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We've been going through a 
series called Encounters with 

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Jesus out of the book of John 
and I have the privilege of 

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looking at one of the two most 
significant encounters with 

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Jesus. 
We'll look at the second on 

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Sunday, but it's found in John 
chapter 19. 

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If you have your Bible with you,
it'd be lovely for you to turn 

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there because I want you to see 
it for yourself. 

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We will have it up on the 
screens, but beginning in verse 

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one of John 19, it says then 
Pilate took Jesus and had him 

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flogged. 
The soldiers twisted together 

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crown of thorns and put it on 
his head. 

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They clothed him in a purple 
robe and went up to him again 

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and again saying hail King of 
the Jews and they struck him in 

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the face once more. 
Pilot came out and said to the 

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Jews gathered they look, I'm 
bringing him out to you to let 

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you know that I find no basis 
for a charge against him. 

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When Jesus came out wearing the 
crown of thorns and the purple 

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robe, Pilate said to them, here 
is the man. 

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Soon as the chief priests and 
the official saw him, they 

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shouted, crucify, crucify, the 
Pilate answered, you crucify 

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him. 
As for me, I find no basis for a

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charge against him. 
The Jewish leaders insisted we 

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have a law and according to that
law he must die because he 

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claimed to be the Son of God. 
And Pilate heard this. 

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He was even more afraid and he 
went back inside the palace. 

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Where do you come from? 
He asked Jesus, but Jesus gave 

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him no answer. 
Do you refuse to speak to me? 

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Pilate said. 
Don't you realize I have power 

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either to free you or to crucify
you? 

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Jesus answered, You would have 
no power over me if it were not 

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given to you from above. 
Verse 16. 

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Finally Pilate handed them over 
to them to be crucified and the 

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soldiers took charge of Jesus 
carrying his own cross. 

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He went out to the place of the 
skull. 

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There they crucified him and 
with him two others, one on each

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side, Jesus in the middle. 
Verse 28. 

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Later, knowing that everything 
had now been finished and so 

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that scripture would be 
fulfilled, Jesus said, I'm 

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thirsty. 
And a jar of wine vinegar was 

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there, and they soaked a sponge 
in it with the sponge in the 

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stalk of the hyssop plant and 
lifted it to Jesus lips. 

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When he'd received the drink, 
Jesus cried out in a loud voice.

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It is finished, It is finished. 
And with that he bowed his head 

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and gave up his spirit. 
It is finished. 

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You know, there's so much hope 
in those three little words if 

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you understand the context, if 
you understand what's going on 

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behind the scene. 
When Jesus says it's these 3 

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words and in Greek it's 
Tetalesti to us, it is finished.

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So Jesus is hanging on the 
cross. 

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They've stripped him bare, 
they've slogged his back. 

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They put on that crossbeam 
weighing about 40 KGS. 

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He's had to carry his own cross 
now he's crucified nails through

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his hands and feet, and he 
raises himself up one last time 

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and he declares it is finished. 
What is finished? 

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What is it that is finished? 
I want to look at that today 

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because when you see the rich 
meaning and the weightiness of 

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that one word in the Greek 
Tetalesti, I'm hoping it will 

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change your life and your 
eternity forever. 

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So Tita Lesta in the Greek, it 
was a common word. 

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It wasn't unique to Jesus on the
cross. 

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It popped up in many contexts in
the most basic of context and 

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their business context. 
Essentially, if you and I are 

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doing business and you owe me 
some money, I'm your creditor 

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and then I essentially open up 
an active receipt of all the 

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money that you owe me and we Add
all the bits and pieces to that.

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But while you are in my debt and
you are busy paying this thing 

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off, once you have settled that 
debt completely, not in 

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installments, not in agreements,
but everything that you owe me, 

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once that is settled, I would 
take that active receipt and I 

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would write over it. 
Tetalesta, it is finished, paid 

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in full. 
Very simple, very basic, all 

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debts owed, completely paid for.
But when Jesus is on the cross, 

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now you notice. 
I don't know if you saw it said 

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when he saw that everything that
he had done was completed, not 

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when what you had done, when he 
had done all these things. 

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He then says over you, it is 
finished, Teta, lest I paid in 

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full, which means you don't have
to fix yourself first. 

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You don't have to wonder if 
you've done enough. 

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You have not gone too far. 
You're not too late. 

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You are not too much paid in 
full Tetalester. 

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It is finished. 
Wait, there's more. 

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See, because in the ancient Near
East, business wasn't business 

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like we know today. 
See, because a debt to us is 

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sometimes finance. 
A debt to someone in the ancient

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Near East meant freedom because 
if you couldn't pay your debt, 

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you would be sold to slavery. 
We just came back from the 

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Middle East and it was something
that I heard on numerous 

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occasions. 
There's still the sediments of 

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that now in the Middle East that
that was saying that if you skip

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one instalment, you know, you 
don't pay rent one month or your

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car loan or whatever the case 
might be, it goes straight to 

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jail. 
Do not pass begin, do not 

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collect 200. 
And now it sounds melodramatic, 

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but I actually during the week, 
I quickly Googled and I said, 

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like, is it in said country true
that if you miss a payment, you 

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can go to jail? 
And it pulled up. 

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The first article it pulled up 
was a lady in the country that 

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we came back from who had missed
a payment. 

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She was pregnant. 
Her marriage was a little bit on

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the rocks. 
She was wanting to start her own

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business. 
And so she had got a loan from 

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the bank to start this business.
And she thought, you know, it's 

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going to be perfect. 
She's going to have a baby and 

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then she's going to resign and 
she's going to start this 

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company. 
She can work from home, look 

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after a child, but there were 
complications with the pregnancy

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and she went into labor a few 
weeks early and spent those 

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weeks in hospital having had the
child missing a payment. 

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This was back in 2012. 
She's still in prison. 

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Because in the ancient Near East
and now in the Middle East, it's

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not just cash dollar, it's your 
freedom. 

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Essentially in engineering, you 
were sold into slavery until 

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you'd paid your debt. 
How is she going to pay that 

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debt behind prison bars? 
But what would happen is if you 

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had a family member, a kinsman 
Redeemer, someone who would look

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on you with favor. 
Problem is, she's not. 

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She hasn't got anyone in that 
country who is willing to do 

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that. 
Things are rocky between her 

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husband. 
Her husband left the country, 

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left her in that place. 
But if by one small chance you 

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had a family member who maybe 
liked you, and I don't know 

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about you, but if some, if one 
of my family members end up in 

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prison, I'm thinking like, yeah,
yeah. 

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Hey, Vilmos, Life choices. 
Yeah. 

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Now what? 
You, you want me to take money 

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out of my bond to pay for your 
stupid Kate, Right. 

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But if you were lucky enough to 
have a family member who'd go 

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and pay all your debts, Pay all 
her debts, all the accrued 

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interests since 2012, they would
unlock their prison door and 

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they would write on her account,
tetalestar paid in full. 

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It's finished. 
You're not going to hold this 

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against you anymore. 
Now Jesus is on the cross and 

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he's doing exactly the same. 
You see, He's not just speaking 

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forgiveness over your life, He's
speaking freedom over your life.

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It is finished. 
That thing that pass is not your

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master anymore. 
It is finished. 

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I will not hold that against you
anymore. 

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Paid in full, tetalester. 
But wait, there's more. 

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It's because there's a judicial 
context to this word as well. 

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Because if you ended up in 
prison in the Roman world, if 

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you committed a crime, you'd go 
straight to jail. 

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And what they would do is they'd
write all your crimes up on this

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big board for the world to see 
and why you're serving the 

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sentence. 
I don't know if you've got any 

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friends or family who've been to
prison. 

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We had a heart wrenching moment,
a lady in three CR, I think she 

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was in her 60s when she was 
sentenced to something like 8 to

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10 years in prison. 
And if you ask me, it was like a

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proper misdemeanor. 
She was actually trying to help,

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but it was a bit of a Gray area 
to me and to her, but to the 

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law, it was black and white. 
And she crossed the line. 

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And I remember sitting there, 
she asked if we could, a few of 

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us would go and just sit when 
the sentence was given and 

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sitting at the back there and it
was all Afrikaans. 

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I didn't really know what was 
going on. 

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I mean, gasps, Afrikaans is 
already over my head. 

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Now judicial Afrikaans, I'm 
just, but I could tell from the 

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room it was not going well. 
And the crazy thing is, she did 

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one thing wrong, one little 
transfer that shouldn't have 

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happened but on that judge's 
desk with piles and piles and 

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piles of documentation and 
accusations against her. 

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And when that gavel fell and she
had to go to prison, that just 

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got dark. 
And this would happen in the 

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ancient Near East as well. 
And this would happen under the 

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rule and reign of the Romans. 
And once that gavel fell and you

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went straight to prison, there 
was no getting out of it until 

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you served your sentence. 
But once you had served that 

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sentence, not a getting off, you
know, for good behavior, but 

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once you've served all those 
years and you came out, they 

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would take that thing off the 
wall and they would write on it.

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Teta Lestar, it is finished. 
And you were actually given that

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board, a piece of paper or 
whatever it was to carry around.

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Because, you know, I don't know 
if you've ever had this, but God

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can forgive you. 
But your friends don't, you 

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know, Rome could forgive you. 
But you, they're going. 

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No, no, no. 
Look, painful, painful, painful.

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And if Jesus is on the cross, he
is essentially looking at your 

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charges and your sheet. 
And he's saying your count is 

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closed. 
You haven't gone too far. 

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You cannot go too far. 
You can't ask forgiveness too 

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late. 
You aren't too much. 

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He's saying there's nothing left
to pay. 

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There's nothing left to prove. 
But he's also saying you're not 

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just forgiven. 
I want to set you free, that 

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past that sin, that addiction is
not your master anymore. 

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Instead, Tetalesti, this 
finished. 

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It can be finished today, this 
very morning. 

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But wait, there's more. 
See? 

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Because I wanted to impress my 
English teacher that I've never 

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managed to impress. 
And so I was digging around 

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looking at this Greek word, and 
I came across something I didn't

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know. 
Tetalesti is written in the 

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perfect tense. 
I don't know what that means, 

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but according to the article 
that I was reading, it says with

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Teta Lestar in the perfect tense
means it has been finished and 

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it will always remain finished. 
But wait, there's more. 

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There's more. 
I want you to see with your own 

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eyes. 
Ephesians 2 verse 8, it says for

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it is by grace you have been 
saved. 

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Now grace, for those who don't 
know the Bible language, grace 

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essentially is something that's 
unmerited, undeserved, it's 1 

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sided and we're not talking 
about your side. 

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For it is by grace you have been
saved through faith. 

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And this is not your own doing. 
It's grace. 

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This is a gift of God. 
Everything that He did is not of

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your doing. 
It is a gift. 

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He says it is finished, It has 
been finished. 

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It will remain finished. 
Teta list are paid in full. 

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And he gives it to you as a gift
this morning, not because you 

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decided, well, I need to go to 
church at least once a year 

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otherwise he's going to block 
me. 

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No, he gives it to you as a 
gift, but I don't know if you've

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ever noticed this. 
A gift needs to be received. 

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You know what drives me nuts is 
Rory never receives gifts. 

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You give him a gift, he's like, 
thanks, Laca. 

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And then you'll put you'll see 
it in the corner of his office 

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for like weeks. 
A true story. 

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Yeah. 
And if and if you come to church

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and say, listen, I want you to 
give this to Rory, then you are 

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wondering, did he give it to 
Rory? 

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Yeah. 
I said he has a beautiful gift. 

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Why don't you give it to Rory? 
But Rory hasn't opened it. 

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And so he hasn't replied to you.
So you're thinking, flip back. 

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He's like such a bluff oak. 
He took it home and he opened it

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himself. 
You know what Rory doesn't know,

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doesn't know him. 
It is by grace you have been 

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saved through faith. 
This is not your own doing. 

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It is a gift. 
If you have never received the 

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gift, none of this applies to 
you. 

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It is not finished, it hasn't 
been paid and you will have to 

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pay it with your life. 
Brilliant. 

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Now we could close and pray 
right there and I could face the

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consequences of my Rory 
illustration if it wasn't for 

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00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:33,600
one word in the English and I 
want to talk to the Christians 

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here today. 
You see, Jesus says it is 

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finished. 
Jesus, the one who died on the 

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cross, the one who paid with his
life says it is finished. 

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Why Sir? 
Why ma'am, do you then live as 

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if he said it was finished? 
Now I was there, That's that's 

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00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:58,080
Easter weekend and I was moved 
and got reached in. 

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They got behind all my defenses 
and all my argument. 

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And I remember that moment. 
I remember when Jesus came into 

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my life and it changed 
everything until I screwed 

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00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,960
things up. 
Now I'm in the dog box. 

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Actually, I think it was 
finished, but it's not finished 

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00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:18,760
no more. 
I think if he had his way, he 

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would kick me out. 
You know that 70% of us live 

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00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,680
like that. 
There's a called imposter 

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00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:32,640
syndrome where you, you know, 
there was a moment when God got 

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a hold of your life, but you've 
royally blown it so badly. 

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There's he's taking it back. 
Remember perfect tense. 

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It is finished and it remains 
finished. 

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There's no taking it back. 
He didn't say it was finished, 

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He said it is finished. 
He also didn't say nails through

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his hands and feet, lifting 
himself up with a loud voice 

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saying it's kind of finished and
died. 

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So why do you live like that? 
Why do you live like Jesus said?

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You know, I've done my part. 
It's kind of finished. 

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00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:23,120
You just just don't blow it. 
Make sure you you hit that mark.

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00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:28,280
Just don't click on that link. 
This is fragile, people. 

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I need you to do your part. 
I've kind of finished it now. 

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00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,800
You got to see this through. 
If you can just make it without 

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blowing it before you die, there
might be hope. 

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He didn't say that. 
He said it is finished. 

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It is the scandal of grace, not 
of your own works. 

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You didn't earn it. 
You can't blow it. 

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It is a gift. 
So some of us, we say it was 

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finished. 
Galatians 216, we say it's kind 

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of finished. 
The Galatians says no, that a 

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00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:07,079
person is not justified by works
of the law, but by faith in 

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Jesus Christ. 
And if we're not saying it was 

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finished or it's kind of 
finished, sometimes we say it 

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will be finished. 
He'll love me if, if I can just 

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00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:29,440
get my act together, if I need 
all my ducks in the row, I'm 

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00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:33,040
going to stop swearing all the 
time. 

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00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,080
If I can just go to church a 
little bit more. 

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00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:38,520
And if I can read my Bible 
through, you know, sometime in 

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00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:40,840
the next 10 years. 
And if I can quit smoking and 

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00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:47,320
drinking, it will be finished. 
I'm here to tell you it is 

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finished. 
You're not your addiction. 

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00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:53,400
You're not your successors. 
You're not your failures. 

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00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,880
You're not your past. 
You are not your orientation. 

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00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:00,320
You're not your affair. 
You are not your abortion. 

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00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:05,080
You are not your divorce. 
You are the one that was on his 

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00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:09,320
mind when he was weighing up. 
Is the cross worth it? 

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00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,240
Beautiful Stephen. 
If I can have him, if I can have

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00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:16,000
her, it is worth it. 
I will do it a million times 

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00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:23,600
over. 
It is finished. 

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00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:32,000
I'm going to close by reading 
you a letter as was written to 

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00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:36,200
Winston Churchill. 
I don't know how much you know 

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00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,160
of Winston Churchill, but I 
discovered in a biography by 

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00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,440
Andrew Robert that Winston 
didn't have the best of 

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00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:47,520
relationships with his father, 
Lord Randolph Churchill. 

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00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,600
And there's one occasion that he
highlights that shows the 

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00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:54,680
dissonance between Winston and 
his father. 

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00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:59,240
And there's the fact that when 
he went to boarding school, he 

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00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:03,760
was at boarding school for 11 
years and his dad never visited 

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00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:09,720
him, never phoned him and never 
wrote a single letter. 

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00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:12,680
It was as if he was often away 
and forgotten. 

300
00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:17,760
And the first time his dad wrote
him a letter, he was in the 

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00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:19,280
army. 
So he was a young man. 

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00:19:20,120 --> 00:19:23,600
And this, and this is the 
preamble that's the guy gives 

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00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:27,000
before I read you the letter. 
It says in June 9th, 1893, 

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00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,560
Winston Churchill took the exam 
for the Royal Military College 

305
00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:32,720
at Sandhurst. 
And he only passed on his third 

306
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:34,920
attempt. 
And he passed so poorly that he 

307
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,560
failed to get into the cavalry, 
sorry, into the infantry. 

308
00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:39,600
And so he had to join the 
cavalry. 

309
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,120
So essentially, after three 
times you didn't get into at 

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00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:46,600
least the lowest of the lowest, 
so you got into the B team. 

311
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,040
And then he receives this 
message from his dad, this 

312
00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,760
letter. 
I'll pop it up because I want 

313
00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:57,080
you to see it. 
The first extremely 

314
00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:00,080
discreditable failure of your 
performance was missing out on 

315
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:03,440
getting into the infantry for. 
In that failure is demonstrated 

316
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:07,320
beyond refutation, your slovenly
happy go lucky style of work, 

317
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,080
but that you have distinguished 
yourself at school. 

318
00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,480
Never have I received a really 
good report of your conduct and 

319
00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:18,400
your work from any master. 
Always you're behind, never 

320
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,960
advancing in your class 
incessant complaints of total 

321
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:25,400
want of application. 
Do not think that I'm going to 

322
00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,040
take the trouble of writing you 
long letters after every failure

323
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,640
and folly that you commit and 
undergo, because I no longer 

324
00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,520
attach the slightest weight to 
anything you say. 

325
00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:40,360
Make this position indelibly 
impressed on your mind that if 

326
00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:43,960
you if your conduct and action 
is similar to what it has been 

327
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:48,080
up until now, then my 
responsibility to you is over 

328
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:50,880
and I shall leave you to depend 
on yourself. 

329
00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:54,560
I'm certain that if you cannot 
prevent yourself from leading 

330
00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:59,320
the idle, useless, unprofitable 
life that you have had during 

331
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,680
your school days in recent 
months, you will become a mere 

332
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:06,840
social waste and you will 
degenerate into a shabby, 

333
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,200
unhappy and futile existence. 
Thanks, Dad. 

334
00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,680
And if that is so, you'll have 
to bear all the blame of this 

335
00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,880
misfortune yourself. 
Signed your affectionate father 

336
00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:31,640
Randolph Churchill. 
If 70% of us who have 

337
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,840
encountered our Heavenly Father 
are still saying kind of was 

338
00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:42,240
finished, then what we are 
saying is that this letter is 

339
00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:45,040
the same as Lord Randolph's 
letter. 

340
00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:51,280
God has never written a letter 
like that. 

341
00:21:54,960 --> 00:22:02,320
Written in blood on the cross is
a love letter to you. 

342
00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:11,960
A father yearning for your 
heart, longing to draw you 

343
00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,600
close. 
A Father who wants to hide your 

344
00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:24,720
shame, to pay for your sin, to 
release you from prison, break 

345
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:29,080
that addiction and adopt you 
into his family. 

346
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:35,840
A father who has done everything
that you could not do and then 

347
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:41,240
he's written it in his blood and
he slid it across the table. 

348
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:49,560
He said, this is my gift to you.
This is what makes today a Good 

349
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:55,600
Friday. 
But could I ask you in Jesus 

350
00:22:55,600 --> 00:23:05,120
name to receive that gift and 
let him in and let him change 

351
00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:09,520
you today, tomorrow and for 
eternity? 

352
00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:11,680
Thank you.