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. Father, we thank you for bringing us together.
We thank you for this time of fellowship. We
thank you for this time of worship. We ask that
you open our hearts, open our minds, and help
us to apply everything that we... We learn here
today everything that you speak to us, to our
lives, and help us to learn more about our past
and the great sacrifices that you've done and
made for us on our behalf. In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, again, good morning, everybody. Welcome
to Cross Christian Fellowship, Route 66. Happy
Easter. This is a big day for Christianity. It
really is. I've said it before. Everybody's like,
ooh, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. Christmas
is great. But without Easter, none of it would
matter. None of it. Easter, this is our big one.
This is the big event. It really is. Because
without the death and resurrection of Christ,
none of the rest of it would have mattered. Jesus
would have been lost to the history books like
any other man. Right? That's just the way it
is. Possibly even forgotten. Because there's
a lot of people who have made their way into
history books and they've been forgotten in time.
especially from 2 ,000 years ago. So today, before
we start jumping straight into the Bible, let's
look at some facts. Facts that we know of, not
only from the Bible, but from various history
books. Not just from Christians, but also pagans
as well. People come from other surrounding areas,
which is why we're able to verify so much of
what's in the Bible. Right? All these documents
that they're able to pull up, these old scrolls
and tablets. So first and foremost, Jesus was
a real person. He was a real person. He lived,
walked, breathed, ate just like you and I. He
was born in the Middle East. That's where he
spent his life. In fact, with the exception of
just a few years in Egypt, he never traveled
more than 90 miles away from home. To put that
into perspective, that'd be like from us here
in Albuquerque going north up to Española or
south down to San Antonio, roughly, give or take
a mile or two. That's it. That's the distance
he covered in his life. Not a whole lot. It's
still a profound impact, right? And when he was
born, something else I'd like to call attention
to. Both history books and the Bible. When he
was born in the middle of the night, it was bright.
It was bright. It was bright. Yeah. It was very
bright. You could see. You could see everything
around you. When he died, it was dark. We'll
be looking at that here momentarily. Think of
the correlation of that, though, because God
is light. When Jesus was born, God was there.
When God was on the cross for three hours, everything
was dark from noon to three because he was separated
from God. God was not there as he had to take
on the sin of the world, and God could not be
there for that. The middle of the day, and it
was dark. So there's a lot there. You know, in
his life, he said, Jesus, with the exception
of when he traveled to Egypt, he stayed in the
same area. He ministered there. He lived there.
We can easily find stories of his preaching,
healing people of sickness and handicaps of all
sorts, right? Leprosy, blindness, just to name
a couple, driving out demons, and teaching. Teaching.
And not just teaching, but teaching absolute
fundamental truths. Fundamental truths that are
still taught to this day. Right and wrong. In
and outside of the church. Granted, what we know
is right versus what we know is wrong all comes
down to God. And we can find it in the Bible.
But even outside of that, Because of God's inherentness
in our world, the Bible tells us there's enough
of his inherent being in everything that nobody
is without excuse. There's enough there for everybody
to know God. And it's important to know all these
things that he did throughout his life, all the
stuff that he taught, the conversations he had.
Because some of us... can't even have a civil
conversation with somebody without turning it
into a fight. Right? We can't take a moment to
step back and evaluate, wait, what if I'm wrong?
What if I'm not understanding this correctly?
Maybe I was misinformed or taught incorrectly.
But no, we hold on to it. Like, no, this is absolute
truth. Politics is a big one. Absolute truth.
But not everything that we hold on to is biblical,
is it? If it's not biblical, we need to test
it. Even when it comes to the Bible, we're told
to test, right? Make sure it comes from the Spirit.
Yet in the 30 years that Jesus spent on earth,
he didn't commit a single sin. Not one. He healed
people. He raised the dead, even doing it against
the rules. A little bit of a rebel there, right?
He went against the religious leaders of the
day. He's like, what? Watch this. Healed. It's
a Sunday. We need to eat. Eat up. Right? Did
a lot of things. He was not one to buy into the
legalism of the day. Just to satisfy a few people.
Love comes first. And that's what he did. He
loved. He showed it. There are even times when
he proclaimed himself as the Messiah. Right?
The Son of God. We can even find where he said
he was God himself. Not a lot though, but he
did it. Not something to be taken lightly either,
especially in those days, right? People were
killed for less, for claiming less. He upset
people by doing this to the point that they downright
hated him. They wanted him dead. They wanted
him out of the equation, right? You look at the
Pharisees and the Sadducees and all that and
how they felt about Jesus. It kind of looks like
the dawn in The Godfather, right? You know, or
one of these other little mobster shows. I want
him. I want his mother. I want his children.
I want the dog. I want the chicken. I want them
all dead, gone, out of the kitchen, right? That's
how they felt. They had murder in their hearts.
The religious leaders of the day, the ones who
should have been the most holy and recognized
who he was, had murder in their hearts. So much
so that when they colluded together to finally
have him taken out of the picture, even the authorities
that were there, the Romans, right? Like, we
looked at this. What happened? I can't find a
reason to charge this man. What are you trying
to say he's guilty of? He's not guilty. Went
back a couple times, went round and round, right?
Finally, I washed my hands. It's like, we'll
be the smoking gun. We'll do what you ask, but
his blood's on you, not us. Basically saying
that they're not going to get away scot -free,
right? They're not going to be unscathed. But
when we think about it, these are all parts.
These are all things. as to why Jesus came, why
he lived the way he did, why he taught the way
he did, the example that he set for each and
every one of us, the way he died the way he did.
Living his life is a perfect sacrifice for everyone.
Right? For everyone. To have that hope, the fact
that he'd done nothing wrong, And was sentenced
to his punishment reserved for the worst of the
worst. All this and knowing on his way to the
cross what was going to happen there. He knew
that this was his mission. We like to get caught
up in a lot of the fun stuff on Easter, don't
we? Oh, we got a jovial message and all this.
No, let's look at all. Because we need to know
it all. We need to hear it all. We need to internalize
it all, not just the pieces. That's why we've
had this series going the way it's been for the
last few weeks. And with that said, let's get
to our first piece of Scripture for the day.
I think I bored you all enough. Let's get into
the fun stuff, right? So we're going to start
off in Philippians 2. So Philippians 2, verses
6 through 8. All right, Philippians 2, 6 through
8. All right, and the word says, Who, being in
the form of God, did not consider robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
taking the form of a bondservant and coming in
the likeness of men. and being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
to the point of death, even the death of the
cross. Jesus came, and he knew why he came. He
knew his purpose. Like I said, he knew his mission.
He knew what needed to be done beyond the shadow
of a doubt. Now, we can't say he looked forward
to it, right? That actual moment? Maybe what
would come afterwards, but not that actual moment.
Who in here looks forward to being beaten? Anybody?
Who in here would enjoy being beaten like that?
Let alone being hung on a cross, right? Nobody.
Nobody wants that for themselves. Even if we
know we deserve it, we don't want it. Matter
of fact, if we go to Matthew 26, verse 39, Jesus
said, He went a little farther and fell on his
face and prayed, saying, Oh, my Father, if it
is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not as I will, but as you will. So he's making
it clear. He's not looking forward to this. He's
really like, if there's another way we can do
this, can we do that instead? Because this is
going to suck, man. This is going to hurt. I'm
not looking forward to this. I'm expressing what
I want, but ultimately it's your will be done.
If there's another way we can do this, though,
I'd really prefer that. Can we do that, Dad?
That's what he's saying. Yet we know what happened.
He felt every strike of that whip. He felt those
thorns as they were being pierced into the flesh
of a skull. Every word and hateful thing that
was flung at him from that point all the way
up to the place where he was crucified. Every
step along the way. Every hit as those nails
were pounded into him and his flesh resisting.
The shift of the weight as that cross was brought
upright and he is left there to hang. The blood
and the sweat pouring from his body. Every breath
that he had to endure. Every time he had to shift
a muscle just so he could try to breathe as his
lungs and the sacrum of his heart filled with
fluid. He felt it all. And in darkness upon the
land, the separation from the Father, who he'd
always been connected to from the very beginning.
The very beginning. Heartbreaking separation.
All this stuff squeezing in on him, harder and
harder, more and more. And I said it was dark.
Matthew 27, verses 45 and 46. Just turn back
a couple chapters there. Matthew 27, verses 45
and 46. The word says, Now, from the sixth hour
until the ninth hour, there was darkness all
over the land. And about the ninth hour, Jesus
cried out with a loud voice saying, So I can't
even pronounce this. I'm going to do my best,
guys. So like I said, I struggle with some of
these words. It's not my language. That is what
it translates right here. My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? The separation, right?
Because God cannot be in the same place of sin.
And at this point, Jesus had taken on all the
sin, like I mentioned earlier, all the sin upon
himself. And from, it says, the sixth hour until,
the ninth hour. Basically, that's from noon until
3 p .m. Noon until 3 p .m. Three hours, the middle
of the day, the brightest hours of the day, and
it was dark. And this can be confirmed, not just
from the Bible, but history books. Well, not
even some history books, but the scrolls from
the time, from around the region. Pagan tribes.
And it's fun because you look it up, they're
like, yeah, this Jesus that they martyred. It's
funny because you can even find the writing,
well, they found the writings, I should say,
that you can refer to when you do the research
that even confirm his resurrection. It's pretty
cool. But he had taken it all. He took on all
this pain, all this suffering, and all this sin,
all the punishment that we deserve, and he held
on to it all the way up. to the last second when
he finally cried, gave up his spirit, his breathing
stopped. His heart stopped. His brain stopped.
Physically, for all intents and purposes, he
was dead. He was dead. It was over. As far as
anybody there was concerned, it was over. It
was a shocker, too. This is not what they expected
to happen, especially when he entered the city,
right? This isn't what anybody expected. Certainly
not his friends. Certainly not his family. The
people who knew him best. Those who had come
to know him and followed him. We think of just
the disciples here. He had much more than that.
He had many more that he had trained up. Other
followers that would come to him for different
things. I mean, you look at it. You look at the
stories. Places were filled, just flooded with
people. When the woman reached out and touched
his garments, he's surrounded by people. And
even he had to take a second step, like, hey,
who is that? Right? He's a God. He knew. But
still, he had to call it out for everybody else.
He's calling an audible, right? Hundreds of people.
You know, a building so packed with people, jam
-packed. Guys had to take their friend on a bed
and lower him in from the roof. He had followers.
He had disciples. So to say that they were shocked
would be putting it mildly. Even though Jesus
himself predicted what was going to happen, said
what was going to happen, it's coming, it's here,
it's upon us, right? And they took him off the
cross. They put him into a tomb. That was made
for someone else. Essentially borrowed a tomb.
Who does that, by the way? Who borrows a grave?
Anybody ever thought of that? That's how special
he was. It's like, you know what? I bought this
plot. It's for me. But you know what? No. That's
Jesus. Put him in there instead. Because nobody
does that. They're not cheap. They weren't cheap
back then either. Right? On that note, let's
turn to John chapter 20. It's going to start
picking up here, guys, I promise. So John chapter
20. I appreciate the votes of confidence out
there. So John chapter 20, right there at the
very beginning. We're actually going to start
with the first two verses. All right. Oh, looks
like what I copied and put into my notes is different
from up here, but that's okay. It's still going
into the same stuff. So I probably copied from
a different translation in my notes, but that's
all right. Now for the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it
was still dark and saw that the stone had been
taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came
to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom
Jesus loved and said to them, they have taken
away. the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not
know where they have laid him. Mary. This is
the same Mary who washed the feet of Jesus with
expensive perfume from her box of alabaster and
dried his feet with her hair. With her hair.
The same Mary who everyone looked down upon for
this. They said, wow, that's such a waste. Why
would you do that? They looked down on her for
it, right? So she's wasting money. This is the
same Mary who Simon the Pharisee said was unfit
to even do such a thing. Like, who are you to
wash the feet of Christ, right? Same person.
A nobody was how she was treated for the most
part. She was unfit, right, to even do such a
thing and then waste money on top of it. She
was a nobody. Yet this nobody was the first person
out of all of Jesus' followers to actually discover
the miracle that had just happened. She hadn't
quite realized it yet, but she was the first.
Stay there in John. I'm just going to read this
scripture to you, though. Jeremiah 29 .13, because
it pertains to this. And you will seek me and
find me when you search for me with all your
heart. Because God rewards those who search for
him. And she was searching for him. She was searching
for him. Like she came to the grave. She was
in mourning. Where is he? What did you do with
him? Where did he go? And she's... I need help.
They took Jesus. I don't know where. I need your
help. We've got to find him. She's searching
high and low, right? She told everybody, you
know, out of everybody else that there was, excuse
me, out of everybody who was there at the tomb
at that time, right, it was a shock. And it's
a shock that still rocks the world today. And
you look at what it says in John 20, when you
read through verses 3 through 10, what happened
with the disciples? They bolted. They were out
of there. They ran back to where they were staying,
right? Like, oh, Jesus isn't there. We're out
of here. Something's not right. We don't know
where he went, but it's not safe. We're gone.
Bye. They ran for the hills. They didn't understand.
They still didn't understand what Jesus had prophesied,
what the word, the scripture itself had prophesied
hundreds of years prior, that Jesus needed to
die and rise from the dead. And that was the
miracle that was happening. So we're going to
skip over that part a little bit. Like I said,
that's verses 3 through 10. So let's go to verses
11 through 18. This one's a little bit of a read.
But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping, and
as she wept, she stooped down and looked into
the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting,
one at the head and the other at the feet, where
the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to
her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to
them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and
I don't know where they have laid him. Now, when
she had said this, she turned around and saw
Jesus standing there and did not know it was
Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you
weeping? Whom are you seeking? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if
you've carried him away, tell me where you have
laid him, and I will take him away. And Jesus
said to her, Mary. And she turned and said to
him, Rabboni, which is to say teacher, Jesus
said to her, do not cling to me for I have not
yet ascended to my father. But go to my brethren
and say to them, I am ascending to my father
and your father and to my God and your God. Mary
Magdalene came and told the disciples that she
had seen the Lord and that he. have spoken these
things to her. Now, we already know there are
already two other disciples that had been there,
right? And they were perfectly capable of going
back and reporting, you know, hey, yeah, Jesus
is alive. He's here. He's come back, right? Perfectly,
they could have. And especially at that time,
in this region, the word of a man would have
carried a whole lot more weight than a woman.
A whole lot more. Right? These are men respected
in places of authority as followers of Jesus.
One would think, hey, who better to go back and
report back, right? Mary was also a follower,
though. I said she was looked on. And it was
her who was chosen. She's not the one who ran.
She stayed, looking for an answer. Crying, probably
having a hard time focusing. It took her a minute
to even recognize the voice of Jesus, right?
Weeping, probably a better word for it. Mary,
who stayed, still searching, trying to figure
out where Jesus had been taken, begging people,
where is he? Did you take him? Just tell me where
and I'll go get him. I'll get him out of your
way, right? We'll find another place for him.
It's okay. One way or another, we'll take care
of it. Even when others had left, there she was.
still searching, still weeping, still trying
to figure things out and put the pieces together.
And it goes to show it doesn't matter who you
are or what you've done, what your past is, because
we've all done things. We all have a past, and
it can all be forgiven, and God can use you.
It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter
what you've done. Only that you trust in God.
That's what faith is. Remember, I said this a
couple weeks ago. Faith translates to trust.
And if you trust in him, you will be rewarded.
And that's what she had. She had trust in God.
She had trust. Things were going to find a way
to work themselves out. She didn't necessarily
realize that, hey, Jesus is coming back to life,
but she trusted that God was in control and was
going to deal with things a certain way. Right?
So she stayed the course. Where's my Lord? And
because she had that faith and because she kept
searching, she pushed everything to the side
and was searching. That's how important Jesus
was to her. That's how important he should be
to all of us. And she was rewarded. She looked
for Christ and she found him. Each and every
one of us can do that. It doesn't matter what
you've done wrong. And I said, we've all done
wrong. Some of us more so than others. Yet Jesus
offers us hope in his love, in his mercy, in
his grace. And all he asks in return is that
we trust in him as our Lord and Savior. That
we have faith in him as our Lord and Savior.
He's already paid the price for our misdeeds.
He's paid it in blood. With interest. And now
he's asking us to trust him and to stand with
him as free men and women. To join the family
of God and have a place at the table in his kingdom.
And the word goes on to tell us how after appearing
to Mary, he went on to appear to the other disciples.
In fact, if we go to 1 Corinthians 15, verse
6. So 1 Corinthians 15, verse 6. It's a pretty
quick one. I think you'll like this. 1 Corinthians
15, verse 6. The word tells us, After that, he
was seen by over 500 brethren, of whom the greater
part remained to the present, but some had fallen
asleep. 500 people. I take it back. It says over.
500 people. All at once, he went out and showed
himself. Hey, I'm alive and well. Check it out.
Check out my new scars. Pretty styling, right?
I'm back, baby. Right? He's there. Why? It couldn't
be a rumor. People had to know. People had to
see for themselves. Just like Thomas. Thomas
had to see for himself. Right? We hear a lot
of things, so we have a lot of doubt. He was
erasing all that doubt. Irrefutable proof. Undeniable
proof. You can't deny the man exists when he's
standing in front of you offering his hand. Hi,
how you doing? Right? I'm Jesus. Good to meet
you. Right? Especially in those days. They didn't
have the technology that we have now. They didn't
have newspapers. Most people couldn't even afford
scrolls to write on, let alone how many actually
knew how to read or write. Scribes still very
much had a place in society back then. But irrefutable
proof. And not just in the Bible. We can find
this outside of the Bible. Again, everything
that I'm going through here today can be found
in historical scrolls that have been found from
other places. People who have been traveling
through the area, bearing witness to all the
stuff that was going on at the time. Now, I want
you to look at this scripture here as well. Another
word that says, over 500 brethren at once. Brethren,
right? Brothers, family. In other words, over
500 followers. I said it wasn't just, you know,
we look at these disciples, right? Judas hung
himself, was replaced with another one. Those
were not the only disciples. Those were just
the ones closest to him. Those were his top guys,
right? He was the president. These were all the
vice presidents. In other words, right? They
were second only to Jesus in the hierarchy. That's
how a lot of people want to put it. Not exactly
correct because we're all equals in the family.
Right? We're not there. Just because I'm up here
does not make me higher or better than anybody
else in here. Matter of fact, I would confidently
say, that everybody in here knows certain parts
of Scripture better than I do. I'm not perfect.
I don't know it all, and I will not claim to.
And anyone who does, that's a big red flag. Run.
So at this moment, there's somebody out there
asking, whether it's out there online or somebody
in here, what does this mean today? How does
this apply to me? And I'm going to summarize
it very quickly. And I will tell you, I'm not
the only person who's ever summarized things
like this. Those of you who have spent much time
in a church, I guarantee you've heard your fair
share of pastors and ministers say these same
things. So I'm going to tell you what it means.
And in doing so, I want you to think back over
the last few weeks to where we started in this
series as we walked along that Easter trail.
Because all of this, everything that Jesus lived
for, died for, came back for, Everything that
history has shown us, all these scrolls from
all these different communities, it shows that
Jesus is still alive and well today, that he's
deeply concerned for us now and for our future,
that his death on the cross wasn't wasted. Quite
the opposite, in fact, because it was used to
redeem. each and every single one of us, to pay
the price for us. The fact that he came back,
the resurrection was real. And because of that,
and as believers, we all get to know the one,
the only one, who died and came back to life.
The only one. Nobody else has done that. Oh,
I was dead for five minutes. Were you buried
in a tomb? God wasn't done with you yet. You
weren't dead. You were on standby. You were taking
a slight pause. I have a whole lot of things
for those arguments. Nobody has ever died like
Jesus, and there is no doubt that he was dead,
buried in a tomb for three days, right? And all
this is to say, We can trust Jesus. We can absolutely
trust everything that he said, everything he
did, and that also means that we can trust everything
he said he's going to do for us. The fact that
he promised he's going to come back, that he's
making a place for us in the kingdom, that he's
restoring us so that we can sit with the Father.
It means that all of our sins, no matter what
they are, are forgiven and paid for in his blood
for our atonement. That even though we fall short,
that we mess up regularly, and sometimes, let's
just say it, we can screw things up royally.
I know I've messed up my fair share, right? But
we still belong to God. No matter how much we
mess up, We still have that hope. We still belong
to him. He still loves us. He still cares for
us. Even when we get to that point where we don't
feel like we can love ourselves, when we're at
that lowest point where we don't feel that we
can be forgiven. And sometimes we just don't
want to be forgiven because we know our sin is
so bad. But you know what? It's already been
done. It's already been done. That price has
already been paid for us on that cross. He loves
us. And it means that we'll get to live with
him forever in his kingdom as believers and that
we still wake up every day having an opportunity
to serve him, to serve the Lord of Lords and
the King of Kings. Nobody else has that high
of a calling. The non -believers out there, they
haven't been pulled in yet. Jesus is still there
knocking at the door and they haven't answered.
But everyone has that choice. And once you come
to know him and you trust him and you believe
in him, guess what? You now have the highest
calling of them all. Each and every one of us
to go out and share the gospel with the world,
which beckons the question, do you know Jesus?
Because he knows you. He knows you by name. He's
been chasing after you since before you were
even born. He's knocking at the door to your
heart. And all you have to do is answer that
knock and let him in. Let him in before it's
too late. Because he's here. He's here for you.
Because you matter to him. You're priceless to
him. So you need to let him in. You need to talk
to him. The good, the bad, the ugly. Pour it
all out. If you feel it on your heart like, hey,
I need to yell, yell. You need to cry, cry. Let
it all out because he wants to hear it all. He's
God. He already knows it all, but that's who
he is. He wants a relationship. He wants a relationship.
You need to talk. You don't just toss it to the
side. You don't throw it out the back window.
You talk. I feel offended. I feel hurt. I feel
blessed. I feel loved. The good, the bad, the
ugly, let it all flow because he wants to hear
it. He's sitting there patiently waiting for
you to speak. He wants a relationship. He wants
you to share what you need to share. That way
you get to also live a life of hope, a life with
love. You get to join the family at the Father's
table. If you haven't done it, I urge you, answer
that door. Answer that call. Talk to Jesus and
put it in his hands. Give it all over to him.
Confess your sins. Confess your hurts. Confess
your loves. Confess it all to him. The pains,
leave it all at his feet. And when I say leave
it at his feet, you don't just go, hey, boom,
here it is, plop. and just kind of drag it back
out the door with you so you come back again
later and rehash the same garbage because you
didn't leave it at his feet. You drug it back
out the door with him. You didn't trust him with
it. There's people out there like, oh, Jesus
didn't work for me. Why not? Because you didn't
actually leave your trash at his feet. You didn't
leave your problems at his feet so he could deal
with it. You drug it right back out the door
with him. Treated it like a yo -yo. Right? You
don't do that. Just like you can't say you forgive
somebody and then come back at them with the
same garbage. Right? Saturday, December 6, 1986,
at 103 and 5 seconds p .m., you said blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, and you gave me a look and
stuck out your tongue and farted. Some people
are real good about that. Don't do that. Don't
do that. You have to let it go. Unburden yourself.
Give it to Jesus. Let it go. It now belongs to
him. It's not yours to carry any longer. Give
it to him. That's where you start your relationship.
Because until you're willing to let it go and
let go of the world, you will never truly be
able to have a full relationship with Christ.
Confess it all to him, leave it at him, and then
praise him for the blessings in your life. Share
it all with your life. Share all of your life
with him, I should say, going forward from there,
the good, the bad, the ugly. And you'll find
peace in his light. You will find comfort in
his embrace. And you will find love in him, even
when you find it nowhere else. That's why Easter
is so important. And that's why we need to know
all of it and not just the happy pieces of it.
Because all the little ugly pieces that are there
all lead up to the good. And we can't take them
for granted. On that note, let us pray. Lord,
we come before you in awe of all that you've
done and all that you've sacrificed for each
and every one of us, and we thank you for it.
We hear you knocking and we invite you into each
and every one of our lives to be the Lord of
each and every one of us, to guide us and mold
us as only you can. We thank you for being with
us and not letting us to forget all that you've
taught us, all the things that we've learned,
the reminders that our hardships are not for
nothing, that they all matter, and that we all
matter to you. That each and every one of us
has been given the same opportunity to answer
that door as you knock and let you into our lives.
We thank you for everything that you've given
us. The tools and the fact that you walk along
us and you point us in the direction of those
who are still in the darkness and that you use
us to reach those that have not come to know
you yet so that we can bring them to you and
introduce you. so that they too can know your
love, your mercy, your light, and your grace.
And all of his people said, amen and amen. Remember,
when you leave here today, 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.