Sermon
Breaking Free from the Chains of Lies
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Well, good morning Crossing church.
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How are you doing? OK, so we gotta do something
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right now and everybody stand back up.
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I know you just got comfortable. Everybody stand back up.
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You need to at least high 5-5 other people because you are
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here today. Every other location do the same
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thing. You can sit back down when you
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get done with that. You are awesome.
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You're awesome. I mean I was looking at first
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service. I'm like, you know what was it
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going to look like A small group?
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They did a, they did, they did account we had 547 at the the
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48th St. location just for first service.
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And so it's like, you know, I mean, that's pretty awesome.
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You know, that people won't want to be together.
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They want to hear the word of the Lord.
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They want to be with the people of the Lord.
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They want to be changed by the Lord.
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And just So what? It's 15 below 0.
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Who cares? I want to welcome everyone
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that's joining from all of our locations.
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Thankful for you. If you're insider online, we're
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thankful for you as well. And I'm excited about this
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series because it comes from a book called Creatures of Habit
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and it was written by Steve Poe and Steve and Sandy Poe are
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friends of Allison and mine and I I got to know him.
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Oh, I think it's probably been 10 years ago and he is just one
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of these guys, OK. He went to a a church that was
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struggling through the death of their senior minister in on the
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north side of Indianapolis. And that's a really hard thing
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to to step into that role a man who was loved and passed away
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cancer and Steve did that. And that church now is I believe
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the largest Church of any kind in the state of Indiana and has
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just done an incredible job at Northview Church.
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But it's not because of the growth.
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When I first started hanging around with Steve, he's, you
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know, Jesus called one of his disciples, behold a man in whom
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there is no guile. He is that guy.
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Have you ever been around people and it's just like you know that
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your spiritual IQ goes up when you're around them not because
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of what they know, but just because of who they are and how
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they live their out their life for Jesus Christ.
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And he's going to be here in the 5th week, the final week of this
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series. And I really hope you don't miss
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that. Just an incredible, incredible
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man of God. So we're in that book and we're
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talking about habits. And one of the things he says in
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the book is 4040%. And that's at a minimum 40% of
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everything we do comes directly from habits.
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Now we have good habits and we have bad habits, right?
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But when we allow a bad behavior to become a habit, it actually
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it becomes a stronghold. It's a biblical word, a
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stronghold in our lives like it. It's something that has high
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walls that are very thick and they're very hard to get rid of.
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We get a bad habit that becomes a spiritual stronghold.
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It it can really become a besetting sin.
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And I would imagine there's many of you that have those that that
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you recognize them and and you'll come to church and maybe
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you'll even come forward, get down on your knees, you'll pray
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and you'll say God, you know what you and you know and it
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just keeps. It's like this nagging thing
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that just keeps working on you because that's what it is.
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It's a spiritual stronghold that comes out of a habit.
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Pamela Meyer in her book Lie Spotting, which by the way is a
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very unnerving book because what she teaches you in that book is
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how to spot it when people are lying to you.
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And I I don't know if I I'd rather probably not know that
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you know, because that's just a little unsettling.
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But in her book she says that you are lied to somewhere
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between 10 and 200 times a day. I I was, I heard, I read that
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and I went I I don't even know if I know that many people to to
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be lied to that much. And then, you know, I took out
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my phone and if I get on Instagram or Facebook and I just
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do this a few times, Oh yeah, I'm racking up the lies, right.
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Because people are lying on on social media constantly.
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Look at the person next to you. No.
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So don't do that. Forget that.
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And, you know, they can be kind of little innocuous ways where
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they can be very serious. Like, do you like my new
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haircut? How do I look in these jeans?
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What did you do when you went out on the date?
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How did that scratch get on the car?
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What happened to the cookies? It's really an unfortunate part
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of our human reality. You know, even a child will cry.
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A little child, like a baby, will cry and then stop crying
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long enough to hear and listen if anyone is paying attention to
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them, and then start crying again, like maybe they're really
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not in distress. They just want to lie and make
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you think they are. Or even a grandchild.
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I won't say it's my grandchild standing next to red crayon
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marks on the wall and holding a red crayon saying I didn't do
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that. We lie about everything.
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We lie about big things and little things, and some of our
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lies can have monumental effects.
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Think of all the people who trusted Lehman Brothers for
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their retirement. Think about the people that
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thought that they were really in a get rich quick scheme with
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Bernie Madoff or more recently Sam Bankman Freed.
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And all you have to do is watch even media.
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You see all of the diversity of narratives about the Hamas,
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Israel war and how people are lining up.
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Who's telling the truth, who's reflecting the truth.
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Former president of Harvard University Claudine Gay tried to
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clean up a response that she made to anti-Semitism, an
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accusation of anti-Semitism on campus.
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And the the what she was trying to clean up was when she said to
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the congressional committee, it all depends on the context.
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Later on when she tried to clean it up, she said, well, that did
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not reflect, quote UN quote her truth.
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Have you heard people say that her truth, my truth, your truth?
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Did we forget that there's just truth?
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It isn't your version of it or my version of it.
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It's just truth. Our culture is full of
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conspiracy theories, right? The funny thing is, a lot of
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them end up being proven to be true.
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The Babylon B, which is a parody.
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A parody site, A parody outlet. They like to make up fake news
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stories, you know, that are supposed to be funny, to poke
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fun at. People like The Onion.
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They do that. And Seth Dillon, who's the CEO
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of that satire site, said in March of 2023 that over 100 of
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their jokes turned out to actually be true.
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As I've already pointed out, social media has very little
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relationship with the truth. And that would probably include
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some of the posts that we post as well, you know, You know some
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of those people you're actually are friends with some of those
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people not just like fake friends but like real friends.
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And you'll see them post something about themselves.
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Like you have this really nice family shot.
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You know, you got the husband and the wife, get the kids, you
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know they're on the beach. They're really nice restaurant.
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They're doing something like that, you know, everything's
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just great and except and they have some caption that about how
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great everything is except for, you know, them, you know, what's
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actually going on in their life. Does that ever happened?
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When you're like, how could they post that?
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It's ridiculous. And think about all the ones
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that you're looking at that you really don't know and how much
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of that embellishment and ridiculousness is on there.
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But it actually does have an effect on you because you start
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wondering like, why isn't my life as happy as theirs?
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This, or at least it looks that way.
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Maybe it's because you're not actually experiencing the truth.
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In that same book, Life Spotting, Pamela Meyer says
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we're all against lying, but covertly we're for it.
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So what are we left with? We're left with a culture that's
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virtually without trust anymore. And it doesn't matter if we're
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talking about politicians or pastors or the police or the
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price of gas or higher education or health care or the news media
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or mass marketing or marriage or civil rights or the Bill of
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Rights or equal justice under the law.
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We just don't have trust anymore.
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And it's because we have real difficulty seeing through the
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lens of truth. And why is that?
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Isn't it because of all the lying that has saturated us in
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both big ways and small ways? And where did that come from?
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Well, you're not going to like the answer.
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Steve Post says in his book that lying needs to be at the very
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top of the list of bad habits, and biblically, he's absolutely
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right. Do you know how far you have to
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go in your Bible to to reach an epic lie?
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Page 3, Page 3 right after God says everything is very good.
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Page three we read about it. Genesis chapter 3 verses one to
Genesis 3 chapter mention
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five. Now the serpent.
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And we all know if you don't know, this is the devil is more
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crafty than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had
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made. And said to the woman.
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Eve, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the
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garden? The woman said to the serpent.
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We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say,
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you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of
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the garden and you must not touch it or you'll die.
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You will certainly not die, the serpent told said to the woman.
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For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be
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opened and you'll become like God, knowing good and evil.
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This was the first lie recorded that was ever told and Satan
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told it to Eve. Now this is how that lie was
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formed. First thing he did was he
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planted a question in her mind. Did God really say right?
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And then he told her the lie was you won't, you won't die.
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But death, the word death in the original language is thanatos,
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which means separation. And the moment she ate of that
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fruit, she was separated from God, right?
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Death entered the world as a result, but she was separated
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from God in that moment, and then he wrapped that lie in a
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deception of truth or a perversion of truth.
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What God really knows is that if you eat of this tree, you'll
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become just like him. You'll know the difference
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between good and evil. The the the problem with that is
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they already were just like him. They were made in the image of
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God, right? They were the children of God.
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And when they broke that law, they didn't become more like
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God, they became less like him. And what was the response?
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Most of us have heard the story. If she ate of the fruit, she
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gave it to her husband, Adam. He ate of the fruit, right?
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And immediately the Bible says they knew they were naked.
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And what did they do? Bible says that they gathered
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fig leaves and they wove them together in such a way to make a
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covering for themselves because they were ashamed of their
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nakedness and they wanted to hide their nakedness.
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And then they found a place in the garden where they thought
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they could hide from God. And isn't that our immediate
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response? When we lie?
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We want to hide. As a matter of fact, our lying
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is a form of hiding. Why?
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Because the truth is just too dangerous.
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It's just too damaging. A singer and songwriter named
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Mike Guglio Muchi wrote and performed a song for Hillsong
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Records called You're My Healer, and it is an incredibly
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beautiful song. We've sung it at the crossing
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many times. It became a hit among churches
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and believers, and part of that came from the writer's testimony
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that went along with the song when he performed it.
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You see, he had terminal cancer and he wrote the song out of his
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cancer experience. As a matter of fact, often times
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when he would perform, he would be wearing a cannula so that he
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could have oxygen while he performed the song.
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Only problem was that his cancer was completely fabricated.
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He didn't have cancer at all. He wasn't even sick and he knew
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it and he developed that lie to try and make the song popular.
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He even deceived his own wife and family with his diagnosis
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and they would drop him off at the hospital for non existent
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cancer treatments. Now that's just one story, but
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there are countless stories of the infamy of liars.
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Now, my father, he taught me a lot of priceless things when I
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was growing up, and he would put them in little phrases or axioms
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so I would remember them. But one of his all time greats
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was this. A man is only as good as his
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word. If his word isn't any good, he
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isn't any good. And I've kept that my whole
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life. And I just lied to you.
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Although that's a great thing to believe and to strive for, I
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can't say that I have kept what my father taught me or I'd be
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lying. Lying has a lot of forms,
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doesn't it? It might be deception, where we
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really emphasize the things that we want people to believe.
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We really de emphasize the things we want people to not
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believe or to not think about. And so we distort the truth.
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That's still a lie. Or it might be gossip, right?
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You might have a story that you want to tell about somebody, but
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it's a game of telephone, and by the time it gets to the 20th
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person, it's nothing like what was originally and originally.
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It may have been wrong. So that lie compounds itself as
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it goes through those generations.
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You've experienced that I'm sure as well.
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It might be cheating. It might be whatever you do,
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like on a test, or what you might plagiarize.
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It might be to your employer where you're lying about, like
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the hours that you worked. It might be to the government.
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When you talk about how many tax, how much tax you owe might
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be flattery or exaggeration, or sometimes even silence might be
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a promise that you made that you just failed to keep.
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You see, we can lie in a number of ways and there are plenty of
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different motives for it. But as we all know, lies
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imprison us, and usually the result is telling more lies to
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cover the initial lies. And that just increases our
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sentence before God. You know, Jesus taught about
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lying and he actually connected it to a form of slavery because
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it does imprison us. Look what it says in John 832.
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Jesus said these words, beautiful words.
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You will know the truth. You notice he doesn't say his
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truth. The truth and the truth will set
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you free. He said that in the context of
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enslavement, and when you read the rest of the scripture around
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it and the people that were listening to Jesus at that time,
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they were believers. These weren't the scribes and
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the Pharisees trying to catch him in something.
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They were legitimately wanting him to teach them and look at
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their response when he says this verse 33, they answered him.
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We are Abraham's descendants and we have never been slaves of
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anyone. How can you say that we shall be
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set free? Boy, they have a bad memory.
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What about the 400 years that they were enslaved in bondage in
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Egypt, where Moses had to come right, and God used Moses to
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deliver the nation of Israel? Forget that.
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Did they? Forget the Roman occupation that
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they were under right then? And how many things they
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couldn't do because of that? And maybe this helps us to
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understand the worst of all. The lies, the most insidious of
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lies. And those are the lies we tell
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ourselves. Maybe it's because the truth is
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harder to hear. You remember the scene, Jack
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Nicholson. You want the truth.
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You can't handle the truth well. Jesus is about to give him a
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really strong dose of truth in verse 43 and 44.
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Why is my language not clear to you?
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Because you are unable to hear what I say.
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Here's a great way to grow a church.
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You belong to your father, the devil.
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That isn't going to win friends and influence people.
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Your father is the is Satan himself.
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These are people who believed in Jesus.
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You want to carry out your father's desires?
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Wow. Not only are you saying that my
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my father's the devil, but you're saying I'm doing his
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bidding. I'm doing what he wants me to
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do. He was a murderer from the
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beginning. Is that him calling us
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murderers, not holding to the truth?
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For there's no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his
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native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
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Wow. Well, now we know where lying
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comes from. We can trace it all the way back
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to that first lie in the garden. So maybe you're going.
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Hey, if you hadn't noticed, Jerry, it's 9° below 0 outside,
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and I came to church looking for a little hope.
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Man. Could you help me out here just
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a little bit? Give a guy a break.
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All I've heard at this point is that lying is a big problem.
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It's the root of why there's no trust in this world.
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I'm guilty of it. We're all guilty of it.
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We lie to each other. We lie to ourselves.
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And that means that our father is the devil.
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Well, happy New Year. Now go back to John 832, because
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this is the point of what Jesus is saying.
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You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
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He sees us imprisoned, enslaved to all of these habits and
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strongholds in our lives of which lying is a part.
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And he wants us to be set free. And he's willing to pay the
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price so that we might be set free.
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You see, lies enslave us, but truth sets us free, not.
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Your truth has no power. My truth has no power, but the
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truth does. That's why Jesus came to set us
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free. Now he teaches us about this a
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little bit later in John 14, same book, a little bit later.
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And the setting is this. Jesus is celebrating Passover
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with his disciples. It's the last Passover that
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they're going to celebrate together, because within 24
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hours Jesus will have died on the cross.
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OK? And they're in the upper room in
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Jerusalem and they've, they've set up this Passover meal.
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And then Jesus begins to teach and he changes the meaning of
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the emblems that they're that they're eating and drinking.
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When he says, this bread is my body broken for you do this in
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remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant in
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my blood. Drink.
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All of it. It's shed for many for the
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remission of sin, You know, he says this to them.
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And then you know he he has these beautiful words that go
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along with it. Let not your heart be troubled.
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You believe in God. Believe also in me, my father's
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house, or many mansions. If it weren't so, I would have
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told you I go to prepare a place for you.
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And if I go to prepare a place for you, I'll come again receive
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you to myself. That where I am, there you may
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be also where I go, where I go, you know, in the way you know.
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And Thomas said, hold on, Jesus, we don't know where you're
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going. And how can we know the way?
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Totally confused. And then we read John 14-6.
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Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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No one comes to the Father except through me.
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Jesus doesn't come to show us the way.
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He is the way. Jesus doesn't come to teach us
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the truth. He is the truth.
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Jesus doesn't come to help us find a new life.
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He is life. He's identified Jesus.
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And when we are in Jesus, we are in these things.
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First of all, Jesus is the way. The way to where?
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The way to where? The way to heaven.
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The way to the Father. The way to eternity.
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The way to salvation. The way that leads me away from
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all that I am and all that I've done into all that He has
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prepared for me. The fact that He has adopted me
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away from the slavery of my sin and the other strongholds of my
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life and all the things that I have done to myself.
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He is the way. He's the truth.
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He gives me an unfiltered understanding of reality so that
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I know who I am, what this world is, what eternity holds.
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He answers my deepest questions. Who am I?
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Where did I come from? Where am I going?
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And by the way, everybody that's trying to tell you something
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else is just selling you something because he's the truth
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and Jesus is life. He shows me my place in this
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world. He fills me with meaning and
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purpose. He shows me that he designed an
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upper story for my life, that he wants me to walk in and he has
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overcome death to give me eternal life with him.
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So my answer is not running away from lying.
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It's running the truth. And by the way, running the
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truth is running to Jesus. It's embracing the freedom that
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only he can give me. And it's walking with him on the
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shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. Now some of you are going, what?
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What does that mean, walking on the shoreline to see a Galilee?
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Well, why don't you, along with me, think of probably one of the
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most epic lies that was ever perpetrated, and it was by a man
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named Simon Peter. Because when Jesus was done with
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that Last Supper, that communion, they went down to the
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garden of Gethsemane and they prayed.
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And Jesus stood awful ways and he was praying by himself.
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And the others went to sleep and soldiers came to arrest Jesus in
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the middle of the night. You you may remember this.
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And and Jesus was arrested and a lot of the disciples scattered.
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But Simon Peter followed along. And when they took him to the
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House of the high priest Caiaphas, Simon Peter was in the
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courtyard. And somebody looked at Simon
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Peter in the fire light and recognized him.
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And he said, aren't you one of his disciples?
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And what did he do? He lied.
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I I don't know. I don't know him.
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Someone else noticed him and called him out for the same
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thing. He goes, I tell you, I don't.
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I don't know him lied again. And then someone else called him
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out, and the Bible says that this time he was so incensed
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that he cursed when he said it. I do not know him.
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And you know what he did after that?
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He hid. Sound familiar?
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Went out and wept. Bitterly lied.
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We call it denial, but it was just lying.
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But maybe you recall, after Jesus had paid his debt, and my
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debt and your debt on the cross, and then rose from the dead to
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prove that he had power over death, Simon Peter after a while
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decided to go back to the sea of Galley, back to his fishing
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business. And one morning after they
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hadn't caught anything, someone yells from the shore, as the
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dawn was breaking, they cast your Nets on the other side of
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the boat, which is something Jesus said at the very beginning
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of his relationship with Simon Peter.
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And they did. And there were so many fish that
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they could hardly take in the catch.
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And Simon Peter comes to the shore, and they had breakfast
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with all of them together. And then Jesus said, Simon, we
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need to take a walk. And they took a walk on the
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shore of the Sea of Galilee. And when they did, Jesus didn't
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call him Peter. That was what he renamed him to.
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He called him Simon. And matter of fact, he said,
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Simon, son of John, do you love me?
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Use the word Agapeo, which means the ultimate self sacrificial
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love. And Simon answers him, Lord, you
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know I love you. But he uses the word filet O in
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the Greek, which means brotherly love.
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It's a lower kind of love. And Jesus said feed my sheep.
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Simon's son of John do you love me, says it again.
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Agapeo. Simon Peter says, Lord, I do
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love you. Phileo lower kind of love feed
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my lambs. Jesus says third time Jesus says
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Simon son of John do you love me this time?
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Jesus says Phileo, brotherly love.
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The Bible says that Simon Peter was hurt, cut to his heart
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because Jesus asked him the third time because he knew what
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was going on, right? He knew that he denied him.
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He knew that he lied three times.
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And this was the third time Jesus asked.
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But he also knew that Jesus used the different term, the lower
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term. Phileo, do you love me?
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And he said, Lord, you know all things.
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You know that I love you feed my sheep.
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You know what I love about that is that comes from an old
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quartet song I used to sing. He came down to my level when I
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couldn't get up to his. With a strong arm, he lifted me
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up to know what living is. You see, I'm just like Simon
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Peter. So are you.
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And what we need is a walk on the shoreline of the Sea of
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Galilee. What we need is a little quality
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time with Jesus. And let me tell you what that
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looks like. It starts with owning it.
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Own it. Don't let that lie that you've
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let saturate in your own that you tell yourself have dominance
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inside of you. Acknowledge it.
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It means an intellectual understanding without
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rationalizing. It's the first beatitude of the
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beatitudes that Jesus talked about in Matthew chapter 5.
Matthew 5 chapter mention
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of
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heaven. What does it mean to be poor in
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spirit? To be spiritually poor?
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To realize that you don't measure up spiritually.
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Own it. But it's not enough to just know
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that in your head, and that's why the 2nd Beatitude is blessed
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are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
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Because you're not just an intellectual person, you're an
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emotional person too. You don't just think things, you
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feel things right. And so we need to have an
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emotional response to an intellectual understanding.
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We need to repent of our sin, which means to have a godly
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sorrow over that. That's what it means to own it.
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And when you do that, you begin to experience your spiritual
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freedom, and then it moves to practical reinforcement that
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needs to be reinforced in your life.
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When the stronghold comes down, you need to replace the bad
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habits with the good habits, right?
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Be honest with each other. Speak the truth, but speak it
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with love and with grace. Make yourself accountable to
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people. People that you trust that you
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can show your dirty laundry to and they won't reject you for
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it. Avoid situations that push you
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back to the bad habit and embrace situations that
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reinforce the good habits. If you're a drunk and your way
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home from work goes by three bars, find another way home.
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Because I guarantee you Satan will have people out in the
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parking lot going, hey, dude, come on right, Reinforce the
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good ones. Avoid the bad ones.
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And finally I want to close with this.
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Celebrate the winds. How do I do that?
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How do you celebrate the winds? Do you remember?
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Some of you may? I preached A sermon quite a
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while ago and I ended it by saying I, I, I take this
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medicine. I call it my my 290 twos.
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Do you remember my 290 twos? Maybe not.
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If you don't, this will be great, because it'd be the first
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time you heard it in Psalm 92, the first verse and the second
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verse. It says it is good to praise the
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Lord, to make music to your name almost high.
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And then it says this to proclaim your love in the
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morning and your faithfulness at night.
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Those are my 290 twos, to proclaim your love in the
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morning and your faithfulness at night.
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What does it mean to proclaim his love in the morning before
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you ever get out of bed? And I'd love to.
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I'd love to tell you I do this every day, but if I did, I would
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be lying. But to proclaim his love in the
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morning means before you do anything else, before you goof
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yourself up and anybody else up and make a mess of life and face
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the challenges and all that you need to tell yourself.
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God, no matter what, I know that you love me.
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I absolutely know that you love me.
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I don't hope that you love me. I don't want you to.
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I just know it's a fact. You love me.
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And if I ever wondered about that, all I have to do is look
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back at what your son Jesus did on the cross.
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Because that's a perfect picture of the fact that you love me
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even while I'm still a Sinner. Romans 5/8.
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You love me and you love me today.
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And I know no matter what I face today.
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I know that you love me. That's going to make your day a
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better day. I guarantee it.
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But you don't know what that day is going to hold, right?
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So what do you do when it's the end of the day before you close
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your eyes and go to sleep, to proclaim his love in the morning
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and his faithfulness at night? You get to the end of that day.
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You want to look back on that day.
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All the challenges, all the failures, all the misses, all
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the wins, all the glory, all the good stuff and all of it.
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And you say, you know what, God, here we are.
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We're still together. You've been faithful to me.
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You didn't leave me. You didn't forsake me.
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You're still here. You are still here.
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And it'll celebrate those winds, the things that happened, that
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that gave God glory that day. Because God is a faithful God.
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And even when we're faithless, the Bible says he's faithful
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because he cannot disown himself.
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And I guarantee you it's going to make tomorrow a better day if
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you ended this day with that 92. The question is what are you
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going to do right now? We're moving to a time of
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decision. You know, I don't think that you
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get up on a day where it's 15 or 16 below 0 and make the effort.
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Hopefully your car started. But for whatever reason, you're
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here. And I know some of you are
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online right now and you said probably not a good idea for me
-
to get out. It's all right.
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That's OK, because I'm glad you're hearing this.
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That no matter what, our God loves us and is faithful to us.
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And Jesus is the perfect picture of that.
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And I want you to hear me. You need Jesus, and I need
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Jesus. I mean really bad.
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Some of you have been trying to manage your life, control the
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things that are strongholds in your life.
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And if you were honest with yourself and not lying to
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yourself, you'd have to honestly realize that you don't do a very
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consistent job of that You really struggle with it.
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And that's why we need a Savior. There's a scripture that says
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come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
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give you a rest. And I think that Jesus looks at
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us and pities us because we're working so hard and we're trying
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so hard and we fail over and over again.
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And he wants you to understand that he did all the heavy
-
lifting when he died on that cross, that you don't need to
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trust in yourself anymore. You need to just trust in him.
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He's the way. And if you want life, real life,
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he's life. So you need to respond to the
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truth which has come to Jesus. And if you're here today and
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you've never entered into an intimate, personal relationship
-
with Jesus, I'm not talking about going to church, Although
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I'm really glad you're here. Here's an opportunity for you to
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come to Jesus. There's going to be somebody
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right over there by that baptistry loved nothing more.
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And to talk to you about what your next steps could be, Pray
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with you and we sing in a moment.
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Just go up there. Be vulnerable for a moment.
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God won't disappoint you. Many of us here today have a
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relationship with Jesus that we're thankful for and we rely
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on. But that doesn't mean that you
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don't try so often to sit in his seat.
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You know what I mean? Like the throne of your life and
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things get goofed up and you start trying to hold it all up
-
on your own and trying to manage all of the difficulty and you
-
just get exhausted. I remember one time somebody
-
said, why do you have people come up and get down on their
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knees? Doesn't that humiliate them?
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And I'm like, no, they're just kids going to their dad and
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they're saying I need help and he gives it to them.
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Why wouldn't we want that? Maybe you.
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It may be somebody that you love and care for.
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But whatever burden you might be carrying today, why don't you
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bring it up to the Lord and let him have it?
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Just let him have it. He'll hear that prayer.
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Would you stand with me? Let's pray together.
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Heavenly Father, in Jesus name, please, please.
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I pray that you would that you would remove any stronghold
-
around our heart right now. Just so that we cannot.
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Not vulnerable to me, not vulnerable to anybody in this
-
room, but vulnerable to just you, your presence, your Son,
-
Jesus, your Holy Spirit. Father, I pray that we'll just
-
be vulnerable enough to you right now to hear what it is
-
that we need to hear that still small voice and then respond so
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that we can have rest. We can lay our burdens down.
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Trust in you, I pray, in Jesus name.
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Amen.