We are so grateful for the consistency of God's Word! We are free from the Old Testament ceremonial laws, but the moral laws given in the Old Testament remain for our blessing. There are so many great principles to teach our kids from these chapters: be honest, be generous, be pure, welcome others... this episode is for mom's ears only, but the truth of it will bless you as you parent!

If you'd like to learn more about communicating God's Word in a winsome way, listen to the latest episode of AGAIN here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-on-biblical-motherhood/id1700555502

Today's Reading: Leviticus 17-19

Scripture Referenced:

Various sections of Leviticus 17-19

Acts 15:26-29

Hebrews 10:26-29

Find out more about Entrusted with a Child's Heart here: www.entrustedministries.com/studies

Commentaries Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary

Welcome to The Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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This year we're going through

scripture cover to cover because

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we believe the Bible is the

perfect revelation of a Holy God.

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If you haven't submitted yourself

to the authority of God's word,

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there are probably going to be some

things that you don't like in today's

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reading of Leviticus 17 through 19.

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But I've committed to present God's word

as it is I had the blessing of recording

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with Daniel Trippy, the founder of the

Center for Christian Thought and Ethics.

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And I was able to talk to him

about how we make our faith a

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winsome and a culture where God's

moral laws are mocked and opposed.

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Daniel had some wonderful responses.

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I didn't plan the timing of these

episodes to line up, but if you're

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listening today and wondering how can I

explain some of these difficult truths

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in a more winsome way, I'll link that

in the show notes for you to listen.

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To this morning's episode

of Again, as well.

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As we look at Leviticus 17 through 19,

God continues to lay out guidelines

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that will make the nation of Israel

distinct from all other nations.

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Some of the rules no longer apply, but the

ones related to God's moral certainly do.

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This episode Will cover some

sensitive topics, so it's

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probably best for just mom ears.

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We'll begin in Leviticus 17, verse 11.

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For the life of the flesh is in the

blood and I have given it for you on the

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altar to make atonement for your souls.

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For it is the blood that

makes atonement by the life.

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Therefore, I have said

to the people of Israel.

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No person among you shall eat blood.

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Neither shall any stranger who

sojourns among you eat blood.

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Anyone also of the people of Israel

or of the strangers who sojourn

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among them, who takes in hunting.

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Any beast or bird that may be eaten shall

pour out its blood and cover it with

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earth for the life of every creature

is its blood, its blood is its life.

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Therefore, I have said

to the people of Israel.

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You shall not eat the blood of

any creature for the life of

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every creature is its blood.

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whoever eats it, shall be cut off.

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Chapter 18 begins, and the Lord

spoke to Moses saying, speak to

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the people of Israel and say to

them, I am the Lord your God.

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You shall not do as they do in

the land of Egypt where you lived.

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And you shall not do as they

do in the land of Canaan,

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to which I am bringing you.

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You shall not walk in their statutes.

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You shall follow my rules and

keep my statutes and walk in them.

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I am the Lord your God.

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You shall therefore keep

my statutes and my rules.

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If a person does them,

he shall live by them.

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I am the Lord.

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In 18 verse 21, we read,

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you shall not give any of your

children to offer them to Molech

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and so profane the name of your God.

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I am the Lord.

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You shall not lie with

a man is with a woman.

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It is an abomination and you

shall not lie with any animal, and

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so make yourself unclean with it.

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Neither shall any woman give

herself to an animal to lie with it.

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It is perversion.

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Do not make yourselves unclean by any

of these things for, by all these,

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the nations I am driving out before you

have become unclean on the land became

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unclean, so that I punished its iniquity

and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

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But you shall keep my statutes and my

rules and do none of these abominations,

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either the native or the stranger who

sojourns among you for the people

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of the land who were before you did

all of these abominations so that

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the land became unclean, lest the

land vomit you out when you make it

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unclean as it vomited out the nation.

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That was before you.

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For everyone who does any of these

abominations, the persons who do them

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shall be cut off from among their people.

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So keep my charge never to practice

any of these abominable customs that

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were practiced before you and never

to make yourselves unclean by them.

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I am the Lord your God.

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God continues in 19 one and

the Lord spoke to Moses saying.

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Speak to all the congregation

of the people of Israel and say

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to them, you shall be holy for

I the Lord your God am holy.

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Every one of you shall revere

his mother and his father and

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shall keep my sabbaths.

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I am the Lord your God.

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Do not turn to idols or make for

yourselves any gods of cast metal.

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I am the Lord your God.

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And continuing in verse nine.

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When you reap the harvest of

your land, you shall not reap

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your field right up to its edge.

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Neither shall you gather the gleanings

after your harvest, and you shall

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not strip your vineyard bear.

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Neither shall you gather the

fallen grapes of your vineyard.

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You shall leave them for the poor and for

the sojourner, I am the Lord your God.

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You shall not steal, you

shall not deal falsely, you

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shall not lie to one another.

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You shall not swear by my name falsely

and so profane the name of your God.

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I am the Lord.

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You shall not oppress

your neighbor or rob him.

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The wages of a hired worker

shall not remain with you

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all night until the morning.

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You shall not curse the deaf or put

a stumbling block before the blind.

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But you shall fear your God.

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I am the Lord.

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You shall do no injustice in court.

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You shall not be partial to the poor or

defer to the great, but in righteousness

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shall you judge your neighbor.

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You shall not go around as a slander among

your people, and you shall not stand

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up against the life of your neighbor.

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I am the Lord.

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You shall not hate your brother in

your heart, but you shall reason

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frankly with your neighbor, lest

you in curse sin because of him.

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You shall not take vengeance or

bear a grudge against the sons of

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your own people, but you shall

love your neighbor as yourself.

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I am the Lord.

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In 1931, do not turn to

mediums or necro answers.

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Do not seek them out, and so

make yourselves unclean by them.

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I am the Lord your God.

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You shall stand up before the gray

head and honor the face of an old

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man, and you shall fear your God.

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I am the Lord.

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When a stranger sojourns with you and

your land, you shall not do him wrong.

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You shall treat the stranger who sojourns

with you as the native among you,

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and you shall love him as yourself.

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For you.

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We're strangers in the land of

Egypt, I am the Lord your God.

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You shall do no wrong in judgment and

measures of length or weight or quantity.

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You shall have just balances, just weights

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and adjust him.

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I'm the Lord your God who brought

you out of the land of Egypt, and

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you shall observe all my statutes

and all my rules and do them.

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I am the Lord

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I think the following is a perfect

summary statement for this section.

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It's from my Moody

commentary with John Nik.

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He writes, believers who recognize God's

ownership of everything, our willing

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to worship him no matter what he may

require of them Once again, we saw that

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integrity and honesty matter to God.

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Also, the Israelites were called to

be caring and generous toward the

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poor, and those from other cultures

that had chosen to enter in with them.

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Those people were required to honor

God's laws, but the Israelites

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were encouraged to welcome them in,

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god cares about all people, but he

also knows that his rules provide

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blessing and no one is exempt from that.

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I'm sure you recognize the second

greatest commandment being quoted here

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to love your neighbor as yourself.

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Did you know that this is the

Old Testament verse that the New

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Testament most frequently quotes.

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We had the repetition of honoring

the father and mother, but

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this time it was amplified by

the word revere and Entrusted.

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Betsy talks about a child's job being

to honor and obey the honor being the

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inward commitment to respect, and the

obedience being the outward display of it.

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When I see God condemning and

forbidding child sacrifice, it

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brings such comfort to my heart.

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I remember struggling with anxiety once

as I was praying for my children, and the

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Lord vividly brought some of these verses

to my mind saying, I hate child sacrifice.

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No, he does not protect the fate

of every child on this earth.

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But we can know that he is not

a God that requests the life of

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a child as a sacrifice to him.

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In Acts 15 for the Jerusalem Council.

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The new believers, were trying to

figure out what guidelines God was still

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requiring Jewish believers to hold to.

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And when I was studying the

Book of Acts this year, I found

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the simplicity so refreshing.

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Acts 1526 tells us.

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For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit

and to us to lay on you no greater burden

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than these requirements that you abstain

from what has been sacrificed to idols

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and from blood and from what has been

strangled and from sexual immorality.

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If you keep yourselves from

these, you will do well.

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Farewell, that's how

they ended their letter.

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There are certain guidelines

about the Lord that do not change.

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He always wants to be first in our hearts.

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Life matters and so does purity.

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And honoring blood wasn't

just an Old Testament command.

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Listen to these verses from

Hebrew 10 for if we go on sinning

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deliberately after receiving the

knowledge of the truth, there no

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longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

but a fearful expectation of judgment.

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And a fury of fire that will

consume the adversaries.

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Anyone who has set aside the

law of Moses dies without mercy.

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On the evidence of two or three witnesses,

how much more punishment do you think

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will be deserved by the one who has

trampled underfoot, the son of God?

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And has profaned the blood of the

covenant by which he was sanctified

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and has outraged the spirit of grace.

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Blood matters to God,

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and the blood of Jesus so much more.

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, we see

your heart displayed and the

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way you care for the poor.

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The one who is far from his homeland,

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And the way you want

families to thrive in peace.

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We pray that as we see your kindness, we

would submit to the fact that your rules

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are for our good.

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As you told your people, then to be

distinct from the nations around them.

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I pray that we would be set

apart as well, that our lives.

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Would speak of devotion

and purity onto you.

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We pray that as our children are

raised in a culture so contrary to your

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word God, that you would consecrate

our children's hearts onto you.

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to be set apart

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Protect them from the counterfeits

that the world offers them and

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help them to see the blessings

of obedience and righteousness.

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It is in your holy name we pray Jesus.

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Amen.