00:00 Introduction and Casual Banter

01:29 Discussing Political Views and Faith

08:45 Exploring the Synoptic Gospels

14:53 Lessons from Jesus' Miracles

21:26 Concluding Thoughts and Prayer

Audio Only - All Participants:

Hey, everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the daily Bible podcast.

3

Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, just dance.

4

2025 has been released as of today.

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What are you doing here?

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Did you guys ever do that?

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I know no guitar hero.

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It's fun.

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Okay.

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Guitar.

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Yeah.

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Guitar is great, man.

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I would, I would have loved to have

that game, but just dance is like,

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you hold a remote in your hand.

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You do the dance moves.

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Yeah.

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Um, if you could find a song that's

clean, which is kind of hard to do

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with their, with their platform, but.

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There's a few out there and,

and they're actually really fun.

20

Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Um, that's right.

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You're coming at us on zoom here

from, is that hurricane, is that

24

the next hurricane that's coming up?

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Cause there's a lot of wind behind you.

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I'm on the beach.

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I'm drinking a tall glass of lemonade.

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, like, I wasn't finished yet.

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Let me, I was drinking a

tall glass of lemonade Boy.

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Or a pina colada.

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There go a pina colada is alcoholic.

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Yeah, they are.

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I mean, you can get a, a virgin colada.

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Yeah.

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A virgin pina colada.

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Yeah.

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Uh, yeah.

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So that's what I, or, or I'm drinking

a Shirley Temple Sugary temple.

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I did not say grow.

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I said manly.

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Stop.

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Stop.

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Anyway, it's Tuesday.

44

Having a great day.

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We're back.

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It's awesome.

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Back in the office.

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We're back in the office.

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Yeah.

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Which is good.

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Which means the next episodes we'll

record in person, which will be good.

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God, thank God.

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Cause we're still on zoom right

now, but that's all right.

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That's all right.

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It's all for the good of

the women's Bible study.

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The women's Bible study.

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Retreat.

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That's right.

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Yeah.

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Um, man, I'm, I'm, yeah, go ahead.

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Go for it.

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I wanted to ask you to comment

on a few things that have

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been popping up on my feed.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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One prominent pastor in, in some

fields said, um, sometime, never Trump,

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uh, this time, Kamala, always Jesus.

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Hmm.

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Um, how do you feel about that?

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How should we think about that?

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Man, I gotta be careful with this one.

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Um, not because I'm unclear on this.

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I think that's wrong.

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Um, here's what I think is wrong.

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Uh, there are.

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Of late, since Roe versus

Wade got overturned, right?

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There are a number of states that have

enacted laws that are protecting the

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unborn in, in the, the void of Roe

versus Wade being, being present there.

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Uh, if you look at our two current

candidates and I get that Trump has,

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has compromised on the position of

abortion, that's putting it lightly.

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Um, he's not nearly as poor

life as we want him to be.

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But when you look at the two given

candidates, there's one candidate

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who If that candidate wins, a lot

of those laws that were put in

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place to protect the lives of the

unborn are going to get overturned.

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And so those laws are no

longer going to be there.

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If another candidate wins a lot of

those laws are still going to be in

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place even though that candidate may not

be as pro life as we want them to be.

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So there's there's good and there are

going to be lives saved in the election

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of one over the election of other though

both of them we would say man, we think

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they've got the issue of abortion wrong.

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There is one that is going to protect

the unborn Still, by protecting

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some of those laws and preserving,

preserving some of those laws that

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have been enacted over the other one.

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Uh, and so to make a point to say,

well, I'm going to vote her because

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both of them are bad, and this is just

an indictment against the Republican

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party is just foolish and short sighted.

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Um, it's, it's unwise and it's, it's

going to end up costing more lives.

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Uh, of, of the innocent, more, more

babies, uh, are going to lose their

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lives because of that vote that you're

casting than would if you decided to

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vote even though you can't fully support.

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You're never going to be able

to fully support any candidate

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unless Jesus is running for

president of the United States.

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And that's not going to happen.

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So I'm against that wholeheartedly.

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Uh, evangelicals for

Harris, comment on that.

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I think you've got a difficulty there.

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I think you've got a major difficulty

to take your biblical worldview

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like we talked about last Sunday.

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Um, well, I guess.

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Uh, a week ago from this past Sunday to

take your biblical worldview and to mesh

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it with the principles and her policies

that she's the, she stands up behind,

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um, worded to be first and foremost

Christians before we are any sort of

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political party that said, there is.

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There's a political party, and I believe

it's the Democratic Party, that is

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more difficult to adhere to Christian

principles and values in a biblical

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worldview than it is to be on the

opposite end of that and do the same.

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So, I think you're going to have

a difficult time justifying that

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before the Bema Seat of Christ.

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That's putting it very mildly.

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Hey, we got a resource recently that

I want to send your guys his way.

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It's biblicalvoter.

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com.

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Um, and you can go to, if you're

a Texan like we are, there's that

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there's a Texas specific link.

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So biblicalvoter.

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com forward slash Texas

dash voter dash guides.

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And there you'll have access to links

from, uh, From pro life organizations

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and others that are conservative and

they help with, uh, with casting your

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ballot, which we hope that you'll do.

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We think that's a responsibility that

every Christian has and a privilege

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that we should currently take

advantage of so that we can keep as

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much as we're able to stem the tide

of evil and promote righteousness.

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Yeah, I would agree.

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Yeah.

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And, and maybe you're out there asking the

question, does it, does it all boil down

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to, to pro life aren't there other issues?

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Uh, yes, there are other issues,

but man, right now that is the one

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that is at the forefront and, and.

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The, the, the Democratic Party

has made that abundantly clear

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that that is their battle cry.

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That is their war cry is to, uh, to run

even further to the left on abortion

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policies in this country than they were

prior to Rovers Wade being overturned.

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So, um, the reason why we make it

such a big deal is because that, that

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is the, the major, uh, the deciding

factor that is the major turning point

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in this election is, is that issue.

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And it's an issue that as

Christians, we have to care about.

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Um, passionately, zealously, we we've

finished the old Testament reading,

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but again, think about how many times,

one of the main indictments of God,

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besides the intermarriage side of

things was also you're, you're offering

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your sons and daughters to Molech.

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You are killing your children.

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Um, and, and is it a

one for one correlation?

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Not exactly, but it's still the sacrifice

and the slaughter of the unborn.

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Um, And so as Christians, we

have to care about that because

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these are lives God has created.

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God has led to the, has, has, has

overseen that the conception and allowed

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the conception to take, take place.

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And, and even Psalm 139, knitting

them together in their mother's womb.

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It's, it's wrong for us to stand

idly by and watch the slaughter

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of the unborn go by to be able

to say, well, we got tax cuts.

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So, um, that's why it is such a big

issue when it comes to, And it has

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so many more worldview implications.

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I don't want to sound too much like Dr.

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Moeller, but that's what it sounds like.

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Uh, Kamala and.

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Her party stand for something

that I can think of very few

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things that Christians can say.

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Okay.

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I I can be behind that biblically There's

a lot of things that you just can't say

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that about I mean the one that comes to

the top of mind here is the gender problem

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gender identity politics and All that

she supports and I mean remember she used

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to work for california and we we got to

see some of that and and When we used to

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live there, so just keep in mind here.

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The the issues are large You And we

do want to have an even handedness.

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You said before, like, can someone

be a Christian to be a Democrat?

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Well, yeah, I guess in theory,

someone could have that.

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They could be confused

to be a baby Christian.

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They could have their

conscience malformed.

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Uh, and that's very possible if

you're biblically illiterate, very

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possible and perhaps even likely.

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So there are compounding issues that

make it harder for us to say with any

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degree of like, Definitude, definiteness,

definite lease, that someone for sure,

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if you're a Democrat, you're voting

Democrat, you're not a Christian.

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Uh, maybe, maybe, probably I could

say, I could see how that would

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work, but we're going to say, look,

there's times when Christians are

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going to be led to do the wrong thing.

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And evangelicals for Harris, even if

they're well intentioned, uh, are, are

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not being, uh, in our estimation, uh,

biblically sound in their approach.

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Yep.

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We'd agree with that.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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In other news, did you see that Tesla

released their self driving cab?

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Dude, and more.

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And their robot.

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They called him Optimus.

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I bought one.

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I just, I just dropped 50, 000 bucks.

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I can't wait to get mine in 2029.

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Is he going to do the dance

outside for Indigenous People's

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Day with you next year?

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Maybe.

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Well, not next year.

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I'm not going to get one for a while,

but man, I would love that robot.

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Let me just tell you.

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If you, if you want to get us a gift

and the office, can you imagine,

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Hey robot, go get us a coffee.

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Hey robot.

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I mean, he was talking

to one of the reporters.

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It sounded so good.

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I was, my jaw had dropped.

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It was amazing.

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So if you're doing biblical counseling

with Pastor Rod in the, in the next

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five to 10 years and he sounds a

little robotic, you might want to.

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Did not sound like a robot.

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Let me tell you.

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Yeah.

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It sounded pretty natural.

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That's crazy.

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That's crazy.

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Hey, let's, uh, let's jump into

Mark chapter four and five.

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Do it.

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There's a lot of, uh, familiar

ground in these two chapters.

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Um, opens up with the

parable of the sower again.

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So Matthew 13, Luke eight, we've covered

that the last couple of days here.

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Uh, but one thing to note here

is the, the section opens up.

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It says he began to teach them beside

the sea and a very large crowd gathered

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about him so that he got into a boat

and sat in it on the sea and the whole

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crowd was beside the sea on the land.

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Uh, this is, is both to avoid Jesus being.

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trampled, but it's also functional.

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Um, you have to remember that they

didn't have amplification at this time.

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They didn't have a headset,

they didn't have a microphone,

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they didn't have any of that.

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And so as Jesus went out on the

water, the the water would sound

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would create or, or serve as a natural

sound amplifier, as his voice would be

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carried across the water, which would

allow him to, to address a larger.

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There.

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So there's, there's purpose

in what he's doing here.

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And some of the details that

we might miss because we have

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microphones and other things like

that, they didn't at this time.

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So that was one of the reasons why he got

on the boat, shoved out from land a little

243

bit was to be able to be heard by more

people and probably also seen as well.

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Uh, yeah, aside from that, this is the

parable, the same thing that we've read.

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Uh, this time you've got the, the

different numbers of fruit back.

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So Luke, yeah, Luke just

was like, um, no, forget it.

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We're going a hundred fold.

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We're not bothering with 30 or 60 fold.

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But Mark and Matthew were both like,

no, we'll throw in the 30 and 60 fold.

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Uh, by the way, you'll, you'll

notice we're talking about.

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Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Matthew,

Mark, and Luke, Luke, Matthew,

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Mark, Mark, Matthew, Luke.

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And the reason is, I don't know

if we've identified this directly,

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but those are the synoptic Gospels.

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Those are the Gospels that are

most similar to one another.

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John, which we're studying on

Sunday mornings, is a unique Gospel.

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I can't remember the exact percentage

in John, but I want to say it's close

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to 90 percent of John is unique to John.

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It's not found in the other Gospels.

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It doesn't mean that John made things up.

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It doesn't mean that John created

brand new things, but John wrote much

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later than the other three wrote.

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The other three wrote in the, within

striking distance of the events that

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took place, John wrote his gospel, we

believe towards the end of his life.

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And so John had probably.

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50, somewhere between 40 and 60

years to reflect on the life of

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Jesus, to reflect on the life of

his rabbi, his savior, his Lord.

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And that's one of the reasons

why John's is one of the most

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theological gospels that we find

amongst the four, because John was

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writing with a theological purpose

and he was organizing his theology.

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Thoughts and these events that took

place, not changing details, but

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compiling them in such a way to

accomplish a purpose, which he makes

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clear in John 20, when he says, I've

written these things so that you might

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believe that Jesus is the Christ.

275

He's got an agenda to show

Jesus identity as the Messiah.

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These other three, by and large, were

most of the time, just trying to get the

277

events out there with their own slant.

278

Yes.

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Like Matthew to the Jews.

280

Uh, but.

281

They were more bullet point.

282

They were more, Hey, let's

record the biography.

283

They weren't reflecting doctrinally

the same way that John was writing.

284

So, so much longer, uh, from the,

the parable of the sower, we get

285

again, that the lamp in the basket,

again, Jesus is saying no one has

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takes their light and conceals it.

287

And so Jesus is saying you're receiving

light and because you're receiving light,

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much is going to be required of you.

289

And so you need to make sure that you

do with the light, what you are supposed

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to do with the light, which is to use

it to illuminate the world around you.

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So.

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Uh, 21 through 25, that call to respond

by making sure that people hear and

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know the gospel is present there.

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Verses 26 through 29, uh,

this is unique to Mark.

295

It's the parable of the seed growing,

and there's different thoughts

296

about what this is relating to.

297

Some think this is about the germination

of faith and the gospel and how

298

it leads someone to, to salvation.

299

Others think that this is

about, uh, the kingdom.

300

Still others think that this is about

the, the believer and just the growth and

301

sanctification until they're ultimately

delivered into the kingdom of God.

302

Um, I tend to land there.

303

I could see it also being the kingdom,

but I think this is similar to what

304

Paul says when he says, look, I planted,

uh, you know, Apollos watered, but

305

God is the one that causes the growth.

306

And I think that's what we're seeing here.

307

The, the, the, the one that sows the

seed really is passive after that.

308

God is the one that's doing the

rest of the work in this parable.

309

And I think that's pointed to

how he works in people's lives.

310

How's your thoughts on that?

311

Yeah, I think I'd agree with that.

312

There's probably a little bit of this,

a little bit of that in terms of God,

313

God's the one who's ultimately doing

the work, but we are still called to

314

be active participants in that labor.

315

Um, Paul himself says, right.

316

I, I sowed or I planted this guy, watered.

317

God gives the growth.

318

I agree with that.

319

And I think the, the emphasis

should not be, it's all God.

320

So sit back and just let it be.

321

And I certainly don't think

the emphasis is it's all you.

322

So please make sure that

you're spreading the gospel.

323

Otherwise God, God can't do things.

324

Uh, I don't think it's that we've got

to keep that balance of perspective.

325

But again, end of the day, it's

all God, but we're definitely

326

participants in the work.

327

Yeah, I'd agree.

328

Uh, after this, you get the mustard seed.

329

And again, we talked about this, something

small, but growing in massive proportions,

330

and that's going to be the kingdom.

331

The kingdom starts small, but it's

going to grow and it grows fast.

332

When we're good, when we get to the

book of Acts, we're going to see.

333

Thousands added to the church in a day.

334

Um, that's insane.

335

That's, that's crazy.

336

So the mustard seed parable here begins

to, to come to fruition right away there.

337

And then chapter four ends with the

calming of the storm again, which is

338

this familiar story ends the same way.

339

Who is this that even the

wind and the sea obey him?

340

And that's a question that are

going to still be wrestling with

341

even while Jesus is on the cross.

342

I mean, these are, are, are the

things they're, they're watching their

343

savior die, who was the one that.

344

Rebuked the wind and the waves and

brought calmness to the sea and the the

345

turmoil and the conflict and that's why

when Jesus and Luke 24 is we're gonna

346

get to walks along the road and comes

up on the two disciples on their way

347

to Emmaus before they realize It's him.

348

That's why they're so crestfallen.

349

They're going we thought this was

the guy he had done all of these

350

things and then he died And so

this is one of those instances.

351

They're going who is this man?

352

This is This is something

unique that's taking place.

353

He rebukes the seed.

354

There's no way anything's

going to happen to him.

355

And then he ends up on a cross.

356

And so it's just a reminder that,

that God does things in ways that

357

we don't expect him to do things.

358

And it's always going to be better

than what we expect him to do.

359

Mark chapter five, then you've got

the, uh, demoniac and the pigs again,

360

again, the, the similar story mark

here, like Luke only records one.

361

And we talked about that, I think in

yesterday's episode, uh, that, that

362

Matthew had a unique perspective.

363

Maybe that was two days ago.

364

Matthew had a unique perspective

because he had, he was there.

365

So he saw that there were two of them.

366

Uh, Mark and Luke are saying, okay, we're

going to record what we've heard about.

367

We've heard about the one, probably

because that was the main actor.

368

Jesus was addressing one of them.

369

Uh, this one, by the way, and I

don't know that we've talked about

370

this when Jesus says, who are you?

371

He's talking to the demons.

372

That's interesting.

373

He's not talking to the man anymore at

that point, when he says, who are you?

374

Yeah.

375

And the demons say we are legion in,

in other words, there is a legion of

376

us within this one man, there, there

are thousands upon thousands of demons.

377

There's there are innumerable

demons within this man, but it's,

378

it's curious that Jesus is speaking

to the man, but the one that's

379

communicating with them are the demons.

380

It's not the man saying,

uh, my name is Steve.

381

No, it's, it's the man.

382

It's the demons in the man that's

addressing Jesus, which is fascinating

383

and also super creepy, uh, because

you wonder where this man was as these

384

demons are talking on his behalf.

385

What a helpful point.

386

Thanks for saying all that.

387

That was riveting.

388

I have a question for you.

389

Um, so here's the thing I've read this

and I've had difficulty with this.

390

I think I have an answer, but I would

love for you to, to chime in on this.

391

Um, so Legion, uh, he was saying verse

eight, take a look at here's, here's

392

what, uh, Mark says, well, before that,

uh, they, they say to Jesus, what I have

393

to, what, what have I to do with you?

394

And I adjure you by God.

395

They're commanding Jesus.

396

They're putting Jesus under a

binding commitment and oath.

397

Do not torment me.

398

Verse eight, for he was saying, um,

Jesus was saying that, that is, uh, I

399

think, uh, if I remember it's a, it's

a, it's a passive or it's imperfect.

400

There we go.

401

It's imperfect active indicative, which,

which means that he was, he was continuing

402

to say those things he was saying to him,

come out of the man, you unclean spirit.

403

So it seems like on the, on the front

end here, the demons are not obeying him.

404

And they negotiate with him and they're

saying, look, uh, here's a situation.

405

There's a lot of us here.

406

Can you, can you please

send us into the pig?

407

So what's going on there?

408

Why would the demons not obey?

409

I think this is a teaching moment,

much like we're going to see another

410

situation where Jesus goes to heal a

blind man and in healing the blind man,

411

he spits on the ground and make some

mud and he anoints the blind man's eyes.

412

And he says, do you see things?

413

And the blind man says, well,

I see people walking around.

414

Like trees, and then he does it again,

and then the blind man is fully healed.

415

And so the question there is,

well, why was it two stages?

416

Could Jesus could have just

spoke a word and the blind man

417

would have received a site.

418

There are other situations where

Jesus rebukes the demon word at

419

the first in the demon comes out.

420

I think this is a, a, a.

421

God is after something bigger

here than just simply the

422

demons immediate obedience.

423

If Jesus wanted the demons gone

right away, the demons would

424

have been gone right away.

425

I think Jesus is teaching his disciples.

426

I think Jesus is teaching something to

the people of that area in that region

427

and the power that he has over these,

these unclean spirits that, and these

428

were strong and not stronger than Jesus.

429

But when you look at the description of

what they did to this man, uh, this is.

430

This is a pretty powerful force

that has, has possessed this man.

431

And so I think Jesus is ultimately

flexing on them going, yeah,

432

look, you think they're resisting?

433

They're not resisting.

434

Ready?

435

Here we go, pigs.

436

And then they're gone.

437

So that's my read on it at least.

438

Yeah, that's helpful.

439

That's, that's a, that's

a good thought too.

440

I didn't, I didn't consider that aspect.

441

Uh, I, I, it's not that Jesus isn't

powerful enough because you're begging

442

him, like, please show us mercy.

443

Please don't let us do this or that.

444

It's, I, I just can't get past the will.

445

Then What, what we're, when he was saying.

446

When he was saying those words,

come out of the man, you unclean

447

spirit, that's a command from

the second person of the Trinity.

448

In what universe does it make

sense that they could not respond?

449

So here's my best guess.

450

Uh, I think what you say

is, is totally valid.

451

I still think this would fit with it too.

452

And since it is Legion, perhaps the

demon that he's talking to in that

453

moment does respond, but there's several

more behind him that still can say,

454

Hey, but hold on, you said, you said

to that guy go, but I'm still here.

455

There's more of us.

456

We're Legion.

457

So maybe that's happening

behind the scenes.

458

So there are those who are leaving.

459

Yeah.

460

What a strange, totally possible as well.

461

Yeah.

462

Yeah, it is.

463

It is odd.

464

It is odd for sure.

465

Yeah.

466

Same thing happens.

467

The crowd are upset.

468

They tell Jesus to leave because their,

their bacon industry has just gone

469

over the cliff and into the water.

470

Um, Jesus tells the

man, Hey, you know what?

471

You can't come with me, but I want you

to go and tell everybody again, like

472

we talked about in yesterday's episode,

then chapter five, the rest of it is

473

again, this interaction of desperate

faith between gyrus and, uh, and Jesus

474

and the woman with the discharge.

475

And, and I just think

it's, it's fascinating.

476

One of the things that I think

about with this is just when God

477

seems to let us down in our timing,

He hasn't let us down at all.

478

I can imagine being Jairus,

and that, the whole interaction

479

with the woman took time.

480

And Jesus stopped, and meanwhile,

Jairus is standing there

481

like, My daughter is dying.

482

And Jesus stops and turns and

talks to this woman, and ministers

483

to her need and addresses her.

484

And then in that moment that somebody

runs up and tells Jairus, Hey,

485

don't bother the teacher anymore.

486

Your daughter's dead.

487

I can imagine Jairus immediately

having some anger, frustration,

488

um, a fleshly response of man.

489

If, if, if you had just pressed on,

maybe we would have gotten there in time.

490

Uh, maybe even anger at this woman.

491

If you would have been here, Jesus,

my brother wouldn't have died.

492

Exactly.

493

Yeah.

494

Same thing.

495

And, and, Yet Jesus says, Hey,

you know what, this is going to

496

work out for the glory of God.

497

This is going to be okay.

498

And sure enough, it is.

499

And how many times has

that happened to us?

500

We get mad because God's

timing is not our timing.

501

And yet in the end, we sit

back and we go, okay, you knew

502

what you were doing all along.

503

I was wrong.

504

And my response wasn't right.

505

So amen to that, bro.

506

And on top of that, I would say

sometimes the things that we're

507

expecting God to do in our timing

may not even happen in our timeline.

508

It may not be our timeline.

509

It may be in a timeline for our grandkids.

510

I mean, you brought up before, uh,

Mueller, Mueller, Mueller, or Mueller,

511

Mueller's, uh, prayer for his friends

that a few of them didn't get saved

512

until after Mueller, Mueller had died.

513

So.

514

Uh, the timeline for us

is definitely limited.

515

We're working with 70, 80 years, maybe

90 for lucky or providentially blessed.

516

Not lucky, not lucky.

517

There's no such thing as luck.

518

Uh, God's not working on that timeline.

519

He's working on a much greater timeline

that doesn't involve our short timeframe.

520

Yeah, that's true.

521

That's true.

522

All right, let's pray.

523

And then we'll be done

with another episode.

524

God, we, uh, we're grateful for that

reality that we just talked about,

525

that your timeline is not our timeline,

that, you know, better than we do.

526

And so we pray that you increase our

trust, increase our patience, increase

527

our faith as we wait for your will

to be done in our lives, not always

528

understanding what that looks like.

529

And so God, we are grateful for

Christ and that we can know that you

530

have our good ultimately at heart

because you've taken care of our

531

greatest need, which is our standing

with you by sending Christ for us.

532

And so we pray this in Jesus name.

533

Amen.

534

Amen.

535

All right, everybody, keep reading

your Bibles and tune in again

536

tomorrow for another episode

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

537

See ya.