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John chapter 13, just the first five verses this morning.

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That's in the New Testament, kind of close to the front of the New Testament.

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John chapter 13, this passage takes place near the end of Jesus's earthly life.

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He had been about the work of God for about three years.

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He had been faithful to God, he had been obedient to God, but in order to carry out the plan

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of God and the will of God and the mission of God, Jesus Christ would soon give his life

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on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins and my sins and all who would put their faith

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in him.

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Now Jesus had spent a lot of time investing into these apostles that were with him really

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throughout most of his ministry.

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We always see these apostles here with him.

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Very seldom do we see him mention that they're not with him.

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Jesus had really poured into these twelve men and eleven of these men remained faithful

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to Jesus Christ.

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However, there was one, as we will see here in this passage, who had not remained faithful

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to Jesus Christ.

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But this is a beautiful passage here at the end of Jesus's life, a beautiful example for

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you and I this morning.

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So let's read the text, then we'll pray, and then we'll talk about it.

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John chapter 13 verse 1.

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Before the Passover festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world

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to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

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Now by the time of supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Simonus Cariat's

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son to betray him.

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Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God

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and that he was going back to God.

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So he got up from supper, laid aside his robe, took a towel, and tied it around himself.

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Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet and to dry them

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with the towel tied around him.

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Let's pray.

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Father God, we come to you this morning and we need you today, God.

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I pray that your Holy Spirit would be among us this morning.

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I pray that your Holy Spirit would be on me, dear Lord, that as I open my mouth, God, that

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it would be you that speak.

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Dear Lord, you know what we need to hear.

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God, your word is so good.

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Dear Lord, there's nothing I can say that's better than the words that we just read.

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But God, I pray that as we look at these words today that you just would meet us where we

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are, dear Lord.

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I pray that we would listen today, God.

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I pray that we would not be distracted by the worries and the stresses and the pains

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of this world.

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I pray that in these few minutes that we would hear from you, dear Lord, that you would hide

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me behind the cross, that you would help me to preach and teach in a way that brings glory

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and honor to you, that our hearts would be open, that our ears would hear, dear Lord,

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what you have to say.

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And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

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Amen.

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The time of the Passover festival had taken place.

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This was something that God's people had done for hundreds of years when God was preparing

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to deliver them out of slavery.

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God gave them specific instructions on how to put the blood on the doorpost and how to

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do everything just as He said.

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And when the death angel would pass by, God would pass over those of His people who were

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covered by the blood.

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And so God's people celebrated this festival.

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They celebrated this time that God had delivered them out of slavery and brought them into

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a land that was their own.

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And for hundreds of years, God's people had celebrated this.

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And here we see in this passage that God's people were still celebrating this.

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But it says here as we continue verse 1 that Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart

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from this world.

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Jesus knew that His time was up, that He had come to accomplish a mission, that He had

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come to fulfill the Word of God, that He had come to be obedient to the Father.

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Jesus' mission was a difficult mission, but a mission that He was willing to take up.

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Jesus' mission was that He was going to die on a cross so that sins could be forgiven.

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So that your sins could be forgiven, so that my sins could be forgiven, so that the sins

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of the world who would put their faith in Jesus Christ, so their sins would be forgiven.

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Because there is no other way that we can be forgiven.

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There is no other way that we can obtain salvation.

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There is no other way that we can be washed as white as snow apart from putting our faith

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in Jesus Christ.

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And Jesus knew that we could never earn the favor of God.

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And so Jesus came to fulfill His mission, to live in obedience to the Father.

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And Jesus did that to the very end.

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But Jesus knew that His time had come.

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He knew that He would soon be departing this world.

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Perhaps that's important for us to think about.

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Because there's a time coming in our life that we will depart from this world.

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Perhaps for some in this room you say, my time is soon.

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We don't know when our time is.

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Perhaps we have another day, another week, another year, another 20 years.

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But there's coming a point in time in our life that we are going to depart from this

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world, that we're going to leave this world.

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And can it be said of us that we have been faithful to God during our lifetime?

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That we have seeked to live in obedience and follow the will of God as Jesus did?

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Jesus throughout His whole earthly ministry is an example to you and I.

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And everything that Jesus does, He's an example of how we are to live our life.

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And one of the greatest ways that Jesus is our example is that He was faithful to God.

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That everything He did, He wanted to do for the will of God.

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That Jesus wasn't concerned with His will or with His desire, but He knew that He had

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come to serve God the Father.

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And that's why Jesus prayed as His death was approaching.

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God, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me.

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But God, not my will be done, but your will be done.

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There's coming a time in our life when we will depart from this world.

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But before we depart from this world, have we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the one

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who came to be our example, the one who came to die and give His life for us?

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Can it be said of us that we have loved like Jesus loved to the very end?

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That we have kept the faith, that we have kept obedience to God up to the very end of

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our life?

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There's coming a day that we are going to depart.

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There's coming a day that we are going to depart this world.

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And we need to realize that things of this world are not important.

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Things of this world are not important.

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What's important is whether or not we are obedient to God, whether or not we have put

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our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

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Now, there are things in this world that we love.

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There are things in this world that we worry about.

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But there's coming a day that there's something greater than this world.

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And that is we are going to have to stand in the presence of God.

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And Jesus gives us an example and He says, look, I'm coming to die on a cross for you.

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I'm coming to give you an example on how to live.

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I'm coming to you so that you can put your faith in me and so that you can have a relationship

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with God the Father.

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There's coming a day that we are going to depart this world.

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But until that time comes, we must be on mission for God.

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Until that time comes, if we have put faith in Jesus Christ, then we need to live a life

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of service to God.

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Verse two.

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Now, by the time of supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon,

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his chariot son, to betray him.

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Now, as we live this life, as we seek to serve God, once we come to faith in Jesus Christ,

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you need to know this, that the devil is at work.

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Even Jesus himself, the son of God, was not immune from the attacks of Satan.

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When Jesus first began his ministry, before he ever got started, the first thing that

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we see in scripture is that the devil came and he tempted Jesus.

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Now we can try our best to live for God and we can seek to live by His will, but we have

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to be ready and we have to be prepared because the devil is at work.

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He was at work in the plan of God here.

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He was trying his best to thwart the plan of God, but the devil could not thwart the

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plan of God.

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He could not get Jesus to be disobeyed in the beginning of his ministry.

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He could not get Jesus to give up here at the end of his ministry.

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And even though Jesus would soon be killed, the devil would never succeed.

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But the devil is always going to try.

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The devil is always going to bring about temptation in your life.

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He's always going to bring about sin in your life and he is going to do everything he can

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to make the word of God look like it is not true and it is not good.

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But God's word is good.

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God's word is true and God's word is hard.

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God calls us to a higher standard than the world calls us to.

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God's standard is tough because Jesus tells us things like love your enemies and pray

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for those who persecute you.

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He tells us, look, there are things in this life that are bad, that are sinful, that are

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wrong.

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God's word says don't live in these things.

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But so many times sin feels good to us.

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It looks good to us and that temptation comes and we give in to the sin that the devil brings

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before us because he wants us to get off track.

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He wants us to deny who God is.

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He wants us to think that God's word is old fashioned and irrelevant and not important

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for our culture today.

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But God's word is as good as it was ever.

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Today God's word is better than anything else that we can see in our world.

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Most of the things that our world wants to tell us are good today are evil.

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And they would tell us the word of God is evil but it is the goodness of God.

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So we must be on guard because the devil is always coming after us.

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He's always tempting us.

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And too many times the devil is successful in tempting us.

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Too many times we compromise on God's word.

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Too many times we listen to what the world says is okay.

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But too many times what the world says is okay is sin in the eyes of God.

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And so we need to be in the word of God to know what God says is good and to know what

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God says is evil, to know what God says is righteous and to know what God says is sinful.

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And probably today you even feel the Holy Spirit.

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You may even feel before you came into this place.

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We know when we are living in sin.

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We know when we are doing what is evil.

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And when we feel that sin and we know that that sin is in our life we must repent of

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that sin.

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That is we turn from that sin.

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We say God I don't want to live this way anymore.

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God I know that Jesus is your son.

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I know that your word is good.

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And God I know that there is forgiveness in none other but Jesus Christ.

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And so God I repent.

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God I ask you to forgive me.

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The temptations come.

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The sin is ever before us.

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But he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.

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Verse 3, Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come

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from God and that he was going back to God.

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Even though the devil was hard at work, even though people were constantly coming against

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Jesus, Jesus did not back down.

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Why?

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Because he knew that he was doing the will of the Father.

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He knew that God was with him.

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He knew that God was greater than the works of the devil.

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And we need to know that today.

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You need to know that today in your battle with sin and your struggle with sin and what

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the world says is right and the things that you are doing that you shouldn't do and the

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ways that we are living that we shouldn't live, we need to say, God I come to you because

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I cannot overcome my sin on my own.

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I cannot overcome my pain.

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I cannot overcome my struggles.

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I cannot overcome my worries.

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But God I know you are greater than the devil in his tactics.

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God I know you are greater than the sin that so easily ensnares me.

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And we need to trust in God the way that Jesus trusted in God.

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To know that sometimes life is hard.

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It's not always easy.

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Jesus would soon be beaten and mocked and nailed to a cross to carry out the will of

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the Father.

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To carry out the will of the Father is not always easy.

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But we can do it.

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Not by our strength, but by God's strength.

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That the devil may come at us.

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The devil may try to get us to stop what God has called us to do.

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But God is always going to be victorious.

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Jesus Christ settled that when he gave his life on a cross and when God raised him from

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that grave.

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It was settled.

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The victory was won and Jesus wants you and I to have that victory today.

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We share in that victory through Jesus Christ by putting our faith in him.

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By saying Lord Jesus I choose you over the world.

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You've seen what the world has to offer.

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It ain't much good.

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Look at the word of God.

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Look at the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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It's beautiful.

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It's perfect in every way.

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God wants to give you something better than the world wants to offer.

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God wants to give you hope.

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We don't have any hope today in our world.

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You turn on the news.

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You look at politicians.

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You look at conflicts wherever it may be.

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There is no hope in this world.

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But I want to tell you this morning there's hope in the word of God.

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There's hope in Jesus Christ this morning.

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That sin that you're struggling with, that sin that you're battling through the power

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of Jesus Christ, you can overcome that.

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He'll give you the strength.

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He'll give you the power to overcome that.

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But you must call out to him.

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You must seek him.

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You must say God I'm ready to live for you and I'm tired of living for sin.

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I want to live for you God.

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I want to put my faith in Jesus Christ.

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I want to follow what the word of God says.

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The struggle is hard.

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If we seek to live for God and we seek to live a life of obedience to God, we better

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be ready because the devil is always going to be tempting us.

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He's always going to come after us.

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But he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.

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If he who is in us is Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, God the Father, if that's who our

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faith is in, then we have hope this morning.

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So Jesus knew his life was drawing to a close.

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He knew what was about to take place.

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He knew the devil was about to do his work in Judas.

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He knew that Judas was about to betray him.

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But even so, Jesus trusted in God.

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He trusted in God and maybe we need to be reminded of that today.

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Sometime in the midst of our struggles and our pains and our sin, we need to be reminded

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to trust in God.

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God is good.

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He has not abandoned you today, brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Whatever your struggle and your pain may be, he has not abandoned you.

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Maybe you've not put faith in Jesus Christ.

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I want to call you today to trust in the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul,

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and strength.

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Do not rely on your own understanding.

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We trust in the word of God because there is nothing greater that we can trust in.

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We trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ because that is the only place that we can find hope.

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And as Jesus' life was drawing to an end, Jesus trusted in God.

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Now if you knew your life was ending very soon, if you knew you only had a week or two

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to live, what would you leave with those around you?

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What would you want to do?

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Perhaps you'd say, I want to go skydiving.

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I want to go see this place.

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I want to do this thing.

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I want to experience something that I've always wanted to do.

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I want to do this while I still have time.

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And I suppose in some ways that those things aren't horrible in and of themselves.

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But perhaps there are greater things that we can leave with those behind us.

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Because one day we're going to depart from this world.

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Maybe it's next week.

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Maybe it's 100 years from now.

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But one day we are going to depart.

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And the question is, what are you going to leave behind?

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And don't say, I'm going to leave behind a house and some land and some stuff.

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That's not going to make a difference.

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That stuff's going to be gone.

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The one who comes after you, whoever gets it, is probably not going to love it as much

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as you did.

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They're not going to care about your stuff the way that you do.

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One day when you leave this world, all that you have worked for, all that you have done

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in a materialistic sense will be gone.

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It will not be here.

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And you say, man, that's kind of a bummer.

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Well, it is kind of a bummer.

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But it's reality.

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And so we need to realize that we don't need to be so attached to the things of this world.

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We need to realize that we need to leave better things behind than the materialistic things.

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So Jesus, knowing that his time was coming to a close, that he would soon depart, he

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left something better behind for his apostles and for you and I.

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Verse 4.

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So he got up from supper, laid aside his robe, took a towel and tied it around himself.

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Next he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet and dry them with

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the towel tied around him.

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In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful passages in all of the Bible.

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That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, left his place in heaven with God the Father.

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And he came to this mess of a world that you and I live in.

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That he suffered ridicule and people constantly coming after him and ultimately beating and

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mocking and nailing him to a cross.

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And here is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

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If there was everyone who was worthy to sit on a throne, if there was everyone who was

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worthy to be bowed down to, if there is everyone who has been worthy that we should serve him,

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it is Jesus Christ.

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Yet Jesus Christ came and he didn't come to this world to sit on a throne.

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Instead Jesus came to this world humbly from the very beginning.

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Jesus came to this world as a man just like you and I and Jesus walked on this earth just

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like you and I and Jesus knows what it is to suffer.

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He knows what it is for people to come against him.

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And of all the things that Jesus could do and in all the ways that he could come, Jesus

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came humbly.

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And here the Son of God, as death is knocking at his door, what does Jesus do?

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But he gets a bowl of water.

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He gets a towel.

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He gets down at his disciples' feet.

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And the Son of God begins to wash their feet.

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Now people's feet back then were a lot dirtier than your feet and my feet.

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Our feet are relatively clean.

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We wear socks.

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We wear shoes.

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We take a bath every day.

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People's feet now are clean.

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In those days they weren't quite as clean.

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They wore sandals most of the time.

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They walked on dirt roads.

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They walked through all kind of stuff along the day.

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And so when it got time to wash somebody's feet, that job belonged to the lowest of the

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lowest servant.

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That job wasn't for the master of the house.

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That job wasn't for the king.

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You wouldn't go into any other castle in this world at the time of Jesus and somebody come

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in and you would see the king washing their feet.

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Yet here Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, he gets

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down and he begins to wash his disciples' nasty, dirty feet.

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And as the passage continued, Jesus tells his disciples, he says, look, I'm giving you

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an example.

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I'm giving you an example.

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For the Son of God did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom

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for many.

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Jesus Christ showed us how to live.

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Jesus says, this is how you live out the will of God.

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This is how you live in obedience to God.

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You serve others.

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And what a beautiful example that Jesus has given us today.

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That Jesus could have said, God, that ragtag bunch of people at Enterprise Baptist Church

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on March 17, 2024, ain't worth nothing.

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God, I'm not going down there in that mess.

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God, I'm not going to suffer.

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God, I'm not going to wash a foot and I'm not going to die on a cross.

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But Jesus didn't say that because Jesus was motivated by love.

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And Jesus looked down on you and I and he said, that's a rough group of people.

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And he said, if I don't go, if I don't go, they don't have any chance whatsoever.

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So Jesus says, I'm going to go and I'm going to show them how to live and I'm going to

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show them obedience and I'm going to give my life on a cross so that they can be forgiven

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of their sins.

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Jesus calls us today to serve.

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Now, let me ask you, are you serving God today?

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Are you serving God today?

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Too many times, perhaps, our prayer lives are filled with, God, what can you do for

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me?

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God, this is what I want.

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God, this is what I need.

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God, give to me.

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God, help me with this.

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God, help me with that.

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And we need to pray for God to help us.

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We need to pray for God to give us our needs.

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But we also need to pray, God, how can I serve you?

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Maybe there are opportunities right before you and you have not seen those opportunities.

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I can tell you today that if you pray to God, he will help you see those things.

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Maybe today you say, you know what, I'm not serving God.

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Maybe you say, but I want to serve God.

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I don't know where to start.

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Tell me where to start.

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I don't know where you need to start, but God knows where you need to start.

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And you need to be looking for those opportunities.

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You need to pray that God will help you to see those opportunities.

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What are some ways that we can serve people?

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Well, it might be the smallest things that you overlook.

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Maybe you're already doing it and don't realize.

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Maybe you pass by things all the time and don't realize that perhaps that's a way of

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service for God.

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Maybe you drive down the road and see somebody with a flat tire and you pull over and help

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them change their tire.

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Perhaps that's a good way to serve God.

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You say, well, that ain't much.

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Well, perhaps it's not, but then again, maybe it is.

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You see, because our world doesn't see much good.

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Our world doesn't see much love.

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And you never know the least little thing that we do out of love and obedience to God.

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You never know how it might change somebody's life.

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That one little act of love, it may be an opportunity for you to share with them, look,

399
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I'm doing this because I love you because God loves you.

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There are lots of opportunities perhaps that may pop up into our life and we need to be

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willing to serve.

402
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:03,920
And too many times God puts opportunities in our life and we are too good to do those

403
00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:04,920
things.

404
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:07,320
We are too, well, I can't do that.

405
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:10,200
That's going to take too much time or that's going to take too much money or that's going

406
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:14,200
to take too much work or I'm going to have to get my hands dirty or I'm going to have

407
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:16,080
to miss something that I want to do.

408
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And too many times we're too good to do the work of God.

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But if we feel that way and we think that way, then we need to read this passage.

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We need to read passages like these where Jesus talks about this very idea that we are

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not too good to do any work that God calls us to.

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Jesus shows us that.

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He says, look, I'm going to show you how to live.

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There is nothing that you're too good for.

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00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:44,360
There is nothing that is beneath you.

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If we have an opportunity to serve, we need to serve in that opportunity.

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We need to ask God to show us and reveal to us and help us to see ways that we can be

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obedient to Him and live in service to Him just as Jesus Christ did.

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What a beautiful story we see here of Jesus.

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That as Jesus knew His time was drawing to a close, that He knew that the devil was giving

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it his best shot, Jesus did not waver, but Jesus trusted in God.

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And of all the things He could do, He left His disciples with this.

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He said, look, I'm serving you so that you'll know what it's like to serve one another.

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And when we serve one another, we're serving God.

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Are you serving God today?

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If you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ today, the one who came and gave His life

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on the cross so that you could be forgiven, He came so that you could be forgiven so you

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00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:47,040
don't have to give in to sin, so that you can overcome those sins, so that you can say

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no to those sins, so that you can say no to what the world says is right, but what God's

430
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:57,320
word says is wrong, so that we can say yes to Jesus Christ and no to sin.

431
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Have you said yes to Jesus today?

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Have you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ?

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If you hadn't done so today, I pray that you would.

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00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:09,960
Maybe today you are in Jesus Christ, but maybe there's some sin in your life and you need

435
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:10,960
to deal with it.

436
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I pray today that you would.

437
00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,560
Maybe today you say, I want to serve God, I want to be obedient to God, pray to God,

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ask Him to give you some opportunities to show you, to help you see areas that you can

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serve and live in obedience to Him.

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Let's pray.

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Father God, we come to you.

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00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:30,920
We thank you for this beautiful passage, dear Lord.

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We thank you for Jesus, for who He is and for what He has done.

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Dear Lord, I pray that if there are any in this room that do not know Jesus Christ as

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Lord and Savior, that today that they would.

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God, your word calls us to repent of our sins.

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God, that is to turn from the sinful thing to the world, to say we're not going to live

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for our desires and our worldly desires anymore, but we're going to live for Jesus.

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God, maybe there are some here today and they don't know Jesus, but maybe today, God, they've

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00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:04,520
put their faith in Jesus Christ.

451
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Maybe today they've realized for the first time that there is no hope, there is no salvation

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00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:11,480
in any other than Jesus.

453
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I pray, God, that if there are any that have made that decision today to put their faith

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00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:19,760
in Jesus Christ and repent of their sins, that in a moment as we have this song of invitation,

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God, that they would come forward, that we can rejoice with them, dear Lord.

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God, I pray for those in this room today, maybe they're yours.

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And maybe they've wandered away from you, dear Lord.

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Maybe sin has gotten the best of them, but God, I pray today that you remind them that,

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God, you're greater than their sin, that you give them power and strength to overcome their

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sin, dear Lord.

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I pray that if there's sin in our life today, that we would repent, that we would seek you,

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dear Lord, that we would trust you.

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00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:50,800
God, in the midst of our attacks, the devil is always at us, dear Lord.

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He's always coming at us.

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He's always trying to tempt us with sin.

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But dear Lord, I pray today that we are reminded that in Jesus Christ, he who is in us is greater

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than he who is in the world.

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So God, wherever we may be in life today, let us not be discouraged.

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Let us not give up.

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Let us not be depressed, dear Lord.

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But let us hold firm on your word.

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Let us trust in you, dear Lord, with all of our heart and not rely on our own understanding.

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God, I pray that you help us in our struggles.

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They're tough and they're real, dear Lord, and we cannot do it apart from you.

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God, I pray that you just bless each one here today.

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I pray that as we have this song of invitation, God, that if you have spoken to anybody in

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any way, that now is their chance to respond, dear Lord.

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And I ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen.