Sin Forgiving Power (Mark 2:1-12, Tim Robinson)

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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org Sin Forgiving Power

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Good morning. Good morning.
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How's everybody doing today? Good. I'll open the way we did at the nine o 'clock.
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This is the day the Lord has made. All right, let's try it again.
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This is the day the Lord has made. Awesome.
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So, as you can tell, I'm not Pastor John. He has better gray hair,
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I guess, and he's taller. I'm also not Jeff or Drew, but Pastor Jeff and Pastor John are away at TruthScript, at the
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TruthScript conference, where Pastor Jeff, I believe, is speaking today, but wanted to open with some announcements.
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There's a lot of them. It's funny, because I watch other people do announcements here, and you think, oh, yeah, they're just kind of going through the announcements.
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But when you actually sit down to write them down, you're like, wow, there's a lot of stuff going on at the church, a number of things.
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I was even reminded of one that I neglected to mention this morning. It just wasn't on the calendar, so I didn't list it, but the men's breakfast, which is tomorrow here,
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I believe, at 6 a .m. But there's also tomorrow evening a men's Bible study at 7 p .m.
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here. There's a women's study on Tuesday at 9 .30 a .m. They're going through Revelation.
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At the men's study tomorrow night, we're going through a book called The Ten. It's on the
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Ten Commandments. There's also a Wednesday Bible study at lunchtime on Galatians at 12, lunchtime.
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There are community groups on Thursday nights. There's one that meets here. Actually, I'm not sure where both of them meet, but you can talk to Tim McCormick about one and Drew Deegan about the other.
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There's youth group on Friday nights that Tim and most recently the superstar
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Jacob, our guest speaker, has been leading some of those.
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There's the young adults ministry, which is for 18 to 35s.
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I'm not sure how strict you are on that, but it's not super strict. So if you're a little over 35, that's okay.
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But the young adults ministry as well. There is a baptism coming up on June 9th, and that is going to be here on church property using our inflatable baptismal that we use outside over here.
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And if you're interested in that, there's a Sunday, May 12th baptism class that runs from 1045 to 1145.
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It'll be in the classroom at the front of the church, that back classroom.
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There is a youth Sunday school coming up that Kevin Lindaberry is going to be teaching, and the subject is going to be the case for Christ, that book.
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The next congregational meeting will be on June 23rd, right after second service.
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So if you're a member, plan to be here for that. And then there's a fundraiser that's going on for King's Christian track.
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If you're interested in the fundraiser, you can go to Panera Bread in Marlton on Route 73 on Tuesday, May 14th.
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And if you use the code FUND4U, which is
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F -U -N -D, the number four, and the letter U at checkout, then 20 % of the proceeds will go to King's Christian track.
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There will be Sunday night prayer, even though I am not Drew. Drew said he'll be back, and there will be
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Sunday night prayer tonight. So plan to be here for that.
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And that, I believe, is it. So let's open with a word of prayer and then get to worship. Lord God, I thank you for this day.
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I thank you for the church, this church, these people, Lord God. Thank you so much for the sacrifice of your son on the cross.
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I pray, Lord God, that your spirit would be in this place, that you would fill the worship team with your spirit,
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Lord God, and help them lead us in worship of you, Lord God. Just bless this time and be with us all.
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In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Let's all stand. While we're standing,
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Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will
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I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the
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Lord. And as we just said, our focus, Elliot is going to be leading us in a beautiful song, a hymn,
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Ferris, Lord Jesus. And just if we could put into human words how beautiful the
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Lord is, how beautiful Jesus is, it would be impossible. But we just wait for the day where we could stand in his presence and see him and encounter his beauty.
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And so if you don't know this ancient hymn, it's just beautiful.
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And just read the words as to this mortal man just tries to put into words just the captivating beauty of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Ferris, Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature.
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All thou of God and man, the
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Son, thee will
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I cherish. Thee will
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I honor, know my soul's glory, joy and crown.
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Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands.
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Robed in the looming garb of spring.
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Jesus is fairer,
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Jesus is purer.
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Who makes the woeful heart to sin?
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Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight.
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And on the twinkling starry host,
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Jesus shines brighter,
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Jesus shines purer Than all the angels heaven can boast.
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Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations.
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Son of God and Son of Man.
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Glory and honor, praise and adoration.
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Now and forevermore be
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Thine. Now and forevermore be
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Thine. Amen.
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Praise you, Lord. Amen. Amen. And Matthew 11, 28.
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Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. That is just one promise that Jesus makes of many.
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He is all sufficient for everything that you need. He is our deliverer and to deliver means
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He needs to deliver us from something. So if you're here this morning, He is a delivering
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God. He is an all -powerful God. And if you call on Him, He is faithful and just to deliver you from your darkest need.
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Who tells the sun to rise every morning? Colors the sky with the shades of His glory.
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Wakes us with mercy and love, Jesus does.
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Who holds the orphan and comforts the widow?
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Cries for injustice, feels every sorrow. Carries the pain of His children,
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Jesus does. So we sing praise to the
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Father who gave us the Son. Praise to the
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Spirit who's living in us. When I was a sinner,
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He saved me from who I was. Cause that's what
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Jesus does. Who understands the heart of a sinner?
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Covers His grace over all our mistakes.
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Washes us clean with His blood, Jesus does.
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Yes, He does. Who sings a song of sweet forgiveness?
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Who holds the keys to hell and the grave? And who has the power to save?
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Jesus does. Yes, He does. So we sing praise to the
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Father who gave us the Son. Praise to the
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Spirit who's living in us. When I was a sinner,
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He saved me from who I was. Cause that's what
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Jesus does. And oh what a friend, oh what a
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Savior. He's always been good, He's always been faithful.
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He came to my rescue when I needed Him most.
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And saved my soul. Singing oh what a friend, oh what a
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Savior. He's always been good, He's always been faithful.
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He came to my rescue when I needed Him most. And saved my soul.
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So we sing praise to the Father who gave us the
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Son. Praise to the Spirit who's living in us.
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When I was a sinner, He saved me from who
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I was. So we sing praise to the
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Father who gave us the Son. Praise to the
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Spirit who's living in us. When I was a sinner,
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He saved me from who I was. Cause that I know, that's what
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Jesus does. He will tread our iniquities underfoot.
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You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. And as we prepare for communion this morning, just reflect on how
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He has taken your sins. As far as the east is from the west.
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Someone always said, you notice He didn't say, as far as the north is from the south. Because when you get to the
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North Pole, you've reached the North Pole and then you start going south. But if you go as far as from the east to the west, there's no end.
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It is a limitless distance that He removes our sins from us. He calls us clean because He has cleansed us.
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He calls us righteous because He has made us righteous through His righteousness. What love could remember, no wrongs we have done.
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Omniscient Almighty, He cast not their son.
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Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore.
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Our sins they are made, His mercy is more.
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Praise the Lord, His mercy is more.
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Stronger than darkness, they knew every morn. Our sins they are made,
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His mercy is more. What patience would wait as we constantly work.
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What Father so tender is calling us home.
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He welcomes the weak, the powerless, the poor.
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Our sins they are made, His mercy is more.
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Praise the Lord, His mercy is more.
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Stronger than darkness, they knew every morn. Our sins they are made,
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His mercy is more. What riches of kindness
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He lavished on us. His blood was the payment,
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His life was the cost. We stood beneath the debt we could never afford.
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Our sins they are made, His mercy is more.
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Praise the Lord, His mercy is more.
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Stronger than darkness, they knew every morn. Our sins they are made,
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His mercy is more. Praise the Lord, His mercy is more.
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Stronger than darkness, they knew every morn. Our sins they are made,
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His mercy is more. Our sins they are made,
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His mercy is more. Oh, our sins they are made, His mercy is more.
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Oh, our sins they are made,
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His mercy is more. Thank you very much. An incident in the first certain,
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I'm kidding. But it wasn't while I was up here, it was when Tim was up here, so that's fine.
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So we're here to celebrate communion. We celebrate this table in remembrance of what
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Jesus did for us on the cross. So when Jesus gathered for the
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Last Supper with His disciples, it was during the Jewish Passover. And this was a time where Jews remembered how
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God had saved them from judgment in Egypt back when they were slaves and He freed them from that.
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So they were in captivity in Egypt and God provided a way for them to be rescued from that.
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We believers today know that the Passover is actually a foreshadowing of our own salvation.
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So during the Passover, they were instructed to take a spotless lamb to sacrifice it and to paint the doorposts and lintel of their homes with the blood of that lamb, that sacrificed lamb.
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And on those doorposts, what that did was that protected them from the coming judgment when
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God sent the angel of death to come through and kill the firstborn of those who weren't protected by the blood of that lamb.
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And so God then executed His judgment on Egypt and that resulted in the freeing of the
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Jews from captivity, from the bondage that they were under. And this mirrors our own salvation in that we are also spared from the judgment, the coming judgment of God through the blood of a spotless lamb, in this case the spotless lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
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Where Jesus came, condescended, took on human flesh, and then sacrificed Himself in a once -for -all sacrifice for our sins and His blood now protects us from that coming judgment.
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And so we celebrate this table because of what Christ did for us through it.
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It does seem weird to celebrate the death of our Lord, but however, we know that He's no longer dead, that He is alive,
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He was risen from the dead, and that that sacrifice does protect us. It forgives us of our sins and protects us from the coming judgment.
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It granted us freedom from sin and eternal life with Christ in heaven. But Jesus instituted this particular ordinance for us so that we could remember that sacrifice and sort of count the cost of it for our own salvation.
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He instituted this, though, for believers, so if you're here and you're not a believer, we're thrilled that you're here, but don't feel obligated to partake because this is really for believers to remember the sacrifice of our
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Lord, those of us who already believe and put our faith and trust in Him. And I know
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I do say this when I come up here, but I think it's important because Jesus also told us that we're not to take this ordinance lightly.
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So it is a remembrance of His sacrifice, but it is a serious thing and something that we ought not take lightly.
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It says in 1 Corinthians 11, 27 -29, Whoever, therefore, eats the bread and drinks the cup of the
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Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
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For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
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So again, discerning the body, thinking about the actual sacrifice, what the cost was for our salvation, and then examining ourselves, repenting of our sins, asking for forgiveness, and remembering the sacrifice of Christ.
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So we should thank Him for His sacrifice, for the grace and mercy He's shown us, freeing us from the bondage of sin just as He freed
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His people from the bondage in Egypt. So in a few moments,
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I'm going to ask the men to come forward, and we're going to pass out the elements. And right now,
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I would just ask that you would all bow your heads while I pray, and reflect on your own sin, and ask for forgiveness for that.
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So, guys, if you could come down. Lord God, I just thank You for this day. I thank You again for this church, for these people,
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Lord God. I thank You most of all, though, for the sacrifice of Your Son on the cross, that He loved us so much that He put on human flesh, suffered an agonizing and horrendous death, and poured out
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His blood for the salvation of many. Lord God, that You chose us, that You have saved us.
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Lord God, we just thank You so much for that sacrifice and for providing a way for us to be reconciled to You and spend eternity in heaven worshiping
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You. So, God, I just ask that You would forgive me of my sins, cleanse me of all the unrighteousness in my life,
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Lord God, and forgive me for all the things that I've done, Lord. And I pray,
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God, that we would constantly keep an eye on You, and that not just at this time, but throughout our daily lives, that we would remember the sacrifice that You paid for our salvation.
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In Christ's name I pray. Amen. It says in 1
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Corinthians 11, 23, and 24, What I received from the Lord, what
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I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when
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He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
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Continuing in verse 25 and 26, it says, In the same way He also took the cup after supper, saying,
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This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
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For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
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Good morning, church.
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Today is the day that the Lord has made, so we will rejoice and be glad.
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Christians should rejoice when? Always. And when people on the street ask you why you're so happy, or why you're rejoicing, or why you're so glad, you could tell them that it's because you have eternal life, and all your sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus.
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That's what keeps Christians very happy. Let's pray. Father God, thank you for the gospel that has saved us.
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Thank you for your Son, who shed blood for us. Thank you for raising
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Him from the dead, giving us this amazing life, and this hope that we can have you forever.
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This hope that we will have entrance into your kingdom. This hope that you're with us. We thank you for your spirit.
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We thank you for your truth. We thank you for your word. We pray for Jeff, who's preaching truth today at TruthScript.
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We pray that we would be people of the book, people of truth, and people preaching all over the world today at churches would be proclaiming truth.
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We thank you for truth. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, some of you may not know, but this season of life for me has been eventful lately.
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Last week, I wasn't here. I was in Pittsburgh in prison. I wasn't locked up, but I was playing basketball for a saint's prison ministry, and praise
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God, 28 men, 28 inmates, gave their lives to Christ and accepted
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Jesus Christ. And then some of you may know, on Monday, I, believe it or not, turned 30 years old.
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And then just yesterday, I walked for graduation from Cairn University.
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I got my bachelor's degree and my master's degree in arts of religion, and I was able to cram a five -year program into, like, 12 years.
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So I'm happy for that. But I'm very content.
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I know a lot of you guys probably did that quicker, but I'm very content with my own race that I'm running and the plan that God has for me.
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So there's something else that I have coming up. Oh, yeah. It is important.
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I get to marry the most beautiful creature that walks the earth later this month. And today,
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I get to preach one of my favorite passages in the Bible. It is Mark 2.
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So open up your Bibles to Mark 2. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 12.
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First one. And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home and many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door.
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And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
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And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him.
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And when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.
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And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.
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Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, Why does this man speak like that?
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He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? And immediately
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Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them,
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Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven?
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Or to say, Rise, take up your bed and walk. But that you may know that the
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Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic,
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I say to you, Rise, pick up your bed and go home. And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all so that they were all amazed and glorified
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God, saying, We never saw anything like this. Alright, so we're going to take this verse by verse today.
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Verse 1, And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.
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Alright, so how is Capernaum Jesus' home? Some of you may know that Jesus grew up in Nazareth.
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So Nazareth is his hometown. Some of you might be thinking, I thought he was born in Bethlehem. And Bethlehem is his hometown.
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Some of you might be thinking, didn't he live in Egypt for a little bit? That's all true. All of those were his home.
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Jesus was born in Bethlehem to fulfill scripture. According to Micah 5 .2, the
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Christ needed to be born in Bethlehem. And then he fled Bethlehem to go to Egypt for a little bit.
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And then out of Egypt, God called his son to fulfill Hosea 11 .1. And then he grew up in Nazareth.
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And the scriptures talk about in Matthew 2 .23 that the Christ was in Nazarene fulfilling what the prophets say.
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You might wonder where that says in the Old Testament. But throughout the prophets and throughout the Old Testament, there's this idea of a branch from the shoot of Jesse, from the root of David, this branch that's coming.
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And the word Nazareth is the Hebrew word nitzer that means branch.
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So Jesus grew up in Branchville, which is another name for Nazareth, Branchville.
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So Jesus fulfilled all of these things just by being born and living where he's living. But now he's in Capernaum.
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And Capernaum is his home base for ministry. Now he's in his 30s and he's preaching around the
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Galilee area. And it's Capernaum. So that is his ministry headquarters.
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It's kind of like I grew up, well, I was born in Penzalkan area. Then I moved to St.
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Amundsen and grew up there. And now like my home base headquarters where I do most of my ministry is Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
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So Jesus lived all these places and fulfilled scripture. But he's probably most likely maybe at Zebedee's house.
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He himself had nowhere to lay his head. So probably staying at a friend's house, maybe
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John and James' house. Verse 2, So something you may or may not know about Jesus.
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Jesus was the most popular man on the earth at the time. Sure, he's still the most popular guy today.
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He's still alive. Jesus is the most famous man who's ever lived. But even when he was doing his ministry, he drew crowds.
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He was very, very famous. The most famous man to ever live. At the end of his life when he was crucified, he didn't have many people with him.
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But when he was doing his ministry, he was very popular. And it wasn't because they believed that he was the
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Christ. It wasn't because they really believed that he was the son of the living God. That he was very popular.
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It was the amazing works that he was doing. The amazing miracles he was performing.
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The vast number of miracles he was performing. Even in chapter 1 of Mark, we learn about a lot of the miracles he was doing.
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He healed Simon Peter's mom, his mother -in -law. She was bedridden with a fever.
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And Jesus walked in the room and healed her. And immediately she got up and started serving Jesus. And then later that night, the entire city was coming to that house and getting healed.
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If you had a disease, you came to Jesus and got healed. If you had demons, you came to Jesus. And Jesus casted out the demons.
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And there was a really nasty disease during that time called leprosy. And that was like the walking dead.
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And that person was unclean. And when someone had leprosy, everyone stayed away from that person.
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But Jesus was able to heal this person with a touch. Because Jesus himself is clean. And when he touches things, he makes them well and clean.
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So it was a reverse effect. Jesus had that effect. Jesus was God. Jesus was the ultimate healer.
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He was famous. And they loved his miracles. So everyone came to Jesus to be healed.
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And then on this particular day in verse 3, they came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
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Now I assume back then wheelchairs probably weren't really popular. They were carrying this man probably with his bed.
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Probably like a mat. Four grown men probably carrying another grown man. And they're trying to bring him to Jesus.
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Now this story isn't mainly about the four men carrying their friend and bringing him to Jesus.
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But I do want to point out that these four men are very respectable people.
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They had faith. Jesus recognized their faith. But they were also really, really good friends.
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I mean, they're hanging out with a paralytic man. They're bringing the paralytic to see Jesus. And you really don't have good friends unless they do whatever it takes to bring you to Jesus.
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That's what these type of men were like. So I saw a post one time. And it was like the paralytic man being let down by the roof.
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And it said on there, like, you ain't got real friends until they bring you to Jesus. And I was like, yeah. So if you're wondering who your best friends are, it's the ones that care about your soul, that bring you to church, that bring you to Jesus.
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Your Christian friends are your best friends, or at least they should be. So if you really care about someone's soul, you want to bring them to Jesus.
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And you want to care for them if they're a paralytic. Help them out a little bit. Carry them wherever they need to go. These are those type of men.
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So they picked up their friend and took them to Jesus' home. There was only one problem, though, when they got there.
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Verse four. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd.
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So the crowd's the problem. They removed the roof above him. And when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.
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So they brought the man. And when they got there, they're thinking they're going to see Jesus, except there's only one problem. The crowd is so big.
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And Jesus is so famous, when he starts talking in a room, the entire room fills up. And then the entire house fills up.
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And then the front porch fills up. And then the driveway fills up. And you can't even get in the door. You would think that the crowd, if they're following Jesus, they would be a little nicer and let the paralytic through.
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But they don't. They're more concerned with themselves and being able to see the miracles that Jesus is doing. They're not totally loving people.
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They're usually, the crowds in the Gospels are indifferent. They don't recognize spiritual truth all the time.
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But they are amazed by the way Jesus talks. And they're amazed at the things that Jesus does.
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So the paralytic is there with his friends. His friends are carrying him. And they see this crowd.
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And what do they do? They look at the crowd and they say, Well, I guess we're not going to see him today. They turned back and went home.
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No, they didn't do that. They didn't see a way, so they made a way. They took this man up on the roof and ripped the roof out and lowered the man in the presence of Jesus.
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What an amazing thing. What an amazing story. What an amazing work these men did. They didn't see a way, so they made a way to bring them to Jesus.
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To bring him to Jesus. So it's four grown men carrying another grown man onto the roof.
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So these men were not walking just by sight, but walking by faith, including the paralytic.
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Verse 5, And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
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Son, your sins are forgiven. Now Jesus is really cool because he's preaching, right?
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He's preaching the word. He's got a big crowd. And then all of a sudden, he probably has, you know, the roof falling on top of him.
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And maybe a branch hitting him or tiles of the roof. And then this man is dropped into his presence.
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And what does he say to him? Son, you better fix this roof.
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No, he doesn't say that. He says, Son, your sins are forgiven. And now he looks before that at the faith of these men who brought the paralytic.
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And you can see that the friend's faith was very strong. You got to think, imagine the friend's faith.
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They risked the possibility of the crowds not liking them, right? They weren't afraid of the crowds.
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They went over the crowds and let them in. I mean, they weren't afraid. I mean, you think the guy who owned the house was probably upset.
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His roof was getting torn apart. They were probably afraid someone was going to get mad at them. And then you got to imagine the level of embarrassment it must have been if Jesus didn't heal him to go through all that trouble not to get healed.
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But they knew Jesus. They were confident in who Jesus was. And they went and by faith dropped this man through the roof.
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That's amazing faith. So what did Jesus say to the paralytic that was dropped right in front of him?
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He said, son, your sins are forgiven. And if you're reading this for the first time or you're following along or if you're in that crowd that day, what are you waiting for?
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If you know Jesus is a miracle worker, you're waiting for this guy to get new legs.
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You're waiting for this guy's legs to be healed. You're waiting for this guy to get up and walk. That's what people want to see.
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But Jesus says, son, your sins are forgiven. Why does Jesus say that? If everyone's waiting for him to heal his legs.
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Well, Jesus is obedient to God and Jesus is God. So Jesus isn't thinking about what the crowd wants.
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He's doing what the will of the Lord is. And he says, your sins are forgiven. Why did he heal the sins of this paralytic man?
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Because the paralytic man needed his sins forgiven way more than he needed his legs to work.
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He needed his sins to be forgiven. The thing keeping the paralytic from entering into the kingdom of God was not that he was unable to walk.
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It was that he needed his sins forgiven. If you sin against God, you will pay, even if you're a paralytic.
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Everyone who has been born is a sinner that needs forgiveness. So Jesus healed his deepest need and it was that he needed his sins forgiven.
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Jesus had sin forgiving power. And now sin by itself does not send people to hell.
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I mean, the wages of sin is death. But it's the unforgiven sin that still sends people to hell today.
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So either Jesus paid the sin debt that you owe on the cross or you will have to pay for your sins for eternity in hell.
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And Jesus is rescuing this man and anyone who asks for forgiveness and calls on the name of Jesus, he rescues and grants faith to those who believe.
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So Jesus sees the faith of the paralytic and he sees the faith of the men and he heals the paralytic.
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Jesus is able to know the thoughts of a person. He's able to know all of our thoughts right now.
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If we pray to him silently, he hears us. He knows what we're thinking. He knows what we want. And he will hear us when we talk to him.
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So he knows what kind of faith is inside the paralytic and it's life -saving faith.
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He has some sort of faith in Jesus that he will be forgiven. And the paralytic really didn't do anything to be forgiven.
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The paralytic couldn't even walk there. The paralytic got carried there. There wasn't any good work the paralytic could have done to be saved because it's by grace you were saved through faith.
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It's a gift of God. So Jesus showed mercy on this paralytic and granted him faith and granted him forgiveness.
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And that's what we all need as Christians. That's what we all need as people. We need our sins forgiven more than anything else.
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The prisoners in the jail, they needed their sins forgiven more than they needed their freedom in America, whether they knew it or not.
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They will find out one day. You need your sins forgiven more than you need your next car.
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You need your sins forgiven more than you need your next house. You need your sins forgiven more than anything else in the world.
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And Jesus is able to give you that and grant you that. Now in verse six, some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts.
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Now a scribe was someone who was like legalistic. They kept the word. They knew the word.
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They wrote the word. They were teachers of the word. And yet they're questioning in their hearts.
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They question in their hearts, but not out loud. But just like Jesus saw the faith in the paralytic,
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Jesus can see the doubt in the scribes. So Jesus knows thoughts. He has that ability because he's
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God. Verse seven, why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming.
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Who can forgive sins but God alone? This is what they're saying in their heart. And now some people in life, you're gonna find out that they're not listening to you to get to know you because they've already decided in their heart that they hate you.
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And they've already decided in their heart that they're listening to you not to get to know you, but they're listening to you that they can use whatever you say against you.
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Maybe some of you guys know people like that. And what I've come to learn is when there's a lot of heavy arrogance, spiritual pride, self -righteousness, and heavy amounts of sin, there's a lack of logic in people.
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Maybe you guys know people like this. It's like you try to tell them, no, two and two, it equals four, but they're convinced, no, it's five.
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And there's nothing that you can say to them for them to understand. Some people have their own mind made up.
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No, I know it's five, it's five in my world, and I'm not accepting anything else. The scribes are kind of like that.
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They already hate Jesus before they even got to know him. They are rooting for his downfall before they even know who he is.
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They didn't even take the time to see that everything about Jesus is lovable. So the scribes and the religious leaders throughout the
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Gospels are antagonists. And Jesus is the ultimate protagonist.
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When you read the Gospels, you fall in love with who Jesus is. He always wins. He's always good. He always does the right thing.
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He always comes out on top. Even when they kill him, he rises from the dead and he wins. But people like the scribes, they like to accuse, just like the devil likes to accuse.
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The devil is someone like this. You think that the devil, he knows the end, right? He knows that God wins, but he's still rageful, and he still continues to try to bring down as many people as possible.
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And the devil is like an accuser, just like the scribes. The scribes accuse him of blaspheming.
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Now this is ridiculous, right? Because they're accusing the living God of blasphemy.
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Now what's blasphemy? The crime of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God.
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Who's doing that? Is that Jesus or is that the scribes? So people like this, they will call you out for something that's really the exact thing that they're doing.
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It's ironic. They're mad at Jesus for blaspheming, but they didn't consider that Jesus really is
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God. They didn't consider that he really was the Christ. They didn't consider that Jesus is telling the truth.
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Now some of you might have heard before, Jeff has said this before, C .S. Lewis, he has an argument that when you look at Jesus, you should know that he's either the
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Lord, you should know that he's either the Lord, a liar, or a lunatic. Have you guys heard that before? Yeah.
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Now I have a problem with that only because if you say to me that Jesus is a lunatic,
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I think you're a liar. And if you say to me that Jesus is a liar, I think you're a lunatic.
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So the only right conclusion to come to is that Jesus is the Lord. And the scribes didn't come to that conclusion.
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They didn't think that maybe Jesus really is claiming who he is and he's right. Verse eight,
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And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them,
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Why do you question these things in your heart? And then
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Jesus continues to say in verse nine, Which is easier to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say,
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Rise, take up your bed, and walk. Now on the surface, it's way easier to say,
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Your sins are forgiven. Why is that? Because if I say to someone, Your sins are forgiven, there's no physical evidence to prove that they're really forgiven.
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Maybe you guys know some Catholic leaders or people out there that try to give you false assurance that your sins are really forgiven, and they're not.
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Now, why is it easier? Because it's much harder to say to someone, Take up your bed and walk.
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Because they actually have to get up, take up their bed and walk, right? So saying to someone that your sins are forgiven is a lot easier because you don't have to prove anything.
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That's on the surface. But if you really look deeper, it is harder to say your sins are forgiven if you actually mean it.
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Because who am I to say that? Who are you guys to say that? But Jesus can say that because Jesus is
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God. Jesus is claiming to be God. The Pharisees and the scribes rightly see that Jesus is claiming to be
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God. That's why they're saying He's committing blasphemy. The only problem is they're not getting the full logic and the reasoning and considering the idea that Jesus really is
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God. That's what they should be coming to find out. That Jesus really is
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God. So he says, What's just easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk?
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Verse 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
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He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. This is what we were waiting for the whole time for the paralytic to get his legs.
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Jesus is so in control and Jesus is so loving and Jesus is sovereign that he knew this is how it was going to plan out.
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And he forgave the sin first knowing that the scribes were going to have a problem with it.
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But just to prove to them that he really is God and he is who he says he is, he says,
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Rise, take up your bed and walk. So to prove that Jesus can forgive sins just like he said, he tells them to get up and walk.
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Verse 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man Son of Man comes from the book of Daniel mainly.
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That's the most popular book talking about how the Son of Man is coming in the clouds and he's with the
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Ancient of Days. This is a glorious picture. So he's saying the Son of Man but also the
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Son of Man is a little bit of a cover up because we would love if Jesus just said, I'm the Son of God.
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So we could say, look, it says it right here. He's the Son of God. But Jesus really does do that a lot throughout the gospel indirectly.
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But he says Son of Man because he's fully God, fully man. But he says Son of Man so that I think he can still stay in hiding a little bit more and not come out and say the
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Son of God so that they can try to stone him right on the spot. So he's protecting his image just a little bit. In verse 11,
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I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. And at this moment, everyone is waiting for it.
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Is he going to get up? Yes. Verse 12, and he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all so that they were all amazed and glorified
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God saying, we never saw anything like this. Now, us as Christians, we probably would love to see miracles, but we do see miracles.
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When someone comes to Jesus and experiences the sin -forgiving power and authority he has and asks him for forgiveness and Jesus grants that, grants repentance and faith, that is a miracle.
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A sinner being rescued from the wrath to come and trusting in Jesus for salvation. That is a far greater miracle than seeing someone get up and walk.
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So as a church, that's what we really should be doing. And to note, the crowd got glorified and amazed that he got up and walked.
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How much more should we glorify God and be amazed when we see someone go down into the water and get baptized?
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When they want to identify in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? That is a much more amazing and glorious thing to see.
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Someone being saved and giving their lives to Christ. That is a miracle and it's a far greater miracle than seeing someone that couldn't walk.
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Although we really want to see that. And I think of our friend Russ, who recently just passed away.
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God bless him. He used to sit right over here in this section. I think what an amazing testimony he was coming here every day in that wheelchair.
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I don't know if you saw the video that Russ made about Proverbs chapter 3, but it was so moving and so touching.
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He was talking about how he was content being a paralytic. It's nice because some people opened doors for him and he doesn't have to open them for anybody else.
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I said to Jeff, I said, Jeff, that was an amazing video. I'm so happy. I'm so encouraged.
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I said, God really opened up a door for Russ that no one could shut. That Russ was going to enter into the new kingdom.
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Then Jeff responded and said, Amen, Amen. He said, we'll see him again, except only without the chair.
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What a beautiful thing that we'll see Russ again. Although Russ' legs didn't work here at the end of his life, his sins were forgiven and now
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I'm sure we're going to see him one day dancing and running and walking on the streets of gold. That's a beautiful thing.
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The only way you're going to be able to do that is trusting in Jesus Christ. Asking him for forgiveness.
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Now, if you're here for the first time or the hundredth time and you've never done that and you've never asked
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Jesus to forgive your sin, do that and come tell someone. Whoever brought you, maybe talk to Matt Hoke, talk to myself.
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I'd love to celebrate with you. That is an amazing thing. This is the stuff we want to see as Christians. Someone coming to faith.
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We've all experienced that. We've all been lost going our own way and we've experienced the love and kindness of Jesus Christ and his sin forgiving power.
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Also, we should be doing whatever it takes to bring our friends to Jesus, just like the friends.
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If you know someone who's an unbeliever, it's okay to have unbelieving friends because guess what?
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Unbelievers, well, you guys are believers. Do you guys like ball games?
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So do they. So do unbelievers. Do you guys like going to the movies? Guess what? So do they.
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Do you guys like taking a walk in the park? Guess what? So do they. Do you guys like ice cream? Guess what?
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So do they. So it's okay. We don't have nothing in common with them. We don't have to treat them like they're just unbelievers and they're not as good as us.
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We want them to come to faith. That's what we look for as born -again Christians. We want to preach the gospel so that people get saved and they start coming to church and growing in Christ.
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If you have a friend or a neighbor or a family member that you haven't talked to about Christ in a while and it's been on your heart, go do that.
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Take whatever measure you can to get them in church. If you're a young person, invite your friend to youth group or invite them to church.
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Who knows? They might come to church and get saved. So I want to thank you guys and I want to thank the
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Lord. Lord, thank you so much for the story of the paralytic friend. That you've forgiven all of his sins past, present, and future.
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That you've opened up a new and living way for him. That you've opened up a new and living way for all of us.
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That you've given us life that's so much more abundantly better than the life that we were living.
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Knowing that our sins are forgiven and that we have eternal life. What a blessing,
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Lord. Thank you for choosing us. Thank you for granting us faith. We know that paralytic man brought nothing to the table.
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He couldn't even walk, but you sent people to go get him. And he was brought to your presence.
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I pray for more people to come into the fold, knowing that they can't do anything on their own.
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And their deepest need is you, Lord. And we pray that you would forgive more sins of the world and that you would use us to do it.
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We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. And let's stand and go out worshiping the
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King of Kings. In the darkness we were waiting
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Without hope, without light Till from heaven you came running
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There was mercy in your eyes To fulfill the law and prophets
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To avert came the word From a throne of endless glory
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To a cradle in the dirt Praise the
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Father, praise the Son Praise the
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Spirit, three in one God of glory,
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Lord to us all Praise forever to the
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King of Kings To reveal the kingdom coming
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And to reconcile the lost To redeem the whole creation
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You did not despise the cross For even in your suffering
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You spoke to the other side And I think this was our salvation
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Jesus, for our sake you died Praise the
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Father, praise the Son Praise the
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Spirit, three in one God of glory,
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Majesty Praise forever to the
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King of Kings In the morning that you rose
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All of heaven held its breath Till that stone was moved for good
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For the Lamb that conquered death And the dead rose from their tombs
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And the angels stood in awe For the souls of all who come
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To the Father He's torn And the Church of Christ was born
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Then the Spirit did the fame Now this gospel's truth abhorred
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Shall not kneel, shall not faint Life is permanent in His name
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In His freedom I am free For I found the
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Jesus Christ Who has resurrected me
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Praise the Father, praise the
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Son Praise the Spirit, three in one
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God of glory, Majesty Praise forever to the
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King of Kings Praise forever to the
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King of Kings Benediction is like Jesus Christ coming soon
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All right. Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding
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In all your ways acknowledge Him And He will make straight your paths Be not wise in your own eyes
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Fear the Lord and turn away from evil It will be healing to your flesh
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And refreshment to your bones We'll gather here next week, go in peace