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Speaker 1: Let us pray. Wherefore my sentence is that we trouble

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Speaker 1: not them, which from among the gentiles are turned to God,

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Speaker 1: Acts fifteen nineteen. As I am being transformed into your likeness, Jesus,

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Speaker 1: I consciously make the choice to let go of past

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Speaker 1: rules and outdated mindsets that stand in opposition to the

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Speaker 1: new way of being. I am freely able to live

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Speaker 1: by the work of Jesus. I am now saved by

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Speaker 1: grace through faith keeping. Traditions that hold me bound to

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Speaker 1: the past can no longer serve in my new life. Therefore,

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Speaker 1: like the multitude of counsel and Acts fifteen, guide me

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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit and reveal to me what needs to stay

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Speaker 1: in my life and what needs to go. Reveal to

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Speaker 1: me in your Holy Word the ways I'm called to live,

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Speaker 1: so I may experience the life in abundance that you

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Speaker 1: died to give me. Lord in Jesus name, Amen, thank

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

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

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Speaker 1: brought to you by Bible in a year dot.

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Speaker 2: Com the Jerusalem Council. In our last story, Paul was

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Speaker 2: nearly stoned to death by Jewish Christians, who sought to

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Speaker 2: control gentiles by the law. They were dangerous and controlling,

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Speaker 2: Yet Paul did not let the stones stop him. Now

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Speaker 2: we see a move of God's spirit as he guides

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Speaker 2: the apostles and leaders to address the problems ahead. If

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Speaker 2: gentiles are to be brought into the Family of God,

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Speaker 2: they are going to need to learn to let go.

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Speaker 2: Inspired by the Book of.

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Speaker 3: Acts, Hello, this is another episode of the Bible in

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Speaker 3: a year. I'm Jack Graham. In yesterday's episode, we heard

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Speaker 3: about the persecution brought upon Paul and Barnabas by those

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Speaker 3: who wish to silence the message of Jesus. Twice they

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Speaker 3: had escaped those who wished them harm, but finally in Listra,

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Speaker 3: Paul was seized by angry men who stoned him and

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Speaker 3: carried him outside the city, leaving him for dead. But

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Speaker 3: the disciples came to his aid, and Paul rose up

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Speaker 3: to continue preaching and teaching, and many more came to

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Speaker 3: Christ as a result. Today we'll hear how christ following

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Speaker 3: Jews attempt to add to the Gospel, trying to make

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Speaker 3: Gentile believers follow Jewish religious traditions such as circumcision. We'll

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Speaker 3: see Paul and Barnabas Erney to Jerusalem and convene a

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Speaker 3: council of the apostles and elders of the Church to

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Speaker 3: stand against these doctrines that threatened to rob the Gospel

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Speaker 3: of his power. Let's listen now to today's reading from the

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Speaker 3: Book of Acts.

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Speaker 4: The toxic doctrine of the Church and Antioch was spreading.

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Speaker 4: Jews who had become Christian considered themselves more complete and

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Speaker 4: holy followers of God. They lorded their heritage over the Gentiles.

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Speaker 4: Many of them even taught that a gentile could not

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Speaker 4: become a follower of Jesus unless he was circumcised. This

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Speaker 4: was in direct opposition to what Jesus had spent years

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Speaker 4: battling against. He died so that nobody would be judged

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Speaker 4: on the law, but on the righteousness given to them

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Speaker 4: through his sacrifice. So Paul and Barnabas called for the

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Speaker 4: apostles and pastors of the church together to discuss these teachings.

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Speaker 4: Since the early Church was mostly made up of Jews,

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Speaker 4: it was hard for them to comprehend a faith in

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Speaker 4: Jesus without embracing the Jewish culture. So they prayed and

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Speaker 4: bore their heads before God and one another They argued

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Speaker 4: and debated the law of Moses and the law of

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Speaker 4: liberty established by Christ. Then, in the midst of the

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Speaker 4: arguments and debates, Peter stood up before the room. Everyone

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Speaker 4: paused as Peter paced the room. He stood with authority.

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Speaker 4: He was no longer the scared fisherman. He was a

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Speaker 4: man of quiet strength, a man who knew Jesus deeply.

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Speaker 4: My brothers, Peter said, I have been a witness to

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Speaker 4: what God has done to the Gentiles. God has met

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Speaker 4: them and given them his spirit. He has made no

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Speaker 4: distinguishing between us and them. He gives the same spirit

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Speaker 4: to both. And we are to not call unclean what

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Speaker 4: God has cleansed. Do we not still believe that we

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Speaker 4: are saved by grace? Should we not believe the same

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Speaker 4: is true for them? The room fell silent and Peter

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Speaker 4: sat down. Then Barnabas Saint Paul recounted the violence of

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Speaker 4: the Jewish Christians in Antioch. After this, all looked to James,

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Speaker 4: the brother of Jesus. He stood to his feet. There

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Speaker 4: was silence, and James looked deep in thought. My judgment

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Speaker 4: is this, We should not bind the Gentiles to laws

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Speaker 4: that bring them no closer to Jesus, we should write

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Speaker 4: to them to encourage them, to guide them, to restore them.

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Speaker 4: But we should also inform them on the things from

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Speaker 4: the law they ought to keep, for such is our burden.

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Speaker 5: As leaders, all were in agreement, so they forged a

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Speaker 5: letter of encouragement to the gentile believers, and thus the

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Speaker 5: first major conflict within the church was solved by a

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Speaker 5: multitude of voices.

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Speaker 3: In today's scripture, we find Paul and Barnabas at odds

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Speaker 3: with some Jewish Christians who came from Judea and began

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Speaker 3: to teach that gentiles must first be circumstance in order

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Speaker 3: to be saved. Paul and Barnabas saw this for the

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Speaker 3: false teaching, that it was a burden on the Gentiles

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Speaker 3: that Jesus never meant for them to bear, and they

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Speaker 3: debated them with passion. It was no small matter, and

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Speaker 3: a rift was beginning to form in the church. So

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Speaker 3: Paul and Barnabas wisely traveled to Jerusalem to meet with

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Speaker 3: Peter and the other apostles, along with elders in the church.

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Speaker 3: These were people who had lived alongside Jesus and heard

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Speaker 3: him preach. If anyone could rule on this matter, it

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Speaker 3: would be them. As it turned out, this was not

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Speaker 3: simply a question on the fringes. There were many Jews

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Speaker 3: in Jerusalem who believed the same things that gentiles had

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Speaker 3: to follow Jewish laws and customs and become circumcised. Of course,

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Speaker 3: it was a deeper issue than circumcision. This was a

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Speaker 3: fundamental misunderstanding of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

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Speaker 3: and the freedom that he gives to all who follow him.

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Speaker 3: After a great deal of debate and discussion, stood and

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Speaker 3: spoke with confidence. I can imagine that as he addressed

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Speaker 3: the gathering, he was recalling the day on the roof

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Speaker 3: when the vision of unclean animals came to him and

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Speaker 3: he heard God tell him to rise, kill and eat.

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Speaker 3: How after he protested, God told him that he was

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Speaker 3: not to call anything unclean that God had made clean.

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Speaker 3: And how just after he awoke from his vision, men

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Speaker 3: came to bring him to a centurion named Cornelius, a

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Speaker 3: gentile who came to faith in Christ. Peter had led

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Speaker 3: this man and his whole family to faith in the Lord,

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Speaker 3: and there had been no need for circumcision. Salvation came

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Speaker 3: through faith in Christ alone, by God's grace alone, To

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Speaker 3: these gentiles who heard the word of God and the

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Speaker 3: message of salvation, and the same Holy Spirit had been

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Speaker 3: given to them as was given to Peter and other

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Speaker 3: believing Jews. To Peter, the matter was settled. God made

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Speaker 3: no distinction and had called all nations and all people

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Speaker 3: to himself. So in Acts fifteen ten and eleven he concludes, Now, therefore,

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Speaker 3: why are you putting God to the test by placing

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Speaker 3: a yoke on the back of the disciples that neither

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Speaker 3: our fathers nor we have been able to bear. But

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Speaker 3: we believe that we will be saved through the grace

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Speaker 3: of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as they will. Paul

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Speaker 3: and Barnabas then began to tell those gathered what the

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Speaker 3: Lord had been doing among the gentiles who are coming

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Speaker 3: to faith in the Lord. Finally, James, Jesus's own brother,

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Speaker 3: stood and testified that what Peter, Paul, and Barnabas were

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Speaker 3: saying did not contradict Old Testament prophecy, but rather supported it.

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Speaker 3: This is so important that we remember this today as well. Yes,

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Speaker 3: God uses experiences to shape and inform us in our walk,

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Speaker 3: but our experiences do not trump God's revealed word. God's

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Speaker 3: word is our final authority for faith and practice, and

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Speaker 3: as James concluded, God did not intend for gentiles to

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Speaker 3: become Jews, so rather than burden them with religious requirements

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Speaker 3: of the law, they should instead exhort them to abstain

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Speaker 3: from things like sexual immorality, and other practices that would

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Speaker 3: violate God's moral law, ultimately hindering their fellowship with God

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Speaker 3: and other believers. This Jerusalem Council then drafted a letter

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Speaker 3: to send out to believers, resolving the matter and encouraging

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Speaker 3: them to have unity in the faith. This was the

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Speaker 3: first major disagreement in the church resolved through wise counsel, discernment,

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Speaker 3: understanding of God's word, and prayer. It would not, however,

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Speaker 3: be the last division in the church, and as we'll

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Speaker 3: discover in our next episode, Paul would remind believers again

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Speaker 3: that righteousness and freedom come not from good works, but

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Speaker 3: through faith in Jesus Christ by God's grace. We'll learn

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Speaker 3: more about that the next time. Let's pray. Dear God,

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Speaker 3: we thank you for the gospel that your grace is

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Speaker 3: available to all. That this is not a religious experience,

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Speaker 3: but a life changing transformation by the power of the

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Speaker 3: Lord Jesus Christ. May we always judge our experiences in

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Speaker 3: the discernment of God's work through the lens of scripture.

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Speaker 3: In Jesus' name, Amen, thank you once again for joining

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Speaker 3: the Bible in a Year, and you can help ensure

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Speaker 3: that more and more people can hear the life changing

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Speaker 3: message of God's Word. With your generous gift today. To

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Speaker 3: keep these gospel centered messages reaching people around the world,

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Speaker 3: please give at www dot Bible in a year dot com.

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Speaker 6: This episode is sponsored by Meta Share, an innovative healthcare

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Speaker 6: solution for Christians to save money without sacrificing quality.

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Speaker 3: Hello.

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Speaker 7: I'm doctor Tony Evans, and I'm excited to have you

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Speaker 7: join me on this new podcast. Heroes in the Bible,

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Speaker 7: come to me. Boy, you and your God well crumble

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Speaker 7: beneath my feet.

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Speaker 1: He beckoned the giant and said, I come.

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Speaker 2: To you in the name of the Lord of Hosts

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Speaker 2: and creator of the stars.

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Speaker 7: You know we all have giants that we face in

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Speaker 7: our life, and when you understand that the greatness of

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Speaker 7: God affects our ability to handle the giants of life,

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Speaker 7: it will encourage, inspire, and challenge all of us to

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Speaker 7: our faith in God and our growth in Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 6: Look past his height and appearance. Samuel for Man sees

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Speaker 6: the outward appearance. They see the strength of the man's arms,

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Speaker 6: but the Lord looks and to the heart.

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Speaker 7: Listen to Heroes in the Bible with Doctor Tony Evans

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Speaker 7: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get

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Speaker 7: your podcast