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Every Gift Points Us to Christ · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: We're just two weeks from Christmas. Presents are still being purchased, wrapped,
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  Speaker 1: and chipped. Christmas cards still need to be signed and mailed.
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  Speaker 1: Loose ends on travel details are getting sorted out. Family
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  Speaker 1: event planning is just now getting finalized, maybe for you,
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  Speaker 1: or maybe there's still loose ends there too. Perhaps you're
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  Speaker 1: multitasking right now and gift wrapping while you listen to
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  Speaker 1: this episode. Thanks for listening. We are all feeling the
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  Speaker 1: holiday pressures right now. Of course, Pastor John is a
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: gear up for one of the busiest holidays in the world,
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  Speaker 1: and an expensive one too. The average American adult will
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  Speaker 1: drop about one thousand dollars just on gifts during this season,
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  Speaker 1: leading to a question of great relevance this month, like
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  Speaker 1: in this email from a podcast listener named James. Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: Hello and thank you for the podcast. Often I hear
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  Speaker 1: that we are to love God for who he is,
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  Speaker 1: not for what he does for us, to love the
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  Speaker 1: giver more than the gifts. How can we know that
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  Speaker 1: we are doing this, especially during this Christmas season? Examine
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  Speaker 1: my own heart. So much of what I know about
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  Speaker 1: God seems to be in relation to what He has
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  Speaker 1: done for me, Like the sending of a son in
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  Speaker 1: the incarnation, How do I interact with him on the
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  Speaker 1: basis of him and not simply on the basis of
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  Speaker 1: the gifts that he's given me.
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  Speaker 2: Well, first, I think it is absolutely crucial in pursuing
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  Speaker 2: that interaction with God in that way to get really
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  Speaker 2: clear in our mind and in our heart that there
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  Speaker 2: is a huge and important difference between enjoying a person
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  Speaker 2: who gives gifts and enjoying the gifts instead of the person,
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  Speaker 2: or more than the person. And I think we need
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  Speaker 2: to clarify this and get it fixed in our minds,
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  Speaker 2: both from experience and from scripture. I mean, give an
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  Speaker 2: example of what I mean from experience. What if you
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  Speaker 2: give an engagement, So you've been in love for two
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  Speaker 2: years maybe, and now you're going to move this thing
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  Speaker 2: decisively forward. You give a ring. I'm summing your man,
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  Speaker 2: but gals, you apply it inn appropriate way. You give
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  Speaker 2: your fiance a beautiful, a diamond ring, and she spends
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  Speaker 2: the rest of the night and then the following weeks
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  Speaker 2: bragging about this gift, taking it, showing it to everybody.
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  Speaker 2: She never calls you, she never looks at you, she
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  Speaker 2: never takes you by the hand, looks you in the eye.
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  Speaker 2: She's just thrilled with this diamond, and your intent in
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  Speaker 2: giving her that was totally missed. How would you feel
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  Speaker 2: about that? You wanted her to look at it. Oh, yes,
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  Speaker 2: you wanted her to love it. You wanted her to
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  Speaker 2: be thankful for it. You wanted her to enjoy it,
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  Speaker 2: and then you wanted her to put it on her hand.
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  Speaker 2: Take your hands across the table and look you in
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  Speaker 2: the eye and say, I would love to spend the
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  Speaker 2: rest of my life with you. You are ten thousand times
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  Speaker 2: more precious to me than this beautiful ring. We understand
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  Speaker 2: from our own experience what it means when gifts are
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  Speaker 2: loved more than the giver.
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  Speaker 1: We get that.
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  Speaker 2: There's no excuse for not getting that. We get it
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  Speaker 2: in our experience. Then we get it from the Bible
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to God, because it's all over the place.
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  Speaker 2: So one Peter three eighteen. Christ also suffered once for
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  Speaker 2: sins the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring
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  Speaker 2: us to God. That's why he died, bring us to
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  Speaker 2: God or Romans five to eleven. After saying that we
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  Speaker 2: rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, and
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  Speaker 2: we rejoice in tribulation. Then he adds this in verse
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  Speaker 2: eleven of Romans five. More than that, we also rejoice
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  Speaker 2: in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we
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  Speaker 2: have now received reconciliation. Or Psalm sixteen eleven. You make
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  Speaker 2: known to me the path of life in your presence.
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  Speaker 2: There is fullness of joy in your presence, fullness of
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  Speaker 2: joy at your right hand, pleasures forevermore. Or Psalm seventy
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  Speaker 2: three twenty five. Whom have I in heaven but you.
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  Speaker 2: There's nothing on earth I desire besides you. My flesh
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  Speaker 2: and my heart may fail, but you are the strength
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  Speaker 2: of my heart and my portion forever. Or the story
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  Speaker 2: of the ten lepers healed by Jesus in Luke seventeen.
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  Speaker 2: Remember all ten no leprosy, awesome healed, run away one
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  Speaker 2: of them, a Samaritan, comes back, praising God and falling
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  Speaker 2: down at Jesus' feet. What's the point? The point is
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  Speaker 2: they missed it. They just missed it. This is about Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: this is about God. Leprosy deliverance was a means to
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  Speaker 2: that end. So we know from experience, we know from
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  Speaker 2: the scriptures that there's a difference between enjoying a giver
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  Speaker 2: through his gifts and enjoying gifts instead of the giver.
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  Speaker 2: We know that, we get that, We know that the
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  Speaker 2: goal of all God does for us is designed to
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  Speaker 2: make it possible for us to be with Him, and
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  Speaker 2: Him to be with us. Does everything for us to
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  Speaker 2: be with us as are all satisfying treasure and father
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  Speaker 2: and friend and savior. Getting that clear is the key
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  Speaker 2: I think to experiencing God in and through all his gifts.
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  Speaker 2: And here's here's one more key to help us experience
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  Speaker 2: God this way. During Christmas season, we should realize that
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  Speaker 2: every gift, every good thing that comes into our lives
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  Speaker 2: of any kind, as a token of God's everlasting kindness,
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  Speaker 2: all of it, all of it was bought by the
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  Speaker 2: sacrifice of Jesus, the blood of Jesus. Here's the logic
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  Speaker 2: of Romans eight thirty two. He who did not spare
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  Speaker 2: his own son, but gave him up for us Aul,
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  Speaker 2: how will he not with him graciously give us all things?
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  Speaker 2: So all things are coming to us as believers because
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  Speaker 2: he didn't spare his son. Here's the effect this has.
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  Speaker 2: All giving and getting, especially at Christmas time, becomes a
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  Speaker 2: reminder of the death of Jesus. Now what effect does
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  Speaker 2: that have? What effect does God intend for his son's
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  Speaker 2: death to have on us? When we think this way.
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  Speaker 2: On the one hand, Christ is the Father's indescribable death
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  Speaker 2: gift Romans eight thirty two and sewo Corinthians nine pet. Fifteen,
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  Speaker 2: and Christ is his own gift. Over and over, the
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  Speaker 2: New Testament says Christ gave himself. Christ gave himself Matthew
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  Speaker 2: ten forty five, Galatians one four, Galatians two twenty, if
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  Speaker 2: Esians five to two, if Eesians five twenty five, one,
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  Speaker 2: Timothy two six, Titus two four. Christ gave gave, gave himself.
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  Speaker 2: Think of it if if God gives his son and
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  Speaker 2: the son gives himself for you and to you, it
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  Speaker 2: doesn't even make sense to say we love the gift
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  Speaker 2: more than the giver. The gift is the giver, The
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  Speaker 2: giver is the gift. So since every gift shared at
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  Speaker 2: Christmas time is possible only because of the death of
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  Speaker 2: Christ for us, and thus directs our attention to the
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  Speaker 2: death of Christ, therefore every gift takes us through the
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  Speaker 2: cross to the gift who is the giver. Or here's
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  Speaker 2: the other way of seeing it. In Romans five eight,
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  Speaker 2: Paul says God shows his love for us in that
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  Speaker 2: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So
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  Speaker 2: behind every gift that we get or give at Christmas
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  Speaker 2: time is the death of Christ. And that means that
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  Speaker 2: every gift is the overflow of the gift of God's love,
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  Speaker 2: because that's what he shows when Christ dies. When you
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  Speaker 2: think of God's love, it is inseparable from himself. When
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  Speaker 2: John Paper talks about enjoying God, I don't mean, oh,
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  Speaker 2: but you can't enjoy his love. You know that in
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  Speaker 2: a sense, his love is not a gift.
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  Speaker 1: It is what he is.
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  Speaker 2: When when real love binds two persons together, they don't say, Hey,
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  Speaker 2: where's gift, They say, you're the gift. You're the gift.
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  Speaker 2: You are. You are my love. Your love is yourself
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  Speaker 2: given to me. So it seems to me that Romans
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  Speaker 2: eight thirty two is the key to Christmas. God's centeredness
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  Speaker 2: in giving and getting gifts. Every good in our life
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  Speaker 2: as Christians is owing to the death of Jesus, according
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  Speaker 2: to the logic of Romans eight thirty two, and that
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  Speaker 2: death is the gift of God himself for our everlasting
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  Speaker 2: joy and the gift of God's love, which is also
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  Speaker 2: the giving of himself to us.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Amen, Every good gift that we get from others
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  Speaker 1: or get directly from God is given to us through
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  Speaker 1: Christ and for Christ. Is so key for the Christmas
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  Speaker 1: season to understand this, and such a radical way of
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  Speaker 1: thinking for the Apostle Paul, that we often miss it,
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  Speaker 1: Like did you know that this was the theme of
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John's famous Seashell's message. It was every good gift
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  Speaker 1: we get is given to us through Christ and his
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  Speaker 1: death for us. You can see APJA twelve hundred for
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  Speaker 1: that story and for those connections. Thank you, Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: and thanks for joining us today. Have a question to
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  Speaker 1: ask Pastor John. Find a link to email us and
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: find our complete episode archive at askpastor John dot com.
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  Speaker 1: That's where you can find episode twelve hundred. Just type
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  Speaker 1: that into the search bar at askpastor John dot com. Well, God,
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  Speaker 1: in his wisdom has chosen to deliver us from pain
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  Speaker 1: by sending pain, and Job thirty six fifteen says it,
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  Speaker 1: But how on earth does this work? Delivered from pain
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  Speaker 1: by pain? That's next. I'm Tony Rinky see on Monday