Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / We Can’t Endure on Our Own

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We Can’t Endure on Our Own · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, we won't endure on our own. God brings brothers
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  Speaker 1: and sisters in Christ into our lives to help us
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  Speaker 1: along the pathway to heaven. And that's one of the
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  Speaker 1: great themes in Bunyan's famous allegory, Pogrim's progress. Actually faithful
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  Speaker 1: and hopeful are the friends Christian needs his fellowship along
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  Speaker 1: the path to the gates of the celestial city. It's
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  Speaker 1: a point we get into today in the discussion about
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  Speaker 1: a very specific question from an anonymous listener. Here it
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  Speaker 1: is High Pastor John. I was reflecting on First Corinthians
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  Speaker 1: ten thirteen, which speaks of God providing a way out
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  Speaker 1: of temptation, and I began thinking about Jesus's crucifixion, particularly
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  Speaker 1: the moment when Simon was made to carry jesus cross.
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  Speaker 1: In my study, I found that this act could be
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  Speaker 1: seen as God's provision for Jesus, helping him endure the
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  Speaker 1: unimaginable pain of the crucifixion. Since Jesus came to experience
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  Speaker 1: all that humanity faces, including suffering, it seems that God
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  Speaker 1: didn't allow Jesus to rely on his divine strength to
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  Speaker 1: bear the cross. Instead, Simon's involvement in carrying the cross
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  Speaker 1: provided a physical relief for Jesus, allowing him to endure
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  Speaker 1: and complete the suffering. This makes me wonder if in
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  Speaker 1: some way this act of heavenly help mirrors the way
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  Speaker 1: God provides us with ways to endure our own temptations
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  Speaker 1: and trials, as promise in First Corinthians ten thirteen. Could
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  Speaker 1: it be in our lowest point when we are tempted
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  Speaker 1: beyond our capacity to bear, God's provision, whether through his
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  Speaker 1: direct help or through others, gives us what we need
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  Speaker 1: to keep going. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this connection
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  Speaker 1: between Christ's cross carrying and our own endurance in the
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  Speaker 1: face of suffering.
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  Speaker 2: First a word about Simon and his carrying jesus cross,
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  Speaker 2: and then what I really want to focus on is
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  Speaker 2: the utterly crucial observation that God sends people into our
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  Speaker 2: lives who are crucial for enabling us to endure to
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  Speaker 2: the end. If I were preaching a sermon on Simon's
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  Speaker 2: carrying the cross, I probably would not focus on the
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  Speaker 2: fact that he showed up at the right time to
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  Speaker 2: help Jesus complete his mission just as jesus human strength
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  Speaker 2: was failing. We just don't know that it might be true.
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  Speaker 2: I don't have any theological objection to it, but it's
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  Speaker 2: not explicit in the text, while a couple of other
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  Speaker 2: things are. For example, Simon is from Sireni, mentioned in
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  Speaker 2: all three Gospels where this is recorded. That's the capital
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  Speaker 2: city of the Roman province of Surenica, which is modern
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  Speaker 2: day Libya in North Africa. Now why mention that, in fact,
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  Speaker 2: why mention his name at all? So here we have
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  Speaker 2: a foreigner suffering with Jesus in his sacrifice for us,
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  Speaker 2: which is a picture perhaps of discipleship. Since Jesus said
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  Speaker 2: that following him means bearing a cross, That's where I
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  Speaker 2: would start. That's what I would focus on, just because
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  Speaker 2: it's there, And I would avoid speculation about whether Jesus
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  Speaker 2: was running out of gas because he had been beaten
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  Speaker 2: so badly. Maybe maybe not. This question is much more
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  Speaker 2: important and far reaching, though, than thoughts about Simon. The
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  Speaker 2: question is whether this picture of Jesus being helped is
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  Speaker 2: like on Crintians ten thirteen, which says no temptation or
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  Speaker 2: no test. The word for test and temptation are the
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  Speaker 2: same word in Greek, and I recommend that when you
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  Speaker 2: read fir Crintions ten thirteen, you try both to see
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  Speaker 2: which fits your your situation. Because it's true for temptation,
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  Speaker 2: it's true for tests. No test has overtaken you. That
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  Speaker 2: is not common demand. God is faithful. He will not
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  Speaker 2: let you be tested be beyond your ability. But with
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  Speaker 2: the test he will provide a way of escape that
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  Speaker 2: you may be able to endure it. And the question
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  Speaker 2: our friend is asking is could it be that in
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  Speaker 2: our lowest points, when we're tempted or tested beyond our
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  Speaker 2: capacity to bear God's provision, whether through direct help or
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  Speaker 2: through others, he says, gives us what we need to
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  Speaker 2: keep going. The answer is absolutely yes. That is what
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  Speaker 2: one Corinthians ten thirteen means. Let's notice three things from scripture. First,
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  Speaker 2: notice that we must endure to the end in order
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  Speaker 2: to be saved. Mark thirteen thirteen. You will be hated
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  Speaker 2: by all for my namesake, but the one who endures
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  Speaker 2: to the end will be saved. James one twelve. Blessed
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  Speaker 2: is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when
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  Speaker 2: he has stood the test, he will receive the crown
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  Speaker 2: of life. We must endure. We must keep on trusting Christ.
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  Speaker 2: If we make shipwreck of our faith and throw away
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  Speaker 2: our trust. We will simply show we never were born again,
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  Speaker 2: we never had eternal life, and we will perish. Second
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  Speaker 2: thing to notice, not only must we endure, we will endure.
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  Speaker 2: We will endure to the end. Those who are chosen
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  Speaker 2: by God before the foundation of the world will come
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  Speaker 2: to faith, and those who come to faith will be justified.
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  Speaker 2: And those who are justified will persevere to the end.
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  Speaker 2: And those who persevere to the end will be glorified.
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  Speaker 2: And to have glorification is to be saved for eternal life.
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  Speaker 2: That's my paraphrase of Romans eight thirty. So yes, we
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  Speaker 2: must persevere, we will persevere. Here's a third thing, and
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  Speaker 2: this relates most directly to the question. God uses means
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  Speaker 2: to not only bring us to repentance and faith at
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  Speaker 2: the beginning, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word,
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  Speaker 2: but also he uses means, human means to keep us believing.
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  Speaker 2: Eternal security is a community project. And here's the key
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  Speaker 2: passage about that, Hebrews three twelve. Take care, brothers, lest
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  Speaker 2: there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. Brothers.
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  Speaker 2: You's talking to Christians, Take care lest there be an
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  Speaker 2: evil heart of unbelief leading you to fall away from
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  Speaker 2: the Living God. But exhort one another every day. This
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  Speaker 2: is the human instrumentality. The human means exhort one another
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  Speaker 2: every day, as long as it is called today, that
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  Speaker 2: none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin,
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  Speaker 2: for we have come to share in Christ. If indeed
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  Speaker 2: we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: how important these words are for every Christian who intends
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  Speaker 2: to persevere to the end and be saved. First, there's
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  Speaker 2: a warning against an unbelieving heart leading us to fall
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  Speaker 2: away from the Living God. And I know that there
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  Speaker 2: are some people who think God should not talk to
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  Speaker 2: us like that if we're Christians, God should not warn
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  Speaker 2: us like that. But I would say, since the warning
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  Speaker 2: is actually there, we should believe that's the way God
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  Speaker 2: keeps his children from falling. Don't reject what God has
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  Speaker 2: given you as a precious gift to help you persevere
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  Speaker 2: to the end by warning you not to fall. Then,
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  Speaker 2: alongside the warning he gives very specific practical instruction. Exhort
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  Speaker 2: one another every day, as long as it is called today.
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  Speaker 2: Le's there be hardening and falling away. Don't let it happen.
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  Speaker 2: God uses human distations from friends and pastors and family,
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  Speaker 2: and books and emails and Internet sermons to keep us
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  Speaker 2: believing eternal security is a community project. It would not
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  Speaker 2: be a contradiction to say Jesus would not have made
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  Speaker 2: it to the cross if Simon had not helped him,
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  Speaker 2: if we also say that God infallibly planned for Simon
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  Speaker 2: to help him. Now, I don't know if that's true,
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  Speaker 2: that Jesus would not have made it to the cross
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  Speaker 2: without Simon. I'm just saying it would not be a
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  Speaker 2: contradiction to say he would not have made it without
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  Speaker 2: Simon if we also say God infallibly planned for Simon
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  Speaker 2: to help him make it, And the same is true
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  Speaker 2: for every help that we need from people. To persevere
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  Speaker 2: to the end in faith, it's not a contradiction to
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  Speaker 2: say we must persevere to the end in faith. We
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  Speaker 2: will not make it without the means that God has
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  Speaker 2: appointed to get us there. If we also say God
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  Speaker 2: will see to it that those means show up and
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  Speaker 2: that we respond to them, He will see to it.
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  Speaker 2: Second Peter two nine says the Lord knows how to
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  Speaker 2: rescue the godly from trials. Indeed he does, and one
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  Speaker 2: of the ways that he does it is by causing
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  Speaker 2: people to warn us and exhort us to trust the
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  Speaker 2: promises of God and press on. Paul gives an amazing
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  Speaker 2: encouragement in Second Corinthians nine to eight. God is able
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  Speaker 2: to make all grace abound to you, so that having
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  Speaker 2: all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may
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  Speaker 2: abound in every good work. In other words, every work
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  Speaker 2: of faith that God requires of us to make it
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  Speaker 2: to the end, he gives the grace to perform. He
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  Speaker 2: never leaves us to ourselves. Therefore we must persevere, and
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  Speaker 2: we will persevere because there will be the necessary simons
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  Speaker 2: of Syreni to help us bear the load.
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  Speaker 1: Really good word here, Pastor John. Thank you, especially coming
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  Speaker 1: from someone who is not naturally wired to be an extrovert.
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  Speaker 1: I mean this means a lot. And thanks for joining
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  Speaker 1: us today. If you have a question to ask Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: find a link to email us and find our entire
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  Speaker 1: episode archive at the same place. Ask Pastor John and
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  Speaker 1: dot com well the high price to be paid for
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  Speaker 1: watching nudity on screen. That's up next. We'll see you Thursday.