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We gather here today with open hearts and minds To grow in faith and truth in every
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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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Bible bites In starting faith one bite at a time With every verse we find our way
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To live our lives in his light and shine.
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Welcome to Bible Bites, where we work to inspire faith
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One bite at a time.
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I'm your host, Randy Black.
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In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, we witness one of Jesus' most remarkable miracles.
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The feeding of over 4,000 men, plus women and children, with just a few loaves and some small fish.
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This event, while similar to the feeding of five thousand we've talked about previously, carries its own profound lessons about compassion, provision, and faith
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It invites us to reflect on the abundance of God's love and the spiritual nourishment He provides to all who seek Him.
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As we do each episode before we dive into our scripture, let's open up with a word of prayer
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Heavenly Father, we come before you with hearts open to your word.
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Thank you for the many ways that you provide for our physical and spiritual needs
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As we study this miracle of the feeding of the 4,000, may we see your compassion and your power at work.
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Help us to trust in your provision and to carry the lessons of this scriptures into our daily lives.
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In the name of your Son Jesus, we pray.
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Matthew 15, verses 32 through 39.
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And Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I feel compassion for the people.
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Because they have remained with me now for three days, and have nothing to eat.
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And I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.
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The disciples said to him, Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy?
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And Jesus said to them, How many loaves do you have?
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He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied
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And they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full.
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And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children
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And he sent the crowds away and got into the boat and came to the region of Magadon.
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Mark 8, verses 1-13.
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In those days when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus summoned his disciples and said to them,
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I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me for three days already, and had nothing to eat.
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And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way.
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And some of them have come from a great distance.
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And his disciples
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replied to him, Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?
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And he was asking them,
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How many loaves do you have?
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And they said seven.
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And he directed the people to recline on the ground, and taking the seven loaves he gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to his disciples to serve, and they served them to the people.
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They also had a few.
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few small fish.
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And after he had blessed them, he told the disciples to serve these as well.
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And they ate and were satisfied.
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And they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.
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About 4,000 men were there, and he dismissed them, and he immediately got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
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And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with him, demanding from him a sign from heaven to test him.
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Sighing deeply in his spirit, he said, Why does this generation demand a sign?
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Truly I say to you, no sign.
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Will be given to this generation.
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And leaving them, he again embarked and went away to the other side.
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The feeding of the 4,000 highlights Jesus' deep compassion for the crowd.
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These people had been with him for three days, prioritizing their spiritual hunger over their physical needs
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Jesus recognized their weariness and their potential struggle to return home without food.
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His concern reminds us that God is attentive to every aspect of our lives.
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Both the physical and the spiritual.
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The disciples' reaction reveals their limited understanding of Jesus' power
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Despite witnessing the feeding of the 5,000, they questioned how to feed the crowd in such a desolate place.
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This reflects how easily we too can doubt God's provision when faced with overwhelming circumstances.
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Jesus's patient response, inviting them to participate in the miracle.
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Teaches us that God often works through us, even in our doubts.
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The act of giving thanks before distributing the bread and fish emphasizes the importance of gratitude
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Jesus acknowledged God's provision before the miracle occurred, setting an example of faith and of thanksgiving
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It reminds us to give thanks in all circumstances, trusting that God will meet our needs.
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The leftover baskets are significant.
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The seven baskets symbolize abundance and completion, demonstrating that God's provision is not only sufficient.
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but is overflowing.
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This abundance reflects the nature of God's kingdom, where there is always more than enough for those who are willing to seek him
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Finally, in Mark's account, it continues with the Pharisees demanding a sign from Jesus
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Their skepticism contrasts sharply with the faith of the crowd who had followed him.
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It challenges us to examine our hearts
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Do we trust in God's power or do we seek signs as proof?
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Here are our key takeaways from these scriptures.
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The first is that Jesus' compassion extends to all needs.
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Jesus cared deeply for the physical and the spiritual well-being of the crowd
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He did not dismiss their physical hunger as unimportant, but instead he acknowledged it alongside their spiritual needs
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This compassion assures us that God is concerned with every aspect of our lives and that we can trust Him to care for us holistically.
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His actions challenge us to be attentive and to be compassionate towards the needs of others, just as he is with us.
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In following his example, we can demonstrate his love to those around us.
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Our next takeaway is that God's provision is abundant.
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The miracle of the feeding of the 4,000 shows us that God's resources are not limited by earthly circumstances
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Even in a desolate place with few resources, God's provision was more than sufficient.
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The seven large baskets of leftovers signify the overflowing nature of his blessings
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reminding us that he can supply more than we need.
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This encourages us to approach him with confidence, knowing that his abundance exceeds beyond our immediate needs.
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We're also reminded to share his blessings generously with others, trusting that there will always be enough.
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Our next takeaway is that gratitude precedes miracles.
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Jesus gave thanks before the bread and the fish were multiplied
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Demonstrating trust in God's provision before it became evident.
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This teaches us to cultivate an attitude of gratitude
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even when we are waiting for answers or solutions.
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Gratitude shifts our focus from scarcity to abundance and helps us to recognize God's hand at work in our lives.
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By thanking him in advance, we express our faith in his power and goodness.
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This practice
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Not only strengthens our faith, but also deepens our relationship with Him.
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Our next takeaway is that God often works through us.
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Jesus involved the disciples in the distribution of the food, showing that he often chooses to work through his people to accomplish his purpose
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Despite their doubts, the disciples played an essential role in this miracle, demonstrating that God can use us even when our faith is imperfect
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This encourages us to step out in faith and be willing participants in his work, trusting that he will equip us for the task.
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By allowing God to work through us, we become vessels of his grace and provision to those around us
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And our final takeaway is that faith requires trust, not proof.
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The disciples' doubts and the Pharisees' demand for a sign highlight the difference between faith and
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and skepticism.
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True faith involves trusting in God's character and promises, even when we cannot see how He will act
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The crowd's willingness to follow Jesus for three days without concern for their physical needs stands in stark contrast to the Pharisees' insistence of proof.
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This challenges us to examine our own faith and to ask whether we are relying on God's faithfulness.
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Or are we waiting for visible evidence before placing our trust in him?
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The feeding of the 4,000
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Challenges us to reflect on our priorities.
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Are we like the crowd?
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Willing to sacrifice comfort to draw near to Jesus?
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Their hunger for his teaching surpasses their physical hunger, reminding us to seek first the kingdom of God.
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The disciples' doubts resonate with our own struggles to trust God in difficult times.
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How often do we forget his past faithfulness when faced with new challenges?
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These scriptures encourage us to remember his provision and to approach life's trials with faith.
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Jesus' gratitude is a model for our lives.
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Giving thanks even before a solution is evident reflects trust in God's faithfulness
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It shifts our focus from scarcity to abundance and opens our eyes to his blessings.
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The abundance of leftovers reminds us that God's provision surpasses our expectations.
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It challenges us to share his blessings with others, trusting that there will always be enough.
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And finally, the Pharisees' demand for a sign serves as a cautionary tale.
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Faith isn't about having all the answers
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But it's about trusting in God's love and his sovereignty.
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Are we seeking a relationship with him, or are we fixated on evidence and on outcomes?
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As we do each episode and as we finish our study of the scripture, let's close out that with a prayer
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Lord, we are grateful for your compassion and abundant provision.
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Thank you for reminding us.
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Through this miracle in these scriptures, that you care for every part of our lives.
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Help us to trust in your faithfulness, even in times of doubt
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May we cultivate hearts of gratitude and faith, and may we share your blessings with others.
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Strengthen us to seek you first, and to walk confidently in your promises.
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In your son Jesus' name we pray.
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Amen.
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Find your new app now at podcasting two point org slash apps.
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This podcast operates under the V for V or the Value for Value model.
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And it's our hope that we are providing you value each and every week when we produce these episodes
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And that you then would in turn provide value back to us.
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And under the value for value model, that comes in three forms.
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We refer to them as the three T's as time, talent.
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or treasure.
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Time is as simple as taking the time to listen to the episode each week when it comes out.
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It could also be something as simple as
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Taking the opportunity to take that episode and share it with someone else in hopes that it does something in their lives.
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And if they're unsaved, that it brings them to the Lord and to Jesus as their Savior.
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Talent would be helping us in some way with the production of the show.
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It could be something as simple as helping by creating cover art for each episode, because we have a different cover art with every episode.
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It could be providing scripture as a basis or as an as an inspiration toward a lesson.
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It could be even taking the time to write out a lesson and scripting it for us.
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Uh and it could even be stepping up and volunteering to take part in the show and and record with with me in the studio each week.
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And the final area that you can support us is with treasure.
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And treasure will be something of what we would consider tangible value, value we can hold in our hands, or that we can use for something else.
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You can have a wallet set up and there's technologies they're working on and things right now to make that easier.
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um for individuals.
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Uh, but that can be a way to do it by streaming Satoshi SATS, uh, which are very, very small portions of
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of Bitcoin in uh to the show to help us with our costs.
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And we do have costs.
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We pay for hosting.
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We pay for equipment.
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We pay for um software and processing things.
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You can also go onto our website and on the site there is a widget embedded there that you can use PayPal to provide support to us, as well as a link to purchase credits.
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on a tool, a product we use called Auphonic to process audio.
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If you want to learn more about
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the whole value for value model.
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We have a write-up on our website about it.
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You could read that and then see how it is we apply it to what we're doing here on BioBytes.
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And you can head over to our website to see that
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uh by going to bible dash bytes dot com slash v for v.
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That's bible dash bytes with a y b-y-t-e-s dot com
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slash the letter V, the number four, and the letter V.
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We hope that you have prayer requests that you'd want to share with us.
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And we have a form on our website that you can
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use to to share those with us uh as well as you could send them in a booster gram uh through the modern podcast apps where you would send a message in um with satoshis where you're supporting us
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But we would hope that you'd share that so that we can work together with the audience, everyone listening and participating, to lift those up in prayer to the Lord.
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We have the same list of requests we've had for a couple weeks here.
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I want you to continue to remember my dad.
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I'm recording this on
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Thursday evening um on the 12th of December and in the morning he has a procedure um starting the process of preparing him for the treatment for the cancer
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So um remember him after this procedure when this case you'll hear this after that, that um it will help s continue the process and getting him into
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uh a mode of healing and that the Lord can touch him and and help those physicians as they work to help heal him and that the God can touch his body and heal him also that he may return to attending services and things.
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and be an active participant in congregation with others in praising and worshiping and serving the Lord.
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I remember my mom as well as she works her way through this situation.
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Um
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handling uh and helping with him with the situation and the treatment and the stress involved and everything.
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Um and that she also can return to come into service each week um in in service to the Lord
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Uh family friend Greg wanna remember him as well.
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He also has some has a treatments not treatment procedure coming up this week um that will guide him further along in that process of
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of finding and treating the cancer that they believe he has.
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I do have a praise report from the prayers about myself.
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I did have, as I told you last week,
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on the show.
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I had an I had a medical procedure done this week and they were looking for a place that I might be bleeding because I'm anemic.
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My I have some iron and hemoglobin levels that are low.
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Um
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In the process of the procedure, we did not find anything that was bleeding, which is a good sign.
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We were happy about that.
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Uh but they did find some polyps that
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look to be benign and those were removed and sent to histology to be checked out and examined uh and will follow up with me in sometime uh by the end of next week, beginning of the week after.
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So um
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Continue to remember me so until we get those results and also with the the journey I'm on for improving my health.
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Um I've got blood work coming up in about two weeks.
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um to check where I'm at and then we can adjust medication and things based off of that at that time
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As we do each and every week on the show after our prayer requests, let's go ahead and lift those up to the Lord before we talk about our next episode.
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Heavenly Father, we once again thank you for this chance, for this opportunity to share your word and to learn from it together.
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We lift up these requests that we have tonight
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My father, my mother, Greg, myself, you know the needs and you know how to address them best to meet your will in the world today and in our lives.
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Also, remember the requests that we may not know from the members of our audience that are unspoken at this time.
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You know the needs that are out there.
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You know how to best address those.
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And be with those individuals and those situations.
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That you provide an answer that is within the scope of your will for our lives
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We know that you hold the answers to those prayers.
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We know that
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Your wisdom will provide answers that meet those needs to best fit with your will.
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We thank you for the chance to work in work and strive each week and bringing your word.
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to the world, in hopes that someone might hear this, and it touches them.
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And if they're unsaved, that they come to know your son Jesus as their Savior.
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So they can then spend eternity in heaven
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With you and Jesus and all of us who are saved.
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It is in the name of your son, Jesus, that we pray.
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Amen.
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On our episode next week of Bible Bites, we're going to look at miracle number 25 in our series.
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And that is when Jesus heals a blind man in the town of Bethsidah.
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You can find that by looking in Mark chapter 8, verses 22 through 26.
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So join us then as 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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Bubble bites, bubble bites, inspiring fake one bite at a time This podcast was produced.
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at Johns Creek Studios in Milton, West Virginia.
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To learn more, head over to JohnsCreek Studios.
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com.
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John's Creek Studios, where podcast dreams come to life.