Latest / REZ CHURCH Podcast / Living Like Two Different People - March 29, 2026

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Living Like Two Different People - March 29, 2026 · REZ CHURCH Podcast

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I'm a completely different person depending on the room
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that I'm in. Upstairs I'll be chasing your
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skippity. Kids will be dodging nerf nerf
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bullets, absolutely destroying them in foosball.
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Speaking fluent middle schooler, no cap.
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I know it's weird. And then my phone rings and I'm
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standing in a hospital room, praying over a friend who's in a
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coma, holding onto a hand that's not squeezing back, asking God
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for something that I can't make happen on my own.
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Same guy, same week. Hi, I'm Dave, one of the pastors
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here at Resurrection Church. I think we all do this.
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You have a version of yourself in every room you walk into, and
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most of the time that's just being called human.
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Most of the time, nobody calls you up because it's basic
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survival that read the room, protect yourself, don't make
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things weird. But it doesn't just stay in the
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classroom or at work. Actually follows you into the
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moments, the moments that matter most.
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And at some point, maybe, maybe it's already happened.
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This week, that same instinct shows up when Jesus is on the
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table. Not in a dramatic way, that was
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soldiers and torches. Just a moment where you could
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have said something and you didn't, or you could have let
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people know who you actually are, but you chose the easier
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version of yourself. Most of us, we've been doing
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this. We've been doing this so long,
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we don't even notice it anymore. How much would it cost you,
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Judas? Judas sold out Jesus for 30
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pieces of silver. 30 pieces branded him forever. 30 pieces
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made him the villain. But here's what I keep thinking
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about. Most of us, we betray Jesus for
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free. Judas at least got something out
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of the deal. We deny him for nothing.
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We go quiet at a dinner party to avoid awkward pauses.
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We scroll past your chances to say something about our faith
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because what would people actually think about us?
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We stay silent in a conversation where Jesus is being mocked or
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our morals, our values are being challenged and we walk away
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pain. Exactly nothing except our
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integrity. Our big idea for today is your
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silence is your statement. Today we're going to read John
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chapter 18. And this chapter isn't really
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about Peter. It's about the version of you
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and me that show up when it gets costly to follow Jesus.
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Before we before we read this, though, if you're here today and
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you're not a Christian, you're about to see what makes Jesus
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different from every other religious leader who's ever
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lived. Every other religion tells you
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you've got to get it back together.
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You can come back when you're worthy.
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Jesus walks toward people who have just failed him.
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That's the account we're going to read right now in John
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chapter 18, verses 15 through 27.
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Let's read. Simon Peter followed Jesus, and
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so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to
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the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the
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high priest. But Peter stood outside the
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door, so the other disciple who was known to the high priest
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went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at
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the door and brought Peter in. The servant girl of the door
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said to Peter, You also are not one of this man's disciples, are
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you? He said, I am not.
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Now the servant, an officer, had made a charcoal fire because it
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was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves.
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Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.
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The high priest then question Jesus about his disciples and
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his teaching. Jesus answered him.
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I have spoken openly to the world.
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I've also taught in synagogues and in the Temple where all Jews
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come together. I have said nothing in secret.
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Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what
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I said to them. They know what I said when he
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has said these things. One of the officers standing by
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struck Jesus with his hand, saying, Is this how you answer
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the high priest? Jesus answered him.
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If what I say is wrong, bear witness about the wrong.
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But if what I say is right, why do you strike me?
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And it's been sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
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Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself.
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So they said to him, You also are not.
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You also are not one of his disciples, are you?
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He denied it and said, I am not one of the servants of the high
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priest. A relative of the man whose ear
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Peter had cut off asked, Did I not see you in the garden with
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him? Peter again denied it, and at
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once the rooster crowed. Most of us picture this in a
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dark alley where all of this is happening.
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But if you remember Pastor Daniel's message a couple weeks
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ago, this is the high priest courts.
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This is where Peter and and Jesus are the absolute center of
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hostile power of this massive estate.
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Not a little house, a fortress built in rectangles surrounding
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a central courtyard. You don't just wander in and out
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of this place. Jesus was visible to Peter.
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They could see each other as people moved about across that
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courtyard. Peter's warming himself by the
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fire. And Jesus is on trial.
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The courage and the cowardice is happening all at the same time,
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and what happens next is not one denial, it's three, and each one
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costs something different. The first one is the relational
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cost, the question that catches you off guard.
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It doesn't start with an enemy, it starts with somebody who
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probably doesn't even know your name.
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The first actually accusation comes from a low stakes source,
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a servant goal. Not a soldier, not one of the
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religious authorities who could actually have him arrested.
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A girl at the door, she says, Aren't you one of his disciples?
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She says it's so in a way that she expects him to say no.
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She gives him the easy out. There's no sores at Peter's
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throat, no crowd calling for his blood.
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Just a girl asking an easy question with an easy exit.
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And Peter took it. Peter took it because the
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relational cost felt too high. What if word got out?
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What if people start to treat me differently?
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What if I lose access to the courtyards, the inner circle, to
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this moment? I know this.
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I know this because I've done this.
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I've lived this. I felt this.
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I spent over 10 years in sales, new people everyday, thousands
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of conversations. I've sat across from foster
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parents, people in crisis, people drowning, hurt, sorrow.
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And I've stayed quiet, Silent because the cost of being cut
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out of the situation felt too high, too much at stake, too
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much to mention the one thing that could actually help them
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and help the situation. I didn't stop believing in
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Jesus. I just mentioned Him when I felt
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safe and I told myself that was enough.
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That's OK. That's the first denial.
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It doesn't look like Peters. No soldiers, no courtroom.
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Just a decision to stay quiet. The decision to send the easier
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version of me into the room. We do it every week.
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Not dramatically socially in the moment when we we should be
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relevant and standing up for Jesus, we say nothing.
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When someone challenge you the way you parent, the way you
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think about your marriage or your morals, you actually have
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an answer for these things. Not just an opinion, but a
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conviction. Something that scripture has
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been shaping you over years following Jesus has actually
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changed you. That idea of well, I just think
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as if now it's just your personal preference, as if
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nothing Jesus has done in your life is making you think that
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way, as this you've arrived to this conviction by accident,
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like nothing God is actually doing in your life.
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This is denial. Nobody threatened you.
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Nobody came at you with torches, you just quietly edited out
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Jesus of your own story, your own conversations, to be
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comfortable. The first denial, the easy
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denial, is about reputation. The servant girls question the
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low stakes, the easy exit. Man, do we take it.
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We take it all the time. Social media and modern dinner
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parties are our new courtyards. We warm ourselves by the fire of
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public approval. So what do we do about this when
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that moment comes? That moment at the dinner table,
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the discussions, that group chats, the office?
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I'm not telling you to go preach and Bible thump people.
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Just don't edit Jesus out of your conversation.
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Ask yourself one question before you answer, before you speak
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into it. How would I respond if Jesus was
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sitting next to me? Because he is the lifestyle
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cost. By the 2nd denial, Peter is not
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really in that much danger. He's just cold.
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He walked into the court court courtyard and the people were
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about to kill Jesus, and he's warming his hands by the fire
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and he's starting to blend in, not because he had to, but
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because it's easier. The second questioner pushes
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harder. Aren't you one of the disciples?
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And again, I am not you and I, we want the fire without the
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cross. We want the peace of Jesus, his
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promises, but not the lifestyle that requires us to follow
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Jesus. Arthur Wilburys says from this
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book, $3 worth of God. I would like to buy $3 worth of
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God, please. Not enough to expose my soul and
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to disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm
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milk or a snooze in the sunshine.
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I don't want enough to make him make me love a black man or pick
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beats with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not
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transformation. I want the warmth of the womb,
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not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in
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a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of
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God, please. We want the blessing without the
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obedience. I've wanted that $3 version of
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God more times than I can admit. Following Jesus has always meant
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something was going to be costly.
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Not your salvation. That's grace.
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It's given to us freely. But my lifestyle, my life, my
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choices. Jesus says to take up your
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cross, not your coffee. He says to deny myself, not just
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my desires, when it's convenient.
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The second denial is a lifestyle choice.
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How often do we want Jesus to show up on Sunday?
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But we're not ready to be different on Monday?
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What's the fire you're warming yourself that isn't Jesus?
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That thing. That thing that's coming to your
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mind. And if it's not, keep searching
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for it. When it comes, say it out loud,
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because silence is a statement. But so is finally telling the
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truth, and denial thrives in silence.
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The moment you say it out loud, it loses half of its power.
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Lastly, the physical cost. By the 3rd denial, Peter's back
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is against the wall. One of the people asking is the
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relative of Malchus, the man who Peter had just chopped his ear
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off hours before. This is personal now.
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This is dangerous, he says. Didn't I see you in the garden?
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And Peter denied it again. And Matthew's count.
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Matthew tells us he's cursing and he swears I don't know this
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blankety blank dude. The deeper we go into denial,
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the harder we have to work to maintain it.
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First it's a quiet deflection. Now, now it's a loud
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desperation. Matthew 26 tells us that after
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the 3rd denial, someone in the courtyard says your accent, the
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way you talk, it gives you away. You're 1 of him.
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He's trying to blend in, standing at the fire, using
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their words, playing the part. But the moment he talked, he
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ratted himself out. Because when you've spent a long
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time with Jesus, he changes you. It changes the way you talk
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about life, money, the way you see your enemies, the way you
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handle suffering. It changes what you're willing
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to do with your life. Peter couldn't fully hide it,
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even in his denial. Jesus already changed him more
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than he realized. So what would it cost you to
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take one step closer to Jesus right now?
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Not vaguely. Specifically.
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A reputation, a relationship, a career, a lifestyle you've
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built. Write that down.
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Write down what you might lose. And then right underneath it,
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Jesus already knew when he went to the cross for me.
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Jesus himself says, don't start building until you've counted
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the cost. Luke chapter 18.
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This is his words, not mine. Because until you name it, until
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you make that decision about whether or not you're willing to
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pay for it, you don't know what you're doing.
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Sometimes we Christians lie to ourselves.
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We'd say we'd die for Jesus. Bro, please.
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You won't even fully live for Jesus, let alone die for him.
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Who's singing about taking the cross on Sunday?
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But Monday, we won't take a pay cut for a calling.
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About 10 years ago, I'm a brand new youth pastor just trying to
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figure out how to get kids to go to church.
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And I get a call about a student that had graduated about a year
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and a half earlier. And this young man lost his
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life, an overdose gone. Instead of a regular Wednesday
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night service, we're going crazy, having fun.
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We planned a small prayer service just so our youth group,
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the kids that knew him, could start to heal.
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Something quiet, something for a few of the family members.
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That night, I pulled into the parking lot.
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I kid you not, there were students and teachers.
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The place was packed. There were skids everywhere.
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I did not invite them. They invited themselves. 150
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people show up, People I've never seen.
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People never set foot in church. I'll be honest, I was terrified.
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I'd never done a funeral service before.
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I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know what I was walking
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into. I'd never stood in front of
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grief that size before. But I knew a few things.
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I knew that boy knew the Lord and I knew that 100 people were
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about to walk into a church that had probably never heard about
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Jesus before. I had a choice.
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I could keep it safe. I could keep it general.
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I could talk about love and loss and really say nothing about the
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gospel. Nothing really uncomfortable
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about eternal life and or I could say the one true thing.
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The thing that cost Jesus so much.
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So I preached the gospel in a room full of strangers and grief
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and a mother who had just lost her son.
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And at the end of it, we had a prayer quote up front.
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And I told anyone who wanted to pray, to pray for the family, to
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pray over the the quilt, to come forward and tie a knot, say your
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prayer. And they lined up, seemingly all
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of them, 150 people in a giant line, 1 by 1 tie knots,
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whispering prayers. Some of them probably never
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prayed in their lives before. That's what happens when you say
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the costly thing. That's what happens when you
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don't edit Jesus out of the room.
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So where are you in this story? Maybe you're at the servant
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girl. You're at that easy question
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right now. Just a low stakes moments.
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You've been quietly editing out Jesus out of your story, out of
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your personal life, out of the conversations that you're
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having. You haven't done anything
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traumatic. You've just stopped mentioning
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him. Maybe you're at the fire.
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You're in a season where you're trying to stay warm, be
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comfortable. You've started to blend into the
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crowd more than you and I'd like to admit.
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Or maybe you've heard the rooster crow.
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You know something is off, the weight is on you, but you
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haven't been willing to name it yet.
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If that's you, I need to, I need you to see what happens next.
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In this account, Peter hears the rooster and it broke him, but it
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didn't end him. And here's why.
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Luke tells us in that exact moment, Jesus turns and looked
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straight at him through the people, through the courtyard.
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Think about what Jesus was going through.
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Betrayal, abandonment. He's about to be crucified.
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He's already been beaten. It's just about to get worse.
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He could have looked at Peter with anger, with disappointment,
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with disgust. But what he saw in Peter, he is.
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This is the same thing that he's seen through Peter, through all
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the ministry, through the all the time that they're been
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together. He watched him look at Zacchaeus
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as a thief, a sell up. He watched him look at the woman
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caught in a drought she dragged into the streets in her shame.
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He watched the lepers and the outcasts and the failures.
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It was always the same look. The look of love, the look that
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says I know what you're going through, I know what you've
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done. It's why I came here to earth,
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to die on the cross. This is the gospel.
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Jesus didn't come to the cross by accident.
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He went knowing that Peter was going to be standing at the
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fire. He went for the skeptics in this
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room. He went for the person warming
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themselves by the wrong fires. He went for me and he went for
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you. The courtyard is not the end of
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your story. It wasn't the end of his.
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Right now, He's not looking at your failures.
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Jesus could not stay dead. Not even death could hold him.
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Next week we're going to celebrate that.
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We're going to be so excited. It's going to be Easter.
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Jesus is not asking you to clean up yourself first.
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He's asking you to trust him with your mess.
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The same Jesus who looked at Peter across the courtyard, who
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didn't look away, who didn't give up, who went to the cross,
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who came here anyways. That is the same person who's
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standing in front of you now. Not a religion, not a set of
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rules. Jesus who already knew
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everything you've done and he came for you anyways.
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Romans 10/9 tells us if you confess with your mouth that
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Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him
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from the dead, you will be saved.
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For the heart. 1 believes and is justified and with the mouth one
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confess, confesses and is saved. If you want to take the
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opportunity to confront Jesus, who's already standing in front
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of you, who's been calling you, who's been waiting for you,
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wants to save you, I'm going to give you an opportunity right
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now to say a prayer. This prayer isn't about perfect
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words. It's not about getting the
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formula right. God cares about your heart.
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I can pray this quietly or silently repeating what I say or
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something in your own words, in your belief to Jesus.
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Let us pray right now. Right now is the time for
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someone to surrender their life to God.
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Say this prayer. Jesus, thank you.
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Thank you for finding me where I'm at today.
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I choose to follow you. I know I'm a messed up person
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and I'm lost on my own. I know I can't save myself.
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I've been warming myself at the wrong fire and today I look to
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you. I can't follow you perfectly,
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but I trust you to save me today.
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I give you my whole life. I accept your love, your peace,
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your forgiveness of my sins. Be my savior Jesus, Everybody's
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head still bowed. If you pray that prayer for the
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very first time, would you be brave enough for me to see?
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Thank you. See your hands in Jesus name
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Everybody says Amen. If you prayed that prayer for
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the very first time, something incredible just happened.
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Welcome to the family of God. In a moment we were all going to
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stand. If you pray that prayer, please,
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please go to either of the tables that say I raised my
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hand. I ask you because we, we want to
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start this journey with you. We want to celebrate with you.
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We want to give you a gift right now.
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Our prayer team is going to come forward.
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If you would like to pray about anything, I mean anything at
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all, I encourage you to come forward.
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Maybe it's something that you wrote down today.
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As you come forward, give it to God.
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Everybody, please stand. Move as the Lord leads you.