WEBVTT

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This is your daily reminder. God has not run

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out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome

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to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome. Today is

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Tuesday, March the 24th, and we are in a very

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powerful passage of Scripture today. But before

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we get into that, if you are new, go ahead and

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hit that like or subscribe or follow button so

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that you don't miss an episode Monday through

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Saturday every single day as we jump into God's

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Word together and go through a reading plan that

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our church family gets to walk through together

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as we get ready for Sunday. Every Sunday, every

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week, Sunday comes. every single week, first

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day of the week, and it is the time we celebrate

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a risen Savior. All four gospel accounts explain

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that the resurrection of Jesus happened on the

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first day of the week, so the early church began

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to meet on Sunday rather than on the Sabbath.

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That's important for us to know because Christianity

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is built on this beautiful miracle of Jesus conquering

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death, hell, and the grave, and every week we

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gather to celebrate that. And so I'm encouraged

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today to walk alongside you as we look at this

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passage of Scripture in the book of Luke today,

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chapter 23, verses 26 through the end of the

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chapter. As we look through this and check out

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this text, I want to just say there's a lot that

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happens in these next few verses. I'm not going

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to read any of the text officially today. I want

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to give us an overview and just a couple of thoughts

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as we look at it. Here's the lens that I'm looking

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at this today in. As I was reading it and trying

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to figure out, God, what do you want me to share

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on the podcast? What do you want me to share

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on this time that we have together? A little

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bit shorter episode probably today as we just

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look at the overview. So we've seen now and what's

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taken place, Jesus was betrayed. He was arrested

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under false pretenses. He was beat up. He was

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put in front of one leader. Then he was put in

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front of another and then another. And then he

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was mocked again. And then he was ridiculed.

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And then he was put in front of another. Then

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the crowd would not release him. They said, don't

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release him. Let him die. Let him be crucified.

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Now we pick up the scene. Jesus is going to the

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cross. He's going to the place where he would

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die and pour his blood out. Now the scene begins

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with Jesus and this guy named Simon of Cyrene.

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He's a guy that's just an onlooker passing by.

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I think about this guy a lot, actually, whenever

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I read this narrative. He's a guy in Jerusalem,

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there for Passover. This guy is being sent up

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for capital punishment, and he's looking on.

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Imagine, there's a crowd that has gathered. There's

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people that are watching him. Jesus stumbling

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with the beam of wood that's on his back, and

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a guard just grabs this guy named Simon and says,

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Pick up the cross. It is a command. It's not

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a suggestion. It's not who wants to volunteer.

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It's you pick up this cross. I think about this

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guy quite a lot. I wonder, if I'm standing there,

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how this seems, how this looks. He's been beaten.

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He's been stripped. He's been bloody. Jesus is

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not looking like a great, clean person at this

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point. He has been beaten. He's been stripped.

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He's bleeding everywhere. And this cross, this

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beam is going to be bloody. And this guy, Simon,

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picks up this cross and carries it to the final

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destination. I think about him and think about

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how he does what we kind of do, right? He picks

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up a cross, but he doesn't die. Jesus died on

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the cross. He gave his entire life. What does

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Jesus tell us to do? Pick up our cross. We have

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a burden to bear. As a believer, everything that

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I share whenever I talk to people in our church

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and Christians around the world, I like to encourage

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them and say, you know, Jesus tells us to bear

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your cross, right? Pick up your cross and follow

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him. We do have a little bit of a burden to bear.

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I'm a very joyful person. And I have a lot to

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be thankful for, and I'm very joyful in all the

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things that I get to experience in life. But

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there's also a bit of a burden, this spiritual

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weight that's on me, because I live in a world

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of sin, and I live in a fleshly body that has

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these natural tendencies to go away from the

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will of God. He tells us, Bear your cross, but

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follow him. Simon literally does that. He bears

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the cross of Jesus, and he walks with him up

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to the place of the skull, Golgotha. This is

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a skull -shaped mountainside, most likely. I

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have been to the Holy Land. I've seen the area

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they believe the cross was, and it is a powerful.

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powerful presence. When I was standing in the

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garden where the tomb was, I was looking and

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seeing how this must have played out, and very

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emotional and very heavy. And I'm trying not

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to get too emotional right now, thinking about

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how incredible this scene was that took place.

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But as this text goes on, you've got the scene

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of Simon and how he fits into the narrative.

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Then you've got these ladies that were following

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after Jesus, and they were weeping, they were

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mourning as they were following him. Here's what

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I want to point out. Not one woman in the gospel

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accounts was an enemy of Jesus. Not one. Not

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one spoke up against him. Not one called out

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against him. Not one spoke an ugly word. Jesus,

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not one. And I also know Jesus wasn't an enemy

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of women. He was always giving them dignity.

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The news of the birth of the Savior came to a

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peasant woman. The miraculous things that God

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did through Jesus and through the miracles happened

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with women. And I look at even the news of the

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resurrection of Jesus was discovered and revealed

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to women. Jesus was a friend to women. He was

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always showing dignity and showing honor and

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showing respect. I've preached before to a group

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of men and said, if you would be more like Jesus,

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your wife or your significant other, your girlfriend,

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your person, they would like you more. And how

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do I know that? Because they liked Jesus. They

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liked him. What's not to like? He's a guy who's

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kind. He's wise. He's peaceful. He's giving,

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showing value. We need to be more like Jesus,

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men. If you're more like Jesus, the women that

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are in your life, your spouse, your kids, your

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daughters, the people around, they will like

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you more. Jesus was a friend of women. These

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women seeing this thing has happened, they're

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seeing this injustice of this man's death, and

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Jesus even kind of adjusts the view a little

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bit. He says, don't mourn over me. Mourn over

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the fact that there's a lot of destruction of

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a whole nation coming. Now, he's warning against

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something that we'll talk about probably in another

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episode, but as he's telling these women this,

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he's looking past this moment, and they're just

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brokenhearted. I cannot help but think, why are

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the men not more like Jesus? If you want your

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wife to love you more and to show you more respect,

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be like Jesus. Jesus was always favored by women.

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They loved him. They cared for him. They're the

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ones that mourned and wept as he was on his way

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to the cross. I can't express that enough, how

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powerful of the moment this is. After we see

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Jesus with the women, the scene continues. Then

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we see Jesus with the criminals. Jesus with the

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criminals on the cross. Isaiah 53 and Luke 22,

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they say that the Son of Man must be among the

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transgressors. meaning he's going to be hanging

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between two thieves. He's going to be in between

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all of those that have transgressed. And the

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scene that takes place is beautiful and incredible.

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After we see Jesus with the criminals, we see

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Jesus with the Father. He's praying to the Father

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while he's on the cross. And as he's praying,

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he says, I've finished your mission. So into

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your hands, I commend my spirit. I'm going to

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give up the ghost. I'm going to give it to you

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because I've completed the mission. In that moment,

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the temple veil, the curtain that separated us

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from the holy place, the presence of God has

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been ripped from top to bottom. The access is

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now granted. That's what happened in the moments

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of the end of the cross scene. Then we see Jesus

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and the guy named Joseph of Arimathea. He's a

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faithful man, a God -fearing man. We see this

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scene take place even after Jesus has passed

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away. After he has died on the cross, we see

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this guy named Joseph come up and how he interacts

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with the body of the Lord. And this is rolling

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into the Sabbath day. He's got to get preparations

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done and take care of the body because there

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are rules and laws that you couldn't handle a

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dead body. those that have died on the Sabbath

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or it would make you unclean. So he takes care

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of this in these moments. This is a powerful

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passage of Scripture. You know if you've been

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around the podcast very long, you're going to

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be listening and reading this a couple of times.

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I'm going to be talking about it on Sunday, Lord

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willing. This is the plan and the process. So

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it's a heavy chapter. Just know all of these

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scenes are Jesus with somebody. Even in his death,

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he is still with us. I want you to be encouraged

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today. I want you to be challenged today. Read

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the Word. Allow it to soak into your heart and

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see what will happen today.