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Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Here you'll find practical, relevant, biblical information.

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The Bible will be broken down verse by verse so that you get the full context of the scripture to better grow in your relationship with Jesus.

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Thank you, babe.

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Well, good morning church. Let's pray real quick.

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Lord, we thank you for this time together. We thank you for this time in your work.

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We ask that you open our hearts and our minds to what you have for us today and help us to apply it in our lives.

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We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Well, good morning. A couple of you have already asked, I don't usually dress this nice. It's true.

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And don't get used to it. It's not going to be a weekly thing.

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I'm actually officiating a wedding this afternoon and I won't have time to go home and change.

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So this is going to be my guard for the day. So yeah, get pictures while you can because it's going away.

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I don't like wearing a tie too often. I'm not that type, you know.

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This week with preparing for this message, it's actually really good to hear some of the prayer requests this morning

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because they actually tie right into it because, you know, in with it, you know, I'm thinking about, you know, the food,

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the thanks, the praise, all the good things that the Lord's done in my life, you know, and then praying over the message this week.

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And as much as I want to say, hey, the Lord gave me a sermon on wearing stretchy pants and not being too gluttonous this week.

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That's that's not at all what came, you know.

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We'd actually be remiss in this holiday season.

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And really, it's already started. It's going full force if we weren't thinking about those who are struggling, you know, the holidays.

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They often are a hard time for a lot of people, you know, really indistinct about that.

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It takes me back to my time when I was overseas.

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Those of you who don't know me, I spent just under four years overseas, deployed with the Marine Corps.

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And when it comes to the holidays, really, we don't see a lot.

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Our service members alone don't really get to celebrate the holidays.

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A lot of them are working. Those who aren't, they're not with their families.

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You know, you're with your friend, you're with your extended family.

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But it's not like we really have the means or the kitchens or anything to go and prepare these fantastic meals and gather a whole bunch of people around a table.

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You know, at best, we're cramming four or five, six people into a room or around a dresser or a footlocker for a table.

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You know, those are in good quarters for enlisted.

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You know, you hear about these things where kids, they go and they make these lovely little cards and they send them to the USO and all these organizations to distribute among the troops.

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Well, the truth is, that doesn't happen for a lot of troops.

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My unit, for example, was very small.

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If I were to tell you how small it is and how much of an area we were responsible for, you'd be like, are you kidding?

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But we never saw those kinds of things.

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Typically, those types of gift packages are bookmarked or earmarked, whatever you want to call it, for certain infantry groups or these really large groups, these huge contingent groups.

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Sometimes you're motor tea type guys, right?

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But for the most part, a lot of guys don't see it.

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I know some people that stay in the barracks, maybe warming up a TV dinner or, you know, maybe they become a connoisseur on how to make ramen in a million different ways, you know, hitting at the local KFC.

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But like you look at my group, for what we did in the hours that we worked, we were always on duty on the holidays and we didn't exactly have the luxury of going to the chow hall.

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In fact, we were actually we actually had a little pay stipend so we could buy our own food because we could not.

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And unfortunately, it's not just my group.

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It's not just my branch.

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There are a lot of units that are like that.

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And it actually, you know, with just thinking about this, it had me thinking, when did we ever had the chance to celebrate a holiday like Thanksgiving, let alone Christmas?

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Couldn't put up lights.

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Couldn't exactly, you know, adorn ourselves with decorations or Santa hats or anything like that.

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You know, if you try growing a beard, you better have a chip from the doctor's office because you're going to get in trouble.

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You're going to be filling sandbags, doing something fun.

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And in thinking of it, only one time actually came to mind.

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Our CEO, his wife knew that our morale was particularly low.

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It was right after 9-11.

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So she took it upon herself to grab a couple of her girlfriends and they cooked us up a feast.

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We all crammed into our briefing room.

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That was pretty special.

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Whole bunch of jar heads in there.

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No alcohol, believe it or not.

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It's hard to imagine, you know, service members without alcohol, but it's true.

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Everybody that was off duty, we crammed in this little room.

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The couple of people who were on duty came.

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They got a plate to go.

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You know, they'd hang out for a couple of minutes and then they went right back out on the road.

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That's a pretty special memory for me.

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You don't see that a lot.

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So that's a blessing for us.

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You know, like I said, we're a small group.

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We're a tight-knit group.

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If you're wondering what we're doing, it's because we're a law enforcement.

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I was an MP.

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Beyond that, I was on SRT for a while.

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It's our equivalent of SWAT.

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That's a professional door kicker.

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There's not a whole lot of us out there.

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These days it's even smaller because nobody wants that kind of a job.

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And the reason our morale was particularly low, it wasn't just because it was the holidays.

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It was because it was right after 9-11.

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We were all waiting to find out if we were going to be deployed or where we were going to be deployed to,

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what we were going to have.

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It was a scary time.

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Unfortunately, a lot of our troops are facing the same thing today.

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Our first responders, even here in this city, are wondering what they're going to be facing this weekend.

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Our nurses and our ERs, our security guards out patrolling all these different grounds,

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most of them in this state unarmed at best and not properly trained.

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So just with that in mind, I'm not trying to paint a grim picture,

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but the holidays can be very hard for a number of reasons.

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I gave you an example, loneliness, bills, lack of funds, illness, death, just to name a few.

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But we need to recognize that we do have these people around us who are struggling.

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Matter of fact, you only need to pull out your phone.

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Most of us have one.

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Do a quick little search on the internet, and you would find over 60% of the population

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is struggling with depression at this time of the year, especially with this holiday.

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That means there are people in this room who are struggling with depression,

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whether they want to talk about it or not.

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Over 60%.

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The last I checked, and it was a bit of an older statistics at 64,

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it could have gone up or down a few, but you think about that.

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That's a lot of people, and we have a lot of people who aren't even here

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because they're traveling or whatever, right?

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The problem is, is when things get hard, we tend to get tunnel vision.

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Think about it, any time things have gotten tough,

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any time you've had a hurdle that you need to get through, you get hyperfixated on it.

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We all do.

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It's part of our human nature.

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With that said, let's go ahead and open our Bibles, your Bible apps,

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whatever it is that you're using.

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Let's turn to Lamentations.

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See if I can get that word out.

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Chapter 3, and we're going to start specifically in verses 19 and 20.

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Of course, I'm reading from the New King James version,

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so if you have a different version, the words might be a little different.

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Lamentations 3, verses 19 through 20, the word says,

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Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gull,

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my soul still remembers and it sinks within me.

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See, when we come to this passage, Jeremiah, he's grieving.

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He's hurting, so much so that he feels it in his very soul.

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No matter what he turns to, no matter what he occupies himself with,

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no matter what he's doing or where he goes, his soul is reminding him,

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Hey, this happened. It's a spiritual scar.

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If we think of scars, I've got a ton of them.

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You come up, you look at my hand, my wrist, my ankle, my knees, whatever.

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We all have scars. We never think of how it impacts spiritually though.

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And sometimes those wounds are the greatest wounds. They hurt the most.

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And while scars fade over time, they never fully go away.

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There's always something there to remind us that something, at some point, happened.

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The pain might not go down.

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The pain might eventually go away depending on the injury,

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but there's still the reminder.

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Notice something here though in this passage.

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He simply refers to it as an affliction.

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Not a bad day.

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Not referring to it by the name of the incident or what occurred.

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For example, I was just talking about 9-11.

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If I mention 9-11, I don't have to say really a whole lot beyond that, do I?

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Because right away, just in those couple of words, those couple of numbers, we know the date,

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we know the where, we know what happened.

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Depending on how old you are, you might remember exactly where you were at that time.

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Right?

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It was a moment for a generation.

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Like the Tet Offensive, like Pearl Harbor, and so many others throughout time.

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You don't have to go into detail, just a mere mention.

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But if you think about this, this is an incident here in our country, in our lifetime,

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and we make a big deal out of it.

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A big deal. Huge.

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And what we're doing every time is we're taking that scab and we're peeling it back just a little bit.

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Enough to remind us, hey, that wound's still there.

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It's not even a scar yet, it's still a scab, and we're just picking at it.

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Why?

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Why do we cling to such a dark thing in this way?

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And the answer is actually really simple.

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If you step back and you look at it from a biblical standpoint, as we all should as believers,

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and it's because we have a hole here and we're looking for Jesus.

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We're looking for God in the rubble.

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But it's not until we realize that we've already found him that that hole is filled in.

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The whole time he was there with us.

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He was walking with us.

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He was digging through the rubble.

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He was looking for survivors.

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He was finding those who had perished and getting them moved as well, letting the families know,

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providing for the safety of everybody who was there.

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And it's not just this one incident, it's all incidents, because he's always there.

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It doesn't matter if it's a car wreck out here or somebody having a heart attack across the street.

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He's always there.

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But we get so hyper fixated, we don't realize we're looking right past him.

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We're putting him in a back seat.

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We're always looking for that light and the darkness.

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It is a dark world.

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But it's not until we see his light that we start to calm down.

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It's kind of like a small child.

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You have a small child, they're still learning to walk, or maybe they walk, but they're trying to run.

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What happens?

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They fall down, they fall on their bottom, and what happens?

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Wah!

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Wah!

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They're crying.

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They got all these tears, they're screaming, they're making a big fuss.

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It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.

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But it's not until mom or dad or auntie or whoever picks them up, dusts them off, shows them,

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hey, you're actually okay, and they get refocused, that they realize, hey, okay, this is all right.

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It's not as bad as I thought it was.

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I'm not as broken as I thought I was.

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It's going to be okay.

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And it's for the same thing, because they don't know that God's there.

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They're not seeing God in the mix.

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Right?

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For a small child, it's mom and dad.

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And we're the same way.

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We're exactly the same way.

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Something happens, we make a big deal, we make a fuss, we cry.

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It's not until we actually start to see Jesus, you know, we see the light from the Holy Spirit that we start to calm down.

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Jeremiah was different in this.

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If we go back in here to Lamentations 3 and we go into verses 21 through 24, the word says,

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This I recall to my mind, therefore to have hope.

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Through the Lord's mercies we are consumed, because his compassions fail not.

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They are new every morning.

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Great is your faithfulness.

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The Lord is my portion, says my soul.

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Therefore I hope in him.

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See, here's someone, he's surrounded by sin, he's surrounded by pain and torment.

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But he still sees hope.

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It's right there, it's right in front of him.

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Why?

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Because he saw God at work.

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With everything that's going around, he saw God.

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And every single day we wake up, it's no different.

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Every single day we wake up and we can, if we actually look, we can see God at work.

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We have an opportunity to confess the sins and our shortcomings everywhere that we've fallen short to him.

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And that's all, he's just waiting to hear it.

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He wants to forgive you, he wants to be involved.

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Not with just the good, but with the bad.

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We have to remember this, especially if, you know, when you're struggling, when you're going through that hard time.

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You're not alone.

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He's there.

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He wants to hear what's hurting inside.

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He wants you to let him in and fill that void with the Holy Spirit.

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Jeremiah knew this.

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He knew from personal experience because he had seen everything that God had done.

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He knew that God kept his promises.

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He knew punishment was coming to those who had sinned and had fallen away.

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And that punishment came, it was just.

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But just the same, even though these were hard times for him, he also knew that God had a promise for those who believe.

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To be rebuilt, to be restored, and to be blessed.

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I was just talking about this last week.

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This is Thanksgiving, right?

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This is a time where we step back and we inventory all the things that have gone on through our lives up to this point, especially over the last year to give thanks.

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But what do we not talk about?

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Who do we give that thanks to?

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Is it just to each other?

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No.

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It's to the Father.

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It is to the Father.

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But we forget that.

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Even as Christians, even as believers, we get so caught up in what's in front of us.

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We get hyperfixated on the ballgames and the food and the friends and the family.

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I like that tune, that's good.

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But we get so hyperfixated, we forget about it, and God kind of gets put to the right side, right?

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It happens.

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It happens to all of us.

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We're all guilty of it.

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But time and time again, God still comes through and he never fails.

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Now, there's going to be some who are going to ask, why doesn't this happen immediately?

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When we go to him and we ask for the forgiveness and we ask for the healing, why doesn't it happen?

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And it's a good question.

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The answer is we couldn't handle it.

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If it had happened just like that, everything that we asked it for, if it were to come that fast, we could not handle it.

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It's not part of our being or our humanist to be able to handle it.

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You think about food.

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It's Thanksgiving, right?

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Take a bag of popcorn.

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You throw it in the microwave.

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You hit the button.

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You hit start.

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Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.

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It takes a couple of minutes, right?

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It's not instant gratification.

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It's not an instant solution.

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It comes quickly.

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But especially if you're sitting there and you're watching that timer, you're like, man, we've got 60, 50, even especially like that last 30 seconds, right?

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It takes eternity.

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It's like, I want my popcorn.

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I want it now.

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I'm hungry, right?

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In general, things like you take a soda out, you still have to take time to get it, make sure it wasn't dropped or shaken up and, right?

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If you've been sitting there on the shelf and you know it's good, you're still going to take a second to kind of make sure it didn't fizz over on you.

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Our life is no different.

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We're all being prepared every step of the way.

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There's no difference.

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You know, that same respect, the Holy Spirit when He's in us and we have these pains and we're grieving and we're struggling.

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We're like, why, God, why?

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He's not working from the outside in.

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He's working from the inside out.

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He's healing the heart first.

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Without the heart, what do you have?

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Nothing.

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You're an empty shell, an empty vessel.

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Bitter, like a husk.

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So He works from the inside out and little by little that pain starts to subside less and less and less.

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And eventually, the day comes and you wake up, you realize that pain is just a memory.

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That loss, it's a memory.

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The love that you had is still there.

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But the hurts no longer is painful.

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The Lord's put you back together.

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And when the Lord does that, my friends, that's your testimony.

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That is your testimony.

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People get hung up.

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You look at the Gideons, oh, I've got to go out and I've got to put this New Testament in those hands.

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If they don't know the Lord, that New Testament is going to mean nothing.

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It's going to collect dust.

287
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But when you give your testimony, this is what happened.

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This is what the results were.

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This is how the Lord worked in my life.

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Guess what?

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You become the Bible because they see God at work in your life.

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And when you're able to say, hey, God did this for me, he can do this for you too.

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Guess what?

294
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,000
They're seeing that light and there's hope.

295
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The hope that they didn't have.

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And these dark times with whatever it is that's hurting within you, when you have that hope, things change.

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And they change dramatically.

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Now, for time's sake, we're not going to go into it.

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But if you go to Psalm 46, here we have an entire Psalm that's all about God being there.

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He's always there.

301
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He's always helping.

302
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:02,000
He's always providing.

303
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And he will never fail to do so.

304
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And he will never fail to rescue those who truly love him.

305
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:17,000
As the Psalm says, and you'll find it in this particular one, he is our refuge.

306
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He is our strength.

307
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He is our fortress.

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We have to remember God's in the details.

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He's always at work in the back.

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If we look to him, if we depend on him, he will get us through those times of uncertainty, those times of pain, he'll guide us out.

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There's no doubt about it.

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Just like Daniel, when he had to lay down with the lions, right?

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Just like Peter being called out to walk on water.

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And what happened?

315
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,000
He sank.

316
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,000
Jesus still pulled him out.

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Or Joseph, sold into slavery and then risen to the highest seat in the land, a king.

318
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,000
We turn to Psalm 119, verse 105.

319
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A lot of you probably know this.

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Matter of fact, a lot of Bibles have this on the very first page when you open them up.

321
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The word says, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

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I'm sure it's safe to say everybody in here has a nightlight of some sort in their house, right?

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Something at least that partially illuminates the room or the hallway.

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So when you're walking through at night, you can navigate without being totally blind.

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You know, and what's the goal there?

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So you don't get hurt.

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Now, hopefully you don't stub your toe on a bedpost.

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It happens.

329
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:54,000
I've broken my fair share of toes, not bedpost.

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That'd be a pretty fragile bedpost.

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00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:02,000
You know, or if you've got kids, or maybe when you were still a kid, step on that Lego.

332
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:06,000
Ah, things worse than the little prickers that we find outside, right?

333
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,000
These things are lethal.

334
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:12,000
You should be registered as weapons, right?

335
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:13,000
But we do.

336
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:20,000
We have this light that helps us to navigate and hopefully minimize how we're getting hurt,

337
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,000
or minimize or mitigate getting hurt altogether.

338
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,000
If we go camping, what's on the list?

339
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A flashlight or a torch of some sort, right?

340
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:31,000
Why?

341
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,000
Because at some point, the sun's going to go down.

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You're going to need to be able to get through the woods or wherever you are,

343
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,000
or let's face it, we're all human.

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Nature calls, and you need to go and find a safe place to relieve said nature?

345
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:45,000
Nobody wants to go out there blind.

346
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Nobody wants to walk into a tree.

347
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:50,000
I can tell you I did that once.

348
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,000
It didn't end well.

349
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,000
I broke my nose.

350
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:56,000
So you can attest to it.

351
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:57,000
I reset my nose.

352
00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:58,000
I didn't reset it very well.

353
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,000
That's why I have this little bridge right here now.

354
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,000
It used to be very narrow nose.

355
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:03,000
There's a whole story to that.

356
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:04,000
I ran into a glass door.

357
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,000
We'll save that for another time.

358
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,000
The point is we need a light.

359
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:10,000
We need something there that's going to guide us,

360
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:15,000
that's going to navigate and help us to find where we're going, right?

361
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,000
The Bible, it's the same way.

362
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:23,000
It provides light and guidance in our lives.

363
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,000
And if you think of it this way, when you're outside,

364
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,000
you will see a light that's off at the distance.

365
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:35,000
The closer you're, it might be dim at first, just kind of twinkling,

366
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:39,000
but the closer you get to it and the more you drive towards it,

367
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,000
what happens?

368
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,000
It gets brighter.

369
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:49,000
It gets brighter and bigger and bigger and bigger

370
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until eventually you're just surrounded by it.

371
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The room's lit up.

372
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The space is lit up.

373
00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,000
And the Bible does the same thing.

374
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:01,000
This is God's Word.

375
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:06,000
This is God talking to us right here.

376
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:12,000
We can't just mitigate it to a couple of minutes on a Sunday or a Wednesday.

377
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:16,000
This right here, as the Word tells us, this is our daily bread.

378
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:22,000
We pull things from here every day, manna for our soul.

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That light that illuminates our light, it shows us what's there

380
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:32,000
so that we're no longer in that danger zone.

381
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Sure, we might occasionally still step on that Lego.

382
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,000
It'll be daytime and we're still going to step on something.

383
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,000
Just the other day, I thought I had a little bit more space

384
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and I stepped on my poor dog's paw.

385
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She still loves me.

386
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I still love her.

387
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It's important.

388
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,000
I love my dog.

389
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But it happens, right?

390
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,000
So even though we're going to be surrounded by light,

391
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,000
we're still going to have things that happen.

392
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,000
We're still going to have aches and pains.

393
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And while we think about it and we think of our struggles

394
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and we think of the darkness of the world, and yeah, it's horrible,

395
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but it pales in comparison to what God's had to sacrifice for us.

396
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:20,000
It pales in comparison to the hell that awaits those people who don't turn to God,

397
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who don't lean into Jesus.

398
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:31,000
You think of the pain and the torture and the torment,

399
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:35,000
just going up to the cross.

400
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:36,000
And then Jesus was there.

401
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:37,000
Here's somebody.

402
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,000
He was always united with the Father.

403
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,000
He was never separated, not once.

404
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:46,000
Since the very beginning, they were together.

405
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,000
And then on the cross, what happened?

406
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:52,000
He took on the sin of the world.

407
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:56,000
What is the one place that God will not stand?

408
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,000
With sin.

409
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,000
So when Christ is crying out, why have you forsaken me?

410
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:08,000
It's because it was the one time that he was disconnected from the Father.

411
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,000
You imagine that pain?

412
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,000
Someone you've always been connected to, someone you've always been with,

413
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,000
and now you can no longer see them or hear them.

414
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:23,000
We only get a small glimmer of that when somebody we care about passes away.

415
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:29,000
And this is someone who took on the sin of the world.

416
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:31,000
We can't mitigate that.

417
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,000
But what happened?

418
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,000
He knew what was coming back.

419
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,000
He knew the reconnection.

420
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:45,000
He went and he took that for us so that we could actually be reunited with the Lord.

421
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:57,000
So we could be back in fellowship with the Father, have that seat at the table through him.

422
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:02,000
So sometimes, yeah, that light's going to be a little dim, but it's going to get brighter.

423
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,000
It's going to get brighter.

424
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:10,000
Because we had someone who ensured that that light stayed on for us.

425
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:11,000
What was the old ad?

426
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,000
We'll leave the light on for you.

427
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:19,000
Let's leave the light on for us.

428
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:24,000
We go back to Lamentations 3 verses 25 through 27.

429
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,000
That's right, Twinkie, that's right.

430
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,000
Lamentations 3, 25 through 27.

431
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:36,000
The word says, The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

432
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:41,000
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

433
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:47,000
It is good for man to bear the yoke in his youth.

434
00:29:47,000 --> 00:30:00,000
I want you to keep these three verses in mind because it sounds an awful lot like a few other verses that have all just kind of sandwiched together here, which is beautiful.

435
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:08,000
It's one of those things the Bible references itself a whole lot more than any other text or anything else that's ever been created.

436
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:19,000
Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 1, I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what he will say to me and what I will answer when I'm corrected.

437
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:28,000
Matthew 7 verses 7 through 8, asking it will be given to you, seeking you will find, knock and it will be open to you.

438
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:34,000
For everyone who ask and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be open.

439
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:44,000
And then in Proverbs 22 verse 6, train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.

440
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:51,000
All three of those summarized right here.

441
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,000
So we need to be patient.

442
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:59,000
Doesn't always seem like the answers are coming.

443
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,000
We're told keep asking.

444
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:04,000
The answer is coming.

445
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:05,000
God hears.

446
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,000
He understands your pain.

447
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,000
He understands what you're going through.

448
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,000
And answer is on the way.

449
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:15,000
Sometimes it is delayed though.

450
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:22,000
One example we just need to look at Daniel.

451
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,000
He prayed, he prayed, he prayed for an answer.

452
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:25,000
Where's this answer?

453
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:26,000
Where's it coming from?

454
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,000
And what happened?

455
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:30,000
Angel finally shows up says, Hey, I was delayed by the Prince of Persia.

456
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,000
It's delayed by the enemy for weeks.

457
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:42,000
Because the spiritual war, we get spiritual scars because we are engaged in a spiritual war.

458
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:48,000
It's not just a little booboo with something significant.

459
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,000
Other times.

460
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,000
We don't get the answer that we're looking for.

461
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,000
Because we're too busy talking.

462
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,000
We're too busy yammering on.

463
00:31:58,000 --> 00:31:59,000
What about this?

464
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:00,000
What about that?

465
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:01,000
Oh, look at this.

466
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:02,000
Right?

467
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,000
Like a kid in the toy store.

468
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:05,000
Oh, look, look, oh, gee, I joke.

469
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:06,000
Oh, look at the cheap.

470
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,000
Oh, look at the Barbie.

471
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,000
We're too busy talking.

472
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:19,000
If we just close our mouth for a second and give him a chance to answer, we would hear what he has to say.

473
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:24,000
Instead, we get caught up in all these things.

474
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:25,000
And we get lulz.

475
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,000
Right?

476
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,000
We get caught up in our little pity party.

477
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,000
Oh, woe is me.

478
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,000
It's the end of the world.

479
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:38,000
Why am I not good enough?

480
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:40,000
There's something right there.

481
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:52,000
I can almost promise everybody in this room has asked at least once in their life, why am I not good enough?

482
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:55,000
It's at the forefront because things aren't happening the way you want.

483
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,000
You're not getting the things that you want.

484
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,000
Well, guess what?

485
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,000
You're good enough.

486
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:07,000
God loves you.

487
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,000
He absolutely does.

488
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:15,000
And you know why you're not getting this?

489
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:21,000
One, it wasn't meant for you.

490
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:27,000
Even Jesus said, in your will, right?

491
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,000
We beg for things that aren't meant for us.

492
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:31,000
Reason one.

493
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:43,000
Reason two, it's not meant for us because something better that is more compatible with us as individuals is in store for us.

494
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:47,000
But it's coming at the right time.

495
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,000
I'll remind you, that's not our time.

496
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,000
It's his time.

497
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:52,000
It's always in his time.

498
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,000
And his timing is perfect.

499
00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:03,000
His gifts are perfect.

500
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:10,000
We need to stop reaching and begging for the scraps.

501
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,000
When the Lord is saying, hey, come and sit at the table.

502
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:17,000
We have a full, fresh meal right here.

503
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:27,000
All the fixings, I want you to come and sit at the table, eat with us, drink with us, talk with the family.

504
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:35,000
Enjoy the fellowship as a whole.

505
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:36,000
Right?

506
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,000
We're all different parts of the bride.

507
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:43,000
And we all have to come together.

508
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:50,000
And we have to come together and say, his love and blessings are greater than anything that any of us could ever imagine.

509
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,000
All of us have been at a point where we're like, oh, what about this?

510
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:57,000
And then we get to the end point and we actually see the fruition come to life.

511
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:03,000
Oh, that's awesome.

512
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,000
We need to stop being impatient to get there.

513
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:14,000
And we look at verse 27 here, it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth, right?

514
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,000
It's meaning, hey, settle down.

515
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,000
Chill out, buckaroo.

516
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:20,000
Just hang out.

517
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:21,000
Listen.

518
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,000
Listen to what God's trying to tell you.

519
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:27,000
Stop trying to give him the answers.

520
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,000
He knows what's best.

521
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:30,000
He knows what's right.

522
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:34,000
He knows what's going to be most compatible with you, what's going to work best for you.

523
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:38,000
Because what's going to work for one person is not going to work for the other person.

524
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:43,000
Have you ever tried putting your right shoe on your left foot?

525
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:44,000
Doesn't work too well.

526
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,000
It's a little uncomfortable, isn't it?

527
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,000
It's no different.

528
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,000
And yes, you know, a lot of us are going through a dark time.

529
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,000
And it's going to happen.

530
00:35:54,000 --> 00:36:05,000
But I can assure you that because of Jesus, that sun is rising, that darkness is coming to an end.

531
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:11,000
And we will all be in the light and you will be able to finally see what you were meant to see.

532
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:16,000
But only if you stop retreating into the darkness.

533
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:19,000
You're not a vampire.

534
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:26,000
You're not a bat that's meant to hang upside down in a cave until the sun goes down and come out and eat bugs.

535
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:33,000
You're one of God's precious children and you're meant to be in his light.

536
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,000
Don't be afraid of it.

537
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,000
Talk to the Father.

538
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,000
Talk to Jesus. Talk to the Holy Spirit.

539
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:42,000
Pray.

540
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:43,000
That's how you do it.

541
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:47,000
When anytime that you talk, that is a prayer.

542
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:52,000
And it's not just a simple little God is good, God is great, let us thank you.

543
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:53,000
No.

544
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,000
You need to open up the floodgates.

545
00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,000
Tell him what you're feeling.

546
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:04,000
Tell him what you're seeing from your perspective.

547
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,000
He wants to hear it.

548
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:09,000
He already knows, but he wants to hear it from you.

549
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,000
Kind of like, you know, your kid's messing up in school.

550
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:13,000
You already know what's going on.

551
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,000
You've already taught the teacher, but you want to hear it from the kid.

552
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:17,000
What's going on?

553
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,000
Right?

554
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,000
You're having a hard time with somebody at school.

555
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:22,000
What's going on?

556
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:25,000
What's causing this issue?

557
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,000
God wants to hear the same thing from us.

558
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:31,000
He wants the ugly.

559
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:36,000
He doesn't want it all shined up and pretty, looking all fancy with a suit and a tie.

560
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,000
You know, or a skirt and heels.

561
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:46,000
You know, a dirty, raggedy, torn up, dirty, musty thing.

562
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:53,000
Because he's the one who's looking forward to actually cleaning it or replacing it.

563
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:57,000
Putting that robe upon you.

564
00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,000
So don't hold back.

565
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,000
You're facing a hard time right now.

566
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:03,000
You're depressed.

567
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,000
You're struggling.

568
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,000
You are good enough.

569
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:11,000
It's on you to lean into the Father, though.

570
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,000
That's all he's wanting.

571
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:17,000
Sometimes it's not enough for a parent to reach out.

572
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:24,000
We have to wait for our children to come to us.

573
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:32,000
And if you know someone who's struggling, most of us do, pray over them.

574
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,000
Pray over them privately.

575
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:40,000
And if you're physically there with them, say, hey, man, can I pray with you?

576
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:43,000
Can I pray for you for just a moment?

577
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,000
And that's the response you're going to get right there.

578
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:48,000
It's very rare for someone to say no.

579
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,000
Oh, that's a fooey, whatever.

580
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:57,000
Even if they're a nonbeliever, everybody wants to know that they're cared about.

581
00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:03,000
Just remember, you might be the tool that God uses to bring that light to another person.

582
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:04,000
I want that said.

583
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,000
Let us pray.

584
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,000
Lord, we love you so much.

585
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:11,000
We thank you for spending this time with us.

586
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:16,000
We thank you for your love, your grace, your mercy.

587
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:21,000
During this time that we've set aside to take into account all that you've blessed us with,

588
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:25,000
as your Word tells us every good and perfect gift is from above,

589
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:32,000
we know that no matter how we've come into these gifts,

590
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:37,000
they're truly from you, whether they be accomplishments, material things,

591
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:45,000
people in our lives, jobs, healing, lessons learned, everything,

592
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:49,000
even somebody coming to know you for the first time,

593
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:55,000
someone who's been away for a while and is returning after a long time away as a prodigal son or daughter,

594
00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:00,000
to that warm welcome that only you can provide.

595
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,000
We thank you for all these things so much more.

596
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,000
We ask for healing.

597
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:17,000
We ask for peace and the sight and the warmth of your light to be known to those who are suffering

598
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:21,000
in those dark places right now.

599
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:26,000
Your Word tells us that though the righteous might fall seven times, they'll rise again.

600
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:33,000
So we ask that our brothers and sisters be reminded of just this thing,

601
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:43,000
that it's you that they can lean into and find the spiritual healing that they so desperately need,

602
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:47,000
that we so desperately need.

603
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:55,000
We ask that you use us to reach those around us, those that are within our reach that need to be reached

604
00:40:55,000 --> 00:41:00,000
so that we can take them by the hand and we can guide them to you,

605
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:05,000
so that they too can come to have a relationship with you.

606
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:12,000
And as we go into this holiday season, we also ask for a hedge of protection,

607
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:21,000
not just for our community, our nation, but especially for those who are out there on that front line,

608
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:29,000
our military members, our first responders, and everybody in the support that's working with them

609
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:36,000
to serve and protect their fellow man throughout this season and every day.

610
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:40,000
And all his people said. Amen.

611
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:45,000
With that said, may the God of hope fill you all with joy and peace.

612
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:49,000
Thank you all for joining us here today at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.

613
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:56,000
Please like, subscribe, and share our podcast on any platform it is that you tune into us on.

614
00:41:56,000 --> 00:42:03,000
If you do have any questions, any prayer requests, or would like to know more about our ministry,

615
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:13,000
you can find us on our website at BeTheLightSanctuary.org or on Facebook at BeTheLightSanctuary.

616
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:19,000
You can also find how to contact us there, whether it's direct message or email.

617
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:47,000
We look forward to hearing from you all. God bless.