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Speaker 1: Let us pray. And when he had called unto him

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Speaker 1: his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits,

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Speaker 1: to cast them out and to heal all manner of

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Speaker 1: sickness and all manner of disease. Matthew ten one, God,

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Speaker 1: I thank you that when you choose people for greatness,

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Speaker 1: you don't choose the people who look the part, but

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Speaker 1: you choose those whose hearts are pure and whose willingness

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Speaker 1: shouts louder than any shortcomings they may have. Jesus, because

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Speaker 1: you chose twelve of the most unlikeliest of characters and personalities,

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Speaker 1: I will not look for perfection when choosing those who

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Speaker 1: run alongside me, but I will look for people whose

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Speaker 1: hearts are pure and who have a genuine willingness to

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Speaker 1: pursue the things of God. Through twelve disciples, you the

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Speaker 1: world right side up, Jesus, and through my relationships and friendships,

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Speaker 1: I know that we will make a lasting impact in Jesus' name. Amen,

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Speaker 1: thank you for praying with me today. Continue listening for

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Speaker 1: an incredible Bible story brought to you by Bible in

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Speaker 1: a year dot.

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Speaker 2: Com The Twelve. In our last story, Jesus witnessed one

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Speaker 2: of the greatest acts a friend can do. A few

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Speaker 2: men cut a hold in a roof just to get

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Speaker 2: their paralyzed friend down to Jesus. They went to great

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Speaker 2: lengths to see their friend healed, and their faith was rewarded.

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Speaker 2: Now we see the call of Jesus being given to

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Speaker 2: twelve ragtag misfits. Jesus would choose his followers not based

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Speaker 2: on skill or wisdom. He would choose the weak of

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Speaker 2: this world to change the world. This is the heart

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Speaker 2: of God inspired by the Gospels.

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Speaker 3: Hello, I'm pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the

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Speaker 3: Bible in a year. Thank you for joining us. Last time,

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Speaker 3: we heard about some amazing friends who went to extraordinary

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Speaker 3: links to help their paralyzed friends get the healing he needed.

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Speaker 3: They got him to Jesus, and Jesus did the rest.

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Speaker 3: Jesus saw their faith and not only healed the man,

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Speaker 3: but forgave the man of his sins as well, which

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Speaker 3: was most important. It was an act that shocked and

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Speaker 3: offended religious leaders, as Jesus was claiming now that he

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Speaker 3: has the authority that only God has the authority to forgive.

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Speaker 3: We also heard how Jesus once again stirred the anger

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Speaker 3: of the Pharisees. When he called Matthew, a tax collector,

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Speaker 3: a hated, despised tax collector, to be one of his disciples,

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Speaker 3: Jesus made it abundantly clear to them that he had

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Speaker 3: come to heal the sick and to help the sinner,

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Speaker 3: not the righteous or the self righteous. Today we'll hear

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Speaker 3: how Jesus ultimately assembles his group of twelve disciples. None

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Speaker 3: of these men were obvious choices. But as we'll discover,

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Speaker 3: this was God's plan all along, to show and to

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Speaker 3: share his glory with the world through people like you

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Speaker 3: and me, common ordinary people who will do extraordinary things

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Speaker 3: in the power of Christ. So let's listen now to

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Speaker 3: the reading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 2: It was the Sabbath, and Jesus entered the synagogue to worship.

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Speaker 2: The sabbath was a time for contemplation and relaxation. It

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Speaker 2: was established by God for the purpose of pausing work

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Speaker 2: to rest in him. Some of his critics were in

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Speaker 2: attendance as well, waiting for any cause to rebuke him.

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Speaker 2: As Jesus entered, he saw a man with a withered hand.

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Speaker 2: The Pharisees watched Jesus closely as he approached the man,

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Speaker 2: they were waiting for him to heal it. They were

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Speaker 2: waiting for him to break the Sabbath law and work.

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Speaker 2: Jesus knew their hearts. They had completely missed the point.

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Speaker 2: He took the man with the withered hand and looked

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Speaker 2: at the Pharisees. Tell me, Jesus said, is it lawful

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Speaker 2: to do good on the Sabbath? If there is someone

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Speaker 2: in need, should we let them pass? What if their

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Speaker 2: life is in danger, should we let them die? The

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Speaker 2: men were silent, for Jesus was revealing their legalistic hearts.

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Speaker 2: They didn't care about people. They only cared about looking righteous.

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Speaker 2: Stretch out your hand, Jesus said to the man, and

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Speaker 2: in that moment, the man's hand was restored. Everyone marveled

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Speaker 2: and rejoiced, but the Pharisees left and gathered together, seeking

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Speaker 2: for an opportunity to destroy him. Jesus took some of

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Speaker 2: his followers to a mountain. A great crowd followed them

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Speaker 2: and remained at the bottom of the hills. Jesus looked

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Speaker 2: out at them. His heart ached for them. They were

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Speaker 2: sheep without a shepherd. The wind blew at the top

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Speaker 2: of the mountain, Jesus's eyes began to water. Do not

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Speaker 2: pray for the harvest, Jesus said, He gestured to the

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Speaker 2: people below, for there is a great harvest before us.

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Speaker 2: Pray for the laborers, for the harvest is plentiful, but

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Speaker 2: the laborers are few. With those words, Jesus appointed twelve

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Speaker 2: men to be his apostles, chosen men that would follow

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Speaker 2: Jesus everywhere. These men were not chosen for their knowledge, status,

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Speaker 2: or accomplishments. They were chosen for their hearts, their weakness,

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Speaker 2: and their willingness. He chose Peter, who was once called Simon.

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Speaker 2: He chose James and John, the sons of Zebedee. He

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Speaker 2: nicknamed them sons of Thunder for their fire and enthusiasm.

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Speaker 2: He chose Andrew, Philip and Bartholomew the silent and humble servants.

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Speaker 2: He chose Matthew the tax collector, and Thomas the Skeptic.

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Speaker 2: He chose James and Judas the Zealate. One of the

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Speaker 2: most unique men he chose was Simon the Zealot. He

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Speaker 2: was one of the notorious dagger Men, a league of

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Speaker 2: assassins trying to overthrow Roman rule. However, Simon renounced his

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Speaker 2: old ways for the sake of following Christ. Finally, he

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Speaker 2: chose Judas as Scariot, the man who would betray him.

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Speaker 2: He chose him and loved him, despite knowing who he

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Speaker 2: would become. This was the heart of Christ. Jesus's first

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Speaker 2: call to the disciples was for them to be with him.

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Speaker 2: They would sit by the campfire, sharing stories and hopes.

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Speaker 2: They would know Jesus as a friend and king. Out

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Speaker 2: of that relationship, Jesus would send them out to preach, heal,

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Speaker 2: and cast out demons in his name. The disciples were

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Speaker 2: empowered by Jesus, and their strength grew day by day.

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Speaker 2: Whoever desires to come after me must first pick up

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Speaker 2: his cross and follow me. Jesus said, whoever holds his

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Speaker 2: life too dear to lay it down will lose his life. However,

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Speaker 2: whoever loses his life for my sake will truly find it.

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Speaker 2: For what does it profit a man if he gains

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Speaker 2: the world's possessions but loses his own soul. Jesus called

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Speaker 2: his disciples to something higher, not religious repetition or vain practices.

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Speaker 2: He called them to lay down their lives, money, and

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Speaker 2: convenience so that others may thrive. Jesus would model this

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Speaker 2: call himself. He would sacrifice everything so that people could

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Speaker 2: be renewed.

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Speaker 3: In today's passage we read about another healing and another

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Speaker 3: confrontation with the religious establishment. Jesus enters the synagogue on

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Speaker 3: the Sabbath and seeing a man with a withered hand,

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Speaker 3: Jesus took pity on him. He was merciful. This was

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Speaker 3: an opportunity to show the Pharisees how far they had

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Speaker 3: veered off the heart of the law, that they no

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Speaker 3: longer cared about people. To them, the constraints of the

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Speaker 3: law were about total control and power, and for them

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Speaker 3: to earn God's favor by good works. They added on

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Speaker 3: to the commandments of God their own laws. So when

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Speaker 3: the law commanded rest on the Sabbath, these people took

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Speaker 3: this to the extreme, meaning they could just overlook people's

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Speaker 3: great needs because it was the Sabbath day. Jesus saw

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Speaker 3: this as an opportunity to correct this very wrong thinking,

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Speaker 3: so he asked them what was lawful on the Sabbath?

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Speaker 3: Was it lawful to do good or evil? To save

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Speaker 3: a life or destroy it? The answer is obvious, isn't it.

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Speaker 3: And to drive home this point, Jesus told the man

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Speaker 3: to stretch out his shriveled hand, and immediately the hand

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Speaker 3: was healed completely. Even today, we must not allow the

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Speaker 3: rules and restrictions of religion to move us away from

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Speaker 3: the heart of God. We are missing the point. We're

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Speaker 3: missing the Lord. If we put the law above Jesus himself.

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Speaker 3: Jesus is teaching us that our righteousness is in h Him,

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Speaker 3: and the only way that we can live a righteous

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Speaker 3: life is from the heart outward, from the inside out.

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Speaker 3: It is at this point that many of the Pharisees

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Speaker 3: began to plot against Jesus, looking for a way to

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Speaker 3: get rid of him. Next, we heard about Jesus calling

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Speaker 3: his disciples, twelve of them, to a mountain to speak

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Speaker 3: directly to them, away from the crowds. It was common

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Speaker 3: for rabbis or teachers in those days to handpick disciples,

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Speaker 3: men to whom they'd passed down wisdom and guidance, and

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Speaker 3: this was the model Jesus was following as he chose

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Speaker 3: these men, these disciples. But when a teacher selected his disciples,

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Speaker 3: it would typically be the best and the brightest, the

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Speaker 3: most promising young students. But that's not exactly what Jesus did.

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Speaker 3: Though he saw the potential and the promise in each

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Speaker 3: man he chose. Yet he picked some unlikely candidates, and

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Speaker 3: he gathered a group that was far from homogeneous. He

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Speaker 3: had fishermen and trades and a tax collector who was

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Speaker 3: seen as a traitor to Israel, and a Jewish revolutionary,

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Speaker 3: a nationalist who fought against the Roman government. He even

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Speaker 3: called a man whom he knew would one day betray

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Speaker 3: him to his death. Jesus was not looking to the

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Speaker 3: attributes the world viewed as strength. He picked men whose

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Speaker 3: hearts he could shape, men who would follow him with

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Speaker 3: humility and desire to serve. He chose the weak and

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Speaker 3: even the uneducated, so that when they would one day

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Speaker 3: be great for the Kingdom of God, there would be

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Speaker 3: no question that it was God's power, the power of Jesus,

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Speaker 3: working through them. Just as God chose the lowly shepherds

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Speaker 3: to be the first to hear of the Saviour's birth

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Speaker 3: and to proclaim his arrival into the world, Jesus was

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Speaker 3: choosing the unlikely, even some of the outcasts of society,

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Speaker 3: to take his message of the Gospel, the good News,

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Speaker 3: to the world. This should be a great encouragement to

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Speaker 3: all of us, because When God chooses us, he enables

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Speaker 3: us to do what He's called us to do. Just

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Speaker 3: as Christ told these men, there is a cost of

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Speaker 3: following him. In Matthew sixteen, twenty four and twenty five

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Speaker 3: we read these words. Then, Jesus said to his disciples,

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Speaker 3: whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and

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Speaker 3: take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants

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Speaker 3: to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses

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Speaker 3: their life from Me will find it. To follow Jesus

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Speaker 3: is not something that is casual or cheap, but it

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Speaker 3: is demanding and commanding. We are called to pick up

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Speaker 3: the cross and at any price, to be paid. At

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Speaker 3: any cost, we are to follow Jesus. But there is

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Speaker 3: great reward for all who put their faith and trust

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Speaker 3: in the Lord. And we know when we follow Jesus

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Speaker 3: through it all, that one day we will be rewarded

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Speaker 3: in his presence. Dear God, we thank you that you

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Speaker 3: choose the weak and lowly of us in this world

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Speaker 3: to accomplish your purposes. Help us to be willing, help

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Speaker 3: us to be humble, ready to give ourselves at any

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Speaker 3: price to follow you, because we know the promise of

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Speaker 3: eternal life lays within us and before us in Jesus' name. Amen,

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Speaker 3: thank you for listening to today's Bible in a year.

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Speaker 3: I'm Pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. You can download

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Speaker 3: the Prey dot com app and make Bible study in

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Speaker 3: prayer the priority of your life. And if you appreciate

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Speaker 3: this podcast, please share it with someone else. I also

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Speaker 3: want to encourage you to go to Jack Graham dot org.

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Speaker 3: That's Jack Graham dot org for we have resources that

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Speaker 3: are free and available for you so that you may

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Speaker 3: know Christ and grow in him. You can go to

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Speaker 3: Prestonwood dot org for information. God bless you.

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Speaker 1: This episode is sponsored by Meta Share, an innovative healthcare

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Speaker 1: solution for Christians to save money without sacrificing quality