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Speaker 1: Let us pray. Then the Lord of that servant was

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Speaker 1: moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt.

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Speaker 1: Matthew eighteen twenty seven. Dear Heavenly Father, to day, I

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Speaker 1: acknowledge that one of the most powerful things I can

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Speaker 1: do for myself is to forgive others when wrongs are

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Speaker 1: done against me. I also acknowledge that the longer I

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Speaker 1: harbor unforgiveness and resentment, the longer I rob myself of

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Speaker 1: experiencing your freedom and your forgiveness when I mess up

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Speaker 1: in life. Therefore, my life will be one of mercy

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Speaker 1: and grace. Because I have been forgiven much, I now

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Speaker 1: know I can forgive much. I decree and declare that

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Speaker 1: as much as it remains with me, I will live

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Speaker 1: at peace with all people. I will realize that life

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Speaker 1: is too short for me to afford the enemy the

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Speaker 1: luxury of keeping me stuck in past hurts. This is

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Speaker 1: the time, and this is the moment, that I break

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Speaker 1: free from unforgiveness, bitterness, and resentment. I declare that Satan

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Speaker 1: has no hold over my life and over my peace.

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Speaker 1: I declare that Satan has no hold over my joy

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Speaker 1: and over my peace. I am free to love and

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Speaker 1: I'm free to forgive, like the Merciful Master in Matthew

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Speaker 1: eighteen and Luke ten in Jesus name. Amen, thank you

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Speaker 1: for making prayer a priority in your day. To learn

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Speaker 1: more about the Bible, stay tuned for today's story, brought

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Speaker 1: to you by Bible in a Year dot com.

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Speaker 2: The Merciful Master. In our last story, Jesus spoke of

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Speaker 2: generosity through the story of a gluttonous rich man and

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Speaker 2: a poor beggar. The rich man gorged on his wealth

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Speaker 2: with no attention to the sick and cold beggar right

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Speaker 2: at his door. As a result, the rich man suffered

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Speaker 2: when he died, but the poor man was restored. In

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Speaker 2: this story, Jesus teaches another valuable lesson on forgiveness through

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Speaker 2: the intense story of a servant and his master, as

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Speaker 2: inspired by the Gospels.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to another episode of the Bible in a Year.

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Speaker 3: I'm Jack Graham. In our last episode, we heard about

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Speaker 3: Lazarus and the rich man and how their earthly and

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Speaker 3: eternal lives were vastly different. It was a picture of

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Speaker 3: the complete restoration that awaits all who trust and follow

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Speaker 3: Jesus and the eternal separation and suffering for those who

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Speaker 3: reject him. Today, we'll hear an other parable, this time

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Speaker 3: about a master who forgives a large debt, only to

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Speaker 3: discover that his debtor failed to extend the same mercy

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Speaker 3: to another. It's an important lesson about the forgiveness that

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Speaker 3: we've been given and the forgiveness that we must give

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Speaker 3: to others. So let's listen now to the reading of

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Speaker 3: God's word.

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Speaker 2: It was midday and Peter was walking silently behind Jesus

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Speaker 2: along with the other disciples. The dust drug underneath his

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Speaker 2: feet and sweat dripped down his furrowed brow. Jesus knew

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Speaker 2: what Peter was thinking, as many people do. Peter was

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Speaker 2: thinking of past wrongs done to him, friends, family, and

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Speaker 2: tax collectors. Peter's memory was filled with people who had

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Speaker 2: done him a great deal of harm. To make matters worse,

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Speaker 2: he continually endured the backbiting in spite of the Pharisees

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Speaker 2: because he followed Jesus. The mental stress was weighing on him.

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Speaker 2: Good thing for Peter, he was not one to keep

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Speaker 2: his emotions bottled up. Out of the silence, Peter spoke

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Speaker 2: to Jesus, asking how often should I forgive a brother

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Speaker 2: who sins against me seven times less more. Jesus smiled

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Speaker 2: at Peter's question. It was a good inquiry. However, he

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Speaker 2: was mistaken that there was supposed to be a limit.

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Speaker 2: Seventy seven times, Peter, as many as it takes for

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Speaker 2: your heart to learn what forgiveness is, Jesus replied. Jesus

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Speaker 2: pulled in his disciples closer to him. They walked along

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Speaker 2: the countryside. The rolling green hills sprouted with lilies tossed

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Speaker 2: in the wind. As they walked, Jesus told them another story.

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Speaker 2: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wished

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Speaker 2: to settle his account with his servant. He borrowed money

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Speaker 2: from him, and now it was time to pay. This

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Speaker 2: servant owed him ten thousand talents, a very large sum

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Speaker 2: of money. However, the servant was unable to pay his debts.

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Speaker 2: Because of this, he was sentenced to be sold in

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Speaker 2: to slavery along with his wife and children. The thought

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Speaker 2: of him and his family being sold off into the

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Speaker 2: dark unknown broke him. He knelt before his master and

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Speaker 2: cried aloud to him. He begged him to spare his life.

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Speaker 2: He fell on his knees, saying, please have patience. With

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Speaker 2: me show mercy. The master was a good man and

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Speaker 2: decided to forgive his debt, so the servant left with joy.

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Speaker 2: Later that day, the same servant went out into the

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Speaker 2: market place. There was a man there that owed him

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Speaker 2: a hundred deny. Seeing him, the servant pursed through the

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Speaker 2: crowd and tackled him to the floor. The two of

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Speaker 2: them tumbled in the dirt, and the servant pinned him down.

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Speaker 2: Pay me what you owe, the servant yelled as he

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Speaker 2: slammed the man's head into the floor. The man begged

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Speaker 2: for mercy, but the servant offered none of it. He

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Speaker 2: refused to forgive him and instead had him thrown into prison.

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Speaker 2: One of the other servants saw what had taken place

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Speaker 2: and brought the news back to his master. That evening,

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Speaker 2: the servant was called into the master's home. Rage boiled

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Speaker 2: deep in his belly. The master pinned the servant to

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Speaker 2: the ground. You wicked man, I forgave you of your debt,

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Speaker 2: and now I hear you could not show mercy to

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Speaker 2: your brother. The master threw him against the wall and

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Speaker 2: called for the jailers. So the servant was taken away

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Speaker 2: until he could pay his debt. Jesus finished his story,

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Speaker 2: and the disciples had stopped walking to consider the meaning.

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Speaker 2: Jesus looked at Peter and said, whoever is forgiven much,

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Speaker 2: must also forgive your heavenly Father will do to you

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Speaker 2: what you do to others.

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Speaker 3: Today's scripture begins with Jesus continuing to teach in parables.

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Speaker 3: Parables have been described as short stories with a long meaning.

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Speaker 3: Jesus is teaching the true nature of the Kingdom of God,

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Speaker 3: who God is, what he is like, and how we

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Speaker 3: can know him. Peter begins with a question, seeking to

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Speaker 3: understand the requirement for forgiveness of others. But now the

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Speaker 3: disciples would have known that forgiving others was really not

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Speaker 3: a question to be asked. We are all to forgive.

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Speaker 3: Jesus taught this in the model prayer. In teaching them

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Speaker 3: to pray, Jesus had instructed them to ask God to

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Speaker 3: forgive their debts, just as they forgave their debtors. So

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Speaker 3: Peter was simply trying to determine how much was expected

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Speaker 3: of him, and in his mind, seven times was a

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Speaker 3: pretty good number to forgive someone else. But Jesus's reply

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Speaker 3: makes it clear that the bar is much higher, not

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Speaker 3: seven times, but seventy times seven, Jesus said. To drive

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Speaker 3: home the point, Jesus tells them that God's kingdom can

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Speaker 3: be compared to a king who was owed different amounts

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Speaker 3: by his servants. One servant was called before him to

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Speaker 3: settle his debt, but there was a problem. The man

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Speaker 3: had absolutely no chance or ability to repay the debt.

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Speaker 3: It was impossible. His fate was now in the king's hands,

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Speaker 3: so the king ordered him sold along with his wife

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Speaker 3: and children to pay the debt. He was no longer

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Speaker 3: a free man. His life was basically now over as

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Speaker 3: he had known it. So in desperation he fell on

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Speaker 3: his knees and pleaded for mercy. He asked to be

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Speaker 3: allowed to work and pay off his debt. We need

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Speaker 3: to remember that this was an impossible feat, and yet

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Speaker 3: the king granted his release. Not only that he canceled

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Speaker 3: the man's debt, Jesus said, he was now free and forgiven.

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Speaker 3: The parallel with this in our own lives is obvious,

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Speaker 3: isn't it. You would think that a man like this,

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Speaker 3: having received such grace and mercy, would be quick to

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Speaker 3: forgive others, to give grace to others instead, when he

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Speaker 3: ran into a man who owed him a small amount

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Speaker 3: of money. He ordered him to pay it and pay

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Speaker 3: it immediately. But just as he had been, this man

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Speaker 3: couldn't pay up, and like the servant had done, this

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Speaker 3: man pleaded for time and mercy, but the servant would

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Speaker 3: hear nothing else it. He refused to even let the

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Speaker 3: man go free and work off what he had owed. Instead,

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Speaker 3: he ordered him thrown into prison until he could pay

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Speaker 3: off his debt. This unforgiveness did not go unnoticed, and

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Speaker 3: soon word got back to the King. Knowing just how

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Speaker 3: much grace he had offered this man, his former servant,

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Speaker 3: he was enraged, so he had the man brought before

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Speaker 3: him and rebuked him for his lack of mercy. In

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Speaker 3: Matthew eighteen thirty three, we read these words, and should

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Speaker 3: not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as

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Speaker 3: I had mercy on you. So the man was then

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Speaker 3: bound in prison shackles, made to work to repay his debt.

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Speaker 3: Jesus then looked at Peter and the others, making sure

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Speaker 3: they understood the meaning of the story, saying, this is

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Speaker 3: how God will treat you if you're unwilling to forgive others.

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Speaker 3: We have been forgiven infinitely more than we could ever

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Speaker 3: hope to repay, and infinitely more than anyone could ever

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Speaker 3: owe us. And God's desire is for us to forgive

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Speaker 3: freely in the same way. Because forgiven people forgive people.

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Speaker 3: It doesn't mean we allow people to abuse us or

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Speaker 3: walk over us again and again. But when someone honestly

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Speaker 3: asks for forgiveness and is willing to repent, we should

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Speaker 3: consider how gracious God is and how merciful he is

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Speaker 3: toward us, and show his mercy to others. We who

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Speaker 3: have been forgiven so much, should freely forgive others. In

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Speaker 3: Jesus's name. Dear Jesus, we thank you for the forgiveness

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Speaker 3: of our sins. Though we owe a debt we could

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Speaker 3: never pay. You died for us on the cross to

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Speaker 3: pay a debt that you did not owe, so that

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Speaker 3: we could have eternal life. Thank you for your love,

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Speaker 3: your grace, your mercy, the forgiveness and the freedom that

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Speaker 3: we have in you. And may we tell this good

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Speaker 3: news to everyone that we can until you come again.

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Speaker 3: In Jesus's name. Amen, thank you for listening to today's

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Speaker 3: Bible in a year. I'm pastor Jack Graham from Dallas Texas.

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Speaker 3: You can download the Prey dot com app and make

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Speaker 3: Bible study in prayer the priority of your life. And

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Speaker 3: if you appreciate this podcast, please share it with someone else.

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Speaker 3: I also want to encourage you to go to Jack

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Speaker 3: Graham dot org. That's Jack Graham dot org for we

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Speaker 3: have resources that are free and available for you so

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Speaker 3: that you may know Christ and grow in him. God

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Speaker 3: bless you