May 23 – Wisdom That Guides

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Welcome to Bible Chat, where we
have devotional conversations

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rooted in Scripture and relevant
for today, May 20. 3rd wisdom

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that guides every single day
you’re making choices, big ones

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and small ones.
Who to spend time with, what to

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do when nobody’s watching,
whether to say something or stay

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quiet, whether to take the easy
path or the right one.

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And in the middle of all those
decisions, there’s a question

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worth asking.
What are you actually valuing?

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What’s guiding your choices?
Because whatever you value most

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will shape the direction your
life moves.

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Proverbs chapter 16, verses 16
and 17 are strikingly direct.

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How much better to get wisdom
than gold?

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To get understanding is to be
chosen rather than silver.

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The highway of the upright is
level.

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The path of the wicked is
crooked.

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The comparison is between wisdom
and wealth, and the verdict is

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clear.
Wisdom wins, not because money

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is evil, but because wisdom is
the thing that actually makes

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your life work.
It guides your relationships,

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your decisions, your responses.
Under pressure, gold can run

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out.
Trends change, popularity

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shifts.
But wisdom, the kind that comes

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from God, steadies your path in
ways that nothing else can.

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And notice the image of the
highway.

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The path of the upright is
level.

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Not easy, necessarily, but
level.

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There’s a stability to it, a
steadiness.

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The path of someone who ignores
wisdom is crooked, full of

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detours, dead ends, consequences
that pile up.

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You’ve probably already seen
this play out in real life.

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The choices that seem like
shortcuts often create more

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complications than they solve.
The right path, the wise path,

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is often the harder one in the
moment, but the more level one

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over time.
Galatians chapter 3 verse 23

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gives us important context now.
Before faith came, we were held

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captive under the law,
imprisoned until the coming

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faith would be revealed.
Before Jesus, the only way to

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try to get right with God was
through perfect rule keeping and

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nobody could do it.
It was exhausting and it left

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people trapped.
But then Galatians chapter 4,

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verses four and five break open
with good news.

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When the fullness of time had
come, God sent forth his Son,

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born of woman, born under the
law, to redeem those who were

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under the law, so that we might
receive adoption as sons.

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God didn’t just send a better
set of rules.

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He sent his Son, and through
Jesus, we aren’t just people

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trying to perform well enough to
earn favor.

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We are adopted, we belong to the
family of God, we have a new

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identity, and from that place of
belonging and love, wisdom

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becomes not a burden to carry,
but a gift to receive and walk

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in.
This changes the whole frame.

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You’re not trying to be wise so
that God will accept you.

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You’re already accepted, already
loved, already His, and wisdom

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is how you walk in the life He’s
given you.

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It flows from relationship, not
from striving.

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So what does it look like
practically?

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It might mean pausing before you
react.

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It might mean asking God for
guidance before you make a

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decision you’ll regret.
It might mean choosing the

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honest, harder conversation over
the comfortable, avoidant one.

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It might mean standing out from
the crowd, not to be different

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for the sake of it, but because
you’ve chosen the level highway

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over the crooked path.
And here’s the beautiful thing.

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You don’t have to generate that
wisdom on your own.

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James chapter 1 tells us that if
anyone lacks wisdom, they should

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ask God, who gives generously.
You have access, ask.

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Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for

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wisdom that is worth more than
anything this world offers.

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Thank you for sending Jesus so
that I am no longer trapped

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trying to earn your approval.
But I’m freely loved as your

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child.
Help me to value understanding

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over status and to choose the
level path even when the crooked

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1 looks easier.
Guide me today in every choice,

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every conversation, every
crossroads.

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I need your wisdom and I trust
you to give it in Jesus name,

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Amen.
What if the battles hitting your

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family are not random and your
home can become a place where

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darkness loses every right to
stay?

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The Secured Home is a powerful
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unrest, and spiritual
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confronts oppression, torment,
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Now I invite you to spend time

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with God in today’s three-year
Bible reading plan.

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Proverbs chapter 16, verses 16
to 17 World English Bible How

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much better it is to get wisdom
than gold?

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Yes, to get understanding is to
be chosen rather than silver.

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The highway of the upright is to
depart from evil.

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He who keeps his way preserves
his soul.

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Galatians, Chapters 3 to 4.
World English Bible.

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Foolish Galatians, who has
bewitched you not to obey the

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truth before whose eyes Jesus
Christ was openly portrayed

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among you as crucified?
I just want to learn this from

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you.
Did you receive the Spirit by

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the works of the law, or by
hearing of faith?

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Are you so foolish?
Having begun in the Spirit, are

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you now completed in the flesh?
Did you suffer so many things in

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vain?
If it is indeed in vain, He

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therefore who supplies the
Spirit to you, and does miracles

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among you, does He do it by the
works of the law, or by hearing

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of faith, even as Abraham
believed God, and it was counted

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to him for righteousness.
Know therefore, that those who

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are of faith are children of
Abraham.

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The Scripture, foreseeing that
God would justify the Gentiles

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by faith, preached the good news
beforehand to Abraham, saying,

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In you, All the nations will be
blessed.

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So then those who are of faith
are blessed with the faithful

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Abraham.
For as many as are of the works

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of the law are under a curse.
For it is written.

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Curse.
It is everyone who doesn’t

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continue in all things that are
written in the book of the Law

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to do them now that no man is
justified by the law before God

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is evident.
For the righteous will live by

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faith.
The law is not a faith, but the

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man who does them will live by
them.

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Christ redeemed us from the
curse of the Law, having become

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a curse for us.
For it is written.

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Curse it is everyone who hangs
on a tree, that the blessing of

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Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through Christ Jesus,

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that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit through

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faith.
Brothers Speaking of human

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terms, though it is only a man’s
covenant, yet when it has been

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confirmed, no one makes it void
or adds to it.

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Now the promises were spoken to
Abraham and to his offspring.

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He doesn’t say to descendants as
of many, but as of 1 to your

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offspring, which is Christ.
Now I say this, a covenant

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confirmed beforehand by God in
Christ, the law, which came 430

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years after, does not annul, so
as to make the promise of no

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effect.
For if the inheritance is of the

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law, it is no more of promise,
but God has granted it to

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Abraham by promise.
Then why is there the law?

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It was added because of
transgressions, until the

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offspring should come to whom
the promise has been made.

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It was ordained through angels
by the hand of a Mediator.

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Now a mediator is not between
1:00, but God is. 1.

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Is the law then against the
promises of God?

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Certainly not.
For if there had been a law

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given which could make alive,
most certainly righteousness

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would have been of the law.
But the Scripture imprisoned all

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things under sin, that the
promise by faith in Jesus Christ

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might be given to those who
believe.

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But before faith came, we were
kept in custody under the law,

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confined for the faith which
should afterwards be revealed,

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so that the Law has become our
tutor to bring us to Christ,

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that we might be justified by
faith.

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But now that faith has come, we
are no longer under a tutor.

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For you are all children of God
through faith in Christ Jesus.

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For as many of you as we’re
baptized into Christ have put on

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Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek.

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There is neither slave nor
freeman.

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There is neither male nor
female, for you are all one in

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Christ Jesus.
If you are Christ S, then you

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are Abraham’s offspring and
heirs according to promise.

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But I say that so long as the
heir is a child, he is no

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different from a bond servant,
though he is Lord of all, but is

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under guardians and stewards
until the day appointed by the

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Father.
So we also, when we were

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children, were held in bondage
under the elemental principles

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of the world.
But when the fullness of the

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time came, God sent out his Son,
born to a woman, born under the

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law, that he might redeem those
who were under the law, that we

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might receive the adoption of
children.

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And because you are children,
God sent out the spirit of his

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Son into your hearts, crying,
ABBA Father.

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So you are no longer a bond
servant, but a son, and if a

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son, then an heir of God through
Christ.

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However, at that time, not
knowing God, you were in bondage

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to those who by nature are not
gods.

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But now that you have come to
know God, or rather to be known

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by God, why do you turn back
again to the weak and miserable

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elemental principles to which
you desire to be in bondage all

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over again?
You observe days, months,

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seasons, and years.
I’m afraid for you that I might

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have wasted my labor for you.
I beg you, brothers, become as I

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am, for I also have become as
you are.

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You did me no wrong, but you
know that because of weakness in

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the flesh, I preached the good
news to you the first time, that

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which was a temptation to you in
my flesh you didn’t despise nor

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reject, but you received me as
an Angel of God, even as Christ

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Jesus.
What was the blessing you

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enjoyed?
For I testify to you that if

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possible, you would have plucked
out your eyes and given them to

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me.
So then have I become your enemy

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by telling you the truth.
They zealously seek you in no

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good way.
No, they desire to alienate you

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that you may seek them.
But it is always good to be

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zealous in a good cause, and not
only when I am present with you,

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my little children, of whom I am
again in travail, until Christ

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is formed in you, but I could
wish to be present with you now

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and to change my tone, for I am
perplexed about you.

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Tell me you that desire to be
under the law.

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Don’t you listen to the law.
For it is.

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Written that Abraham had two
sons, one by the servant and one

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by the free woman.
However, the sun by the servant

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was born according to the flesh,
but the sun by the free woman

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was born through promise.
These things contain an

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allegory, for these are two
covenants. 1 is from Mount Sinai

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bearing children to bondage,
which is Hagar.

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For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in
Arabia and answers to the

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Jerusalem that exists now.
For she is in bondage with her

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children, but the Jerusalem that
is above is free, which is the

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mother of us all.
For it is written.

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Rejoice, you barren who don’t
bear, break out and shout, you

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who don’t travail.
For the desolate have more

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children than her who has a
husband.

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Now we brothers as Isaac was,
are children of promise.

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But as then he who was born
according to the flesh

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persecuted him who was born
according to the Spirit, so also

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it is now.
However, what does the Scripture

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say?
Throw out the servant and her

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son, for the son of the servant
will not inherit with the son of

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the free woman.
So then, brothers, we are not

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children of a servant, but of
the free woman.

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Thanks for joining us on Bible
Chat, where Scripture meets

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00:12:51,400 –> 00:12:54,600
everyday life.
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you, share it with a friend and
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Until next time, stay rooted in
truth, anchored in hope and

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00:13:03,880 –> 00:13:05,360
walking.
Daily with Jesus.