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We've all been hurt.

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We all carry scars.

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We can all overcome these things and be healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

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Let's build that relationship together right here.

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Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.

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Hey everybody, welcome back to the sanctuary.

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So good to have you with us.

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For those of you who are joining us for the first time, let me just say welcome.

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This week marks two really big events as far as what we consider holidays here in the country

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and how we honor our military members.

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The first of course being the Marine Corps birthday and the second being Veterans Day.

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So to my fellow Marines, let me just say happy birthday and to my fellow veterans, thank

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you all for walking the walk.

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Now with that said, this week's message is going to be different.

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I started out with one thing and then something totally different came out as I was writing.

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Just really it goes to show that you never know how the Holy Spirit is going to work

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and how He's going to move you.

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So this week I would like to start out our message with a prayer.

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In this prayer it was actually written by Marine veteran Dick Wilson and it's aptly

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titled A Marine Prayer and it goes like this.

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Almighty God, Father of the fatherless, now take me home.

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I was what others could not be.

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I went where others feared to go and did what others failed to do.

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I asked nothing from those who gave nothing, but gave hope, security and freedom to all.

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I have seen the face of terror, felt the stinging cold of fear and experienced the warm comfort

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of your love and protection through it all.

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I have enjoyed the sweet taste of life, comrades, love of country, your guiding hand and word.

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I have cried, failed, pained, loved and hoped.

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I have lived times others would say were best forgotten, but what we are in life echoes

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into eternity.

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I humbly offer that with your guidance I have done my duty and lived with the grateful pride

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of what I am, a United States Marine.

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Deep sea and sod for now hold our bodies, but you, O Lord, guard our souls until that

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final day when all stand before you guilty and for those who believe receive the gift

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of forgiveness and eternal life.

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Almighty God, Father of love, through the precious blood of your Son Jesus Christ, I

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pray you now take me home for you have proven to be always faithful.

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Semper Fidelis.

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It's a wonderful prayer, isn't it?

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Now of course it calls out to being a Marine.

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However, it's very safe to say that it calls out to the hearts of everyone who has raised

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their hand, taken that oath of service, put on a uniform and then stood their post to

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do their part for the mission our country has asked for them.

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Our country, who during times of strife and times of peace alike, has always asked the

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question, who will stand the watch?

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This is important to note because it parallels Isaiah chapter 6 verse 8 in which the Bible

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says, Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?

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And who will go for us?

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And I said, Here am I, send me.

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That right there, that's the heart of a volunteer, the heart of someone willing to stand up for

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what is right.

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To do what's been asked by their people and to respond by the calling of God placed upon

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their hearts.

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More importantly, whether they realize it or not, living out the action of what it means

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to obey that commandment that says to love your neighbor.

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Now let's face it.

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The warrior's path, the warrior's life is not easy.

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Suffice to say it's anything but.

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Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 4.

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The Bible tells us, No man that warth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that

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he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

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Simply put, soldiers don't have the time to get wrapped up in the day to day nonsense

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that civilians place such high value on.

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Often, way more than what it's worth.

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Instead, even though he may miss being able to get wrapped up in that stuff from time

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to time, the soldier stays focused on their duties and what it means to be a soldier,

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to be a warrior.

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Now please keep in mind, when I use that term soldier, I'm using it very generically to

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refer to all of our warriors, all of our servicemen and women, whether they're Marines, sailors,

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airmen, soldiers, guardsmen, etc.

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This is all inclusive.

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Now from the perspective of a veteran myself and everything, and you'll see this in a lot

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of things that you read, a lot of biographies as well, when you leave civilian life, when

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a person leaves civilian life, you do go through a indoctrination to become a warrior because

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nobody can survive without it.

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That training, you learn certain skills but your mindset is changed as well.

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The way you think about things, the way you approach things, the way you do things.

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Life as you knew it truly does cease to exist.

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The thing that isn't talked about is the fact that when you come home, you'll never be able

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to fully revert back to who you were before.

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This is because the warrior's path, the warrior's way is ingrained into you so deeply that it

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can't be fully uprooted.

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Now this is not a bad thing.

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This is where people like to talk about, well they flip the switch but they don't tell you

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how to turn it off.

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That's not true.

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There is so much here.

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Because there's so much we can learn from those past experiences of those who served.

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The problem is that many veterans, they start to buy into this phenomenon that's called

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illusory truth effect.

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Some of you may have heard me speak about this before.

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I'll explain what that is.

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Illusory truth effect is when, this is what occurs when you hear something over and over

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or say something or do something over and over.

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I shouldn't say do but when you hear or say something over and over to that point where

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you actually start to believe it.

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In the military we're conditioned to plan for the worst, hope for the best.

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Part of that is hearing what could happen, what might happen and how to respond should

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that something happen.

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These things are repeated so often and so much that the wording starts to change.

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It's like that experiment when you have a bunch of people sitting in line next to each

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other and you whisper, you say something real quietly to that first person like, hey you

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might choke if you eat too fast.

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That person says it to the person next to them who repeats it to the person next to

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them and so on and so forth.

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By the time it makes it all the way down to that last person it's changed and it's being

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repeated as if you even look at that cotton candy you're going to die.

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Soldiers are already set up to be in those dark places that are so hard to escape and

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it's an issue that doesn't get fixed.

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Then something does happen because let's face it that's why we're there, that's why we're

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in service.

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Look at the last two decades.

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We ourselves have been at war in more than a couple of countries here.

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We had the Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and that of course entailed

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Afghanistan, Iraq and then all the other countries that were wrapped up in that such as the Philippines

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for example and several other places where there were different operations and different

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things that coincided.

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So you take those people who are already on edge and then you put them into an environment

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where that maybe becomes reality.

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Where the evil of the world, the devil, the devil's world, it becomes that world around

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them, it becomes their new reality.

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They're wrapped up in that storm and they can't escape it.

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They've been volunteering, they're pushed into it for a reason.

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So they're bunkered down with their new family, that service member that's next to them that

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they're working with to try to survive and to accomplish the mission.

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That's when you see unconditional love come forward again.

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It's that love that Jesus speaks of in John 15 verse 13 when he says, there's no greater

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love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.

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No greater love.

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What is that?

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What is he talking about here?

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Well, it's the opposite of the world's love.

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The love that the world gives is very conditional.

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You have to earn it and you have to keep on earning it every single day, every single minute

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and if you make one mistake, if you have even just the slightest misstep, it's taken away

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and you're shoved all the way back to scratch, back to square one and you're having to work

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to try to earn it back.

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And that's if, if you're even able to.

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You might not ever be able to earn it back again.

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Put that in there with trust, however, the love that we're talking about here, the love

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that Jesus was talking about, like I said before, this is the polar opposite.

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This is up there, this is that agape type love where that warrior that's next to you,

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they become your family.

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At that moment in time when you're wrapped up in that storm, they are your family and

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regardless of any issues that you had in the rear when you were back in that safe area,

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on base, your staging areas and all that stuff, doing your training and everything, when it's

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go time and you're actually out there and you're working, you're doing the job, you

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love them unconditionally.

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A warrior, a soldier will do absolutely anything to protect that person next to them, even

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if it's at the cost of their own life.

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And as hard as this may be for some people to hear or even to wrap their mind around,

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it is very easy because at that point to that warrior, their point of view has changed.

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Their life is, to them, is absolutely meaningless if it means somebody else needs to die.

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That soldier, that warrior, they will gladly make the sacrifice themselves.

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They will sacrifice their own life to save another person, to ensure that that soldier

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next to them gets to go home.

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Or say they make it all the way through and they'll volunteer for another tour.

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They'll stay.

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Even though this lowers their odds of survival, they'll stay if it means that someone else

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doesn't have to go into that horror show, doesn't have to witness the things that they've

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witnessed, doesn't have to do the things that they've done, doesn't have to die.

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So, this is the meaning in Luke 14 verse 33 when Jesus said, so likewise, whoever of you

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does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.

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So, you have to be willing to give up everything for Jesus.

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Just like you have to be willing to give up everything to love your neighbor.

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This all goes into no greater love.

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This is also what Jesus was talking about in Luke 18 verse 22 when the Bible says, so

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when Jesus heard these things, he said to him, you still lack one thing.

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Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven

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and come, follow me.

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Not only possessions, but your own life.

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Luke 9 verse 23, the Bible says, and he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let

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him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

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And Luke 14 verse 27, the Bible says, and whoever does not carry the cross and follow

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me cannot be my disciple.

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You see, a lot of people, they look at veterans with this horrible stereotype that they're

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just these dark, mean, hardened, broken people.

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The reality is they're really not.

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They've known better than most what absolute evil is.

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And by that, they also know what absolute and pure love is, what sacrifice is truly

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about.

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You want to see veterans truly come alive?

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Put them in a room together.

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It does not matter what branch they come from, when they served, where they served, what

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their social classes, their race, their gender, all that nonsense goes out the window.

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You'll hear a vernacular coming out of their mouths that is foreign, but still understandable.

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And jokes and things, I'm telling you, that would make John Wayne blush.

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Why?

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Because of four letters.

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L-O-V-E.

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Love.

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Love.

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So, much like Memorial Day, Veterans Day means a lot of different things to a lot of people,

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and a lot of veterans at that.

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And those that have seen a struggle to find that switch to return to a sense of normalcy,

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it's also a struggle.

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But at the end of it all, the greatest commandment, one of the two greatest commandments, the

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second, is love.

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For all who have wondered how to think a veteran, the answer is a lot easier to say, but a lot

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harder to do.

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And it's simply this.

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Live a life worth their sacrifice.

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Much like living for Jesus, you'll find it can be a daily struggle.

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But if you keep your eyes on Jesus, trust in Jesus, and let Jesus be your guide, you

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will find it can be a lot easier to do.

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Remember, that's what true love is.

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It's the same as being a disciple of Jesus.

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You have to be willing to give up everything, even your own life, to follow Him.

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That's what love is.

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And that's what it is to be a veteran.

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That's what it is to join the service.

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That is what's truly ingrained in you.

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Remember you're loved.

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You are blessed.

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So go and be a blessing.

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Go and be the church.

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Thank you all for joining us here today at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.

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Please like, subscribe, and share our podcast on any platform it is that you tune into us

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on.

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If you do have any questions, any prayer requests, or would like to know more about our ministry,

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you can find us on our website at BeTheLightSanctuary.org or on Facebook at BeTheLightSanctuary.

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You can also find how to contact us there, whether it's direct message or email.

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We look forward to hearing from you all.

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God bless.