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We've all been hurt. We all carry scars. We can all overcome these things and be

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healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Let's build that relationship

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together right here. Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Hey everybody

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welcome back to the sanctuary and this week we're going to do something a

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little bit different. What I actually have for you this week, this is a

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sermon that I wrote many many years ago when I was still preaching to youth.

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You'll find it's quite a bit rougher than my normal sermons or even the

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Bible studies that we do here on the podcast. It's a little bit of a treat.

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You know for me if not for you, you can see a bit kind of how things have

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changed over the years. But anyhow, without much you know any other

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ado here, let's dive into it. So I need to lay lay down some background here for

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you. So there's a couple of kids that were up to no good. Well let's

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let's be honest. I'm gonna take that out. It was me and it was a buddy of mine. I'm

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not gonna mention his name to protect him, his identity. But you know needless

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to say we were a couple of very young and very stupid kids. I was

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staying the night over at his house. It's the middle of the night. We're out in the

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country. For those of you who don't know, I grew up in a very small town and out

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in the country. So it's you know needless to say we're out in the sticks. The only

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thing that's out there to light the sky are the moon and the stars. So it's very

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dark. Now this friend of mine and I, we got it into our heads that for whatever

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reason, since we had the house to ourselves, his dad was out working, his

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mom had passed away years prior. So it's just us idiots with the lay of

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the land to ourselves. And we got it in our heads would be a great idea to

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throw a football back and forth to each other. Basically playing a game of catch,

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throwing the ball over the house. That's right, over the house. Alright a couple

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of rocket scientists here right. So to make matters worse, we're way outside the

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city limits in the sticks. His dad owned quite a huge spread. Their

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neighbor owned quite a huge spread. And for whatever reason, they both decided to

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build their houses real close to each other, real close to the property line. So

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it's the middle of the night, like I said, we're throwing this ball back and

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forth. I throw this thing for all I'm worth and I hear a crash in

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the background. I'm thinking to myself, okay I did it. I'm not thinking of the

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neighbor's house. I'm thinking I just chucked this ball and hit their

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greenhouse. So I go strolling around the house and here's my buddy and he's

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laying on the ground and he's motioning for me to get down. I'm like, come on dude,

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get up. What damage did I do to the greenhouse? And I'm looking at it and I

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realize I did not hit the greenhouse. And I see the light turn on in the

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neighbor's kitchen. I got down very quickly. After hearing a few choice

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expletives being yelled out as the neighbor walked in and found this ball

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laying in his kitchen at a shattered window, my buddy and I, again a couple of

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absolute geniuses, decide we're gonna run into his house. Now in the excitement of

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things, I'm not paying attention. I'm sure my mom remembers at least part of this

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story because I ran smack dab into this clear sliding storm door and busted my

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nose. Did a great number. So smart and I'd had so many broken noses in the past. I

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thought it'd be a great job to reset it myself. Hence the brilliant bridge I

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have going over the top of it now. So a little bit of trouble. Needless to say,

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this friend and I, we got into quite a bit of trouble. And you see, it's because we

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didn't worry about the consequences. We weren't concerned about honoring our

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parents and we weren't concerned about honoring God. Our commitment was in the

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wrong place. And again, we got in a lot of trouble because of it. Alright, so I

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have a few points here. My first one, commitment. You're either all in or

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you're all out. Plain and simple. You know, Bible even tells us it's be better

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to be, to either be hot or cold than to be lukewarm. Alright, so that what that

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said, turn with me to first Psalms 37 verse 5. And Psalm 37 verse 5 says,

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commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him and He will help you. And then

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if you flip over to Proverbs 16 verse 3. So Proverbs 16 verse 3 says, commit your

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actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed. You see, you cannot lack in your

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commitment to God. You know, this is one of the biggest problems that we have in

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the world today is that people don't follow through. You see, they're committed

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up until a point. They're committed until things start to get hard and then they

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give up. You know, for example, you know, oh it's taking too long so God

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must not care. You know, or they're struggling with something. It doesn't

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matter if it's at school or life or you know somewhere else, you know, they're

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struggling with something. So they take that something that they're struggling

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with and they push it to the side and they ignore it. And later on when it's

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time to address it, they start trying to come up with excuses as to why the work

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didn't get done and why it got pushed to the side. Don't give up. Don't do it. Be

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patient. Pray and keep working towards the goal. And if you do that, God will

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bless you. That might not come in the time that you want it to or the time

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that you expect it to but that blessing will come. It doesn't matter if you're

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working towards something like knowledge or understanding or if you need

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emotional help, you know, maybe because of a relationship or the lack of one or

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maybe something going on with an old friend or a family member, you know, or

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you know, maybe it's financial help, you know, because your family is struggling

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with something there. You know, whatever it is, whatever you're going through,

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don't give up. Don't quit. We all suffer. We all suffer. But without commitment, you

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will suffer without hope. Let me say it again. Without commitment, you will suffer

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without hope. You need hope. You can say, I intended to do the right things. Jesus

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knows my heart. But let me tell you something. That's not good enough. Maybe

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you've heard it put this way. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. You

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have to follow through. Everyone needs to adopt an attitude that says, you know what

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God, I'm never gonna give up. Not gonna do it. I'm here. I'm doing this. Let's do

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this. I need you. Let's work on this together. There is an old journalist and

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radio commentator, you know, some of you probably heard of him before. His

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name is Paul Harvey. Now for those of you who don't know who Paul Harvey was, you

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know, he, I said he's a great journalist and radio commentator and he had this

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show where he would share these great stories about people's lives. And in the

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end, you would find out it was someone of great influence or celebrity, you know.

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Somebody just absolutely amazing because he wouldn't tell you exactly who it was

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until the very end. And then when you found out, you're like, whoa! It was

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absolutely incredible, alright. So anyhow, I digress. So there was an

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interview that was done with Paul Harvey and he was asked what the secret of

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success was. Well, Paul's answer was, I get up when I fall down. He was committed.

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He was absolutely committed. See, you can't treat your commitment like a New

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Year's resolution. There's no room for maybes. There's no room for, oh, I'll think

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about it, or maybe tomorrow. It's either yes or it's no, alright. Which brings me

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to my second point, which goes into discipline. Don't be a weakened warrior,

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alright. Our commitment has to have discipline. 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 13

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says, so prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your

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hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is

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revealed to the world. Be disciplined. Be in control of yourself. Don't let

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yourself be distracted or tempted off the path. Just stay the course, okay. I'm

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going to give you some definitions. So this is the definition of

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discipline per Merriam-Webster. A. To control, I'm sorry, control gained by

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enforcing obedience or order. B. Orderly or prescribed conduct of pattern of

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behavior. And C. Here's the big one for those of you taking notes, write this

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down. Self-control. Let me say that again. Self-control. Write that down,

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underline it, highlight it, circle it, whatever you need to do, write it in a

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different color, make that stand out. That's something that people forget

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about today. Self-control. You know that other way people like to say

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self-discipline, but let's just say it discipline, aka self-control. The root of

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discipline comes from discopolis. Sorry, I'm kind of butchering that word.

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Discipolis. There we go. Little tongue tied there. Discipolis, which is the

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Latin word for pupil, which is also the provided source of the word disciple or

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a follower of Jesus Christ in his lifetime. Alright, so the root of

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discipline comes from disciples. Again, that's the Latin word for pupil, which is

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also the source where we get the word, the term disciple from, meaning a

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follower of Christ in his lifetime. Alright, so continue on. You know that a

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little bit of English lesson there for you. Alright, so if you would turn with me

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to Matthew 19 verse 21. So Matthew 19 verse 21. Jesus told him, if you want to

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be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the

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poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me. See, what

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was going on here, Jesus was explaining to this person who was a very prominent

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person. They were very rich. Alright, that was very much their idol at that time.

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That's what was holding them back. So Jesus was trying to explain that the

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material things in this world truly mean nothing. You can pray, but that's not

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enough. What you do and how you live matters and that is where people falter.

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It's where they had that little misstep in life. See, you can't go part way.

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There's no half in. You have to go all in. I'll give you some examples,

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some very common examples of going part way. How you come to

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church and how you act at church. Are you honoring your parents or God?

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By your actions? Let me put this out here. With honoring your

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parents, okay, one is very biblical. Honor their mother or their father.

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We know this. Secondly, it doesn't matter where you are in life. It does

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not matter how old you are. It doesn't matter if your parents are still here or

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if they've passed on. Because you still bear the name and you still

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represent the family. So are you honoring your parents or God? Either one.

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Because if you're not honoring your parents, you're not honoring God. And

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just because you're honoring your parents doesn't mean you honor God either.

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So just because... let me keep going here. Just because you're

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physically in church doesn't mean you're here either. Playing on phones, listening

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to music, watching videos, you know, giving into those idols. You know, you're more

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engaged with those than you are with actually hearing the Word when you go

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places. So be in control of yourself. Don't let others tempt you away and pull

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you away. Don't tolerate distractions from what matters. Even if it's just for a

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minute. That minute, it matters. A lot can happen in a minute. And if you're okay

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letting something happen like that in God's house, letting something to distract

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you and to pull you away and get your attention, then guess what? You're

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going to be okay with letting that happen out in the world. And your commitment

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will fail. It will fail. Going to our third point. And we're rounding base.

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We're heading for home here folks. The greatest example and miracle. Throughout

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the Bible, Jesus predicted his own death several times. But it was never

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understood for what it was and what he was saying until after he was crucified,

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died, and then returned in the resurrection. Every day he was closer to

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death. Every day he knew he was closer to death. However, he was committed and

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showed discipline by his example. And it was an example for us. Turn with me to

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John 13 verse 31. As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, the time has come

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for the Son of Man to enter into his glory and God will be glorified because

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of him. Jesus already knew that Judas was setting things in motion and his death

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was coming very quickly. But he stayed true. He stayed the course. And

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think about it. At that time, the cross, you know, I think that many of us wear,

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you know, that many of us hang on the wall and have pictures of it, draw pictures

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of it, have tattoos of it, etc., etc. The cross, at that time, it was a symbol of

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shame. It was a symbol of disgrace. It was reserved for the absolute worst of

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society, the dredge of society. Jesus was mocked. He was ridiculed, spit on,

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tortured, and humiliated. Jesus turned that cross into glory by performing a

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miracle as he was put up to die. Between two thieves, he brought us salvation. He

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defeated death and connected us directly to God. He set the example with

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discipline and commitment. The example for us to follow. So don't be a couple

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of kids throwing a football over the house. Be a disciple and walk for God. Not

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for yourself and not for man, but for God. So recommit to God every day. Be

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disciplined in your walk and be the example that God needs you to be. Alright

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folks, that's all we got this week. We'll catch you next time. God bless you. I want

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to thank you for joining us today. If you have any questions, prayer requests, or

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would like to know more about our ministry, you can find us on our website

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at BeTheLightSanctuary.org or on Facebook at BeTheLightSanctuary. We'll

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catch you next time. God bless.