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Hi, everyone. This is episode 1 65 on

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the podcast, and we thank you once again

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for joining us. Today's episode is gonna be

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a really short 1. We just have a

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couple quick announcements to make on this episode.

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And the first 1 is 1 that Always

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excited to make, and that is the August

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summer challenge. This will be our fourth annual

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summer memo challenge we've done psalm 01:03,

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ephesians 1.

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And last year, song 25.

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And this year, really excited to be doing

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Romans chapter 6. If you're looking for some

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motivation to join this year's summer rem amortization

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challenge, maybe other years you've tried and given

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up or you didn't even try because it

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didn't interest you. But you're needing a little

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motivation. We'd encourage you to go back to

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episode 24

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where we give 10 reasons to tackle our

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August summer challenge.

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But, Matthew, I think we don't need to

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repeat all those 10 reasons. I think, though

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you have an eleventh reason maybe something that

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you've God that's fresh for you and that

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you can share with us to motivate us

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to to memorize this important chapter. Yeah. In

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our quickbooks books and parchment

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episode a few weeks ago, I mentioned from

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this book, the insanity of God, a great

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story that teaches us the value of memorizing

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scripture.

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And,

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the author is reflecting on, his time in

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Russia and he was talking with people there,

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about how their faith, how the and faith

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survived how the church survived through communist

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persecution. And he was speaking of this event

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back in the fifties. So in the fifties,

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they had AAA number of

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small house churches that were spring up in

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Russia,

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but

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the

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believers who were part of these churches really

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had no interaction outside of their very small

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group of 10 or 20 people. And, of

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course, the the leaders of these groups began

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to wonder, hey, how how are these young

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people going to meet other Christians so that

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they can marry other Christians. So they had

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this bold, some would say foolish idea of

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organizing, like a big youth conference in Moscow

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and inviting all of the young unmarried members

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of all of these house church that they

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knew from 18 to 30 years of age

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to meet and encourage 1 another.

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And, of course, they're hoping that there would

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be some... They called us some spiritual cross

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poll nation between the different house church foods.

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And some people thought this is kinda foolish.

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Like, don't you think if you've got 700

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young believers

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in Moscow in the early 19 fifties. Obviously,

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the the communist government is gonna be aware

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of this, and they were actually because when

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the event was all over

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the 3 pastors who had led that were

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all arrested in sentenced to prison for 3

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years each.

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But I know they think it was worth

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it.

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And 1 of the interesting stories they tell,

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so this this hasn't really been planned. But

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at the beginning of the conference,

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the young people were given a very interesting

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challenge.

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None of them had owned a Bible.

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Boy, we take that for granted don't we,

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but they did not own a Bible. They

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never had him books or song books or

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any recordings of Christian music.

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So

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at that conference they were challenged to determine,

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you know, how how much bible truth is

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present in this group. So they said this

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will be like a game. Every day this

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week, we want you to gather in small

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groups. And we want you to see how

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much of the 4 gospel Matthew Mark Luke

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and John. You know and have memorized it

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and in the group as a whole. What

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can you piece together. So in your group,

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see how much the gospel you can recreate?

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And then do the same thing with songs

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and him, and let's see how much of

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that can be reproduced by memory.

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At the end of the conference when they

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compared and combine the efforts of all the

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different small groups, the young people had

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recreated all of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

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with only about a half dozen mistakes. Remarkable.

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And they had recreated the lyrics of more

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than 1200 songs and him of the faith

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from their memory.

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So,

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Nick Rip in the author of the insanity

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of God book says it became clear to

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me in an instant why and how the

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Christian faith had survived and often thrived under

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decades

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of communist depression in the Soviet Union. I

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also understood what had enabled so many Russian

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believers to remain strong and faithful.

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Yeah. What a great story. They had the

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word of God in their heart

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and We want it in our mind so

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that it can rest in our hearts and

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be active there. And I'm I'm excited about

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this. Mike, Romans 6 what a what a

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fantastic passage of scripture to memorize.

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I think it's gonna be a wonderful experience

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for us this summer. Yeah. Well, that story

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definitely inspires me to pick up the tap

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of memorizing again. It's it's at least we

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can do. Right? And and what a chapter

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to have with us if we were 1

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day

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persecuted or in car rated or anything or

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or even just...

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For some reason, it lose our ability to

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read. Right? Mh. Romans chapter 6 is an

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awesome chapter. I'm I'm sure it's

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I'm sure it's had a big impact on

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you in your life, Matthew. It certainly has

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in mind. It's been a huge part of

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me learning how to fight temptation.

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And learning about my union with Christ and

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learning the nature of true freedom. And so

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I I think I think this will be

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a great time. Where We're planning to start

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the challenge on July 28 officially. There. There

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will be a post come on our website.

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Pratt called you website with a schedule.

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But, officially, we'll start memorizing on July 20

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eighth, and then

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at the end of each of those weeks.

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So on on the Sunday night, we will

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drop an episode that covers the previous 4

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or 5 versus that we that we collectively

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memorized. So Of course, you can still... As

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says, we always say you can still benefit

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from those episodes, even if you're not memorizing,

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but I think the way to get the

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maximum benefit of both memorizing and the episodes

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is to do it altogether. And as Mike

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has just said, there's so much value in

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scripts or memo. Yes fighting temptation, even just

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keeping our minds on an even ke, and

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the liberty to

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quote scripture and conversations with people, whether that's

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debates with un believers or or in our

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own preaching or something like that.

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We do want to have a a few

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extra prizes for you as well.

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Again, you'll have a choice,

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perhaps of some books And we also still

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have some of the to,

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practicality, prince of piece sweatshirt. They're lovely. And

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we'd be happy to be able to give

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some of those away as well. Correct? Yeah.

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We have a small second limit in run

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of them. And, yeah. There'll be Dolby options

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for for choosing a prize

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everyone, though, who finishes and who lets us

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know at the end that they successfully memorized

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Romans 6 will get a prize, and you'll

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have some choice

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in in the matter,

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although there is a limited number of the

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sweatshirt. So once those are gone, you'll have

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to choose something else. But but, yeah, the

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the real value is in the actual chapter

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that's memorized of course. Yeah. So anything else

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that we need to say about about summer

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challenge there Matthew. I don't think Soc said

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that's going to come out first on August

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the fourth

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So until that time, Mike? Yeah. Until that

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time, you and I are taking a holiday,

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not not together. I'm not sure that that

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would be a holiday, but

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we're taking a break from the podcast any

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case. I've got some travel plans, and, a

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mini holiday for our family plan.

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And I don't know what you got going,

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Matthew, but we just we just feel our

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schedules need a little break. So we're gonna

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take a few weeks off. So don't forget

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about us. It doesn't mean the toxicology podcast

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has ceased when you don't see a new

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1 come out on July the fourteenth,

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but we will be back with you in

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August Lord Willing. Thanks so much for tuning

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in. And we'll look forward to going through

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Romans 6 with you. Hey, man. We'll see

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you then.