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Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton, the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship

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Route 66 in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Burton is the lead pastor.

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We're glad you're here.

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Hey everybody, welcome to the sanctuary.

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Pastor Burton here and we're kicking off season three of the Healing Scars podcast.

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Now I know here in recent months you've gotten used to hearing it as it's recorded live

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as I'm preaching there at Cross Christian Fellowship Route 66.

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However, we've had some technical issues.

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Things haven't been going as smoothly as we'd like.

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So I decided, you know what, I'm going to go old school and you know what, part of me

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misses being able to sit here and do it like this.

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So if you do get to tune in live, whether it's via YouTube or whatever, of course, you

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know, you've probably already heard this.

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But as you know, you know, I have my notes here.

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So sometimes we go down rabbit trails, sometimes we go, we go into things that weren't talked

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about during the service itself, which is always exciting.

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Right?

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So good times there.

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This is always going to be unique.

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With that said, it's great to be back with you.

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So again, welcome to the sanctuary.

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This is Healing Scars.

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So this is your first time joining us.

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Let me just take a moment to say welcome.

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Now of course, the new year's already hit.

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Don't worry, I'm not going to hit you with that new year, new me stuff.

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You know, I've already talked about it.

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Instead, what we're going to be talking about today is that trap that the enemy loves to

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set for us.

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And it's basically when he pits us against ourselves, when our humanness is used to pull

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us away from the Lord and the word we use for it is pretty short, it's three letters.

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E-G-E-O.

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Ego.

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That's right, we're talking about ego.

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We all have an ego.

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Every single one of us has one.

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Ego, it's another way of saying, easing God out.

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But when it's fed and we step out into that limelight that really belongs to God, well,

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our vision tends to shift.

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It gets kind of skewed, right?

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And it shifts so that we're focused on ourselves and our wants.

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Not our needs, but our wants.

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It's me, me, me, right?

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We become like that little plant in that movie, Little Shop of Horrors, you remember that?

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We start out small, but we get that first little bite of something that feeds our ego

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and before long we're a towering monster planning to take over the world.

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Feed me, feed me, feed me.

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Feed me, right?

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So with that said, let's open up our Bibles.

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We're going to go to 1 Samuel chapter 15.

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We're going to start right in the very beginning.

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So 1 Samuel chapter 15 verses one through three, the word says, Samuel told Saul, the

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Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel.

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Now listen to the words of the Lord.

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This is what the Lord of armies says, I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites

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when they opposed them along the way as they were coming out of Egypt.

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Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have.

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Do not spare them.

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Kill men, women, infants, nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.

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Wow.

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Now this is intense, is it not?

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Whoa.

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This is one of those things that non-believers like to pick out and they say things like,

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hey, remember when God killed children and babies?

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Why would God do this?

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Well, the Amalekites were essentially guerrilla terrorists.

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We're going to go into why God would do that right here.

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Okay.

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See the Amalekites, they'd attack other nations.

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They'd sack them, plunder them, steal their riches, kidnap and enslave their people.

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If we actually go all the way back to Exodus 17 or even Deuteronomy 25, we can see that

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not only were they the first people to attack the Israelites when they left Egypt, we're

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going into the promised land, but they continued to raid and harass them at every turn.

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Every chance they got, they were going at them.

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These guys, they were big time idolaters and they had religious practices that if allowed

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to continue and were introduced in any way, shape or form into Israeli culture, it would

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have hurt their relationship with God.

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Because of this, God knew he had to cut out the cancer.

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The Amalekites were a cancer.

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He had to root out the weeds.

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You don't go into a small piece, take it out and then wait for it to grow back even stronger

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or more aggressive.

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The best way to get rid of something like this is to go deep and get it all out.

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Just like cancer, they don't go out and just take a little piece of it and call it good.

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No, they go in and they try to get all of it that they can.

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In this case, the Amalekites, they're a cancer that they had gone down.

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This is one of those terminal cases.

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Amalekites hit the brain stem essentially.

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If these children even had been left to grow up knowing that their families were killed,

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especially in the culture and the way things were done back then, they would have come

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back looking for vengeance and other ways to disrupt and destroy Israel.

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Ego would have been hard at work and God was not about it.

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He was not about to have these people going out and having that attitude where it's all

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about me.

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Picking back up our word here, 1 Samuel 15 verses 4 through 9, the word says, then Saul

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summoned the troops and counted them at Tulane.

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Two hundred thousand foot soldiers, ten thousand men from Judah, Saul came to the city of Amalek

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and set up an ambush in the Wadi.

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He warned the Kienites, since you have shown kindness to all of the Israelites when they

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came out of Egypt, go on and leave.

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Get away from the Amalekites or I'll sweep you away with them.

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So, the Kienites withdrew from the Amalekites.

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Then Saul struck down the Amalekites from Hevilah, excuse me, I'm probably butchering

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this word, Hevilah, all the way to Shur, which is next to Egypt.

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He captured King Agag of Amalek alive, but he completely destroyed all the rest of the

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people with the sword.

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Saul and the troops spared Agag and the best of the sheep, goats, cattle and choice animals,

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as well as the young rams and the best of everything else.

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They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted

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things.

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Alright, so Saul decided to let Agag and some animals live, right, while taking the choices

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to plunder.

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Wait a minute, back in verse three, did we or did we not see that God told him to destroy

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it all?

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Yeah, wipe it off the planet, right?

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Being told to destroy it all, this wasn't even unheard of or unknown to them, especially

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if there was a chance that it was going to introduce something that was against God.

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Alright, and this is going back to what we were talking about before, rooting out that

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cancer, right?

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We actually go back to Deuteronomy chapter 20 verses 16 through 18, so Deuteronomy 20

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the word says, however, you must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these

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people.

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The Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

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You must completely destroy them.

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The Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, the Jubisite, as the

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Lord your God has commanded you, so that they won't teach you to do all the detestable

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acts they do for their gods.

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And you sin against the Lord your God.

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And look right there, the reason why.

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So that they won't teach you the detestable things that they do, right?

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Anything that God banned was to be completely and utterly destroyed.

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To do otherwise was disrespectful to God and ignored his laws completely as it gave way

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to idolatry.

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Idolatry gives way to ego, the worship of one's self.

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So when we try to justify our sin in order to protect ourselves or what we've gained,

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we're not just being shrewd.

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We're being downright disobedient to God and we're putting ourselves first.

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Whether we realize it or not, we're making an idol of ourselves because what we're saying

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when we do these things is that what we want is more important than God or what he wants.

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It's no different than telling someone they're going to go to hell because of their sexual

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choices while trying to cover up the fact that their son makes the same choices.

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People do this, right?

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Or cheating on their spouse.

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Or telling someone that they shouldn't be smoking marijuana while they themselves are

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an alcoholic.

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Saying that we need to care for everyone but only help them if they're a quote unquote

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member.

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That's sin.

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Right?

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We got people out there like, you're going to go to hell.

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But what about their sin, right?

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It's our ego that tells us that our sin isn't as bad as it really is and that we're not

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as bad as another person.

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But I'll remind you, to God, sin is sin.

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Sin is sin.

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It doesn't matter if you're a pimp, a drug dealer, a false teacher, a politician wrongfully

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getting the medal of freedom.

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Ego is a sin of self-idolatry.

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So when Saul and his troops decided to take these things for themselves, they were giving

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way to ego.

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What they wanted was more important.

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And they were easing God out the door.

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And you'll see what I'm talking about here momentarily.

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So let's go back to 1 Samuel chapter 15.

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So we're in 1 Samuel chapter 15 verses 10 and 11.

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The word tells us, then the word of the Lord came to Samuel.

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I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not

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carried out my instructions.

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So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night.

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Alright, pause right here.

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We're going to take just a moment because there's something very big right here.

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God says something here in verse 11 and he's going to say it again towards the end of the

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chapter.

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He says, I regret.

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I call your attention to it because it's a translation issue that comes about because

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in English, we don't have, or at least at the time, didn't have an exact comparative word

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for what's actually being said.

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So I'd encourage you, highlight these words, underline it, make a note.

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Because here's the thing, if we're looking at face value, it's like it's saying that

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God's saying that he made a mistake or he changed his mind, which is not the case.

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What God's actually communicating here is an expression of sorrow.

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Not that he's remorseful, rather he's saddened by Saul's actions as king.

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And it's because he sees the change in Saul's heart.

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Saul's heart no longer belonged to God, but to himself now.

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He turned away and because of this, God was now going to have to change the way he related

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to Saul as well.

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Now that's really heartbreaking, isn't it?

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It's extremely heartbreaking when we realize what's happening and just how sad it is.

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And think about it, if it's heartbreaking even just for us, think of how heartbreaking,

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how utterly crushing it was for God as well.

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But I'll remind you, it's just like when we turn away ourselves and we put ourselves

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first.

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Just like when we crucified Christ because we were too ignorant and too self-indulgent

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to realize what he was saying and what he was doing for us so that we could be free

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from the bondage of sin.

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Now in the military and other services, there's a lot of pride that many people take in their

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awards.

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All right?

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Ribbons, medals, all that kind of stuff, shooting badges.

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And a lot of these awards, they get kind of pulled together into what we refer to as a

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shadow box.

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Things like this, it's a box, it's kind of like a little box that's put together.

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It has their rank, maybe something signifying how many years of service they have, but it

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has their ribbons and medals and shooting badges and all that kind of stuff.

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Maybe little trinkets showing some of the places that they've been even, especially

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if they're awarded or given this box by their unit when they're leaving and they're overseas

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for example.

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Something like that, right?

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The shadow box.

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All right?

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And it's something that when veterans, we put these things together.

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At home, there's usually a little area that's kind of dedicated to it in a lot of veterans

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homes and it's what I've always referred to as the wall of I love me.

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It's a point of bragging about ourselves instead of taking a look at it and seeing what it

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really is.

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Instead of being a story told by those ribbons, medals, and certificates that's telling a

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story of me, we should actually be putting it out there to tell the story of what God

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has led us through, what he's helped us to overcome.

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Not the I, I, I that these things tend to be and what they become.

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This should be pointing the way to he, he, he.

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Saul, he built himself one here in 1 Samuel verses 12 through 16.

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So we're going to go into that now.

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So 1 Samuel 15 verses 12 through 16.

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The word says, early in the morning, Samuel got up to confront Saul, but when it was reported

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to Samuel, Saul went to Carmel where he set up a monument for himself.

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Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal.

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When Samuel came to him, Saul said, May the Lord bless you.

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I have carried out the Lord's instructions.

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Samuel replied, Then what is the sound of sheep, goats, and cattle I hear?

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Saul answered, The troops brought them from the Amalekites and spared the best sheep and

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goats in order to offer a sacrifice to the Lord your God.

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But the rest we destroyed.

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Stop!

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exclaimed Samuel.

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Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.

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Tell me, he replied, Saul built a monument to honor himself.

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Unlike Moses or Joshua who gave all the credit to God where it belonged, he put himself on

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the podium.

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He took the credit.

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Ego.

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I love me.

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He was full of it.

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Awards and accomplishments.

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These are all good things and they can be wonderful things.

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However, we need to be honest and give credit where it's due.

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And it is always, always due to God and what he is doing in our lives.

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And it gets worse.

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He lied to Samuel about what happened.

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He was treating him like he was some kind of an absolute moron who had no idea what

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was going on.

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Like he's not going to recognize new animals and the sounds that are coming from them.

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Galatians chapter 6 verse 3, the word says, For if anyone considers himself to be something

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when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

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And we can never think for even just a second that we're totally on our own.

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That we are the ones in control.

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That we're like these independent owners of our own little universe like we're little

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gods walking the earth because we're not.

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None of us has that influence.

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None of us has that importance.

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None of us has that kind of power to exercise control of anything without God.

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Without God we are nothing.

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Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 23, the word says, I know, Lord, that a person's way of life

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is not his own.

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No one who walks determines his own steps.

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We follow where the Lord leads.

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God knows what is best for us and his ability to light our paths and guide us down them

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is far superior to our own.

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That's why when we walk without him or we try to walk without him, we end up in darkness.

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You think about it.

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We're wandering around like a bunch of dodo birds.

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What happened to the dodo birds?

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Bye bye, good night Alice.

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They went away.

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There's like a bunch of limbs.

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It doesn't work out so well.

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We can't see the path for our own shadow.

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Going back to Saul, he thought of what was happening as a great victory to be celebrated

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and commemorated.

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God saw it as a failure for a couple of reasons.

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One, because Saul disobeyed him and two, lied about the results of the battle.

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The results being a victory of sorts to him.

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He was only fooling himself into thinking that everything was still good.

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It's one of those moments where he was literally looking at it like the ends justify the means.

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He was lying.

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He was lying to other people.

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He was lying to himself.

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And a lie to yourself is still a lie and it is still sin.

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And sadly, very sadly, dishonest people are usually the first ones to believe their own

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malarkey.

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The tool that they're using, you've heard me talk about this before, it's called illusory

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truth effect.

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Now illusory truth effect, if you haven't heard this before, this is a tool that's used

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frequently.

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And this is a phenomenon that happens.

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Usually when you hear something over and over and over again, even though it's a lie, you

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know it's a lie, but you hear it as if it was a fact enough times that eventually you

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start to believe it.

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You start to believe the lie.

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And after a while, you start to believe that that lie isn't really a lie, but it's the

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truth.

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And the media love using this tool.

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You know who else does though?

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Abusers in domestic violence cases.

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And they're not the only ones.

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That's why you see victims going back over and over and over again.

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Because they're believing the nonsense that's coming from these people saying, hey, you're

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nothing without me.

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Oh, I can do this.

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You can't.

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I can.

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Or all this other stuff.

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Everybody likes to put that little thing out there.

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Ooh, fake news.

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But you know what?

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It's used on all sides and it's called illusory truth effect.

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Just like we should be discerning and studying our Bible to find out what's fact and what's

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fiction, we should be doing the same and not just taking the media's words for it or somebody

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else's.

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This is one of those cases, my friends, where it's been proven.

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You can shine a turd, but it's still a turd.

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I apologize.

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I know it's a little harsh for some of you.

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Like, ooh, pastor, you know what?

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There's a harsher way of saying it.

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Let's be adults here.

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Don't fall for it.

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The problem is that when people start believing their own nonsense, they lose the ability

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to discern between truth and lies.

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And if you start spitting lies, eventually you're going to start believing them.

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And you're going to become the victim of ego.

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And there's a few things that happen when this occurs.

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One, you deceive yourself.

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You deceive yourself.

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Secondly, you separate yourself from God.

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You have sin there.

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That's not going to be where sin exists.

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And thirdly, eventually things are going to catch up and you're going to begin to lose

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credibility with others.

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People are going to see through it.

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Like, no, something's not, no, no, no.

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Here we go again.

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It's going to happen.

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So we need to push our ego away.

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And we need to be honest even when it's not easy.

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We need to remember that without Christ and all the things that He has done for us and

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is doing for us, we are nobody.

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Christ is our shepherd guiding us through life.

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And if we're going to make it through His narrow gate, then we need to be honest with

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ourselves.

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We need to be honest with each other.

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And we need to be honest with Him.

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All right, now for time's sake, we're going to end here.

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Next time we're going to pick right back up though as we continue to take a look at ego.

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All right?

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So as we leave here today, I want to remind you, you are loved and you are blessed.

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Now go and be the church.

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

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If this message spoke to you or if you would like to help us reach more people, please

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like, review and share our podcast.

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You can learn more about our ministry or how you can support us at www.thecross66.org.

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Until next time, take care and God bless.