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 thank you for bringing us together,
and we thank you for allowing us to enjoy another
day, being able to praise and worship you. We
ask that you open our hearts and our minds, not
only to what you had to speak to us today, but
every day. Help us to take what we learn here
and apply it to our personal lives and take it
out into the world so that others may know you
as well. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, good morning
again, everybody. Welcome to the Cross 66. We
have officially kicked off the Christmas season.
Tess and I came in. We got a little bit of decoration
already going. I see a little bit of garland
here. We got the tree up, a couple of poinsettias.
Hopefully throughout the week, we'll get some
other stuff. I don't know. Hopefully, though.
That is the plan. Of course, with the Twinkle
Light Parade, that's a big thing here in the
city. So if you are interested or if you know
other people who are coming, let them know this
is a safe place where they can park out back.
I know across the way, all that parking will
be open as well. But that way they could come
through if they need to warm up because it's
probably going to be a little chilly at night.
They need the restrooms, whatever. We'll be here
for them. It's just going to be the sanctuary
side, though. We're not opening up the fellowship
hall. All right. And with that said, the holiday
season, matter of fact, we were just talking
about it during the five -minute countdown, right?
We all have a lot of things that we like to do
during the holidays. A big one are movies. Last
night, we watched one of those movies, right?
We watched Christmas Carol. We kicked it off
like that. And there's a lot of arguments over
what is and what isn't a Christmas movie. Right?
Some people will say, yes, exactly. Die Hard,
Lethal Weapon, Batman Returns, Gremlins, right?
Other people are like, no, no, no. Home Alone,
right? The Grinch. And I say, yes, they're all
Christmas movies. Every single one of them. Absolutely.
I'll even throw in, there's Christmas episodes
of certain shows like Star Trek and Babylon 5
and everything and going forward. So there's
that, right? Matter of fact, there's a lot of
these that had their own twist put on, a matter
of fact. Last night, Christmas Carol, the version
we watched, had its own little personal twist
put on it. There's been several out there. Sir
Patrick Stewart has a one -man act that he's
done, and they adapted it, like TNT or TV, one
of the Turner Networks, something like that.
Pretty great. One of my favorites, The Muppets.
Good old Michael Caine up there playing Ebenezer,
right? My all -time favorite, Scrooged, Bill
Murray. You know, I watched that when I was younger.
I probably shouldn't have. We'll talk about that
later. I don't know. But there's a lot of versions.
Grinch alone. We got live versions. We got cartoons.
There's a lot of things out there. But there's
a lot of change that's out there. And the nice
thing is when these movies, they have a message
like Last Night's did. We're able to use that
as an illustration for our own life. And over
the next few weeks, we're actually going to use
Scrooge. It's probably a good thing because initially
I wanted to watch The Grinch. There's some parallels
that could be done between Scrooge and The Grinch,
though we won't get into it for time's sake.
I get long -winded as it is. Y 'all don't have
to agree with me so fast, my goodness. But that's
the nice thing. We're going to use Scrooge. We'll
be able to see what the transformative power
of Jesus is in our own lives. We're going to
look at its biblical themes of redemption. transformation,
hope, and forgiveness. So different themes each
week as we go. And we're going to see how a transformation
like Scrooge's can inspire us. All right, so
today, as we get started, I'm going to ask a
simple question. You don't have to answer me.
Are you a Scrooge? Now, I ask that. And you might
not be thinking what I'm thinking. You might
be surprised. But I want you to keep this because
this is going to be our question for the day.
Are you a Scrooge? See, it's a quick question
to reflect on because in order to be a Scrooge,
you have to be transformed. So by asking, are
you a Scrooge? It's asking, have you been transformed?
It's a worthy question for us all to reflect
on. Because we all have to allow the redeeming
power of Jesus Christ into our lives to transform
us. And yet we have to allow him to transform
us fully. And I mean fully. Your past, your present,
and your future. It's not just a piece here.
You don't get to say, oh, I want to change and
then cling on to the other stuff. You either
want change or you don't. You want to fully change
or you don't. We're all familiar, even if you
weren't here last night, we're all familiar with
the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, right? Charles
Dickens wrote Christmas Carol a long, long time
ago. You know, and we know it's a story about
a man by the name of Ebenezer Scrooge and his
transformation from a cold -hearted, selfish,
greedy, lonely, angry old man into a loving,
giving, And to a man that could be looked up
to. See, throughout this movie, he's forced to
take an outside look at himself. And the movie
itself, or the story, I should say, it uses three
ghosts, right? The ghost of Christmas past, the
ghost of Christmas present, the ghost of Christmas
yet to be. Past, present, and future. In other
words, he's having to face his origins, his past.
He's having to look at the effect of how he lives
and treats others, his presence. And he's getting
the warning of the ultimate consequence of his
actions should he choose not to change his path,
a possible future. Now, that's the truth for
all of us, is it not? We all have a past. We
all have an origin. We all have a beginning.
We all have the things that influence us of the
world. We have a present. Where we're living
in that world. And then we're introduced to Jesus
Christ. And then ultimately from there, we have
a future. Two possible futures. Because we have
a choice we have to make just like Ebenezer.
We can choose the world and be condemned like
old Jacob Marley and all the rest of the ghosts.
Or we could choose to follow Jesus and have a
redeemed, wonderful future, reunited with the
Father. It's a great story. It illustrates a
lot of things that impact our lives, a lot of
things that can influence our lives, things that
are still relevant today as they were when the
original story was written decades ago. But as
great as the story is, of course, it's not the
greatest story ever told. It's not the greatest
Christmas story ever, is it? The greatest Christmas
story of all time is a story of God's Son, of
God come to earth, born fully man, right? With
that, let's open our Bibles to Luke chapter 2.
So Luke chapter 2, verses 8 through 11 is where
we're going to start today. So Luke 2, 8 through
11. The word says now there were in the same
country, shepherds living out in the fields,
keeping watch over their flock by night. And
behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them
and the glory of the Lord shown around them.
And they were greatly afraid. Then the angel
said to them, do not be afraid for I behold,
excuse me for a behold. I bring you. good tidings
of a great joy which will be to all the people.
For there is born to you this day in the city
of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Much
like old Ebenezer, shepherds were a bit shook,
weren't they? It tells us right here, they were
afraid. They were scared. And by many accounts
in the Bible, if we look at the accounts, by
all means, we would probably be pretty frightened
too. Because usually when somebody sees an angel
in the Bible, like, oh boy, right? They're shook.
It gets in their core. It's a scary thing. And
just like the ghost of Jacob Marley, here we
have an angel laying out, hey, this is what's
going to happen. This is what's going on, right?
the path is starting to be laid out. See, the
birth of Jesus is the greatest event in history,
right? Well, I should say one of the greatest.
Because when it went to the cross for us, that
was truly the greatest. But this is just the
beginning of that story. But we have to stop
and we have to ask ourselves, these shepherds,
they're commoners, right? To people of power
and influence. They're peasants. So what makes
them so special? Why would they be so special?
They're blessed with this angel to tell them,
hey, Lord's been born. Go greet him. Go welcome
him into the world. Why should they get this
honor? Shouldn't this be an honor that goes to
somebody high and mighty? Right? A king, a prince.
Somebody of power and persuasion? You know, a
Pharisee? Sadducee? No. They were the first.
And we don't know for sure, but many scholars
tend to agree. That's because these are the same
shepherds and these are the same sheep that were
supplied to the temple for the sacrifice of sin.
They're the ones who did it. They raised up these
sheep. They tended to these sheep. They took
care of these sheep and they supplied it to the
temple as an offering for our sin. So who better
than to invite the exact same shepherds to go
and welcome our Lord, the perfect sacrifice,
the Lamb of God into the world. That's why they're
invited. They were sheep shepherds. They tended
to a flock. And they were sent to greet our shepherd,
the one who shows us the way, the one who looks
out for us. So with that, let's now turn to John
1. So John 1, verses 10 through 18. Don't confuse
this with John. It's John 1. You're going to
have to flip back a little bit. So John 1, verses
10 through 18, the word says, He was in the world,
and the world was made through him, and the world
did not know him. He came to his own, and his
own did not receive him. But as many as received
him, To them he gave the right to become children
of God. To those who believe in his name, who
were born not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And
the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And
we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. John
bore witness of him and cried out, saying, This
was he of whom I said, He who comes after me
is preferred before me, for he was before me.
And his fullness we have all received, and grace
for grace. For the law was given through Moses,
but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has seen God at any time. the only begotten
son who is in the bosom of the father. He has
declared him the greatest Christmas story that
God loves us so much that he provided a way for
us to be united at the table, for us to be adopted
into the family, for our sons to be forgiven.
We have to remember our sins and God cannot exist
in the same place. If we were to go to him uncleansed,
We'd be absolutely destroyed because God cannot
exist in the same place as sin. That's why Moses
couldn't see his face, right? He turned his back
to him. And just the slight gleaning, Moses glowed,
right? So it's a big thing. For God to choose
us and to provide that way so that we can be
united with him, so we could be cleansed, so
we could be forgiven, redeemed, right? So he
sent his only begotten son. We all know John
3, 16. Sent his only begotten son so he could
live with us. He could walk with us. He could
teach us. Live that perfect, sinless example
for all of us to follow. For all of us to strive
for. That's really what it is. We all strive
for it. Are we ever going to reach that bar?
No. But we should all try. Every single one of
us. Not only that, but then he came. He took
our sin, our penalty. He went to the cross. He
died a horrible, tragic death. And then three
days later, rose from the grave. Defeated death.
All bringing redemption and reconciliation for
us with the Father. And the promise that he will
return to take us to him. In other words, he
came to heal a broken world. Now it's funny,
because we're talking about the birth of Christ.
And it makes me think about my time when I was
stationed in the Philippines. especially in the
northern areas. Down in Zamboanga, not so much.
It's a very Islamic area. But when you go up
north towards Cebu and all that, it's a different
story. It's a very Christian -oriented region.
And it always struck me as odd there because
it's not something that we really have here in
the U .S., but everywhere that you would go,
there would be a shrine, and in that, there would
be a statue of... the baby Jesus, or in other
places, the child Jesus. In either case, still
very small, still pointing towards his origin,
right? On a historical note, part of why this
was there and why the statue is because it's
a tool that was used by Magellan, all right?
Ferdinand Magellan, yes, that Ferdinand Magellan,
all right? He went, Portuguese traveler, right?
He went into the Philippines. He introduced Christ
to the Philippines. Some people were very accepting.
Some people absolutely were not. All right. Lapu
-Lapu there in Mactan was one who was not. Magellan
is credited for converting over 2 ,000 Filipinos.
And then he started working his way down south.
Now, some people will tell you it's because it
was Islamic. Actually, if you read through the
books, it was not an Islamic area at that time.
It had other religious leanings, not towards
Christianity, not towards Islam, but its own
pagan stuff. And Lapu -Lapu was very, very resistant.
angrily and violently resistant. So when Ferdinand
and the rest of his Spanish armada tried to go
down in there to introduce Christ, a battle broke
out. I shouldn't say the rest of his armada.
He actually went down with a small contingent
because he didn't want to be seen as a threat.
But they went down and a battle broke out and
Magellan was killed. Stabbed with a spear. They
refused to give up his body. They wanted to keep
it as a trophy. But you know what? It still had
a profound impact. Even with his death, that
area, and I can tell you I've been in it, was
converted. Very, very heavily. That is an area,
if you go in, it is a Christian area for sure.
And the reason why it always struck me as odd
is because I learned when I was there, every
year, they have a week -long celebration. And
it is a week -long celebration where they have
little things that reenact the Battle of Mactan
and the death of Magellan. And when I was there
as a Marine, I'm sitting there like, really,
you guys are celebrating the death of this dude?
What is wrong with you? It's like, I thought
you were Christians here. That's not very Christ
-like. And then I come to learn, it's like, well,
yeah, we celebrate the fact that he died, but
he died as a martyr because he died so that we
could come to know Jesus. It's like, ah, well,
that makes sense. Still very grim, but it's a
firm reminder of just how important Jesus is
in that area. You know, but I digress. They said
you go there, you have all these little statues,
right? Baby Jesus or toddler Jesus. We tend to
forget that Jesus. He was born a baby. He wasn't
born a full grown man, right? I don't think Mary
would have appreciated that a bit. Burns hard
enough, right? But he was born a baby. He lived
as a baby. He went through the same beginnings
as each and every single one of us with all the
same influences on him as each and every one
of us. He started with milk. He grew up. He learned
to chew food. Right? Celebrated his first words,
his first steps. That's a big one. Right? We've
all watched our own kids grow up, our nephews
and our nieces. And when they start trying to
crawl and they start trying to pull themselves
up onto things to try to figure out how these
things work so they can stand up like us. And
they fall down and they go boom. You're like,
oh, poor baby. Right? Jesus went through the
exact same stuff. He lost his first tooth. Just
like we did. He had friends just like we did.
He followed his parents around. He had to learn
his earthly father, Joseph's trade, right? What
was Joseph? A carpenter. He took on a trade.
He learned just like we do. We take these things
for granted. We think of him. towards the end
of his life, when he was going into his ministry,
and that time when he was walking with the apostles.
Sorry. All the things that the disciples did
with him when he sent them out. Now we think
of his death on the cross and his resurrection,
and when he reappeared to the many. We never
stop to think about the fact that he truly knows
us because he started just like you and just
like I. No different. It was a lifetime of first
for him, just like it was for us. A lifetime
of change for him. Being fully human. Yeah, fully
human and fully God, right? Because that's who
Jesus was. Fully man and fully God. And throughout
that entire time, still setting a stage for each
and every single one of us. Going back to Scrooge,
we see him have an experience that changes his
life. And in the same respect that we think of
Jesus, it was shorter, right? But we see changes
in his life that changed his path and the way
he lived his life forever. And I'm here and I'm
telling you, in this season of giving, in this
season of love, you can have the same change
in your life. You absolutely can. Because this
time of year, we are all receiving the biggest
invitation of the year. And for some of us, the
biggest invitation of our lives to come and know
Jesus and to accept his gift of salvation. He's
inviting us not just to have an encounter with
him. I hate that. You're invited to have an encounter
with Jesus. What's an encounter? Hi, how you
doing? Nice to meet you. Never see him again,
right? No, no, no. He's inviting you to come
and meet him and form a relationship with him.
A relationship to get to know him, to involve
him in your life at every level. Now, it's not
saying, hey, just jump in the deep end. No. Relationships
don't start that way, do they? Unless you start
a relationship under fire and even then, there's
some stuff that happens there. Relationships
take time, do they not? Relationships, you build
trust. You get to know one another. You learn
each other's likes and hates. Your allergies.
Whose feet smell worse than others? But that's
a relationship. That's what Jesus wants with
us. That's why this invitation is so big. It's
a whole season. It's weeks leading up to it with
a reminder. It's a simple reminder that we need
to come to know Jesus. And in coming to know
him, we get to make that choice, right? Two choices.
We accept him. We accept the truth. We repent
of our sins. Some are easier than others. And
then we take what we know of him. That's our
testimony, right? You don't have to go out there
and pick up a Bible and get in someone's face.
You go out with that testimony, what you know
of him, what he's done for you and the time that
you've known him. And you tell others, you share
his light, his love, his mercy, his grace with
others. Like, hey, I'd like to introduce you
to my Lord. How often do we say, you know Jesus
Christ? Don't necessarily have to say it in those
words. I think that's one thing where each and
every single one of us fails a little too often.
We meet people and sometimes we have stuff going
or we're anxious to go the other direction and
get to what it is that we're doing. Sometimes
we forget to slow down. I'm just as guilty as
everybody else. Matter of fact, prime example,
last night, I wouldn't have even thought of it,
especially as tired as I was. We get done with
our movie, we have a whole bunch of leftover
food, right? Pastor Mike and Darren walked right
out that door and invited people in to come and
partake. What a blessing. There's a couple of
good men right there. That was absolutely wonderful.
That's the way it should be. It's also part of
why we come together as a family because as the
bride of Christ, some people function different
than others. Some people have great ideas like
that and others never even think of them. I say,
I didn't even think of it when people started
coming in. It's like, oh, that's awesome. Initially,
because I unplugged these lights and everything
so we could see the screen a little bit better
with the movie. I was like, ah, I'll leave until
tomorrow. There's going to be some daylight.
It's going to be easier to see it and find the
plugs, especially since the ceiling's painted
black. I'm not going to have a light shining
right in my eye and blinding me like, I think
I got it! Right? I said, they came in. It's like,
you know what? We'll find a way to make this
work anyway. We're all here. Let's just do this.
It's absolutely, I'm going to follow their lead
because that was a good lead. Thank you guys.
That was a blessing. Not just for them, but for
those of us watching. Absolutely. Amen. Praise
the Lord. You know, but as much as that was a
gift for everybody, it still pales in comparison
to the gift of Jesus. So as we get ready to go
into the end, I'm going to share one last thing
with you. But while we do it, I'm going to ask
you again, are you a Scrooge? Have you been transformed?
Are you transforming? For those of you who are
taking notes, this next part is going to be something
that you're going to want to take notes on. Scrooge.
Some time ago, a whole media group, they created
this acronym of Scrooge to encourage everybody
to be a Scrooge during the holidays. See, it's
not the way we think of Scrooges. It's like,
oh, look at this Scrooge. We see it in a negative
light. Well, they turned it around. They flipped
the script and they built this acronym. Scrooge.
S. sacrifice and surrender. C, connect. R, remember
redemption begins with forgiveness. Amen. That's
a big one. O, open heart. O, open mind. G, give
the gift of peace and joy, enhancing and enriching
the environment. I'm going to go through these
a little bit slower though. So those of you who
are writing still have time to write it down.
So S, sacrifice and surrender. How can I follow
Christ's example of sacrificial living and giving?
That's a big one. And in this season, we tend
to try to add on a couple words that are saying,
giving this Christmas. No, no, no. Giving in
life. Every day. It's not a once a time or a
once a year thing. See, connect. How can I meaningfully
connect or reconnect with others? Saw a great
example of that last night. Connection. Reconnecting
with others. That can be a hard one. Especially
given what drove you apart in the first place.
That is a tough one. That's right. Jesus did
say take care of the poor and the widow. Absolutely.
Again, how do we connect? How do we reconnect?
Connection is usually easier than reconnecting,
isn't it? Because as humans, as mankind, we tend
to bear grudges. You all know, Albert's my stepdad,
right? Not my biological dad, so we're not going
to confuse the two. So when I say my dad, I'm
referring to my biological dad here. There is
a big divide in the family. He got hooked on
pain meds back in the 80s and going into the
90s. And this is a time when big stuff like morphine
was being used heavily to treat things. It's
like, oh, you're still in pain? Let's just up
the dosage. Oh, that's not working? Let's move
you over to a... stronger drug, a more addictive
drug. And for him, it didn't matter if it was
being injected or if it was a pill. He preferred
pills. But it didn't matter. He was just looking
for that big fix, and it hurt the family for
a long time. He became very abusive, verbally
abusive, physically abusive. The only thing that
mattered to him for a long time was that next
fix. It took losing his family before he started
to actually try to find that change in his life
and clean up. It took time. He got off of the
really, really hard stuff. And he did look to
reconnect. He was very repentant. He was very
sorry. There were some things he hoped would
go back to the days of old. That was never going
to happen, but... His hope was still there. And
we're part of the family. He was able to reconnect.
He and I, we would get together at least once
a month. We'd go to lunch. We'd talk music and
all the stuff that we used to when we'd go fishing
when I was a kid. He got to know his grandson.
Some of y 'all met BJ. All before he passed away.
But when it comes to my younger brother, John,
the grudge is still there. To this day, there's
regret, but there's a grudge that's still there.
For a period of time, a very long period of time,
even after he died, my little brother still talked
about changing his last name. He wanted nothing
to do with the name of our father. Nothing. That's
how hurt he was. He's not alone. Others out there
have had that same hurt. So reconnection. is
usually the hardest part of this whole thing.
But that takes us to R. Remember, redemption
begins with forgiveness. Who can I extend forgiveness
to? We all have someone that we need to forgive.
Whether it's other people or ourselves. Ooh,
that's a big one, isn't it? As hard as it is
to forgive other people, it's often harder to
forgive ourselves. I want to add to that that
Jesus can forgive you. Right? That's true. You
can't truly forgive others the right way until
you forgive yourself. That's right, Marvin. Jesus
is already forgiving you, though. If he can forgive
you, why can't you forgive yourself? He bled
for you. You don't have to bleed. He conquered
death for you. He knew you before you even entered
in the womb. And he still chose you. So if you
need to forgive yourself, forgive yourself. If
you struggle, reach out. But it's important.
The next two are O's, of course. I'm going to
go through both of these. Open heart and open
mind. How well am I listening, learning, and
growing? That's a big thing. Because a lot of
us become stagnant. We get set in our ways. We
don't want to change. We don't want to move forward.
We stop learning. And when we stop learning,
that means we've stopped listening. Because you
have to listen in order to learn, and you have
to learn in order to grow. These all work together.
And we should always be growing. So if you're
not growing, you need to take a step back and
evaluate what you're doing in your life so that
you can change. That is a change that we all
need. I promise, I'm bringing it home, guys.
Like my wife's going to flash up a big notebook
with the time on there and say, hey. Gee, give
the gift of peace and joy. So we have to ask
ourselves, am I only focused on the material
gifts I can give? What about the tangible gifts
of peace, joy, love, kindness, et cetera? Forgiveness
is included in there. Forgiveness is also a gift.
But what can I give to others? Seth mentioned
this morning when it comes to giving, a lot of...
Places that you go to, they're like, oh, you
have to tithe. Don't forget, it's 10%. And then
it's a gift, right? And they harp on you about
your giving. That's a big red flag, by the way.
Don't fall into that trap. Because we're all
called to give with a joyful heart. Not to give
under duress or compulsion, but because we want
to. Because it's been put on us. Now, whether
that means financially, which helps. There's
other things that help, too. Food. Helps. Food
helps a lot. Right? Other things. Cleaning out
your garage or whatever. Say, hey, I got this.
I'm going to give that. That helps. Right? Because
what do we always ask for? Like sleeping bags
and blankets and stuff for our homeless. Right?
The most needy. And some of the most needed stuff.
All ways that we can give. Sometimes we're out
and about and we see a total stranger and we
can see they're hurting. And we stop and we check
on them. Hey. Are you okay? I pray for you. There's
a good gift right there. For all you know, that's
all that they needed to turn their day around.
Many a story of somebody who's contemplating
suicide was turned around at that point because
one person stopped to ask if they were okay,
to listen to them, and to pray for them. And
because of that, they changed their mind. It's
God working through you. That is a miracle right
there. And it's not just at Christmas. This can
happen any day of the year, 365 days out of the
year. Again, don't get hung up on Christmas.
This is life. Life is the ultimate test. And
finally, E, enhancing and enriching the environment.
How can I add value to the people and places
in my reach? The way we always put it in the
military is leave it better than you got it.
What can you do that's going to help people or
help the place that you're at or the places you
go to? Now, I know Dale and Dusty and Brian and
Albert, they've seen it. You go to places like
Veterans Post. And it does not matter if it's
the VFW, the Marine Corps League, the American
Legion, and so on and so forth. All of them have
the same problems. Every single one. It does
not matter where you go anywhere in the world.
And it's trying to get people to step up and
help. To help in leadership positions. To volunteer
for special events. Maybe to help out in the
kitchen or to cook or maybe to police the parking
lot and pick up trash. It's hard. Nobody wants
to do it. But they want to reap all the benefits
of somebody else who's already done it. We should
not be in that position in our lives. We shouldn't
be comfortable in that position, I should say,
where we just rely on it to just be done. Kind
of like raising a child, right? It takes a village.
Everywhere you go, you are part of the village.
What can you do to improve it? Even just a little,
one little thing adds up. Coming in here, we
have someone who helps with sweeping, mopping,
taking out the trash, putting buckets under leaks,
right? Even just this morning, Albert was out
here cleaning off out in front of the street.
Right? We have Mike. He goes up and he takes
care of our air conditioning and all that kind
of stuff. Right? Brian's typically over here
taking care of technical stuff. Nerd. That's
right. Right back at me. I know you are, but
what am I? It's true. It's true. I'm a nerd.
But it's the same thing. And everywhere you go,
it's the same thing. You go to a school, it's
not just the teachers. It's the aides and the
janitors and the counselors. Everywhere you go,
it takes a village. Don't go and take it for
granted. What can you do that's going to improve
it? What's going to help? So I'm going to ask
one more time as we close, are you a Scrooge?
I hope so. I hope so. Let us pray. Heavenly Father,
your greatness knows no bounds. In many ways,
you reach out to us. And all those ways are just
as great. And through the wonderful story of
A Christmas Carol and so many others, you've
shown us repeatedly throughout history what we
need to do. That we need to open our eyes. And
we need to look for the betterment of our fellow
man. We need to look to you and we need to see
the light when we find it always shines to you.
Whenever we're in the darkness, we just have
to find that light and we will find you. We ask
you to forgive us of our sins. And help us to
overcome them, especially the ones that we just
can't seem to let go of on our own. Help us all
to find peace and joy in you. Help us to transform
and to share your light with the world. And in
doing so, let us all be transformed so that when
the question is asked, are you a Scrooge? Each
and every single one of us can say, yes, I am.
Just as each and every one of us should be able
to say, yes, I am a follower of Jesus Christ.
We thank you for entering our world and entering
our lives. We thank you for your perfect love,
mercy, grace, your reconciliation, and the hope
you've given us. Guide us and protect us as we
leave here today and show us the doors that you'd
have us go through in life. All his people said,
amen and amen. Remember, as 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. Until next
time, take care and God bless.