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The Twelve - The Gospels · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. And when he had called unto him
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  Speaker 1: his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits,
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  Speaker 1: to cast them out, and to heal all manner of
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  Speaker 1: sickness and all manner of disease. Matthew 10.1 God, I
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  Speaker 1: thank you that when you choose people for greatness, you
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  Speaker 1: don't choose the people who look the part, but you
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  Speaker 1: choose those whose hearts are pure, and whose willingness shouts
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  Speaker 1: louder than any shortcomings they may have. Jesus, because you
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  Speaker 1: chose twelve of the most unlikeliest of characters and personalities,
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  Speaker 1: I will not look for perfection when choosing those who
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  Speaker 1: run alongside me, but I will look for people whose
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  Speaker 1: hearts are pure and who have a genuine willingness to
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  Speaker 1: pursue the things of God. Through twelve disciples, You turned
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  Speaker 1: the world right side up, Jesus. And through my relationships
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  Speaker 1: and friendships, I know that we will make a lasting impact.
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  Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for praying with me today.
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  Speaker 1: Continue listening for an incredible Bible story brought to you
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  Speaker 3: The Twelve In our last story, Jesus witnessed one of
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  Speaker 3: the greatest acts a friend can do. A few men
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  Speaker 3: cut a hole in a roof just to get their
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  Speaker 3: paralyzed friend down to Jesus. They went to great lengths
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  Speaker 3: to see their friend healed and their faith was rewarded.
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  Speaker 3: Now we see the call of Jesus being given to
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  Speaker 3: 12 ragtag misfits. Jesus would choose his followers not based
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  Speaker 3: on skill or wisdom. He would choose the weak of
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  Speaker 3: this world to change the world. This is the heart
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  Speaker 3: of God, inspired by the Gospels.
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  Speaker 4: Hello, I'm Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
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  Speaker 4: Bible in a Year. Thank you for joining us. Last time,
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  Speaker 4: we heard about some amazing friends who went to extraordinary
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  Speaker 4: lengths to help their paralyzed friends get the healing he needed.
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  Speaker 4: They got him to Jesus, and Jesus did the rest.
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  Speaker 4: Jesus saw their faith and not only healed the man,
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  Speaker 4: but forgave the man of his sins as well, which
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  Speaker 4: was most important. It was an act that shocked and
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  Speaker 4: offended religious leaders, as Jesus was claiming now that he
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  Speaker 4: has the authority that only God has, the authority to forgive.
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  Speaker 4: We also heard how Jesus once again stirred the anger
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  Speaker 4: of the Pharisees when he called Matthew, a tax collector,
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  Speaker 4: a hated, despised tax collector, to be one of his disciples.
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  Speaker 4: Jesus made it abundantly clear to them that he had
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  Speaker 4: come to heal the sick and to help the sinner,
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  Speaker 4: not the righteous or the self-righteous. Today, we'll hear how
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  Speaker 4: Jesus ultimately assembles his group of 12 disciples. None of
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  Speaker 4: these men were obvious choices. But as we'll discover, this
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  Speaker 4: was God's plan all along, to show and to share
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  Speaker 4: His glory with the world through people like you and me,
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  Speaker 4: common ordinary people who will do extraordinary things in the
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  Speaker 4: power of Christ. So let's listen now to the reading
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  Speaker 4: of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 3: It was the Sabbath, and Jesus entered the synagogue to worship.
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  Speaker 3: The Sabbath was a time for contemplation and relaxation. It
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  Speaker 3: was established by God for the purpose of pausing work
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  Speaker 3: to rest in him. Some of his critics were in
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  Speaker 3: attendance as well, waiting for any cause to rebuke him.
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  Speaker 3: As Jesus entered, he saw a man with a withered hand.
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  Speaker 3: The Pharisees watched Jesus closely as he approached the man.
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  Speaker 3: They were waiting for him to heal him. They were
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  Speaker 3: waiting for him to break the Sabbath law and work.
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  Speaker 3: Jesus knew their hearts. They had completely missed the point.
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  Speaker 3: He took the man with the withered hand and looked
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  Speaker 3: at the Pharisees. Tell me, Jesus said, is it lawful
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  Speaker 3: to do good on the Sabbath? If there is someone
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  Speaker 3: in need, should we let them pass? What if their
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  Speaker 3: life is in danger? Should we let them die? The
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  Speaker 3: men were silent, for Jesus was revealing their legalistic hearts.
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  Speaker 3: They didn't care about people. They only cared about looking righteous.
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  Speaker 3: Stretch out your hand, Jesus said to the man. And
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  Speaker 3: in that moment... The man's hand was restored. Everyone marveled
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  Speaker 3: and rejoiced, but the Pharisees left and gathered together, seeking
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  Speaker 3: for an opportunity to destroy him. Jesus took some of
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  Speaker 3: his followers to a mountain. A great crowd followed them
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  Speaker 3: and remained at the bottom of the hills. Jesus looked
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  Speaker 3: out at them. His heart ached for them. They were
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  Speaker 3: like sheep without a shepherd. The wind blew at the
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  Speaker 3: top of the mountain. Jesus' eyes began to water. Do
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  Speaker 3: not pray for the harvest, Jesus said. He gestured to
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  Speaker 3: the people below, for there is a great harvest before us.
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  Speaker 3: Pray for the laborers, for the harvest is plentiful, but
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  Speaker 3: the laborers are few. With those words, Jesus appointed twelve
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  Speaker 3: men to be his apostles, chosen men that would follow
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  Speaker 3: Jesus everywhere. These men were not chosen for their knowledge, status,
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  Speaker 3: or accomplishments. They were chosen for their hearts, their weakness,
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  Speaker 3: and their willingness. He chose Peter, who was once called Simon.
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  Speaker 3: He chose James and John, the sons of Zebedee. He
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  Speaker 3: nicknamed them Sons of Thunder for their fire and enthusiasm.
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  Speaker 3: He chose Andrew, Philip, and Bartholomew, the silent and humble servants.
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  Speaker 3: He chose Matthew, the tax collector, and Thomas, the skeptic.
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  Speaker 3: He chose James and Judas the Zealot. One of the
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  Speaker 3: most unique men he chose was Simon the Zealot. He
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  Speaker 3: was one of the notorious Dagger Men, a league of
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  Speaker 3: assassins trying to overthrow Roman rule. However, Simon renounced his
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  Speaker 3: old ways for the sake of following Christ. Finally, he
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  Speaker 3: chose Judas Iscariot, the man who would betray him. He
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  Speaker 3: chose him and loved him, despite knowing who he would become.
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  Speaker 3: This was the heart of Christ. Jesus' first call to
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  Speaker 3: the disciples was for them to be with him. They
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  Speaker 3: would sit by the campfire sharing stories and hopes. They
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  Speaker 3: would know Jesus as a friend and king. Out of
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  Speaker 3: that relationship, Jesus would send them out to preach, heal,
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  Speaker 3: and cast out demons in his name. The disciples were
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  Speaker 3: empowered by Jesus, and their strength grew day by day.'
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  Speaker 3: Whoever desires to come after me must first pick up
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  Speaker 3: his cross and follow me,' Jesus said. Whoever holds his
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  Speaker 3: life too dear to lay it down will lose his life. However,
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  Speaker 3: whoever loses his life for my sake will truly find it.
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  Speaker 3: For what does it profit a man if he gains
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  Speaker 3: the world's possessions but loses his own soul? Jesus called
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  Speaker 3: his disciples to something higher. Not religious repetition or vain practices,
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  Speaker 3: he called them to lay down their lives, money, and
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  Speaker 3: convenience so that others may thrive. Jesus would model this
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  Speaker 3: call himself. He would sacrifice everything so that people could
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  Speaker 3: be renewed.
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  Speaker 4: In today's passage, we read about another healing and another
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  Speaker 4: confrontation with the religious establishment. Jesus enters the synagogue on
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  Speaker 4: the Sabbath, and seeing a man with a withered hand,
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  Speaker 4: Jesus took pity on him. He was merciful. This was
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  Speaker 4: an opportunity to show the Pharisees how far they had
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  Speaker 4: veered off the heart of the law, that they no
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  Speaker 4: longer cared about people. To them, the constraints of the
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  Speaker 4: law were about total control and power and for them
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  Speaker 4: to earn God's favor by good works. They added on
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  Speaker 4: to the commandments of God their own laws. So when
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  Speaker 4: the law commanded rest on the Sabbath, these people took
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  Speaker 4: this to the extreme, meaning they could just overlook people's
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  Speaker 4: great needs because it was the Sabbath day. Jesus saw
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  Speaker 4: this as an opportunity to correct this very wrong thinking.
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  Speaker 4: So he asked them, what was lawful on the Sabbath?
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  Speaker 4: Was it lawful to do good or evil, to save
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  Speaker 4: a life or destroy it? The answer is obvious, isn't it?
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  Speaker 4: And to drive home this point, Jesus told the man
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  Speaker 4: to stretch out his shriveled hand and immediately the hand
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  Speaker 4: was healed completely. Even today, we must not allow the
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  Speaker 4: rules and restrictions of religion to move us away from
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  Speaker 4: the heart of God. We are missing the point. We
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  Speaker 4: are missing the Lord. if we put the law above
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  Speaker 4: Jesus himself. Jesus is teaching us that our righteousness is
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  Speaker 4: in him, and the only way that we can live
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  Speaker 4: a righteous life is from the heart outward, from the
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  Speaker 4: inside out. It is at this point that many of
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  Speaker 4: the Pharisees began to plot against Jesus, looking for a
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  Speaker 4: way to get rid of him. Next, we heard about
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  Speaker 4: Jesus calling his disciples, 12 of them, to a mountain
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  Speaker 4: to speak directly to them away from the crowds. It
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  Speaker 4: was common for rabbis or teachers in those days to
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  Speaker 4: handpick disciples, men to whom they'd pass down wisdom and guidance.
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  Speaker 4: And this was the model Jesus was following as he
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  Speaker 4: chose these men, these disciples. But when a teacher selected
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  Speaker 4: his disciples, It would typically be the best and the brightest,
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  Speaker 4: the most promising young students. But that's not exactly what
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  Speaker 4: Jesus did, though he saw the potential and the promise
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  Speaker 4: in each man he chose. Yet, he picked some unlikely candidates,
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  Speaker 4: and he gathered a group that was far from homogeneous.
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  Speaker 4: He had fishermen and tradesmen, a tax collector who was
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  Speaker 4: seen as a traitor to Israel, and a Jewish revolutionary,
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  Speaker 4: a nationalist who fought against the Roman government. He even
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  Speaker 4: called a man whom he knew would one day betray
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  Speaker 4: him to his death. Jesus was not looking to the
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  Speaker 4: attributes the world viewed as strength. He picked men whose
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  Speaker 4: hearts he could shape, men who would follow him with
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  Speaker 4: humility and desire to serve. He chose the weak and
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  Speaker 4: even the uneducated so that when they would one day
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  Speaker 4: be great for the kingdom of God, there would be
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  Speaker 4: no question that it was God's power, the power of
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  Speaker 4: Jesus working through them. Just as God chose the lowly
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  Speaker 4: shepherds to be the first to hear of the Savior's
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  Speaker 4: birth and to proclaim his arrival into the world, Jesus
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  Speaker 4: was choosing the unlikely, even some of the outcasts of society,
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  Speaker 4: to take his message of the gospel, the good news
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  Speaker 4: to the world. This should be a great encouragement to
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  Speaker 4: all of us, because when God chooses us, he enables
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  Speaker 4: us to do what he's called us to do. Just
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  Speaker 4: as Christ told these men, there is a cost to
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  Speaker 4: following him, In Matthew 16, 24 and 25, we read
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  Speaker 4: these words. Then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants
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  Speaker 4: to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up
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  Speaker 4: their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save
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  Speaker 4: their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life
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  Speaker 4: for me will find it. To follow Jesus is not
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  Speaker 4: something that is casual or cheap, but it is demanding
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  Speaker 4: and commanding. We are called to pick up the cross
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  Speaker 4: and at any price to be paid, at any cost,
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  Speaker 4: we are to follow Jesus. But there is great reward
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  Speaker 4: for all who put their faith and trust in the Lord.
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  Speaker 4: And we know when we follow Jesus through it all,
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  Speaker 4: that one day we will be rewarded in his presence.
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  Speaker 4: Dear God, we thank you that you choose the weak
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  Speaker 4: and lowly of us in this world to accomplish your purposes.
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  Speaker 4: Help us to be willing. Help us to be humble,
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  Speaker 4: ready to give ourselves at any price to follow you.
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  Speaker 4: Because we know the promise of eternal life lays within
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  Speaker 4: us and before us. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you
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  Speaker 4: for listening to today's Bible in a Year. I'm Pastor
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  Speaker 4: Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. You can download the Pray.com
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  Speaker 4: app and make Bible study and prayer the priority of
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  Speaker 4: your life. And if you appreciate this podcast, please share
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  Speaker 4: it with someone else. I also want to encourage you
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  Speaker 4: to go to jackgraham.org. That's jackgraham.org. For we have resources
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  Speaker 4: that are free and available for you so that you
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  Speaker 4: may know Christ and grow in him. God bless you.