Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / How to Become the Mother of Jesus

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How to Become the Mother of Jesus · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, you know how we are reading through the Bible
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  Speaker 1: together this year, and we're going to hit Mark chapter
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  Speaker 1: three on Wednesday, and that's a text that has sparked
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  Speaker 1: quite an interesting question for us today. I mean, we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about Mary here in this episode, and chapter three
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  Speaker 1: of Mark is talking of Mary as well, Jesus's mother,
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  Speaker 1: and we're talking about how different professing Christian traditions view
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  Speaker 1: her role. And actually, one of our listeners, Carolyn, has
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  Speaker 1: been having some pretty deep conversations about this with her
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  Speaker 1: Roman Catholic family and friends. I'll read to you what
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  Speaker 1: she wrote us here. It is Hello, Pastor John. Carolyn writes,
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  Speaker 1: I have many conversations with the Roman Catholic friends and
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  Speaker 1: family about the role of Mary and the faith. She
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  Speaker 1: was a godly woman, for sure, but I reject that
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  Speaker 1: she was a co redemtrix, that she partners with Christ
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  Speaker 1: and our salvation, and no one should ever pray to her.
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  Speaker 1: I often take these conversations to Scripture and to Jesus
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  Speaker 1: and his words in Mark chapter three, verses thirty one
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  Speaker 1: to thirty five. Well done. It seems to be a
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  Speaker 1: tax that honors Mary and puts her within the family
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  Speaker 1: of followers of Christ in a way that equalizes her
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  Speaker 1: to when it comes to speaking with Roman Catholics. Is
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  Speaker 1: this a text you use? If so, what do you
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  Speaker 1: see in it that would help all of us who
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  Speaker 1: have conversations with the Roman Catholics. Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: Pope John Paul the Second, who died in two thousand
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  Speaker 2: and five, wrote a letter to introduce the second edition
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  Speaker 2: of the Official Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, and
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  Speaker 2: at the end of the letter he signed off like this,
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  Speaker 2: to Mary, Mother of Christ, whose assumption, body and soul
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  Speaker 2: into Heaven we celebrate today, I entrust these wishes so
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  Speaker 2: that they may be brought to fulfillment for the spiritual
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  Speaker 2: good of humanity. End quote. Now, I think that dedication
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  Speaker 2: is a classic example of the de facto diminishment of
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  Speaker 2: the glory of Jesus Christ by the intrusion of Mary
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  Speaker 2: as the one to whom we entrust our prayers and
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  Speaker 2: from whom we expect that they will be brought to fulfillment.
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  Speaker 2: And this view of Mary is consistent with the Official
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  Speaker 2: Catechism of the Roman Church, no matter how many times
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  Speaker 2: the Roman Church says that this devotion to Mary quote
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  Speaker 2: differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the
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  Speaker 2: incarnate word. Quote. What dominates the teaching and creates the
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  Speaker 2: virtually global diminishment of Christ among millions of ordinary Catholics
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  Speaker 2: is this. This is section ninety sixty eight in the
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  Speaker 2: Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. Quote. In a wholly
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  Speaker 2: singular way, she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and
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  Speaker 2: burning charity in the Saviour's work of restoring supernatural life
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  Speaker 2: to souls taken up to heaven. She did not lay
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  Speaker 2: aside this saving office, but by her manifold intercession, continues
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  Speaker 2: to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. Therefore, the
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  Speaker 2: Blessed Virgin is invoked in the church under the titles
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  Speaker 2: of Advocate, helper, benefactress, and mediatrics. Then later it says
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  Speaker 2: she is the one to whose protection the faithful fly
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  Speaker 2: in all their dangers and needs. And then to support
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  Speaker 2: this amazing foregrounding of Mary as our helper and mediator
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  Speaker 2: of salvation, the Roman Church creates the doctrine of Mary's
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  Speaker 2: sinlessnessis continues. The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain
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  Speaker 2: of original sin, when the course of her earthly life
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  Speaker 2: was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly
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  Speaker 2: glory and exalted by the Lord as queen over all things. Now,
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  Speaker 2: what we need to realize here is that there is
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  Speaker 2: a massive fundamental difference between the Roman Catholic Church and
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  Speaker 2: Protestantism when it comes to the authoritative foundation of church doctrine.
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  Speaker 2: For Protestants, that foundation is the Bible, and the Bible alone,
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  Speaker 2: which is the only final authority for determining what should
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  Speaker 2: be taught as true. For the Roman Church, it is
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  Speaker 2: the Bible plus the equally authoritative Roman Catholic Magisterium, that is,
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  Speaker 2: the Pope and bishops united with him, and they don't
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  Speaker 2: just interpret the Bible, they to the Bible. That difference
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  Speaker 2: is why, over the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church can
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  Speaker 2: add more and more teachings about Mary which are not
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  Speaker 2: in the Bible, and which I believe cause a distorted
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  Speaker 2: view of what is in the Bible, especially the glory,
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  Speaker 2: the unique glory of Jesus Christ. By all means, let
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  Speaker 2: us call Mary blessed. Only one woman gave birth as
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  Speaker 2: a virgin and carried in her womb the Savior of
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  Speaker 2: the world. That was a glorious and painful privilege. So
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  Speaker 2: we join Elizabeth in saying in Luke one two, blessed
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  Speaker 2: are you among women? And blessed is the fruit of
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  Speaker 2: your womb. But Jesus in the Gospels and the Holy Spirit,
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  Speaker 2: whose mission was to glorify Jesus and inspire the writings
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  Speaker 2: of the New Testament, hold us back. Jesus in the Spirit,
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  Speaker 2: hold us back from the kind of exaltation of Mary
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  Speaker 2: that we find in the Roman Catholic Church. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: on this matter of calling Mary blessed or blessed, Jesus
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  Speaker 2: reorients our thinking very differently from the Roman Church. Here's
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  Speaker 2: Luke eleven, twenty seven and twenty eight. A woman in
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  Speaker 2: the crowd said to him, blessed is the womb that
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  Speaker 2: bore you and the breasts at which you nursed. But
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  Speaker 2: Jesus said, blessed rather are those who hear the word
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  Speaker 2: of God and keep it. In other words, there is
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  Speaker 2: a greater blessedness in carrying the word of God in
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  Speaker 2: an obedient heart than in carrying the Son of God
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  Speaker 2: in your physical womb. That's striking, yeah, and that's true.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus did that the same reorienting of our minds about Mary.
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  Speaker 2: In Mark three thirty two to thirty five. A crowd
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  Speaker 2: was sitting around him, and they said to him, your
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  Speaker 2: mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. And he
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  Speaker 2: answered them, who are my mother and my brothers? And
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  Speaker 2: looking about at those who sat around him, he said,
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  Speaker 2: here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does
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  Speaker 2: the will of God, he is my brother and sister
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  Speaker 2: and mother. Now that must sound utterly astonishing, even heretical
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  Speaker 2: to a Roman Catholic who elevates Mary the way the
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  Speaker 2: Roman Church does. Jesus is saying, nobody has any saving
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  Speaker 2: relationship with me through natural family ties, whether it's my
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  Speaker 2: mother or my brothers. The only way of person can
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  Speaker 2: show that he has any saving relationship with me is
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  Speaker 2: whether he does the will of God. Now consider a
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  Speaker 2: few more New Testament realities to help us get our
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  Speaker 2: bearings in relation to Mary. After the mention of Mary
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  Speaker 2: in the Upper Room as one of the one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and twenty who were praying in X one fourteen, Mary
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  Speaker 2: is never mentioned again in the New Testament. Not one
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  Speaker 2: of the letters of Paul Peter, John, James, Jude Hebrews
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  Speaker 2: ever mentioned Mary, which is very strange if she was
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  Speaker 2: meant to be a significant part of Christian life and
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  Speaker 2: devotion astonishing if the Roman Church is correct. Second, in
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  Speaker 2: the one place where Paul comes close to mentioning Mary,
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  Speaker 2: he chooses not to and simply speaks of a generic woman.
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  Speaker 2: He says in Galatians four to four, when the fullness
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  Speaker 2: of time had come, God sent forth his son born
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  Speaker 2: of woman. Third, the virgin birth is true and important,
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  Speaker 2: but after the birth narrative in Luke, it's never mentioned
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  Speaker 2: again in the New Testament. Fourth, Mary was a magnificent person,
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  Speaker 2: a great model of faith for women and men. Her
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  Speaker 2: humility shines in Luke one forty eight. He has looked
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  Speaker 2: on the humble estate of his servant. Her faith was profound.
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  Speaker 2: Blessed is she who believed that there would be a
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  Speaker 2: fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord
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  Speaker 2: Luke one forty five. Her suffering was deep. A sword
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  Speaker 2: will pierce your own soul also Luke two thirty five.
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  Speaker 2: Her God was sovereign Luke one fifty one. He has
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  Speaker 2: shown strength with his arm. He has brought down the
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  Speaker 2: mighty from their thrones. Mary said, and her meditations were
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  Speaker 2: full of truth. Luke two nineteen. Mary treasured up all
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  Speaker 2: these things, pondering them in her heart. Therefore, by all means,
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  Speaker 2: remember Mary, Admire Mary, Bless God for Mary, be inspired
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  Speaker 2: by Mary. But do not go beyond what the New
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  Speaker 2: Testament portrays. Our calling is to be the mother of
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  Speaker 2: Jesus more than it is to venerate her. Luke eight
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  Speaker 2: twenty one. Jesus said, my mother is the one who
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  Speaker 2: hears the word of God and does it.
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  Speaker 1: Profound. Thank you for addressing this, this de facto diminishment
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  Speaker 1: of the glory of Jesus Christ, by the intrusion of
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  Speaker 1: Mary as the one to whom we entrust our prayers
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  Speaker 1: and from whom we expect that they will be brought
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  Speaker 1: to fulfillment. Amen. Thank you, Pastor John. Stop venerating the
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  Speaker 1: mother of Jesus and become the mother of Jesus. Oh wow,
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  Speaker 1: that's yeah, heresy to Rome. I would imagine as well. Well,
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  Speaker 1: we listen to Jesus. Thank you, Pastor John for expounding
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  Speaker 1: those words of Jesus taking us back to exactly what
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  Speaker 1: he said. Listen, if you've got a tricky conversation coming
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  Speaker 1: up in your life, you know the kind like we've
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  Speaker 1: been talking about today, like Carolyn has in her life,
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  Speaker 1: why not ask Pastor John for his input. Just head
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: over to Askpastor John dot com. Everything's there every episode
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  Speaker 1: we've ever done, audio transcripts the lot. There's also a
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  Speaker 1: link to email us your question there as well. And
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  Speaker 1: next time we're diving in again to that really interesting
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  Speaker 1: tension between knowledge and humility. How the more we learn,
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  Speaker 1: the more puffed up we can get. So there's battle
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  Speaker 1: against pride that is insidious, this inward struggle that it
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  Speaker 1: can't be won by changing external circum circumstances at all,
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  Speaker 1: but only through humility, by being amazed God's grace, but
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  Speaker 1: gratitude for the underserved gifts He's given us in a
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  Speaker 1: prayer for selflessness and a servant heartedness, a servant hearted
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  Speaker 1: mindset that puts to death self exaltation by the power
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  Speaker 1: of the spirit, all as we seek to grow in knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: I am so looking forward to returning to that conversation.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Rinky. We will when we see you next
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  Speaker 1: on Thursday. Thanks for listening.