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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 back to the sanctuary.

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It is great to have you with us as always, and if 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 the past few times we've gotten together, we've been looking at our egos and how we

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fall into that trap of loving ourselves, right?

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Putting ourselves before God.

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This time around, this week, we're going to expound on it a little bit more as we're looking

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at God's love.

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Now as we get started, we're going to first set a foundation, and then we're going to

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get into the meat of our message.

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So let's open up our Bibles or apps, whatever it is that you use, to 1 John chapter 4.

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First John chapter 4.

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And the word says, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether

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they are of God.

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Because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

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By this, you know the spirit of God.

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Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every

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spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.

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And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now

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already in the world.

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You are of God, little children, and have overcome them.

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Because He who is in you is greater than He who is in the world.

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They are of the world.

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Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.

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We are of God.

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He who knows God hears us.

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He who is not of God does not hear us.

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By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

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The problem with a lot of places and a lot of people and the key reason why prosperity

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preaching are false is because they don't fall within the character of God.

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They actually go against it, which is why the word warns us not to just blindly take

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things at face value.

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Nobody should just take a man's word.

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It should be examined, even mine.

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I encourage everyone, please pick up your Bible and be like the Bereans and study and

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compare and contrast to see what is truth and what is not.

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Don't be led astray.

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I'm not talking about honest mistakes here because people do make honest mistakes.

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So everybody needs to pick up their Bible and see these things for themselves.

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Everybody needs to read for themselves and not just blindly take someone's word.

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If we look at Acts 17 verse 11, the word says, they received the word with all readiness

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and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

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This is talking about the Bereans.

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This is what we should all be doing.

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As Christians, we should all be fact checkers.

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Not like the illegitimate puppets on social media that censor everything that doesn't

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agree with them.

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We need to be biblical fact checkers.

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Instead, we should follow the example of the Bereans, eager to listen, eager to learn,

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yet doing our research and praying, reading the Bible and praying to ensure that what

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we're being told is legitimate or not.

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We have to spend time in prayer and time in the word in order to be able to properly discern

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whether or not we're getting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

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So help me God.

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It's like taking an oath of court or even kind of like dragnet.

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Facts, nothing but the facts.

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Because let me remind you, if we're not getting the full truth, then we're getting a lie.

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Remember even the temptation of Christ, Satan took the truth and twisted it and omitted

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parts of it.

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We can read more about that in Luke 4 and Matthew 4.

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He does the same thing with people.

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He likes to use people who are disguised as Christians.

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And they take the word and they twist it, just as he did.

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You know, and they omit things, just like he did, to get us to give in to our own selfish

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desires.

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Now with that said, and I mentioned earlier, do not confuse this with honest mistakes or

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misunderstandings that come from poor theology and poor teaching.

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We all make mistakes.

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Mistakes happen.

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However, even in prosperity preaching, if people are honest with themselves, they like

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what they're hearing because what they're being told.

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You're a good person.

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God loves you and he wants to reward you now.

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He wants to reward you now.

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But only if you're going to do this and you're only going to do that.

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You have to do this, that, and the other.

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It's being very legalistic.

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But there's also a part in them, right in the back of their head, saying something's

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not right.

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Something's off.

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Just a little off kilter, right?

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Unfortunately, they're convinced.

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People get convinced and they buy into these lies because they don't actually read their

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Bibles and pray like they should.

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Sitting in a seat once or twice a week, only reading a little bit that's being touched

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on and then taking the person in the pulpit as if they are a perfected human without blemish

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is a recipe for disaster and the road to damnation.

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So make sure you are putting forth your due diligence and not being blindly led into eternity

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separated from God.

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Keep your ego in check and check the words being spoken to you.

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Remember, when we pray and we spend time in the Word, our relationship with Christ grows

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and our ability to discern fact from fiction grows with it.

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Just because someone's telling you what you want to hear does not mean you're telling

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them the truth.

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Remember the Bible talks about this, tickling their ears is the term that's used.

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I'm going to give you another one, another term that we've all heard.

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Truth hurts.

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And it's because sometimes we need to be told those hard things that we don't want to hear.

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However, when you love someone, you need to tell them the truth.

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You're going to tell them the truth.

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Truth hurts.

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Why does it hurt?

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Because it convicts us.

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That's why.

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Going back into our reading, 1 John chapter 4 verses 7 through 11, the Word says, beloved,

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let us love one another, for love is of God.

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And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

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He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

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In this, the love of God was manifested towards us, that God has sent His only begotten Son

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into the world, that we might live through Him.

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In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the

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propitiation for our sins.

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Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

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That's deep, isn't it?

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Jesus came to dissolve the walls of division between us, the Father and one another.

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And He summed up our commandments as what?

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Love God and love others as yourself.

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Now, I know you've heard me say this a lot, and I'm going to keep on saying it, but

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love is an action.

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It's a choice.

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Love is not just a momentary feeling or words.

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Matter of fact, if you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verses 4 through 7, the Word explains

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to us what love is.

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We've all heard God is love.

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It's His character.

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It's all the things He's done.

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It's all the things He's doing, and it's all the things He's going to do for us, even

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when it hurts Him, such as when Jesus went to the cross for us.

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Ego, idolatry, our rebellious nature that says, I'm right and I know what's best for

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me, is a huge part of what separates us from the Father.

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The selfish sin that's in our hearts that we let out into the world.

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What happens is it gets out there and it controls us, and we don't even realize it.

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When we let it loose on the world and it impacts, it influences others who look to us, it's

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our love of ourself.

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We love ourselves, and it's just like the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

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It's that love of self that tells us that we're better than others, and that we're

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up on that pedestal, that place, where it's okay for us to look down on others as if we're

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better than them.

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It's that love of self that lets us treat others as if they're lesser than.

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It's that love of self that tells us it's okay to withhold love and blessings because

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other people don't deserve it just like we do.

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It's just like you go to these places, they're filled with love of self, and they say, hey,

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we're reaching out in love, but they try to keep certain demographics out the door.

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Or maybe they'll allow them in, but only let them sit in certain places, like you sit here,

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don't go over there, you leave those fine people alone.

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And they keep them there under a watchful eye.

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I served at a place like that a long time ago.

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In fact, I remember one year, it was Thanksgiving time.

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I shared this in service just last weekend.

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It was Thanksgiving time, they're asking for donations saying, hey, we're taking up a collection,

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we have baskets here, or if you bring frozen goods, if you get it to us right away, we

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get in the freezer, but we want to be able to provide meals for our families who are

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financially strapped.

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There are a lot of people who brought in a lot of goods, trying to do a lot of good.

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And what ended up happening, there was a family that lives in apartments just across the way.

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And their manager, the complex, had told them, hey, you know what, I've been told they're

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taking donations across the street for just this type of thing.

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If you go over there, you should be able to get some food.

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So the guy comes over and he's like, yeah, hey, me and my family, we live over here.

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Our complex manager said that you guys were giving out food for the holiday.

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Is that true?

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He's like, I'm not looking for a lot, I'm trying to look for something so I can make

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sure my family has something decent for Thanksgiving.

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And unfortunately, what happened is the man said, well, yes and no, we are taking donations,

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however, the food that we give out is for church members only.

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You have to be a member of this church.

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And he was sent away empty handed.

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Later on that day, later on that same day, they gave not one, not two, three turkeys

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and all the fix, and we're talking pies, plural, pies, all sorts of food, just a ton of stuff

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to a family that not only was not financially strapped, one of the family members is actually

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a paid staff member who worked directly for the lead pastor and his wife.

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And the reason when I asked, what's up here?

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Was they didn't want the food to go to waste.

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Yet there's people directly across the street who are deemed unworthy.

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Really the right answer would have been like, hey, you know what, we have more leftover

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than we thought, we should go over and get up with the manager and see if they can steer

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us towards this family and we can give it to them after all.

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That would have been the right answer.

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That would have been reaching out and love.

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That would have been taking care of the community and people as we're commanded to.

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But because they weren't members, they weren't monetarily giving members, they didn't meet

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that certain criteria.

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Where's the love?

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Where's the community?

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Where's the reflection of God or at least the introduction to Christ?

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It was nowhere to be found.

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Nowhere.

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Hence if we turn to Matthew chapter 7 verse 5, the word says, hypocrite!

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First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the

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speck from your brother's eye.

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Here's the thing, we need to stop condemning others or thinking that they're less than

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when we haven't even taken a moment to be honest with ourselves and address a sin in

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our own lives.

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We're called to love.

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No ifs, ands, or buts about it, no exceptions to be made, no requirements to be met, just

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love on people.

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You don't have to like them, but you still have to love them.

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And to refuse to love all others is to reject God.

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I've heard it put like this, people aren't valuable just because they're saved, we save

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all people because they're all valuable to God.

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If it wasn't so, God wouldn't have commissioned us to go out to all nations, yet we have these

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false teachers and others that are rebelling against God with an attitude that says people

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are only valuable if they have something that benefits them directly.

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They like to ask that question, what's in it for me?

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And they're afraid of the cost, because they have become greedy.

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And I'm here to tell you, this stinking thinking, it is wrong.

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If Jesus can love them, why can't you?

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Going back to 1 John chapter 4.

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I felt my blood pressure go up a little bit on that one.

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1 John chapter 4 verses 12-16 the word says, No one has seen God at any time.

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If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

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By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

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And we have seen and testified that the Father has set the Son as Savior of the world.

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Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him and He in God.

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And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.

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That is love.

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And He who abides in love abides in God and God in Him.

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My friends, when we love others, God makes Himself known to us.

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And God makes Himself known through us.

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Now we're told to love everyone, however, it's not like there's a quota you have to

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meet.

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You don't have to keep tabs, you don't have to keep score, you don't have to go out of

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your way to run up to people, you know, and be like, hey, guess what?

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I need to love you.

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No, no, no, none of that.

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What you need to do is just love those that you come into contact with.

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Now we all know that person.

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They walk into a new place and it seems like they just instantly have friends everywhere.

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They don't have a stranger anywhere, right?

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And that's great.

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You get some people who are very extroverted and that's wonderful.

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I know some of you, you know, kind of get like, no pastor, that's not me.

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I'm not like that.

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I'm an introvert.

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You know, and that's okay.

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Some of us are introverts.

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Some of us have small circles.

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That's fine too.

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You just love on those people that you're in front of.

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Those people that you do come into contact with.

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You don't get to wall yourself up and keep love from them.

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That's the bottom line.

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Love on others.

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You see, when we love others, we use that love that God's placed inside of us.

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Because it's a gift that He's given us.

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We share the gift He's given us.

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And in doing so, we don't even realize it, but we gain another gift from God.

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Confidence.

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Confidence.

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Because when we learn to love more and more and more, it becomes easier and easier.

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When we begin to take on more of Christ's character and others can see Him more easily

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in us and they begin wanting to know more and more about Him.

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We're able to confidently share more and more about Him.

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And not just what's in the Bible, but what He's done for us and through us.

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Who He is.

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What He's done for us individually.

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What He's done for us as the church and what He's going to do for us in the future.

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His promises.

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And we get to share all this with people who are coming to meet Him for just the first

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time.

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And it's exciting.

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It's exciting.

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You can downright say passionate.

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Picking back up in 1 John 4 verses 17 through 19, the word says, love has been perfected

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among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is,

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so are we in this world.

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There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

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Because fear involves torment.

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But He who fears has not been made in perfect love.

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We love Him because He loved us first.

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The day of judgment comes to us all.

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There is going to be a day when each and every one of us has to stand before God.

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However, for those of us who have His love in us as the Holy Spirit, for those of us

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who are covered by the blood of Jesus.

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Let me tell you, yes, we're going to have to answer for our transgressions.

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However, we'll be able to do so confidently, with our chin up, knowing that we are loved,

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forgiven and saved from punishment.

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Knowing that we're going to spend eternity worshipping our Lord and in fellowship with

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Him.

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He made the ultimate sacrifice for us.

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The least we can do is swallow our pride, stuff down our ego and learn to love others

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just like Him.

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Let me tell you, love starts with God and it started with our creation.

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And it continued as He sacrificed for us and it's continued on as He fills us with the

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Holy Spirit.

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His love fills our hearts.

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That gift, it fills our hearts.

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It's on us to exercise it so that it grows within us, so it grows within our hearts and

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pushes sin out so that sin no longer comes from our hearts, but only His love.

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It takes time, it takes work, but it's there, it can be done.

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It's not to say that we're going to be perfect, that we're going to be without sin.

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Until the day we're called home, we're going to have it.

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But you know what?

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Here's a goal right here.

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And some of us get a lot closer to it than others, I'll tell you what.

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So going into our final verses in this chapter, 1 John 4 verses 20 through 21, the word says,

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If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.

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For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has

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not seen?

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And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also.

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It's easy to say you love when it doesn't cost you anything, when things fall into your

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lap.

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It's another when you know you have to work for it.

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People want the knight in that white armor, right?

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That shining prince.

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Let me tell you, they're dead wrong.

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They are 100% wrong.

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They're looking for the wrong person.

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Because we're looking at their ego, they're looking at what, you know, oh, perfect, this

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perfect image.

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This is what people are going to love and oh, think of the things they're going to say.

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They're wrong.

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Keanu Reeves, and some of you may have seen the clips from this.

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He was on the Drew Barrymore show some time ago.

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And during the interview, and of course I'm paraphrasing here, you know, Drew Barrymore,

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she made a comment basically saying, I'm a lover, not a fighter.

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And Keanu, he responds.

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He goes, no, no, no, you got it all wrong.

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No.

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You're a lover, you've got to be a fighter because if you don't fight for your love,

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what kind of love do you have?

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People should be looking to the knight, you know, excuse me, people should be looking

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for the other knight.

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They should be looking for the dirty one with the banged up armor, with the chinks taken

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out of it.

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The cap's taken off or even the whole chunk's taken off, just dangling, right?

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That one who's been out there and he's put in the work, he's put in the time.

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This is the guy who knows what true love is.

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This is the one that's going to stand up to protect the people he loves.

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This is the person who's going to stand up and say something when things are wrong.

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Socrates is credited with saying, the unexamined life is not worth living.

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Well, I say to you, so is unexamined faith, so is unexamined love.

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Ask the Lord to open the eyes of your heart and take a long, hard look and ask yourself,

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is it about you or is it about him?

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Are you living a life that speaks to his sacrifice and his love or are you living a life that

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speaks to yourself?

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Are you loving others or are you loving yourself?

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Because if it's all about you, you've made a mistake.

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It shouldn't be.

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It never should be.

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It was never supposed to be.

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It's supposed to be about Jesus who took on your sin, died for you, rose again, ascended,

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and is going to return because of his love for you.

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Because his life is the ultimate meaning.

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His life is the one that brings hope to each and every single one of us.

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And it's eternity with him, the life that we should all be striving for.

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So as you leave here today, remember you are loved and you are blessed.

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So 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.