Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross -Christian Fellowship
Route 66 in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. Lord, we come before you today grateful
for all that you've done for us. We ask that
you open our hearts and minds, mold us into the
people that you intend for us to be, and teach
us all we need to know. Help us to discern how
to apply both in our lives as we know both are
different. Amen. Well, obviously the cold snap
scared some people away this week. We're pretty
thin, but that's okay. We're going to truck along
anyway. Actually, people I thought were going
to be here that normally would be here who aren't.
So I was kind of surprised. But, of course, we
have new faces, which is always a beautiful thing,
too. So welcome. And welcome to everybody who's
joining us online. We had some technical issues
going. I think we have them all worked out now
pretty good. We've got cameras all over the place.
We've actually got an old cell phone here in
the back running as a camera. So we're working
with what we've got. We're getting crafty here.
So that's always fun. Again, welcome to Cross
Christian Route 66. Welcome to our sanctuary.
This is week three of our series as we go down
the Easter Trail. As you recall, the first week
we learned about how we've all failed God, just
like Adam and Eve. Last week, we learned some
valuable lessons about how Jesus sets us free
from our past, provides for our present, and
cares very deeply for our future. And we're going
to keep on going down this trail this week. I'm
just going to take those guys off. All right.
And this week we're actually going to be speeding
a little bit ahead of where some of you might
think we would be. We're actually going to be
spending a little bit of time at a place called
The Skull. Also Golgotha, or as more commonly
is referred to, Calvary. All right. So now before
we dive in and we start looking at it. I'm going
to ask you a question. If you're taking notes,
write it down or write it down in the back of
your head. Either way, this question is really
going to be the theme for today. So I want everybody
to keep it in the back of their head, keep it
in the back of their mind. What is the sound
of love? What is the sound of love? As we're
going to see today, it might not be exactly what
you think it is. So we're going to go ahead,
we're going to open our Bibles to John 19, verse
30. So John 19, verse 30. Kind of towards the
middle of your Bibles there. So John 19, verse
30, the word says, So when Jesus had received
the sour wine, he said, It is finished. And bowing
his head, he gave up. his spirit. So at this
point, Jesus, he's walked the path up the hill.
He's faced a lynch mob, a mockery of what we'd
call a court, and he's been found guilty of nothing
more than telling the truth. That's it. Matter
of fact, he was someone who said that even Pilate
washed his hands of it and said, I've got nothing
to charge him with. Not once, he said it twice.
Yet the demand of the mob, the cries of the people,
because of that, Jesus was convicted as an innocent
man who had done no wrong and sentenced to death.
So we're going to rewind here a little bit to
the very beginning of John. Sorry, not the very
beginning of the chapter. So still in John 19,
but we're going to look at verses 1 through 3.
So John 19, verses 1 through 3, the word says,
So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. And
the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put
it on his head. And they put him in a purple
robe. Then they said, Hail, King of the Jews!
And they struck him with their hands. Now, the
word scorched here, scorched, there's a few ways
to say it, right? It's just another way of saying
flogged, right? It's actually kind of the prim
and proper way. It's scorched. It sounds a lot
nicer than flogged, a lot nicer than beaten,
whipped, tortured. You know, and this in itself,
let's take a look at it for a second. This is
a process. That could have killed Jesus in and
of itself. It killed lesser men before him. It
killed lesser men after him, for centuries after
him, matter of fact. We see it in our own history,
which is the way people were whipped and beaten.
And the way it usually worked was they would
take the victim out, and they had a pillar, and
they would tie their hands down over it. And
they did this for a number of reasons. And as
they tied him up, they tied this person up, they
would also remove the clothing from their upper
body. Whether it was torn, tastefully taken off,
usually it was going to be torn, let's be honest.
Because when they got sentenced to this point,
they didn't care. They were viewed as less than,
not even as human. but the upper garments were
all taken off. Their hands were tied to this
pillar. And I says, for a few reasons. One, it'd
keep them upright. Because even it got to that
point where their legs went out from under them,
guess what? They're still tied up. They're not
going anywhere. It'd prevent them from really
trying to turn, trying to twist, trying to protect
themselves, trying to take some kind of defensive
posture. I said, wait, what do you mean a defensive
posture, Pastor? Well, let me put it this way.
We were all kids, right? Is there anybody in
here as a child didn't get a spanking? I didn't
think so. I know I got my fair share. Whether
it was my dad's leather strap or my mom's wooden
spoons or whatever she happened to have in mind
or hand, you know, that Irish temper of hers.
But of course, you know, you'd be getting your
whipping. And every so often, you'd get brazen
enough. And what would you do? Try to put your
hands back there to protect yourself, huh? And
then you'd feel that sting over your hands. Ah!
That's even worse. It's like, oh, you want to
do that? It's okay, I'll give you an extra lick.
Right? Well, here's someone who's being whipped.
You think they're not going to try to do something
to protect themselves? It hurts. It's natural.
You want to protect yourself. Whether it's turning,
twisting, putting your hands up. You know, you
have a friend comes up, or better yet, a sibling.
I think most of us have siblings or somebody
that we consider a sibling, right? Especially
teenage boys. I can't necessarily speak for girls
in this case, but boys for sure, right? Come
up and be like, ah! Say, ah, two for flinching.
Right? You hit your buddy in the arm or the leg
or whatever. Try to get him to jump. I think
we've all done that. Most of us guys anyway.
That's just what guys do. We're kind of stupid
like that. See, there's a hand over there. Guilty
as well. I'm not the only one. Good. You got
away. You got away. Okay. Nice. But either way,
it's natural. You want to take those defensive
postures. You don't want to get hit. It hurts.
It just plain hurts. So those hands, they were
tied up. And, you know, not only that, but it
also, in doing this, it was a way to basically
clear their working space, right? It's like,
ah, here's your striking area. It's like we have
the imaginary box in baseball where the ball
needs to go, right, coming over the plate and
everything, certain elevation and everything
else. It's your strike zone. Well, flogging was
no different. They had a strike zone. Now, if
they happened to go a little out of it, so what?
It's really the way they looked at it. They're
just out there to whip them. Plain and simple.
So there's that free access. Not being able to
move at all. Cool. Now let's look at the whip.
This isn't Indiana Jones' whip, right? It's not
like a belt. It's kind of like a series of whips,
really. You know, you had all these little straps
coming down. Typically, you had at least three.
that are weighted down with lead or bones or
any number of things, little pieces of shrapnel.
But it was weighted down. So these whips, they
wouldn't just hit the victim. It wasn't just
like a smack. With the weight alone, bones could
be broken. And with the other stuff that was
put in there, flesh was torn. Absolutely. Mutilated.
It would rip the person open. They would lose
a lot of blood. They'd go into shock. I'm not
trying to be gruesome here. I'm just trying to
paint a realistic picture here. We kind of take
it for granted. Like, okay, he was whipped. No,
let's paint the whole picture. Let's put the
whole thing out there so that we understand exactly
what he had to endure, what Jesus had to endure
before he even got to the cross. Bones are often
broken, people's entrails literally pulled out.
They're hitting the back. There's no bones right
back down here, right? It's just flesh. That
whip comes around, it hits the front. Things
happen. And by the law, a person could receive
up to 40 lashes. 40. And most of us, even when
we got spanked, didn't get hit that many times.
But up to 40 lashes, that was the limit. Because
anything over that, the belief at the time was,
you know, up to 40, yeah, you're going to be
hurt. You might die. But anything over 40, you're
going to die. So that's where they put the limit,
right there. It's like, no more. You go up to
here, it could be anything less than that. But
you don't go over. That's the bar. On top of
all this, Jesus is mocked. He's made fun of.
And that hurts right there. None of us like being
called names. Right? Nobody likes having people
talk about your back or talk trash about you.
Act like you're not even there when they're joking
amongst each other. But all these things were
happening right in front of them. Everybody in
here has handled a rose at some point, right?
Just the thorns on that kind of sting. They hurt
a little bit, right? And they take a crown, or
they make a crown with thorns bigger than that,
and they push it down into his head so these
thorns are pressing into his flesh, drawing blood.
Think of the worst bush you ever fell into, whether
it was a rose bush or a pyracantha, a cactus.
Yeah, we're in New Mexico, goat heads, good call.
Yeah? You know, the worst pile of Legos you ever
stepped on, and it pales in comparison. There's
some chuckles. Okay, I know I'm not the only
one stepping on Legos as well. Good. I almost
stepped on one yesterday. We had the grandbabies
over. It was nice. But either way, you know,
they mocked him. They made fun of him. They pressed
these thorns down into him, and it... On purpose
to hurt him. Oh, here's your crown, king. They
went and they got a purple robe, purple being
the color of royalty. It's like, oh yeah, you're
a king. Here we go. We're killing a king today.
I think you get the picture. So again, what is
the sound of love? After all this, continuing
to be berated and made fun of, forced to carry
the cross that he'd actually be hung on. Tell
me that wouldn't mess with you just a little
bit. Carrying the very thing that is going to
be your demise. So he carried it, listening every
step. Every step closer, knowing where he's going.
Every drop of blood. pouring off of him and hitting
the ground. Every beat of sweat. The names, the
torments. And let's face it, with these crowds,
it's just like any other lynch mob. I pretty
well guarantee things were being thrown, whether
it was rocks or food. It's a lot of stuff. A
lot of hateful things. being hurled at him from
every direction. And then once he's there, watching
as the soldiers gamble away what little he had
left that he was able to carry with him. The
very people who are physically crucifying him,
having a good old time rolling the dice over
who's going to get what. That's real nice, isn't
it? And then, as he's there, we see what could
very well be considered by many to be his dying
wish. Because think about this. He had his disciples,
right? He had all these friends that he made
along the way. Only one of them was there. Matter
of fact, One of them denied him, right? Three
times. Like, nope, I don't know him. No, I'm
not with him. He confused me with somebody else.
One friend who was close enough. And as he was
going to face death, he got to think about that
too. All the people that he just had his last
meal with, nowhere to be found, except for one.
And what does he tell John? Take care of my mother.
This is your mother now. This is your son now.
Take her home and take care of her. Especially
for them. How heartbreaking is that? So he's
nailed to the cross. Spikes hammered into his
hands. We call them nails, but they're spikes.
They're really his wrist, his feet. Put in a
position that they knew he would struggle, would
cause more pain, would tear more muscles and
more flesh just in an effort to try to breathe
as his lungs were filling with fluid. The sounds
as he tried to position himself with what little
strength he had. hearing the sounds of his own
flesh and blood, and he's not in a position to
even hardly move. And not just for a little bit.
Hours. Hours. The better part of what we would
consider a work day. He was on that cross for
six hours, struggling to breathe, knowing that
he was about to take his last breath and continuing
to listen. It's what everybody had to say and
everybody had to throw at him. Finally, he gets
to that point. He takes his last drink. Depending
on your translation, it calls it vinegar wine
or it might call it, you know, some other kind
of wine or vinegar. Basically, it's like pickle
juice. It's not wine in the respect that we drink
today, right? Because it talks about how, you
know, it's the vinegar wine that the soldiers
would drink while they're waiting for people
to die. It's like their version of Gatorade,
essentially. Just a hint of wine in there to
kind of take care of any bacteria or anything
that was in there, and that was really it. He
takes his last drink. He utters his final words.
He gives up his spirit. And as far as the world
and anybody who was concerned at that moment,
he was dead and gone. A threat no more to those
who were scared. So again, what is the sound
of love? Perhaps it's in his last words. Tetelestai.
It is finished. Now, these words can also be
translated as paid in full. Paid in full. You
know, the common thing is it's finished. Okay,
it's done. Paid in full, though. And I'll remind
you, at this point in history, sacrifices were
made and they were made regularly. They were
made by the masses as a way to atone for their
sin. And their sin, of course, just like ours,
separated them from God. So it was basically
their way of going and having a substitute put
in their place. So that they would be forgiven
of their sin. So that they would have a chance
to be reconnected with God. The animals were
their substitutes. Their blood, the payment.
And it happened a lot. They had festivals for
it, right? They had a specific place. Oh, this
sheep isn't good enough. Nope. But you can buy
ours and take that in. This one's good enough
for you. That could be your substitute. It was
turned into a business, right? It's corporatized.
We see a lot of businesses like that now, right?
It's like health care. Well, it's health if you
have enough money for it or your insurance will
cover it, but the care is nowhere to be found.
It's like, yeah, we care about our wallets. Come
here, right? Insurance companies, well, let's
be honest. Insurance companies don't, other than
their ads, they don't really pretend to care.
You go in there, oh, yeah, we'll take care of
you. Maybe. As long as it's not your fault. We'll
find a way to make it your fault, though. They
have adjusters in there. That's their whole thing.
They go in there. How are they going to put a
flip on things? How can they do it so that they
can go to the stockholders and say, hey, don't
worry. You're still making money. Right? A lot
of businesses like that. Our education has suffered
because of it. Politics. We got people bought
and paid for on both sides, don't we? How sad
is that? It's not just us. It's worldwide. It
really is. It really is. You know, it happened
a lot. People are sinful. They're sinful by nature.
We're born into it, right? So people would go
all the time. And it's very much, oh, forgive
me. And then they're going to go out and sin
again. Every week, what do we see? People going
out. Oh, yeah, I got to go to church on Sunday
so God will forgive me for what I did last night.
Right? Talk all week, getting ready, getting
excited. Go out drinking. Hit the club. Oh God,
forgive me. I know I sinned. I'm going to do
it again here in a couple hours, but forgive
me. Right? That's what it was turned into. It
was a circus. And people continue to sin and
sin again without any true repentance. I remind
you, repentance is an actual change in lifestyle,
doing everything you can to break away and change
from it, cut that part out of your life. You
know, if you're an alcoholic, it's getting that
alcohol out of your life and away from you, you
know, not touching another drop. You know, my
best friend, just the other day, he was celebrating
13 years of sobriety. He messaged me. I can't
tell you how proud of Stephan I am because I'll
tell you what, it cost him a lot to get there.
And he's the first to share his testimony. He
paid the piper for sure. When he went back to
God, he had a lot to talk about. A lot to talk
about. But 13 years, and that's no small feat.
It's beautiful. But Jesus on the cross, his blood
being poured out, he became... The ultimate sacrifice
for each and every single one of us. Not only
that, but the ultimate sacrifice for all time.
The end all, be all. Right? He came with a mission.
Right? It is finished. What is it? He had a mission.
And his mission was fulfilling God's work of
salvation for each of us. By paying the full
penalty. for our sins. His blood poured out to
cleanse us of ours, to reconnect us. The death
we all deserve, the suffering we all deserve.
And he willingly went and he gave it all up.
Suffered horribly, died horribly for each of
us to break us free from the sins, I'm sorry,
from the bondage of our sins, from the chains
of our sins. to free us from a system that had
become legalistic and lost its way and allow
us to freely come to the Father. Not going to
a specific person, not showing up at a specific
time and place when the dog's howling and the
moon's position, you know, bringing stuff to
somebody who'd go behind a cloth, but they themselves,
you know, tied up with a rope, limited as to
what they get to do. No. All of that was broken
down saying, no, you get to come to the Father.
You have to know the Father through me. You get
to talk to the Father. Tetelestai. It means more
than just finishing something. It means to accomplish
something, to complete something. It's not just
that end result. It is the time. It is the effort.
It is the work. Love, determination, and seeing
that something is moved from beginning all the
way through to its end, to its fruition. You
know, I think back to when I was younger, stretching
barbed wire fence, right? Going up and doing
roofing jobs. These aren't easy tasks. I just
use these because these are examples from my
life. All of us have had tasks that are pretty
hard, right? But stretching barbed wire fences,
roofing for that matter, tending to livestock,
they're hard. But let's face it, they're privileges.
And at first you go out and you're excited. You're
stoked, like, ooh, this is going to be cool.
This is going to be fun. And usually it means
you're going to start by... destroying a whole
bunch of stuff, right? You've got to rip off
that old building. If you're stretching barbed
wire, you're going out and you're pulling out
the old wire, usually the old post, you know,
putting in some new ones, which is kind of fun.
Where is he at? But it's fun. But after a while,
it gets very tiring. Very tiring. It gets to
that point where you're worn down. You're like,
oh, man, I can't wait for this to be done. I'm
sick of this. Look at this mess around us. We've
got... Duff over here. We got shingles. We got
nails. We got an air compressor. The air gun
went out, so the foreman's going and trying to
get another one. You know, we got five people
who called off today. Got a storm coming in.
We haven't even gotten down the tar paper. You
know? Or you're out there, you're trying to get
that barbed wire fence up as soon as possible.
Why? So the cattle aren't wandering around getting
lost. Or sometimes horses. Usually for us it
was cattle, though. I'll tell you what, cattle,
they'll wander. They don't care. They're like,
oh, there's territory, there's land. I believe
there's something over there for me to eat. I'm
going over there. Try to stop me. There's no
cattle guard. Barbed wire can leave its mark,
even when you're wearing gloves. You try stretching
that out nice and taut and trying to anchor it
down to its post while you're doing it. I'd rather
play with a rosebush. I'd rather pet a porcupine
that's upset with me. It hurts. But you put in
this work. You're like, you know what? Well,
let's just get it done. Yeah, this sucks right
now, but let's just get it done. Afterwards,
what happens, though? You're able to step back,
and you get to see this beautiful end process.
And you're like, wow. Would you look at that?
That's amazing. And I had a hand in that. Tess
is a teacher. I know she's had those problems,
students. Yeah, no, I know. They're all angels,
right? Yeah. She's had those students that have
caused one or two gray hairs to form and probably
fall out so you don't really see them on her.
They just go, right? No. But no, they're those
ones. They're a little heartache, right? A little
stress. But then afterwards, she sees them move
on. And years later, She's been blessed to run
into a few and see what they've become or where
they're going, right? Now, there's one. I can't
say if this was a troubled student or not the
other day, but she came home. She was pretty
excited because she ran into a kiddo that she
had years ago who wants to be a teacher. They
graduated. They're, what, a substitute now, I
think you said? Yeah, I said you're the best
teacher they ever had. Absolutely. And that was,
what, third grade. So that's how many years ago
it was. It's like, wow, a lot of teachers. It's
still the best one. It's like, yeah. It's exciting.
It's exciting. It really is. There's a lot of
work that goes into it, though. So it's painstaking,
but it feels good. When it happens, all is right
in the world as far as you're concerned at that
particular moment, and it really is a blessing.
It is a blessing. It is a joy. It's a happiness
that you didn't even know you were going to get.
That's the Lord smiling upon you, right? You
did your best. You trusted in the Lord, and now
it's a masterpiece. Tetelestai. I'm finished.
It is completed. There's nothing left to do.
Jesus had taken what was left, and he'd seen
it through to the end. There was nothing left.
The work had been perfected and finished. The
painting was ready to be framed. I'll take it
back at this point. The painting is already framed.
It's up on the wall for all to see, right? So
again, what is the sound of love? Now, I've covered
some pretty gruesome things today. Again, I don't
do it for shock value, but to open our eyes and
our hearts and our minds to the reality that
Jesus faced for us. The price that was paid for
each and every single one of us. When we look
at the cross, these are things that we should
think of. These are the things we should be reminded
of. Now, keep in mind, there is a difference
between the cross and a crucifix. A lot of people
confuse the two. We have the cross. Jesus is
no longer hanging on the cross. He's already
done it. It's done. It's complete. He's not continuing
to agonize over us. He's not going back to that
cross and dying for us daily. It was a once and
done event. He was already taken from that cross,
put into a crypt, buried in that tomb. He took
every... single hit that the enemy, that the
world had to throw at him. Every single one.
He took the pain that we all deserve. The punishment
we all deserve, he took on death. Look, death
right in the eye. A fight that each of us should
have had to fight on our own. It would have been
a losing battle. Make no mistake about it. For
each and every one of us. But he fought that
battle for us. Rose from the dead. Ascended to
heaven. And is preparing a place for each of
us for when he comes for us again. Life's hard.
We're going to take hits. As a follower of Christ,
oh boy, you better believe we're going to take
hits. The enemy is going to come at us hard.
fast, and furious. We're going to get in our
own way and trip ourselves up. As much as we
want to blame it on the enemy, we say, oh, Satan
and his ministers, that was us. We made the decision,
right? So while things, yeah, we can blame it
on Satan, we have to take accountability for
ourselves as well. But the hits are going to
come. Jesus is showing us the way, though. Looks
like I missed a... That's okay. It's not in the
slide. I'll read it anyway. Proverbs 24, 16.
All right. Let's all turn to Proverbs 24, 16.
It's pretty short. Proverbs 24, 16. Yeah, 24.
Yeah. I apologize, guys. I apparently missed
it when I was trying to do the slides. So Proverbs
24, verse 16. The word says, for a righteous
man may fall seven times and rise again, but
the wicked shall fall by calamity. Jesus has
shown it's not how hard you're hit. It's not
how many times you get knocked down. He's in
your corner. All you need to do is get back up
and listen to what he's telling you. It's not
getting knocked down and staying down. It's trusting
in Him. That's what faith is. We can all take
the word faith and convert it to the word trust.
Every time that you see it, because that's what
faith really is. It's trust in Him. We make it
out like it's this cosmic thing, and then we
get people who are new in their walk. And like,
well, I don't really know what faith is. It's
because we don't break it down to them. We don't
explain what it is. It's trust. Trust in God,
plain and simple. And all we need to do is listen.
When he says move, move. He's told us to love,
so we love. No matter what. It doesn't matter
what a person's background is. It doesn't matter
where they come from. It doesn't matter if they're
a conservative or a liberal. Oh, boy, we get
hung up on that one lately. It doesn't matter
if they're a Cubs fan or a Yankees fan. Yeah,
we'll even accept Cowboy fans. None of that matters.
All the stuff that we hang people up, we try
to frame them in, right? The way people dress.
None of that. What matters is we move when we're
told to move. We love how we're told to love.
And when the limelight comes back to us and people
start looking at us, we actually take the time
to say, no, it's not me. It's him. And we point
the way to God. We point the way to Jesus every
single time because it's about him. It's about
his glory. It's about his kingdom. He's the main
character, not us. Every single time. Without
him, we'd be laying on the ground waiting for
death to come and scoop us up. Plain and simple.
So again, what is the sound of love? It's sweat,
it's blood, it's pain in all of its forms. The
physical, the emotional, the spiritual. All the
things that Jesus will heal. It's nails being
pounded into flesh on your behalf. It's torture
and torment endured on your behalf. The screams,
the grunts, the agony. It's the final utterance
to Telestai. As Jesus died for you and me. And
it has one more meaning I'd like to share with
everybody before we finish. And this is something
that's missed by a lot of pastors, a lot of people
for that matter. A lot just don't know. Others
overlook it. But it has a military context. This
term has a military context that goes back centuries.
It's not really one that's used today. But if
you ask me, it's probably one of the most important
to us as believers. It's a declaration of victory.
A declaration of victory. It's not just finished.
It's not just complete. It's victory. The battle
is won. This is a term that was used to say a
battle or a war had been won and finished. It
was done. The troops are coming home. When Jesus
cried this out, he was declaring victory. Victory
over sin, victory over death. Victory over Satan
and his ministers. Victory in reunifying us with
the Father. We talk about victory, victory in
Jesus. That's one right there. A victory for
all of us who believe. In Jesus and all of us
who proclaim him as our Lord and our Savior and
point the way to him. So what's the sound of
love? It's all this and so much more. Love is
pain. Love is victory. That's why we celebrate
Easter. We've had this talk the last couple weeks.
As a matter of fact, I've had this talk with
one person or another. And everybody gets hung
up, Christmas, Christmas is the big event. Christmas
is great, yes. It's when we celebrate the birth
of our Lord. But without Easter, without Easter,
without his death and his resurrection, none
of it would matter. He would have been just another
man. Regardless of what miracles he worked, he
would have been considered just another man once
he died and he was gone. Easter, that's it. That's
our Super Bowl. That's our World Series. That's
the big event that goes up above and beyond everything
else. It's the bedrock upon which our faith is
built. Because nobody else could do that. Nobody.
Without the death and the resurrection of Jesus,
we'd all just be lost sheep wandering about.
We'd all be lemmings walking off the side of
a cliff. Our final verse. Wrap up quick, I promise.
John 10, verses 27 and 28. So John 10, verses
27 and 28. Jesus says, My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. And I give
them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.
The sound of love is the voice of Jesus. The
voice that brings us comfort, hope, strength,
and guidance. Correction. Let's not forget that
one. Because love corrects. It's that undying
love for us with the sacrifice, sacrifice for
each and every one of us. Let us pray. Lord,
we thank you for this time together, this time
of growth, this time of renewal of our hearts
and minds. We thank you for this reminder of
what love sounds like and your perfected love
for each of us. We ask that you help us to continue
to learn and grow. We ask that you guide us in
all the ways that we should go and point out
our many opportunities to share you with the
world as we venture out into the path that lies
ahead of us. Help us to shine your light for
all to see and point the way to you when the
world has tried to direct that light back onto
us. Let us... Let us do everything with a grateful
heart and remember that we make it all about
you and your glory, your kingdom. We thank you
for taking the pain. We thank you for your suffering,
the pain and the suffering that we all deserve.
We thank you for conquering death, who we all
should have faced. We thank you for your love,
your mercy, and your grace, and for not turning
from us and leaving us to the punishment. that
we all deserve. And all of his people said, amen
and amen. Remember, as you go forward from here,
you are loved and you are blessed, so go and
be the church. Thank you for joining us at Healing
Scars with Pastor Burton. If this message spoke
to you, or if you would like to help us reach
more people, please like, review, and share our
podcast. You can learn more about our ministry
or how you can support us at www .thecross66
.org Until next time, take care and God bless.