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Truth is an important part of 
what we're about as followers of

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Jesus Christ. 
Jesus said, I am the way, I am 

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the truth. 
I am the life. 

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All three of those things were 
important. 

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But tonight we're going to be 
talking about truth. 

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The truth Scripture tells us can
set us free. 

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Truth is is like a sword that 
can Pierce us to the deepest 

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parts of our being, dividing 
truth from lie, fact from 

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fiction, reality from fantasy, 
and truth Truth can bring us at 

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times it seems that it can 
almost force us to confession at

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a friend years ago. 
I'm going to call him Bob. 

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Way back when Amy and I were 
living in Tiffin and, and I, I 

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got to experience something sort
of that I thought I would never 

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really experience. 
And I didn't, still haven't 

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experienced it to the full sense
in which I would like to. 

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But I was conducting, I think it
was a confirmation class at our 

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church building in the evening 
and the power went out and, and 

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the storm sirens started going 
off and the kids said, should we

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go down into the basement 
because we were on like the 

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third floor. 
I was like, Nah, that's never 

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means anything. 
So we stayed up there. 

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Oh, it did, in fact mean 
something. 

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There was a tornado that went 
through Tiffin that night. 

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And I had a hard time getting 
back to the house. 

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There were so many trees and 
branches down in the way I 

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missed it. 
It, it, it passed about 1/4 of a

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mile from where our house was. 
We had no day. 

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I don't we didn't have any 
damage at all. 

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I don't think. 
I'm not even sure there was any 

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debris in our yard. 
But it, it had its own 

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devastation and destruction. 
But a friend of mine who had 

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seen movies like Twister, who 
had, who had fancied himself a 

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storm chaser, decided that he 
wanted to go out and see the 

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tornado. 
And he did. 

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And he got in the way, and he 
almost didn't get out of the 

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way. 
And the reality, the truth of 

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that tornado wrecked my friend 
in some pretty significant ways 

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for a while. 
He became terrified of storms 

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when he was confronted with the 
truth of just how powerful a 

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tornado is, of just how small 
and helpless and insignificant 

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he was beside it. 
It really undid him in some 

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significant ways. 
Truth is like that, and 

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sometimes, maybe even most of 
the time, it takes far more than

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hearing the truth to have an 
impact on ourselves on to some 

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or someone else. 
It takes experiencing the truth.

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The the child that burns their 
hand on a hot stove is much more

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likely to believe it when their 
parents tell them something else

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is hot than the child that just 
listens to the words. 

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Reality and experience make all 
the difference in the world. 

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We We've seen that in the story 
of Tamar and Judah in Genesis 

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38. 
How Judah was condemning Tamar, 

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Judah had. 
Whether it was superstition or 

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just stupidity or ignorance or 
what, we don't know. 

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He decided his daughter-in-law 
was a jinx. 

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She was bad luck. 
She'd married two of his sons. 

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They both died. 
There was no way he was going to

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let her marry his third son. 
He might die too. 

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We sent her away. 
When he found out she was 

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pregnant, he concluded she was 
evil, was going to burn her 

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alive to punish her. 
There was no truth in any of it.

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None at all. 
He'd concocted a narrative in 

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his head and he believed it as 
if it was real, as if it was 

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God's honest truth. 
He was convinced of it. 

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Every bit of it was a lie. 
Every bit of it. 

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And how did he come to know it 
was a lie? 

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No one argued Judah into the 
truth. 

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No one sat down with the Judah 
and said hey, let's talk about 

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this. 
No one said to Judah, hey, I got

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a three-point outline here and a
nice PowerPoint presentation to 

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explain to you why you are 
wrong. 

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None of that happened. 
This is what happened as she, 

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that is Tamar was being brought 
out, she sent a message to her 

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father-in-law, Judah, I'm 
pregnant by the man who owns 

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these, she said. 
And she added, see if you 

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recognize who's seal and cord 
and staff these are and they 

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were Judas seal and cord and 
staff. 

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He was presented with the truth.
He was confronted with the 

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truth. 
He wasn't argued into it, He 

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wasn't explained into it. 
He wasn't guided gently into it.

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It was just pushed in front of 
his face. 

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Here is the truth, Judah, see 
for yourself. 

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Take a good, close, hard look at
the truth. 

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And he did look and he did see. 
And it did change him. 

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It is what brought Judah to 
confession. 

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His confession. 
We're not burning Tamar. 

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She's more righteous than I am. 
Bring her home where she should 

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have been all along. 
I'll care for her, and I'll care

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for my children and her 
children. 

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There was no argument. 
There was no debate. 

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There was no public humiliation,
no public shaming. 

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Tamar simply presented Judah 
with the undeniable truth, and 

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that truth brought Judah to 
confession and to repentance. 

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And Judah, as well as Tamar, 
became one of the ancestors of 

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the Messiah, Jesus our Lord, who
we remember today. 

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The truth of the circumstances 
of Jesus's death brought the 

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centurion to confession. 
That centurion and the soldiers 

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that were working with him to 
crucify Jesus and the other two 

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that were being crucified to 
that day, there is approximately

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0% chance that those were the 
first people they'd ever 

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crucified. 
Romans crucified a lot of 

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people. 
It was. 

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It was one of their chief tools 
of power and intimidation. 

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It was the way they showed who 
was in charge and who wasn't, 

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who had the power and who 
didn't, who needed to get along 

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and go along and who got to say 
where we were getting and going 

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to. 
And they used it extravagantly, 

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crucifying thousands and 
thousands of people. 

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So at least 10s, probably 
dozens, maybe hundreds of 

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crucifixions, the Centurion and 
those soldiers had not just 

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witnessed but perpetrated 
themselves, been part of in one 

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way or another. 
And yet there was something 

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different about this one. 
This guy, they knew the charges.

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The charges were insurrection. 
He's claiming to be king when 

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only Caesar is king. 
That was the charge trumped up. 

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Well, it was true. 
Jesus did say he was king. 

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He also said, you know, my 
Kingdom is not of this world. 

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Pilate didn't care, but that 
Centurion and those soldiers 

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that this was just another local
yokel knucklehead who needed to 

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be taught a lesson about what he
couldn't couldn't do and become 

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an object lesson for everyone 
else around about what you can 

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and can't say. 
And you can't say you're a king 

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when you're in the Roman Empire 
unless you're the emperor. 

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You don't get to do that, or 
you've been deputized by the 

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emperor. 
Someone like Herod, they beat 

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him and he bled like every other
man they ever beat. 

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They told him to carry the 
cross, and he carried the cross 

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just like every other man they 
told to carry the cross. 

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They nailed him to it and he 
stuck just like every other man 

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they'd nailed or tied to a 
cross. 

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There were a couple things he 
didn't do the same way. 

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He was not screaming and cursing
and complaining like the other 

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two that were being crucified 
with him. 

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He wasn't hurling insults at 
them for doing what they were 

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doing like the other two were 
doing. 

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Bizarrely, he was praying for 
their forgiveness, asking God to

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forgive them for what they were 
doing, saying they didn't really

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understand what they were doing.
I knew what they were doing. 

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You know, they were. 
This was their job. 

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They were experts at killing 
people. 

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They were killing a guy. 
How could he think they didn't 

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understand when they offered him
the wine mixed with gall? 

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It's a it's a bit of a 
painkiller and Jesus turned it 

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down. 
Also a strange thing to do 

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because with all the bleeding, 
he would have not only been in 

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great pain, but also 
significantly dehydrated. 

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But it seemed like this guy 
didn't want any relief at all 

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for the pain that he was going 
through. 

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He heard the other people 
mocking him. 

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He heard the other people 
insulting him. 

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They heard, they heard all that 
was going on. 

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They heard and saw, I'm sure 
Mary and Jesus's mother and Mary

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Magdalene and others that that 
were there watching and crying, 

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heartbroken, agonized 
themselves. 

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But then when Jesus died, well 
even before he died, the clouds 

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of the sky got dark. 
It was the middle of the day, 

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and it became dark like night. 
You don't have to be an 

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astrophysicist to know that's 
not normal. 

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Some speculate there was a lunar
eclipse that day. 

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There's different science says 
different things about that. 

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We don't really know, but we 
know the sky got dark and that 

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doesn't normally happen in the 
middle of the day. 

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We know that when he died, the 
ground shook, and that doesn't 

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happen with everyone you 
crucify. 

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I suspect the Romans would have 
crucified fewer people of every 

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crucifixion led to an 
earthquake. 

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They wouldn't have known it 
then, but they would have heard 

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about it later, about the 
curtain in the temple. 

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Said temple was the most 
important building for a long, 

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long, long, long way. 
And, and even they would have 

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known that in in the Jewish 
tradition and Jewish belief that

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curtain separated the Holy of 
Holies, separated God from 

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mortal flesh. 
We call it God himself is too 

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powerful for mortal flesh. 
And that curtain has to be 

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between God. 
When God is present in the 

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temple, that curtain has to be 
between God and the people, or 

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God's power and glory will 
simply overwhelm the people to 

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death. 
And that curtain, which was way,

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way tall, was torn in 2. 
Not from the bottom to the top, 

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like folks had come and grabbed 
a corner and started pulling, 

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but from the top to the bottom 
where no one could reach. 

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And if that wasn't strange 
enough, there were all these 

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folks that were walking around 
town. 

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The people said, you know what, 
that guy was dead 2 days ago. 

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How this happened I'd never 
noticed before. 

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It says that the moment he died,
they came back to life, but they

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didn't leave the tombs till 
Jesus resurrected. 

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That must have been an 
interesting couple of days for 

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them. 
I'm just saying God does things 

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in weird ways sometimes, you 
know, wake up, spend 2 days and 

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a hole in the ground and oh now 
I get out Lord, you know, could 

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have woken me up right before 
would have been OK with that. 

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But they heard these things and,
and these battle hardened 

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soldiers, these men who were 
strangers in a strange land, who

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I, I, I got to think, wanted 
nothing more than just to finish

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their time and this, this Judean
countryside and then get back to

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their wives and their children 
and their families and their 

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businesses doing the things that
they really want to. 

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They can just get done, serve 
their time, get done with this 

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and then get back to those 
things. 

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That's all they really wanted. 
Do that without dying. 

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Can we get home without being 
killed? 

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And we'll be all right, Hardened
killers. 

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The Roman soldiers were the they
were the elite soldiers in the 

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world at that time. 
They killed, they killed a lot. 

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They killed Mirth mercilessly. 
They killed ruthlessly, and they

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were killing a couple more 
today. 

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But all of this that happened, 
all of this that happened, it's 

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almost like and the, the 
scripture doesn't use these 

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words, but, but I, I get this 
and this is me. 

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I, I just get the feeling that 
that Centurion and it said the 

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others that were with him 
crucified that, that they felt 

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compelled to say what they said 
to that to not say it would have

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been such a horrendous denial of
reality that they couldn't 

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remain silent that they're 
standing confessing. 

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This must have been truly, this 
man was the son of God. 

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We've just killed the Son of 
God. 

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And again, they weren't argued 
into it. 

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No one gave them a tract, 14 
Easy Ways to know Jesus is the 

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Son of God. 
No one's invited him do a Bible 

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study. 
No one sat him down and said, 

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well, let's walk through the 
Roman. 

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Hey, your Romans, let's do the 
Romans Rd. 

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We'll do it. 
It'll make sense to you. 

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They were just confronted with 
the truth. 

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The earth shook, the sky 
darkened, the temple was torn, 

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the dead came back alive, 
compelled these Pagan Roman 

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killer soldiers to confess 
Jesus, the crucified slave is 

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the Son of God, the Son of God. 
That's the power the truth has, 

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undeniable truth has that power 
to evoke confession in people, 

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even people who might not want 
to do the confessing. 

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Now we've got to be honest. 
Lots of people saw all that 

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happen that didn't issue that 
confession. 

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The chief priests saw everything
that those, the centurion and 

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the soldiers saw the the 
Pharisees and the Sadducees saw 

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everything. 
Herod and them, they, they, they

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all saw it. 
So when I say truth can force 

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confession, and truth doesn't 
mean it always will, but truth 

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has a power that argument and 
persuasion and reason and logic 

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is important as they are. 
Truth has a power that those 

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things simply don't. 
And of all of the people that on

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that day that would have a 
motivation to say this was just 

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another scumbag that deserved to
die. 

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The people that killed him would
have been the ones that least 

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wanted to say this was the son 
of God who we just put to death.

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We literally with our hands put 
to death when the centurion and 

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those who were with him who were
guarding Jesus saw the 

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earthquake and all that had 
happened. 

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They were terrified and 
exclaimed surely he was the Son 

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of God. 
Once again I've gotten ahead of 

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my slides. 
So all that have happened, 

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Curtain of the temple was torn, 
the earth shook and rocks split.

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Tombs were open and only people 
were raised to life. 

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That truth and those 
circumstances at Jesus death 

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brought the centurion to 
confession. 

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The question that this raises in
my mind is how often do we 

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present people with the truth? 
We often talk about and focus on

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telling the truth, and it's 
important. 

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Telling the truth is important. 
There is no denying that telling

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the truth is important. 
How often do we present people 

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with the truth of the gospel? 
Not by what we say, but by how 

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we live. 
It's easy to say God wants us to

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show mercy and compassion and 
forgiveness to others. 

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It's really hard when someone is
cheating us or lying about us or

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or hurting us or harming us or 
stealing from us or manipulating

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us in some way and love them 
anyway and forgive them anyway. 

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It's easy to say. 
The truth is that God owns a 

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cattle on 1000 hills, and God 
who fed the 5000 on the hillside

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can feed me as well. 
It's harder to give 

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extravagantly to those who have 
less, especially if you're 

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giving enough that you don't 
know where your next meal is 

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going to come from. 
That's harder. 

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The church grew in extraordinary
ways in the weeks and months 

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following Jesus's resurrection, 
thousands and thousands and 

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thousands of people in Jerusalem
and in and, and other parts of 

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Judea and Samaria and other 
parts of the Roman Empire. 

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People were flocking to Jesus. 
And, and you can read through 

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the the stuff in the scripture. 
I mean, there were there were 

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some. 
Good things being said. 

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I mean, you know, it wasn't 
golden tongued oration that 

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brought people to confess Jesus 
as their savior. 

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It was when they saw those 
following Jesus and realized, 

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you know what? 
There's not a single hungry 

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person among them. 
And I know some of them are 

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poor. 
They were my friends. 

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They didn't have any more than I
had, or I know something more 

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poor. 
They were people I walked past 

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on the street all the time. 
They had nothing. 

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Now they look like they're 
eating OK. 

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They got clothes on their back. 
They're being taken care of. 

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They saw the truth because 
Jesus's followers were living 

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the truth, and seeing the truth 
has so much more power with the 

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centurion and those soldiers. 
Would they or could they ever 

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have come to faith in Jesus as 
Messiah if Jesus had not been 

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willing to die for them? 
But he was. 

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He'd been teaching and preaching
for years. 

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He'd been telling the truth for 
years. 

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They saw it that day, and that's
what convinced them. 

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This man surely was the Son of 
God. 

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Jesus told us to deny ourselves,
take up our crosses and follow 

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him. 
If you want to be my disciple, 

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it's not just about believing 
the right things. 

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It's not just about having the 
right doctrines. 

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It's not just about telling the 
truth. 

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It's not just about saying good 
things. 

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It's about living a life of self
denial and ongoing sacrifice for

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the sake of others. 
People need to see it. 

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00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:36,440
Cliche has been around for years
and it's as true now as it ever 

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was, and it's always been true. 
People don't care how much we 

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know until they know how much we
care. 

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People don't care what truth we 
have to say if we're not living 

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the truth ourselves. 
This is why I think Jesus told 

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his disciples and and Luke and 
an Acts. 

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You're going to be my witnesses.
You need to tell people what you

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00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:07,080
have seen so that those who 
didn't see it for themselves can

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see it through your eyes. 
Help them see the truth. 

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Help them hear the truth, not 
just hear about it. 

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Live in a way that shows the 
truth of what you believe about 

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me, that I really am the 
Messiah, that I really did die, 

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00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:27,440
that I really did come back to 
life, and that I hold the keys 

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00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:35,560
to hell and to death to the 
grave, and that the reason I 

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00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:39,640
came so that y'all could be 
reconciled to each other and 

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00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:42,320
reconciled to God. 
Go out and live it. 

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How often do we act and live in 
such a way that people are 

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forced to confess that Jesus 
must be the Lord and Savior? 

325
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,320
If those folks at Chester and 
Rock Springs and New Beginnings 

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00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,120
United Methodist, my goodness, 
there's there's no way those 

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people could live the way they 
lived of Jesus. 

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00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,360
If what they were talking about 
was a lie, there's no way they 

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00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:04,560
could do the things they're 
doing. 

330
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,160
If Jesus wasn't really the Son 
of God, there's no way. 

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There's no way. 
How often, how often do we live 

332
00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:21,280
in such a way that people are 
forced to say that Jesus must be

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00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,520
the Savior and he must be the 
Lord? 

334
00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:30,120
The simple truth is this truth 
can force confession. 

335
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:36,840
Truth, when we're confronted 
with it, can bring us to confess

336
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,760
the reality of God, the reality 
of Jesus. 

337
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Two things to take away, maybe. 
One, to make sure we're not 

338
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:52,360
cutting ourselves off from the 
truth that we're listening to 

339
00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:56,120
things and seeing things for 
what they are, not just what we 

340
00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:01,080
hope and want them to be. 
And the other is, is that we're 

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00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:04,880
living in such a way that other 
people, when they encounter us, 

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00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:08,640
are encountering the truth of 
what we believe, not just our 

343
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words about the truth of what we
believe in. 

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Jesus name, Amen. 
Amen.