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Speaker 1: And he received them at their hand and fashioned it

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Speaker 1: with a graving tool. After he had made it a

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Speaker 1: molten calf. And they said, these be thy gods o Israel,

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Speaker 1: which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Exodus

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Speaker 1: thirty two four. Dear God, as you begin to bless

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Speaker 1: me and enlarge my territory, I will not forget that

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Speaker 1: you are my God. Unlike the children of Israel and

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Speaker 1: Exodus thirty two, I will not serve the idols of

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Speaker 1: this world, but instead will hold fast to your instructions

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Speaker 1: and commands. I will not go backwards and live in

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Speaker 1: a way that represents the limiting and ungodly mindsets of slavery.

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Speaker 1: I declare that I will remember the promises of Abraham,

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Speaker 1: Isaac and Jacob, then live in a way as to

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Speaker 1: secure them for myself. Drunkenness will not cloud my judgment.

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Speaker 1: Then devote to man made idols will not sever my

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Speaker 1: devotion to you God. I decree that I am on

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Speaker 1: the Lord's side. I confess that I will stand for

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Speaker 1: what's right when standing for what's wrong seems enticing. I

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Speaker 1: acknowledge that my life isn't my own, but it's yours

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Speaker 1: to bring glory to your name. Thank you that despite

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Speaker 1: my downfall, like the Israelites in today's story, you will

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Speaker 1: not leave me or forsake me, even when I wrestle

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Speaker 1: with my sin and shortcomings. In Jesus Name, Amen, Listening

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Speaker 1: to these daily prayers strengthens your relationship with God. Continue

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Speaker 1: hearing from the Lord by listening to today's Bible in

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Speaker 1: a Year brought to you by Bible in a Year

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Speaker 1: dot com.

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Speaker 2: A God we can see. In our last story, we

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Speaker 2: learned about God's promises to bless his people and be

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Speaker 2: with them. He descended in fire, lightning and smoke on

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Speaker 2: Mount Sinai to give Moses a word for the people.

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Speaker 2: He gave them the Ten Commandments. Then he asked them

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Speaker 2: to build a tabernacle so he could dwell with his people.

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Speaker 2: In this story, we learn about the Israelites already breaking

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Speaker 2: the first commandment. Their impatience leads them astray, and they

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Speaker 2: betray the God that had just delivered them out of

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Speaker 2: slavery as inspired by the Book of Exodus.

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Speaker 3: I'm so glad you've joined us on the Bible in

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Speaker 3: a Year podcast today, But before we get to today's episode,

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Speaker 3: I want you to know that I would absolutely love

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Speaker 3: to send you my daily devotion that will give you

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Speaker 3: fresh encouragement every single morning and day from the moment

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Speaker 3: we wake up to the moment our head finally hits

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Speaker 3: the pillow. There are thousands of things demanding our attention,

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Speaker 3: but it's in the midst of all this crush and

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Speaker 3: hustle and bustle that you and I need peace and

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Speaker 3: truth in God's Word. That's why I want to help

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Speaker 3: you spend time each day growing in God's life giving,

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Speaker 3: life changing word by sending you my free daily email

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Speaker 3: devotional PowerPoint Today. So visit Jagraham dot org to sign

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Speaker 3: up for your PowerPoint Today devotional. That's Jagraham dot org

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Speaker 3: Jack Graham dot org. In our previous episode, we learned

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Speaker 3: that God brought the Israelites to the foot of Mount

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Speaker 3: Sinai and spoke to them there, promising blessing if they

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Speaker 3: obeyed his commands. God gave us the Ten Commandments, instructions

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Speaker 3: all related to Him and how to know Him and

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Speaker 3: how to live with one another. Today we'll hear how

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Speaker 3: quickly they fail to keep the first of those commandments.

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Speaker 3: Listen to their words to erin. As Moses delays up

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Speaker 3: on top of the mountain. Where have they placed their trust?

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Speaker 3: Today's reading provides a stark contrast between the leadership of

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Speaker 3: Moses and that of Erin, highlighting why God called Moses

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Speaker 3: instead of his brother. Finally, we'll discover there's a price

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Speaker 3: for sin against God. Yet even in the midst of

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Speaker 3: judgment and punishment, God's grace and mercy will come through.

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Speaker 3: Let's listen now to today's story.

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Speaker 2: Moses had ascended back up to Mount Sinai to hear

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Speaker 2: from God on behalf of the people. The thunders still

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Speaker 2: rolled down the mountain like waves crashing on a shore.

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Speaker 2: The people took note of Moses's delay to come down

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Speaker 2: from the mountain, so they turned to Erin for guidance.

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Speaker 2: We do not know what has become of Moses. He

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Speaker 2: is the w one who brought us out of Egypt.

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Speaker 2: Quick make God for us to protect and nurture us. Erin,

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Speaker 2: just as confused and desperate as the people, agreed, he

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Speaker 2: said to them, take off all your rings, ear rings,

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Speaker 2: and necklaces of gold and bring them to me. So

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Speaker 2: while the people began to lay down their possessions at

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Speaker 2: the feet of Erin, they willingly gave up what was

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Speaker 2: precious to them, yet all for a fabrication, a false

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Speaker 2: sense of security. Erin, using fashioning tools, constructed a golden

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Speaker 2: calf with his own bare hands. He brought the calf

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Speaker 2: before the people, erected high into the air so everyone

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Speaker 2: could see. Applause roared throughout the camp. Dancing and revelry

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Speaker 2: began to spread. These are your gods, people of Israel,

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Speaker 2: These are the gods that brought you up out of

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Speaker 2: the land of Egypt. The people cried out, paying no

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Speaker 2: mind to God's first encouragement to them, when he said,

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Speaker 2: I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out

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Speaker 2: of the land of Egypt and out of slavery. In

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Speaker 2: the distance, God was meeting with Moses. Yet this was

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Speaker 2: not hidden from his sight. When Aaron saw how happy

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Speaker 2: the calf made the people, he built an altar for it.

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Speaker 2: He hosted a large feast to celebrate their new God.

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Speaker 2: They rose up early the next day to give peace offerings.

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Speaker 2: As the day dragged on, they feasted like gluttons, filling

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Speaker 2: their bellies with meat and wine. The strange days of

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Speaker 2: drunkenness slithered around camp as people rose up and dancing

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Speaker 2: in orgies. Their laughter was not joyful praise, rather inebriated

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Speaker 2: and lustful cackles. They paid homage to their created God

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Speaker 2: by creating their own worship, satisfying every selfish desire they

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Speaker 2: could come up with. The newly freed slaves of Israel

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Speaker 2: began to look a whole lot like their old masters,

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Speaker 2: the Egyptians. The stench of their idolatry carried through the

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Speaker 2: canyons up to the mountain where God met with Moses.

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Speaker 2: In the quietness of his prayers to God, Moses heard

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Speaker 2: his voice change. The Lord said to Moses, go down

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Speaker 2: to see your people, For they have corrupted themselves. How

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Speaker 2: quickly they have turned from my commandments high and lifted

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Speaker 2: up among them is a golden calf for whom they

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Speaker 2: have sacrificed and worshiped. Moses's eyes widened. Though the people

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Speaker 2: may have lost their fear of God, Moses surely did not.

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Speaker 2: He had remembered, oh the Lord was capable of, and

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Speaker 2: how kind he had been to all the children of Israel.

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Speaker 2: God continued and said, I have looked upon my people,

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Speaker 2: and behold, they are a stubborn people. Leave this place,

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Speaker 2: for my wrath will descend upon them like wildfire. From

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Speaker 2: you alone, I will build my nation. These words disturbed Moses.

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Speaker 2: He fell before God and said, Lord, why does your

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Speaker 2: wrath burn heart against your people? You have brought them

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Speaker 2: out of slavery with your might. The Egyptians will say

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Speaker 2: you lured them out of slavery just to kill them.

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Speaker 2: Please turn from your anger and have mercy on them.

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Speaker 2: Tears began to flow from Moses as he begged God

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Speaker 2: to spare them. Remember your promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

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Speaker 2: Moses implored. His prayer was not long, but it was strong.

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Speaker 2: Moses reflected the merciful heart of God and his prayers,

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Speaker 2: and they pleased God. Moses was truly a leader able

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Speaker 2: to reflect God's heart and desire. Moses could have easily

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Speaker 2: done nothing, but instead he interceded for his people. God

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Speaker 2: looked upon Moses, he was pleased and relented. Moses hustled

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Speaker 2: down the mountain, eyes piercing with an internal fury. Moses

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Speaker 2: had two tablets of the testimony of God in his hands.

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Speaker 2: The ridings of God for the people were engraved in stone.

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Speaker 2: Joshua was waiting at the base of the mountain for Moses.

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Speaker 2: When Joshua heard the celebration from camp. He ran to

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Speaker 2: go meet Moses and said, there are sounds of war.

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Speaker 3: In the camp.

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Speaker 2: Moses and Joshua came near to the camp and saw

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Speaker 2: the calf risen high among the people. Moses peered across

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Speaker 2: the sea of drunk faces. They danced to the music.

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Speaker 2: They caressed those that were not their wives or husbands.

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Speaker 2: They drank their wisdom away. Moses watched this. He was

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Speaker 2: right in front of them, yet unseen because of their drunkenness.

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Speaker 2: In that moment, a deep anger came upon Moses, an

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Speaker 2: anger that had not been awakened since he was a

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Speaker 2: young man strangling the Egyptian Taskmaster. In an outburst of rage,

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Speaker 2: Moses thre through the stone tablets at the foot of

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Speaker 2: the mountain. The sound echoed across the canyon, and the

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Speaker 2: dancing and music ceased. The people turned their heads and

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Speaker 2: stared up at Moses. Silence fell upon them all. Moses

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Speaker 2: walked into the crowd of people and took the calf

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Speaker 2: from the altar without saying anything. Moses dragged the calf

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Speaker 2: past the people towards the bonfire in the middle of

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Speaker 2: the can He threw it into the fire and watched

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Speaker 2: it melt With his back turned towards the people. He

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Speaker 2: scooped up its ashes and scattered them in the water nearby.

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Speaker 2: He took a cup and filled it with the water

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Speaker 2: and gave it to the people to drink. The bitter

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Speaker 2: taste of the gold dusted water was a reminder of

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Speaker 2: where they had come from. They had just escaped the

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Speaker 2: bitter gripes of slavery, and they ought not to make

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Speaker 2: themselves slaves again. Moses looked to Aaron, who had remained silent.

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Speaker 2: What did they do to you, Erin? Moses said, with

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Speaker 2: his eyes filling up with tears, Why have you brought

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Speaker 2: sin upon all of them? Erin was frantic, seeking to

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Speaker 2: justify his actions. He was a brilliant communicator, and just

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Speaker 2: as his ancestor Jacob, Aaron could talk himself out of

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Speaker 2: almost any situation. Don't burn with anger, Moses. You know

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Speaker 2: the people are set on evil. They wanted the false gods.

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Speaker 2: I tossed their god, and the fire and the calf

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Speaker 2: just appeared. Arin lied, and just as Adam did eons ago,

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Speaker 2: he deferred the responsibility. Moses looked at the people and

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Speaker 2: saw that Erin had allowed them to divide and become

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Speaker 2: loose with one another arin had once been his mouthpiece,

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Speaker 2: but now Moses had to speak. He stood at the

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Speaker 2: base of the camp and shouted, who is on the

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Speaker 2: Lord's side? If any one is on God's side, come

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Speaker 2: stand by me. Out of the vast crowd, the sons

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Speaker 2: of Levey came forward from the group. Moses then commanded

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Speaker 2: them to kill those who had caused the most dissension.

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Speaker 2: With swords in their hands, the sons of Levee killed

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Speaker 2: about three thousand men that day. The silence was cut

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Speaker 2: and screams oozed out of the camp like blood. Moses

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Speaker 2: spoke to the sons of Levee and said, to day

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Speaker 2: you have been ordained into the service of God. Each

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Speaker 2: one of you will have a blessing this day. The

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Speaker 2: sun rose the next day, and a gentle breeze came

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Speaker 2: in through the canyon. The people were silent, and Moses

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Speaker 2: paced the camp, gathering them to the base of the mountain.

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Speaker 2: He looked to them and said, your sin was an

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Speaker 2: intense sin. I am going back up to the Lord,

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Speaker 2: and perhaps there is atonement for what you have done.

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Speaker 2: So Moses left, and the people watched him ascend back

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Speaker 2: up the mountain. Moses spoke before God and said, they

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Speaker 2: have sinned greatly against you, Gods of gold. Moses cut

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Speaker 2: himself off and clenched his fist, his eyes closed and

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Speaker 2: his face held back tears. Please forgive them, Moses whispered,

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Speaker 2: But if you do not kill me instead of them.

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Speaker 2: Moses trembled as he said these words. If a simple

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Speaker 2: sacrifice would not suffice, Moses wanted to stand between God

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Speaker 2: and them as atonement. There was a gentle silence between them.

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Speaker 2: The Lord said to Moses, whoever is sinned against me,

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Speaker 2: I will require something from them, and then he sent

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Speaker 2: Moses back down the mountain. God would not blot out

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Speaker 2: his people. He promised Jacob that his seed would spring

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Speaker 2: forth a mighty nation and all nations would be redeemed.

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Speaker 2: He would not waver from that promise. Hundreds of years prior,

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Speaker 2: Jacob wrestled with God and the dead of night. Jacob

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Speaker 2: was flawed and filled with sin, but he clung to

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Speaker 2: God for blessing. So he renamed him Israel, which means

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Speaker 2: wrestles with God. God. Now the people of Israel would

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Speaker 2: continue to sin, be flawed, but cling to God for blessing.

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Speaker 2: They would continue to wrestle with God, and he would

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Speaker 2: still bless them. A great plague fell upon Israel that day,

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Speaker 2: Yet in the midst of their punishment there was hope

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Speaker 2: and mercy. God would not depart from them.

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Speaker 3: We opened today's reading with Moses on the mountain alone.

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Speaker 3: He spent forty days and nights hearing from God on

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Speaker 3: that mountain, and in that period of time the people

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Speaker 3: began to worry. The Israelites could still see God's consuming

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Speaker 3: fire on the mountaintop. He had not gone missing in action,

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Speaker 3: but they began to doubt if Moses would ever return.

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Speaker 3: As we've already seen in their short time out of Egypt,

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Speaker 3: God's people were quick to complain, and a grumbling, complaining

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Speaker 3: heart can quickly become a wandering and even sinful heart.

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Speaker 3: People tell Erin to make them gods, little g to

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Speaker 3: protect them and to provide for them. Barely a month

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Speaker 3: has passed now since God told them not to have

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Speaker 3: any God before them, any other kind of God, lest

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Speaker 3: they break his commandments. But somehow, in their sinfulness, they

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Speaker 3: wanted a God again, little g that they could see

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Speaker 3: and touch. Even if this God was a fantasy, Erin

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Speaker 3: doesn't resist. He gathers all the gold he can find

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Speaker 3: from them and fashions a golden cap. They build an

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Speaker 3: altar and begin to worship this counterfeit phony God. One

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Speaker 3: sin bursts another, and soon the people engage in all

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Speaker 3: manner of revelry, seeking to gratisfy their flesh. They've all

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Speaker 3: but forgotten the greatness and the glory and the holiness

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Speaker 3: of God. But God has not forgotten them. He isn't

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Speaker 3: blind to their sins. He tells Moses what these people

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Speaker 3: have done, and that he wants to burn with anger

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Speaker 3: against them and even destroy them. Moses doesn't excuse the

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Speaker 3: actions of his people, but he does intercede. He advocates

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Speaker 3: for them in an impassioned plea. He speaks to God

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Speaker 3: of the promises that he had made to Abraham, Isaac

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Speaker 3: and Jacob. God hears Moses and turns from his anger.

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Speaker 3: Moses descends the mountain and destroys the calf and the altar.

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Speaker 3: He throws the stone tablets God had given him on

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Speaker 3: the ground and breaks them. Yes, he's angry, very angry.

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Speaker 3: When he confronts Aaron. Rather than his own mistake, Aaron

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Speaker 3: tries to justify it. Here we see two very different leaders.

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Speaker 3: Moses was a strong leader who turned to God in

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Speaker 3: times of distress. But Erin listened to the people, bent

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Speaker 3: to their will and turned against God. It is a costly,

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Speaker 3: terrible sin. Moses enlists the Levite priests to go through

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Speaker 3: the camp and shed blood in God's Nonas three thousand

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Speaker 3: of God's people died that day, judged for their unfaithfulness,

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Speaker 3: Moses went up to speak to God again and asked

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Speaker 3: for forgiveness for his people. God reminded Moses that he

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Speaker 3: cannot allow sin to go unpunished. He cannot allow there

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Speaker 3: is always a price for sin, and the price is death.

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Speaker 3: For the Scripture says in the Book of Romans, the

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Speaker 3: wages of sin is death. Because of sin, our names

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Speaker 3: are blotted out of the book of God. But because

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Speaker 3: of his grace and because of what Christ has done

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Speaker 3: for us and shedding his blood on the cross, we

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Speaker 3: can have our names now written in the Lamb's book

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Speaker 3: of life. The question is is your name there? In

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Speaker 3: God's words to Moses, we find hope and enduring faithfulness

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Speaker 3: as well as holiness. The people of sin there is

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Speaker 3: a price to pay, a terrible price. But God will

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Speaker 3: not forsake them, He will not abandon them. His presence

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Speaker 3: will continue to be with his people. God, we know

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Speaker 3: that you are a holy God, and this passage of

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Speaker 3: Scripture is a reminder that we are to be devoted

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Speaker 3: to You and you only. May we trust in you

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Speaker 3: always and obey you in the power of your spirit.

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Speaker 3: We do confess our sins and ask that you forgive

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Speaker 3: us of every sin through your son Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.

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Speaker 3: I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas, and before we go,

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Speaker 3: I want you to know that I would love to

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Speaker 3: send you my daily devotional to give you fresh encouragement

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Speaker 3: every single day. So visit Jaggraham dot org to sign

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Speaker 3: up for your PowerPoint Today devotional. That's Jack Graham dot org.