Navigating Deuteronomy & Discussing Bible Translations

In today's episode of the Daily Bible Podcast, the hosts welcome listeners on Friday, March 21st. They share church updates and personal anecdotes, including one host's son passing his driver's exam. The conversation then shifts to Bible study, focusing on Deuteronomy 30 and 31. Key topics include Moses' rallying call to obedience, the importance of God's law, and the introduction to the concept of middle knowledge. They also discuss the significance of using a faithful Bible translation, particularly recommending the ESV for church services. The episode concludes with a prayer and an encouragement to continue regular Bible reading.

00:00 Welcome and Announcements

00:29 Family Milestones and Social Media

01:31 Upcoming Church Events and Series

03:18 Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 30 and 31

12:42 Discussion on Translations and Study Tips

14:49 Closing Prayer and Final Thoughts

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey everybody.

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Welcome back to another edition

of the daily Bible podcast.

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What's up?

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It is Friday, March 21st.

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So we're almost all the way through March.

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April is right around the corner.

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It's open house day here

at the church office.

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Indeed it is.

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So just drop by.

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Swing by.

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Get some buntinis and some cookies.

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Say hey to us.

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We do have meetings

throughout the day today.

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So just be aware of that.

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But if we're here, we want to see you.

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We want to say hey.

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And we're looking forward to

seeing some of our church family

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tomorrow, but, or today, tomorrow

as we record it anyways yeah.

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And then we get the weekend coming up.

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I've got a licensed

driver in my household.

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Now my son passed his

driver's license exam.

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Wow.

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Did you post it on Facebook?

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So I got it saying, watch out everybody.

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Josh is on the road.

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Be careful.

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I didn't.

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Nope.

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Nope.

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I did not do that.

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Are you sure?

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I thought you said you

were going to do that.

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I, I love when people do that.

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I do.

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I, it's my favorite thing because then

I drive extra vigilantly after that.

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Cause I'm like, maybe that's that person.

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I don't know.

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Maybe it's that person over there.

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I don't know.

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Yeah, no, but he did.

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He passed.

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I'm proud of him.

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He was pretty nervous about it, but

got a, some nice lady down in, in

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Carrollton and she was the one that gave

him the driver's exam and he passed.

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So good job, Josh.

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Good job, Josh.

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Yeah.

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Jacob's when's Jacob turn?

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16 June, Okay.

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So you got a little bit of time

a little bit of time to enjoy

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this season while I have it.

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yeah.

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Before adding him to insurance, I'm

going to put a Facebook post that says,

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watch out world, here comes Jacob.

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Here comes, you should do it right now.

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You should be like, he's got a permit.

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I'll schedule it.

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Yeah.

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He's on there.

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Yeah.

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Anyhow.

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Yeah, that's what's going on.

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Nothing nothing out of

the ordinary this weekend.

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We don't have baptisms or

anything else like that.

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We had baptisms last weekend, but

we do, we will be gathering together

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as the church we're finishing up our

discipled series, which has taken

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us from John 14 all the way now, or

13 all the way now through John 17.

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So we're starting a brand new series

in John next week called the gathering

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storm about the impending betrayal

and arrest and death and resident.

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Not the resurrection, but

Betrayal, rest and death of Jesus.

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And then we'll hit the resurrection in a

different series as we wrap up the gospel.

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John, it's hard to believe that we're not

far away from ending our study of John.

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Just about, it is hard to believe

a month and a half, two months.

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Some of us don't believe that well,

believe it because Lord willing,

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what are we going into next?

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We are planning a summer series called the

summer with the small guys and it's going

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to be a summer covering the minor profits.

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So we're going to be a little bit

ambitious and we're going to try to tackle

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a minor profit a week over the summer.

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So it's going to have a different feel.

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It'll still be expository preaching, but

expository preaching of a large chunk of

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scripture in some of these minor prophets.

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So the minor profits are not guys

that we're too familiar with.

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At least most of us, I would

feel safe in saying that.

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But there's a lot of

really good material there.

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And so we'll be preaching through that.

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I'll be out for a couple of weeks.

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So you'll be preaching through,

I think Jonah is one of them.

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I don't know what you've landed on.

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We haven't talked through that and

hash that out yet for the second one.

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But yeah, we're excited.

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I'm excited about the summer series.

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I think it's going to be

really helpful for us.

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Jonah for the first half.

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And then Jonah for the second half

Jonah one and two, Jonah three and four.

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Okay.

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That'd be easy.

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There you go.

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I think you can pull that off.

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We can do that.

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It robs them of one minor profit

because you'll just have to do two.

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And some of them lend themselves

to that quite naturally.

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Yeah.

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There are some that are.

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Are small enough to tackle

two of them maybe in one.

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I'm excited about Hibakiak.

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That's my favorite of all the minor

profits is Hibakiak but yeah, and

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then I haven't fully landed on yet

on where we're going in the fall, but

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that'll get us through the summer.

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So it should be good.

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Let's jump into our

Bible reading for today.

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We've got Deuteronomy 30 and 31 chapter 30

is a really a rallying chapter, a call to

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obedience, exhortation that what's being

commanded is not too hard for them to do.

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In fact, if you look at verses 12

through 14 of chapter 30, this is

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something that Paul will quote in

Romans 10 verses six through eight.

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And so here it has to do with the

law and Moses is saying in verse

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12, is it's not in heaven that you

should say who will ascend to heaven.

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it for it and bring us down.

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Neither is it beyond the sea.

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He's saying, look, this is doable.

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You can understand these things

and you can do these things.

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In Romans 10, six through eight,

he's Paul's not going to apply

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that to the law, but to the gospel.

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And and that's the perk, the

benefit, the blessing that we

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have on this side of the cross.

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cross is that's the way that God relates

to us primarily is through the gospel

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and no longer through the law as a means

of our maintaining our status with him

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as it was in, in Old Testament Israel.

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Now, salvation was always by faith alone.

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As we go back to Abraham,

Abraham believed God and it was

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credited to him as righteousness.

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But in this dispensation, the primary

means of communication was the law.

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Whereas for you and I now under

the gospel, the primary means of

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God's relationship with us is the

spirit who helps us abide in Christ.

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And so Deuteronomy chapter 30

about just an encouragement to

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the people, Hey you can do this.

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The choice is between you

choose life, choose death.

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I'm calling on you to choose life,

follow the Lord and obey him.

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How does this fit with our theology that

says that they actually were incapable

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of doing what they were called to do?

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The new covenant is explicitly

given because they don't

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have a circumcised heart.

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They needed the spirit to do something in

them in order for them to work this out.

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So how do we put these two things

together when it seems like they don't?

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They don't fit.

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Yeah.

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That's the old question or the

statement that some people make.

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God never commands us to do anything

that we're incapable of doing.

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And I think in categorically,

I would say that's true.

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God never commands us pick up a

mountain and throw a mountain.

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He doesn't command us to be able to fly.

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He doesn't command us to be able to, have.

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Hold on a second.

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He the things that he's called us to do

that he's the laws and commitments that

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he's given to us These are things that

we are able and capable to do now where

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our inability comes in is our flesh We

are incapable of doing it perfectly.

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We are incapable of justifying

ourselves by the law.

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We can't be a hundred percent Perfectly

obedient to the law because of our flesh,

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but there's no one individual commandment

that God has given us that we cannot

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live up to that we can't measure up to.

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So the indictment is more of the 30,

000 foot view, whereas the statement

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of you, you're able to do it, it's

here is more on the ground with us.

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helpful.

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Yeah, chapter 31, then we get in

here chapter 31 is really more about

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God's foretelling of the evil that

would be perpetuated by the people

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in the promise land than it is about

the transfer of leadership to Joshua.

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Even though the chapter is titled Joshua

to succeed Moses there in your ESV.

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This is a lot of God saying after that,

Hey, this is what's going to happen.

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This is not going to go well.

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Things are going to go.

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And so it's a, it's a downer for Joshua.

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Joshua was being given the reins

and then God's Hey, things are

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going to go horribly wrong for you.

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So not a super encouraging passage for

for Joshua to sit there and consider.

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But it's, yeah, I wanted to bring up,

and I don't want to open up too big of

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a can of worms, but I do want to call

our attention to our Deuteronomy 31

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21 says this, and when many evils and

troubles have come upon them, this song

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shall comfort them or confront them as

a witness for it will live unforgotten

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in the mouths of their offspring.

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He's talking about the song that

Moses is going to give us in the next

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chapter that we'll cover tomorrow.

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But God says this afterwards, for

I know what they are inclined to

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do even today before I have brought

them into the land that I swore

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that just swore to give to them.

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This introduces the concept

of middle knowledge, being

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the view of God's sovereignty.

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That would suggest that he was

able to look down across the

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corridors of time before creating

and consider all of the possible.

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Outcomes that are out there based on

man's moral free agency And that god

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chose to create the world in which

the most amount of good in the most

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salvations would occur Based on knowing

beforehand what man was Inclined to do.

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And so some will point to this verse and

say, this verse seems to suggest or imply

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Molinism because God says, for I know

that they are what they are inclined to

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do even today before I've brought them

into the land that I swore to give them.

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What is Molinism?

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Molinism is named after the one that kind

of perpetuated that view that God looked

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down the corridors of time, considered

all the different options and said,

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this is the option that's out there.

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It's a Francis Molina.

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I think the guy's first name was Francis.

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I know his last name was Molina.

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I don't know about the first time either.

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Yeah.

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And he was the one that it's named after.

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So Molinism Molina.

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This is not an aberrant view.

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It's not a heretical view, not by

any stretch of the imagination.

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It's not one that I agree with because I

think the other statements in scripture

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give a more clear support to the idea

that God is sovereign in ordaining

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the things, not just knowing what we

would do, but ordaining what happens.

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If you think about the fact that he

hardened Pharaoh's heart there are

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instances where God clearly intervenes

where God reaches into humanity and

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makes things happen on our account

or in our favor or even in judgment.

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So I don't.

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think Molinism is the correct view,

but a verse like this is one that

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people would point to and suggest.

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Now one of the leading supporters

of Molinism today is a guy named

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William Lane Craig and William Lane.

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Craig is a known apologist as well.

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And Craig, I was watching James White.

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So I guess it wasn't a debate, but

James White was critiquing Craig's point

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of view and yet played a quote from

Craig, where Craig said of them all

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in this view that there are subjective

influences outside of the control of God

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that lead a mankind to make decisions.

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And God looks at those decisions

that mankind is going to make and

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creates the best world possible.

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And so that idea of subjective decisions

outside the control of God, that's where

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I can't get behind, I can't get behind

That perspective of the monistic viewpoint

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or the middle knowledge viewpoint.

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It's out there though.

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You may encounter it You may

hear people that talk about this.

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They may cite a verse like this Still

I think when we look at the big picture

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I think there are far more evidences of

god's sovereignty in his on the ground

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ordaining what's happening in the world

Then there are instances like this where

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this is the temptation to say he just

knows what we'd be inclined to do Yeah,

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that's a helpful clarification, in the

new testament It's one of those situations

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where Jesus says if this preaching would

have been done here and not there they

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would have repented They would have done

this they would have done that so it's

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not without some biblical foundation

But there's probably better ways to deal

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with it Molina to his credit was trying

to put together God's sovereignty and

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man's I'm not gonna say free will but

his Responsibility to do the right thing.

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And I wonder if this is just one

of those areas that we have to say,

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man, Lord, when we don't, and even

though we get really inventive and

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middle knowledge is really creative.

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Now I appreciate that creativity, but

whether or not it really adequately

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deals with what we see in scriptures is

yet to be understood and yet to be seen.

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I don't think that it does either.

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But out of this chapter, I just

want to point out one thing here.

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You're going to see in verse six.

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That Moses says to Joshua,

be strong and courageous.

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You're going to see this refrain repeated

all throughout the rest of the book of

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Deuteronomy and even leading into the

book of Joshua as these two words, be

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strong and courageous, come to the full

come to the four over and over again.

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Even though he was largely giving

Joshua some bad news about how it's

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going to be challenging, I think this

is appropriate given the responsibility

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that he has to lead, you're going to

need strength, you're going to need

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courage, strength because you're going

to be tempted to be weak willed and.

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Lacking endurance.

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So you need to be strong, stay with it.

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And then you're going to need courage

because there's going to be lots of

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fearful things that confront you.

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Even the people that are going

to say, we don't want to do

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what you're asking us to do.

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That's the first thing.

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Notice.

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Also the second thing I want to

point your attention to here in verse

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number 10, Moses commanded them at

the end of every seven years at the

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set time in the year of release.

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The Feast of Booths, when all

Israel comes to appear before

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the Lord, your God essentially he

says this, you shall read this law

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before all Israel in their hearing.

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So they were exposed to the whole

law at least once every seven years.

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What a privilege it is that you

can be exposed to the law every

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single day and you're going to be

exposed to it in large measure.

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You can have all of you could read

the Bible every year for seven years,

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you can read it more than that.

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You have a privilege that they

did not have, which means.

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Greater privilege, greater responsibility.

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Please know that this is

what God desires of us.

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He wants us to know his law, wants us to

know his word and you have the privileged

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ability to read it, to understand it in

your language and you have direct access

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to it every single day of your life.

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What a cool thing that is.

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It is a cool thing.

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And this is.

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Unfortunate because this is

a something that God commands

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that Israel doesn't really do.

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And especially once we get into the Kings,

this is something that we find with Ezra.

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The book of the law is rediscovered by

the time that we get around to Ezra and

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it's read for the people and there's

national mourning because they are

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confronted again with God's law that

they realize how far they've drifted

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from God's law in part because they

hadn't been listening to God's law.

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And yeah, I agree with you,

man, that is so important for

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us and for our godliness too.

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If you're out there saying, man,

I want to grow in godliness.

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And yet you're not in taking God's

word on a regular basis, then you're

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not going to grow in godliness.

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You're not going to know

what God's desire is for you.

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You're not going to know what he's

calling you to do, the way that

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he wants you to walk, that the

path that he wants you to take.

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So yeah, God's word is crucial

and it's so important for us.

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And you're right.

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We have a huge blessing because we have

it at our fingertips on the computer,

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on our phone, in, in the physical copies

of the Bible, whatever we may have.

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That's our primary medium in our

language and in our language,

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different, yeah, different media,

audio Bible, picture Bibles, word,

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everything we have so many resources.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Let's talk about different

translations real quick here.

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As we're doing the daily Bible reading,

as we're reading through this PR, your

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thoughts on somebody that's I'm doing the

daily Bible reading with you guys, but

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I'm reading in a different translation.

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I love a good translation that

differs from my faithful trustee ESV.

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I am a fan of several translations

and I have them open usually in

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some way, shape or form in front of

me when I'm reading my own Bible.

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So I'm totally fine with that.

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I would say that the biggest encouragement

I have is make sure that you're

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the Bible that you're studying is a

faithful translation that is as close

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as possible to the original rendering.

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And largely still has some readability.

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So I love my ESV.

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I've been using it now for

years since coming to compass.

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So I think you need to find a Bible

that you can live with, not just

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one that you're going to visit.

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And one that you'll have by your side,

but one that you can live in something

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that you can memorize and know that it's

as close as possible to the original

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rendering of the text so that you

can be meditating upon it accurately.

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A lot of other really good Bibles

like your NIVs or your CSBs.

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Now take a little more liberty in

translating because you're trying to

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communicate the idea more than they're

trying to communicate the exact wording.

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So be aware of that, but find a

good translation to be my primary

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advice and make sure you live in it.

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What would you say?

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Yeah, I would agree with you.

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I would, my only caveat would be, I think

on Sunday mornings when you're coming to

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church, I would bring an ASV just because

even if you're a really smart person,

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Trying to to read along in a different

translation while the word is being

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preached from ESV is going to require

more mental energy for you because you're

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going to have to put things together.

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And even, passively that's

going to tax you more.

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And so it'll take away from

the energy that you're able to

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devote to paying attention to the

preaching, paying attention to

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the text and in our time together.

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Grab an ESV, open up your ESV on

your phone, whatever it is, as you're

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somewhere where somebody is preaching.

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And we do that as preachers too.

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If we're preaching somewhere else at a

different church, we're gonna ask them,

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Hey what translation do you guys use?

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And as long as they're not telling

us they use an aberrant translation

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or something that's really awful.

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Passion.

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Yeah, passion translation.

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Then we're gonna say, okay, great

we'll preach from that translation.

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It may not be our go-to, but in that

context with the body of Christ, the

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community is probably good to do that.

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So grab an ESV and and

bring that with you.

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That would be my two cents on that.

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Anyways, let me pray.

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And then we'll be done with this episode.

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Thanks for your word.

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Thanks for the law that we have,

the word of God that we have, not

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just the law, but the whole thing

that we have at our fingertips.

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Again, to help us to be

men and women of the word.

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We pray that often at the end

of these podcasts because this

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is what we're confronted with.

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This is what we're talking about.

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We're talking about the Bible.

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We're talking about your word, the

scriptures, the Holy word of God, and

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we get to have it with us at all times.

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May we saturate our lives with it so that

we know it thoroughly, that we know it.

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in and out, and that it shows up

in the way that we live our lives

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because we listen and we obey.

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And so God, we need your

spirit towards that.

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As we talked about even earlier that

the call to obey is one that even

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though none of the commands that you've

given us are beyond our capability

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overall we are fallen individuals.

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And so we need your spirit to make us

more and more godly as the years go by.

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And we pray that you do just that

so that we're more like Jesus.

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We pray in his name.

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Amen.

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Keep reading your Bibles.

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Tune in again tomorrow for another

edition of the daily Bible podcast.

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Bye.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

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You can find out more information

about ourChurch@compassntx.org.

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We would love for you to leave a

review to rate to share this podcast

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on whatever platform you happen to

be listening on, and we will catch

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you against tomorrow for another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.