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Unpacking Faith: The Untold Stories · Relish: a Christian podcast

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  Music.
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  To flavor, to be pleased or gratified by, enjoy.
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  We are hoping that what we bring to your table today might add some spice to your life.
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  Rowan, how are you doing? I'm doing well, Don. How about yourself?
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  I'm doing all right. I'm sort of liking this, being able to ask you a question. Oh, yeah?
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  Once in a while, you know, it's the spices things up just a tad bit.
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  So, you know, we deal a lot with Christian teachings, practices,
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  and I was wondering, are there any Christian teachings,
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  practices that become deal breakers in some of the relationships you have with other people?
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  You know, the things that come to the top and, you know, get in the way.
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  Well, we ain't going to talk about that because I know Minerva feels this way.
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  Or Minerva, you probably don't have any Minervas in your class?
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  I don't, no. No? Not off the top of my mind.
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  No Minervas? No. Okay. But are there, you know, when you get into your friendships,
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  are there any things that you practice as a Christian that sort of get in the way?
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  I don't, not with my closest group of friends or the guys that I would hang out with mostly.
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  Most of the people I would come in contact with on a daily basis are,
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  we all pretty much like are in unison agree see i die the same thing yeah see
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  i die so i mean kind of a boring no but okay well that's all right boring no
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  is better than you know not any conversation because you know there are a lot
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  of things that we hold that in a general population,
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  might have a different point of view of yeah sometimes we'll
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  we'll bounce ideas or concepts off each
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  other but there's nothing's really
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  ever been a argument or conflict or
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  something where like we truly disagree with each
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  other on so cool it's nice to have
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  that kind of circle of friends that have more or less the same beliefs yeah
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  it must be very boring maybe a little we find some ways now oh you spice it
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  up some way okay we'll let you do that yeah all right moving moving back Moving
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  right along, he says. Your questions here, yeah. Yes.
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  Kurt Wise preached at KMC here on Sunday.
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  That's right. And he mentioned how many languages didn't have the Bible.
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  I can't remember the number. Well, he said 7,000 languages in the world.
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  Yeah. And 3,500 of them did not have the Bible.
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  Yeah. At least in some form. That's the way I understood the numbers.
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  And that's amazing because when we get to Matthew 24, if you remember,
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  we've had that discussion.
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  Maybe we haven't had it on this. In verse 14 of chapter 24.
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  In Matthew, it says, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the
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  whole world as a testimony to all nations.
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  That means that usually would be translated ethnic groups, and then the end
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  will come, which is interesting.
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  That's sort of the aspect behind, oh, what's that group that's doing missions?
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  That, hey, we need to get perspectives.
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  Perspectives. Christian Perspectives teaches, you know, we need to make sure
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  that in each generation, we go as far as we possibly can to get the gospel in
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  every language group so that we're prepared,
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  especially with the something 40 window,
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  1040. Okay.
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  The six fort, what was the window? We have a producer today. This is really cool.
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  And so the what 40, 1040 window.
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  And to get that last 40% to actually know the gospel.
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  And that's always going to be a challenge because people get older and they,
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  something about getting old, you die.
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  It sort of happens. And so then the next generation needs that same amount of
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  knowledge. And so you need to continue to preach the gospel or that 1040 to stay even that close.
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  And we're always ending up coming up short of getting the gospel to all nations.
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  So we need to try to do that in this generation. And that's part of the nudge between perspectives.
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  The Christian perspectives class that we take as mission.
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  It's basically a class in missionology. And it's a good class because it alters
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  your perspective, which is what it's meant to do. Yeah.
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  So with those. So that being said, there's a lot of languages yet to do. Yeah.
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  So with those people that haven't ever, well, maybe they've heard it before,
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  but they don't have it in print, obviously.
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  Right. So like, how does, I mean, we aren't one to judge, but how would that
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  work on judgment day if they've never heard the gospel before?
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  Well, we know from Peter chapter three, four, that it will be better for someone
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  to have not known at all than for somebody to know and turn away from the gospel.
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  And so somehow there must be a plan in there that they will have some measure of grace.
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  That being said, that.
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  That being said, I'm not sure I want to be on that end of it.
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  This is one of those places where I've got so many colors in my Bible,
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  I'm not sure I'm getting to the right color.
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  Oh, I'm in John. No wonder I'm in the wrong place. Oh, man, I'm so sorry.
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  I'm not coming up with it right here.
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  Here it is. It's in 2 Peter. It's chapter 2.
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  If they escape the corruption of the world by knowing... Okay.
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  He's talking about how things are getting skewed, and if they escape the corruption
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  of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and are again entangled
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  in it, and overcome, they are worse off in the end than they were from the beginning.
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  And here's the verse. It would have been better for them not to have known the
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  way of righteousness than to have known it and then turn their backs on the
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  sacred command and pass that was passed on to them.
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  Of them, the proverb is true. A dog returns to its vomit and a sow that is washed
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  goes back to her wallow in the mud.
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  Talk about Peter. He's still colorful. Yes. And so it leaves us to think that
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  there's some kind of provision in there that's actually better off for someone
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  who has never had the gospel than for someone who's had the gospel and then turned away from it.
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  Which is an echo of Hebrews 6.4,
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  which is basically saying, it's impossible for those who have been once enlightened,
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  who have tasted the, remember those five things,
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  who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
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  who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming
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  age, if they were to fall away,
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  to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss, they are crucifying
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  the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
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  So that's sort of the backside of the question.
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  Your question was somebody who has never heard the gospel, is there a provision for them? Yeah.
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  It's not explicit in scripture. What is explicit is those who have captured
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  Ben in the gospel and then turned their back on the gospel.
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  There is judgment for them.
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  Is this at all connected to Old Testament getting the gospel preached to them once they have passed?
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  Oh, that 1 Peter 3 part. Yeah.
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  Do these people get the gospel preached to them, do you think,
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  after? Well, one thing about the difference, the difference is,
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  so the first Peter three people had already died.
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  There was no way for them to, in their life, get the gospel and do anything
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  different because the cross divided that.
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  And so they had that one opportunity, one opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
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  And that's that, if you want to go back in your scripture, 1 Peter 3,
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  and it's the last part, 17 to the end of the chapter.
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  And the first part of chapter 4, verses 3 to 6, talks about Christ going and preaching to the Hades.
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  That being said, now you and I are alive, right? We have a heartbeat.
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  You've got a heartbeat. Got to check that. Very good.
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  We have a heartbeat. That means that we are in the active participation with
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  the gospel in the here and now.
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  You and I both accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We both had baptism.
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  We now are disciples of Jesus Christ. We're taking seriously all those things
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  that Christ told us to be doing as disciples, and we're living in to that.
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  And we really won't have the last moment till our last moment.
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  I mean, we can continue to engage, we can engage even more, or we could backslide.
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  Or we could turn our backs on the gospel. This is sort of a testing period of
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  our faith, one way or another.
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  And the last hurrah isn't until our last breath is taken and Christ takes us home.
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  At that last hurrah, then our life work is done.
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  And I'm hoping that when I get to that spot, I'll hear Jesus say,
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  well done, good and faithful servant. Yeah, that's my hope.
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  Until then, I think it is the disciples' prerogative to live into the gospel
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  that's been presented to us, not just for ourselves.
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  And I think this is one thing that I think isn't quite emphasized enough.
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  We don't live into the gospel just for ourselves. It's not a fire insurance
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  policy that we take out against Hades or hell, but it needs to be something else.
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  I invest in fully for the next generation so that my children know my Jesus.
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  So my grandchildren know my Jesus and I won't limit it to my family.
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  I wanna make sure that the Christians growing up in my church know my Jesus like I know my Jesus.
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  So then it becomes much deeper than just you and me and boy,
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  I'm sure glad I'm not having to worry about hell.
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  Ah that's only a part of the pie that's only a piece that's just a small portion
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  of it it needs to be something that we're living into in every day in every
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  way for everybody around us it's,
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  more yeah right so did i get to that question at all sometimes i get to get
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  in my i think you do answers and then i get bigger than the answer and then
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  did i sometimes i go back and say now what That was Rowan's question. Did I really get there?
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  And I think your question was, was there a provision for those who never received the gospel?
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  Okay. Yep. Okay, the memory's not totally gone. Not totally gone.
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  It's sort of fried around the edges, but not totally gone. That's good.
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  Yeah. I know you've memorized lots of scripture. Yeah.
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  Lots of us have, lots of us did Bible memory growing up.
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  Do you think there will be a time here in the U.S., we'll say,
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  when we won't have access to scripture?
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  I think it's a real possibility.
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  And it might not have to do with the United States. It might be that somebody
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  takes over the United States, takes that away.
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  What we've noticed in every situation where someone has tried to take the hope
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  away from a people, Like we think about the concentration camps during World War II.
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  They would make sure that no scripture got into the concentration camps because
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  the scripture gave hope and you can't control a people who have hope.
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  So they would make sure that scriptures were removed and Bibles were confiscated,
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  even pieces of scripture.
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  So that in one concentration camp, the officers were using scripture as toilet
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  paper and, of course, discarding it.
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  Yeah. Okay. Discarding it. And then the retained individuals who were cleaning
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  the stools were finding scripture and they would gently clean it so they could
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  have pieces of scripture.
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  I mean, that's what happens in the time of war and trying to control people.
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  And many, like communist governments, try to make sure that the scriptures are
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  not present. So, yes, very much so.
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  I think that's why Bible memory is important, having a good,
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  solid biblical teaching, because even if we don't have all the memory in place,
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  at least if we have general concepts in place and they're solid,
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  we'll have an idea of what Scripture was saying.
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  And we can test if somebody's using scripture and twisting it a little bit,
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  because so many times that would be a control mechanism of a government that's taking over.
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  That could be said of Nazi Germany.
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  I mean, I think the movie Bonhoeffer, if you've had an opportunity to see that,
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  you get a little piece of that in that movie.
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  So, make sure you take time to memorize at least your favorite scriptures,
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  the ones that you use to guide your life with, like mine. You remember what mine is?
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  James. Yes, James chapter 2, verses 2 through 4. Yeah. Chapter one,
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  verses two through four, consider it pure joy, my brothers.
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  Romans chapter 12, verses one and two. Therefore, in view of God's mercy,
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  offer your bodies as living sacrifices.
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  Those key pieces of scripture that help guide your life, make sure you got those down pat.
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  I was so touched by a guy who I had in Bible study who just decided,
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  you know, because of a conversation like we had just now, that he was going
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  to memorize word for word, Psalm 139.
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  And it's a beautiful Psalm, you know, it talks about, you know,
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  hey, no, it doesn't matter where I'm at. God knows where I'm at.
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  Doesn't matter what I'm thinking. God knows what I'm thinking.
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  And it doesn't matter how many days I think I'm going to have,
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  God's got them down numbered.
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  And what's a touching thing about that is he would come to Bible study and he'd share that.
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  And then the Lord allowed him to get cancer and he would use that scripture
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  to get him through the chemotherapy.
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  And then when he passed away, I was able to use that scripture for his funeral. Wow.
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  Scripture could play a vital part in our lives if we allow it to. Yeah.
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  I know somebody just passed their almost 100 chapters, like whole books,
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  many Psalms just memorized.
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  Yes. So they stayed with it was just keep memorizing stuff. Yeah.
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  It's really good for your mental health. Yeah.
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  And it's almost as good as Sudoku for your mental health. Yeah.
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  Almost. I mean, I do enjoy that. Yeah, so it was good stuff.
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  And it does help us expand our gray matter. It's good for us. Yeah.
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  Yeah. Good questions, bud. Thank you. Good answers.
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  Likewise. And we thank you folks for contributing.
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  You can put questions in the comments down there if you want to,
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  and we'll be watching for them.
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  And we still have Alex watching this once in a while. So he also watches for
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  those questions and gets them to us. In the next several weeks,
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  we hope to be at Hillcrest and have a time back at Hillcrest like we did a year ago.
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  So we'll see what happens. Lots of questions generated there. I think so.
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  Yeah. It's been good to be together. It has been. Thank you guys for joining
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  us. We'll see you next time. Lord willing.
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  Thank you for joining us for this podcast. Feel free to become part of this
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  ministry by sharing it with others. Our goal is to help each other grow deeper
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  in our understanding of who God is and is calling to us in our daily lives Thank
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  you again for joining us and may God bless your day.