Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / God Wants Your Resolve

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God Wants Your Resolve · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, I doubt any of you expect to build a
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  Speaker 1: successful career by accident. It comes from years of training
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  Speaker 1: and planning and seeking out the right positions, the right opportunities.
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  Speaker 1: So why would we treat our joy any differently today?
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  Speaker 1: On Aspastor John John Piper argues that deep Christian joy
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  Speaker 1: doesn't happen by chance, requires a plan. He gives us
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  Speaker 1: a biblical blueprint for finding it intentionally. But for speaking
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  Speaker 1: of intention and resolve. If you've been blessed by free
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  Speaker 1: make that gift or set up monthly giving right now
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  Speaker 1: that give dot desiring good dot org. That's give dot
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  Speaker 1: desiring God dot org. Your financial support helps us distribute
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  Speaker 1: our resources around the globe. We're talking resolutions today, and
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  Speaker 1: there's a cultural divide over New Year's resolution. Some people
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  Speaker 1: approach this time of year with unshakable optimism, eager to
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  Speaker 1: set ambitious goals for self improvement, personal growth, spiritual development,
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  Speaker 1: fully believing in the power of a fresh start. On
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  Speaker 1: January first, Others scoff at the very idea, seeing resolutions
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  Speaker 1: as an exercise of futility, a well intentioned but inevitable
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  Speaker 1: path to disappointment and failure. By about mid February, and
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  Speaker 1: then there's a group that dismisses resolutions just entirely, viewing
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  Speaker 1: them is nothing more than a passing cultural fad of
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  Speaker 1: fleeting fad that holds little to no lasting value at all.
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  Speaker 1: So we're left with a pressing question in the Christian life.
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  Speaker 1: Can New Year's resolution serve a meaningful purpose in helping
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  Speaker 1: to align our lives with God's will? Or do they
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  Speaker 1: often lead to frustration and spiritual burnout? Are they truly
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  Speaker 1: helpful in fostering growth and obedience, or are they ultimately harmful,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps setting us up for inevitable failure in our own
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  Speaker 1: pursuit of holiness. And as we seek to approach this
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  Speaker 1: topic from a biblical perspective, how does Scripture guide us
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  Speaker 1: in navigating the art of goal setting, resolutions, and the
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  Speaker 1: pursuit of personal change in a way that honors God
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  Speaker 1: and reflects the grace he offers us. Here's pastor John
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  Speaker 1: over Zoom.
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  Speaker 2: Well as always Tony. It depends on what you mean
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  Speaker 2: by resolutions. If you mean declarations of what you intend
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  Speaker 2: to do by dint of will power, then that will
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  Speaker 2: not only probably fail. If it doesn't fail, it's not
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  Speaker 2: Christian either. So if it fails, it fails, and if
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  Speaker 2: it succeeds, it fails, because that's not what the Christian
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  Speaker 2: life is. It's not lived that way. Not at the
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  Speaker 2: beginning of a year, beginning of a day, or beginning
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  Speaker 2: of an hour. You don't screw up your will power
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  Speaker 2: to obey a command and resolve to do a thing
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  Speaker 2: by virtue of strong resolution and call that Christianity. It's not.
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  Speaker 2: The mystery of holiness is that we live our lives
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  Speaker 2: in the strength of another. That is, we walk by
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  Speaker 2: the spirit, we walk by faith in the power of another.
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  Speaker 2: We depend on another, namely the Holy Spirit, to do
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  Speaker 2: in us and through us what needs to be done
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  Speaker 2: so that another, namely God, will get the glory. The principle,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's new year, new morning, new hour is first
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  Speaker 2: Peter four eleven. Let him who serves serve in the
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  Speaker 2: strengths that God supplies. So you can paraphrase it, Let
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  Speaker 2: him who resolves to do a thing, I do a
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  Speaker 2: thing resolve in the strength that God supplies, so that
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  Speaker 2: in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To
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  Speaker 2: him be glory forever. So yes, go ahead, resolve. Paul
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  Speaker 2: put it like this, By the grace of God, I
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  Speaker 2: am what I am, and His grace toward me was
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  Speaker 2: not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than
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  Speaker 2: any of them. So he gets up in the morning
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  Speaker 2: and he says, what do I have to do today? Well,
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  Speaker 2: I have to travel to Philippi, I have to make
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  Speaker 2: three tenths tonight, have to prepare message for tomorrow morning.
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  Speaker 2: I resolve to do those things. And then he says,
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  Speaker 2: though it was not I but the grace of God
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  Speaker 2: that was with me first Grinton's fifteen ten or he
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  Speaker 2: says in Romans fifteen eight, I will not venture to
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  Speaker 2: speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me
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  Speaker 2: to bring obedience to the Gentiles. So he says, we're
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  Speaker 2: going to Spain. Let's go. I resolved to go to Spain.
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  Speaker 2: I've got this ambition to preach the gospel where Christ
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  Speaker 2: has not been named.
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  Speaker 1: Let's go.
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  Speaker 2: And then he writes, I'm not going to speak of
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  Speaker 2: anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. So his
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  Speaker 2: resolutions are empowered by sustained by work through the grace
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  Speaker 2: of Christ, which is right at the heart of what
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  Speaker 2: it means to live the Christian life. Not just make
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  Speaker 2: resolutions Philippians one twelve. Work out your salvation with fear
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  Speaker 2: and trembling, for God is the one who is at
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  Speaker 2: work in you, which should be paraphrased resolve. Make a
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  Speaker 2: resolution with fear and trembling, for God is the one
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  Speaker 2: who's the making the resolution in you. That's the way
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  Speaker 2: to live the Christian life. So my answer is yes,
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  Speaker 2: we should make resolves lots of times, not just at
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  Speaker 2: the beginning of a year. Whenever we feel whenever we
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  Speaker 2: see something that we should be doing that we're not doing,
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  Speaker 2: we should resolve do it. Whenever we're not doing something
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  Speaker 2: that we should be doing and we recognize that we're
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  Speaker 2: not doing it, we should resolve don't do it. Or
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  Speaker 2: did I say that backwards?
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  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Got it?
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  Speaker 2: Resolved not to do what you shouldn't do, and resolve
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  Speaker 2: to do what you should do. Whenever you see that
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  Speaker 2: you're not doing it or that you're doing it. God
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  Speaker 2: doesn't like for our hearts to be irresolute. The opposite
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  Speaker 2: of resolving is to be irresolute undecisive. And here's what
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  Speaker 2: Elijah said about that. How long will you go limping
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  Speaker 2: between two different opinions. If the Lord is God, follow him.
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  Speaker 2: If bailed as God, follow him. So resolve this day
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  Speaker 2: who you're going to serve. Get off the fence and
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  Speaker 2: follow your Lord. And I think there are a lot
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  Speaker 2: of Christians who are afraid of resolutions. And the opposite
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  Speaker 2: of resolution is not this wonderful freedom of dependence on
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  Speaker 2: God to empower them. It's sitting on a fence and
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  Speaker 2: not making any commitments to be or do a certain
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  Speaker 2: certain thing. Paul said, this has been really important in
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  Speaker 2: my understanding Tony of tough decisions. He said in Romans
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  Speaker 2: fourteen to five. One man esteems one day of another.
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  Speaker 2: Another esteem every day, esteems every day alike. Let every
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  Speaker 2: man be fully persuaded in his own mind. That's amazing.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, whether you go with saying all days
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  Speaker 2: are alike, or whether you go with the steaming one
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  Speaker 2: day above another, don't be with you watching, don't waffle,
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  Speaker 2: don't sit on the fence. God doesn't like irresolute hearts.
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  Speaker 2: Make up your mind, decide, resolve, act. So David says
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  Speaker 2: to the counselors of Solomon, set your mind and heart
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  Speaker 2: to seek the Lord. What is that but resolve set
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  Speaker 2: your mind and heart. Or about ray Boham, the Bible
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  Speaker 2: says he did evil for he did not set his
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  Speaker 2: heart to seek the Lord. He didn't resolve to seek
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  Speaker 2: the Lord. He just coasted in his life. So here's
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  Speaker 2: a theology of resolution in a verse, Tony, this is
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  Speaker 2: the most important two verses in the Bible on New
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  Speaker 2: Year's resolutions. So everybody should just go get their Bible
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  Speaker 2: study of these two verses, they'll have a theology of resolution. Second,
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  Speaker 2: Thessalonians one eleven and twelve. To this end, we always
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  Speaker 2: pray for you that our God may make you worthy
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  Speaker 2: of his calling and may fulfill. May God fulfill every
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  Speaker 2: resolve for good and every work of faith by his power,
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  Speaker 2: that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified.
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  Speaker 2: Everything is there, So here they are. You should resolve
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  Speaker 2: for good, resolve good things in your life. Second, this
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  Speaker 2: is pursued by faith, so that it's a work of faith. Third,
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  Speaker 2: God acts through that faith by his power. Fourth, Thus
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  Speaker 2: God fulfills the good resolve fifth, Thus Jesus gets glory.
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  Speaker 2: That's the theology of resolution in two verses Second Thessalonians
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  Speaker 2: one eleven to twelve. So my answer is not just
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  Speaker 2: at New Years, but all the time. Whenever we see
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  Speaker 2: we're falling short, resolve not to fall short. And whenever
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  Speaker 2: we see something that needs to be done, resolved to
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  Speaker 2: do it.
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  Speaker 1: God doesn't like irresolute hearts. God doesn't like earrresolute hearts. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: to resolve is to do something very biblical, very Apostolic,
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  Speaker 1: very Christian. So what do these resolves look like in
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  Speaker 1: my life? What does it look like to write out
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  Speaker 1: a personal mission statement of my own? Next time we're
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  Speaker 1: going to do that. Next time we're going to go personal.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Ranky. Will see you next year on New
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  Speaker 1: Year's January first, twenty twenty six, already on Thursday, and
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  Speaker 1: remember as this month ends, as this year ends, thank
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  Speaker 1: gift to help support this podcast and everything that we
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  Speaker 1: do into the new year into twenty twenty six. You
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  Speaker 1: can do that right now at give dot desiring good
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  Speaker 1: dot org. What's see you next year,