Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20230407 - It Is Finished!- John 19:30

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#20230407 - It Is Finished!- John 19:30 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's word with pastor and author.
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Ed, Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora,
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Colorado to learn more about the many resources available,
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through abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream
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Services. Visit us online at Calvary, Co
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dot church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now, here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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If you have your Bibles, would you open in the John's gospel
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chapter, 19? so we take today to commemorate,
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What has been known as Good Friday.
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It's good in many ways for us after the fact that it wasn't
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good for Jesus and his disciples, a very difficult day
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and they have great pain. Great sorrow.
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You think in your own life as you personalized today?
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Can you think of a time in your life of great pain?
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I mean, of course we can, I mean there's times of great physical
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pain, there's times of great personal pain, Maybe?
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Divorce or abandonment, grief. Good Friday is known as God's
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most painful moment. The most painful moment that
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Jesus experience for sure. It says, in verse 1 of chapter,
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19, that pilate took Jesus and scourged him the soldiers,
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Twisted, a crown of thorns and put it on his head and they put
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on him a purple robe. They said, hail King of the Jews
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and they struck him with their hands.
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Pilot goes out again and says, behold, I'm bringing him out to
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you that, you may know that I find no fault in him.
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Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe
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and pilate said to them. Behold the man therefore when
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the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out
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saying, Crucify him, crucify him and pilate said, you take him
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and crucify him for I find no fault in him.
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The scourging was a whipping, the usual instrument was a short
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whip several single or braided leather thongs attached to it
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variable lengths. In the leather, there were small
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iron balls or sharp pieces of sheet bones that were tied at
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different intervals. And the man that was being
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crucified or the man that was being scourged would be stripped
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of his clothing and his hands were tied to an upright post.
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So that That his entire back side and his legs were then
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beaten, sometimes you might hear that referred to as being
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flawed, the scourging was intended to weaken the victim to
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get them just sort of collapse so that they would confess their
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crime and crucifixion could be avoided.
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It's Roman soldiers, repeatedly struck the victims back with
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full force that iron balls would cause deep contusions and the
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leather thongs and the Sheep bones would cut into the skin
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and the subcutaneous issues and the lacerations would tear into
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the skeletal muscles. It was a very vicious vicious
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time and almost always a man would die under this not having
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to go to the cross and yet the Bible speaks to us that Jesus.
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Do it to the end. He endured the beating and then
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would take up, pick up and take up his cross carrying its full
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load on his beat up body. This is what they're crying for
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this innocent men. And we don't know how many
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voices are included here, that just a week, prior were crying
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out. The, the other word.
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That's more encouraging Hosanna, Hosanna blessed, is he who comes
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in the name of the Lord? Perhaps there's some overlap
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certainly in the city of Jerusalem, they've been talking
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about it and excited on the one hand and now just within a week
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they're crying out, crucify him, crucify him.
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Crucifixion was invited by the Persians.
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A horrible way to die. They believed that the Earth was
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sacred. So because of that, the criminal
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was lifted up off of the earth so that he would die in midair
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and not to file the Earth. Crucifixion, it said is one of
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the most terrible and the cruelest death, which man has
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ever devised for taking Vengeance on his fellow man.
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Cicero's called it, the most cruel, and most horrible torture
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and tacitus called it a torture. That's only fit for slaves.
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The Persians invented it, but the Romans perfected it.
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The Romans used it in its full force.
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The first century. It's estimated that the Romans
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crucified 30,000 Jews. It was a horrible way to die,
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and it sent a message. It wasn't simply the act of
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punishing a criminal or accused criminal.
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It also was a way to send a message to establish Roman
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government and the Rome Roman authority of the day Rome.
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Kept it exclusivity for Rebels runaway slaves and the lowest
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type type of criminal. It was such a cruel way to die
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that they didn't use it on citizens.
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So crucifixion, if you think of Jesus would involve him laying
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laying Jesus on his open lacerated bleeding back on this
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huge rough piece of wood. There's some debate on whether
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the crossbeam was honored yet or not but that would start with
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laying him on wood and the Roman soldiers would then take spikes
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in that cross. five to seven inches long, Hammer them between
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the two arm, bones at the wrist, crushing the medial nerve, And
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as one dictionary describes it, the pain was absolutely
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unbearable. With each blow already on on top
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of being scourged. In fact, it was the pain was so
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unbearable that it was beyond words that in the in the time
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was beyond words that they had to describe the pain.
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So they invented a pain, a word to describe that pain, that a
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word that we will use ourselves to describe much less pain.
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But I know after hearing this word, you'll never think of it
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the same when, you know, its origin and they use the word
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excruciating to describe this pain, literally out of the Cross
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pain from the cross. And at this point, after the
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bones after the 7 inch long spikes were used, Jesus was
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hoisted as the crossbar attached to the vertical steak and nails
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were driven through Jesus feet. And again, the nerves in his
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feet, would have been crushed, just excruciating pain.
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A man would die either by asphyxiation or Cardiac Arrest
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as they hang there. it's all here in the scriptures, although
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we don't have the Full details of in John 19.
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It says and he bearing his cross went out to the place called the
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place of the skull which is called in Hebrew Golgotha and
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they crucified him and to others with him on either side and
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Jesus in the center. Now, pie that wrote a title and
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put on the cross and the right. And the writing was Jesus of
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Nazareth. Nazareth, the king of the Jews.
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You know, they crucified along the roads.
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I know one of the famous hymns. Starts out on a hill far away,
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it could be on a hill far away if that hill was next to a road
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because they wanted everyone that was doing business and
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living life and going on there they they wanted them to see
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what what a criminal's death look like.
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And here he is. Taken to a place.
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Known as Golgotha will be in Israel.
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Not too long from now and the final stop on.
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Israel is one of the sites that has great evidence pointing that
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it's very well could be the possible place of the
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crucifixion and we'll go out to the edge of the property and we
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can look out over on a small hill.
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That was outside the city Gates and a road would go by there and
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there's even some vestiges of what looks like a skull still in
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the eroded. Landscape of that area.
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Whether it's the exact place or not is really irrelevant as much
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as you know, that Jesus was crucified.
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He exchanged his life for yours. And because we have the
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privilege of living in such comfort and ease and because we
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have the privilege of gathering together and worshipping
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together and it becomes a very repetitive constant continual
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thing. We forget. things that come easy
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to us, we forget Things that we don't pay attention to.
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We forget things that we don't take note of, we forget So God
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has reserved the time throughout the year for us to really laser
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focus, our mind and our attention on this exchange.
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The Bible says, in second Corinthians 5 verse 21, for he
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made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become
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the righteousness of God in him. Jesus suffers in silence
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throughout all of his interrogation and all of the, in
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the torture and Agony. The Bible describes that
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prophetically, in Isaiah 53, when it says that Jesus was
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oppressed and Afflicted. Yet he opened, not his mouth, he
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was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before,
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it's Shearer's is silent. So he opened not his mouth.
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And when the weight of humanity sends was poured out upon him.
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He cries out. My God, my God, why have you
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forsaken me? You know, the word, forsaken
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literally means deserted and Abandoned and rejected.
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And these words are shocking to us.
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They disarm us because we cause it, they cause us to wonder what
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did Jesus really mean by that? It's hard for us as human beings
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to Fathom. What was taking place here?
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You know, it's like Good Friday starts are thinking like we're
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on Holy Ground as we consider the significance of the
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crucifixion of Jesus, the impact of that day.
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On our lives is so significant that it truly does require us to
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take a day just to look at it. If we get a better understanding
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of what Jesus actually went through for us.
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It'll revolutionize Our Lives. It's what incredible pain that
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he experienced. Gives us a greater appreciation
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for the accomplishment of calvary.
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You know, when Jesus is crying out, my God, my God.
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Why have you forsaken me? These aren't delusions of a man
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in pain. This isn't a time where Jesus
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faith is failing him. I believe is Jesus was hanging
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there at that moment. He was bearing the sins of the
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world. It's easy to think about the
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sins of the world, but in order to understand that you got to
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think that you just got to shift your thinking a little bit.
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And go though, he was bearing the weight of my sin.
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My life. And I know it can be challenging
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at times to think about Sin, especially as it relates to our
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own lives. But that's the reality.
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He was dying as a substitute for you, and for me, for us, he was
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burying your sin and mine see in a theological God's perspective
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of the cross. To him was being imputed all of
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the guilt of all of our sins, as he suffered, the necessary
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punishment, for those sins on our behalf.
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The justice of God is that sin would be dealt with and I had
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this question. Come up last Sunday, actually,
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thinking about, where's the justice?
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That was the question. Where's the Justice in an
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innocent man dying? That was a great question.
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My approach to this young man was, let's just make sure we
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understand that we have the right definition of justice.
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Because Justice doesn't flow through your emotions.
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And Justice doesn't isn't defined by how you would do
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things. If you were God, Justice is
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defined by the very character of God.
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And he was very early on even beginning In the Garden of Eden.
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He would Define for us Justice that without the shedding of
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blood, there will be no forgiveness of sin.
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So Justice can only be meted out for your sin and mine if there's
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blood shed God to find it. And it's best to ask that
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question from a different angle. It's not.
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Where's the Justice in an innocent man for your life and
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mine? Where's the Justice in that?
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The real question is, why would God go to Such Great Lengths to
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express his judge Justice in your life?
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Exactly. What have you and I done to
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deserve the Forgiveness of our sins and what's what ground?
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We stand on that. We can look to God and demand
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his Justice or demand his provision. you see Jesus as
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they're paying the price for you, because he is fulfilling
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all Justice and righteousness, it required innocent blood,
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Justice requires innocent blood so that you and I might
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experience not justice, but Grace The grace of God.
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Punishment was being poured out, God's Wrath against Sinners was
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being poured out on the cross and in some mysterious way that
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we can ever really fully understand during these awful
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hours on the cross. The father was pouring out this
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full measure of his wrath against sin and the recipient of
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that wrath was God's own son, Jesus.
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Parents, you understand this? There's nothing you wouldn't do
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to stand in the gap for your kids.
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Nothing. There's nothing you wouldn't do
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to in some way. Put yourself In Harm's Way or in
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some way, take the pain of your kids or some way stand in the
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Gap to prevent something happening with your kids.
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You would do it. Very naturally very Very
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willingly. And so listen.
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God was punishing Jesus. As if he had personally
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committed every Wicked deed committed by every Wicked sinner
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Among Us and in so doing he could treat and forgive those
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redeemed ones as if we now live in Christ.
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I think Good Friday. If there's anything we leave
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with besides the solemn, this of the death of Jesus is a full
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understanding that your life is a gift from God.
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And your life matters not to do your own thing and to make your
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own way and to dismiss, you know, chart your own course and
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be the captain of your own ship and all the different sayings
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that said today. But your life belongs to God,
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it's been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ and the value of
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your life is so much more than anything this world could offer.
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Sin produces separation, it separates friends from Friends,
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it separates parents from kids, it separates people from people,
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you know, families and here, there's even separation in a
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brief moment from the Son and the father, why?
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Because the Bible says God can't look upon sin.
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In habakkuk, it says, you are of purer eyes than to behold evil.
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You cannot look on wickedness. Why do you look on those who
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deal treacherously and hold your tongue?
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Tongue. When the wicked devours, a
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person. Jesus was forsaken by God, so
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that we would never have to be. And Hebrews chapter 13, it says
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let your conduct be without covetousness, be content with
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such things as you have for. He himself said, I will never
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leave you, nor will I forsake you and it's here in John 19 at
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the at the toward the end where Jesus declares he says.
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So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said it is
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finished and bowing his head, he gave up his Is Spirit.
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With these words, Jesus declared victory over Satan.
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It's finished. What?
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What's finished? Exactly.
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Well, in One Way. Jesus.
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Sufferings are finished. And less than a 24-hour period.
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He had been mooted mutilated beaten shamed spat upon a crown
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of thorns fashion and twisted into his school.
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His he was face was covered. He was slapped open handedly.
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They gambled for his clothes, there was so much going on.
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He is a his disciples abandoned him.
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He felt forsaken by the father, it's finished.
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And what else was finished? Well, the Law's requirements of
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righteousness. What God required?
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God provided. What God required?
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God provided no one but Jesus was capable of keeping the law
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and he did and what the law could not do in making someone
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in a taking away the sins from someone Jesus himself.
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Did the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and
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then finally, what was finished. But our Redemption.
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Our Redemption Jesus death on the cross was once and for all
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sacrifice, the Bible declares it in Romans for the death, that he
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died. He died to sin once for all but
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the life that he lives he lives to God.
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There's a whole other angle we could take on Good Friday I was
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thinking of it myself this the maybe one day I'll do it but
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just thinking about the abandonment of the people that
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were with Jesus, they just couldn't take it.
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It was too much for them. And they responded in a very
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human way and, and they scattered.
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And I think as you enter into Good Friday and go back to the
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rest of the day and such because you'll see so quickly life will
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consume everything. We just listened will be all
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kinds of activity and things happening that's life.
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That's, that's how it was, you know, in the time of Jesus, to
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they live life. It wasn't a church service
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continually like we might think, but they lived life people moved
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on. They walked by, they went home.
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They made dinner tuck the kids, and they did, they lived life.
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And you too, you and I will live life today.
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However, I want you to know that many times when you're faced
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with crisis, you to respond in a human way and you two aren't
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always happy with how you respond and you to wish it would
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have been different. And I think that when we
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remember the crucifixion of Jesus, when we remember his
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beating and all that he did for us but also speaks to us that he
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gives fresh hope. Through his death.
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Your final Act, even even what you're dealing with right now,
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the final act or the last thing you did that you regret or the
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issue. That's your carrying into the
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room today or online or listening in wherever you are.
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All of that is not that that doesn't get the final word.
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It's not the final word even though the disciples are living,
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like this is it. This is the final word.
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My friend is Crucified My best friend, the one, I the one, I
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cast my whole life, I gave everything up to follow him, but
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then when he really needs me the most, I run away, and I
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abandoned him and then they have to live life.
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Not knowing he's going to rise again from the dead.
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They don't know. Even though Jesus told him and
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told him and told him, even when it happens, there are some that
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doubt it and don't believe it. It sounds God is God is
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presented to us just so much in the Bible that we can relate to.
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But they do change. Jesus he's taken down off the
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cross and he's buried and that's how everybody goes on with their
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day. He dies, it's finished, breathes
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his last, they take him down the rest of the text says, they put
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him in a tomb and they seal it, and then they move on.
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And not quite knowing that three days.
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Life's going to drastically transform.
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And I give that to you some of you today life that drastic
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transformation. It's available to you by faith
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in Jesus Christ. Because you could be here today,
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just going on about your day and your day, just happened to whoa,
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whoa. Just, you know, woven to just
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kind of wandered into a church building for a little while a
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couple minutes or, you know, turning on your radio dial
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hearing. Like it's just a brief moment in
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time, but the brief moments in time can radically change your
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life. If you will turn to Jesus today,
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to receive the Forgiveness of your sins, if you will
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acknowledge the humanity and the brevity of your life and
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recognize that True Justice is found at the cross and the
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affirmation of God's love for you is found at the cross and
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the true definition of sacrifice and it and transformative
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exchange of life is found at the cross of Jesus Christ.
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So, father, as we contemplate these things today and always
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always always, I feel incredibly inadequate at a time, like this
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to not fully Plumb, the depths of the significance of the
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crucifixion. But God, I know I'm living out
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the benefits. Every moment of every day, I
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live out the grace that Triumph. Over judgment. and I pray as we
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leave here today with a solemn, reminder of the beating the
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scourging the crucifixion of our blessed savior that we to, with
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great anticipation will celebrate The great power of the
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Resurrection, The Very hinge of the Gospel.
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Bringing to us, great benefits, and gifts into our lives.
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So bless your church today as we head out into the rest of life.
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In Jesus name. Amen.
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This concludes our service. God bless you guys.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible.
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Study delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
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prayer. Call us at 877, 30 Grace.
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That's eight 77304, 2:53 to listen to this message in its
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entirety or to join us for our live stream Services.
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