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Ruth 1:11-18
But Naomi said,“ Go home, my daughters. Why would you want to come with me? Am I going to have any more sons who could become your husbands?Go home, my daughters. I’m too old to have another husband. Suppose I thought there was still some hope for me. Suppose I married a man tonight. And later I had sons by him.Would you wait until they grew up? Would you stay single until you could marry them? No, my daughters. My life is more bitter than yours. The Lord’ s power has turned against me!”When they heard that, they broke down and wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother- in- law goodbye. But Ruth held on to her.“ Look,” said Naomi.“ Your sister- in- law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”But Ruth replied,“ Don’t try to make me leave you and go back. Where you go I’ll go. Where you stay I’ll stay. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God.Where you die I’ll die. And there my body will be buried. I won’t let even death separate you from me. If I do, may the Lord punish me greatly.”Naomi realized that Ruth had made up her mind to go with her. So she stopped trying to make her go back.
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Joshua 24:15-22
But suppose you don’t want to serve him. Then choose for yourselves right now whom you will serve. You can choose the gods your people served east of the Euphrates River. Or you can serve the gods of the Amorites. After all, you are living in their land. But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”Then the people answered Joshua,“ We would never desert the Lord! We would never serve other gods!The Lord our God himself brought us and our parents up out of Egypt. He brought us out of that land where we were slaves. With our own eyes, we saw those great signs he did. He kept us safe on our entire journey. He kept us safe as we traveled through all the nations.He drove them out to make room for us. That included the Amorites. They also lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord. That’s because he is our God.”Joshua said to the people,“ You aren’t able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He won’t forgive you when you disobey him. He won’t forgive you when you sin against him.Suppose you desert the Lord. Suppose you serve the gods that people in other lands serve. If you do, he will turn against you. He will bring trouble on you. He will destroy you, even though he has been good to you.”But the people said to Joshua,“ No! We will serve the Lord.”Then Joshua said,“ You are witnesses against yourselves. You have said that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”“ Yes. We are witnesses,” they replied.
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2 Samuel 15 19-2 Samuel 15 20
The king spoke to Ittai. He was from Gath. The king said to him,“ Why do you want to come along with us? Go back. Stay with King Absalom. You are an outsider. You left your own country.You came to join me only a short time ago. So why should I make you wander around with us now? I don’t even know where I’m going. So go on back. Take your people with you. And may the Lord be kind and faithful to you.”
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Luke 14:25-33
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. He turned and spoke to them. He said,“ Anyone who comes to me must hate their father and mother. They must hate their wife and children. They must hate their brothers and sisters. And they must hate even their own life. Unless they do this, they can’t be my disciple.Whoever doesn’t carry their cross and follow me can’t be my disciple.“ Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you sit down first and figure out how much it will cost? Then you will see whether you have enough money to finish it.Suppose you start building and are not able to finish. Then everyone who sees what you have done will laugh at you.They will say,‘ This person started to build but wasn’t able to finish.’“ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. And suppose he has 10,000 men, while the other has 20,000 coming against him. Won’t he first sit down and think about whether he can win?And suppose he decides he can’t win. Then he will send some men to ask how peace can be made. He will do this while the other king is still far away.In the same way, you must give up everything you have. Those of you who don’t cannot be my disciple.
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John 6:70
Then Jesus replied,“ Didn’t I choose you, the 12 disciples? But one of you is a devil!”
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Matthew 10:2
Here are the names of the 12 apostles. First there were Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. Then came James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John.