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Stories of the Kingdom · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hidden
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  Speaker 1: in a field, the which when a man hath found,
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  Speaker 1: he hideth, and for joy therefore goeth and selleth all
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  Speaker 1: that he hath, and buyeth that field. Matthew 13.44 Dear God,
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  Speaker 1: help me to realize that I have an enemy, Satan.
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  Speaker 1: Help me to realize and recognize when he is planting
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  Speaker 1: seeds of dissension. division, and chaos in the fields of
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  Speaker 1: purpose in my life. As I acknowledge this truth, I
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  Speaker 1: confess that I need your word to help illuminate and
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  Speaker 1: decipher the weeds that Satan has planted and the seeds
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  Speaker 1: that you've called me to deposit into the soil of
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  Speaker 1: my future. Like precious treasure, your word will I keep
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  Speaker 1: hidden in my heart, because it is through these truths
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  Speaker 1: that the key to eternal life and abundant life here
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  Speaker 1: on earth is realized. I am committed to protecting your kingdom,
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  Speaker 1: and nothing on this earth will make me compromise my
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  Speaker 1: character to give up the treasure I found in you, Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for making prayer a priority
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  Speaker 1: in your life. To hear the Bible come to life,
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  Speaker 1: Stay tuned for the Bible in a Year. Brought to
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  Speaker 1: you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: Stories of the Kingdom In our last story, Jesus spoke
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  Speaker 2: about the four soils. He spoke of what happens to
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  Speaker 2: many different hearts when they come in contact with the
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  Speaker 2: Word of God. Now we learn more from Jesus as
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  Speaker 2: he proclaims truths about the greatness of God's kingdom, inspired
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  Speaker 2: by the Gospels.
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  Speaker 3: I'm so glad you joined us on the Bible in
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  Speaker 3: a Year podcast today. But before we get to today's episode,
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  Speaker 3: I want you to know that I would absolutely love
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  Speaker 3: to send you my daily devotional that will give you
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  Speaker 3: fresh encouragement every single morning and day. From the moment
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  Speaker 3: we wake up To the moment our head finally hits
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  Speaker 3: the pillow, there are thousands of things demanding our attention.
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  Speaker 3: But it's in the midst of all this crush and
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  Speaker 3: hustle and bustle that you and I need peace and
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  Speaker 3: truth in God's Word. That's why I want to help
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  Speaker 3: you spend time each day growing in God's life-giving, life-changing
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  Speaker 3: Word by sending you my free daily email devotional, PowerPoint, today.
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  Speaker 3: So visit JackGraham.org to sign up for your PowerPoint Today devotional.
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  Speaker 3: That's JackGraham.org. JackGraham.org. In our last episode, we heard the
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  Speaker 3: parable of the sower, an illustration of how different hearts
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  Speaker 3: receive and respond to the Word of God. Jesus described
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  Speaker 3: four types of soil, from the hard, unreceptive ground to
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  Speaker 3: the good, healthy soil that produces an abundant crop. Today,
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  Speaker 3: we'll hear more about the kingdom of God as Jesus
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  Speaker 3: continues to teach in parables to show his followers the
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  Speaker 3: glories of his eternal kingdom. So, let's listen now to
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  Speaker 3: God's word.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus was walking along the shores of the sea with
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  Speaker 2: his disciples. A large crowd trailed behind him, waiting for
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  Speaker 2: something miraculous to happen. Jesus and the twelve spoke of
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  Speaker 2: the kingdom of heaven. Ever since the parable of the
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  Speaker 2: four soils, The disciples were curious for more examples on
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  Speaker 2: the will and desires of God. So Jesus told more
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  Speaker 2: stories filled with deep meaning. Jesus walked and spoke to
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  Speaker 2: the people. At the corner of his eye, he could
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  Speaker 2: see the Pharisees trailing next to the crowd. They whispered
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  Speaker 2: amongst themselves and to the people. Jesus looked back to
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  Speaker 2: them and then turned to his disciples and spoke, I
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  Speaker 2: have told you that the kingdom of heaven is like
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  Speaker 2: a farmer sowing good seeds in his fields. Here is
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  Speaker 2: another story of a farmer. A farmer goes into the
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  Speaker 2: field with his men to sow seeds. They toil and
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  Speaker 2: work all day, planting seeds in good, fertile soil. After
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  Speaker 2: a good day's work, the farmer and his men return
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  Speaker 2: home to their beds. However, when the men were sleeping,
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  Speaker 2: a neighboring farmer snuck in through the cover of night.
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  Speaker 2: Under the black, cold evening, the competing farmer planted weeds
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  Speaker 2: among the wheat seeds. Weeks later... The grain sprouted forth
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  Speaker 2: tall and mighty, yet the weeds circled them. The farmer
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  Speaker 2: and his men looked upon their field. It was filled
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  Speaker 2: with beautiful grain and blighted weeds. Both existed with one another.
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  Speaker 2: He clenched his teeth and said, This is the work
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  Speaker 2: of my enemy. His workers turned to him and said, Master,
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  Speaker 2: do you want us to uproot the weeds? No, the
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  Speaker 2: farmer said. If you uproot the weeds, you risk uprooting
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  Speaker 2: the wheat as well. Let both of them grow together. Then,
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  Speaker 2: when we harvest, we can separate the weeds from the grain. Afterwards,
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  Speaker 2: we can burn the weeds. What does the story mean?
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  Speaker 2: the disciples asked Jesus. They were craving more wisdom. It
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  Speaker 2: satisfied their souls. Jesus and his disciples kept walking, and
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  Speaker 2: he explained to them its meaning, saying, The farmer is
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  Speaker 2: the son of man. The field is the world he
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  Speaker 2: loves and pours into. The good seed are the children
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  Speaker 2: of God and the goodness of the kingdom. The one
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  Speaker 2: who sowed the weeds is the devil, and his weeds
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  Speaker 2: are those that would seek to choke out the goodness
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  Speaker 2: of the kingdom of God. The disciples grew worried as
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  Speaker 2: they heard Jesus speak. They had not considered that there
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  Speaker 2: was an enemy seeking to choke out the good work
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  Speaker 2: of God. Jesus sensed their worry and said, The weeds
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  Speaker 2: and the grain were allowed to grow side by side.
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  Speaker 2: This is the mercy of God. However, at the end
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  Speaker 2: of the age, the weeds will be burned. The disciples
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  Speaker 2: considered the cost of a cause that had an enemy.
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  Speaker 2: It worried them. Was it worth the battle to follow Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: they thought. Jesus nodded to himself. He wanted to remind
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  Speaker 2: everyone to count the cost of following him. Most people
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  Speaker 2: gathered by the water to follow Jesus. He stopped walking
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  Speaker 2: with his disciples and climbed a small hill for the
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  Speaker 2: crowd to hear him. The kingdom of heaven... is like
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  Speaker 2: buried treasure, hidden in a vast and open field, Jesus proclaimed.
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  Speaker 2: A man found the treasure, then covered it up. He
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  Speaker 2: sold all he had to buy the field so he
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  Speaker 2: could have the treasure for himself. It was nothing for
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  Speaker 2: him to give up his belongings, since what he gained
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  Speaker 2: was far greater than what he lost. The crowd nodded
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  Speaker 2: in understanding. Jesus continued, saying, The kingdom of heaven is
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  Speaker 2: like a merchant who was searching for fine pearls. When
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  Speaker 2: he finally found the perfect pearl, it was nothing for
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  Speaker 2: him to sell all he had so he could have
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  Speaker 2: the pearl of great price. Jesus looked upon the sea
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  Speaker 2: of faces below and smiled. He raised his hand to
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  Speaker 2: the boats on the shore and said, The kingdom of
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  Speaker 2: heaven is like a net that was thrown into the
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  Speaker 2: sea to gather fish. When it was full, men drew
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  Speaker 2: it in and counted the fish. Some of the fish
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  Speaker 2: were good and others were rotten. So the men preserved
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  Speaker 2: the good fish and threw away the rotten ones. So
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  Speaker 2: it will be at the end of the age. The
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  Speaker 2: righteous will be preserved and the wicked will be thrown
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  Speaker 2: away into the fiery furnace.
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  Speaker 3: In today's passage, the disciples are listening intently as Jesus
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  Speaker 3: continues to teach them the secrets of the kingdom of God.
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  Speaker 3: The kingdom of God is the reign and rule of
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  Speaker 3: Christ in us. So he speaks in parables so that
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  Speaker 3: those who know him can receive this truth and have
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  Speaker 3: real understanding. Jesus told stories that his audience could relate
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  Speaker 3: to using terms and settings that were very familiar to them.
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  Speaker 3: Though Jesus knows the most profound and complex mysteries of
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  Speaker 3: the universe, Jesus met them as he meets us, right
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  Speaker 3: where we are, speaking to us in words that we
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  Speaker 3: can comprehend, often simple but very clear. The next parable
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  Speaker 3: he told them was about a farmer who planted seed
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  Speaker 3: in good soil. This is the soil that should produce
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  Speaker 3: a good crop. But while he wasn't looking, another farmer
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  Speaker 3: scattered weeds among the seed and the good soil. And
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  Speaker 3: so when the wheat sprang up, it grew among the weeds.
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  Speaker 3: The servants asked the farmer if they could pull up
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  Speaker 3: the weeds, but the farmer told them to let the
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  Speaker 3: good and the bad grow together. At harvest time, the
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  Speaker 3: weeds would be gathered up first and burned. Then the
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  Speaker 3: good crop, the wheat, would be gathered and brought into
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  Speaker 3: the barn. Jesus was telling us that there would be
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  Speaker 3: among us agents of the enemy, the devil. that weeds
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  Speaker 3: would crop up and choke out the Word of God.
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  Speaker 3: It was a warning to all disciples who need to
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  Speaker 3: listen as we face opposition and those who try to
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  Speaker 3: cancel out the message of the gospel. This is all
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  Speaker 3: a vision of a future reality when God's angels would
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  Speaker 3: come to tear out the weeds destined for destruction. This
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  Speaker 3: was judgment. But in the meantime, there would be struggles
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  Speaker 3: for those who accepted the Word and sought to produce fruit.
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  Speaker 3: Jesus was reminding them that there would be a cost
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  Speaker 3: to following him and that they should count the cost.
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  Speaker 3: But then, as if to demonstrate that a proper accounting
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  Speaker 3: of the cost would always prove worth the hardship for
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  Speaker 3: the sake of God's kingdom, Jesus told two more people,
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  Speaker 3: One about a treasure buried in a field. The man
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  Speaker 3: who found the treasure would gladly sell everything that he
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  Speaker 3: had to buy the field and claim the treasure. In
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  Speaker 3: the same way, he compared the kingdom of God to
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  Speaker 3: a pearl of great value. When a man found the pearl,
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  Speaker 3: he also gave up everything to get this precious pearl.
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  Speaker 3: The lesson was clear. No cost could ever equal the
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  Speaker 3: greatness of God's kingdom. Any suffering or hardship pales in
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  Speaker 3: comparison to the wonders and the glories of the kingdom
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  Speaker 3: of God. Counting the cost isn't a matter of deciding
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  Speaker 3: if it's worth it to follow Jesus. It's about realizing
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  Speaker 3: that when we have even a basic understanding of the
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  Speaker 3: riches of the gospel, we will willingly give up anything
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  Speaker 3: and everything to follow Jesus. No reserve, no retreats, No regrets. Finally,
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  Speaker 3: Jesus drove home his point by telling a parable about
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  Speaker 3: fishermen who pulled in their nets full of fish, some
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  Speaker 3: good and some rotten. The good fish were kept while
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  Speaker 3: the rotten fish were tossed into a fire. When we
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  Speaker 3: think about it and understand the meaning of the words
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  Speaker 3: of Jesus, it's clear that the cost of not following
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  Speaker 3: him is infinitely greater than any monetary cost of following Jesus.
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  Speaker 3: Dear God, we thank you for today's scripture and the
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  Speaker 3: stories that Jesus told in order that we might understand
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  Speaker 3: who he is and why he came and how we
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  Speaker 3: can know him. Thank you for calling us into your kingdom.
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  Speaker 3: May you rule and reign in our hearts. May we
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  Speaker 3: be willing to pay any price, count every cost that
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  Speaker 3: we might follow you because we know it is worth it.
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  Speaker 3: In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to today's
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas.
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  Speaker 3: And before we go, I want you to know that
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  Speaker 3: I would love to send you my daily devotional to
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  Speaker 3: give you fresh encouragement every single day. So visit jackgraham.org
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  Speaker 3: to sign up for your PowerPoint Today devotional. That's jackgraham.org.