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Today we're gonna consider wrath and peace,

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and because it's Mother's Day,

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and because we have a dedication,

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we have three baptisms, I'm gonna keep this one short.

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All right, so let's open up our Bibles.

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If you don't have a Bible, there's Bibles on the tables.

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You can download a Bible from any of the digital app stores.

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You're welcome to take one of those blue Bibles home.

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If you would like one of them,

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we're gonna open to Proverbs 15,

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and I'm also gonna read 1 Peter 3,

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and so feel free to open to either one of those.

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If you would like Proverbs 15 or 1 Peter 3,

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and we have a tradition at the house

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of giving the Scriptures our full attention

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when we read them during this time of the service.

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You're welcome to stand with me if you would like.

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Otherwise, you can sit

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and just give the Scriptures your attention.

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Read Proverbs 15, 18 says this.

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A hot tempered person stirs up conflict,

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but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.

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And then 1 Peter 3, 9, do not repay evil with evil

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or insult with insult.

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On the contrary, repay evil with blessing,

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because to this you were called

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so that you may inherit a blessing.

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God of every tribe, every tongue, every color,

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every nation, we thank you for the Scriptures,

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that they have persisted throughout the millennia,

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that we still have them to read and consider,

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and I pray that whatever you have for us to learn today,

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I pray that it would stick,

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that it would become a part of the framework of our faith,

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that our faith would become stronger

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as we become more like your son Jesus.

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Amen?

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Amen, you all can have a seat.

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Thanks so much.

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Right, so from Proverbs to Peter

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and really everything before and after,

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all across the Scriptures,

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we are reminded consistently over and over and over again

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that our earthly anger doesn't solve our problems.

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Some of you were like, dang it.

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Especially, they don't solve our problems,

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especially when it is our ugly,

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out of control expression of anger that turns into wrath.

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I've said it before that anger

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tends to be a secondary emotion,

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and what that means is that

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we don't always know what we're feeling.

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Some of us, we have a feeling,

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we don't know how to identify it,

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and so what we show is anger,

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because anger is easily translatable.

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Or when we don't know how to express a certain feeling,

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even if we know what it is,

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we may still express anger

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because we don't want to let someone else know

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what it is we're actually feeling.

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We feel foolish.

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We show anger.

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We feel disrespected.

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We show anger.

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We feel embarrassed.

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We show anger.

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When these opportunities for anger get multiplied,

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they kind of collapse in on themselves like a black hole

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looking for vengeance.

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Now, anger, of course, on its own isn't a sin.

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We also know the scripture says,

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be angry, but do not sin in your anger.

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It's what we do with anger

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that draws it towards a place

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where it's no longer a healthy feeling to have

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or to let it be turned into something else.

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And one of the reasons that we control

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or manage our anger when we do

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is because we know how uncontrolled anger

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can affect those that are around us, right?

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But wrath, wrath is what we express

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when we no longer care about the collateral damage.

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So long as the object of our wrath is obliterated.

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I think in my entire life, my ripe old age of 46,

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I have probably only ever felt something approaching

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wrath a handful of times.

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In almost all of those times,

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it was because I wanted to protect my family.

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In particular, because I wanted to protect one of my kids.

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Nothing jumps the line from a moderate emotion

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to wanting to scorch the earth

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like someone else's actions hurting one of your kids.

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Moms, you know what I'm talking about?

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For example, raise your hand if you ever lived in the South.

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Anyone ever lived in the South?

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All right, so if you ever lived in the South,

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we lived in Georgia from 2007 to 2010.

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And if you've ever lived in the South

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and you know the South has a particular kind of evil

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living in its dirt, it's called fire ants.

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I think, I don't know if I could support the see-logically,

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but I think that when Jesus defeated death on the cross,

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that he cast all the demons of the world

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into the fire ants of the South.

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Because they are evil.

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Like many of you, I grew up in the Midwest,

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God's country, right?

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I mean, if you have seen Field of Dreams,

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you know, oh, is this heaven?

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No, it's Iowa.

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I'll take, I'll put Illinois in there.

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It's the Midwest.

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And growing up in the 80s, in the Midwest,

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if you were a kid and you got bored, you went outside

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and ants were basically the neighborhood friend

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that had to play with you whether they wanted to or not.

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They were just all the ways around.

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Oh, look, my friendly friend, the ant.

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I did not know that ants were the devil down there.

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And when we first moved to Georgia,

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Liam wasn't even born yet.

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He's 16 now.

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Brennan was just about 15 months old.

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And so when I saw an anthill at the corner of our garage,

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I didn't think anything of us.

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I probably actually encouraged him to play with the ants

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because I had grown up playing with ants.

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I went inside the house and then I heard his cries

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because ants did what ants do.

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They crawled on his feet.

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He started crawling up his legs.

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And then fire ants started to do what fire ants do.

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They started to bite him.

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When I heard his cries, I ran, picked him up,

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rushed him into the house, put him in the sink,

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started washing off his feet.

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They were already turning into little pus pockets,

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a phrase you weren't expecting to hear today.

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And I just kept saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,

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I'm so sorry because I knew it was my fault.

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So I did the only thing that I knew that I could do.

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I got my gasoline and I burned that ant pile to oblivion

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because I felt wrath.

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Maybe some of you have felt that before.

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Maybe some of you have felt that

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about another human being before.

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Maybe some of you have felt that about yourself before.

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That's why the scriptures remind us

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not to repay evil for evil.

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Sin for sin, mistake for mistake.

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The Old Testament says eye for an eye

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and yet Jesus says, love your enemies,

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pray for those who persecute you,

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turn the other cheek, go the extra mile.

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Love each other as you love yourself.

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Now I give you a greater command

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to love each other as I have loved you.

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Jesus knows that when we feel these things

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that we might want to ignore,

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the fruit of the spirit which is peace,

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love, joy, peace, that he has been growing

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from that new radical effect inside of our hearts,

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inside of our lives, we know it's there.

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Jesus knows that we can easily convince ourselves

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that we cannot, that we will not possibly feel peace

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unless someone else feels pain.

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But wrath directed at another person or even ourselves

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is only wrath directed at Jesus.

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Because the sin of wrath was on the shoulders of Jesus

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when he died on the cross.

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Paul has this verse where he says,

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but should we sin more?

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He says, no, we should not sin more.

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He says, no, not that we should crucify Christ again.

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So what do we do?

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How do we participate with this concept of wrath

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sitting in contrast against peace

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and peace being a radical effect

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that is already developing within you,

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whether you may even know it or not.

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Maybe you're not all that peaceful of a person,

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but the Holy Spirit is working peace

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within the soil of your heart.

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It is the truth of the scriptures,

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it is the truth of who God is.

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It is the truth of who the Holy Spirit is

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and what the Holy Spirit does.

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Whether you know it or not,

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under the dirt of your heart,

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the Holy Spirit is working peace.

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The one thing I think we can especially do today,

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especially since we are baptizing three individuals today,

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dedicating a child,

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is for you to remember your own baptism.

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If you've never been baptized, maybe this is the moment

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where you go, I need to do that.

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I need to get on the list to do it

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and maybe not wait till the next Mother's Day.

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We'll do it another day.

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But maybe it's time for you to consider that.

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And if you have been baptized,

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today's the day for you to remember what that means.

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When you were baptized,

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you said you'd be baptized,

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but you didn't.

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When you were baptized, you said you believe in Jesus,

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that you believe that Jesus is the Lord of your life,

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that you reject the sins of this world,

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that you will follow Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit

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and that the global church,

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but especially whatever church you were baptized in,

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that those people would help guide you,

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be bumper rails for you as you tried your best

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to follow Jesus as the Holy Spirit developed the life

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of Christ within you.

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When you were baptized,

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you said I believe something has happened.

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I believe that all of my sin was crucified with Christ,

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and nevertheless I live,

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yet not I,

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but Christ lives within me.

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And the life which I now live,

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no longer for myself do I live,

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but for the resurrected Christ.

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If you, if your sin died with Christ,

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then you are also resurrected with Christ into new life.

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When we baptize people today,

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it symbolizes them going down into the grave

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with Jesus Christ and being raised with him

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into a new life.

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It is an external, physical representation

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of a spiritual reality that is not just a physical reality,

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but a representation of a spiritual reality

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that has already happened.

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We have to remind ourselves,

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as you remind yourselves of your own baptisms today,

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we have to remind ourselves not to cover up

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the radical effect of what God wants to do

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and is doing with the dirt of our old lives.

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Because there is a peace in Jesus.

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Jesus dwells within you.

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He makes his home within you.

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And so peace is here.

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Amen.