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Warning Against Neglecting Such A Great Salvation, Hebrews 2:1-4
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Feb 19, 2025
Welcome back to our study of the book of Hebrews. In the last couple of weeks , we spent time in chapter 1. Its main emphasis was the presentation of Jesus as the only son of God, greater than the prophets and the angels. We also learned that Jesus's death is the only acceptable atonement for our sins before God. We also mentioned that his resurrection proved and authenticated His identity as the only Son of God because God gave him the name that is above every name, the name Lord. In chapter 2, verses 1 through 4, the writer is going to talk about the implications of everything he mentioned in chapter 1. He begins with a strong warning for those in the family of God that neglect the great salvation God has wrought through Jesus.
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hello guys this is taiba tives.com and
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welcome back to our study of the book of
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hebrews
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we finished chapter one last
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week and today we are going to start
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with chapter two
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now before i start i just want to let
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you guys know now when
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the writers were writing the the the
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gospels and the epistles
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and the books of the scriptures they
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didn't have like
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chapter division it was just uh their
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thoughts
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that they were penning down and it was
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uh some kind of a continuation of what
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they were saying so chapter two begins
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um with an interesting verse it says
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therefore
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or for this reason now before i get into
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it i just want to give you a quick uh
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synopsis a recap of what we've talked
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about in the past
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couple of weeks so we basically talked
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about
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how jesus was greater than the prophets
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and then jesus is greater than the
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angels and we also mentioned
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that the the prophets of old they were
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held
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in high esteem by the people the jewish
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people the jewish nation because
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through them god god spoke to the people
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often times the prophet will come and
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say
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thus assad's the lord and then he will
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give the oracle or whatever
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message god was bringing to the people
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so god used the old prophets as his
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mouth of peace so
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moses isaiah elijah
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just to name a few those were held in
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the highest esteem and then
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the angels as well because we we say
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that god brought the law
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through the angels okay so he used the
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angels to bring
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the mosaic law so we talked about that
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but then we said in the last days
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god has spoken to us through his son and
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we defined
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what that meant so jesus is the son of
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god the word became flesh
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so when jesus came he took upon a human
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nature
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he came as a babe and we know you guys
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know the story
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so we talked about how in the last day
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god has spoken to us through his son
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because the son he is the radiance of
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the glory of god
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and the exact imprint of his nature so
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we talked about all of that
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and we talked about how the son is
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seated at the right hand of god because
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he's co-equal with the father
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and we also said that he atoned for our
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sins
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so therefore he said he is able to save
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to the utmost
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those who come to him by faith so we
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talked about all of that so now
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the salvation that he has brought we
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talk about it so
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chapter two begins and chapter two in
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chapter two
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now that uh the author or the writer has
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set the stage he's going to explain why
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this is important
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so i'm gonna go ahead and i'm gonna
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begin and we're gonna read verses one
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through four today that's all we're
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gonna cover so hebrew chapter four
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two verses one through four now listen
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to the scripture
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therefore we must pay much closer
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attention
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to what we've heard lest we drift away
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from it
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for since the message declared by angels
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proved to be reliable
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and every transgression or disobedience
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received a just
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retribution how shall we escape if we
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neglect
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such a great salvation it was declared
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at first by the lord and it was attested
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to us by those who heard
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while god also bore witness by signs and
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wonders
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and various miracles and by gifts of the
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holy spirit
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distributed according to his will again
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this is the word of god
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so let's pay attention to what the
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scripture is telling us here
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so now we're going to try to understand
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and unpack all these verses
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so in verse 1 the scripture basically
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says
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therefore we must pay much closer
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attention
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to what we've heard lest we drift away
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from it
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so he's given us basically a strong
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warning
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that's the very fir first verse in
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chapter two
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and we have to remember that when these
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words were being penned down like i said
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there was no chapter division
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so in other words the the writer is just
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continuing
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his thoughts so he's not he's saying now
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that because of the reasons that i've
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given you
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okay what what what are those reasons
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jesus is greater than the prophet
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jesus is greater than the angels jesus
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being the son of god
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jesus atoning for our sins and jesus
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sitting
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at the right hand of god and being given
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the authority over all things
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because of those reasons the author is
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telling us that we have to
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pay careful attention to what has been
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handed down to us
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through the word of god by the apostles
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and god's
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emissaries okay and the warning is
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really really strong he's saying
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if we don't do that if we don't listen
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and pay attention to what we've been
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told
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through the word of god we will drift
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away from it
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okay and the word drift away means in
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this case
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uh if you neglect it then you slip from
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our mind you will kind of
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you will escape our minds and we don't
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want that so the author is telling us
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listen
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pay attention to what you've heard
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pay attention to the words of god
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because god has spoken to us through his
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son so
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don't let that slip from your mind don't
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let that escape your mind
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and the best way for me to explain this
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verse is to take a look at ii peter 1
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because i believe this is the practical
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application for this verse okay
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so let me let me go to second peter one
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and i'm gonna read you just a couple of
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things here listen to what peter says
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uh i'm gonna pick it up from verse three
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his divine power has granted to us
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all things that pertain to life and
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godliness
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through the knowledge of him who call us
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to his own glory and
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excellence by which he has granted to us
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his precious and very great
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promises so that through them you may
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partake
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you may become partakers of the divine
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nature having escaped
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from the corruption that is in the world
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because of sinful desire
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for this very reason make every effort
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to supplement your faith with virtue and
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virtue with knowledge
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and knowledge with self-control and
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self-control with steadfastness
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and steadfastness with godliness and
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godliness with brotherly affection
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and brotherly affection with love four
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if these qualities are yours
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and are increasing they keep you from
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being ineffective
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or unfruitful in the knowledge of our
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lord
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jesus christ for whoever lacks
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these qualities is so near-sighted that
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he is blind
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having forgotten that he was he was
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cleansed from his former sins
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therefore brothers be all the more
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diligent
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to confirm your calling and election for
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if you practice these qualities
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you will never fall for in this way
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that will be richly provided for you an
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entrance into the
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eternal kingdom of our lord and savior
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jesus
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christ you see the scripture so we are
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told
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don't neglect spiritual disciplines
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don't neglect these things
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those words that were given to us pay
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attention to spend time in the presence
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of god because if you don't do these
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things
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then what's going to happen is your work
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with christ is not going to be
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consistent
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you're going to be up and down up and
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down and this is not how god want us to
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walk
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so when we neglect those spiritual
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disciplines when we neglect the reading
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of the word
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of god when we neglect prayer when we
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neglect meditation
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and fellowship with other believers our
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spiritual fervor
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grows dim and we begin to drift and
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having no sense of direction that's what
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happens so the author is
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warning us he's giving us a strong
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warning please
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pay closer attention to what you've
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heard
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lest you drift away from it we don't
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want to drift in life he's addressing
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primarily believers so this is a strong
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warning for us today
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and you read it from what peter is
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saying second peter chapter one
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okay now this takes me to verse two
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verse two and three
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i wanna read those two together now the
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scripture says for since the message
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declared by angels proved to be reliable
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and every transgression or disobedience
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received a just retribution how shall we
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escape
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if we neglect such a great salvation it
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was declared at first by the lord and it
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was attested to us by
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those who heard so basically in verse 2
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he's shown us that the weightiness and
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the danger of neglecting what we've
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heard
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and the way he's doing it is he's
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contrasting it with what the angels
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had said in the past through the mosaic
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law okay
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so as we saw in chapter one god used the
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angels
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for the giving of the law on mount sinai
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you're gonna read that soon in galatians
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3 19 and
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acts 7 53 i'm going to take you then in
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a little bit but
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what god did was god protected the
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authenticity of his word
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by upholding the holiness of his
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character
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and we saw that with the account of
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nadab and abyhu when they offered
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unauthorized fire they died before the
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lord because they did not obey the word
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of god
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and when the people of israel didn't
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obey god they
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drifted in life and there were
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consequences so god
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chastened them so god maintained and
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confirmed the validity
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of his word which he put into effect
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through his holy angels
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okay and the author is telling us that
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if this is how god treated
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the word given by angels how much more
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will he uphold the word given by his own
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son
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okay jesus so again we saw in chapter
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one that the sun fire
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exceeds the angels in his authority
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because he is
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god himself he is god incarnate so
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and god will not overlook sins okay so
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the warning to us is this
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let's not cheapen the grace of god okay
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so and there's there's a lot of
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preachers in our day and age
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that basically make
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god as if he's like this kind of uh
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cosmic um santa claus in a sense that
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they say we are no longer under the law
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we are under grace
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so therefore god does not uh
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discipline his children that is not true
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and the the way they define
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judgment and the judgment of god is that
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god
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does not discipline his children anymore
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we see that this is not true at all
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because if you go
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through the scriptures you even see
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ananias and sapphira
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when they lied to the holy spirit they
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died before the lord
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so this message is telling us here like
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we cannot escape
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this such we cannot escape the the
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discipline of god
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okay if we neglect such a great
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salvation
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this is a great salvation that jesus has
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wrought
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for us so if we neglect it do you think
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god is going to be okay with it because
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this is the son that perish on the cross
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because of my sins and because of your
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sins
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and the way god upheld the holiness of
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his character through the angels
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how much more do you think he's going to
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do that with jesus
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so primarily this is saying as believers
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we have to be very careful
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not to neglect the word of god not to
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neglect what we've heard because if we
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do so
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that's going to be disciplined because
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the scripture clearly tells us
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god disciplines whom he loves and it is
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a dreadful thing
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thing to fall under the the hands of
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uh the chastening of god we don't want
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that okay so we are told
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please pay attention don't let this
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drift away from you
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don't let this slip from your mind pay
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attention
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practice those spiritual discipline lest
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you you you suffer
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the wrath of god now for us christians
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we know that once once saved
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you can't lose your salvation again this
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is like opening a can of worm because
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people may disagree
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but what i'm gonna say to you is this if
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god is the one that is doing the
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salvation in you
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he's going to make sure that he finishes
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what he has started
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now this message here is primarily for
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christians
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as christians if we neglect this
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spiritual discipline there's going to be
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repercussions
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we're going to have to be disciplined by
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god but those who are not of the family
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of god
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for them it is worse news because this
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is eternal damnation
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so we have to be very careful to listen
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and heed the word of god
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lest we fall under god's discipline so
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let's continue
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so i just want to take a quick look at a
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brief look at the law real quick okay so
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if you go to
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galatians chapter 3 verse 15 to 21 and
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and acts 7 53 i'm gonna read
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something to you here because we need to
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understand the law
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so in acts 7 52-53 this is stephen
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he's talking to his fellow jews before
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he stoned to death
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listen to what he says which of the
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prophets did your fathers not persecute
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and they killed those who announced
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beforehand
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the coming of the righteous one whom you
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have now betrayed
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and murdered you you will receive the
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law as delivered
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by angels and did not keep it so the law
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was delivered by angels
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and the people did not keep it so now
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let's go to galatians 5
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verse 18 to 19.
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listen to what the scripture says here
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for if the inheritance comes by the law
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it no longer comes by promise but god
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gave it to abraham by promise god was
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the only one speaking to abraham okay
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let's remember
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that now why then the law it was added
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because of transgressions until the
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offspring should come to whom
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the promise had been made and it was put
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in place
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through angels by an immediate now a
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mediator
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implies more than one but god is one
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okay so basically what is the role of
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the law because we need to understand
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that okay
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the law was put into fact effect because
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of transgressions
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the law was supposed to point us to
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jesus christ because through the law
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we are to understand our inability to
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please god for the law
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could not impart life because through
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the law we saw her dead
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we were so understanding the purpose of
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the law is crucial to understanding
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verse 3
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and 2 of hebrews chapter 2 because we
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saw in chapter 1 that jesus the son of
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god is greater than the angels
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now the law was put into effect by the
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angels and when the people of god
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disobey
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the law they were chastened by god if
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this is how
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god protected the integrity of his
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message
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through the angels how much more will he
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do it for his own son
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okay so we need to understand the
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weightiness of this verse so the author
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is telling us listen
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this is if this is how god held uh
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the law that was given by the angels to
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to this
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kind of standard how much more do you
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think he would treat
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us okay if we neglect such a great
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salvation
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that was wrought by his son so we have
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to pay attention
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because if we if the people of all
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didn't escape
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the chastening of god through the angels
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messages
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through the law how much more do you
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think god is going to treat
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us if we neglect his the words that came
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from his son's mouth because the
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scripture says
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in chapter one long ago god spoke
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through us
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to us by the prophet but in these last
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days
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he has spoken to us by his son whom he
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appointed
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the heir of all things so god will not
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overlook our neglect he's going to
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chasten us he's going to discipline us
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because he loves us
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now for those who are his children he
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loves us and he's going to discipline us
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so we need to pay attention and if you
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if
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if these words are like resonating with
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you right now i'm praying for you
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that god will use this chapter two of
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hebrews two
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to awaken you spiritually to to pay
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attention to the word of god more
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carefully and to heed
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those words because they are able to
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save us okay
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and let's continue now we also learn
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from verse 3 that jesus
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jesus declared the salvation that god
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wrought through him
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and later on his disciples now apostles
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also confirmed what they heard
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and they they confirmed what they heard
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and saw and were taught by jesus and
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that's going to take us to verse 4 which
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is our last verse for the day
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so the scripture says while god also
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brought witness by signs and wonders and
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various miracles and by gifts
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of the holy spirit distributed according
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to his will
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so we read that god authenticated
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the witness and the messages of the
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apostles because he granted them
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signs and wonders and various activities
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that were done by the holy spirit okay
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the emphasis again is not on the apostle
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but the emphasis here was on the holy
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spirit we enabled them to perform the
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work of god
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so we learn from verses one through four
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that
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we need to hit the word of god because
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the salvation that we've received
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is of great importance and we're going
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to read more about it in verse 5 and the
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rest
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well now the author is telling us
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because of
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every reason that he's given us in
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chapter one we have to be very careful
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not to neglect
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the salvation that we've been given
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because jesus christ
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spoke about it when he came because he
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is the the word of god and he became
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flesh
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and he spoke about it and the apostle
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also bought witness to
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the message that jesus gave them by
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signs and wonders
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and by various activities of the holy
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spirit so god
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authenticates his message through jesus
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and through the apostles so
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with all these things we have to be very
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careful
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not to neglect him because this is his
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final revelation
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his son his son was a final revelation
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and then
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after his son left after jesus ascended
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back into heaven which we saw in chapter
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one
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now the role of the apostles and and and
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so to speak the disciple of jesus was to
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carry on the ministry and the ministry
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was attested
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by the holy spirit and the working of
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the holy spirit in their lives
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so right now we have too much evidence
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to neglect
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such a great salvation now think about
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it we have the word of god
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we have all the entire bible we have the
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old testament
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we have the new testament we have so
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much evidence today so
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why are we so spiritually bankrupt okay
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we need to pay attention because
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the weight is heavy okay we don't have
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any excuses
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in the old testament didn't have the
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full counsel of the word of god today we
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have
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everything we have the old we have the
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new
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we have we we've been given so much
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yet we neglect these things to our own
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destruction
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and but god is not going to stay silent
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if we are the children of god he's going
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to chasten us
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he's going to make sure that we are
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disciplined and that we get back into
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into the right track and my job today is
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to
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to call that to attention i'm saying
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please if this is speaking to you
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because he's speaking to me because i
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know how hard it is
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to stay focused and to stay consistent
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and to have
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a consistency in your spiritual work is
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not easy
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but the salvation that god has has done
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for us
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through jesus is a great salvation and
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our job is to say it
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to everybody that we see we need to
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learn about it we need to spend time in
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this world
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understand what this means and give it
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to other people because that's the
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commission
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go and make disciples but how can we
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make disciples who fear ourselves don't
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understand
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what god has done through jesus christ
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so we cannot neglect these things
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there's too many too much evidence and
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there's too much that's at stake
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okay i know god is sovereign and i know
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that
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god um through his divine election calls
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people
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but that doesn't mean that we neglect it
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because guess what the scripture also
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says
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it is god who works in us both to will
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and act
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according to his good purpose so if the
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holy spirit is speaking to you
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then don't neglect it okay don't just
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sit there and be lazy
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get into the word of god spend time with
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god's people
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and god speaks all the time so that's
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all i wanted to say today i hope this
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message message is going to help you and
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i'm looking forward to see you next week
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again okay thank you and have a
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wonderful day