Latest / Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo / Grant Castleberry: Teaching Biblical Truth With ‘Manger In Danger’

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Grant Castleberry: Teaching Biblical Truth With ‘Manger In Danger’ · Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo

0:00
Hello friends family and Christ. Thank you so much for tuning in and watching listening sharing the podcast
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I've got a really great idea. It wasn't my idea, but it's my guest today
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Him and his wife come up with a phenomenal game for your family
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Coming up Christmas. It'll be here before we know it
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So I'm gonna tell you about that. It's really exciting
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But I want to set it up this way since the beginning of time the serpent the devil has waged war on the seed of the woman
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Which is Jesus the enemy opposes Christ in Revelation 12 the devil is described as a dragon who stood before the woman to devour
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Our Redeemer and Messiah as soon as he was born
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After Christ was born, we know that the devil tactically
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Employed the wicked king Herod for his own ends if you remember this Herod felt deeply threatened by the coming of the Lord
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Jesus and he sought to destroy our Lord by killing all the boys the infant males in
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Bethlehem who were two years old and younger. That's Matthew 216
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Fortunately God's plan kept going in the midst of this danger and evil attack God the Father protected
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Jesus and the story goes on and you're familiar with it or on Christmas time
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We wouldn't have Christmas without Jesus, but we're going to talk about why the manger was in danger with our guest today coming up next
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Welcome to Worldview Matters discussing controversial issues
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discerning current events
1:33
Defending biblical Christianity
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No topic off limits and now here's your host David Fierazzo
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Grant and Grace Anna Castleberry live in Raleigh, North Carolina with their five children and
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Grant by the way is the senior pastor of capital community church and now it is
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Drumroll King is chapel. He'll tell you about that story of the merger of these two churches and he's written for a
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Ligonier and the council on biblical manhood and womanhood while Grace Anna she disciples women at
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The church there so brother Grant. Thank you so much for your time today. I'm looking forward to talking about this
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Yeah, thank you so much for having me David. That was a great intro by the way to the game major in danger
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I think I might be the best introduction to the game that I've ever heard that was outstanding
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Well praise God
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It is biblical because we know Satan has come against the seed
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I mean since the what Genesis 315 since that first prophecy
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We know Satan has been against the plan of God and of course against the line of the Messiah and against Jesus and now of course
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He's against us
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Believers in Christ, but we'll talk about that and how this game came to be by the way friends
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I want to give their website. It's unashamed truth.org unashamed truth.org
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And we're going to be they have a Facebook page too if you want to search on Facebook
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But we're going to be talking about a brand new game that their family
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Grant and Grace Anna came up with it's called manger in
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Danger a family Christmas tradition. It's a great story
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But before we do that grant tell us about your how you got into ministry and a little bit about your background and your family go ahead
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Wow, well
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God called me in the ministry when I was in high school
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Just through through church events. I was asked to to share the gospel at a
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A junior high kind of outreach event and afterwards a guy in my church came up to me and he said, you know
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You really did a great job presenting the gospel. Have you ever thought about going into ministry and I you know that I had
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Never thought about going into ministry, but the Lord planted that seed in my mind and I started God
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Begin providing opportunities to lead Bible studies and and that sort of thing and then I remember
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in high school
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I
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Every night when I would come home from football practice
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My job was to wash the dishes after dinner every night and I would time it where
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Moody moody radio would broadcast Joe stole at 615 and Grace to you
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John McArthur at 630 and I would time it where I would do the dishes from 615 to 7 every night
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I could listen to you know to Joe stole and John McArthur and I remember it was just so distinctly
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One night during grace to you. I can't I don't remember what McArthur was preaching on
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But I since the Holy Spirit just compelling me that this is what I was going to do the rest of my life that I was going to teach God's word in the local church
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So I experience that call distinctly in
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high school and I've never you know wavered from that from that initial call
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All you know the Lord sent me in the Marine Corps first and some various experiences, but I've I've known
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You know since that day that this is what I was supposed to do with my life and and through a crazy twist of Providence my father
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Was killed in a plane crash when I was two
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And the church that my parents had been in in South Carolina
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Years later four six years later wanted to start a radio station
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And my grandparents in Texas donated the the funds to start that radio station and Buford South Carolina
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and when I was in high school
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We went back and visited my father's memorial in South Carolina visited the radio station
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and that's when I met my wife
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Because
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Her dad was president of the radio and and had become the pastor of the church there in South Carolina
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So God used the death of my father ultimately to lead me to to my wife Grace Anna and and all of that so
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Really amazing how how God has brought me to where I am he's sovereignly intervened and
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and I'm here today by the grace of God and
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Just so thankful to be in ministry. It's a mercy of God. Yes. Well praise God and it sounds like I mean
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Just from what you're saying. I'm I know you teach sound doctrine the whole council of God and
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Versed by verse and you don't shy away from quote political or controversial issues and by the way, we want to mention
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I hope Grace Anna feels better. She was going to be in the interview with you because you guys came up with this together
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and I want to before we get to manger and danger
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um
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Grant
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Capital Community Church and King's Chapel merged. Is that right?
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Explain where you're at where you're pastoring now
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So I pastor in Raleigh, North Carolina and I initially
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pastored
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Capital Community Church. Okay, and our church just based on what you just said sound doctrine and Bible exposition
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the glory of the gospel
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Faithful faithful singing songs him spiritual songs, you know, everything Paul talks about God bless that work
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and we grew but we did not have a building another church in town named Christ Baptist Church
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by God's grace had had a large building
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uh through just a series of events their pastor died and and a number of people left the church
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So they needed a pastor they needed young families
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So it was like the Lord just brought these two churches together and both saw in the other church
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needs
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that the other one had and so the two churches
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came together this year 2025 Christ Baptist in capital to form this new church in Raleigh the King's
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Chapel and this has been such a leadership experience, you know, maybe we might use the word leadership challenge
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uh
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I told you before the broadcast they don't teach a teach a course on church mergers and seminary
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it uh
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You know, it is a
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It's been a
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unique experience but but God the Holy Spirit has been in every step of the way and it's amazing how he's already
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blessing this work and awesome and it's it's a real joy and a privilege to be a part of this
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So I'm just so thankful to to have the opportunity to study God's word
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and every week teach God's word
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You know, I'm just like pinching myself that I get paid to do
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Yeah, something having eternal significance and value
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So grant one more question before we jump into manger in danger
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I'm tell us about the unashamed truth podcast
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So uh unashamed truth
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Begin and September of 2022
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when uh local local radio the truth network stew eperson
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Begin broadcasting my sermons and we needed a name for the broadcast and you know, I said I'm unashamed about the truth
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So let's let's call it that and and so we started doing
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radio and still do radio and
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That was the name of the radio program and then we turned it into a podcast
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We said, you know, we want we wanted to be a be available on podcasts as well
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We started doing a magazine this year called logic on fire. So uh check that out and it comes out quarterly
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We were able to print it as well and
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So yeah, it's just been you know, the Lord provided an opportunity for unashamed truth through the radio and it's just grown from there
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So, uh, let's go to um
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316 publishing com friends. That's where you can look up
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manger in danger and I see it's all it's is it on amazon as well grant
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Yes, yes, it's on amazon and then we also carry it at unashamed truth as well
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Okay, great. So now let's dive into exactly what it is
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You were telling me before I got on the podcast
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You know, elf on the shelf and I'm thinking yeah, most people know about that
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But I love the way, you know, your wife said, you know, what let's let's do something different
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Tell that story will walk into exact there it is. There's your family
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Going through manger and danger. I love that picture by the way
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So tell the story grant on how you guys switch gears
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Yeah, I wish my wife was here to explain it because it was her idea and and how the Lord and how the Lord brought this about was really her ingenuity and creativity
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But our girls wanted to play elf on the shelf and at the same time we had been thinking
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uh along the way like we want to develop our own
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Christmas traditions
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Uh, and we you know, we put out lights every year
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I have a nativity set that I bought in Bethlehem that's made out of you know
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All of wood that we put out so we we had things that we were doing
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But we were wanting to find a tradition that the kids loved that really centered on Christ
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and
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Just helped them enjoy the Christmas story. So one day
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Gray Santa grabbed the manger from our nativity from Bethlehem
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And she had read that story that you were talking about in the intro about how Herod was trying to destroy the baby Jesus
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Of course under the influence of Satan
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Satan wanting to snuff out the line that he knew would crush his head
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and
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Herod went to Bethlehem and put the you know tragic story put the children to death and
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God preserved
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Christ through that by
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Telling Joseph in a dream to take the baby Jesus to Egypt and and y'all know the story
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But taking that idea Gray Santa said the manger's in danger
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You know Herod's after it. Let's find the manger and the kids just loved it
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And so she hid the manger and then they all went and tried to find it
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And then of course they wanted to do it the next day and the next day and the next
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And then Gray Santa started doing you know devotionals
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That that went along with the
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With hiding the manger
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So it incorporated that biblical teaching element as well
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And so we did this and then we were on a podcast with
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Tony and Bri Wood date night with the woods and they ask us what our what our family traditions were and we started
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Talking about how we play this game manger and danger and and we hide it and and all that stuff
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and
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Gary Kim at 316 publishing heard that podcast
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And we met and he said you know I want to I think this would help families yes
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To learn the biblical story and to really get in the just understanding the biblical meaning behind Christmas
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Would y'all be willing for us to produce this for families to use
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So that was the genesis of the
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of the game and then
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Gary asked me to do
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A devotion for a family devotion for every day in December leading up to Christmas
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So the game comes with a family devotion book
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That has 25 devotions that are that have scripture and
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Just very simple you know age 4 to 14 can understand it and
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Questions discussion questions at the end and it walks through the biblical story of Christmas from Genesis 315
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all the way to Revelation
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And it comes also I'm looking at the description here that keepsake box scenic backdrop wooden manger and of course
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No nothing is complete without the baby Jesus figurine
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But again friends you can get that at truth. I'm sorry unashamed truth.org
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Just click on shop and if you've got young children or if you're a grand parent
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Start new family traditions like this that's gonna celebrate the birth of Christ and teach the children about the Bible
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We've got to take a brief pause and we'll be right back with Grant Castleberry
14:40
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We're back and we're looking forward to getting more
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16:07
Manger and danger just I just am amazed that nothing like this has come out before you guys came up with it
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I'm glad it's available now
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What a great tradition to start I wanted to ask you how would you encourage families to begin
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Using this if they've never tried some sort of devotional for their kids or grandkids or on Christmas
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Well, I think
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You know you think about family devotions and you think idealic every every kid sitting down and every kid is is
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Perfectly quiet and you know, they're just all a gasp at the wonder of the gospel and and our experience
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You know, it's much, you know, you know, you know, we got three boys and you know
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You you're doing it in a wrestling match breaks out and and all of that but
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That I think the important what what I want is for them to
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to listen and
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For their curiosity to be peaked and I think we did that with the devotionals
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But for them to begin to ask questions and to think and
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And the Holy Spirit you never know even even if a kid is is kind of doing doing stuff
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The Holy Spirit uses the truth and and each devotion comes with scripture
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So even if all you can do with you know, you little kids is even if all you can do is just read the scripture at the top
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And then say a few words about it and we of course we have a devotion that you can just read
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But if even if you just say a few words about the scripture and explain it in your own words to the kid
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You never know how how God the Holy Spirit is going to use that and that child's life that that you know
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Paul says faith comes by hearing
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Hearing by the word of Christ
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So how how he's going to use his truth and and and their lives so I would I would say
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You know just sitting down reading the scripture
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And and when they're when they begin asking questions you know that that's a huge win
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When when they're curious and and they want they're curious about
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About God and his truth
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I just love that so much
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So yeah, what about this maybe a slightly off-top topic, but what about Christmas carols?
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Because there's a lot of Christmas carols that I personally don't like like the jingle bells and anything that mentioned Santa Claus
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But there are some very meaningful
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Christmas carols and come almost like hymns, but there are Christmas carols that really do tell a biblical story
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How do you do incorporate that in your family?
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We I mean we love to sing my family as a singing family
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And we're we're not
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You know, we we're not anti-Santa
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But we also tell the truth about you know, it's like hey
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You know this is this is not you know a real
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This is this is you know, there's not a man coming down the fireplace. We're very we're very
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We never want to lie to our children
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But most importantly we want our children to know the truth about the incarnation like why are we really celebrating Christmas?
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And so we loved to sing all sorts of
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all sorts of songs and
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My yeah, there are my kids are always singing and grace Anna is a I do not have a great voice, but my wife has a great voice and
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Yeah, we we love to sing Christmas songs like you said obviously the the song the songs that speak the most most truth
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Yes
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are generally the most helpful
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Yeah, in our home we have Christmas music playing already and my christmas season as far as music
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Goes about three months just so people know maybe four months
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Um, and now in the manger and danger I picked up some pages here
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There's a guide for family devotionals
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There's a explanation of the meaning of the game how to play how to read devotions together
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There's tips for families, but I want to go back to the danger and that first prophecy
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You mentioned Genesis and let's go all the way back because there's an illustrative photo
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In there the gospel in Genesis that I think this is day one in fact in manger and danger with a foot with sandals on it
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stepping on the head of a snake
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and
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I love that picture. It is biblical. I want you to just go back there grant and share your whatever's on your heart about just how how that
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Set things in motion where the Satan's opposition to Christ through the centuries. Go ahead
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Well theologians call Genesis 315 the proto uongelion or the first gospel
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Hmm because it's it's
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Obviously God is pronouncing his curse on on Satan and Adam and Eve and Genesis 315 is the curse on Satan
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But in the curse there's a promise and he says that the seed of the woman
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Will crush the head of the serpent, but the serpent will Bruce his heel
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and
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That verse really is the explanation of the entire Bible
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Because the entire Bible is a is the manifestation and the unfolding of that verse in history
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that God brings
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through
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Noah through
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Abraham Isaac Jacob David the Messiah
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And this Messiah is the promised seed of the woman that has come to
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destroy the works of the devil in Jesus' words
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and he does and he destroys
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Satan by removing his accusation against us by taking away our sin
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And by living a righteous life on our behalf. So Satan are Jesus' defancts Satan
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and at at Calvary actually
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Turns turns the battle over on Satan and crushes his head so Satan is defeated
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As Keith Green said the battle is
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already one the race is already run by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
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So yeah, and it all begins in Genesis 315 which is a prophecy of of how that will will come about
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Yeah Keith Green. Oh my goodness
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We could talk about him
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I want to jump ahead a little bit. There's it looks like day six because I don't have the book friends or the game
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I have notes on it and you can find out on the website you can go to unashamedtruth.org
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And there's an explanation of all that's involved the bullet points all that you get in here
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But I'm looking at what I think is day six
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humility in a manger and I can't read the small print grant
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But I can't help but think of Philippians chapter two
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When you think of humility in a manger and how Jesus humbled himself to become flesh the word became flesh
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Share your thoughts on that as a pastor. Yeah, we're officially getting into christmas season here
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So uh share whatever is on your heart. I think
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What
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One of the reasons why Jesus was not born in a palace
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Or in a lofty position
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Is because Jesus came to save all people
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You know, it wasn't just the the high and the mighty
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um
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He humbled himself by becoming a person
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But moreover he he didn't just
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You it would it would have been humbling for him
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To have been the most exalted person because even that is below his heavenly glory
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But his humility went even further and that he was born
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In a manger when his parents found no room and an in and I think that speaks to the fact that Jesus came to save all types of people
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The lowly the downtrodden the outcasts the poor
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That no one is too far off of christ's redemption
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So
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That that humility of christ
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Demonstrated by being born in a manger
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Speaks to the fact that he's come all the way down to where we are
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That that nobody's outside of his reach
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Amen
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It's a universal gospel, but not everybody will believe and accept the savior
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Many will reject him, but it is it is God still of the world, right?
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Whoever whosoever
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There are a lot of whosoever's that will just say, huh? No, not for me sadly, but so when do you recommend starting this
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Christmas season can be long or short, but when as far as the devotions that go along with manger and danger
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When do you recommend families start this grant?
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Well, I wrote 25 devotions 25 okay
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Yeah, so you you can start
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You know December 1st and there is a devotion for every day including Christmas day
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and you know, I think it
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The great thing about the the game and and the devotions. I think last year
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We weren't able you know sometimes things happen and you're busy one day and you're not able to do that devotion
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And it's like okay, that's fine
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You know, we're gonna do it again this year and this year will you know Lord willing you know pick up some of the devotions that we might have missed
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Last year
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So yeah, it runs December 1st through December
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25th
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But what I would say is you know if somebody were to get the game
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I would just say start on the day you know if you're if it's December 8th start day 8 and just go through it
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You know, don't don't necessarily try to to to make up the you know, you can if you want to but but I don't think you need to fill that pressure too
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Yeah, good good answer
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Well, brother people can get this in several places
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But the one that is on your red and your website under shop at unashamedtruth.org
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Brother Christmas is on I'm honest again any closing thoughts because it can be
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um
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Such a just this time of distraction
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Even for believers to get wrapped up in the wrong things any
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In advisor encouragement for our believers that are watching and listening today
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Well, I do think that uh, you know
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You read through
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Luke's gospel Luke 1 and 2 and I was doing this
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Uh recently because I was thinking about what I'm gonna preach in December and it's just so amazing
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To think about how God fulfills all of his promises
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That he made in the Old Testament in Christ and so I think the more that you can be in God's word
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The better and again, I don't want to just like I know that you know the the game
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Uh is for children
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But you know, I think adults are gonna benefit from this game and this these devotions just as much as the kids because every day
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You're gonna be going back to Luke's gospel to John's gospel
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Matthew and and you're gonna be immersed in
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And in scriptural truth. So I would just say that you know, you you want to always renew your mind
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With the word of God and
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And and and the real doctrine of Christmas
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Amen, brother. Thank you so much. Uh, it's just exciting to hear about this
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Um, I love something that brings families together and gives them new
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Focus on Christ and on the Bibles especially at Christmas with all that's going on. Please give our best to your wife and
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Tell her kudos, man. You married up. She did did a great job with this great idea. God idea
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And grant thanks for your time today, brother
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David, thank you so much for having me really enjoyed the conversation. God bless you. Welcome. Yes
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May God enlarge your territory
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Friends, thank you again share the podcast and God bless you keep speaking the truth about things that matter