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Nine Steps to Find a Home Church · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, I hope you're enjoying reading the Navigator's Bible Reading
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  Speaker 1: Plan with us in twenty twenty five. You can join
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  Speaker 1: in with us today by downloading the Reading Plan for
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  Speaker 1: free online. There's four Bible readings per day, and tomorrow
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  Speaker 1: we read one Peter five verses two to seven together.
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  Speaker 1: And the timing is perfect because we're talking today about
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  Speaker 1: how to find a good local church, and that text
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  Speaker 1: and first Peter five verses two to seven is all
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  Speaker 1: about the kind of leadership you want to find. That's
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  Speaker 1: what you're looking for. The question comes to us today
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  Speaker 1: in an email from an anonymous woman. Dear Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: Here's the situation I find myself in right now. I
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  Speaker 1: move to a new city, and there are wonderfully several
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  Speaker 1: doctrinally faithful churches in my area of town. It's a
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  Speaker 1: great problem to have, I know, yes it is. It
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  Speaker 1: is a great problem. If you were in my situation,
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  Speaker 1: how would you narrow down these good options? I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to make my decision merely on my preferences, But
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  Speaker 1: what role do preferences make in a church decision like mine?
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  Speaker 2: Let's take that last question first. In general, I would
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  Speaker 2: say preferences by which I assume she means tastes that
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  Speaker 2: don't have any direct biblical mandate behind them. These preferences
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  Speaker 2: can be a legitimate part of your decision to the
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  Speaker 2: degree that they are shaped and formed by the Word
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  Speaker 2: of God, even if not mandated shaped, and to the
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  Speaker 2: degree that they don't take precedence over more important things.
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  Speaker 2: And by such preferences, I mean things like a small
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  Speaker 2: church versus big, meditative versus exuberant, formal versus casual, traditional
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  Speaker 2: versus contemporary organ versus guitar, pews versus chairs, ten o'clock
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  Speaker 2: service versus eleven evening service, no evening service, and on
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  Speaker 2: and on and on. We all have our preferences on
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  Speaker 2: such things, and if they're shaped by the Word of God,
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  Speaker 2: and they're subordinate to more important biblical things, then it
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  Speaker 2: would be okay, I think, for them to guide you
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  Speaker 2: as part of your decision making process. So let me
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  Speaker 2: let me go away to the more important things and
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  Speaker 2: mention nine steps that you might take in searching for
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  Speaker 2: a home church. And this is not just your situation.
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  Speaker 2: I'm thinking maybe more broadly, but I think it'll apply
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  Speaker 2: to your situation as well. Number One, pray earnestly Psalm
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  Speaker 2: twenty five. Make me to know your ways, O Lord,
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  Speaker 2: teach me your paths, lead me in your truth, and
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  Speaker 2: teach me. For you are the God of my salvation.
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  Speaker 2: For you I wait. I'm waiting for you all day long.
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  Speaker 2: Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore he instructs sinners
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  Speaker 2: in the way. He leads the humble in what is right,
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  Speaker 2: and teaches the humble his way. So the Lord loves
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  Speaker 2: you and would delight in your being in a healthy church.
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  Speaker 2: With all your gifts to use. You have good reason
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  Speaker 2: to believe he'll answer this prayer of Psalm twenty five.
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  Speaker 2: Number two, be clear on what a healthy church is.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe take this season of searching and hit refresh on
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  Speaker 2: your own biblical grasp of what a healthy church is.
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  Speaker 2: Just to make sure your picture is wholly biblical, and
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  Speaker 2: I'd recommend use Mark Dever's book What is a Healthy Church?
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  Speaker 2: Nine Marks to clarify afresh what you're looking for. Number three,
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  Speaker 2: Talk to people you know in the city or who
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  Speaker 2: know the city. Personal recommendations are probably the most reliable
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  Speaker 2: source of information. If the people are reliable, this is
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  Speaker 2: more trustworthy, I think. Then Quick impressions from one Sunday
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  Speaker 2: visit at the church. Number four. We have huge advantages today,
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  Speaker 2: don't we over previous generations because of the Internet. So
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  Speaker 2: explore the Internet for churches and study their websites now,
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  Speaker 2: don't based it on how good to their website is.
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  Speaker 1: The best.
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  Speaker 2: Churches may have allowed your website, but you want information,
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  Speaker 2: not impressions. I typed into Google just yesterday churches in
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  Speaker 2: the Twin Cities that believe the doctrines of Grace. I
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  Speaker 2: typed that right into Google. Number two on the list
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  Speaker 2: was Cities Church, which is a church plant from Bethlehem
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  Speaker 2: or administrat and number four was Bethlehem. Now I would
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  Speaker 2: recommend both of those churches to anybody in the Twin Cities.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, that kind of search is not enough.
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  Speaker 1: You don't base it.
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  Speaker 2: Don't base your choice on a search like that. You
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  Speaker 2: can get some real wacko results on Google. It's just
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  Speaker 2: a start, and it is liable. That kind of search
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  Speaker 2: is liable. The serious error. Far better would be to say,
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  Speaker 2: go to the Gospel Coalition website and look for connected churches.
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  Speaker 2: That would be a good starting place maybe than just
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  Speaker 2: out of the blue typing something into Google, but that
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  Speaker 2: can be helpful. Number five, look for a church with
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  Speaker 2: a certain kind of leadership, and a good place to
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  Speaker 2: start is first Peter five two through four. Shepherd the
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  Speaker 2: flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not
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  Speaker 2: under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you. So
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  Speaker 2: look for joyful shepherds who love to serve others, not
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  Speaker 2: for shameful gain, but eagerly. Look for shepherds who don't
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  Speaker 2: love money, whose lives are simple, and who manifest me
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  Speaker 2: are eager to do the work, and they do it
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  Speaker 2: without pay if they could not domineering over those in
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  Speaker 2: your charge, but being examples to the flock. So look
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  Speaker 2: for shepherds who are humble, they don't feed on power.
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  Speaker 2: They followed Jesus's words that you want to be really great,
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  Speaker 2: you've got to be the servant of everybody. And they
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  Speaker 2: motivate by example and are not coercive and demanding. So
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  Speaker 2: number five is a certain kind of leadership. Number six,
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  Speaker 2: look for a church with a certain kind of people.
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  Speaker 2: Fir John three point fourteen says, we know that we are,
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  Speaker 2: that we have passed out of death into life because
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  Speaker 2: we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abising death.
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  Speaker 2: So a membership should be born again. How do you
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  Speaker 2: recognize people who are born again? John says, they love
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  Speaker 2: other believers. So do you smell any kind of exclusiveness
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  Speaker 2: that pushes away believers of different races, believers of different
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  Speaker 2: economic levels, believers of different education. Do smell a kind
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  Speaker 2: of exclusionary attitude that's foreign to born again love. So
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  Speaker 2: after describing the kind of leaders a church should have
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  Speaker 2: first Peter five, Paul goes on to describe the people.
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  Speaker 2: Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.
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  Speaker 2: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, casting all
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  Speaker 2: your anxieties on him, because He cares for you. So
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  Speaker 2: look look for a church who are loving, and look
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  Speaker 2: for a church who are humble and who roll their
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  Speaker 2: anxieties onto God. Number seven. Then turn your attention to
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  Speaker 2: the teaching. Look for a church that is not ashamed
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  Speaker 2: of any teaching in the Bible. Don't go to a
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  Speaker 2: church is fearful of displeasing people who are more shaped
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  Speaker 2: by the culture than the Scripture. One of the ways
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  Speaker 2: to test this is usually the matters of manhood and womanhood,
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  Speaker 2: matters of sexuality, because that's such a hot controverted issue
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  Speaker 2: in our day. What do they teach. How do they
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  Speaker 2: teach on matters of the roles of men and women
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  Speaker 2: and sexuality? Do they teach the whole Council of God
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  Speaker 2: all of Scripture as God's infallible word unashamedly? Number eight,
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  Speaker 2: then ask could you serve in this church? Do they
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  Speaker 2: think in terms of people being ministers and the pastors
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  Speaker 2: equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. You
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  Speaker 2: don't want to be a mere pew sitter. And finally,
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  Speaker 2: number nine, I would ask, is the tone or the
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  Speaker 2: spirit of the life of this church one of serious joy?
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  Speaker 2: Are they people who have learned to suffer by the
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  Speaker 2: grace of God and not become embittered or oblivious naive?
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  Speaker 2: Do they know how to be sorrowful yet always rejoicing?
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  Speaker 2: Are they real with their problems and with their suffering?
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  Speaker 2: Those are the steps I would take. They certainly don't
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  Speaker 2: have to happen in that order. And I would end
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  Speaker 2: where I began. Don't just begin with prayer. Saturate every
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  Speaker 2: step with prayer, and God will guide you. He leads
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  Speaker 2: the humble in what is right and teaches the humble
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  Speaker 2: his way. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Amen, thank you Pastor John for that hope and that
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  Speaker 1: perspective when prayerfully searching for a home church. Preferences shaped
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  Speaker 1: by the Bible can be a legitimate factor, but the
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  Speaker 1: primary folks should be on finding a church with a
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  Speaker 1: biblically define the leadership, a loving and humble congregation, the
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  Speaker 1: faithful teaching of scripture, opportunities for service, and a tone
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  Speaker 1: of serious joy over it all, putting us back into
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  Speaker 1: One Peter five verses two to seven in our Bible
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  Speaker 1: reading tomorrow. And if you find yourself in the season
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  Speaker 1: of joining a church, or leaving a church, or trying
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  Speaker 1: to find a new church, there's other advice from Pastor
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  Speaker 1: John to consider over the years on this podcast that
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  Speaker 1: he has delivered to us and that I've tried to
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  Speaker 1: digest for you and put together in the APJ book
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  Speaker 1: on pages four eighteen to four twenty eight. If you
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  Speaker 1: have it handy, thank you, Pastor John, and thanks for
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  Speaker 1: joining us today. If you have a question to ask
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, find a link to email us and find
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  Speaker 1: our complete episode archive at the very same place at
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  Speaker 1: ask Pastor John dot com. Well, Pastor John was just
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  Speaker 1: recently in prison there to preach, so in special occasions,
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  Speaker 1: these one off opportunities How does Pastor John decide what
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  Speaker 1: to preach? It's a question I've wanted to ask him
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  Speaker 1: for a long time. And a note the number of
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  Speaker 1: you have wanted to ask this question too. We are
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Raiki. We will find out together on Monday.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.