00:00 Introduction and Today's Reading

00:24 Overview of 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 18

00:55 Jehoshaphat and Ahab's Alliance

02:33 Seeking the Lord's Guidance

03:28 The False Prophets and Micaiah's Prophecy

09:11 Ahab's Deception and Death

12:39 Jehoshaphat's Reign and Lessons Learned

13:28 Ahaziah's Short Reign

14:02 Conclusion and Reflections

Welcome back Bible people.

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Today is June 29th, 2024.

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And today's Bible reading is

in first Kings chapter 22.

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With its parallel account in

second Chronicles, chapter 18.

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Well, I don't have a whole lot for you.

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Uh, so I don't think I'm going to

belabor this introductory conversation.

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And how about instead, we just

jump right on in to the text.

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Let's do it.

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First Kings chapter 22.

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In fact, what we're going to

do is we're going to talk about

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both of these chapters together.

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They're so close that it just, it makes

a lot more sense to cover it all as one.

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There are a few places in second

Chronicles, 18 where I think the wording

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is different and therefore helpful.

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And I'll bring those up when they

come up in the relevant sections

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here and first Kings chapter 22.

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We'll in first Kings 22.

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We'll notice here that the beginning

says for three years, Syria and

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Israel continued with without war.

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So there was a period of

peace and that's fantastic.

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I'm glad he enjoyed that.

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But now we're introduced to the fact

that Joshua fat and Ahab are in a

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mutual Alliance or in an agreement

now, something that you'll see in

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second Chronicles, 18 verse one.

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Is that there was a

marriage Alliance there.

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Some people I've noticed in

some commentaries suggest that.

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Jehoshaphat Mary's one of Ahab's

daughters and that's not correct

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what actually takes place.

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Is that Jehoshaphat takes one of a Habs.

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Daughters at the Elia.

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And commits her to marriage with

his son, Joe Hora, or Jorah, we'll

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talk about that when we get there.

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So it's not that Jehoshaphat's,

Mary's one of a hubs.

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Daughters is that his son does.

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Now what this does essentially is

connect these two nations together.

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In a type of peace, they have

a mutual and shared interest.

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And so that's, what's happening.

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Second Chronicles, 18 talks about that

in verse one, you don't see that in first

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Kings 22, but that's, what's behind this.

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And so Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah

comes down to the king of Israel.

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And second Chronicles 18

says , what happens is Ahab

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kind of wines and Dines him.

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He, he brings out a lot of animals,

sacrifices them, holds his big, honorable

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ceremony and it kind of gets Jehoshaphat

in this mood of being very complete.

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Impliant with whatever Ahab wants.

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He feels he's in gray.

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Shaded now.

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And so he's enticed or incited

it to join a rehab in this war.

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And so he says, Hey, I want you to go

with me to battle for Ray moth Gilliad.

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Ray mouth Gilliad is one of the trans

Jordan cities or it's east of the Jordan.

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It's in a strategic spot and

he says, look, this is ours.

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And yet the Syrian king has it.

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Will you not join me a battle on Jehovah

vet says, dude, I'm in my people.

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Are your people, my

horses are your horses.

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Let's do this.

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And so as a, as a gun that king

Jehoshaphat says, but can we

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first seek the Lord on this?

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Let's ask what the Lord wants to do.

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And that's a great thing to do.

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Isn't it?

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And that's a fantastic thing to do

to pause your plans and say, God,

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what do you want me to do with this?

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Sometimes we can make plans

without really thinking twice.

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You say, this is clearly

the way God wants us to go.

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Well, in this case, he's

in a bad association.

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We'll talk about that in a few

moments, but asking God, what he

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thinks about a given situation

is always a good thing to do.

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Uh, James says this in chapter four,

and then let us not say, Hey, what?

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We'll go to this place in this town.

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We'll make a profit over there.

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He says, instead you ought

to say if the Lord wills.

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It's always a good posture for you to

keep, does the Lord want me to do this?

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And if the Lord wants me to do it, then

I want to do that with all my might.

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Allah.

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Uh, all our king Solomon, right?

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Whatever your hand finds to

do do with all your mind.

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We read that in Ecclesiastics.

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No, but nevertheless, he wants this

king Jehovah says, please let's do this.

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And a hub obliges.

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And he says, fantastic.

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Let me call out 400 men.

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And have them prophesied.

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Now, hopefully you're remembering

400 is a significant number.

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If you turn back a few chapters in

first Kings chapter 18 verse 19.

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It says now, therefore sending gather

all Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel.

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This is Elijah talking.

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And the 450 prophets of bale and the 400

prophets of Asherah who eat at Jesse.

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Rebels table now a few days ago when

we covered his passage, I pointed out.

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You only have the profits

of bail on Mount Carmel.

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I don't know where the profits of

Asherah were, but they weren't there.

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So it's interesting to me that

here in chapter 22, he now brings

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out 400 profits, which are very

likely those profits of Ashura.

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In any case they present

themselves as prophets of Yahweh.

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And they say, go up the battle is yours.

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Take it.

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It's good to go.

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Well, Jehoshaphat's sees through

this and he says, is there

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not a prophet of the Lord?

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Can we find the profit of your

way to speak to the situation?

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A half says, yeah, I have a guy McCaya.

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Uh, but I hate that dude.

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He always prophesized bad things about me.

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Love this.

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It's very comical.

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I laughed at that when I read that.

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But he says, I don't like this guy.

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He's always prophesying the wrong thing.

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I don't like this guy at all.

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I says, nevertheless, because

you asked I'll go and get him.

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Meanwhile, is that a Kaia?

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The son of Canadiana.

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Nana Canadian.

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And that's how we're going to say that.

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Is that a K the son of Canadiana?

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He's a bit theatrical.

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And so he crafts horns of iron

and he starts using those horns to

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symbolize their coming conquests.

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And he says, with these, you shall push

the Syrians until they are destroyed.

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And I'm sure he's dancing and maybe, you

know, to show on some of his muscles off.

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Yeah.

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Like this, like this.

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And all the prophets are

prophesying the same thing.

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So all 400 prophets of

Asherah my suspicion.

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Are saying the same thing.

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Well, a messenger who sent to McCaya.

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Says, basically this we're

all saying the same thing.

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You don't say something different, please.

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Just, just get in line McCaya no, one's

asking you to give an honest answer here.

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We won't just fall in line.

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Buckeye says, look, I got

to see what the Lord says.

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, I'm not committed to your pleasure.

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I'm committed to the Lord's pleasure

and isn't that true for all of us?

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It doesn't matter what people

don't like that you say, if it

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is, if it's what God says, it

doesn't matter how they treat you.

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Doesn't matter how they respond.

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You're committed to the

Lord as the Lord lives.

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And he does you live before him

and not before others, that's

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going to ruffle a few feathers

and you gotta be okay with that.

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Well, as MCI enters into the assembly,

they're in the threshing floor and

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some area, which is a large area

where a lot of people could gather.

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And so it makes sense that the

two Kings Jehoshaphat had an Ahab.

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Would be there in the regalia.

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, watching and listening to these profits.

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And so Ahab says McCain.

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tell us, uh, should we go to Ramos Galea?

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And he says, yeah, go do that.

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Go go, go do God's on your side.

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Go for it, buddy.

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And then of course, a habit reads right

through his mockery has dripping sarcasm.

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I suspect it says how many times are going

to tell you, man, just be honest with me.

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Tell me the truth.

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Well, what is it Ahab?

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Do you want the truth?

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Do you want the lie?

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What do you want?

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Uh, on this case, Ahab says,

please tell me the truth.

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McCaya gratefully obliges.

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And he says something that has

blown the minds of a lot of

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Bible readers for a long time.

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And I'm sure as you read it, you

were a bit puzzled at this and I

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don't really have a lot of good

answers for you except to say.

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That McCaya see something

that we're not privy to.

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In the councils of heaven and the way

that God operates and rules and governs

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the world, it seems like at least

from this vision here, that there is.

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A layer.

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Of middlemen that God allows to have some

kind of input to how he runs the world.

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Now it's interesting because obviously

God himself is this sovereign king.

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He discerns and decides

all that needs to happen.

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And yet he allows some

kind of participants here.

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Yeah.

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At least if we could take this at face

value, if what McCaya is seeing is really

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what's happening in heaven, and this

would be corroborated by job chapter one.

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You have the sons of God

presenting themselves before

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job and offering a report.

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I don't know how that works, but

here at McCaya says, therefore

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hear the word of the Lord.

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In verse 19, I saw the Lord sitting on

his throne and all the host of heaven.

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Standing beside him on

his left and on his right.

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And the Lord said who will

entice Ahab that he may go up

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and fall at Ray moth Gilliad.

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And then he has one person say one thing,

one another, and he says, okay, you, how

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are you going to do it all entice him.

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He says, good.

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You go do that.

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And you're going to succeed.

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Verse 23 now, behold.

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Now therefore behold, the

Lord has put a lying spirit.

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And the mouth of all these, your profits,

the Lord has declared disaster for you.

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This is shocking, shocking language.

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Isn't it.

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Caused you to say.

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How does that work?

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How has God behind this?

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And yet.

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He's sinless.

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I don't, I don't know how to

explain that specific aspect other

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than to say, God is sovereign.

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He uses sin sinlessly and this is

one of those areas where we have

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to say, okay, God's sovereignty

extends and the furthest reaches.

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Of behavior for all people.

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And yet , he's guiltless in

how he accomplishes this.

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I don't know how he does it.

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I just know that he does it.

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And this is an area where your faith

in God and trust in who he is, and

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his character are really going to

go a long way in helping you feel

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okay with this being able to say, I

don't know how he does it, but I know

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that he does it and I can trust him.

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Well, Zedekiah the son of Canadiana.

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Comes near and smacks.

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McCaya says, how did the

spirit come from me to you?

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What's going on here?

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And then of course, McCaya says,

dude, you got this all wrong.

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You have no idea what you're doing.

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You're going to, you're

going to die because of this.

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Your rebellion is going

to cost you your life.

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And so the king says, Hey, let's lock

this guy up until I come back and safety.

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And he says, if you come back and

safety, I have not spoken by the Lord.

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And then he says, here, All you peoples.

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In other words, all you take note,

take note, give a, listen to this.

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Well in verses 29 through verse

40, Ahab is, as it says in the

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scripture here, he's killed in battle.

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He loses.

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In Ray moth Galea.

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But notice how he goes about it.

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He tries to circumvent the will of God.

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He, first of all says to

Jehoshaphat, tell you about buddy.

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You dress like you all dress, like

somebody else will go into battle and

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they won't know it's me, but they'll

know it's you how's that sound?

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Josh if that's like, oh,

that's a great idea, buddy.

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Let's do that.

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And so that's exactly what they do.

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They go out Jehovah that looks like the

king Ahab doesn't look like anybody.

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You just look like a

normal, common, uh, soldier.

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I suspect.

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And then.

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Josh, if that , he's in trouble.

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And get this, it says here in verse 22.

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They turned to fight against your

hush about thinking that they're Ahab.

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Jehoshaphat's cried out.

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Now.

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This is one of those

places where second CRA.

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Second Chronicles 18 is helpful

because in second Chronicles,

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1831, it says, and the Lord.

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Helped him, the Lord,

God caused him to, to be.

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To safely escape.

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The Lord intervened here.

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Now I would call this

putting the Lord to the test.

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Josh, if that shouldn't have been there.

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He shouldn't have been there.

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He should not have had this

kind of ungodly Alliance.

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And yet God still showed mercy.

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He put the Lord God to the

test and God was kind to him.

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But he didn't deserve it.

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I would say the same thing to you.

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You should not put yourself in a

sinful situation thinking, well,

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if God cares, if God wants me not

to be here, he'll pull me out.

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He'll he'll intervene in

some way, shape or form.

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And do not lie to yourself, do not

put the Lord your God to the test.

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That's what Jesus says

when the devil tempts him.

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And when you're tempted to do something

outside the bounds of what you

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know, God wants you to do or not do.

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Don't put under the test.

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Don't expect him to rescue you.

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If you put yourself in a situation

that he's told you not to put

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yourself into just like Josh bet.

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At this case, Jehoshaphat is rescued.

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And he is taken to safety.

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He fleets.

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Get this in verse 34.

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A certain man, you might say a

random man drew his boat at random.

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And struck the king of Israel between

the scale armor and the breast plate.

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Uh, from what I read, , this is

the size of a nickel give or take.

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So draws a bow at random.

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The bow finds its precise and marker

in a seemingly impossible place.

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Because God had ordained it.

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The work of God.

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Is not random.

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It might be random to us.

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The soldier might've said, I

randomly drew the boat and shot it.

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And a lot is cast in the lap, but

its every decision is from the Lord.

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And in this case you see

God's sovereign purposes.

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Coming to the fore and showcasing the

fact that there's nothing that happens

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that is accidental in God's economy.

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Everything is on purpose.

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Including his B his being shot.

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And the precisely perfect place.

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Well, that shot is lethal.

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And even though he is slowly dying,

he has enough strength and willpower

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to stand in his chariot to watch the

battle, to keep his soldiers fighting.

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But at sunset he dies and that because

of that, every man scatters and

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they go across the country saying,

Hey, we got to get out of here.

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And so the king dies and

he's brought to some area.

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They bury him there.

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And as they're washing out his

chariot, As God prophesied the

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dogs lick up the pools of blood

that find themselves in the floor.

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And the prostitutes are bathing in it.

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So you got some of the pagan idolatry

taking place there, along with the

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word of the Lord being fulfilled.

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Right about this place is where

second Chronicles 18 ends.

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And so that's where second

Chronicles stops being a parallel.

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This is the last few verses here

in chapter 22 of first Kings.

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Gives us a little more.

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So we read a little bit about

Jehoshaphat's from verses 41 through 50.

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He rains for 25 years.

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He's a good king.

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He has his faults.

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He has his failures.

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Uh, by and large, he does what's

right in the eyes of the Lord and the

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verdict on his life as a good king.

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In fact, one of the things that's

commendable about your hospital.

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He learns his lesson.

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Even though he partnered

with a Hab when a Hosea Ahab.

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Hab son takes it through and he says, Hey,

why don't we join an enterprise together?

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Well, Uh, Josh, if that was

not willing in verse 49.

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And I suspect that it has something to do

with the fact that he learned his lesson.

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I hope that's true for you.

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But you're learning your lessons when

God disciplines you, and it hurts.

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I hope that you're not

repeating those same errors.

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And one way that I try to avoid that is

by journaling my learning so that I don't

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forget the things that God has taught me.

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Don't have to do it that way, but

find some way not to forget the

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lessons that God has taught you.

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Finally in verses 51 through 53, we have

the beginning of As rain here, he only

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rains two years and ASI is Ahab's son.

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Now he's going to be the last of Ahab,

because remember God promised that he

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would destroy a hubs line because of

his unfaithfulness and disobedience.

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So And his brother Joran are going

to be the last of Ahab's line.

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But he begins here.

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ASI begins here.

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It rains for two years.

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His story starts here in first Kings

chapter 22, but it's going to go

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through second Kings chapter one.

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So we'll see a little bit

more about him tomorrow.

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I believe.

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But that's kind of it.

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You have a one story here too, or two guys

with one story Jehoshaphat's in a habit.

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Of course you see all the

ways that God has worked.

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Worked it out.

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Perhaps one of the greatest lessons you

can learn from these chapters is not to

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and twine yourself an ungodly endeavors.

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I can't help, but think of second

Corinthians chapter six, verses 14

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through chapter seven, verse one.

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Do not be unequally

yoked with unbelievers.

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That's the idea here.

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And I think that's really well

played out here for you and

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I to pay close attention to.

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So, how are you doing in

that or in that arena?

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How are you doing in that department?

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Uh, I don't think that means you should

not have a ungodly friends so that

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you should have unbelieving friends.

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They should be part of your life,

your neighbors, or of course you

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want to reach them with the gospel.

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But having close.

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Uh, ungodly associations, the closest

people in your life should be your godly

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friends should be your Christian friends.

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Those who are not are typically

not going to be helpful for you

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typically are gonna are going to be.

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It kind of people that slow down your

sanctification and not speed it up.

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So choose wisely and choose prayerfully.

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All right.

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That's all I got for you today.

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Thank you so much for joining

me again for another edition

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of the daily Bible podcast.

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I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.

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And I hope that you'll

keep on reading with me.

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And if it's helpful for you, please

let me know if it's not helpful.

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There's something that I'm doing

that is not helpful and would not

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be welcomed in coming additions.

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Let me know.

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That'd be okay to hear that too.

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I always want to get better

and do a great job for you.

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Okay, thanks again.

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I'll see you guys tomorrow.