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April 28 – Humility and Responsibility · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey guys, this is Pastor Mike and me, Corey.
• 0:04
  That's my name.
• 0:05
  I'm the co-host.
• 0:06
  So when I bring this up, I'm kind of like the host and he's the co-host.
• 0:09
  And when he starts the ripple, he's kind of the host.
• 0:12
  And I, anyways, I don't, we don't need the labels around here, Corey.
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  We're just here doing a thing.
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  Anyways, today's April 28th, humility and responsibility.
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  The stone, a healthy life rests on two quiet virtues, humility and responsibility.
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  Humility keeps the heart teachable. Responsibility turns good intentions into faithful actions.
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  Ripple 1. Practical. Today I'll practice humility by listening before insisting on my own way.
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  I'll practice responsibility by doing the next right thing that is mine to do.
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  Growth happens when I'm willing to learn and willing to act. Ripple 2. Spiritual.
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  Christ showed both humility and responsibility and perfect balance.
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  He humbled himself in obedience to the Father and faithfully carried out his calling.
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  As I follow his example, the Holy Spirit forms these same qualities within me,
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  shaping a life that honors God and blesses others.
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  Humility keeps the heart teachable.
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  Responsibility turns good intentions into faithful actions.
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  And the reason I asked you to, I didn't really bring all my literature prepared today, but I think there's an important thing.
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  It's in Tradition 1 of the 12 and 12 of Alcoholics Anonymous, but it's on page 130.
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  And it says, his life actually depends upon obedience to spiritual principles.
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  If he deviates too far, the penalty is sure and swift.
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  he sickens and dies.
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  And then it goes on,
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  this is the important part right here.
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  That was probably important too
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  because it says he sickens and dies
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  and those are pretty big words.
• 2:00
  Right.
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  But this part says,
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  at first he goes along because he must,
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  but later discovers a way of life
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  he really wants to live.
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  And then I keep on thinking that
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  I'm going to stop reading.
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  But then it says,
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  moreover, he finds he cannot keep
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  this priceless gift
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  unless he gives it away.
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  And that kind of wraps that up in a nutshell for me because right here where it says,
• 2:25
  responsibility turns good intentions into faithful actions.
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  So my responsibility, you know, is to be of service.
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  But then it just becomes a faithful action in my life.
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  And I do it not expect, like, you know, because, man, I knew when I came back in my only hope.
• 2:43
  Because I know the literature good enough to know where it says immunity from drinking.
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  And it says it on page 89 of Alcoholics Anonymous.
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  And that book says, you know, immunity.
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  And that's a huge word for someone like me.
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  So I know that.
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  And so I knew when I got back in here, the first thing I needed to do was get through the work as quickly as possible to get in the book with some other hopeless people just like me.
• 3:08
  And I was really thinking about our friend.
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  You know, and I'm not going to say his name, but, you know, he talks about going on walks at 2.30 in the morning.
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  You know, because he was, you know, every time I listened to that guy talk, man, you know, because he's been in this thing for a long time.
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  And he's been through some worse things than I have.
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  But, like, you know, we share some similar characteristics.
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  And those places are not, are in institutions.
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  And, you know, when I hear him talk, man, like, you know, that guy could be so used to other people.
• 3:41
  Because, like, you know, that's, I don't know if he's out there sponsoring guys, but I know if he's not, he should be.
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  Because that guy, you know, man, he has so much, you know, he's been in this thing for so long.
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  And he, you know, and I think what a cool thing because that's my responsibility.
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  My responsibility is put my hand out wherever necessary.
• 4:00
  And, but then it goes on.
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  I mean, I really, you know, I'll tell you, I really appreciate the way you word these things.
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  Well, thank you.
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  It says growth happens when I'm willing to learn and willing to act.
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  It's twofold.
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  Twofold.
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  That's exactly what it is.
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  Because you talked about it yesterday a little bit about getting all this knowledge in your head.
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  And you talked yesterday about having a set of instructions to follow, you know, that were clear instructions that could be followed.
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  Well, my problem was I didn't want to follow anyone's instructions.
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  You know, if you brought out the word obey or obedience, then I'm immediately going to rebel.
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  You know, I don't want to obey anybody.
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  You know, how can you tell me what to do?
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  I'm American by God, you know, or whatever the case may be.
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  You know, our pride, the ego, you know, I keep coming back to that.
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  And, you know, growing up, you know, one of the things that I heard, you know, in the church where I grew up a lot was I heard a whole lot of instructions.
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  And I saw repeatedly where nobody could ever live up to the instructions.
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  I mean, you go all the way back to the first set of instructions that were handed down in the Bible, you know, the Ten Commandments given to Moses.
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  And he comes down the mountain and immediately they start breaking all the rules, you know.
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  I mean, they never, and then God just kept giving them more and more rules to try to rein
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  them in until it got to the point where there's over 600 of them and they still weren't getting
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  it right.
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  And then you fast forward to the time, you know, when Jesus is there and he tries to reorient
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  their expectations, you know, around the law and the rules and lead them to obedience.
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  And the key thing is that, and it says in there that Christ humbled himself in obedience
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  to the Father and faithfully carried out his calling.
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  Well, so I ask then, well, why?
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  You know, why would Jesus, you know, fully human, fully God, why would he go through with that?
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  And the answer, the thing that ties it all together is love.
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  It's because God loves us.
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  And because God loves us, then he set this way, you know, for us to experience this freedom,
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  this reconciliation, this salvation, if you will, through Jesus, that there wasn't a way to do that
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  before. No amount of rules or instruction can replace God's love. And once I was able to recognize
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  that, see that, and experience that, that also changed my life just as much as probably working
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  the 12 Steps of AA did. And there was a discovery probably along the same times in terms of the
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  timeline of my life. And it's that because I experienced that love, then I also experienced
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  a sense of responsibility to give that same love, you know, to others. And the way that I show that
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  love to others is I obeyed the examples and the dictates, you know, of my higher power, you know,
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  God. And that's lined out, you know, in scripture, it's told, you know, how we're to be and act and
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  and live in the world. But obedience is difficult, you know. But it does, you know,
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  God does promise us that, you know, as the spiritual ripple says, you know,
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  that when I follow Jesus's example, the Holy Spirit forms those qualities in me.
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  And that's where when someone tells me today that I am a patient person,
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  First, I want to laugh because I never have thought of myself as patient because I'm one of the most impatient people that you see.
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  When someone tells me today that I am a calming or a peaceful influence, I also want to laugh because me on my own, I'm not that way.
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  I could be right up in the drama with everybody else.
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  I mean, we've all been to churches and meetings where drama was on high alert, and I could easily play into that same thing and figure out exactly who's right and wrong and which pathway is going to make me look the best.
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  But I don't have to do any of that today.
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  And it's because that's the Holy Spirit that has formed in me that peace, that serenity, if you will.
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  And it's not anything that I've done.
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  It's not a light switch that I've flicked or anything like that.
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  It just happens naturally by working the program, by living out my faith the best way that I can,
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  and always looking for opportunities to be of service to somebody else.
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  You know, it says right here.
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  I told you I wanted to start talking about these prayers.
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  Yeah.
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  Because this is a scary, scary prayer you put in there.
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  And because I know what it means.
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  And, you know, because it says, Father, teach me the humility of Christ and the responsibility of faithful living.
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  And that's scary.
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  You know, because when I say that, I know what that means.
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  Like, that's a scary thing.
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  Because, you know, I'm asking for, you know, God to show me how to be, you know, humility.
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  Right.
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  And, you know.
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  And how far is God going to take it?
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  And how far is God?
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  You know how far he took it with Jesus.
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  Right.
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  So what does that look like and what does that feel like?
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  Right.
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  Because, you know, that's scary to me.
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  And, you know, I was playing with this, what would you call this little thing, a little clip?
• 8:57
  Yeah, it's a little material clip.
• 8:59
  Yeah, just like a little bit of like, you know, kind of like the paper, not a what is it?
• 9:03
  It's like a clamp, almost like a paperclip clamp.
• 9:07
  Right.
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  Wow.
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  Words are hard when you're trying to describe something people can't see.
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  Yeah, it's like you think about this thing that can close your nostril.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah, but it's small.
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  Clamp, right.
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  Yeah.
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  Anyways, but like I was thinking like, you know, when I close open this side, the opposite
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  effects happens over on this side, right?
• 9:22
  Yeah.
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  And, you know, everything's connected, right?
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  And so if everything's connected in this world and it's like, you know, this thing happened
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  to me, so, you know, showed me some humility and responsibility on this and this thing happened
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  to me. And it's all just this ping pong game of opposite effect. And so when I was thinking about
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  this, Father, teach me humility and Christ and the responsibility, that's scary, but it's real,
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  you know? And when I go through things, it shows me discipline. And I said it before, but you know,
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  I'm scared. My discipline's today. I cannot take anything away. I can't take anything. I can only
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  add. And that's crazy because I can only add to what I'm doing. I can't take anything away.
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  But I think it's a beautiful thing. And I know we're trying to keep these more 15-ish minutes.
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  No, you're all good. But the prayer, so I'm just going to reread the prayer again.
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  Prayer. Father, teach me the humility of Christ and the responsibility of faithful living.
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  Guide me by your Spirit so that my words and my actions reflect your truth and love. Amen.
• 10:39
  Amen. That's right. And I was just talking about the, and I know we're doing things a little bit
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  out of order, but just talking about the prayer a little bit. The thing is, it can be scary to think
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  about that responsibility of faithful living because, you know, Jesus told his disciples and
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  us throughout the Bible that, you know, no greater love has anyone than this to lay down your life for
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  your friends. Well, how many people actually want to sign up for that? You know, I mean, because we
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  we're built with this drive for self-preservation.
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  But the thing is, when I'm willing to do that,
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  I experience a more abundant life.
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  I experience a more abundant life by being faithful.
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  So it's like, yeah, it can be scary,
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  but the reward for doing that is great.
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  The reward is greater than any reward
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  that I'm ever going to get out of a bottle or a capsule.
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  So for me, that's the whole point of the deal.
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  But thanks, everybody, for joining in with us today.
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  We've already had our prayer for the day, and we wish you all the best, and we will see you all here tomorrow.
• 11:40
  Be sure to give us a like on your favorite podcatcher.
• 11:43
  Share the podcast, and if you have others that could benefit from listening to us talk about these things, be sure to tune in to us, and we'll see you tomorrow.
• 11:51
  I don't know.