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Ruth 1:11-18
But Naomi said,“ Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me— even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother- in- law goodbye, but Ruth clung 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 urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
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Joshua 24:15-22
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”Then the people answered,“ Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”Joshua said to the people,“ You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after 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 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 said to Ittai the Gittite,“ Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland.You came only yesterday. And today shall I make you wander about with us, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your people with you. May the Lord show you kindness and faithfulness.”
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Luke 14:25-33
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:“ If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters— yes, even their own life— such a person cannot be my disciple.And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.“ Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you,saying,‘ This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’“ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
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John 6:70
Then Jesus replied,“ Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”
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Matthew 10:2
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon( who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;