Have you visited BestPastorEver.com yet?

00:00 Introduction and a Very Patriotic Opening

00:14 President Trump's Shoutout to Pastor PJ and Website Story

01:57 Podcast History and Domain Anecdote

02:54 4th of July Reflections and Gratitude

03:59 Visit to National Cemeteries

05:19 Discussion of 2 Kings 9-11

11:01 Lessons from Jehu's Reign

13:35 Christian Commitment and Backsliding

15:58 Parallel Accounts in Chronicles and Kings

17:24 Conclusion and Sign-off

Hi, welcome to a very patriotic edition

of the daily Bible podcast, because

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we're proud to be an American where

we at least know that we're free.

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Hey, speaking of our

patriotic love for America.

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Yes.

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I saw that, you know, 45 gave you a

shout out on your, on your website.

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You know, I, I was alluded to that.

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It's been asking about.

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Your response and reaction

to their shout out.

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From your website, best pastor ever.

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Dot com.

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Well, after I got that

domain for myself, I thought.

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You know, we gotta make a big splash

and, uh, Trump and I are good friends.

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I don't know.

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If you knew that I did not,

not until I saw this video.

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Yeah.

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Um, so, you know, he, he said,

Hey, Can I put this out there?

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I said, you know, I don't want

your, you seem distracted right now.

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You've got a lot on your plate.

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I was like, no, it's really

not a big deal at all.

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I can do this for you.

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And I said, well, It might help,

you know, Just to, to get our

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numbers up a little bit and, uh,

I guess attraction on the website.

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I'm happy to lend my name

to you for your campaign.

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I told him that.

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And he was like, really?

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Yeah.

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And I said, yeah, that's fine.

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Um, so very generous.

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Yeah.

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A really good friendship.

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We do.

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We have a really.

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PJ our best pastor ever.com

is a real web address.

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So if you wanted to send him an email,

you just feel welcome to do this.

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You could do that.

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Yes.

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Yeah, no, I appreciate that.

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That was that.

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That was funny.

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That was fun.

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To wake up and get that a.

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Josh got a text.

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As we were driving, we were

in the car driving somewhere.

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He's like, Hey, what is this?

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And he starts playing

it from the back seat.

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And all I hear is that Trump voice.

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Wishing me a happy birthday and

talking about cats and not reengaging

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my office and don't let every fight.

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Is that.

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And, uh, and then he's like the

web address is compass ntx.org.

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And so then I had this moment of

going, there's no way that they

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put that up on our actual website.

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In fact the case.

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Well, yeah.

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It was a blank page.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Oh, wait.

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It was funny because, so I

don't know if you guys have

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been listening for very long.

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I mentioned something like this.

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I don't know, probably a year ago we

started this podcast a long time ago.

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Now, how long has it been?

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It's been over a year.

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Yeah, cause we began it

when we got out here.

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So it was that may we started in may.

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I think so.

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Oh, man, we've been doing

this for a year and 10.

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Yup.

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Wow.

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Anyway, I was playfully mentioning,

send an email to PG at best pastor ever.

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Dot com.

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And you're like, oh, it's

going to bounce back.

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Well, that day.

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Steven Little picked up the domain.

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He bought it.

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He bought.

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It's like, we're going

to use this someday.

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And low and behold, we

have finally utilize it.

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So I'm glad we were sitting

on that for so long.

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And it's, it's a good thing.

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We find to get it out.

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Now we can just build upon it.

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Yeah.

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It's just now your 40th is Kevin in.

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Wait, what goes around?

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I, as I said, I'd come around.

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Let's be clear.

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I'm not the lead pastor though.

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This is a very different experience.

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Outside of the table.

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Let's just acknowledge that.

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We'll see.

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That's the way things.

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See what happens.

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Yeah, that was fun.

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Yeah, no, it was great.

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Yeah.

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But happy 4th of July, it is a

significant day in our country's

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history and independence day.

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And having just come from DC and

seeing so many of those monuments.

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Uh, just reminded if the cost of the

freedoms that we do get to enjoy.

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I know we've got a lot of people

in our church that have fought for

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our nation and for those freedoms,

so grateful for that very much.

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So.

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Yeah.

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I just came back from the,

uh, DFW national cemetery.

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Yeah.

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Lots of flags out there.

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I was just tremendously grateful.

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I was, I was doing a Memorial

service for a family.

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Um, that I did not meet until

we had our prosper pride.

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Event pride in the sky, pride

in the sky in July event?

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Yes.

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That's the one I need to

change the name of it.

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Really do they do well, maybe

they're just clinging to it.

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Like we're not changing you change.

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Yeah.

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I don't know.

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And any case plot that I am so great.

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I was, I sat there and was looking at

the sea of gravestones and headstones

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and I was, I was grateful, but yeah.

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I was given thanks to God for the

people that do that and, and who

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continue to serve our country.

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Yeah.

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And protect us and provide the freedoms

that we so often take for granted.

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So if you are one of our service

men and service women, thank

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you so much for your service.

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We appreciate you guys very much.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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We were able to get an Arlington

national cemetery on the trip.

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I mean, just unbelievable.

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Unbelievable to see.

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Uh, all of those lives and,

uh, I believe it's section 60.

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That is the section that is all of the,

those that died in the war on terror.

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Wow.

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So there's active burials

taking place there.

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And a lot of family members

that, that grieve and mourn,

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I'm still there at those grades.

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And it's just a present reminder

that this is not something

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that's in the rear view mirror.

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Like we've emerged from this and

we're better off as a society

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because we don't have war anymore.

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We still do right.

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And so, uh, the freedoms that

we have, we're grateful for.

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We're thankful for it.

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We're thankful for the, the foresight

that, uh, the men that wrote our

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constitution had to, uh, to set

things up the way they do so that we

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can do what we do without fear of.

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Uh, persecution or being a prison

or anything else as so many of our

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brothers and sisters around the

world don't get those freedoms.

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And so we shouldn't take them for granted.

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That's for sure.

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That's right.

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Quick fact, before you jump

in quick facts, our first

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episode was May 31st, 2023.

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Happy birthday.

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That's the Bible.

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Bible podcast.

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Related birthday.

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I wonder how many of our people have

been listening with us since that point?

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Uh, I know my wife has five.

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I can at least count five.

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Yeah, you.

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You me.

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Our wives.

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Yeah.

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And I think your mom has

been with us that long.

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She'd been listening for.

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Yeah, at least five.

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Hey, all of us, we're going

to get a coffee on pastor PJ.

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We'll do it.

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Yep.

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All right.

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Hey, second Kings chapter

nine, 10 and 11 today.

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Uh, as we jump into second Kings chapter

nine, you've got this guy, Jay, who come

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on the scene, uh, verses one through

13, Elisha sent a servant to Jay, who to

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anoint him as king in place of king Jorah.

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Now this is interesting because.

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Uh, Jay, who is not part of

the Royal family, Jay, who

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is not a descendant of Joran.

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Uh, but that's part of why this is

happening, because if you'll remember.

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Uh, there was a prophecy from Elijah

that the family of Ahab would be

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completely wiped out that there would

not be descendants from Ahab that would

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continue to sit on the throne in Israel.

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And so this is what's happening here.

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Alicia goes to Jay, who to anoint

J who to be king in place of.

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Uh, of, of Joran there because Jay,

who was not part of Ahab's line.

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And so that's, what's taking place

there in the first 13 verses, there

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will in verse 14 through 19, then Jay

who comes against Joran and as Isaiah.

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Or ASI happens to be there

as well from, uh, from Judah.

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And, and he comes against both of

them as they're both in this city.

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And there's a scene where they send out

these riders to see, Hey, uh, you know,

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do you come in peace in these riders?

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They get out to them and they end up.

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Wisely.

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Joining forces with Jay who they, they

go to the back of the pack and they're,

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they're now coming against the city.

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So finally Joran and ASI go out themselves

to meet Jay who and, uh, Jay who gives

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orders to kill first Joran and Joran is

run through with an arrow from behind.

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Uh, and then after shortly

after that it has, and it has.

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I am managed to flee and get to

Makita where he ends up dying there.

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But, uh, but, uh, Joran is

going to die right there.

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Uh, and that ends the Royal line.

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So to speak of, of Ahab for the

moment, as far as one, that's

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raining, because Jay who is going to.

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Then go from there back to, uh,

Jezreel and he's going to go against

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Jessebelle and he goes to Jessebelle.

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She peeks her head out the window, Jay,

who says, Hey, anyone who's for the Lord.

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Uh, you can demonstrate that by throwing

her down and that's exactly what happened.

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She gets tossed off the

wall and her body ends up.

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Uh, meeting a very shameful and

humiliating end and as had been

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prophesied again from Elijah

back in first Kings chapter 21.

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And that ends Ahab's line, Jesse Bell

and Ahab had three kids at least.

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A Hosea Jorah and , um, So

ASI arraigned for a while.

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Got Joran.

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Now they're both done.

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They're both dispatched at

the last deal in play though.

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So keep an eye out for

what she's going to do.

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You already know what she's going

to do, but just keep in mind.

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I know some of those

relationships get messy.

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I don't know how you keep

all these in your head.

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PPG.

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Do you have any hints

or tips for us on this?

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It's w.

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I would say this it's another reason

why reading through your Bible.

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On the yearly is such a helpful

practice because if you're not, if

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you're not reading through these things

consistently, Then it becomes really

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difficult to keep track of everything.

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Um, I've personally found

this chronological plan.

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To be really helpful for this to

put some pieces together for me.

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Going okay, this is what's going on.

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Chronicles gives us this timeline and

then this fills in some of the gaps in

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what Chronicles is doing and vice versa.

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It's really helpful on that front

too, but the more you read your Bible

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and the more you're going to come

across these names year after year

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and go, okay, I'm tracking with them.

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I think they're familiar.

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Uh, but log us, I think has

some good resources on that.

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Having a good commentary open next year,

your study Bible, open next to you.

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When you come to the name the first

time, that's a good time to look

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down at your study Bible notes.

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Uh, because they're going to give

you some background on who that

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person is also, uh, in, uh, log us.

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If you've got logos Bible software,

you can click on the name and that

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will open them up in the fact book.

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And the fact book will give you some

general information about that person.

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And we'll give you kind of their

background as far as who they are, and

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that will give you some more in-depth.

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Uh, than just perhaps your ESV

study Bible will write, usually

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not just to keep it going.

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Which you don't want to slow down a bug,

then you're reading too much, but right.

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I still, I still have charts

and graphs in front of me.

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In fact, I put some of them

on the thing for you guys a

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couple of days ago thing, but.

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That's one of them I'm using.

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See.

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Yeah.

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Yep.

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Cool.

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That's a good one.

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That one was actually made by a Mormon.

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But it's still kind of we'll accept it.

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I it's, it's a helpful resource.

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So I'm going to give them

credit where credit is due.

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Fair enough.

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So that's what happens

in, in chapter nine.

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Well then chapter 10, uh, though Ahab's

Royal line is, is pretty much dealt

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with Jay who had a problem of, of germs

offspring, 70 sons here in, in chapter 10.

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And so he.

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Uh, wants to eliminate

all threats to his throne.

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And so he basically goes

off and has these 70 sons.

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Executed by the people of Israel and an

act showing their loyalty now to Jew.

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And so this was again to fulfill

what the Lord has spoken of.

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The of J who are of Ahab brother

by Elijah concerning his family

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line that we read about back in,

in, uh, chapter 21 at first Kings.

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Uh, but here you've got Jay who wiping

them out well, verses 18 through 27.

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They then Jay, who makes a show of wanting

to worship bale and a great assembling.

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So you read that.

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In verse 18, you're like,

oh man, this is not good.

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Don't do this.

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This is not going to go well,

because he says, you know, what?

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If he worshiped him a little,

I'm going to worship him a lot.

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And yet he's, he's doing this

as a ruse to lure out all the

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worshipers of bail and then in it's.

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So such an ironic thing, because

you're reading this going, man, this

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sounds like the Southern kingdoms.

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This sounds like some of the good

Kings, like the reform of Joe Ash and

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others that are taking place here.

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But this is the Northern kingdom.

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This is the wicked Kings.

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And he goes after all the bale worshipers.

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Wipes them out, tears

down the temple starts.

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Well, it turns it into a toilet.

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Yeah.

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Did you catch that?

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Yeah.

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Latrine.

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He says, and it's that to this day.

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So, yeah.

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And you're right.

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He starts well, um, Because he's,

he's commended by this from the Lord.

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But then in verses 28 through 36,

we read that this strong start

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didn't last because he still

returns to the idolatry of Jeroboam.

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Jeroboam being the first of the Northern

Kings that took the golden calves

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and established them up in some area.

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And in up in Dan.

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And so during his reign, the Lord then

responds to his disobedience by beginning

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to remove some of the land from the people

of Israel and a foreshadowing of what's

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gonna be their, their ultimate downfall.

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Yeah.

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I can look at stuff like this

and I constantly feel that

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sense of guard my own heart.

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Uh, I appreciate that.

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He starts so well and clearly

he's zealous for the right.

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Cause it seems anyway.

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And ultimately only the Lord knows it's

happening, but I feel that sense of Lord.

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I don't want to, I don't want to finish.

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I don't want to finish and

disaster or finish where.

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You know, I might start well and it

might be doing well right now, but

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unless I'm guarding my hardest Proverbs

four says to guard yourself or to

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guard your heart above all else for,

from it flow the Springs of life.

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We don't hate that wisdom.

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R N could be just like Jake.

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Who's now in an ultimate sense,

God's going to make sure that

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we finish the race strong.

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So I get that.

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I'm not suggesting that we're not a,

we don't believe in God's sovereignty.

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On the other hand.

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I don't, I don't disbelieve in

man's responsibility either.

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I believe in both.

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Right.

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Which puts me in a difficult

spot, but it does say, okay.

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Guard my heart guard, my steps, make

sure that I'm walking close to the

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Lord because I don't want this to be.

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It would be close to my,

my legacy and my lineage.

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How do you look at this

to pass your pager?

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Yeah, I would agree.

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I mean, verse 31 says, but Jay,

who was not careful to walk in

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the law of the Lord that got.

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Good catch.

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Um, that's that intentionality

that, that it takes.

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I was talking with somebody recently

about, um, The somebody who said, Hey, you

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know what I, yeah, I'm, I'm a Christian.

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And yet you've got a situation where

they're, they're living in open sin.

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Um, they, they're not spending

time in the word and they're not

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involved in the church and they're

holding out to a profession of faith.

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And, and so, you know, I kind of

pushed back a little bit to say, I

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think that the right thing to do for

us out of love for that person is.

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To push back and say R R.

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Are you sure?

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Like, are you really like, let's

look at what it looks like to

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be a follower of Jesus, right.

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So I think sometimes we have our own

moments of destroying all the bales

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in and turning them into toilets.

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When we think about walking an aisle,

or we think about, you know, a VBS or we

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think we look back to a summer camp and

go, man, that was such a, I felt so close

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to God during this season of my life.

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And now we're, we're currently at

we've, we're not close to God anymore.

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We're not walking after him.

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We're not doing the things that he

wants us to do, but we're going to point

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back to that and say, that's, that's

why I'm okay with God, because I had

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that moment or that experience, right.

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And I think just like we look at J Hoon.

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And go, okay, good start.

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But man, the Bible is clear here.

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Hey, the Lord is going to reject you

because you didn't stay following him.

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You didn't keep following after you.

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Weren't careful to walk after

the Lord, the God of Israel.

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So I'm with you.

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God's sovereign over our standing with

him, but we have that responsibility

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and we gotta be careful that we're not

basing our current standing on the Lord.

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On this past mountain top experience.

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And thinking that we're good, even

though our life, if somebody were

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to, to put it up on a projector

screen, nobody would conclude about

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our life that we're following Jesus.

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We can't say well it's okay though,

because I had that one experience.

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Amen to that, bro.

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Yeah.

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And honestly, man, We've touched on this

before a little bit, but again, thinking

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back to all the thousands of people that

were at the fireworks show the other

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night, like, that's why we're here.

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That's why we're in north Texas right now.

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Uh, because the there's a gospel

that pervades here that does point

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back to the walk in the aisle or

the praying, the prayer or the

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baptism and say, that's all I need.

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I'm good.

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It doesn't matter how I

leave the rest of my life.

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And there's a phrase that is often used.

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Um, and you, you may have used

it yourself or heard other

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people use it called backsliding.

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Some will say I went through a season

of backsliding and basically what they

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mean is as you consider climbing a

mountain backsliding, you're, you're

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sliding back down the mountain.

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And that's referring to a time when

they're not walking after the Lord.

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They're not following them.

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They're not paying him and they're going

to put it, but it was just backsliding.

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And so a lot of times what you'll hear,

if, if this person is now back in the

400

church was they'll say I recommitted.

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Or I, I came back to the Lord.

402

I really devoted myself to following him.

403

Right.

404

And I think it's helpful for us

to be clear to say, okay, where

405

were you recommitting or were you

committing for the first time?

406

Um, because we can be there.

407

There's no such thing

as salvation by osmosis.

408

You can't be just close to

Jesus and therefore, okay.

409

With Jesus, you have to surrender

your life completely to him.

410

And I think a lot of us.

411

When we look back at our life and say,

well, there's a period of backsliding.

412

I think we were probably close to Jesus,

but hadn't surrendered everything to him.

413

So those moments of saying,

well, I'm recommitting.

414

I don't think that's a biblical paradigm.

415

I don't think we see that anywhere

in the new Testament whatsoever.

416

As far as believers go.

417

I think to be a Christian is not to be

perfect at all by any stretch of the

418

imagination, but there is a continual

progression towards Christ-likeness.

419

Uh, that is not marked by periods of

time where we wander completely off the

420

path and jumped back into the Broadway

that leads to destruction for a period.

421

It's interesting because that phrase

backslider does appear in the text.

422

That is an old Testament concept.

423

Right.

424

But that's the point.

425

There's nothing in the

new Testament, right.

426

That speaks about a Christian backslider.

427

And I think one of the biggest

distinguishing factors between an old

428

Testament Saint and a new Testament Saint.

429

There's of course the work

of the spirit exactly.

430

To transform our hearts.

431

And so we would say yes, and under the

old Testament, there was a concept of

432

backsliding that was clearly there,

but for new Testament believers,

433

The Tran the transition from old

to new Testament is so dramatic.

434

And so massive that to say

that a Christian can backslide.

435

At least as most people understand it.

436

It is foreign to the new Testament text.

437

Yeah.

438

Yeah, I would agree.

439

I would agree.

440

Well, chapter 11 then, which part of

our reading is, and that's why we didn't

441

get to it earlier is really a parallel

account of what we've already covered

442

in second Chronicles, 22 through 23.

443

I covered you mean what you are to cover?

444

Because it wasn't a week.

445

Oh, okay.

446

I mean, wow.

447

Vacation has really gotten you.

448

Did you go to Buckingham palace too?

449

Or?

450

Uh, we are pleased with you.

451

Okay.

452

Hey, what you already covered?

453

Thank.

454

Yeah.

455

I was by myself.

456

It's 22 through 20.

457

Anything else you want to add to that?

458

Anything that you're like, Hey

man, I should've covered this and

459

I didn't say here's your chance.

460

You'd get another do-over man.

461

I want all the do overs, but no,

there's nothing I would add to that.

462

I mean, Sometimes I find that.

463

Okay.

464

Here's a, here's a tip when you're

and I gave you guys a tip for

465

a book to get to, and I hope.

466

I don't know what do a

couple of days ago maybe.

467

Uh, that book is helpful because that

will give you the parallel accounts

468

next to each other in on one page.

469

And that's really helpful.

470

But I would say when you're

reading Chronicles, And you're

471

reading Kings at the same time.

472

Uh, many times it's like, oh, this

is basically a copy and paste, but

473

there's often a few phrases in there in.

474

That are just slightly different that

give you a different flavor altogether.

475

It's like having a different

ingredient in a soup.

476

He might let us say, oh, this

tastes similar, but there's

477

something else in there.

478

A little bit of, huh?

479

Yeah, it adds a bit of, a bit

of a different experience there.

480

So the read carefully, as you read, we

can't go through all the differences, but

481

read carefully at what point them out to

you where we see them, but they're worth,

482

they're worth the price of admission.

483

Well, Well, hold on.

484

I almost said we're glad

that you're with us.

485

Pastor rods, glad that you're

with us, with him today.

486

They live up with broadcast.

487

Come back at you.

488

It's not, it's not coming back.

489

And you just, you made a snake.

490

I don't need to be involved anymore.

491

I'm out.

492

It's yours.

493

When it could have it.

494

I won't say we I'll just, I

was throwing a flag on the

495

play because you left me alone.

496

Hey, listen, everybody

was suffering for that.

497

He's going to be back with you

again tomorrow for another episode

498

of the daily Bible, rod casts

to keep bringing your Bibles.

499

No.

500

And maybe we will make an appearance.

501

Emails at PJ at bet.

502

Best pastor ever.

503

Dot com.

504

All right.

505

Yes, but cl.