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God, tonight we just rest in 
your presence and remembrance of

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what you did for us. 
Jesus, it is to honor you. 

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I just have a brief message for 
you tonight, but there are notes

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you can take home with you 
tonight or if you want to grab 

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those, you of course can maybe 
take them home and it will ready

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you even the more for Sunday 
morning. 

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Kids, anybody under the age of 
10, if you're under the age of 

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10, wave at me. 
Any other ten? 

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OK, wait, there's little. 
OK. 

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So I always love nights like 
this or services like this where

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we have kids with us because I 
love the challenge and the honor

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of explaining biblical truths in
a way that hopefully is profound

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enough for adults to go, oh, 
that's inspiring. 

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But also kids, I want to I want 
to also explain things in a way 

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where you get it. 
OK, so tonight I want to talk to

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you briefly about I'm going to 
call this message. 

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It's not what it looks like 
because when you look at the 

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cross, it looks like if you just
if, if you just think about it 

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at face value, you might think 
it was a tragedy. 

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What does that mean? 
A tragedy? 

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It's when something really bad 
happens. 

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So you might look at the cross 
and, and tonight we're we're 

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somber in a way, but we're not 
somber because it was a defeated

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Jesus at the cross. 
We're somber and we're 

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reflective because we want to 
just be aware of what he went 

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through for us. 
But it wasn't a tragedy. 

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It wasn't a bad occasion. 
OK, Now I want to tell you a sad

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story. 
Years ago, this would have been 

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like 1998. 
And that year I happened to be 

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training to run a race, OK? 
It was a marathon that year. 

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And I, I ran the slowest 
marathon that ever has been run,

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but I finished it OK. 
And so that year I had to, and 

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this is a sad story that this 
year that I had to run like a 20

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mile run. 
And back then, this was before 

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GPS and before Apple watches. 
And I'm, I think I had AI don't 

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even I'm, I'm, I guess maybe I 
had a cell phone, but I wasn't 

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running with it. 
And it's, but I charted out with

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my car this like 20 mile run 
along this country Rd. 

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And as I was running a couple 
miles into it, sadly, this dog 

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started running with me. 
And it was a Labrador. 

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It was like a big golden maybe. 
It was a, maybe like a, what do 

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you say, a Labrador, But it's 
kind of a blondish color, right?

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And so the dog's running along 
with me for miles. 

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And sadly, the thing kept right,
like, it's running with me, but 

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it's kind of running out on the 
road. 

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And as it's running out on the 
road, people are honking at me 

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and screaming at me. 
Some of them were, you know, 

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colorful words. 
And they were like, you know, 

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get your dog out of the road, 
get your dog out of the road. 

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What are you doing with your dog
in the road? 

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I tried to shoo the dog away, 
but it, it, it wouldn't go home.

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It just kept running with me. 
And sadly, very sadly and 

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tragically, at one point, the 
dog was enough in the road where

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it got hit by a truck like a big
semi truck. 

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And the truck driver got out of 
the truck and he was so sorry. 

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He's like, I am so sorry, I'm 
sorry I hit your dog. 

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And I had to say to him, it's 
not what it looks like. 

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It's it's not my dog. 
I had tried earlier to get like 

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the number of a number, but I 
couldn't, you know, see it. 

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So it had A tag and, and so we 
called the owner and the owner 

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very sadly came to find his dog.
I think of that occasion because

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everybody who saw me with that 
dog, they had a they had, they 

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had a thought of what was going 
on, but it was not what was 

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going on. 
It was not sadly, my dog with 

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someone else's. 
And I tell you this story and 

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kids is that's a sad story, 
right? 

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Very sad story. 
But so when we think about 

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Jesus, she might look and go, 
you know, you might go, well, 

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what a sad story it is it, but 
it's not what it looks like. 

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What Jesus did at the cross. 
It wasn't a tragedy. 

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It wasn't defeat. 
Instead, it was victory. 

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What he did bought our 
salvation. 

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Now Good Friday is the day we 
remember and we honor the death 

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of Jesus on the cross. 
And it's it's good. 

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What's interesting is we call 
Good Friday good for that 

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reason. 
It's not, we don't call it 

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tragic Friday. 
We don't call it Death Friday. 

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We call it Good Friday because 
what Jesus did for us changed 

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everything. 
It's not what it might look like

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to some. 
He wasn't defeated. 

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Instead, He was victorious. 
Now, why is Good Friday good? 

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I want to just point out a 
couple things. 

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We were separated from God by 
our sin, but God came up with a 

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plan, and His plan was to put on
human skin and to be born in 

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Bethlehem for us and to live a 
perfect life, and then to 

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present himself as a sacrifice 
for our sin. 

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He took the penalty for all the 
wrong things that we've ever 

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done. 
He took it upon himself, and 

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this was God's plan. 
Acts 2 verses 22 and 23 

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reference this. 
It says this is the apostle 

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Peter preaching on the day of 
Pentecost. 

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And he says, men of Israel hear 
these words, Jesus of Nazareth, 

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a man attested to you by God 
with mighty works and wonders 

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and signs that God did through 
him in your midst, as you 

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yourselves know. 
They had seen him do miracles. 

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He said this Jesus delivered up 
according to the definite plan 

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and foreknowledge of God, you 
crucified and killed by the 

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hands of lawless men. 
Peter calls what happened to 

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Jesus God's definite plan. 
It wasn't just God's plan. 

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It was his definite plan. 
And there's a difference, not 

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just a plan, but his definite 
plan. 

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So the cross appeared as if 
Jesus was defeated, but again, 

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it was God's definite plan. 
And then in Colossians 213 

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through 14, we see this. 
This is the apostle Paul writing

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to the church at Colossae. 
And he says, And you who were 

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dead in your trespasses and the 
uncircumcision of your flesh, 

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God made alive together with him
having forgiven us all our 

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trespasses by canceling the 
record of debt that stood 

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against us with its legal 
demands that He set aside, 

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nailing it to the cross. 
Jesus again nailed all of our 

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punishment, all of our penalties
to the cross when we receive 

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Him. 
This is what happens at the 

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cross. 
Now it's then Romans says this 

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and Romans 623 says for the 
wages of sin is death, but the 

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free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

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So what did Jesus earned? 
He earned us eternal life with 

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him, eternity with him that we 
will spend. 

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That's what Jesus earned. 
And then Romans 5 verses 6 to 8 

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says this about the cross. 
For while we were still weak at 

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the right time, Christ died for 
the ungodly. 

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For one will scarcely die for a 
righteous person, though perhaps

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for a good person one would dare
even to die. 

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But God shows his love for us, 
and that while we were still 

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sinners, Christ died for us. 
He didn't wait to clean us up. 

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He died for us not because we 
were good enough, but instead he

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gave his life for us, for our 
salvation. 

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So it looked like Jesus died 
maybe because of jealous and 

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corrupt people, but he died for 
us. 

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He died for us to win us again. 
And Isaiah prophesied this. 

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I think Pastor Bob read part of 
this earlier. 

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It says, surely he has borne our
griefs and he carried our 

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sorrows, Yet we esteemed him 
stricken, smitten by God, and 

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afflicted. 
But he was pierced for our 

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transgressions. 
He was crushed for our 

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iniquities. 
Upon Him was the chastisement 

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that brought us peace. 
And with His wounds we are 

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healed. 
All we, like sheep, have gone 

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astray. 
We've turned everyone to His own

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way, and the Lord has laid on 
him the iniquity of us all our 

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grief, our sorrows, our 
transgressions, our iniquities. 

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And He gave us peace for them, 
eternal healing. 

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John talks about the crucifixion
of Jesus. 

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He says, but if we walk in the 
light, as he is in the light, we

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have fellowship with one 
another. 

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In the blood of Jesus. 
The Son cleanses us from all 

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sin. 
We did a series some time ago 

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about Conania. 
In other words, fellowship, 

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relationship. 
We get fellowship, relationship 

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with each other and with God 
because of what happened at the 

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cross. 
And This is why tonight we can 

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gather together and feel like a 
family. 

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Why? 
Because in the cross we have 

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been made one body, we have 
Conania. 

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So it's not what it looks like 
you might think when you look at

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the cross. 
Then Peter mentions this in 

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first Peter 118 and 19. 
He says knowing that you were 

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ransomed from feudal ways, 
inherited from your forefathers,

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not with perishable things such 
as silver or gold, but with the 

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precious blood of Christ, like 
that of a lamp without blemish 

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or spot. 
It's interesting to hear that 

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that's hear Peter saying that 
silver and gold, it perishes. 

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Kids like, and when you go to 
the grocery store, you'll find a

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place that's, that has 
perishables and imperishables, 

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right? 
Like a can of soup or something 

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in the can. 
That's, you know, that's going 

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to last a long time. 
But if you get maybe some meat 

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or some fruit, it perishes, It's
perishing. 

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Well, we, we put away our 
perishable for imperishable 

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because of the cross and we were
ransomed. 

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And what does ransom mean? 
Kids? 

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Think about your favorite toy. 
What if someone took your 

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favorite toy and they said we'll
only give it back to you if you 

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pay me a $50 or whatever the 
price might be? 

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We were ransomed by God. 
We were once His, but our sin 

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enabled the devil, if you will, 
to steal us away. 

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But Jesus, through the cross, 
ransomed. 

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He bought us back so that we 
could have eternity with Him. 

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The cross might have looked like
a place of defeat, but it 

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wasn't. 
It was a place of victory. 

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Now, tonight, we're going to 
celebrate communion. 

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Jesus would have introduced his 
disciples to communion on the 

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Thursday night. 
It would have been last night 

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before he was arrested. 
And he gave us this gift. 

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Communion is a gift to us. 
Why? 

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Because it reminds us, enables 
us to remember the cross and the

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crucifixion of Jesus. 
And remembering is good. 

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When we remember what Jesus did 
for us, it shapes and changes 

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our lives. 
So you don't have to be a member

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of our church to receive 
communion. 

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All that we ask is that you're a
person who is, that has accepted

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the salvation and the lordship 
of Jesus, and that you would say

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you're a Christian, right? 
If you're not a Christian, then 

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communion is not for you. 
But if you have confessed your 

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faith in Christ and if you're 
living for him, then communion 

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is certainly for you. 
So tonight what we're going to 

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do is just got kind of stay to 
the right if you're coming 

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forward. 
And then when you're going back,

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stay to the other right. 
And Bob and Laura will be here 

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to assist you if you need help 
with communion. 

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And what we want to encourage 
you to do is come pick up the 

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elements and then work your way 
back to your seat and maybe just

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for a while, hold on to the 
elements, reflect, pray, give 

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thanks. 
And maybe there's some sin in 

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your life that you want to 
repent of. 

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Maybe you want to say, Jesus, I 
need your forgiveness in this 

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area of my life. 
And we encourage you to do that 

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in the moment of communion and 
then we will sing our way out. 

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You can work your way now 
forward when you're ready to 

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pick up the elements.