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Something Old. Something New. Something He Brews?: Sermon · Beyond the Sermon

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You're listening to Beyond the Sermon, the podcast of First
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Methodist Church in Collingswood, NJ.
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On our podcast, the goal is not just to share our sermons, but
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to go beyond the sermon and talk about what we're learning and
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what God is doing in US and in our community.
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The sermon you're about to listen to comes from our Spring
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Mixtape 2025 non series sermon series rather than a series, and
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this will be a collection of sermons based on what God is
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leading us to preach on this spring.
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You can find more information about our church at
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fumccollingswood.org. Thanks for listening.
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Hello. Today's scripture is Hebrews
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Chapter 9 verses one through 10. Now the first covenant had
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regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.
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A Tabernacle was set up in its first room, where the lampstand
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and the table and the table with its consecrated bread.
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This was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a
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room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of
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incense and the gold covered Ark of the Covenant.
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This ark contained the gold jar of Manna, Aaron's staff that had
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budded, and some stone tablets of the Covenant.
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Above the ark were the Cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the
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atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these
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things in detail now. When everything had been
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arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer
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room to carry on their ministry, but only the high priest entered
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the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without.
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Blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins of the
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people, had committed an ignorance.
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The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most
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Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first
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Tabernacle was still functioning.
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This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that
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the gifts and sacrifices being offered we're not able to clear
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the conscience of the worshipper.
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They're only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial
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washings. External regulations applying
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until the time of the New Order. This is the word of God for the
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people of God. While they're leaving, I'll
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share quick testimony from this weekend where we took some of
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our seniors in high school on a backpacking trip through the
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Pine Barrens, covering 17 miles on foot to be surrounded by
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God's creation and to reflect on high school and this next season
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of life that they have ahead of them.
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And when we were planning this, they said what happens if it
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rains? Well, the entire week leading up
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to our hike, it was scheduled to rain from the moment we landed
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on trail to the moment we got back to the car.
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And we persevered. And literally up until Friday
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morning, that was still the case.
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We landed sunshine, no rainbows, but sunshine.
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And we were able to hike, get to our campsite, set up everything,
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and we got all settled and cozy. And then we got texts from
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people that we were in a tornado warning, which I figured if the
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Lord took us up and I was with Jesus, Jill could not get a hold
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of me afterwards so I was good. But none the less we were able
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to sleep through the night as it rained and winds blew and by the
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time we were hiking out in the morning it was already sunshine
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again. And so the Lord provided just
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beautifully through that time in multiple ways, but that is just
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one that I'd like to share this morning that I'm alive post all
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of that and we made it back most of us anyway this morning.
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Our scripture talks about the old way of doing things and
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sometimes we like to think more about the old in days, right?
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Even our slide for this service for the sermon series is a
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cassette tape, which you may think that our youth do not
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know, but apparently cassette tapes are growing in popularity
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thanks to Stranger Things. But my grandfather actually has
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a part to play in the creation of the cassette tape, which I
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don't think Scott knew before he made that the illustration for
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our sermon slides. My grandfather worked at RCA and
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they had these invention competitions at work where
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whoever, like created the coolest thing, got $250, which
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back in the late 50s was a big deal.
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And him and his friend worked on condensing magnetic strips that
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they used for memory, you'd think for film or other
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recordings, but to get it smaller and to carry more
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memory. And so they won that $250 so
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that RCA could keep all of the rights and use that later on to
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make cassette tapes. But with that, it's not the
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oldest way in which we are capable of listening to music.
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I learned recently that 150 years ago you could not listen
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to music if it was not being played directly in front of you,
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a very foreign thing to many of us.
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The first time that you were able to record and play back
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music was Thomas Edison's phonograph, which I believe we
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have a picture of, which he would put a tin foil canister in
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there that could play back to you 2 minutes of music.
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And the very first song recorded and played was Mary Had a Little
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Lamb, which Mary never told me about.
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Anyway, this then grows and grows and changes over time and
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as we see through the various formats.
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We have records. We have 8 tracks.
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CDs. Anyone in here have 8 tracks at
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some point? I'm curious.
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OK, we have a few handfuls. Incredible.
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OK have any of you in the front rows seen an 8 track in person?
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Only one. OK anyway the biggest jump
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because if you remember records a track, cassette, CD, you get
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one album right? This is why they created
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Greatest Hits album, so you could get the best of the songs
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and not have to switch out all of your music.
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Or you would get compilation albums so you could listen to
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different artists next to each other instead of just one person
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over and over. And so the one that changed it
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all was the iPod, where you could store in our minds as much
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music as you possibly could and play and choose and do whatever
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you want with it. And so we went from 2 minutes in
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a tinfoil can to our phones that can carry up to two years of
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music on them. And that's without the Internet,
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right? You get the right passwords and
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you can listen to almost everything that's been recorded
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digitally in this time and age. And Spotify itself is adding 100
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days worth of music every single day.
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You will never finish Spotify. And so my grandfather was always
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interested in the next technological improvement.
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He was always on the forefront of technology and he would say 2
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main things. One, if he was very impressed by
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something in technology, he would always say what will they
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think of next? And secondly, whenever he came
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across an issue that technology did not solve yet, he would
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always say, there's got to be a better way.
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And luckily for those in the Old Covenant and living in the Old
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Testament, there is a better way and there was something next.
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And that's what we're going to talk about this morning.
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But first, let us pray. Lord, I thank you so much for
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this opportunity to gather and worship you.
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We ask that your Spirit would guide and lead the rest of our
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time together and prepare us to fulfill your will as we go out
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in Jesus name, Amen. So this conversation around the
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ceremonial laws that we read about and the scripture come up
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not just only in church, but also with my friends from
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outside of church, because when they start getting interested in
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Christianity, they say, well, I'm going to go straight to the
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source. So they decide to read the Bible
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from the beginning to the end. And I always forewarn them
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that's probably not the best route if you've never opened a
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Bible before, because you're going to get to Leviticus and
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Deuteronomy and you're going to have a lot of questions and
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maybe be a little discouraged when you read all the different
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laws that are happening. And then they come to me and
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say, Jeremy, you're Christian and you don't do anything that's
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listed here in the ceremonial law.
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I said, well, that's why I told you, you should start with
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Jesus, because we are Christians.
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We are called to be Christ like, and Jesus changed everything.
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Jesus is the perfect sacrifice that covers all of the
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sacrifices talked about in the Old Testament, right Under the
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old system, it was the blood of goats and calves that could
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cleanse people's bodies from ceremonial impurity.
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And Jesus becomes the new high priest.
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He enters into something greater than the Tabernacle, the holy
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place that Joanna was reading about.
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He's able to enter into heaven something far greater than
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anything that we could have created ourselves.
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And not only does he is he capable of entering there, but
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he's able to go on our behalf and secure our redemption
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forever. So just think how much more the
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blood of Christ will purify our consciences, right?
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The law was unable to purify the consciences of those trying to
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follow it in the Old Testament. How much more can Christ's blood
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purify our consciences from our sinful deeds, so that we can
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worship the living God? For by the power of the Holy
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Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice
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for our sins. And through Jesus there's a new
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covenant between God and humanity.
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For Christ died to set everyone free from the penalty of sin.
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Under the first covenant, the the old system could not cover
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this. And yet through Christ, through
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his blood, it is possible. And in the old way of doing
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things, blood was sprinkled on virtually everything, right?
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And Moses says in Exodus that this blood confirms the covenant
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the Lord has made with you. For without the shedding of
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blood, there is no forgiveness. And many people inside the
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church, outside the church, ask me regularly, why is death and
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blood involved in cleansing, involved in getting us to
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salvation? It seems kind of morbid and
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yucky. And why isn't there more of a
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sunshine and rainbows kind of way to achieve those things?
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And Scripture points us to the example of a will, except
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there's a lot less paperwork, thanks be to God.
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But when you write out your will, you are setting forth
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promises of what's going to happen after your passing.
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You are coming into a certain sort of covenant, and yet all
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the things that you write out, all of the things that you sign,
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do not come to fruition until after you die, right?
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And so as much as all of our youth would like to receive
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their inheritances now, very much like the prodigal son, we
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have to wait until people pass away.
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They only goes into effect after the person's death.
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And in order for salvation to be offered, Christ's death was
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necessary for the new covenant to be made.
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And after his death, Jesus entered into heaven itself to
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appear before God. And he did not enter heaven one
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time. And then every year he had to go
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back to heaven on on our behalf, just like the high priesthood,
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right? They had to go every single
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year, kill another animal, take the blood, all of this.
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He only had to do it once because he was the perfect
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sacrifice. And this one sacrifice was able
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to remove all sin. I'm very grateful personally
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that we no longer have to kill animals on our way to church.
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Can I get an Amen for that? Tina, you have more access.
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That's not fair. So when my grandfather said
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there's got to be a better way in regards to technology at
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least, right? It's always changing and people
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are always striving to get the new best thing.
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But in regards to removing our sin that separates us from God,
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the best answer is and always will be Jesus.
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Because the old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow,
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a dim preview of the good things to come.
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It wasn't the good things themselves and that is why when
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Jesus came into the world, he said to God, you did not want
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animal sacrifices or sin offerings, but you have given me
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a body to offer. You are not pleased with burnt
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offerings or other offerings for sin.
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Then he said, look, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is
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written about me and the Scriptures.
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So Jesus himself says that God didn't want all of those
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different offerings, even though that's what the law of Moses
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requires of his people. Jesus cancels the first covenant
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in order to put the second into effect.
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And the Holy Spirit, a testify, testifies to this desire in the
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Old Testament in Jeremiah 31. For it says, this is the new
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covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the
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Lord. I will put my laws and their
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hearts, and I will write them on their minds.
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And it says I will never again remember their sins and lawless
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deeds. And when sins have been
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forgiven, there's no need to offer any more sacrifices.
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You may also remember that when my grandfather witnessed
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something new that he didn't believe possible prior, he would
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exclaim, what will they think of next?
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And so after witnessing what Jesus has done, what did God
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think of next? God's will was and is for us to
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be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Christ.
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God wants his people to be faithful.
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And so because of the blood of Jesus, we can boldly enter into
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heaven. Feel like a lot of times when we
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have the imagery of going up to the gates, we're usually very
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shy and timid and worried about like, did we do enough?
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Well, it's not all about what you've done.
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It's because of the blood of Jesus we can boldly enter into
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heaven. He's provided a new way for us
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to live. And since we have Jesus who
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rules over God's house, we can go right into the presence of
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God with sincere hearts, fully trusting Him.
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For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's
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blood to make us clean. We need to hold tightly without
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wavering to the hope that we have, for God can be trusted to
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keep His promise. Usually we can't be trusted to
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keep our end and let us think of ways to motivate one another
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into acts of love and good works.
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Because if we deliberately continue sinning after we have
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received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice
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that can cover those sins. There is only the impending
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terrible expectation of God's judgement.
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If you remember in the Old Testament, anyone who refused to
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obey the law of Moses was put to death.
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So just imagine the punishment for those who ignore what Jesus
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did and have treated the blood of the covenant which made us
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holy as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted the
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Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to us.
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I mean, how often does someone die so that you can live right,
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let alone a perfect person? And yet we can treat this is
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just a common occurrence in another piece of the Daily News.
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But we can't get distracted by the new and enticing ideas of
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the world that tries to offer an attempt at saving you from your
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problems or providing you purpose or hope.
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Instead, you should know that there are better things waiting
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for you that will last forever. So do not throw away your
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confident trust in the Lord. Remember what it brings you.
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What we need now is a patient endurance so that we can
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continue to do God's will. It says in Hebrews 1038.
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And my righteous ones will live by faith, but I will take no
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pleasure in anyone who turns away.
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If we want to be God's righteous ones, we need to live by faith.
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And to live by faith, we need to know what faith is, right?
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It's not just believing that he exists, but Scripture tells us
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that faith shows the reality of what we hope for.
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It is the evidence of things we cannot see.
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By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at
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God's command, that what we see now did not come from anything
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that can be seen. Even under the old covenant, God
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used imperfect people to demonstrate what faithfulness
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faithfulness looked like. We have examples like Enoch, who
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by faith was taken up to heaven without dying.
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It says that he disappeared because God took him, for before
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he was taken up he was known as a person who pleased God.
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And it is impossible to please God without faith.
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Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and
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that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
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It was by faith that Noah built the ark to save his family from
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the you know the story. Noah by faith built the ark to
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save his family from the flood. He obeyed God even when God was
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warning him about something that had never happened before.
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It was by faith that Abraham obeyed.
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When God called him to leave his home and go to another land that
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God would give him as his inheritance, he went without
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knowing where he was going. Luckily on our hiking trip, we
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had a general idea of where we were going.
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But just like Abraham. We were in tents, we were in a
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place that did not belong to us. We were foreigners to that
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place. And yet Abraham went in faith
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that God would provide the land in which he promised.
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Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal
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foundations, a city designed and built by God.
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All these people died still believing that God what God had
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promised them. They did not receive what was
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promised in their lifetime, but they saw it all at a distance
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and welcomed it. They agreed that they were
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foreigners and nomads here on earth.
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Obviously, people who say such things are looking forward to a
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place they can call their own. If they wanted to be where they
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were from, they would just return back to where they were
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from. But they were looking for a
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better place, a heavenly homeland, just as we should
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yearn for in our own hearts. That is why God is not ashamed
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to gull them, to have them call Him their God.
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He prepared a place for them, just as He prepared a place for
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us. And there are dozens of
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examples, not only in the Old Testament, the New Testament,
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but also throughout Christian history of people that lived by
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faith. And sometimes the results of
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this faith were incredible and unprecedented.
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They were able to overthrow kingdoms, to rule of justice.
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They received what God had promised them.
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They were able to shut the mouths of lion, quench the
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flames of fire, and escape death by the edge of the sword.
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Their weaknesses were turned to strength, as we talked last week
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about talked about last week. And others in the faith, sadly,
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were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free
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from their tortures. If you go to Mexico City, there
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is an official Museum of torture in downtown.
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We are not taking the mission team there, but if you were to
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visit, you would see that about half of the torture devices were
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created and used for people of faith and so can come from a
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lineage of those that did not. Let them.
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Let that deter them from holding on to truth and trusting in the
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things that are promised. They place their hope and a
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better life after the resurrection though they were
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tortured, mocked, put in prison, put to death, Some even live
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their entire lives in destitution, oppressed and
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mistreated. All these people earned a good
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reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received
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all that God had promised. For God had something better in
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mind for us so that they would not reach perfection without us.
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And since we have many witnesses of the faith in this room,
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hopefully how many of you have been encouraged by someone else
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in this room? 0 We'll have to work on that.
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You got to get to meet more people in here.
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Even if that's not the case. We have all of those in
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Scripture and throughout church history that have showed us what
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living a holy life can look like and involves putting aside all
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of our own desires, all of the things of this world that try to
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put us away from focusing on God's will.
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And that's why we can not only look on Jesus in a metaphorical
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way, but look at his example as he was on the cross enduring the
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pain for us. He didn't care about how it
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looked, how it felt, though it was not great.
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He did it none the less because of the joy waiting for him in
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heaven. And in our context, we aren't
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risking our physical death. I hope we're not risking our
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physical death normally on a regular basis, but we need to
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put aside ourselves when we don't line up with what God
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desires for us and have faith that it will lead us to joy
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everlasting. Last week we talked about who we
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are, who Scripture says we are, and it talks about us being
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God's children, right as a parent and as getting to learn
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from many parents that have parented before me.
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If you let the kids do whatever they want whenever they want,
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and it's probably not best for those kids, would we agree with
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that You need to work with teenagers more?
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Come on over to youth group. But no, if we let them do
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whatever they want whenever they want, it is not good.
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Discipline is required, and as a parent, I try my best to
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discipline well, though that may not always be the case.
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And yet we can trust that God's discipline is always good for us
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so that we may share in His Holiness.
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The holy God of the Israelites, the one that the angels are
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singing, holy, holy, holy. We have the opportunity to share
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in His Holiness, not by our great righteous deeds, but
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because of what He's done and because of His discipline that
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we should not only accept when it occurs, but hopefully look
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forward to if we know that that's the end result.
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Even if discipline is not enjoyable at the moment, we know
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that we will eventually see the results of living the way that
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God has instructed us to. And lastly, as we talk about
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these things, it can seem like a big arching umbrella over these
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topics, and it may almost seem too simple of what we're called
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to do. And I believe what we're called
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to do is fairly simple, but that doesn't mean it's always easy.
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And so desiring God's will for our lives every single day is
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what's going to change our perspective of our Christian
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walk, hopefully to be more in alignment with how he wants us
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to view it. Because if we carry the guilty
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consciences of those that were under the Old covenant, it's
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easy to live out of those guilty consciences.
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We can strive to carry our cross, which we're called to do
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by our own power. And that means that we need to
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bear the brunt of it, that we need to do it well so that we
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can earn that salvation. So that if we do good enough in
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this world, we will be able to earn our salvation and get that
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ticket to heaven, or at least our version of what we hope
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heaven is like. And so our actions can be rooted
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out of this desire for what we want to get out of our good
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choices. And we put all of this pressure
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on us instead of taking not only the aid of the Holy Spirit to
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accomplish God's will for our lives, as we talked about last
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week, but having our actions rooted out of the truth that
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Christ paid it all on the cross and His blood has cleansed us.
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You cannot cleanse yourself, right?
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They talk about the good man going to heaven, but no man is
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fully good and so it's only by his grace and by the sacrifice
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Jesus has made for us that we are able to go before our
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Heavenly Father and go into the ultimate holy place.
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Secondly, need to remember that our faith that we would have
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give me one second buffering. That we would have faith not
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only that God exists, but that his promises are true and that
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he has always been faithful to fulfill them.
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Even if we don't see how that's possible in our personal lives
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or the ever changing world around us.
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That we would constantly remind ourselves in times of
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frustration and despair of who God is and what He's promised
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us. Not reacting out of defeat and
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fear, but acting in victory. Not our own victory, but the
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victory that we have in Jesus. Would you pray with me, Lord?
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Would we walk in your ways? Would we live holy lives?
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Would you empower us through Your spirit to do so?
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To live at peace with everyone so that others can see Your
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Holiness through us? Would we encourage one another?
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Would we be diligent to make sure that no bitterness grows
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within us? That we would keep on loving
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each other as brothers and sisters?
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Would we remember to show hospitality to strangers,
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remember those who are being mistreated, and empathize with
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their pain as if it was our own? We ask that the marriages in
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this room would be honoring to you and a reflection of your
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faithfulness. Would we be satisfied with what
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you've provided us and not seek after the things of this world
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that we can trust that you will never fail us or abandoned us?
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We know you as our Lord. We know that you are our helper.
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We ask that we would not fear the things of this world, but we
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would bring it to memory of who you are and what you've
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promised. Would we remember those who have
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lived holy lives before us and think of all the good that has
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come from their lives and follow the example of their faith?
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We know that your Son is the same yesterday, today and
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forever with all these new inventions and ideas, that you
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are still the most relevant and the most important thing to ever
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exist. May our strength come from your
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grace and this Communion Sunday. May we be grateful for Christ's
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bloodshed for us and remember that this world is not our
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permanent home that we are looking forward to a home yet to
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come. And let us offer through Jesus a
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continual sacrifice of praise to you, for you alone are worthy.
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We're thankful that we no longer have to do blood sacrifices at
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church. May we not forget to do good and
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to share with those in need, because we know that these are
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the sacrifices that please you. Amen.