4: of each of us as we live and die and

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Speaker 4: then experience the eternal reward of our Savior and our God.

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Speaker 4: Dear Lord, we thank you for the tremendous example of

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Speaker 4: John the Baptist, and how his bold, courageous, faithful life

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Speaker 4: shows us how to live and how to die. May

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Speaker 4: we live in your grace, and may we die in

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Speaker 4: your peace, and all along, may we fulfill your purpose

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Speaker 4: for our lives in Jesus' name. Amen, Thank you for

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Speaker 4: listening to Today's Bible in a year. I'm pastor Jack

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Speaker 4: Graham from Dallas, Texas. You can download the Prey dot

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Speaker 4: com app and make Bible study in prayer the priority

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Speaker 4: of your life. And if you appreciate this podcast, please

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Speaker 4: share it with someone else. I also want to encourage

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Speaker 4: you to go to Jack Graham dot org. That's Jack

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Speaker 4: Graham dot org for we have resources that are free

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Speaker 4: and available for you so that you may know Christ

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Speaker 4: and grow in Him. You can go to Prestonwood dot

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Speaker 4: org for information. God bless you.

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Speaker 1: This episode is sponsored by Medicine, an innovative health care

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