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