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Howdy.

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Well, apparently I decided that it was my time to get sick.

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So there you go.

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Oh my word.

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Last week, I was like up here and I'm thinking to myself,

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okay, I've been sick, I'm on the mend, everything's going great.

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We got through worship services and youth group.

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We had a great time for youth group.

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I think we had like 10 kids there.

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It was great and everything.

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Went home.

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I'm like, you know, I'll take a nap.

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Boom.

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Done.

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It was like, okay, I'm canceling everything for like the next three days,

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finding subs for everything.

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And I'm just like, all right, y'all, if I can give you a written report,

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that's all you're getting.

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All right.

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So, and like by written report, I mean, like medicine induced hazy texting

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of whatever message to send a leadership team.

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All right.

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This is, did it make any sense?

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All right.

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That's all I got.

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Good night.

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Bye.

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Good night.

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And apparently this was like the week for people to be getting sick.

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I was just like, oh yeah, I got sick and every other person that I said that to is like,

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yeah, I'm sick too.

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And I'm like, okay, I know I did not give it to you.

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Okay.

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It is not my fault.

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I swear.

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Although I do like to blame Neil and Whitney every once in a while.

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You know, so whenever they cough, I'll just blame it on them.

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Makes it easier.

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But one of the things though is that I then had to pause because the thing is,

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you never know the things like this, you never know where it could have come from.

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It could be any number of things.

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And I used to be a teacher.

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So that was like a Petri dish all its own for sure.

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But the thing is, is that I do have a confession.

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My confession is that pastor forgot to get his flu shot this year.

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I know, I know.

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And here's the thing.

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I know better.

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I know better.

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All right.

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The thing is, is that when I started teaching and I was doing it like a decade ago and I

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was, oh, that first semester, I was sick like every month or something like that.

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And finally I went and got my flu shot.

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And for like the next several years, nothing, it instead of like getting sick every season

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is instead like I got sick maybe every three or four years or something like that.

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And it was like night and day.

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All right.

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The thing is, is that I know to do this and I had it on my calendar.

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All right.

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I had it scheduled.

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This is when I'm going to go.

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And what did I go and do?

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I am too busy.

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I've got stuff going on.

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You know, I've had plenty of flu shots before.

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I'm sure I'll be okay.

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It'd be all right.

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No.

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Boom.

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Got me.

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Knocked me on my butt because that's the thing about viruses, especially when we look at

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the flu virus is that it mutates every, not just every year.

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Every season it is constantly changing.

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So as much as you might be like, well, why couldn't you just get one shot and you're

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done?

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I mean, hey, that's what polio is for, right?

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Well, okay, it's not quite the same thing, but rather is to realize that the more that

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something changes and mutates and shifts, the more vulnerable that we all may be.

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And that's one of the images that as I was coughing profusely that I kept having stuck

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in my head as I was thinking about our Romans passage for today.

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The thing is, is that we have to realize that that's also the world that we live in.

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We look back at the issues of the past and what has happened before.

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We wonder how in the world was that ever an issue for society before?

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How in the world was it that we had issues of slavery in our world or why is it that

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we had to deal with people with hatred and enmity where they were constantly looking

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to get into warfare with each other?

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Why is it that we realize that people were thrown in jail for just being poor and then

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we don't realize that just like the flu, sin mutates?

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And the thing is, is that in our world today, we are no less susceptible than they were

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back then.

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It's just that the sins that we struggle with are different form than they were in the past.

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That's the thing is that dying to the old.

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The problem is, is that does not mean that we are not susceptible as much as we may now

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look at what Paul says in his letter to the Romans about being dead to the old in Christ.

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The thing is, it doesn't mean that we're no longer susceptible to the issues of sin.

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And that's what he's trying to get at so much in this chapter.

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Do we really have to accept what we really don't need to?

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Because how much is it that we oftentimes just accept that sin is a natural part of

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not just the world, but also ourselves?

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And then we just go about the rest of our day.

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Saved by grace.

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And now let's just move on with life.

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See that's the thing is, is that we are meant to die to sin.

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We are not meant to continually be susceptible to what it is that sin may drag us into.

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How many of the issues that we allow to be not just plaguing our minds and the things

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that we can't seem to get rid of, but even things that we allow into our hearts, allow

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into our lives, allow into our minds.

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And more than just the movies and TV shows and music that we may be hearing and seeing.

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Because let's be honest, we can't spend our entire life trying to make sure that everything

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that we watch is only the chosen and that the only music we ever listen to is what comes

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on KSBJ or KHCB.

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The world around us is constantly shoving stuff into our life from speakers to lessons

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to workplace to everything all around.

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But like the polio vaccine, we're meant to be dead to it.

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See the thing is, is that that always threw me was this strange idea.

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Whenever I was a kid trying to understand why they're trying to put a dead virus into

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people.

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Why is that such a big deal?

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And then when you realize that your body is able to then grow an immunity because it's

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already dead.

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So it's not going to actually be doing the work that a virus might normally do inside

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of you.

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But your body is then able to learn how to deal with it and fight it and then not be

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prone to it later on.

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And then with so many people being immune to it, then they're able to surround one another

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with immunity.

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So then even for those few who might risk being susceptible to it.

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But they are being protected by all those around them as well.

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And that's much of what we end up dealing with when we're looking at this question of

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being dead to sin.

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Is this idea that when we see what Christ has done is that Christ has killed off the

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old.

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It doesn't have to now be Lord over you.

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The world and sin and death and all these things that have controlled us and manipulated

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so much.

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And it doesn't have to be the Lord over you anymore because Christ has already died to

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it.

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Christ is in a human body just like us.

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And then he dies.

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And that's the thing about someone who is dead is that they don't play by those same

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rules anymore.

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Does a dead person get sick?

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Well, no, they're dead.

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Can you tell a dead person what to do?

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No, they're dead.

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Can you control them?

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Can you push them around?

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Do they struggle with issues that they have in their mind and in their heart and the workplace

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and all these things?

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No, because that old life is no longer there.

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But that's the idea is that all the issues that we were being played by before are no

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longer meant to have a grip on us.

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Because even though all these people were able to then judge Jesus and put him to death,

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is that, well, now it's done.

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There's nothing left that they could do.

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Jesus was no longer susceptible to what they wanted to do to him.

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But that's the same thing we're called to is that we're not meant to let the world decide

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for us who we're meant to be belonging to Christ means we don't belong to the old life.

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We're meant to die to the old and rise to the new.

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But do we?

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Do we actually end up living that life that we have been given by Christ Jesus?

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See, that's one of the things about this is to realize that as much as we are dead to

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the old, we keep acting as if that's still the life that we are beholden to today.

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And so it makes this, it begs this question that is that if we are baptized with Christ

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into his death, why are we still struggling in so many ways?

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Shouldn't we be now done with it?

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We have been washed in the waters.

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We are marked by God.

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We're called to be his child.

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Aren't we done with it?

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But maybe in some ways we might have to ask what kind of a vaccine we might be looking

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at.

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See, when we're thinking about baptism, we sometimes may be having an issue with what

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metaphor we're looking at.

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What kind of vaccine are we truly comparing this to?

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Is baptism like a polio vaccine?

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One and done.

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You got it out of the way.

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You probably don't remember because you were really, really young.

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And if you do remember because you were in a previous generation, my apologies as I am

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showing my age.

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But in realizing that oftentimes we may be thinking about the idea that, well, we got

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baptized and so now everything from then on, it doesn't really matter.

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That's the one thing that we had to get done.

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But the reality is that people can reject baptism.

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It is possible that a person can end up harboring the desire to follow themselves instead of

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following after Christ.

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It is possible that a person can just let it be water and can reject what the Spirit

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is doing as God is speaking to a person.

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We are meant to continually be encouraging and learning and growing and wrestling with

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these issues.

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There's a reason why, even though we may be baptizing someone as a child, that we're continuing

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to teach them and raise them and help them grow and to continue to be there.

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There are still times whenever I will from time to time have a former youth group member

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that will send me a message and still be saying, I'm wrestling with this.

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I'm dealing with this because it doesn't just stop.

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We still need to continue to be strengthened and encouraged because otherwise we still

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fall prey to those issues, those struggles from before.

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When we say a former youth group member is to realize that there really is no upper age

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limit because you may very well be getting messages or questions from people at the right

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young age of 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond.

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Is the vaccine of baptism something that might be more like COVID?

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Is it something that we just mock as being dumb and ridiculous?

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I find it funny because as somebody who's had five COVID shots in the past and knowing

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that about 80%, 81% of people in the US have gotten at least one of the vaccines and that

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about three quarters or two thirds, depending on where you're at, have gotten fully vaccinated.

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Texas is too good for that so they're a little bit lower than the national average.

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But to realize is that it's easy that we mock it even though in reality the reason why we're

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not in the same place now as we were five years ago is because the vast majority of us have

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already gone through it, is that oftentimes we do the same thing when we think about baptism.

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Is that it's easy that we take it for granted?

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We mock it.

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We think of it as just a thing to get done or there are many people who, well, I was baptized

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as a child, it doesn't really matter because I don't remember it.

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But in reality is that the whole point of the waters of baptism is because God's grace

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is something that we can in many ways take for granted.

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Is that it is something where we don't have to keep debating whether God could possibly

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love us.

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Did you have to prove something to God in order to be baptized?

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No.

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And that's the point is that God's love for you is freely given, not something for you

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to try to convince him that you deserve.

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And that's the wonderful part about it.

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Is that it's something that as much as we take it for granted or as much as we may look

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at it and wonder if it was any good is to realize, do you know the high percentage of

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people who claim the name of Christ who were baptized before they even understood what

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it meant?

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That's the thing about God's word and God's spirit is that God is working in us beyond

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anything that we can do on our own.

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But then maybe is then this question of, is it something that needs to be updated?

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Maybe it is something that's more like the flu.

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Because the thing about baptism is that it begins this life of faith in us where we are

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baptized into Jesus' death.

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But how often do we forget that?

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And do we see a world that is around us that continues to tell us who we are and what we're

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supposed to be?

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And we allow them to decide who we are instead of Christ.

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Because that's the thing about what it is in our life in the church.

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Is that we are meant to support each other, but also to be there to caution one another.

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And I think that's something that we oftentimes forget.

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We spend a lot of time being confident and continuing to show each other how to be welcoming

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and inviting and loving.

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Are we very good at cautioning?

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Are we very good at being able to walk alongside each other and say, something in your life

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is harming you, or it could be and you're not willing to see it?

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That is a piece that I think we still struggle with.

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Because Christ's death is the victory, but it's not the end of the struggle.

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See, that's one of the things about it is even every year going through a flu vaccination,

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I was a teacher for seven years.

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If you're going to find a place with germs, it is a school.

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Children are nasty.

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Oh my word.

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Especially like leading up to puberty, so like sixth and seventh grade especially, but

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they don't stop being gross when they're in high school.

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They still are sniffly and everything and they don't want to get out of their seats

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and they don't want to go and grab a tissue and it is nasty and it is gross.

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And then you realize that all the papers that they have just sneezed everything on, you

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have to now take in grade.

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It is gross.

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So the thing is, you still have to wash your hands and you still have to cover your mouth

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when you're coughing.

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There is no magical thing against it is that you can't know somehow have picked the perfect

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shot that now allows you to do all the dumb things that you were taught by your mama growing

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up not to do.

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The thing is, is that we're in the same place as people.

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Sometimes we look around us and we almost take for granted.

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There are things in your life you need to avoid.

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Being Christian does not now somehow keep you from being prone to the same issues that

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are around us.

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The fact that we are in a world that still is prone to sexual debauchery all over the

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place is that giving in to physical temptation is something that is almost expected from

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people normally or how many times that there are that people will give into however much

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wine, whatever much drink that they want to have without worrying about what they did

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or didn't say or do when they were under the influence or how many times that somebody

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may just decide that they're going to let anybody and everybody manipulate every emotion

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inside of them and then they're going to lash out those emotions at every single person

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that they come across.

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Why?

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Because you dared to say the wrong phrase or word that somehow set them off.

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How often is it that we still go back to that old life and keep using the old reasoning?

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Because somehow in our minds we're Christian, we're forgiven, you need to stop holding anything

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over my head.

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But the reality is we don't have a figured out.

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None of us do.

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We don't get to some magical place where we are no longer able to then, well, I've got

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all this figured out.

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I never lose control of my emotions.

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I never have to deal with my temper ever again.

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Or you know what, I may be seeing this, but I'm not dealing with the same issues in my

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mind that I did when I was younger.

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This is totally okay.

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I don't really need to worry so much about what's happening around me.

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Everything's fine.

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I'm forgiven.

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But the issue is that that old life still keeps trying to come back.

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Just like we may be in a place where people wonder, are we beyond issues and illnesses

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and the like?

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And then every so often when we let our guard down and then you find out that there was

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a polio outbreak in the Midwest or somewhere, and then you realize that we're still susceptible

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to the life in the world that people were before.

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Are we willing to continue to fight that old life because being baptized in Christ is the

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beginning of the fight.

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The fight isn't finished and it won't be until Jesus returns.

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Because that's the thing about this is that continuing to be encouraged in that is something

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that Paul kept having to get across to everybody.

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And that they kept wanting to say either I don't need to worry about it or everything's

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done and now I'm beyond all of that.

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And we're not.

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We as people, even being Christians, we're not past it.

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We're not.

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But that doesn't mean that we're doing it alone.

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And it doesn't mean that life is now just a constant battle from here on out.

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We're all every day waking up.

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Okay, God, what do I need to be worried about today?

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But rather is to say that it's more than just death.

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It's about moving into life in Christ.

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Because that's the thing about this.

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It's not just about trying to push people to stop sinning.

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If that's all that we're doing, then what kind of a life would that be?

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If all that there is to life is just making sure, did you get the right shots and did

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you make sure that you're not, you know, sneezing on other people?

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Then what kind of a life would that be?

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But rather is, did you sleep well?

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Did you eat well?

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Did you enjoy the sunshine?

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Did you get a chance to try something active and live out there?

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And that's the thing is to go from just being done with the old and being able to move into

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what is the new.

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That's the thing about life in Christ is that we sometimes wonder if everything is just

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going to be about rejecting sin all the time.

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It's more than that.

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It's about looking for the things that are in our life in Christ, joy and hope.

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Wouldn't it be nice if we had that again in our world today or beauty and meaning to actually

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see people around us, not as potential threats, but as potential joys in our life and to be

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able to look at things beyond what the world keeps promoting to us because we may be dour

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and angry and frustrated because we're allowing the world around us to paint a picture of what

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it wants us to be controlled by.

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But instead, the reason why life is not just about avoiding the sinning is because as we

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continue to pursue what is good and right and pure and lovely in God's eyes, is it changes

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us?

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And that's the reason why we're able to conquer the old and move into the new because it's

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been replaced by who Christ is because as Roman says, dying in his death, but being

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risen into his new life.

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So whatever those things may be that you know you're struggling with, that you know plague

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you and still bring you down even though you know and wish that they didn't, is that the

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true way to move forward.

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It's not just to be encouraged against the old, but to also be brought into the new by

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an entire community of those who encourage you to move into that new life each and every

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day.

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So may we as the people of God encourage each other to be cautious about the old, but also

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to focus on the new and to see how Christ Jesus is bringing us into that new life each

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and every day.

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Thanks be to God.