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Hey there, this is Jen Wade, part of the core team here at Springs Church.

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We just want to say thank you so much for joining us and listening to our podcast.

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We are praying that it encourages you and it inspires you.

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And if you'd like to find out more about Springs Church, please visit our website springschurch.co.uk.

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Here's today's message.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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God, we just want to say thank you for your goodness to us.

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Is there anyone in the room who has known God's goodness in their lives?

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Is there anyone?

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Come on.

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If you've known God's goodness in your life, will you just throw your hand up?

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People take a look around.

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There's a lot of stories in this room of the goodness of God.

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Thank you so much.

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Hey, listen, if it's your first time here at Springs Church once again, it is so good

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to see you.

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Friends new, friends old, it's just so, so good.

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You come to support Dave and Wayne today.

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Can you just give Dave?

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Not Dave, you were last time.

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Can everyone just give V and Wayne a great big round of applause and encouragement?

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We're going to baptize these amazing people in a short while.

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In a short while.

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Lindsay is absolutely right.

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You may not be familiar with the kind of baptism that we practice in Springs Church, but I

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want to encourage you, there's nothing dodgy about it.

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It's the way Jesus did it.

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And so when you read the scriptures, when you read the holy Bible, you'll find that

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Jesus himself was baptized fully in water, not a sprinkling, not a christening, but a

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full on splashing.

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And there was a reason that he was baptized.

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And there's a reason that he encouraged his followers to be baptized in that same way.

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We believe as Christians that when we baptize people fully in water, it's a mysterious,

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powerful symbol of what God has done for us.

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What do I mean by that?

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It's simply this.

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We believe as Christians that Jesus Christ died on a cross for us as a sacrifice to pay

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for any sin and any muck in our lives that separated us from God.

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Now we're not called to be crucified.

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That's good news, isn't it?

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Come on now.

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No one's becoming a Christian if that's what it takes, right?

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However, there is this sign called baptism where when somebody is dunked in the water,

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it represents their old life away from God being gone and washed away.

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And when they come up out of the water, it represents the resurrection of Jesus, but

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also the resurrection of the soul of the person being baptized.

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Is that good or is that what?

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It's amazing.

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And so when we baptize people, yes, there's all sorts of things you could say.

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Is it a cleansing?

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Yeah, I guess if you like, you could call it that.

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Is it a washing away of sin?

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Yeah, you could call it that if you like.

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But what it is more than anything else is a declaration of the private thing that God

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has done in an individual's heart and going public with it.

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That's pretty cool, isn't it?

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You see the scriptures, the Bible, Jesus says, he says, look, you're not called to be hidden

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under a bucket.

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He literally says that.

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It says you are called to be light to the world and no one hides a light under a bucket.

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So listen, if you know Jesus, tell the world about it because what you have is the answer

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for all of us.

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So this is amazing.

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This is amazing.

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I'm just going to share a few thoughts about Jesus and I'm going to share a really intense,

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slightly weird story that Jesus was involved in just to illustrate the fact that Jesus

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loves all of us.

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Is that okay?

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And then after I've done that, in around 10 minutes time, I'm going to invite V and I'm

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going to invite Wayne to come and join me.

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And they're going to share part of their story as to how the heck did they become a Christian?

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What on earth are they doing here?

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Why have they dragged family and friends to witness what we're doing today?

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So before we get there, let me ask a few questions.

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Who is Jesus?

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Who is Jesus?

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I wonder what you think of what image you have in your mind when somebody says the name

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Jesus.

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I don't know whether you think Jesus is some kind of like, I mean, I could be describing

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myself here, slightly weedy white guy with a beard.

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I just want to be like my Lord, all right?

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Leave it out.

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But I've got news for you, like Jesus was not a weedy white guy.

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He was Middle Eastern and he was Jewish by ethnicity.

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And so maybe that changes the way you think about Jesus straight off.

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Maybe you think that Jesus is that Meek and Myel baby in a manger.

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But I want to tell you today that the scriptures tell us in our experiences that Jesus is no

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weak presence in our lives.

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But in fact, Jesus is what the Bible describes as a lion.

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Oh my word, a lion, a lion with teeth, a lion that is unafraid.

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And so when we come to Jesus in faith, we're not joining a passive kind of weak religion.

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We're actually becoming part of a living faith.

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Is that amazing?

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Who is Jesus?

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We believe as a church that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

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And wrapped up in that mysterious title, Jesus in fact is God.

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We believe that God is Father, God the Spirit and God the Son.

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We believe those things.

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We believe Jesus is God in flesh.

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So what's He like?

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Is He judgmental?

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Would He keep me at arm's length?

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Well, church, it's my privilege to tell you that He's far kinder than you could ever imagine

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the kindest person ever been.

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He is more loving than the most loving person you have ever met.

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He's more graceful.

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He's the least judgmental person you could ever, ever meet.

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Who is Jesus?

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He's confident in Himself because He is the Son of God, but He actually calls you His

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friend.

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Is that amazing?

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But I've never met Jesus.

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I've never had an experience.

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I've never had a religious encounter.

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That's okay.

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Wherever you're at in this room today, Jesus would still look you in the eye and say, how

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you doing, mate?

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Let's have a chat.

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Jesus, you see, He's in the business of redemption.

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I don't know what life's like.

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I don't know what life has for you right now.

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I don't know whether you're on cloud nine or whether life's in the gutter, but the good

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news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that for God's soul of the world that He sent His

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only Son.

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So whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.

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And that's good news for us today because when somebody takes that faith for themselves,

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they do not have to fear in this life because there's nothing to fear in the next.

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That's good news this afternoon, hey?

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Listen, at the time that Jesus was kind of walking the earth 2000 years ago, God in flesh

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and bone, there was this bunch of people called the Pharisees.

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And the Pharisees, they were the religious elite of the day.

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If anyone should have it all together when it came to faith and religion, it was these

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guys.

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And I say guys because no girls were allowed, all right?

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And this religious elite group of people had spent their entire life stood in the Old Testament

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so hard and so fast that they lived by rules and regulations and they encouraged everyone

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else to live just like they did.

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And if you didn't, God can't possibly have friendship with you.

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And then arrives Jesus into that scene.

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He makes religion very simple.

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He said when it all boils down to it, it comes down to this, love.

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Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

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Everything else to live a right life hinges on these two things, love God and love your

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neighbor as yourself.

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Thank God he sent Jesus to make relationship with God so very simple.

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But you see these Pharisees, they didn't like Jesus because he was so blooming counter the

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culture that he was in.

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He was speaking love when most often it was a judgmentality that was being spoken.

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And here we have this incredible Jesus.

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You see they didn't like Jesus because Jesus didn't fit into their neat religious boxes.

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And I hope when you walked into church today, what you didn't experience was a neat religious

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box but a thriving community that happens to believe in God.

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And that's what we're about here.

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They couldn't handle Jesus.

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So having said that about the Pharisees, let me give you a window into the life of Jesus,

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but also a window into what's possible for every one of us.

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This is a pretty mad, intense story.

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You ready for that?

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It's a little bit odd.

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It's a bit EastEnders at Christmas.

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All right.

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It's got a really strange storyline.

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Check this out.

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So this is found in the Gospel of Luke.

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It's chapter seven, verse 36.

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Here's the story.

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When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee's

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house and reclined at the table.

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Now let me just paint you a picture.

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First century people didn't sit on chairs at the table.

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The way they did things was they had a real low rise table and they all lay down.

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I mean, that's pretty cool, right?

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So, yeah.

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So Jesus is invited and he goes to dinner and they're lying down at the table.

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I imagine eating grapes and olives and all that kind of Mediterranean stuff.

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And then he says this, a woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus

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was eating at the Pharisee's house.

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So she came with an alabaster jar of perfume.

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That's an expensive piece of equipment right there.

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As she stood behind Jesus at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with the tears.

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I told you it was getting weird.

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And then she wiped them, wiped her tears away with her hair, kissed his feet and then poured

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perfume on his feet.

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I mean, can you see yourself in the scene?

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Imagine being in the room, you've been invited to this dinner with Jesus and the Pharisee

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who's trying to keep it all together, lock, stock and barrel, keep it all prim and proper.

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And then in comes a woman who's not even invited to the party.

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She starts crying on the guest's feet and then drying his feet with her hair.

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And then if things weren't strange enough, this jar of perfume, she decides she's going

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to pour it over Jesus's feet.

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What's Jesus going to do?

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Flipping it.

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When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, if this man were

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a prophet, he would know who was touching him and what kind of woman she is, that she

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is a sinner.

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Jesus answered him, Simon, I've something to tell you.

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Tell me teacher, he said.

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Two people owed money to a certain money lender.

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One owed them 500 dinarii, cash, pounds, let's say, and the other 50.

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Neither of them had the money to pay him back.

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And so he forgave the debt, the debts of both.

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Now which of them will love him more?

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Simon the Pharisee replied, well, I suppose the one who's got a bigger debt forgiven.

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Jesus said, you've judged correctly, mate.

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Jesus said, then he turned to the woman and he said to Simon, do you see this woman?

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I came into your house.

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You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped

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them with her hair.

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You didn't give me a kiss.

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But this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.

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You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.

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Therefore, I tell you, her sins, her many sins have been forgiven.

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As her great love has shown, but whoever has been forgiven little, loves little.

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Then Jesus said to her, your sins are forgiven.

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The other guests began saying amongst themselves, who is this fellow that he's starting to forgive

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sins?

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Jesus says to the woman, your faith has saved you.

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Go in peace.

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What a crazy scene.

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Imagine inviting someone to your house and then some random stranger, well, she's not

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quite random, she's got a bit of a reputation.

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She's known as the sinful woman.

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Comes into your house, gate crashes the party and makes such an extravagant overture scene.

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Like, this is weird.

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And she's pouring out this oil, this perfume on the feet of Jesus.

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There's no doubt about it.

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This is a strange scene.

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And if we have time today, there is so much to learn from this one story.

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And I'd encourage you to read it in the Bible for yourselves and ask God to show you what

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it all means.

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But there's a few things.

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Jesus's compassion on this woman went way beyond convention.

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Do you hear me this afternoon?

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By all rights, Jesus should have said, woman, what are you doing?

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I'm trying to eat.

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This is awkward.

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Can you leave?

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He never once said that.

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He let her do what she did.

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His compassion went beyond convention.

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The second thing that Jesus did was he accepted her instead of rejecting her like the rest

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of a community.

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Is that beautiful?

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And she was saved instead of being shamed.

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Do you think Jesus didn't know this woman's reputation?

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Of course he did.

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He's the son of God.

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He knows everything about you and me and about that woman that day.

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And yet he did not reject her.

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He accepted her.

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He allowed her to come close.

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I don't know what sinful activity she'd been getting up to, but the sum of her life had

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bought her this expensive perfume.

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Her whole life was represented in this perfume, this scent that people would have known it

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was her by the smell that was coming down the street.

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And then what she does is she breaks this perfume over Jesus's feet.

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Everything that my life is stinks unless you're involved, Jesus.

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And she pours out this expensive perfume and Jesus accepts her.

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And he finishes off by saying, did you see it?

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Your faith has saved you.

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Who was the person that invited Jesus to the house in the first place?

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Can you remember the fancy name?

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The Pharisee.

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The religious got it all together.

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The holier than now.

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I'll tell you what, if the Pharisee was in here right now, he'd be looking down on every

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single one of us.

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When Jesus enters the room, he lifts every single one of our heads, says, you're accepted.

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I want to know you.

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Whatever the sum of your life is, whatever has happened, however you have got to this

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place, you can pour your life out, pour your heart out to me and I will not reject you.

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Is that incredible?

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I started this little message by saying, who do you think Jesus is and what do you think

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he's like?

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I hope this story helps to dispel a few myths because Jesus is way better than you ever

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thought he was.

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You need him far more than you ever thought you did.

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He loves you far more than anyone else could ever love you.

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This is Jesus.

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As I was reading, what struck me was this, that this beautiful lady came to Jesus broken,

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but left blessed.

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This lady came to Jesus broken, but she left blessed.

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Do you know what blessed means?

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It means to have the favour of God.

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I want to encourage you this afternoon, Springs Church here in Gordal, friends and family

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of V and Wayne, your loved ones, those ones that have said yes to Jesus and poured out

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their life to him and said, I know I need you in my life.

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You can bet your bottom dollar that they are blessed and they have the favour of God today.

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I'm going to finish with the scripture.

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It's not on the screen.

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I'm going to read the words of Jesus because his words are way better than mine.

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He just says this, he says, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will

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give you rest.

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Was that a phone?

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I hope so.

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That was hilarious.

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Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.

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Take my yoke.

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In other words, take my ways upon you and learn from me.

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For I'm gentle and I'm humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

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For my yoke, the things that I ask you to carry are easy and my burden is light.

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If you remember nothing else today, simply this, God loves you, mate.

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He really does.

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And he's just waiting for you to say, yeah, actually, I think I want to know you too.

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And then you can ride off in the sunset on your faith journey.

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That's brilliant.

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Thanks again for listening.

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To hear more of our messages, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and our podcast

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channel for past preachers.

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If you feel like you got something out of today's message, why not share it with your

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friends and spread the good news of Jesus.

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We are praying for you.

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We love you.

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So please, if you need anything at all, check out springschurch.co.uk.

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God bless.

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My God's got me.