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#80. Praying the Word: Our Favorite Verses to Pray for Ourselves and Our Kids + Which Verses Are For Us Today? | Part 1
Episode 8015th May 2025 • The Again Podcast on Christian Parenting: Redeeming the Repetition of Biblical Motherhood • Entrusted Ministries: Christian Parenting Resources
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The prayer lives of Christian moms are often most powerful when they are praying the rich truth of Scripture. Listen in as Betsy and David Corning join Stephanie to share the Bible verses that have impacted them most through the years. These Memorial Verses will encourage you--especially when you hear why you can embrace the promises of the Old Testament and the New Testament as you pray for your family.

Our Study for Moms: Entrusted with a Child's Heart

Key Words to Understand: exegesis and eisegesis

Scriptures Referenced:

Romans 15:4

1 Corinthians 10:11

Deuteronomy 8

Genesis 12:1-3

1 Corinthians 11:23-24

Hebrews 13:8

2 Samuel 18

Joshua 4

Lamentations 3:22-23

Isaiah 26:3

Micah 6:8

John 9:4

Hebrews 6:10

1 Peter 3:18

2 Corinthians 3:18

Hebrews 4:12

Transcripts

Stephanie:

They're the joyful agains our children.

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Shout on the swings, the exhausting

agains of cooking and laundry and

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the difficult agains of discipline.

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So much of what we do

as mothers is on repeat.

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So what if we woke up with clarity,

knowing which agains we were called to.

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And went to bed believing we are

faithful in what matters most.

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We believe God's word is

the key to untangle from the

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confusion and overwhelm we feel.

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Let's look up together to embrace a

motherhood full of freedom and joy.

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Welcome to the Again podcast.

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I'm your host, Stephanie Hickox,

and as always, this is brought

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to you by ENTRUSTED Ministries.

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Today, we are going to give you some

renewed fervor in your prayer life.

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We hope we can help you kick it up a notch

as you're praying for your kids, because

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when we pray in line with God's word,

we know it's his will and his desire.

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We're gonna clarify

commonly asked question.

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Of when do I know that the

promises are actually for me?

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And I think you're gonna love the answer.

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And then we'll hear from Betsy and David

Corning on some of their favorite verses

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that they've prayed through the years.

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This is part one of a great conversation

that is full of beautiful scriptures.

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And I'm gonna list those all

in the show notes for you.

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Make sure to come back next week to hear

some more verses that tapped our list.

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Stephanie: Today I have the honor of

being here with Betsy and David Corning.

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Uncle David and Aunt Betsy, I should also

explain that I have the blessing of being

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related to these two wonderful people.

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They are some of my heroes in the

faith and of course the start of

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Entrusted with a Child's Heart.

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we will link to this amazing biblically

based study in the show notes, but if

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you're new to our podcast, we would

just like to explain that entrusted

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with a child's heart is a nine

month biblical study in parenting.

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I was just thinking recently that

if someone came across Entrusted

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and they thought, wow, nine

months, that is a lot of time.

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But if you understand how

scripturally based it is.

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And how much it is just about the

word of God and not about personal

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parenting advice, not personal

experience, then what could be more

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worthy of your time to really set

your foundation on Jesus Christ.

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That's really why we do this to

equip moms and equip families

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to parent for the glory of God.

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Betsy/David: Thanks, Steph.

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We're happy to be here with you.

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And I think it was the sovereignty of

God that made the study be that long

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because we never would have set out

to have one be that long actually.

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And that was the feedback

we got from every publisher.

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Why would you make a study so long?

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But as I said, I think it was the

Lord's doing because we were initially

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asked to make it around the school

year and It really served the women

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in the study by having it that long

because they really got to know each

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other rather than being together for

six weeks and not really going to the

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depths of their issues or concerns.

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They were able to really let themselves

be known and discuss deeper issues.

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We would come back to issues

and go to a little deeper level.

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And we were able to go to all sorts

of family relationships, not just

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children, but of course, husbands,

which is even more foundational.

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Our relationships with the Lord,

our relationships with our siblings,

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our relationship with our parents.

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And so forth, and it really tied up a lot

of family issues together, in one package.

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we saw the Lord's hand in that and we've

continued to do that for all these years.

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Stephanie: If anyone knows you, they

would definitely say that both of

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you have a deep love for scripture.

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And that's why I'm excited to

dig into some memorial verses

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that the Lord has used in each of

your lives to bring you peace or

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direction or draw you near to him.

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a difficult time, or that have just set

a foundation for your walk with him.

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So it can relate to parenting, can

relate to marriage, really these

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could apply to any situation.

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But those verses that you

can almost remember where

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you were when you read them.

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Before we get into that, though, I'd like

to get a little bit theological here.

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People often point out a warning of

making sure that as believers with

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the new covenant, that we are not

claiming promises or verses that God

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was speaking to his old covenant with

Israel or to a different covenant.

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And I think the key verse that

people pick out is Jeremiah 29, 11.

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We know from the New Testament in Romans

8, 28, that God does have a good plan

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for us and he does desire to make each

of us into the likeness of his son.

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We know in the next verse, but how can we

be careful to stay true to the character

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of God and the blessings he has for us?

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While maybe we're being ministered

to by a verse in the Old Testament,

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how do we know if that's something

we can feel confident to believe

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for ourselves and for our children?

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Betsy/David: I think you're touching on

the issue of I said Jesus and XO Jesus.

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This is the interpretation of the Bible

and we would use XO jeticle, a study,

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which would be from the Greek words,

starting with E X E G E I T A C A L.

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And I hope I spelled that right because

I'm not looking at anything, but XO

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Jesus, it's not the name of Jesus.

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It's Meaning we're taking

it out of the original text.

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So when we study, we are

taking from the text.

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And drawing it out rather than

the opposite, which is ISO Jesus,

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which is E I S G E S I, I might've

spelled that wrong, but anyway,

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Stephanie: put it in the show notes.

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Betsy/David: but what it

means is that you are.

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Putting yourself into the text.

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So you're super imposing yourself.

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And I always warn women about this

when we first start the study,

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because you can bring all your own

biases and experiences and you put a.

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Foggy little plate over the scripture

and you say the scripture applies to me

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differently Because of this particular

instance in my life, but no the scripture

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applies to you the same But we have to

pull away that fog and look directly

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at the scripture and let the scripture

Shine its light on our lives rather

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than the opposite which is What happens

so much in the postmodern culture?

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So what would an example of this be?

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Let's say I'm reading in the Old

Testament, when we read about David.

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We are not David In the story, but if

we're using ISO Jesus, we place ourselves

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in that study in that historical event.

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And we think now I am David and I

can conquer the Goliaths in my life.

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But that's not what it's saying.

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It's a historical narrative.

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And it's really saying

that Jesus is our champion.

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David was representing his

people and Jesus represents

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us and Jesus is our champion.

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So it's a completely different meaning

when you really study it and understand

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that Jesus was the greater David.

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A proper interpretation gives the.

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Proper application and so we do

the SPCA so that people can start

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with and go through that process.

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Now, we are all going to pick out.

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different verses.

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And then when we get to the New

Testament, we'll see how they

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apply in light of the new covenant.

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So we want to be careful of that.

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But when we do our SPCAs, we pick a

scripture and then we pick a principle.

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So what would be the principle that would

apply to all people because of that verse.

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Then we can Go on and make our

own convictions and applications.

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So I think what David and I have

done through the years is come up

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with this concept because we hear

this a lot of claiming verses for

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ourselves or claiming promises of God.

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And how do we do that?

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Because we can claim the principle

that would be true for all believers.

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And, sometimes we look at a verse and

we're like we know that God was talking

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directly to the Israelites and we're

not the Israelites, but can this apply

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to me as a parent with my children?

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And then David and I have

selected out and come up with this

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concept called Memorial Verses.

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I would add to that just a little bit.

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I have a very simplistic way of

looking at the Bible in its entirety.

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The way I would basically say the

Old Testament points to Jesus and

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the New Testament points back at him.

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all about Jesus Christ.

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And I get a little, annoyed

when people tell me that the Old

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Testament doesn't apply to my life.

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I think it does.

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And two reasons, I'm going to

give you two verses that I, why

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I would say that is in Romans 15.

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4, it says for whatever was written

for our instruction, that through

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endurance and through encouragement

of the scriptures, we might have hope.

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And then there's another passage in 11.

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Now these things happen to them

as an example, but they were

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written down for our instruction

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Stephanie: Mhm,

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Betsy/David: whom the

end of the ages has come.

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So the Old Testament

does apply to my life.

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And like Betsy said, maybe not

all the promises as they were

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given to the people of Israel.

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may not particularly apply to me in the

specific of that, but there are principles

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of scripture in the old Testament

that very definitely apply to my life.

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And I look for those things and I

always try to cross reference things.

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And when Betsy said this morning that

she wanted me to talk with her a little

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bit about memorial verses, I've been

in my get the word out last year, I was

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really focusing on reading through the

Bible and writing my lone little personal

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commentary on the scriptures that I read

throughout the entire Bible, which no one

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would ever want to read except for me.

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, this year I'm doing it differently.

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I'm reading through the Bible again,

but I'm looking for the different

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themes that are in get the word out.

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And obviously one of those

themes is memorial verses.

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And so I have a whole list of, verses

that I've already written down that I

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would call memorial verses or verses

that, like you said earlier, I just.

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When I see them, I said, that's something

I got to get my hands around more.

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I have to apply that more to my life.

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I have to live in a way that, that my life

would reflect that passage of scripture.

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So I have a whole list of those

that I've written down so far.

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Just as an example Steph, I was reading

in basically Deuteronomy chapter eight.

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And there, there's a section in the

Bible, a little heading there that says,

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remember Yahweh, remember the Lord.

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Stephanie: Mhm,

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Betsy/David: and basically.

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He says, remember what I did for you.

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I was the one who led you through

the wilderness for 40 years.

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Remember this, don't forget

what I have done for you.

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so I'm reading this and there's just

this remember theme going through the

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book of Deuteronomy in chapter eight.

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And then I went back to the.

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Abrahamic covenant, which was given in

Genesis chapter 12 verses one and three.

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And that's what God really ultimately

wanted them to remember the

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promise that he gave them there.

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So again, I said, the Old

Testament is pointing me to Christ.

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I didn't get the Abrahamic covenant.

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I'm not a Jewish person.

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I'm not a person from Israel.

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What does that mean to me?

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My mind automatically clicks in.

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What am I to remember

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Stephanie: mhm.

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Betsy/David: was done for me?

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And you think of the Lord's

table where Jesus says, remember.

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Remember before, take this bread,

take this cup in remembrance of me.

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And that's the passage in Corinthians.

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First Corinthians which is a verse that

you'll hear very frequently when people

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in our church are celebrating communion.

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But that word remember Christ remember,

just like Abrahamic covenant, the Lord

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Yahweh was telling them to remember

what God has done, remember the promises

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that he gave to our forefathers.

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And yeah, that specifically

didn't apply to me.

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But it's points me to something else

that I definitely need to remember

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and in the old testament folks, we're

looking forward to the messiah as well.

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So that's just a some thoughts

I had on the memorial verses

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Stephanie: Fantastic.

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Aunt Betsy always says that you

have such a fantastic way of taking

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deep truth and simplifying it and

putting it in very concise ways.

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I really love how you did that.

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Deuteronomy 8 is also one of my

favorite chapters of Scripture and

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That idea of remember is so much

of what godly parenting is, right?

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We're constantly pointing our

children to God's faithfulness.

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And if we're seeing his character in

all of the promises that he made and

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What he did for Israel that can comfort

us so much as we know that he is the

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same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

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And I think both of you said so

well that this is about the Lord.

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This is about Jesus.

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If we ever get up from a quiet time.

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And leave feeling more

reassured in ourself, then

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that would be a misplaced hope.

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But it should always be pointing

us to the Lord Jesus Christ and

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elevating himself in our hearts.

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Betsy/David: That's what I love

about what my husband does.

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He's so succinct about things.

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When we're reading the Bible, we should

think this is about Jesus, not about me.

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This is God's revelation of himself.

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to man.

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It's not God talking about me.

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And so that just

simplifies the whole thing.

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And as a result of that, it makes

us more worshipful, us more mindful

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of our need of him, and those become

our convictions and applications.

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As a result, we came up with

this idea of memorial verses.

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So when you think of a memorial,

sometimes you think of, something

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where somebody has passed away

and you're giving them a memorial.

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Could be that, but Not necessarily at all.

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Most of ours are to living people in

our family people that we're praying for

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and we're looking at particular verses

and I often use that purple color and

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i'll underline In my bible that verse

and i'll put that person's name by it.

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I'll put a date by it.

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I'll put a year I'll also put it in under

my themes and i'll put the person's name

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and then i'll put different verses by it.

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So I was just reading actually two days

ago about some memorials in the Bible

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and when Absalom died it was not a happy

situation and the soldiers took his body

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down and they put heaps of stones on it.

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Now heaps of stones in those days when

you saw that as a grave it was a grave.

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Sign that it was a dishonored person

or a criminal and what a sad memorial

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that would be so these are memorials

of praising God or remembering God's

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faithfulness to you or your family and

even when you go through a very difficult

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time and You'll read perhaps in a psalm

where God brought you through something

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very difficult and you were reading that

psalm at the time or it's a memorial

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of God's faithfulness It is awesome to

write that time as a memorial in your

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Bible and date it because when you read

through your Bible in another year, you'll

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see that date, you'll see that little

notation and you'll say, Oh yes, that's

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a memorial of God's faithfulness to me.

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Stephanie: The idea of Ebenezer stones

and when the Israelites crossed the

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Jordan and the Lord told them, put

these 12 stones here so that when your

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children see them and they ask, and I

actually, when my kids We're a little,

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I need to do the next volume of it, but

I created some Ebenezer photo books.

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And I just took okay, in the

last five years, what are some

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20 or 30 testimonies we have of

God's faithfulness to our family.

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My kids love to look back through that.

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And sometimes, you're going through

the thing and it seems so hard

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and you look back and you see how

God was so faithful to you in it.

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And I just wanted our kids to

be able to look and have these

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Ebeneezers of, look what God did.

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You were little.

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You may not remember it,

but God was faithful.

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And I want to make sure you hear the

testimonies that our family already has.

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Betsy/David: David, do you want

to share some of your favorites?

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Okay, sure.

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Just tell me when to stop.

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Stephanie: We won't.

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We'll just let you

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Betsy/David: the, The first one that

I have is one of my memorial verses

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is is one of my favorite verses.

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It's about God's faithfulness.

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Stephanie, I think you said earlier,

when one of the things is you can almost

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remember when you first came across

it and why, and I was a young guy.

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I don't exactly know how old I was when

this happened, but I was in grammar

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school, let's say, and I don't know what

had happened, but I was having a bad day.

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And My dad picked up on that right away

and he says, Are you having a bad day?

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And I says, Yeah, I'm

having a bad day, Dad.

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And he says, Well, there's no reason

to have two bad days in a row.

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And I says, Why?

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And he says do you believe the Bible?

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And I says, Yes, Dad, I believe the Bible.

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And he said Lamentations Is a passage

of scripture that you need to really

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focus on because you can have your

bad day today But there's no reason

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to have a bad day tomorrow And he

said the lord's loving kindnesses

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indeed never cease his compassions

never fail They are new every morning

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great is thy faithfulness so Tomorrow

morning when you put your two feet on

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the floor You have a new opportunity.

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You have a new day because God

is faithful, even if you have not

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been personally faithful yourself.

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So God is faithful.

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So don't have two bad days in a row.

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I'll never forget that simplistic

conversation that we had.

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And then maybe another one they go

back to back is Isaiah 26, three,

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you will keep him in perfect peace

because his mind is stayed upon you.

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because he trusts in you.

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So if I want to have peace in this world

where all kinds of things are happening

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all around us all the time, some more than

others, but it's just, where is my focus?

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Where is my hope?

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What am I looking forward to?

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And if I keep my eyes on Jesus

Christ, I'm going to have a peace

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that surpasses all comprehension.

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So that is just.

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something that I try to

remember and focus on a lot.

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And then I, another one that I love

is Micah 6, 8, and it basically

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just tells you, tell me, tells

me what I ought to do every day.

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What does the Lord require of you?

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That's a good question.

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To do justice, to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God.

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So just do those three things

and you'll be doing really well.

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to do the right thing, to be kind

and to walk humbly with my God.

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And that's Micah 6, 8.

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Another one is and I'm going

to put these two together here.

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The first one is, John 9, 4, and this is

a verse that I always tell people that

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just drives me, especially as I get older,

I I think of John 9, 4, work while it

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is still the day for the night is coming

and you'll be able to work no more.

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And I know I have a number of days and

God knows the number of days that I have.

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Psalm 90 verse 12 says

your days are numbered.

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And so there is a number and

God knows what that number is.

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I'm not going anywhere a day early

and I'm not going anywhere a day late,

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but I know I have a number of days.

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And so this verse just tells me

to use the days that God has given

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me to their fullest advantage.

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Don't relax, live with mission, live

with purpose, live with urgency.

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until my last day.

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And that's a really great verse.

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And one that kind of tags

onto that is Hebrews 6.

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10.

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And this verse is really about a time

in my life where I had looked back

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on it and I had wondered, Lord, did

I waste an enormous amount of time

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at this specific place or a church?

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And and it's Hebrews 6.

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10.

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It says, for God is not unjust.

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So as to overlook your work.

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and love that you have shown for his name

and serving the saints as you still do.

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So that just versus another one that

just tags on to the John 9 four.

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Even though some things weren't

going very well, there was still.

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Discipleship going on.

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There was still people

being one to the Lord.

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There were still people being cared

for and loved and shepherded the way

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that would be honoring to the Lord.

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And so even though there was a lot

of other things going on that were

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discouraging I'll cling to that Hebrews 6.

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10 verse as well,

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And then I'll just share

two more with you, Steph.

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First one is going back to what

we were talking about earlier

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everything points to Jesus.

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And the first Peter 3.

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18, I think is a really great

passage of scripture that

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kind of brings, sums that up.

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Very well, and there's many others that

do the same, but 1 Peter 3, 18 for Christ

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died for sin once for all the just for

the unjust in order that he would bring

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us to God being put to death in the

flesh, but made alive in the spirit.

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So who is Jesus and what did he do?

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Those that verse answers

those two questions.

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So well, Jesus is holy.

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He's just, he's God.

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He died in my place, in our place.

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so that he might bring us to God, the

father, so that we might have eternal

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life and no judgment and no condemnation.

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He brings us, he takes us across that

horrible gap of sin in our lives because

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of what he did for us on the cross.

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And then, once that takes place in

our, in my life and anyone who has

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received Christ as their Savior and

Lord then the Holy Spirit begins this

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work of progressive sanctification.

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And that is 2 Corinthians 3, 18, for

we all with unveiled face, beholding

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the glory of the Lord are being

transformed into the same image

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from one degree of glory to another.

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For this has come from the

Lord, who is the spirit.

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So that verse just says the Holy

Spirit is making me, is changing me,

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is transforming me from one degree of

glory to another, to become more and

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more like Jesus Christ in his image.

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And so those would be some memorial

verses that I got so far, but talk to me

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in November, I'll have a few more steps.

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Stephanie: It's beautiful to see a

life well lived and the perspective

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that the Lord has given you and

refined you, even from a young

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man, that this is not about me.

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That this is about how may I be a

servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Betsy/David: A couple more

things about memorial verses.

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They can be a life verse like the

lamentations first for David, which is

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just a really special verse for him.

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So in my list of memorial verses under

David, of course I have that verse.

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I have other verses that he

wouldn't know about that.

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I pray for him.

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And I have verses for all of my kids,

my grandkids, my friends, my relatives

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even some strangers or people that

I've counseled and they wouldn't even

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know that they have memorial verses.

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I have memorial verses for people that

told me their life verse and that was

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the verse that brought them to faith.

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So I think memorial verses also

show the power of God's word.

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And I love that because

we know that Hebrews 4.

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12 says the word of God

has power, living power.

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It's living and active.

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Did this list bring you a renewed

fervency and desire to pray for your kids?

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We certainly hope so.

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We also hope that it brought you

clarity on which verses you can cling

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to as you hope in the character of God.

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Next week we'll continue talking about

the verses that have impacted us most

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significantly and that we run to.

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When we are needing the comfort and peace

of the Lord, we'll see you back then.

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Stephanie: We know you're busy, mama.

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So we are truly grateful you joined us for

this episode of again, if you're looking

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for more information about building your

home on the foundation of Jesus Christ,

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head to www.entrustedministries.com

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to learn more about our study for

moms entrusted with a child's Heart.

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This scripture saturated study

has blessed families around the

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world, and we want it for you too.

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Before you go, I want to pray this

benediction over you from Second

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Thessalonians one 11 through 12.

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We're rooting for you to this end.

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We always pray for you that our God

may make you worthy of his calling and

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may fulfill every resolve for good.

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And every work of faith by his power

so that the name of our Lord Jesus

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may be glorified in you and you

and Him according to the grace of

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our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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Until we meet again.

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