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The End of Saul and Jonathan - The Books of 1 Samuel & 1 Chronicles · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. Then said Saul unto his armor-bearer, Draw
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  Speaker 1: thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come,
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  Speaker 1: and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armor-bearer
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  Speaker 1: would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took
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  Speaker 1: a sword, and fell upon it. 1 Samuel 31.4 My God,
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  Speaker 1: As I listen to today's reading of 1 Samuel 31
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  Speaker 1: and 1 Chronicles 10, help me to recognize which battle
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  Speaker 1: to fight and who to stand shoulder to shoulder with.
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  Speaker 1: I will not choose to stand by someone who does
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  Speaker 1: not carry Your Spirit as Jonathan did. As hard as
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  Speaker 1: it may seem, give me the strength to detach from
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  Speaker 1: wrong relationships, no matter how close they may be. As
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  Speaker 1: I rely on Your Spirit, Lord, I will attach myself
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  Speaker 1: to individuals who have your hand on their lives and
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  Speaker 1: on their endeavors, like myself. I will not die in
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  Speaker 1: the battlefield of life without having fulfilled all that I
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  Speaker 1: have been created to fulfill. I will rest in the
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  Speaker 1: fact that, even in wrong relationships, you always provide a
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  Speaker 1: way out. I declare that your partnerships are better than
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  Speaker 1: any I can find on my own. Therefore, I will
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  Speaker 1: lean on you and your understanding. so that I can
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  Speaker 1: gain the victory in any valley I walk through. I
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  Speaker 1: decree that I am aligned and assigned to the right people.
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  Speaker 1: In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for making prayer a
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  Speaker 1: priority in your day. To learn more about the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: stay tuned for today's story. Brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: The End of Saul and Jonathan In our last story,
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  Speaker 2: we learned about David's fractured identity among the Philistines. He
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  Speaker 2: played the part of loyal servant to Achish, the Philistine king,
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  Speaker 2: but was still loyal to Israel at heart. When the
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  Speaker 2: Amalekites raid David's town and steal all their families, David's
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  Speaker 2: heroic spirit is rekindled, and he mounts a rescue mission.
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  Speaker 2: In this story, we learn about the death of Saul
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  Speaker 2: and Jonathan, Inspired by the book of 1 Samuel and
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  Speaker 2: 1 Chronicles.
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  Speaker 3: Hello, I'm Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. In yesterday's story, we learned
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  Speaker 3: that Saul consulted a medium, a woman devoted to the
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  Speaker 3: occult in order to speak to Samuel. It was not
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  Speaker 3: the woman's power that summoned the prophet from the realm
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  Speaker 3: of the dead, Rather, it was God who willed this
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  Speaker 3: to happen and used it to deliver a devastating message
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  Speaker 3: to Saul. His time was up. Death would soon come
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  Speaker 3: to him and his sons. In today's scripture, we will
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  Speaker 3: hear of the death of Saul and of David's dearest friend, Jonathan,
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  Speaker 3: the son of the king. So, let's listen to today's reading.
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  Speaker 2: The battle raged on violently. Steel clashed against steel. and
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  Speaker 2: the men of Israel were choked under the weight of
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  Speaker 2: the Philistine horde. Jonathan fought alongside his brothers. Jonathan's sword
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  Speaker 2: flew through the battle. His strength was inspiring, but waning.
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  Speaker 2: His brothers had fallen, but Jonathan pressed on. Two Philistines
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  Speaker 2: came towards him. He ran towards one, dodged his advance,
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  Speaker 2: and drove his sword into his back. He delivered a
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  Speaker 2: blow to the shield of the other Philistine, but he
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  Speaker 2: parried with a swing to Jonathan's left calf. Jonathan wailed
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  Speaker 2: in pain and knelt to the floor. Then, with one swoop,
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  Speaker 2: the Philistine stood and struck Jonathan's chest. Jonathan knelt there,
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  Speaker 2: holding his chest, and the Philistine delivered a second blow,
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  Speaker 2: driving the sword into him. Jonathan lay in the dirt
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  Speaker 2: of the battlefield, choking on his own blood, until eventually
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  Speaker 2: breathing his last to be with his God. The battle
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  Speaker 2: pressed on, and Saul was fighting behind the battle with
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  Speaker 2: his back to the valley for easy escape. Saul struck
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  Speaker 2: down a Philistine and knelt down behind a crack in
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  Speaker 2: the canyon to catch his breath, but the archers could
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  Speaker 2: see him. From a distance, a Philistine archer drew his
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  Speaker 2: bow and released an arrow through the sky. a direct
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  Speaker 2: hit into Saul's abdomen. Saul writhed in pain on the floor.
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  Speaker 2: His armor-bearer, who was fighting beside him, knelt over him,
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  Speaker 2: trying to stop the bleeding. Saul's eyes were glazing over
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  Speaker 2: in pain, and his breathing became miserable. Saul grabbed his
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  Speaker 2: armor-bearer by the tunic and said, Draw your sword and
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  Speaker 2: kill me now. Lest I die by these worthless Philistines,
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  Speaker 2: they will capture me and shame me. But his armor-bearer
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  Speaker 2: could not kill his king. He would not. Saul let
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  Speaker 2: him go, and the armor-bearer ran away. Saul turned onto
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  Speaker 2: his side and looked at the battle. The men of
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  Speaker 2: Israel fought valiantly. Everything began to blur for Saul as
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  Speaker 2: he propped himself up with a boulder and drew his sword.
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  Speaker 2: Saul's heavy breathing began to slow, and he thought of
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  Speaker 2: all he had done in his life until that point.
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  Speaker 2: He remembered his journey to find his father's donkeys, his
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  Speaker 2: meal with Samuel, and his first victory in battle. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: how the people loved him back then, back when he
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  Speaker 2: had the Spirit of God guiding his every step. Tears
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  Speaker 2: fell from Saul's eyes as he clenched his sword in
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  Speaker 2: his right hand. Saul raised his sword towards him and
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  Speaker 2: with a final push fell onto his blade. The dead
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  Speaker 2: king lay there motionless on the floor of the battlefield.
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  Speaker 2: Dirt and blood covered him as the Philistines began to
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  Speaker 2: overtake the entire army. When the men of Israel saw
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  Speaker 2: that Saul and his sons had perished along with all
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  Speaker 2: the other soldiers, they fled. So the Philistines sauntered into
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  Speaker 2: the cities of Israel and lived among them. They cut
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  Speaker 2: up Saul and Jonathan's bodies and mounted them in the
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  Speaker 2: land of the Philistines as a symbol of victory. A
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  Speaker 2: few brave men stole away the body parts and buried
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  Speaker 2: them in Jabesh, but the Philistines still had power over
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  Speaker 2: much of Israel. Israel once again found themselves under the
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  Speaker 2: boot of another evil nation, yet God would not abandon them.
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  Speaker 2: As he had every time before, God would send a hero,
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  Speaker 2: a man of bravery, wisdom, and purity of heart. David,
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  Speaker 2: a shepherd from the town of Bethlehem, would rise up
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  Speaker 2: as a savior to the oppressed and enslaved people, an
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  Speaker 2: image that would echo throughout all history.
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  Speaker 3: Today's story begins on the battlefield. The Philistines are far
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  Speaker 3: too powerful for Israel's army and man after man falls
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  Speaker 3: dead in the fight. This was the battle that David
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  Speaker 3: narrowly avoided fighting in as God intervened to keep him
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  Speaker 3: from joining the Philistine army in battle. And this grace
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  Speaker 3: proves even greater as Jonathan, David's closest friend, one who's
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  Speaker 3: like a brother, falls to the Philistine swords. One can
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  Speaker 3: only imagine the guilt David would have felt had he
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  Speaker 3: been on the wrong side of this fight when Jonathan died.
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  Speaker 3: Jonathan's death reminds us that sin not only hurts the
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  Speaker 3: ones that commit them— Saul' s rejection of God cost him the
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  Speaker 3: throne and ultimately his life— but it also cost his sons,
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  Speaker 3: including Jonathan, even though Jonathan had stood faithfully by David
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  Speaker 3: through it all. He had imagined ruling alongside of David,
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  Speaker 3: serving the man of God chosen to lead Israel. But
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  Speaker 3: none of that would ever happen, all because of his father,
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  Speaker 3: Saul's unfaithfulness. But as we heard in yesterday's story, God
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  Speaker 3: had told Saul that he and his sons would die
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  Speaker 3: the very next day. Jonathan's death was just the beginning.
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  Speaker 3: As the battle went on, Saul was hit by an
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  Speaker 3: arrow and fell to the ground. He knew the end
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  Speaker 3: was near. Death had finally come for him. Surely in
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  Speaker 3: that moment he remembered many of the things that had
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  Speaker 3: led him to this point. How he had followed his
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  Speaker 3: own impulses and desires, rejecting God's rule in his life.
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  Speaker 3: He had no one to blame but himself. In a
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  Speaker 3: final act of pride, not wanting to be humiliated by
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  Speaker 3: the enemy, or maybe it was just the fear of
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  Speaker 3: torture that would befall him had he been captured, Saul
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  Speaker 3: asked his armor-bearer to kill him. But the young man
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  Speaker 3: would not strike the king dead. So Saul fell on
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  Speaker 3: his own sword, taking his life. His armor-bearer followed suit
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  Speaker 3: and died with Saul. The rest of Israel's army, seeing
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  Speaker 3: what had happened, fled along with the people living in
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  Speaker 3: the cities nearby. So the Philistines conquered the territory and
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  Speaker 3: lived in the cities. But they were not content with victory.
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  Speaker 3: They wanted to humiliate their foe. So they took the
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  Speaker 3: bodies of Saul and his sons and cut them up,
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  Speaker 3: displaying them as a trophy of their victory. but faithful
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  Speaker 3: Israelites stole the bodies and returned them to Jabesh, where
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  Speaker 3: they were buried. Israel lay in shambles under the cruel
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  Speaker 3: torture of the enemy, but God's faithfulness never wavered. His
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  Speaker 3: plans could not be stopped, and soon David would emerge
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  Speaker 3: as Savior to his people, rescuing them from the enemy
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  Speaker 3: and foreshadowing another David who would come one day at
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  Speaker 3: Bethlehem and then to Calvary and deliver us from the
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  Speaker 3: clutches of evil, the power of Satan and and give
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  Speaker 3: us eternal life. Dear Lord, thank you for your word today.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for reminding us of the consequences of disobedience,
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  Speaker 3: but also of the grace that is supplied to all
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  Speaker 3: who look to you. May we look to you. you,
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  Speaker 3: Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, for our salvation, our deliverance,
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  Speaker 3: our strength, and our hope forever. Amen. Thank you for
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  Speaker 3: listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Pastor
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  Speaker 3: Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. Please download the Pray.com app
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  Speaker 3: and make Bible study and prayer, a priority in your life.
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  Speaker 3: And if you enjoyed this podcast, share it with someone
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  Speaker 3: you love. And if you want more resources as to
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  Speaker 3: how to live abundantly in Jesus Christ, be sure to
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  Speaker 3: visit jackgram.org. God bless you.