Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / January 24 - Stay Alert, Guard Your Heart

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January 24 - Stay Alert, Guard Your Heart · Bible Chat Devotional

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  Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
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  rooted in Scripture and relevant for today, January 24th.
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  Stay alert. Guard your heart.
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  Have you ever had that moment where you thought, I've got
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  this, only to realize later that you ignored advice you really
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  needed? Maybe someone warned you about a
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  choice, a relationship, or a pattern you were stepping into,
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  and you brushed it off. At first, everything seemed
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  fine. Then things slowly unraveled.
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  That uneasy feeling afterward is often the cost of not guarding
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  your heart. Proverbs chapter 6, verses 20 to
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  21 speaks with the voice of loving wisdom.
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  My son, keep your father's commandment and forsake not your
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  mother's teaching. Bind them on your heart.
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  Always tie them around your neck.
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  God isn't just talking about rules, He's talking about
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  protection. Wise instruction is meant to
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  stay close, so close that it shapes how you think, choose,
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  and respond when pressure hits. When wisdom is tied to your
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  heart, it shows up right when you need it most.
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  Later in Proverbs chapter 6, verse 34 gives a serious warning
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  about jealousy and unchecked desire.
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  It says jealousy can make someone furious and destructive.
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  That's what happens when the heart isn't guarded.
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  When emotions run unchecked and wisdom is ignored, damage
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  follows not just outwardly but inwardly too.
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  God knows that what we allow to grow in our hearts eventually
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  controls our actions. Then Matthew chapter 21 gives us
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  a powerful image. Jesus walks into the temple and
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  sees that what was meant to be holy has been turned into
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  something corrupt and distracting.
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  So he flips tables and says, My house shall be called a House of
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  prayer. Jesus wasn't having a bad day.
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  He was protecting what mattered. He was restoring the purpose of
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  a sacred space that had been misused.
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  That moment should stop us and make us think.
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  Your heart is sacred space, too. It's where faith grows.
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  It's where decisions are shaped. It's where God wants to dwell.
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  When distractions, compromise, bitterness, or unhealthy desires
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  take over, it affects everything.
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  Jesus cares deeply about what fills your heart, not to shame
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  you, but to protect you. God's commands aren't meant to
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  cramp your life. They're meant to guard it.
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  Just like ignoring warning signs on the road can lead to an
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  accident, ignoring God's voice can lead to unnecessary pain.
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  But when you stay alert, listen to wise counsel, and protect
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  your heart, you're positioning yourself for peace, clarity, and
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  purpose. Your choices today are shaping
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  who you become tomorrow. Guarding your heart isn't about
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  fear. It's about love.
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  Love for God, love for your future, and love for the life
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  He's calling you to live. Let's pray.
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  Heavenly Father, thank you for caring enough to guide me and
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  warn me when I'm drifting. Help me value the wisdom You've
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  placed in my life and keep it close to my heart.
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  Show me anything that doesn't belong in your temple and give
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  me the courage to let it go. Teach me to stay alert, guard my
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  heart, and walk in your purpose every day.
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  In Jesus name, Amen. What if the ache you feel for
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  more is actually God calling you deeper?
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  Thirst for God is a powerful Seven Book prayer scripts series
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  inspired by Psalm 63, created for believers who refuse to live
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  on spiritual leftovers. This is a journey from longing
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  to encounter, from dryness to delight.
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  Seek teaches you how to pursue God with passion and
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  intentionality. Savor trains your heart to
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  recognize and enjoy His presence in every season.
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  See opens your spiritual eyes to God's power, glory, and beauty
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  at work in your life. Satisfy leads your soul into
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  fullness, strength, and deep contentment in Him alone.
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  Sing ignites joy, gratitude, and worship that rises naturally
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  from intimacy with God. Stay anchors your heart in
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  steadfast devotion when distractions try to pull you
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  away, and Stand equips you to remain firm in God's justice,
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  protection, and victory. With over 210 prophetic
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  Scripture anchored prayers, this series helps you cultivate daily
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  communion, personal revival, and a lifestyle of holy pursuit.
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  If you're spiritually hungry, weary, or simply longing for
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  more of God, this is your invitation to drink deeply.
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  Order Thirst for God on Amazon today or visit prayerscripts.org
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  and begin your journey into deeper intimacy with the God who
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  satisfies. Now I invite you to spend time
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  with God in today's three-year Bible reading plan, Proverbs
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  chapter 6 verses 20 to 35 World English Bible.
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  My son, keep your father's commandment, and don't forsake
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  your mother's teaching. Bind them continually on your
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  heart. Tie them around your neck.
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  When you walk it will lead you. When you sleep it will watch
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  over you, When you awake it will talk with you.
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  For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light.
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  Reproofs of instruction are the way of life.
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  To keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the
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  wayward wife's tongue. Don't lust after her beauty in
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  your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids,
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  for a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread.
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  The adulterous hunts for your precious life.
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  Can a man scoop fire into his lap and his clothes not be
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  burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and
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  his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes into his
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  neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not be
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  unpunished. Men don't despise a thief if he
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  steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry.
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  But if he is found, he shall restore 7 times.
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  He shall give all the wealth of his house.
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  He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding.
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  He who does it destroys his own soul.
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  He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped
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  away, for jealousy arouses the fury of the husband.
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  He won't spare in the day of vengeance.
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  He won't regard any ransom, neither will he rest content
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  though you give many gifts. Matthew Chapter 21 World English
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  Bible When they came near to Jerusalem and came to Bethsfidge
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  to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent 2 disciples saying to
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  them, go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately
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  you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her.
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  Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you,
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  you shall say the Lord needs them and immediately he will
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  send them. All this was done that it might
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  be fulfilled, which was spoken through the prophet saying, Tell
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  the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king comes to you humble,
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  and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
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  The disciples went and did just as Jesus commanded them, and
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  brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their clothes on them,
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  and he sat on them. A very great multitude spread
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  their clothes on the road, others cut branches from the
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  trees and spread them on the road.
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  The multitudes who went in front of him and those who followed
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  kept shouting Hosanna to the Son of David.
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  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the
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  highest. When he had come into Jerusalem,
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  all the city was stirred up, saying, Who is this?
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  The multitude said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of
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  Galilee. Jesus entered into the temple of
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  God and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the
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  temple and overthrew the money changers, tables and the seats
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  of those who sold the doves. He said to them, It is written,
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  My house shall be called a House of prayer, but you have made it
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  a den of robbers. The lame and the blind came to
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  him in the temple, and he healed them.
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  But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful
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  things that he did, and the children who were crying in the
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  temple and saying hosanna to the Son of David, they were
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  indignant and said to him, Do you hear what these are saying?
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  Jesus said to them, Yes. Did you never read out of the
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  mouth of children and nursing babies?
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  You have perfected praise. He left them and went out of the
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  city to Bethany and camped there.
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  Now in the morning as he returned to the city, he was
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  hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road,
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  he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves.
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  He said to it, Let there be no fruit from you forever.
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  Immediately the fig tree withered away.
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  When the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How did the
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  fig tree immediately wither away?
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  Jesus answered them most certainly.
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  I tell you, if you have faith and don't doubt, you will not
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  only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this
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  mountain be taken up and cast into the sea, it would be done.
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  All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing you will
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  receive. When He had come into the
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  temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to
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  him as He was teaching and said, By what authority do you do
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  these things? Who gave you this authority?
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  Jesus answered them. I also will ask you one
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  question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what
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  authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was
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  it from? From heaven or from men?
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  They reasoned with themselves, saying, if we say from heaven,
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  he will ask us, Why then did you not believe him?
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  But if we say from men, we fear the multitude, for all hold John
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  as a prophet. They answered Jesus and said, We
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  don't know. He also said to them, Neither
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  will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
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  But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came
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  to the 1st and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard.
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  He answered, I will not. But afterward he changed his
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  mind and went. He came to the second and said
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  the same thing. He answered, I'm going, Sir.
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  But he didn't go. Which of the two did?
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  The will of his Father they said to him.
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  The first Jesus said to them, most certainly.
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  I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes
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  are entering into God's Kingdom before you.
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  For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn't
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  believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes
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  believed him when you saw it. You didn't even repent afterward
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  that you might believe him. Hear another parable.
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  There was a man who was a master of a household who planted a
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  vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a
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  tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
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  When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants
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  to the farmers to receive his fruit.
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  The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and
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  stoned another. Again he sent other servants
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  more than the first, and they treated them the same way.
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  But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, They will
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  respect my son. But the farmers, when they saw
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  the sunset among themselves, This is the air.
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  Come, let's kill him and seize his inheritance.
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  So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, then killed
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  him. When therefore the Lord of the
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  vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?
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  They told him, He will miserably destroy those miserable men and
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  will lease out the vineyard to other farmers who will give him
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  the fruit in its season. Jesus said to them, Did you
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  never read in the Scriptures? The stone which the builders
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  rejected was made the head of the corner?
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  This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes.
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  Therefore I tell you, God's Kingdom will be taken away from
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  you and will be given to a nation producing its fruit.
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  He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on
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  whomever it will fall, it will scatter Him as dust.
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  When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables,
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  they perceived that He spoke about them.
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  When they sought to seize Him, they feared the multitudes
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  because they considered Him to be a prophet.
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  Thanks for joining us on Bible Chat, where Scripture meets
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  everyday life. If today's devotional encouraged
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  you, share it with a friend and be sure to follow the podcast so
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  you won't miss the next conversation.
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  Until next time, stay rooted in truth, anchored in hope, and
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  walking daily with Jesus.