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We gather here today with open hearts and minds to grow in faith and truth.
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In every word we find the pages of the word, alive and full of grace, inspiring faith with him as we seek his face, Bible.
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Bites, rival bites, starting fake one bite at a time with every burst we find
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Welcome to Bible Bites, the podcast where we work to inspire faith one bite at a time.
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I'm your host, Randy Black.
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In one of the most intense moments leading up to Jesus' crucifixion, as he's being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, a disciple reacts in violence, striking the servant of the high priest and cutting off his ear.
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However, instead of allowing the situation to escalate, Jesus does something remarkable.
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He heals the wounded man.
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This act of mercy recorded in Luke chapter 22, verses 50 and 51, demonstrates Jesus' unwavering compassion even in the face of betrayal and suffering.
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Today, we'll explore this passage to better understand Christ's love, his commitment to peace, and what it teaches us about responding to adversity
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As we do each episode, let's open up with a word of prayer.
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Heavenly Father, we come before you with humble hearts, seeking wisdom and understanding as we study your word
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Help us to see the love and mercy of Jesus in this passage and to reflect that same spirit in our own lives.
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Open our eyes to the lessons you have for us today, and give us the strength to respond with grace in times of trouble.
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May we grow in faith and love as we seek to follow Christ's example
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And in Jesus' name we pray.
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Amen.
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Luke chapter 22, verses 50 and 51.
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And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
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But Jesus responded and said, Stop!
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No more of this.
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And he touched his ear and healed him.
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This event takes place during Jesus' arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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The disciple who struck the servant.
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is identified in John's Gospel as Peter.
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You see that in John 18.
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10.
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Peter, likely acting out of loyalty and a desire to protect Jesus, resorts to violence
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However, Jesus immediately intervenes, rebuking the aggression and choosing instead to heal the wounded man.
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This moment is powerful, showing that Jesus did not condone violence, even when facing injustice
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Jesus healing of the servant, whose name is given as Malchus in John's account, is a striking act of grace.
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Even as his enemies come to seize him, Jesus reaches out to restore what has been harmed.
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This miracle is not just about physical healing
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It symbolizes Christ's mission to bring spiritual restoration to a broken world
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Moreover, Jesus' command, stop, no more of this, is a direct rejection of violence as a means of defending him or advancing his kingdom.
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His response contrasts sharply with human instincts to retaliate.
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It aligns with his teachings, such as in Matthew five forty four, when he says, But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
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This brief but profound moment also highlights Jesus' complete control over the situation.
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Though he is being arrested, he does not act as a powerless victim
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Instead, he demonstrates his authority and divine purpose by choosing mercy over vengeance.
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His decision to heal Malchus, even as he is being taken away to suffer,
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Underscores the depth of his love and the nature of his mission.
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We have four key takeaways from this very brief passage of scripture.
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The first is that Jesus prioritizes peace over violence, teaching us to respond to opposition with grace.
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When Peter reacted with violence, he acted on human instinct rather than faith.
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Jesus, however, demonstrated that his kingdom is not advanced through force, but through love and obedience to God's will.
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This challenges us to examine our own responses when we face opposition.
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Instead of reacting in anger or retaliation, we are called to reflect Christ's peace in our interactions.
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Our next takeaway is that even in betrayal and suffering, Jesus shows compassion and love, reminding us of his boundless mercy
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It would have been understandable if Jesus had ignored Malchus's injury, especially given the circumstances of what was occurring.
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Yet, even in the midst of his own suffering, Jesus took the time to heal someone who was part of the group arresting him.
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This act exemplifies the deep compassion of Christ, encouraging us to extend mercy even when it is undeserved
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Our third takeaway is that his healing of Malchus represents both physical restoration and the broader spiritual restoration he offers to all.
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Malchus' ear being restored is a tangible example of Jesus' power to heal, but it also symbolizes the greater healing he offers to the world.
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Sin wounds us spiritually.
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It separating or separates us from God.
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But Jesus' mission was to restore our relationship with Him
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Just as Malchus' ear was made whole, so too can our hearts be renewed through Christ
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And our last takeaway is that Jesus' command against violence aligns with his teachings on loving our enemies and trusting God's plan instead of taking matters into our own hands.
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Throughout his ministry, Jesus taught about forgiveness, love, and non-retaliation.
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By rebuking Peter, he emphasized that God's purposes are fulfilled
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Not through human force, but through faith and submission to his will.
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We are reminded that our trust should not be in our own strength, but in the sovereignty of God.
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When faced with injustice or personal attacks, our natural response may be to fight back or to defend ourselves.
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However,
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Jesus' actions in this passage challenge us to consider a different response, one rooted in love, forgiveness, and trust in God's sovereignty.
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Jesus did not need his disciples to fight for him.
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He had already surrendered to the Father's will
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This should remind us that we, too, must trust in God's plan even when circumstances seem unfair or difficult.
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Rather than responding with anger or retaliation, we are called to respond with faith and grace
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Additionally, Jesus' healing of Malchus serves as a reminder that no one is beyond his compassion.
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Even those who came to arrest him experienced his mercy
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This challenges us to extend kindness even to those who may wrong us.
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Is there someone in your life who has hurt you, yet God is calling you to show them grace?
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Finally, this passage serves as an encouragement that Jesus' mission was never about earthly power or dominance, but about redemption
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His ultimate victory would come not through battle, but through his sacrificial love on the cross.
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As his followers, we are called to reflect that same love in our interactions with others
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Let's close out our study of the scripture on this episode with one more word of prayer.
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Lord.
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Thank you for showing us the power of love and mercy through your son's actions, even in moments of great suffering.
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Help us to follow his example, choosing peace over conflict and compassion over retaliation
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Teach us to trust in your perfect plan and to extend grace to those around us even when it is difficult.
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Fill our hearts with love so that we may be instruments of peace in a world that desperately needs it.
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In the name of your son Jesus, we pray, Amen.
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This podcast supports Podcasting 2.
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0.
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So feel free to send us a boost if you are listening on a new podcast app.
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Find your new app now at podcasting 2.
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org/slash apps.
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That's podcasting 2.
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0.
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Here on Bible Bytes, we operate our podcast under what's known as the value for value model.
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We hope that
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We are providing value to you through the work we're doing and that you in turn would provide value back to us.
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And that can come in three different forms under this model.
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We refer to them as the three T's, time, talent, and treasure
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Time is as simple as listening each week or even taking the time to share the show with someone else that you feel may gain something from it.
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Talent would be offering to assist us in some way with the show by either uh making cover art or providing us with scriptures or topics to look at.
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It could be even writing out a and or scripting a episode of the show
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for us to use.
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And it could even be stepping up and offering to record and be a part of the show.
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And anyone is welcome to take part and do that.
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I would greatly appreciate anyone who would be willing to step up and help and do that.
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Treasure uh refers to typically something that would be financial.
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Um it does cost us money to do to run the show.
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We have to host our media somewhere.
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We have the websites.
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Uh we have uh expenses for software we use, for the equipment we use
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So any assisting in that would be greatly appreciated.
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You can do it in a number of different ways.
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If you're listening in a modern podcast app uh and you set up a a Bitcoin, a lightning wallet in that app.
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Fountain is the easiest one to do that in right now.
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You just sign up for Fountain, set up your wallet, and then you can use a tool like Strike.
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or Zebedee is the other one that they use on their back end to add funds into that wallet.
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And then you can stream to us uh Satoshis.
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Satoshis are really, really small portions of Bitcoin.
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One Satoshi is 100 millionth of a Bitcoin.
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So um it takes a lot of satoshis to make up a full Bitcoin, but you can stream any amount you want to the show while you listen in the app.
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So let's say you want to stream
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10 sats a minute, that's fine.
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500 sats a minute, that's fine.
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It's whatever you choose based on the value you're getting from the show.
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In those same same apps, you can send a boost.
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A boost is a one-time pledge of support in an amount of Satoshis.
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You can also send what's called a boostigram.
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A boostigram is like a boost.
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But it has a message attached, and you can use that to send us feedback.
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You can use it to send us encouragement.
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You can even use it to send in prayer requests.
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And we'll talk about prayer requests here in just a moment
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Uh you can also head over to our website and on the on the page there where we talk about value for value, there's a widget at the bottom of the page where you can make a
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Pledge of support through PayPal using PayPal or Venmo.
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We also have links there for Albi, for Strike.
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You can use those to send in funds.
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Um and you also can uh purchase credits for us on a service called Auphonic.
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Auphonic is a service we use to process our audio.
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So if you purchase credits on there, uh we could then use those in helping with the production of the show.
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If you want to learn more about the value for value model and how it is we apply it to the show, you can head over to our website and read up on it.
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You can do that by going to bible-bytes.
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com slash V.
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4V.
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That's Bible dash bytes with a Y B-Y-T-E-S.
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com slash the letter V, the number 4, and the letter V
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If you have a prayer request, please reach out to us.
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We have a form on our website for prayer requests where you can submit that in
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We also you can send them in through a boostigram as well.
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Um and we would like to share those requests with our audience so that we can use them to uh use our audience as a whole to lift those requests up to the Lord.
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uh so that he can uh hear those requests and and answer them in the way that he seems fit or sees fit.
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Uh we have same requests we've had for the past few weeks.
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Uh we'll continue with my mom and dad.
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Um we've talked about it no uh several times.
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Dad's cancer treatments are finished.
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Um they're waiting for a little while to look at things and decide where it is
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uh as well as mom being there to support him and help him, uh, but also that we want to see them return back to attending services.
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Uh remember our friends, Greg and Kim, Kim with the the experimental
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medical procedure, medical treatment she's going through with the condition she has, and Greg with the uh the cancer that he's facing uh as well
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I remember my my father's cousin, uh, Kevin, who works for him, uh, and he's still adjusting with everything.
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Uh he's, you know, having to
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learn, you know, how to how to really to to get up and walk again after his toe had to be removed with everything that had happened.
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Uh and also continue to remember myself.
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I'm still still a you know, I've I've gotten to the point where this week I feel like I finally uh
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at somewhat of a a sense of normalcy with the medication and the effects it's had on me.
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Uh but I know it's still a long way to go with things and working with my
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uh with my provider to see if we can get a get my get me approved for a continuous glucose monitoring uh device.
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Um because I just
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I can't bring myself to to to the finger stick.
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It's it's a psychological thing.
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I pray about it.
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I just can't push that button to get my finger
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uh to to draw the blood from it to check it.
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So the continuous glucose monitor may be the the the tool that helps me best in this process.
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So let's go ahead and before we talk about our our next episode coming up next week, let's go ahead and take these requests and lift them up to the Lord in prayer.
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Heavenly Father, we thank you once again for the chance to gather to come together and record and produce this show to learn and share your word
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Uh we want to lift up these requests, the ones we've had for several weeks now, my mom and dad, Greg and Kim, Kevin, myself, and also any unspoken requests that
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individuals in our audience might have uh that you can touch them, you know the needs, and that you can answer them with uh uh or an answer that fits within your will
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We know that you hold all the answers, and we trust in you to provide us with those.
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It's in your name that we're working each week, striving to share your word with the world, in hopes that it helps someone in their walk with you and your son, but also that someone may hear it and they may be saved
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So that they can then spend eternity in heaven with all of us who are saved, with your son Jesus, and with you.
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And it's the name of your son Jesus that we pray.
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Amen.
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Our next episode will be the last in our series of the miracles of Jesus.
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We're going to take a look at the second miraculous catch of fish, this time at the Sea of Tiberias.
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This is recorded in John chapter 21, verses 4 through 11.
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And the one of the most amazing things about this is that this miracle takes place.
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After Christ comes back after his resurrection.
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But we'll talk about it next week, right here on Bible Bites, the podcast where we work to inspire faith
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One bite at a time.
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Bible bites.
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Bible bites.
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In starting fake one bite at a time.
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With every verse we find our way To live our lives in his life and shine
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Bobble bites, bubble bites, inspiring faith one bite at a time