Latest / Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms / #159. Jeremiah 6–12 Bible Study | Following the Ancient Paths : Are We Raising Christian Kids—or Just Checking Religious Boxes?

Transcript

#159. Jeremiah 6–12 Bible Study | Following the Ancient Paths : Are We Raising Christian Kids—or Just Checking Religious Boxes? · Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms

• 0:00
  Steph: This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.
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  Steph: I'm Stephanie Hickox, and in today's reading of Jeremiah six through 12, the prophet confronts religious hypocrisy head on.
• 0:09
  Steph: We'll largely focus on Jeremiah's temple sermon in chapter seven.
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  Steph: God will rebuke the people for coming before Him in His temple and afterward treating the vulnerable wickedly and engaging in abominable worship practices of the surrounding nations In studying these chapters, we'll better understand why God's judgment upon them
• 0:26
  Steph: was so righteous and necessary, and we'll be reminded to not find security in religious checklists, But to be people who know, love, and dwell with the Lord God.
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  Steph: This episode will have some difficult descriptions and is best for mom ears In chapter six, Jeremiah tells the people that the coming judgment is certain.
• 0:44
  Steph: In verse ten, "To whom shall I speak and give warning that they might hear?
• 0:48
  Steph: Behold, their ears are uncircumcised.
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  Steph: They cannot listen.
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  Steph: Behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn.
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  Steph: They take no pleasure in it.
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  Steph: Therefore, I am full of the wrath of the Lord.
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  Steph: I am weary of holding it in."
• 1:01
  Steph: More than thirty-five times in the Book of Jeremiah, he points out that the people do not obey, love, or listen to God's Word.
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  Steph: Their hearts are so far from what God commanded in Deuteronomy, and the judgment coming upon them is exactly what He warned would happen In 6:12 we learn, From the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for
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  Steph: unjust gain, and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely."
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  Steph: They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace.
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  Steph: Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
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  Steph: No, they were not at all ashamed.
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  Steph: They did not know how to blush There are times I've seen something happen on TV or I've heard a song on the radio and I think, Do these people have aunts and uncles and grandparents?
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  Steph: Have they no shame?"
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  Steph: To do these things publicly?
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  Steph: And sadly, I really don't think they do.
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  Steph: Their consciences are so seared that they feel no shame over their actions.
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  Steph: And it was the same in the days of Jeremiah, from prophet to priest.
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  Steph: They found security in the fact that they came to the temple.
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  Steph: But God says, "You shouldn't find peace here because your worship doesn't extend to your heart."
• 2:04
  Steph: One of the verses I've clung to most from the entire Book of Jeremiah is Thus says the Lord, 'Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it,
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  Steph: and find rest for your souls.'"
• 2:17
  Steph: I often long to do things well to honor the Lord, and that's why I can find it so overwhelming at the constant flood of information coming before us.
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  Steph: We receive so much content and guidance, and sometimes it's difficult to discern What we should do.
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  Steph: This can extend to parenting, the foods that we feed our families, and medical solutions, and I'm grateful for the peace and the way that God Himself directs us.
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  Steph: When I read Scripture, I find so much clarity about what's important to the Lord, and instead of being overwhelmed by details and decisions, it helps me to realign my focus on Him.
• 2:48
  Steph: I'm gonna read that verse one more time because I love it so much.
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  Steph: Thus says the Lord, 'Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.'"
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  Steph: But unfortunately, the people of Jeremiah's day did not want the wisdom of the ancient paths.
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  Steph: But they said, "We will not walk in it."
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  Steph: And God once again declares that a mighty enemy from the north is coming Chapter 7 begins the first of Jeremiah's temple sermons.
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  Steph: As I read it, I want you to listen for exactly why the Lord is rebuking them the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, Stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and
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  Steph: say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord.'
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  Steph: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.'
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  Steph: Do not trust in these deceptive words.
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  Steph: This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.'
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  Steph: For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, If you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you
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  Steph: do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.
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  Steph: Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.
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  Steph: Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say,
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  Steph: 'We are delivered,' only to go on doing all these abominations?
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  Steph: Has this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes?
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  Steph: Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.
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  Steph: Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.
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  Steph: And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord.
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  Steph: And when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen.
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  Steph: And when I called you, you did not answer.
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  Steph: Therefore, I will do to the house that is called by my name And in which you trust and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers as I did to Shiloh And I will cast
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  Steph: you out of my sight as I cast out all of your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.
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  Steph: Let's pause there for a moment.
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  Steph: I'm sure you recognized the list of many of the Ten Commandments that the people were breaking, but they were using the temple as a good luck charm, thinking, "As long as we have this, surely God won't destroy us."
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  Steph: God reminds them about Shiloh and how it was the former place of worship.
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  Steph: God did not protect them, but destroyed them.
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  Steph: And the nation of Israel was carried away, so they should not find confidence in Jerusalem Next, God tells Jeremiah to not even intercede for the people.
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  Steph: And as he describes what the families are engaging in together, I hope you can understand the absolute wickedness that these parents are guiding their children in I can't help but think of how this is the opposite 6, that
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  Steph: they were to speak of God's faithfulness to their children while sitting, rising, lying, and walking by the way.
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  Steph: They had a command to train their children in the fear and instruction of the Lord, and instead, the people are having their children take part in disgusting, horrific practices Do not pray for this people, or lift up a
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  Steph: cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.
• 6:01
  Steph: Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
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  Steph: The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger."
• 6:15
  Steph: Is it I whom they provoke?"
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  Steph: declares the Lord.
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  Steph: Is it not themselves, to their own shame?
• 6:19
  Steph: Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground.
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  Steph: It will burn and not be Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the flesh.
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  Steph: for in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.
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  Steph: but this command I gave them, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people, and walk in the way that I command you, that it may be well with you."
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  Steph: But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
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  Steph: From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them day after day Yet they did not listen to me or incline their
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  Steph: ear, but stiffened their neck.
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  Steph: They did worse than their fathers.
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  Steph: So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you.
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  Steph: You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.
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  Steph: And you shall say to them, This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God and did not accept discipline.
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  Steph: Truth has perished.
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  Steph: It is cut off from their lips.'
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  Steph: Cut off your hair and cast it away.
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  Steph: Raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
• 7:39
  Steph: For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight," declares the Lord.
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  Steph: They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name to defile it.
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  Steph: And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my
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  Steph: mind.
• 7:58
  Steph: In this sermon, Jeremiah gave three specific action points.
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  Steph: First, they were to start honoring the people around them, especially those that were vulnerable, and were given a familiar list: the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow.
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  Steph: Secondly, they were to cease killing the innocent.
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  Steph: And finally, they were to serve God alone and stop worshiping the pagan gods around them.
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  Steph: The queen of heaven is probably Ishtar, a Babylonian goddess, who is much like the Canaanite goddess Asherah.
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  Steph: Because these were fertility goddesses, there were often disgusting sexual practices and prostitution happening in their places of worship.
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  Steph: The location's name Topheth stems from the Hebrew word drum.
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  Steph: It was most likely named that because as the people were sacrificing their sons and daughters, there would be drumming to drown out the cries and the screams Eva Rydelnik writes that Moloch, the Phoenician god, had the most evil
• 8:47
  Steph: of worship rituals of any god in history, demanding parents to burn their sons and their daughters alive in the fire in a brass statue of the god as child sacrifice.
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  Steph: This cruel practice was specifically forbidden by God, and worship of Moloch was often combined with Baal worship.
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  Steph: In Greek times, this Valley of the Son of Hinnom became known as Gehenna, and that name became synonymous with the picture of the fiery corruption of hell because of the reputation of the children burned alive and sacrificed here
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  Steph: to Moloch God completely disapproved of this wickedness.
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  Steph: In my head, I picture a scene from the movie The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on C.S.
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  Steph: Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.
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  Steph: In the heartbreaking scene in which Aslan lays down his life for the people The evil and wickedness is on full display.
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  Steph: And it must have been so similar in this valley with the drumming and the prostitution.
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  Steph: It helps us to understand why these people needed to be judged.
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  Steph: They had every opportunity to be set apart from the nations around them, and instead they forsake the Lord God.
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  Steph: It's horrific and also a reminder to us.
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  Steph: Are we set apart or do we look just like non-believers?
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  Steph: Are our lives characterized by the hope and peace of the Lord?
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  Steph: Do our hearts break for the persecution of refugees or believers around the world?
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  Steph: Do we care about the orphans and children who are neglected?
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  Steph: Are we taking opportunities to serve widows around us?
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  Steph: Or do we justify ourselves that we're just too busy, choosing instead to fill our time scrolling updates that take us far from the ancient paths Jeremiah reminded us to return to?
• 10:13
  Steph: In chapter eight, God continues his rebuke saying the people are perpetually backsliding and that none of them evaluates their own hearts They reject the word of the Lord Throughout scripture, we're told that God opposes the proud and gives
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  Steph: grace to the humble.
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  Steph: But do you know that He actually tells us to boast in something?
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  Steph: In chapter nine, verses 23 and 24, "Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom.
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  Steph: Let not the mighty man boast in his might.
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  Steph: Let not the rich man boast in his riches.
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  Steph: But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the God who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.
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  Steph: For in these things I delight,' declares the Lord."
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  Steph: As mysterious and as unsearchable as God's ways may be, we can actually boast that we understand and know Him because what He wants us to know of Him, He's revealed to us in His Word.
• 11:03
  Steph: I think that's so encouraging for us as we continually come back to the Bible.
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  Steph: Would you say you know Him better than you knew Him six months ago?
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  Steph: I would, and it's helped me to trust Him more deeply and love Him more fervently I pray you are more convinced of His goodness and that you are finding the peace of the ancient paths In chapter 10, God
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  Steph: explains how vain and pointless it is to worship idols made from hands and he contrasts it to worshiping him.
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  Steph: tells us, "But the Lord is the true God.
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  Steph: He is the living God and the everlasting King."
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  Steph: No graven idol could ever claim that description In chapter 11, God again tells Jeremiah not to pray or intervene, and we discover a plot that Jeremiah's own people had against him.
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  Steph: They were trying to kill him, and his own family even took part, but God protected Jeremiah.
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  Steph: In chapter 12, Jeremiah praises God for his protection, But like the psalmist, he questions, why do the wicked prosper?"
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  Steph: God responds that judgment is coming But amazingly, he once again declares that he will have compassion on the nation, And he reminds them to diligently learn his ways and call on his name.
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  Steph: So let's do that now.
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  Steph: Heavenly Father, you are a God of steadfast love, justice, and righteousness.
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  Steph: Thank you that you delight in us knowing you.
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  Steph: As we look at our nation today and at the state of the world, we're grieved by how many do not call on you and do not heed the wisdom of your Word.
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  Steph: We pray that as we cling to the ancient paths and the counsel set forward in your Word, that our lives would look markedly different, so that we could be A hope and a light that points to your goodness
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  Steph: We pray we would seek you so diligently that we could rightfully boast that we understand and know you thank you for the clarity you provide in your word of how we are to lead our families Guide us so
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  Steph: that we do not lead our kids into hypocrisy May we not ask them to engage in spiritual practices that are like a checklist We long for your Holy Spirit to direct our hearts toward wholehearted worship of you.
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  Steph: We know we can't do it alone, and we're grateful for this reminder to continually come before you Jesus, thank you that you made a way to restore us to the Father while we were yet sinners.
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  Steph: May our gratitude lead us to seek you each and every day.
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  Steph: It's in your name we pray.
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  Steph: Amen.