WEBVTT 00:00:01.229 --> 00:00:03.950 Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton, 00:00:04.129 --> 00:00:07.269 the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship, 00:00:07.290 --> 00:00:10.769 Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico, 00:00:10.990 --> 00:00:14.150 where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:17.890 here. Again, welcome everybody. It's great to 00:00:17.890 --> 00:00:22.850 have you all here. As we get started here, let's 00:00:22.850 --> 00:00:26.780 pray. Father, we thank you for bringing us together. 00:00:26.899 --> 00:00:30.280 We thank you for this time together in your word 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:33.399 to grow in our relationships with you and in 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:38.219 character as you have us do, as you prepare us. 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:45.219 As we grow here and we learn, we ask humbly that 00:00:45.219 --> 00:00:48.640 not only that you give us the wisdom and the 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:52.140 understanding, but you teach us how to apply 00:00:52.140 --> 00:00:54.869 all these things to our lives. and help us to 00:00:54.869 --> 00:00:57.109 discern the truth as we go out into the world. 00:00:57.149 --> 00:01:00.630 In Jesus' name, amen. So last week, we started 00:01:00.630 --> 00:01:03.310 part one of this series, which is misquoted, 00:01:03.369 --> 00:01:07.269 where we're going to go through for a few weeks 00:01:07.269 --> 00:01:09.689 here, not a whole lot of time, but a few weeks, 00:01:09.769 --> 00:01:13.909 looking at some very typically misquoted scripture 00:01:13.909 --> 00:01:16.930 or scripture that's regularly taken out of context 00:01:16.930 --> 00:01:20.769 by various people, sadly to say, even various 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:24.459 pastors. But the important thing, though, is, 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:27.019 of course, we all know context is king, so it's 00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:29.879 looking through what the Word has to say and 00:01:29.879 --> 00:01:31.959 actually applying that context so that we fully 00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:34.700 understand. Especially as we're out in the world, 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:36.859 those of us as believers, we're the people that 00:01:36.859 --> 00:01:38.819 people look to, and we need to be able to say, 00:01:38.900 --> 00:01:42.120 yes, this is true, no, that is false, and here's 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:44.299 why. And when we're able to actually pull it 00:01:44.299 --> 00:01:45.760 up and be like, oh, you're talking about this? 00:01:45.819 --> 00:01:47.420 Well, let's actually open the Bible specifically 00:01:47.420 --> 00:01:50.400 to it, and we can see exactly what's going on. 00:01:51.420 --> 00:01:55.260 which is always really good. You know, it's important. 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:56.719 We need to be like the Bereans. You know, you 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:59.159 recall the Bereans? They didn't just take people's 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:01.439 word for what was being preached. They'd be like, 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:03.599 okay, you're saying what? Let us go to the scripture 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:05.879 and actually pull it apart and take a look at 00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:09.879 it to see if that is the truth, right? And that's 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:11.400 how we need to be because there's just too many 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:18.060 false teachers out there today. And I'm not saying 00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:19.659 people don't make mistakes. People make mistakes. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:21.539 People make mistakes all the time, and that's 00:02:21.539 --> 00:02:24.120 okay. But when you love somebody and you care 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:26.360 for people, as we all should, as we're all called 00:02:26.360 --> 00:02:28.699 to do, because we're all told to love your neighbor, 00:02:28.860 --> 00:02:31.819 part of loving people is being able to say, hey, 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:36.259 that's not right. You need to love people enough 00:02:36.259 --> 00:02:39.080 to say, hey, you're making a mistake. Sometimes 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:40.960 it's uncomfortable, but that's just the way it 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:47.030 is. Unfortunately, The reason why a lot of this 00:02:47.030 --> 00:02:49.169 stuff gets misquoted or a lot of things get taken 00:02:49.169 --> 00:02:52.129 out of context is because at some point someone 00:02:52.129 --> 00:02:55.210 was taught poorly and people cling to this ideal. 00:02:55.349 --> 00:02:58.150 Well, that's what my daddy taught me. That's 00:02:58.150 --> 00:03:01.110 what my grandpa taught my daddy and my great 00:03:01.110 --> 00:03:03.030 granddaddy. Boom, boom, boom. And now you have 00:03:03.030 --> 00:03:04.629 this generational thing where it's like misinformation, 00:03:05.030 --> 00:03:07.150 misinformation, misinformation. And people get 00:03:07.150 --> 00:03:09.250 locked in. They're like, oh, well, that's the 00:03:09.250 --> 00:03:11.090 way it's always been, so that has to be right. 00:03:11.210 --> 00:03:14.259 And it's like... Two plus two does not equal 00:03:14.259 --> 00:03:19.199 five, sorry. They were mistaken, right? So that's 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:24.139 what we're looking at. Sometimes, even in life, 00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:30.560 certain things have changed, right? I'll give 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.280 you an example. Let's talk about cars. Cars, 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:36.539 the way that they're built now. They're made 00:03:36.539 --> 00:03:38.969 to start up and go down the road. You don't have 00:03:38.969 --> 00:03:41.449 to sit there and warm them up for like 5, 10, 00:03:41.490 --> 00:03:43.710 15 minutes before you go down the road. That's 00:03:43.710 --> 00:03:45.650 not a carbureted vehicle anymore like they were 00:03:45.650 --> 00:03:49.810 30, 40, 50 years ago, right? Even something as 00:03:49.810 --> 00:03:52.250 simple as teaching somebody, hey, how do you 00:03:52.250 --> 00:03:55.550 turn on the high beams? How do we typically turn 00:03:55.550 --> 00:03:57.689 on the high beams in a car? Right there on the 00:03:57.689 --> 00:04:00.210 column, right? We have a little shifter, flip 00:04:00.210 --> 00:04:02.030 -flip, you know, or maybe over here on the side 00:04:02.030 --> 00:04:05.110 sometimes. You get to some of the older cars, 00:04:05.229 --> 00:04:09.520 right? I think of my old 85 Buick. You get one 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:10.639 of the new kids in there now, and they're like, 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.919 how do you turn on the lights on this thing? 00:04:14.259 --> 00:04:15.900 They're not looking down on the floor at the 00:04:15.900 --> 00:04:17.480 pedals for the little silver button staring in 00:04:17.480 --> 00:04:20.680 the face. And it has that giant click, and the 00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:22.579 guy in front of you for three miles is blinded, 00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:27.360 right? So sometimes information changes. The 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:28.879 one good thing, though, is when we're looking 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:31.620 at the Bible, the Word never changes. This is 00:04:31.620 --> 00:04:34.540 the Word of God. And the Word of God, just like 00:04:34.540 --> 00:04:37.079 God, it does not change. It's the same yesterday, 00:04:37.220 --> 00:04:40.459 today, and forever. So we have that to look forward 00:04:40.459 --> 00:04:43.800 to and understand. This week, as we're jumping 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:46.680 in, we're going to be looking at another piece 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:48.139 of scripture, and I'm going to invite everybody 00:04:48.139 --> 00:04:50.680 to open their Bibles with me or the apps, whatever 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:55.000 it is that you're using, to Romans 8, verses 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.860 28 through 30. So Romans 8, verses 28 through 00:04:59.860 --> 00:05:06.000 30. I'll give everyone a second here. I've been 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:07.899 told sometimes I go a little fast at this point. 00:05:10.279 --> 00:05:14.779 So in Romans 8, verses 28 through 30, the word 00:05:14.779 --> 00:05:18.740 says, And we know that all things work together 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:22.579 for the good of those who love God, to those 00:05:22.579 --> 00:05:26.560 who are called to his purpose, for whom he foreknew 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:31.420 he also predestined to be conformed to the image 00:05:31.420 --> 00:05:35.839 of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:39.120 many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:42.860 these he also called, whom he called, these he 00:05:42.860 --> 00:05:46.300 also justified, and whom he justified, these 00:05:46.300 --> 00:05:52.100 he also glorified. Now, looking at this, you 00:05:52.100 --> 00:05:54.860 would think it's very straightforward. Unfortunately, 00:05:54.939 --> 00:05:56.860 this is a piece of scripture a lot of people 00:05:56.860 --> 00:05:58.920 twisted in a whole number of ways. I'm only going 00:05:58.920 --> 00:06:01.220 to go through a few examples here, all right? 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:02.920 But as we're going through it and you think on 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:04.839 it, you might be like, oh, yeah, I have heard 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:08.200 this taken out of context before, right? And 00:06:08.200 --> 00:06:09.740 some of the usual ways, let's take it out of 00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:11.740 context, those things where it's like, oh, you 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:13.439 need to be true to yourself and everything's 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:17.339 just going to be okay. It's okay to just be who 00:06:17.339 --> 00:06:19.560 you are the way you are because you're already 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:22.120 predestined for greatness. It's just going to 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:26.000 work out, right? It's one of those things, it's 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.439 like, oh, you be you, boo. God loves you just 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:32.600 the way you are. And he wants you to be happy. 00:06:33.459 --> 00:06:35.980 That's a real popular one with prosperity preaching, 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:39.889 right? It's like you just be you and you just 00:06:39.889 --> 00:06:41.810 stay the course and you just stay prayerful and 00:06:41.810 --> 00:06:43.410 give and everything's going to come to you, right? 00:06:44.750 --> 00:06:46.810 You don't need to change a thing. And unfortunately, 00:06:47.029 --> 00:06:49.310 it's not the truth. The reality is these are 00:06:49.310 --> 00:06:53.730 worldly ideals. You know, and what the world 00:06:53.730 --> 00:06:57.589 is telling us to do, it's not biblical. Not even 00:06:57.589 --> 00:06:59.949 in the slightest. You know, when we look at the 00:06:59.949 --> 00:07:03.870 outline that God has for us in the Word, that's 00:07:03.870 --> 00:07:06.620 something totally different. You know, instead, 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:08.639 as we see right here, he's telling us that we 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:12.779 need to be conformed to the image of Jesus, right? 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:14.639 He says right here, conformed to the image of 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:19.240 his son. You know, it's the world who's saying, 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:23.259 no, put yourself first. You be you. You know, 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:25.620 it likes to come out, you see this a lot on social 00:07:25.620 --> 00:07:27.579 media, especially today, and a lot of the talk 00:07:27.579 --> 00:07:30.259 shows, right? Oh, you be the authentic you. You 00:07:30.259 --> 00:07:36.699 just be true to you. It's funny because they're 00:07:36.699 --> 00:07:40.379 saying, oh, you be true to you, but then they're 00:07:40.379 --> 00:07:42.560 telling you how to be true to you. You need to 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.040 dress this way, right? You need to be driving 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:48.000 this. Oh, if you're going out, you need to buy 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:52.459 these brands, right? Some of the morning talk 00:07:52.459 --> 00:07:54.600 shows are really good about that. I'll come in, 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:56.139 and I'll hear one of the ladies at work talking 00:07:56.139 --> 00:07:58.300 about, oh, I was watching the Today Show or whatever, 00:07:58.500 --> 00:07:59.860 and they brought in people, and they're like, 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:02.360 oh, look at these pots and pans, and it was great 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:05.040 because I had that same set at home. Right? They 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:11.199 cost like $500. It's like, no. But that's very 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:14.180 much how the world is today, isn't it? It's like, 00:08:14.180 --> 00:08:16.800 you be you, you be authentic, but only the way 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:21.360 that we deem fit. Right? Because otherwise you're 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:24.100 unaccepting. Right? It's like, why you got to 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:30.540 hate on me? And that's really not the case. You 00:08:30.540 --> 00:08:32.059 know, it's basically saying, hey, you got your 00:08:32.059 --> 00:08:34.120 freedom to be a you. But we're going to chain 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:35.539 you as well. So even though you're free, you're 00:08:35.539 --> 00:08:38.159 still chained. Freedom in chains. Does that sound 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:42.820 very free to anybody? No? Doesn't sound very 00:08:42.820 --> 00:08:45.519 free to me either. To me, it sounds more like 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.759 bondage, right? The same bondage to sin, the 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:50.720 same bondage that Jesus came to free us from. 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:54.899 You know, Shakespeare put it this way, to thine 00:08:54.899 --> 00:08:59.820 own self be true. Obviously, I'm not a Shakespearean 00:08:59.820 --> 00:09:03.580 actor, right? I'd probably be sitting up here 00:09:03.580 --> 00:09:05.700 like Hamlet holding the skull. It's because I 00:09:05.700 --> 00:09:09.559 know myself be true. But you're dead. Right? 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:15.519 You know, the idea is that you are you, so go 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:18.940 be you. You know, you're all unique. And we are. 00:09:19.500 --> 00:09:21.639 But saying, hey, you're unique, so go let your 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:25.000 light shine for the world to see. Fly your weird 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:27.220 banner as high as everybody can see it. Right? 00:09:28.069 --> 00:09:30.210 And then it falls into that whole mentality of, 00:09:30.250 --> 00:09:36.110 if it feels good, do it. Now, there's a slippery 00:09:36.110 --> 00:09:39.269 slope, right? Uh -oh. That's a double -bladed 00:09:39.269 --> 00:09:43.269 sword. Because on one hand, like, if it feels 00:09:43.269 --> 00:09:44.669 good, do it. I'm going to go out here and I'm 00:09:44.669 --> 00:09:46.250 going to eat that cookie. My diabetes is saying 00:09:46.250 --> 00:09:48.750 I shouldn't. I'm going to skyrocket my blood 00:09:48.750 --> 00:09:54.889 sugars. Right? Can I work with it? Sure. For 00:09:54.889 --> 00:09:56.750 some of us, it's going to be, you know. Go for 00:09:56.750 --> 00:10:00.490 a run. Some of us are runners, not me. This didn't 00:10:00.490 --> 00:10:04.190 happen overnight. I stopped running when my time 00:10:04.190 --> 00:10:08.070 of service ended. If you see me running, you 00:10:08.070 --> 00:10:13.629 should be too. Put it that way, right? Because 00:10:13.629 --> 00:10:17.570 it just don't happen anymore. But the thing is, 00:10:17.570 --> 00:10:19.450 though, I think you kind of see where I'm going 00:10:19.450 --> 00:10:22.690 here, is if you start doing what feels good all 00:10:22.690 --> 00:10:25.919 the time, you start putting yourself. first, 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.580 and you start distancing yourself from Jesus, 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:31.460 right? All this stuff, Jesus is over here saying, 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:34.840 don't do this. This isn't right. You know right 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:38.899 from wrong. And you're all the way over here. 00:10:40.340 --> 00:10:43.360 That's right. Sock him in the kisser. Get one 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:46.580 for the gipper, right? And you're cheering on 00:10:46.580 --> 00:10:51.759 these sinful, lustful, hateful acts. You know, 00:10:51.779 --> 00:10:54.159 we start thinking. As we go through our own lives 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:55.480 and we're doing things that we're good enough 00:10:55.480 --> 00:11:00.320 to handle things on our own. And we start getting 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:02.960 in trouble because we can't do it on our own. 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:07.100 We need Jesus. We need Jesus right there at the 00:11:07.100 --> 00:11:11.440 forefront all the time. You know, and unfortunately, 00:11:11.620 --> 00:11:15.399 if we buy into these ideals, let me tell you 00:11:15.399 --> 00:11:18.980 why it's wrong. It negates the entire purpose 00:11:18.980 --> 00:11:23.039 for Jesus coming. living a sinless life as an 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:26.779 example, teaching us how to prepare for heaven, 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:29.279 and then taking all of our sin to the cross. 00:11:30.379 --> 00:11:33.480 It negates him needing to die, let alone rise 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:37.600 again and ascend to return, right? It's like 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:39.360 if we don't need him, if we can do all this on 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:41.539 our own, why did he have to do all that for us? 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:44.700 Why did he have to be tortured and tormented 00:11:44.700 --> 00:11:55.200 and ultimately killed? So it just makes no sense 00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:59.919 when you actually think about it. Isaiah 5 .20. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:03.460 We'll turn to it real quick. I'll give everybody 00:12:03.460 --> 00:12:15.200 a second. So Isaiah 5 .20. All right. So Isaiah 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:21.299 5 .20. The word says, Woe to those who call evil 00:12:21.299 --> 00:12:24.529 good and good evil. who put darkness for light 00:12:24.529 --> 00:12:28.210 and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet 00:12:28.210 --> 00:12:31.250 and sweet for bitter. See, what happens is our 00:12:31.250 --> 00:12:34.110 way of thinking conforms to the world instead 00:12:34.110 --> 00:12:37.570 of what Jesus has told us, right? Instead of 00:12:37.570 --> 00:12:41.289 what Jesus has set the example for. You know, 00:12:41.289 --> 00:12:43.289 even all the prophets that came before him, when 00:12:43.289 --> 00:12:46.590 God himself spoke to the prophets and sent these 00:12:46.590 --> 00:12:51.250 messages, you know? We start thinking things 00:12:51.250 --> 00:12:53.509 like... Well, if it feels good, is it really 00:12:53.509 --> 00:12:58.590 that bad? Well, it feels good to go up to McDonald's 00:12:58.590 --> 00:13:00.350 and get a nice Big Mac, but is it good for you? 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:05.149 I see you have some chuckles there. It's really 00:13:05.149 --> 00:13:10.649 not. And it starts small like that, but eventually 00:13:10.649 --> 00:13:14.269 it grows into moral issues, and our moral compass 00:13:14.269 --> 00:13:17.789 gets skewed. You say, well, what do you mean? 00:13:18.190 --> 00:13:22.110 Well, it starts small. I just talked about a 00:13:22.110 --> 00:13:23.669 burger at McDonald's. Same thing. We go just 00:13:23.669 --> 00:13:26.769 down the road here to Dion's. Get that nice big 00:13:26.769 --> 00:13:29.610 pizza just the way you like it. You know, the 00:13:29.610 --> 00:13:34.190 pepperoni, maybe some bacon on there, some pineapple. 00:13:35.629 --> 00:13:37.649 I know not everybody likes pineapple. That's 00:13:37.649 --> 00:13:38.950 an argument for a different day. We'll miss you 00:13:38.950 --> 00:13:44.289 all in heaven. It's great. But seriously, though, 00:13:44.350 --> 00:13:47.070 we go down there. We get that nice big pizza 00:13:47.070 --> 00:13:51.509 just the way we like it. We sit down. We start 00:13:51.509 --> 00:13:55.649 eating it. And we're just a few bites in, and 00:13:55.649 --> 00:13:57.389 I think all of us agree that very quickly we 00:13:57.389 --> 00:13:59.129 all want to be a ninja turtle and eat this whole 00:13:59.129 --> 00:14:03.110 pizza for ourself, right? And we all love pizza. 00:14:04.330 --> 00:14:05.990 I'm the first to admit, any time I sit down and 00:14:05.990 --> 00:14:09.929 eat pizza, I always eat more than I should. Always, 00:14:09.990 --> 00:14:13.549 every time. I can have my wife sitting there 00:14:13.549 --> 00:14:15.470 saying, do you really need that next slice? Like, 00:14:15.529 --> 00:14:23.070 yes, I do. Pray for me. But even though it tastes 00:14:23.070 --> 00:14:25.629 so good, and we just want to keep scarfing it 00:14:25.629 --> 00:14:27.690 down, is it good for us? No, even that one slice 00:14:27.690 --> 00:14:29.549 really isn't that great for us. It tastes real 00:14:29.549 --> 00:14:33.250 good. It's downright delicious, especially you 00:14:33.250 --> 00:14:36.950 pair it up with some of that Dion's ranch, that 00:14:36.950 --> 00:14:42.009 green chili ranch. Some people really enjoy that. 00:14:42.629 --> 00:14:45.950 I don't. I'm not a big ranch person. But I know 00:14:45.950 --> 00:14:48.470 plenty of people who do. A couple years ago, 00:14:48.529 --> 00:14:50.929 they had that shortage. And everybody in town 00:14:50.929 --> 00:14:52.289 was freaking out and buying them out. And every 00:14:52.289 --> 00:14:53.549 time it would come in, you guys remember that? 00:14:53.950 --> 00:15:01.029 It's all over the news, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, 00:15:01.029 --> 00:15:02.289 it's not that great for us. But now let's go 00:15:02.289 --> 00:15:05.769 a little bit bigger here. All right. So let's 00:15:05.769 --> 00:15:08.429 talk about being true to yourself. I'm going 00:15:08.429 --> 00:15:10.090 real big real quick. I'm not going to ramp it 00:15:10.090 --> 00:15:11.950 up. Time's sake, we just don't have the time. 00:15:12.250 --> 00:15:13.950 How about the Nazi party? Weren't they doing 00:15:13.950 --> 00:15:17.759 what they thought was true to themselves? They're 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:19.700 doing something that they felt was making the 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.320 world a better place, didn't they? Was it really 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:24.659 good, though? I think all of us would agree it 00:15:24.659 --> 00:15:28.519 was horrible. Horrible. Let's get a little bit 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:31.080 more modern. How about Saddam Hussein, especially 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:33.320 when he first took office? Who remembers the 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:35.940 first thing he did after he got into office while 00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:38.000 everybody was still sitting there in the room? 00:15:41.620 --> 00:15:43.600 I'll freshen the memories. If you don't know 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:45.139 altogether, here's a history lesson for you. 00:15:45.549 --> 00:15:48.710 He had a list that was drawn up of people that 00:15:48.710 --> 00:15:51.649 were in office who were running against him or 00:15:51.649 --> 00:15:53.470 in a different party who thought differently 00:15:53.470 --> 00:15:56.230 than him. And as each person's name was read, 00:15:56.429 --> 00:15:59.850 security led them out of the room where they 00:15:59.850 --> 00:16:02.190 were all tried and convicted for treason, and 00:16:02.190 --> 00:16:05.309 most of them killed on the spot by a firing squad 00:16:05.309 --> 00:16:11.549 just outside the doors. And that's how he started, 00:16:11.649 --> 00:16:14.490 literally right there, sworn into office. Cool. 00:16:14.940 --> 00:16:16.600 If we read your name, stand up, you're going 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:20.519 out the door to be shot. That's where his atrocity 00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:23.820 started, let alone the terrorist acts that he 00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:26.100 committed against his own people and their surrounding 00:16:26.100 --> 00:16:29.700 nations. He was being true to himself, though, 00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:32.899 wasn't he? See how that moral compass goes astray 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:38.000 real quick? You know, Osama bin Laden, who orchestrated 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:44.000 the terror attacks of 9 -11. He was true to himself. 00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:50.120 Yeah, a whole lot of us deployed on that one, 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:53.039 even in this room. Well, heck, even with the 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:54.799 last one, we got people in the room who deployed 00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:04.119 for the first one. So, you know, it's silly to 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:09.880 think that these things are okay, that it's okay 00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:11.900 to always just be true to yourself, to go for 00:17:11.900 --> 00:17:15.640 what you believe in. And it's absolutely ridiculous 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:17.660 to think that we don't have other influences 00:17:17.660 --> 00:17:21.079 in our lives that guide us towards what we feel 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:24.019 is true. We all grow up with influences right 00:17:24.019 --> 00:17:27.519 out the gate. Mom, dad, you know, we have aunts 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:29.079 or uncles, cousins. Hey, what are they doing? 00:17:29.140 --> 00:17:35.500 Big brother, what are you doing? Right? Is that 00:17:35.500 --> 00:17:37.059 my brother John? I know the only reason why he 00:17:37.059 --> 00:17:39.779 enlisted is because I enlisted. Yeah, see, mom's 00:17:39.779 --> 00:17:42.700 over here shaking her head. It's the only reason. 00:17:43.970 --> 00:17:47.269 Trying to follow Big Brother. I think a lot of 00:17:47.269 --> 00:17:48.589 us in this room with older siblings have done 00:17:48.589 --> 00:17:53.690 the same thing, yeah? If we're honest. You know, 00:17:53.730 --> 00:17:58.089 or someone else that we look up to. You know, 00:17:58.089 --> 00:18:03.390 we have to be very careful, though, to do what's 00:18:03.390 --> 00:18:07.650 right. It's not a matter of being true to yourself. 00:18:07.750 --> 00:18:11.809 It's what's right and what's wrong. You know. 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:13.640 I'll give you another example here. I'll use 00:18:13.640 --> 00:18:17.059 myself as an example here. I'm sure everybody's 00:18:17.059 --> 00:18:20.460 going to be able to relate to this. I get up. 00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:22.799 I get cleaned up. I'm ready to go to work. I'm 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:25.380 in a good mood. I'm feeling really good. Right? 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:28.119 It's going to be a good day. What's the Forrest 00:18:28.119 --> 00:18:29.819 Frank song? You know, it's going to be a good 00:18:29.819 --> 00:18:34.339 day, whatever. Yeah. I'm pumped. I go into work. 00:18:35.900 --> 00:18:39.799 I start doing my thing. I'm loading my kids up. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:41.440 I'm getting them to school, all that good stuff. 00:18:45.390 --> 00:18:47.430 Come 10 o 'clock, 10 .30 in the morning, though, 00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:51.509 enough has happened. You know, I started the 00:18:51.509 --> 00:18:53.349 day, I'm following Jesus. It's going to be a 00:18:53.349 --> 00:18:58.230 good day. Just a few hours later, I'm still trying 00:18:58.230 --> 00:19:00.609 to follow Jesus. I'm still trying to find that 00:19:00.609 --> 00:19:02.789 silver lining in the day. It's like, oh, this 00:19:02.789 --> 00:19:03.930 afternoon is still going to be good. It's all 00:19:03.930 --> 00:19:06.809 right. It's going to be good. There's probably 00:19:06.809 --> 00:19:08.410 a few people that have come in front of me that 00:19:08.410 --> 00:19:10.890 I just want to smack right upside the head, right? 00:19:11.170 --> 00:19:14.829 Just smack the absolute hell out of them. Y 'all 00:19:14.829 --> 00:19:21.529 can relate, yeah? It happens. Working in a hospital 00:19:21.529 --> 00:19:26.609 even, right? Sometimes we get those parents that 00:19:26.609 --> 00:19:30.670 come in and it's right out the gate. Like, whoa, 00:19:30.849 --> 00:19:33.609 dude. We don't even know what you're talking 00:19:33.609 --> 00:19:40.150 about, right? We get those people who cut us 00:19:40.150 --> 00:19:42.609 off in traffic and then give us the bird like 00:19:42.609 --> 00:19:48.130 we're the ones who did something wrong. And it 00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:50.349 all adds up. So eventually it gets to that point. 00:19:52.130 --> 00:19:55.109 We're all feeling like Jackie Gleason. Keep it 00:19:55.109 --> 00:20:00.390 up to the moon, right? Now, if we're true to 00:20:00.390 --> 00:20:01.990 ourself, though, and we're thinking about that, 00:20:02.109 --> 00:20:04.789 we're not going to restrain ourselves. That next 00:20:04.789 --> 00:20:07.269 person who comes in line, as soon as that straw 00:20:07.269 --> 00:20:09.309 breaks the camel's back, what are we doing? They're 00:20:09.309 --> 00:20:13.470 getting socked right in the mouth, right? I can 00:20:13.470 --> 00:20:15.430 think back to the Marine Corps. Somebody upsets 00:20:15.430 --> 00:20:18.000 you that much, you're like, hey. Let's go outside. 00:20:18.380 --> 00:20:21.539 You beat the snot out of each other, right? When 00:20:21.539 --> 00:20:24.119 we left close combat instruction and they implemented 00:20:24.119 --> 00:20:26.880 the Marine Corps martial art program, we would 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.519 call it training. Like that one? I even have 00:20:30.519 --> 00:20:34.140 to do the quotes with it. Training. It wasn't 00:20:34.140 --> 00:20:35.680 training. We were just beating the snot out of 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:38.880 each other. Sometimes you shake hands afterwards 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:41.400 and you go your own way. It was fine. But usually 00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:42.759 it's you're working out some aggression because 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:46.869 it was not a good day. There's a lot of civilians 00:20:46.869 --> 00:20:48.410 that are very happy that we don't do that in 00:20:48.410 --> 00:20:54.529 the civilian world. But our identity, here's 00:20:54.529 --> 00:20:56.029 the thing though, our identity is not found in 00:20:56.029 --> 00:20:58.269 the world. The world's coming at you saying this 00:20:58.269 --> 00:20:59.930 and that, you've got to do this, these are the 00:20:59.930 --> 00:21:01.569 latest trends, you've got to be with the trends, 00:21:01.710 --> 00:21:07.009 or you're wrong. Our identity is not found. and 00:21:07.009 --> 00:21:08.230 all the stuff that the world is saying. It's 00:21:08.230 --> 00:21:10.029 not found in PlayStation. It's not found in Xbox 00:21:10.029 --> 00:21:13.230 or Nintendo or Facebook or TikTok or Instagram 00:21:13.230 --> 00:21:16.450 or any of these shows or magazines like Esquire, 00:21:16.470 --> 00:21:19.349 if that's even still a thing. I don't know. Or 00:21:19.349 --> 00:21:23.009 people or whatever. All these things that are 00:21:23.009 --> 00:21:24.470 just saying, hey, this is what you need to do. 00:21:24.509 --> 00:21:30.630 Give us your money. Right? Those daily programs. 00:21:30.869 --> 00:21:32.849 Our identity, and this is the beautiful part, 00:21:32.930 --> 00:21:35.799 as Christians, as followers of Christ, We have 00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:37.839 identity. We have a new identity. We have an 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:41.819 identity in Jesus Christ. It's part of his gift 00:21:41.819 --> 00:21:49.539 to us. Our identity lies squarely with him. And 00:21:49.539 --> 00:21:51.519 when we go back to our scripture and we're looking 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:56.039 at Romans 8, verses 28 through 30, see if I can 00:21:56.039 --> 00:22:00.240 scroll back here to it. There we go. When we're 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.819 looking at this, Paul is saying something. much 00:22:02.819 --> 00:22:04.619 different than the way all these other people 00:22:04.619 --> 00:22:07.539 try to make it sound with the whole be true to 00:22:07.539 --> 00:22:11.700 you, right? Because it's not about being true 00:22:11.700 --> 00:22:14.319 to yourself. It's not about doing all the stuff 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:17.819 that feels good in your life. It's not about, 00:22:17.980 --> 00:22:20.140 you know, people like to put out the good vibes. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:23.000 What is that? Good vibes. Is that someone cruising 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:24.839 down the road, blasting their stereo and shaking 00:22:24.839 --> 00:22:29.480 the building? Sorry, but the crystals don't do 00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:33.819 it for me. I got Jesus, you know? You know, let's 00:22:33.819 --> 00:22:35.779 be honest. If we left to our own devices and 00:22:35.779 --> 00:22:39.039 it was just that simple, we mess it up every 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:42.460 time. Every single time. We might be doing good 00:22:42.460 --> 00:22:43.940 for a while, sure. There's some things we're 00:22:43.940 --> 00:22:45.960 going to be spectacular at. And there's going 00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:47.819 to be other things where we don't just drop the 00:22:47.819 --> 00:22:51.000 ball. We drop it, it falls on our toes, we're 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:52.900 taking a step, and it gets launched like a football. 00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:57.180 Right? There ain't no catching up to that because 00:22:57.180 --> 00:22:58.819 it's going to be a bumpy ride the whole time 00:22:58.819 --> 00:23:00.980 we're trying. It's going to be like we're playing 00:23:00.980 --> 00:23:02.440 rugby. We're going to have everybody tackling 00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:05.720 us like, nope, it's my ball. You dropped it. 00:23:05.740 --> 00:23:11.960 You messed up. Ha ha. Right? We don't do the 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:13.799 things the way we should. We don't do the things 00:23:13.799 --> 00:23:16.420 as we've been taught. You know, things like treat 00:23:16.420 --> 00:23:18.920 others the way you want to be treated. Right? 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:25.480 It goes right out the window. Rather, what Paul's 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:27.119 writing about here, what he's pointing out is 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:29.980 the fact is we are the problem. I love that because 00:23:29.980 --> 00:23:31.759 it's kind of a modern day thing. It's not you, 00:23:31.779 --> 00:23:35.019 it's me. I'm the problem. That's more true than 00:23:35.019 --> 00:23:37.720 you know. And each of us has a problem in our 00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:40.039 own lives, right? Because all of us has fallen 00:23:40.039 --> 00:23:42.140 short. All of us have strayed from Jesus. We've 00:23:42.140 --> 00:23:44.039 all fallen short of the goal. We've all sinned. 00:23:46.579 --> 00:23:48.759 What the Word's telling us we need to do is just 00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:52.279 like it says right here in verse 29, is we all 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:54.859 need to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. 00:23:56.220 --> 00:23:58.140 There's a whole reason He set that example for 00:23:58.140 --> 00:24:05.130 us. To know who we are in Him. Not who we think 00:24:05.130 --> 00:24:07.970 we are in the sin that we keep coming back to 00:24:07.970 --> 00:24:09.750 over and over and over again or those nuisance 00:24:09.750 --> 00:24:13.009 that we commit. Those sins condemn us. They keep 00:24:13.009 --> 00:24:16.509 us separated from the Father. They bury us in 00:24:16.509 --> 00:24:20.069 those darkest pits, right? Where the fire is 00:24:20.069 --> 00:24:22.369 hot and we are separated from the Father for 00:24:22.369 --> 00:24:29.839 eternity. It's all about being more like Jesus 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:31.720 in how we live our lives. You know, as the song 00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:34.220 says, a little more Jesus, a little less me. 00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:38.480 And that's the truth of it. And when we think 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:42.019 about it, if we're trying to do the whole let 00:24:42.019 --> 00:24:44.099 me be authentic thing and live the world the 00:24:44.099 --> 00:24:49.220 way the world tells us, that's heavy. But when 00:24:49.220 --> 00:24:51.599 we're truly being true, even trying to live our 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:53.819 lives in Jesus, that's still a heavy cross to 00:24:53.819 --> 00:24:58.779 bear. It's still heavy. You know, if we lived 00:24:58.779 --> 00:25:01.380 the way the world would have us, we'd be in a 00:25:01.380 --> 00:25:04.619 really lonely spot because the world does not 00:25:04.619 --> 00:25:08.599 like losers. It wants winners. And the truth 00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:10.460 of the matter is there's always going to be someone 00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:13.660 higher up the food chain, right? That bigger 00:25:13.660 --> 00:25:17.960 kid on the block. Somebody else that's just a 00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:19.420 little bit better than you are when you're trying 00:25:19.420 --> 00:25:26.920 to do certain things. And unfortunately... That 00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:31.680 takes you out of first place, doesn't it? Anybody 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:35.759 in here seen Talladega Nights? Will Ferrell movie? 00:25:36.259 --> 00:25:40.059 Okay, I know a couple hands. It's a goofy movie. 00:25:42.359 --> 00:25:43.819 One of the things that they say in there, though, 00:25:43.900 --> 00:25:45.759 it's like the big punchline, if you're not first, 00:25:45.859 --> 00:25:49.039 you're last. Which is true, because if you're 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:51.380 not first, you're the first loser, so you're 00:25:51.380 --> 00:25:54.599 last. The world doesn't like losers. It's very 00:25:54.599 --> 00:25:58.500 quick to point that out to us, right? It's like, 00:25:58.559 --> 00:26:01.279 oh, your hair color, the way you dress, right? 00:26:01.319 --> 00:26:03.799 Your weight, the way you talk, your accent, the 00:26:03.799 --> 00:26:05.819 color of your skin. There's always something 00:26:05.819 --> 00:26:07.880 that the world's going to throw out there to 00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:13.140 separate us from all the rest, right? And unfortunately, 00:26:13.400 --> 00:26:15.819 you start hearing these things over and over 00:26:15.819 --> 00:26:17.839 and over again, and even though you know it's 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:20.799 not true, you start to believe it, right? I've 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:22.339 talked about this before. It's called illusory 00:26:22.339 --> 00:26:29.430 truth. Politicians love this. The news loves 00:26:29.430 --> 00:26:33.230 this. They take something, it's not true, but 00:26:33.230 --> 00:26:35.250 they say it over and over and over again, and 00:26:35.250 --> 00:26:36.730 eventually you've heard it so much, it's like, 00:26:36.750 --> 00:26:38.589 oh, it must be true, and you start to believe 00:26:38.589 --> 00:26:42.910 it. And here's the sad part about most lies. 00:26:43.390 --> 00:26:46.589 Most lies have just enough truth in there that 00:26:46.589 --> 00:26:48.809 you're going to listen, because if they didn't, 00:26:48.809 --> 00:26:52.880 you wouldn't listen at all. That's how it hooks 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:57.519 you in. It's like, ah, something's not right, 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:00.859 but I mean, that part's right. It's still a lie. 00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:04.319 That's the favorite tool of Satan, going all 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:06.039 the way back to the Garden of Eden. Remember? 00:27:06.259 --> 00:27:08.160 Even Jesus, when he tempted him in the wilderness, 00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:10.980 he'd go out there and he'd omit things and he'd 00:27:10.980 --> 00:27:16.359 twist the truth. Which is why, again, we need 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:17.980 to be like the Bereans so that we can be like 00:27:17.980 --> 00:27:21.470 Jesus. When these misquoted things come to us 00:27:21.470 --> 00:27:22.789 and things are taken out of context, we're like, 00:27:22.849 --> 00:27:26.250 oh, but the word says this. And we can give them 00:27:26.250 --> 00:27:29.210 the proper context. And eventually Satan and 00:27:29.210 --> 00:27:35.650 his ministers will flee. Being true to yourself 00:27:35.650 --> 00:27:39.869 according to the world means you have to work 00:27:39.869 --> 00:27:44.730 to earn your identity. And then once you have 00:27:44.730 --> 00:27:47.769 it, you have to work yourself to death in order 00:27:47.769 --> 00:27:52.680 to keep it. The gospel says something much different, 00:27:52.740 --> 00:27:56.559 though, something much more beautiful. The gospel 00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:59.680 tells each and every one of us that we've been 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:10.240 given that new identity in Jesus. If we go down 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:11.640 just to the bottom there, I'm just going to kind 00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:14.640 of isolate it there, Romans 8 .30, right, which 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:17.559 we also already have pulled up. Let's look at 00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:21.420 it together again. Romans 8, verse 30 says, Moreover, 00:28:22.339 --> 00:28:26.359 whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom 00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:29.279 he called, he also justified. And whom he justified, 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:32.440 he also glorified. It's an identity. It's an 00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:34.940 identity given because of what Jesus has done 00:28:34.940 --> 00:28:37.140 for us, not because of anything that we can do. 00:28:37.180 --> 00:28:41.059 Our works will never amount to enough. It is 00:28:41.059 --> 00:28:44.420 this free and gracious gift given to us by our 00:28:44.420 --> 00:28:48.950 Lord and Savior and love. Nothing we can ever 00:28:48.950 --> 00:28:53.569 do can earn it. And only a fool would think otherwise. 00:28:54.190 --> 00:28:58.089 Only a fool. We're going into the homestretch 00:28:58.089 --> 00:29:01.349 here, people, I promise. I'll give you an example 00:29:01.349 --> 00:29:05.750 here. If we go to Matthew 18, verses 23 through 00:29:05.750 --> 00:29:09.950 27, right? And this is the parable of the unforgiving 00:29:09.950 --> 00:29:13.750 servant. Well, this is part of it anyway. So 00:29:13.750 --> 00:29:17.089 Matthew 18, verses 23 through 27, the word says, 00:29:17.630 --> 00:29:20.210 Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain 00:29:20.210 --> 00:29:22.970 king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 00:29:23.109 --> 00:29:26.109 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one 00:29:26.109 --> 00:29:30.369 was brought to him who owed him 10 ,000 talents. 00:29:33.089 --> 00:29:36.470 But he was not able to pay. His master commanded 00:29:36.470 --> 00:29:41.650 that he be sold with his wife and children and 00:29:41.650 --> 00:29:45.240 that all he had and that payment be made. Therefore 00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:47.819 the servant fell down before him, saying, Master, 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:50.660 have patience with me, and I will pay you all. 00:29:51.859 --> 00:29:56.099 The master of that servant was moved with compassion, 00:29:56.359 --> 00:30:02.819 released him, and forgave him the debt. Now we 00:30:02.819 --> 00:30:04.660 can see this, we're looking at it, it's kind 00:30:04.660 --> 00:30:08.519 of a shadow of Jesus forgiving us, right? A little 00:30:08.519 --> 00:30:11.000 bit of foreshadowing in there, which is beautiful. 00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:15.940 But the thing here... This guy was a fool. And 00:30:15.940 --> 00:30:17.680 when we think we can repay Jesus for what he 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:20.980 did for us, we are exactly the same. Let's take 00:30:20.980 --> 00:30:22.960 a look here just so that we understand exactly 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:24.700 what we're looking at because it's talking about 00:30:24.700 --> 00:30:30.279 10 ,000 talents. Well, what's a talent? Well, 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:32.319 a talent was a form of currency at that time, 00:30:32.420 --> 00:30:34.559 usually a piece of silver or a piece of gold, 00:30:34.660 --> 00:30:42.160 right, that weighed about 73 pounds. A little 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:47.079 hefty, right? In order to earn just one talent 00:30:47.079 --> 00:30:51.380 weighing that much, a person would have to work 00:30:51.380 --> 00:30:58.819 about 6 ,000 days. Roughly, that's about 16 years 00:30:58.819 --> 00:31:06.460 to earn one talent. This guy owed 10 ,000. Yeah, 00:31:06.539 --> 00:31:12.279 he would work basically every day for 160 years 00:31:12.279 --> 00:31:14.829 and still... be struggling to pay, and that's 00:31:14.829 --> 00:31:17.049 giving every single penny he owed in order to 00:31:17.049 --> 00:31:22.390 try to pay this debt off. 10 ,000 of them. Yet 00:31:22.390 --> 00:31:26.029 he stood here before the master saying, hey, 00:31:26.049 --> 00:31:28.269 master, please have patience with me. I'll get 00:31:28.269 --> 00:31:33.990 you the money, I swear, I promise. Right? He 00:31:33.990 --> 00:31:35.529 was a fool to think he could actually do such 00:31:35.529 --> 00:31:40.230 a thing. Whatever scheming he had up his sleeve, 00:31:40.309 --> 00:31:41.549 there was just no way he could do it, and the 00:31:41.549 --> 00:31:47.369 master knew it. And he forgave him anyway. There's 00:31:47.369 --> 00:31:49.150 no way we can repay it, and Jesus forgave us 00:31:49.150 --> 00:31:52.890 anyway. On the cross, what did he say? Forgive 00:31:52.890 --> 00:31:54.390 them not. They know not what they do, right? 00:31:55.009 --> 00:32:00.470 He forgave us. He asked the Father to do the 00:32:00.470 --> 00:32:06.150 same. So one more example here, and we're going 00:32:06.150 --> 00:32:08.890 to wrap up pretty quick, I promise. Think of 00:32:08.890 --> 00:32:14.039 it this way. Here's a nicer image. You're in 00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:17.759 the gym. You're working out. Not me. I don't 00:32:17.759 --> 00:32:21.380 do gyms. You're in the gym. You're working out. 00:32:21.539 --> 00:32:23.019 You're starting to get in shape. So many of us 00:32:23.019 --> 00:32:24.799 do, especially come January, right? You're on 00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:28.059 the bench press machine. You start off kind of 00:32:28.059 --> 00:32:29.160 light. You're like, oh, that's going to be a 00:32:29.160 --> 00:32:32.039 good day. Ah, let's add some more weight, right? 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:34.119 It's like first you start. It's real easy. You 00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:35.579 add some more weight. Oh, I can still do it. 00:32:36.019 --> 00:32:38.220 Doing it on my own. It's a little heavier. It's 00:32:38.220 --> 00:32:39.720 not too bad. It's like, you know what? I want 00:32:39.720 --> 00:32:42.650 to go for a new max today. Let me put on all 00:32:42.650 --> 00:32:47.289 these heavy plates. We're starting off. We're 00:32:47.289 --> 00:32:51.430 okay. We're off the rack. And it's coming down. 00:32:52.630 --> 00:32:58.710 Okay. Okay, I think I got this. Uh -oh. I can't 00:32:58.710 --> 00:33:01.670 go up. You're doing all you can just to keep 00:33:01.670 --> 00:33:03.410 just a little off your chest so you can breathe. 00:33:03.789 --> 00:33:07.490 And right about this time you realize, oh, I'm 00:33:07.490 --> 00:33:10.960 a schmuck. I didn't even get a spotter. And about 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:14.680 this point, you can't push anymore. You drop 00:33:14.680 --> 00:33:16.619 that bar on your chest, and it pushes all the 00:33:16.619 --> 00:33:18.200 air out of your lungs. You can't even scream 00:33:18.200 --> 00:33:21.819 for help. You're sitting there thinking, okay, 00:33:21.859 --> 00:33:24.180 maybe I can roll this one way or another. Well, 00:33:24.220 --> 00:33:25.579 if I roll it this way, I'm going to crush my 00:33:25.579 --> 00:33:28.019 throat. I don't even know if I can get over my 00:33:28.019 --> 00:33:35.299 head. Right? You're in trouble. You're in a whole 00:33:35.299 --> 00:33:40.579 lot of trouble. And then here comes... This big 00:33:40.579 --> 00:33:45.000 guy out of the corner. Call him Jesus, right? 00:33:45.579 --> 00:33:48.519 No, it's Jesus. It's Jesus. I jest. No, but here 00:33:48.519 --> 00:33:51.019 he comes. He walks over. He sees he's struggling. 00:33:52.539 --> 00:33:54.299 He lifts this thing up with one hand, puts it 00:33:54.299 --> 00:33:55.880 back on the rack. No problem. Hey, you okay? 00:33:56.980 --> 00:34:01.259 Yeah, you'll be all right. He takes that weight 00:34:01.259 --> 00:34:04.039 right off of us. He's got it. He's got our back. 00:34:05.539 --> 00:34:10.119 Saved us. literally saved our lives because otherwise 00:34:10.119 --> 00:34:11.139 what was going to happen? We were going to sit 00:34:11.139 --> 00:34:13.340 there and we were going to suffocate or worse. 00:34:14.500 --> 00:34:16.539 There have been some pretty gnarly injuries in 00:34:16.539 --> 00:34:20.500 gyms, trust me. But that's what he does. He just 00:34:20.500 --> 00:34:23.300 casually walks over, reaches down, just like 00:34:23.300 --> 00:34:24.860 he reached down to his disciple in the water, 00:34:25.300 --> 00:34:33.500 lifted him up. You of little faith, right? Here's 00:34:33.500 --> 00:34:35.300 the thing, though. Our identity is in Jesus. 00:34:37.099 --> 00:34:39.179 The world's saying we have to do all these things 00:34:39.179 --> 00:34:43.960 in order to be liked, in order to be loved. But 00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:47.480 that's not what Jesus says. Jesus says we're 00:34:47.480 --> 00:34:53.239 already loved. We're already somebody. We're 00:34:53.239 --> 00:34:54.920 never going to be liked by everybody in this 00:34:54.920 --> 00:34:57.900 world. Why? Because of the God of this world. 00:34:58.840 --> 00:35:02.780 Putting all these images out there. Jesus said, 00:35:02.840 --> 00:35:06.239 you will be hated because I was hated first. 00:35:08.460 --> 00:35:13.280 But it's okay because I love you. And there is 00:35:13.280 --> 00:35:16.480 a place for you in heaven. Would I have told 00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:21.679 you such if it was not true? Right? He's made 00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:24.800 these promises to us. So our focus needs to be 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:27.059 on Jesus. That's where we find our identity. 00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:32.500 And it's identity given freely in love. You'll 00:35:32.500 --> 00:35:36.260 never find enough in the world that space. in 00:35:36.260 --> 00:35:37.980 here that needs to be filled can only be filled 00:35:37.980 --> 00:35:39.840 with the Holy Spirit, can only be filled by going 00:35:39.840 --> 00:35:42.420 to Jesus and giving your life over to Him as 00:35:42.420 --> 00:35:44.840 Lord and Savior. And it's a gift He freely gives 00:35:44.840 --> 00:35:52.679 because He loves you that much. Right? If you 00:35:52.679 --> 00:35:54.139 go to the world, it's going to tell you you're 00:35:54.139 --> 00:35:58.280 a loser. You'll never get that fulfillment. So 00:35:58.280 --> 00:36:01.539 don't listen to it. When you go to Jesus, you'll 00:36:01.539 --> 00:36:03.400 find more to sustain you and more to get you 00:36:03.400 --> 00:36:07.429 through. Your needs will be met. Not your wants, 00:36:07.530 --> 00:36:10.650 but your needs. Your needs will always be met. 00:36:14.329 --> 00:36:16.730 And when you have that relationship, when you 00:36:16.730 --> 00:36:21.190 have that companionship with Jesus, nothing else 00:36:21.190 --> 00:36:24.809 will ever compare to it. On that note, let us 00:36:24.809 --> 00:36:28.590 pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your 00:36:28.590 --> 00:36:31.929 grace, your mercy, and your unyielding love for 00:36:31.929 --> 00:36:36.030 us. We thank you. for your sacrifice so that 00:36:36.030 --> 00:36:38.590 we could be reunited with you. We thank you for 00:36:38.590 --> 00:36:41.150 forgiving us, even though we know we don't deserve 00:36:41.150 --> 00:36:44.130 it. You loved us even when we thought we were 00:36:44.130 --> 00:36:47.889 unlovable. So please continue to remind us to 00:36:47.889 --> 00:36:51.409 study your word and help us to understand the 00:36:51.409 --> 00:36:55.809 true context of what you've laid out before us 00:36:55.809 --> 00:36:58.230 in that scripture. Teach us how to apply it to 00:36:58.230 --> 00:37:01.389 our lives and teach us how to go forward and 00:37:01.389 --> 00:37:04.309 share that light and that hope with other people. 00:37:04.829 --> 00:37:08.690 who are living in darkness. We ask all this in 00:37:08.690 --> 00:37:12.070 the name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Remember, as 00:37:12.070 --> 00:37:14.650 you leave here today, as you go forward, you 00:37:14.650 --> 00:37:17.030 are loved and you are blessed, so go and be the 00:37:17.030 --> 00:37:22.590 church. Thank you for joining us at Healing Scars 00:37:22.590 --> 00:37:25.530 with Pastor Burton. If this message spoke to 00:37:25.530 --> 00:37:27.610 you, or if you would like to help us reach more 00:37:27.610 --> 00:37:31.349 people, please like, review, and share our podcast. 00:37:32.010 --> 00:37:34.690 You can learn more about our ministry or how 00:37:34.690 --> 00:37:41.769 you can support us at www .thecross66 .org Until 00:37:41.769 --> 00:37:44.409 next time, take care and God bless.