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Cain and Abel - The Book of Genesis · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and
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  Speaker 1: bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. Genesis 4.1 Dear Lord, Through today's reading of
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  Speaker 1: Genesis 4.1-16, I now realize that, even though life has
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  Speaker 1: its hard moments, I can still choose to thank you
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  Speaker 1: that your presence will never leave me. Because of this truth,
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  Speaker 1: I don't have to allow jealousy to settle in my
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  Speaker 1: heart when it appears that others are being blessed by you. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: I will focus on the fact that as I keep
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  Speaker 1: my heart right and serve you with gladness, nothing that
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  Speaker 1: has been reserved for me will go to anyone else
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  Speaker 1: because what you have for me is for me. I
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  Speaker 1: decree and declare that my seat has been reserved at
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  Speaker 1: the table of success. I declare that nothing but joy
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  Speaker 1: and happiness will come forth through me when I see
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  Speaker 1: others succeed and win at life. Thank you, God, that
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  Speaker 1: you've already covered my past emotions of jealousy and anger.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you that hatred and resentment are not a part
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  Speaker 1: of my story. Through the lives of Cain and Abel,
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  Speaker 1: I will make sure that my sacrifice to you is
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  Speaker 1: one of joy and wholeness of heart. In Jesus' name, amen.
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  Speaker 1: Listening to these daily prayers strengthens your relationship with God.
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  Speaker 1: Continue hearing from the Lord by listening to today's Bible
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  Speaker 1: in a Year. Brought to you by Bibleinayear.com.
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  Speaker 2: Cain and Abel Before this story, we learned about the
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  Speaker 2: fall of mankind. Adam and Eve lived with God, shameless
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  Speaker 2: and without sin. But because of their pride and desire
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  Speaker 2: to be their own gods, they were deceived and turned
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  Speaker 2: away from him. Now they live in exile, still with God,
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  Speaker 2: but no longer in an intimate relationship with him. Now
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  Speaker 2: we will learn about how Adam and Eve start their
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  Speaker 2: family outside of paradise. They have their own children, but
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  Speaker 2: the sinful nature of Adam and Eve has now been
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  Speaker 2: given to their children. And what comes next is a
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  Speaker 2: tragedy that has been repeated for all of human history,
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  Speaker 2: inspired by the book of Genesis.
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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. Today we pick up with
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  Speaker 3: Adam and Eve outside the garden. This is life after
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  Speaker 3: the curse. If yesterday's story was about doubt and pride,
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  Speaker 3: today's theme is insincere worship of God, anger. bitterness, and
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  Speaker 3: the passing down of sin nature to all future generations
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  Speaker 3: after Adam. Adam and Eve start a family. They have
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  Speaker 3: two sons, Cain and Abel, names that have become infamous
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  Speaker 3: for the devastating effects of sibling rivalry. Cain and his
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  Speaker 3: brother Abel grew up knowing God. They were taught the
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  Speaker 3: importance of sacrifices. Abel chose the best to offer to
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  Speaker 3: God while Cain brought offerings from a sense of obligation
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  Speaker 3: rather than gratitude and praise. So God accepts one and
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  Speaker 3: rejects the other. Cain was angry, bitter, and sin took
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  Speaker 3: hold of his heart. The tragedy that ensued once again
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  Speaker 3: created an irreparable rift in the family. The first human
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  Speaker 3: blood that was shed on God's once perfect earth came
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  Speaker 3: from the hands of one brother upon another. Sin was
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  Speaker 3: now spreading through generations, and the cost was high. Murder, banishment,
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  Speaker 3: another curse, and yet in the midst of it all,
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  Speaker 3: God's grace and mercy once again shining through. Let's listen
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  Speaker 3: now to the telling of this story from Genesis 4,
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  Speaker 3: the story of Cain and Abel.
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  Speaker 2: Adam and Eve had been banished from Eden, and their
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  Speaker 2: sin had made life hard, but the steadfast love of
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  Speaker 2: God had not left them. Adam and Eve knew each
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  Speaker 2: other intimately and became pregnant. First came Cain. Afterward came Abel.
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  Speaker 2: Cain labored in the fields, growing food for the family.
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  Speaker 2: Abel tended to the livestock as a shepherd. Cain and
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  Speaker 2: Abel are the first of us to grow up in
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  Speaker 2: a world riddled with imperfection, sin, and distance from God.
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  Speaker 2: Both children grew up in the new world, and it
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  Speaker 2: was time for Cain and Abel to bring sacrifices to God.
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  Speaker 2: Cain brought some of the fruits of his labor, grains, vegetables,
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  Speaker 2: and other vegetation. Abel brought the firstborn of his flock,
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  Speaker 2: a lamb. Abel brought the best of what he had.
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  Speaker 2: Not only this, but Abel had to raise this little
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  Speaker 2: sheep and kill it before God. This means that it
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  Speaker 2: was not just a sacrifice of materials, but a sacrifice
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  Speaker 2: of the heart. Because of this, God accepted Abel's offerings.
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  Speaker 2: God also rejected Cain's offering, knowing that it did not
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  Speaker 2: come from any real love at all. Jealousy gripped Cain's heart.
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  Speaker 2: Contempt towards God boiled up inside him. This is mankind's
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  Speaker 2: first rumblings of true hatred. Cain's face gave away his
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  Speaker 2: true feelings. God noticed this and asked, Why are you
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  Speaker 2: so angry? Knowing full well what the issue was, If
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  Speaker 2: you do well, will you not be accepted? God asked.
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  Speaker 2: If you don't do well, you give more room for
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  Speaker 2: hatred and sin to rule in your heart. Do not
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  Speaker 2: let hate.
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  Speaker 1: Rule over you.
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  Speaker 2: You can overcome it. But Cain didn't listen. His anger
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  Speaker 2: had already won him over. There would be no stopping
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  Speaker 2: the sin he was about to commit. Cain lured his
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  Speaker 2: brother into the fields.
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  Speaker 4: Then, at that moment, all the hatred.
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  Speaker 5: Jealousy and contempt of Cain unleashed onto his brother. Blow
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  Speaker 5: after blow, Cain unleashed his wrath and spited God by.
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  Speaker 4: Murdering his brother. His hands stained red, dripping with the
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  Speaker 4: blood of his brother. God, already knowing what Cain had done,
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  Speaker 4: asked him, Cain, where is your brother? Cain replied, I
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  Speaker 4: do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?
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  Speaker 2: God is the creator of life, and Cain had taken
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  Speaker 2: an innocent one. This enraged God. He cursed Cain, saying,
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  Speaker 2: What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood
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  Speaker 2: is crying to me from the ground, and now you
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  Speaker 2: are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth
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  Speaker 2: to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you
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  Speaker 2: work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you
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  Speaker 2: its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer
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  Speaker 2: on the earth. This punishment was fitting. Because Cain had
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  Speaker 2: taken a life, God wanted his life to be burdensome.
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  Speaker 2: It was more than Cain could bear. Fortunately for him,
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  Speaker 2: God's mercy is still present in punishment. God said, If
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  Speaker 2: anyone kills you, vengeance shall be taken on them sevenfold.
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  Speaker 2: And he put a mark on Cain to keep anyone
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  Speaker 2: from doing to him what he did to his brother.
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  Speaker 2: Cain had shed innocent blood, and this was a pattern
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  Speaker 2: mankind would continue in for a thousand generations after. Yet
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  Speaker 2: God continues to show mercy, waiting to bless them and
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  Speaker 2: save them from their evil.
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  Speaker 3: When jealousy and anger take root, they fester and grow.
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  Speaker 3: That's what we see happening in today's story. Abel, who
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  Speaker 3: really only plays a brief role, is lifted up as
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  Speaker 3: the example of God honoring sacrifices and offerings. He gave
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  Speaker 3: God the first and the best, and God accepted that sacrifice. Cain,
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  Speaker 3: whose heart was not in the right place, full of
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  Speaker 3: faith to begin with, brought God vegetables and grains, but
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  Speaker 3: not his first fruits, not his best, and not in faith.
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  Speaker 3: His motives were wrong, and he became angry when his
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  Speaker 3: offering was rejected. Sin started to creep in through resentment
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  Speaker 3: and anger. So God warned him of the danger of
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  Speaker 3: letting sin in. He speaks to Cain in Genesis 4,
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  Speaker 3: verses 7 and 8, saying, If you do well, will
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  Speaker 3: your face not be cheerful? And if you do not
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  Speaker 3: do well, sin is lurking at the door, and its
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  Speaker 3: desire is for you, but you must master it. I
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  Speaker 3: appreciate this passage providing a warning that's applicable to you
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  Speaker 3: and me today. Sin is now loose in the world.
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  Speaker 3: It lurks at our door. It desires us. In other words,
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  Speaker 3: it wants to get in our heads and in our hearts,
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  Speaker 3: into our lives. When sin is allowed to rule over us,
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  Speaker 3: the outcome is never good and ultimately tragic. That's what
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  Speaker 3: happened to Cain. Sin took hold of him, and he
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  Speaker 3: directed his jealousy and anger at the one whose offering
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  Speaker 3: was accepted, to his own brother, whom he killed in
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  Speaker 3: cold blood. Once again, we're reminded that sin always comes first.
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  Speaker 3: with a price. As he did with Adam and Eve,
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  Speaker 3: God questions Cain and his guilt is revealed. Cain is
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  Speaker 3: cursed to wander in the earth. Sin, separation is always, always,
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  Speaker 3: always the same. When we sin, there is always separation
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  Speaker 3: that happens from God, which is the worst of all separations,
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  Speaker 3: and then from others. But again, God in his mercy
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  Speaker 3: does not abandon Cain or leave him without protection. God
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  Speaker 3: marks him, not as a sign of the curse, but
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  Speaker 3: as a sign of God's hand of protection. God, thank
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  Speaker 3: you for this story that shows us how sin can
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  Speaker 3: take hold and rule our thoughts, leading us to commit
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  Speaker 3: unthinkable acts. Help us through your spirit to master the
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  Speaker 3: sin that lurks at our doors. And thank you, Lord,
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  Speaker 3: that even when we sin, even through the consequences of
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  Speaker 3: our sin, your mercy and grace remain. In Christ's name, amen.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
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  Speaker 3: I'm Pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. Download the Pray.com
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  Speaker 1: This episode is sponsored by MediShare.
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