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Speaker 2Hey, amen. If y'all didn't notice, that was four different hands on that piano. Judy, Basie, and Lisa Landis. Thank you. I'm on invite Mahindra to come on up and this brother has been working with Crossroads Ministries in Durban, South Africa for the last thirty two years.
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So, he's been doing this a long time. Tanya and I have been in ministry for twenty five and our overlapping for that 2010 meeting where we're just together about two or three weeks was great. Y'all remember that Melissa Landis was serving in Durban, South Africa and at a point in her ministry, I I we sensed that she needed a soft place to land and I knew exactly two people in South Africa and one of them lived less than ten minutes from her and I called Mahendra and said, would y'all give Melissa a soft place to land? She's she's missionary burnout is real and so he said, yeah, tell me more about her And when I told her a little little more about her, he said, we've been praying for her for months. And she ended up working with him for four years and very, very positive experience for her, for them, for everybody involved, including me and Tanya in this church.
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So thank you for being supportive of them. I'm gonna just turn it over and let Mahendra go.
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Speaker 1Thank you, pastor Ray. Pastor Ray is gonna read the scripture, but as he comes up to read the scripture, when I met pastor Ray and his buddy in Cape Town, My buddy and I were in Cape Town as well. And so we got to know each other, loved each other from the time we started because we thought he was cool and his friend. And we worked long hours serving at the conference. And then we'd go out and eat late at night.
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And so we introduced him to Indian food. And like I said, the first group, Indian food's gonna be the food in heaven. So you better enjoy. He was like, enjoy the food now. And so and the first time I saw Pastore, it's like I said to my buddy, Bob, I said, doesn't he remind you of Kenny Rogers?
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I mean, I I come I come from a small town, and and he can sing, you know, so I don't know too much. And so so this is my friend Pastore. He's a white man, enjoys Indian food, white white Mexican, okay, can sing well, and we love him to bits. And and I was like it was interesting. I'm here this week, and and I mean, you guys know we're busy.
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But, man, this guy is not busy. He's more than busy. He's we we're either stopping to have somebody on the road. I went to three weddings, you know. I and yeah.
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I went to a wedding at 08:30 at night right here. He is downstairs doing an elders meeting. Comes up at, what, 08:00. Married somewhere, it's 08:30. I'm like, wow.
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Come on. And I was just gate crashing, you know, with him. And it was such a great time for me. I I mean, I was not planning to come out because, you know, I was gone three weeks, and my wife was getting a bit nervous. Why aren't you coming home?
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You know, you whatever. But I actually thought I'm coming to to Ray. Yeah. But it was the other way around. God is doing something in my life.
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And just through such a great I feel so energized to get back and do what God's called us to do. And you'll hear a little bit of the ministry we're doing. And so yeah.
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Speaker 2Here's the scripture.
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Speaker 1Mhmm.
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Speaker 2Now, before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he would depart from this world to the father, having loved his own who were in the world. He loved them to the end and during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the father had handed all things over to him and that he had come forth from God and was going back to God. He, in the New American Standard, when you see an asterisk next to a verb, it's a historical present. It's just an interesting storytelling device. So, read it this way.
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Jesus, knowing that the father had handed all things over to him and that he had come forth from God and was going back to God. He gets up from supper and he lays aside his outer garments and he took a towel and tied it around himself and then he pours water into the basin, and he began washing the disciples' feet and wiping them with the towel which he had tied around himself. We'll skip a few verses there. Then when he had washed their feet and he had taken his garments, he reclined again at the table and he said to them, do you all know what I've just done for you? You all call me teacher and lord and you're correct for so I am.
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So if I, the Lord and the teacher wash your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example so that you also would do just as I did for you. Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who sent greater than the one who sent him. So if you know these things, you're blessed if you do them.
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Speaker 1Amen. Thank you, pastor A. If you know these things, you'll be blessed if you do them. That's the interesting thing oh, should I really first say, thank you so much for the privilege. But, you know, when I stand up at a pulpit, I appreciate the privilege, but I know what a great responsibility it is.
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This is God's word, and this time is God's time. And in the thirty two years of the ministry, we're doing it at Crossroads. I know I'm not gonna do justice to the scripture because Ray can do really great work here around the scripture. But I'd like to share a few things that we experience in what I call real, authentic ministry. And I chose this portion of scripture because I really, and you'll agree with me, this epitomizes who God is.
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And Jesus Christ, if I can set the scene a little bit, Jesus Christ is, and you frustrated, but Jesus Christ is here. He knows he's come to the end of his ministry. But he's got a couple of guys that are they're way behind. All the time that he's ministering to them, they were just always wanting to be the greatest. And, you know, like little schoolboys, they're pushing each other, I'm sure.
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They're running, you know. I was sharing the first group. You get people like John who says, disciple Jesus loved. Oh, man. Talk about, talk about, you know, self centeredness.
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And then he says something to the effect of then he says something to the effect of, you know, when they're going to to to the tomb to see Jesus. John writes, you know, and he slips it in. I outran Peter. Yeah. Some so so we're talking to people here that are and but the interesting thing is and this is what I love about God and love about Jesus.
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He also knew that one of his guys are gonna betray him. You know what cuts deep in my heart? He says, the scripture says, and John says it, he loved them to the end. Amidst all of this, amidst all of what's going on, Jesus loved them still. And so often, you know, I would not like to pick on them because I think I'm like them sometimes.
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Sometimes you get weary, don't know what's going on. Sometimes you get tired of what, you know, what the Bible says, do not get weary in doing well. And the disciples are here, and Jesus now, you know, I would think, think, do another miracle. Do something else, you know? But what really happened was Jesus took a towel, went beneath himself.
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Because what they failed to realize, what he was doing was he was saying to them indirectly, this is gonna be what you're gonna be doing for your life. And the disciples who were once, you know, jockeying for power and greatness and wanna be the greatest, Peter says, crucify me upside down. And many of them died violent deaths. Why? Because I think they got it at the end.
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And if if we could if we could just talk through some of so I've got a couple of points I'd like to speak to. But like I said, I think is from my experience, looking at this portion of scripture, these are some of the things I do and our ministry does. Just dive straight into it. It says, the first thing I'd like to say is Jesus drew God into everything. And just go one more.
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Why? Because it takes all of God's power in us to do the most menial and commonplace things in his way. Jesus is reminding his disciples, It's not about how high you you you rise, but how low you stoop. And I'm gonna show you this. Why?
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Because I want you to get the understanding because your life is gonna be a life of service. You know, I didn't come to be served. I come to service people, the other people. And that's something the disciples didn't really get. But like I said, because like all of us, we want we want some significance.
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We want to be in some position. That's not wrong. But Jesus is saying, if you wanna be my true disciple, that's not that's not the right way. All of heaven is all upside down. You know that God's mats don't add up.
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You know, things all things that God does in our lives, we can't we can't place like, why would God do that? You're so merciful to me. I'm a sinner, but yet you're merciful to me. Judas is in the midst of all of them, he's gonna betray Jesus, but yet Jesus says, I'm gonna wash your feet. I'm gonna read the next couple lines because I think I'll I'll miss something.
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As we see, yeah, the things Jesus did was often the most menial and commonplace. What we learn from this is that it takes all of God's power in us to do the most menial and commonplace things in his way. So Jesus took water and a towel and a bucket, and he took it and made it a holy service to God because he drew his father into it. My question is, what is your water bucket and towel? It could just be a conversation.
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It could just be a telephone call. It could just be a prayer for somebody. It could be, as a school teacher, you embracing somebody, or as a lawyer, or whatever you do, whatever God's got you. You know, one of the things I my wife, Lynette, she's not here, but she says, You're just not a teacher. You're a child of God who's a teacher.
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That's your service. Ministry is not found in the title of the positions, but in the service offered. Service done unto others and on behalf of our master. Our people the people are the recipients and the benefactors. My service is to God.
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So no no matter what you do, I'll do my best for you. Why? Because my service, you're the benefactor. You're receiving the recipient. My service is to God.
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And we deal with so many people that are unclean or sick or in deep poverty. And one of the things we've learned in my ministry is you don't see the outside. You see the inside. The people we serve, our people are merely receiving. But my father is watching and he goes, I'm happy.
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You hear today and, you know, and I know you I know you guys know this, but I'm gonna mention it anyway. We all ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think somewhere along the line, we we we took one position, and we made it quite holy cow you cannot touch, a sacred cow you cannot touch. But according to the scriptures, every one of us are given the mandate to go. Every one of us are ministers.
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And I would love for and I'm, you know, hoping the church will bring That teams to South event will happen, but we can't wait for the event to happen. Every day, God is making ministry available. The question is, are you available to walk into the opportunity God gives you? Every morning when I'm seeking the face of God, I say to God, you know me. I I rush around.
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I'm hurrying around. But please, God, the Holy Spirit, make me aware, profoundly aware of your presence that I may not miss the opportunity you're giving me right here, right now. Greatness in the kingdom of God will not be measured by how high you rise, but how low you stoop. So for ministry to be real, it must be done amongst the common man in a common manner, but done in such a way that it pulls God into it, and thereby transforming the common into the uncommon. Washing feet was a common thing for disciples.
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They knew they had to do that. That was common law. But every one of them felt because they now joined the master, their rabbi, their teacher, they are not gonna do that. Jesus reminded that your life will become that. You draw God into it, that'll become a holy service.
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And it doesn't have to be your Bible school trained. And as missionaries, we always teach people how to go reach people for Christ, the Roman road or four steps of law. That's not necessary. Well, that's good and helps. But because God's given you a moment and an opportunity, you walk into those moments.
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Jesus Christ also taught us that the the supernatural comes and goes. But it is in the ordinary daily living that our grasp on God and his on us is demonstrated. And I love this line. It says, beware of any work of God that enables you to evade concentration on him. I grew up in a Hindu home.
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I was a Hindu kid. We grew up in a very high caste family. We were chosen to be priests, and my family was chosen to be priests. And my sister, my youngest sister, was very unwell. And she was, you know doctors couldn't do anything for her.
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And my mom and dad recites the story. So they put her on the ground, put a loin cloth over her, waiting for her to die. But what I didn't really know, or what we all didn't know, that God's gonna do the supernatural. My sister who went to a wayside Sunday school comes to my mom and dad, okay, she comes to my mom, and says to my mom, the Sunday school teacher said, Jesus heals. You know, the common faith the practical faith of a child, simple faith.
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And my dad, obviously, because my sister's gonna pass away, said, Fine, do whatever you wanna do. The minister of the local church where my sister goes to where she the Sunday school, pastor in charge of the church, he comes. He he gets invited in. He prays a simple prayer. And the next morning, my sister's up from the dead bed running around.
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And and I think God had to show up for my family to do such a supernatural thing. But you know what? After that, every day after that, God was bringing the supernatural was doing the natural in the supernatural. All of my families are still all of my people in my home got saved. My mom and dad, my sisters, all of us in ministry.
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But every day, we are doing the drug in the drudgery of life, we're meeting people's needs. It's so it's so easy to forget because we're looking for something great. We're looking for something either out of the Bible. We're looking for a Pauline experience. But friends, every day, God is doing the supernatural in the natural.
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The fact that I wake up in the morning, woah. God's done the supernatural. Ministry can't be arranged ahead of time because it depends upon the opportunity which avails itself. And again, we're walking in the newness of life. We're walking with grace and love.
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We taste and see that the Lord is good, and we're praying, Lord, do something for us every day. Show up every day, and God shows up. And one really great story is is in my ministry, in one of the ministry areas we're working in, there was a young there was an older man named and we call him Baba Yohannes. Baba means father because as a sense of respect, they will call you Baba. And his name was John, but in Zulu we call him Johannes.
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And one of the things I do when I'm involved in medicine, my job as the guy in charge is to be able I pray that God will give us the man or woman of peace. So while we do lots of humanitarian, my thing is hope and rescue comes from Jesus Christ, and not the food we give. We feed 8,000 children every day. We're building homes. We're doing all of that.
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But hope comes from knowing Jesus Christ. And so, I was actually praying that the Lord would do something in a new area. I was driving around in my truck, and as I came to a certain area, this gentleman jumped in front, literally jumped in front of my truck. And you can see he's got a little stick as well. So I was like, Woah, what's going on here?
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He indicated for me to put the window down. I rolled down my window and he says to me, Come have church in my house. Nobody knew anything. Nobody knew my prayer. Not even my staff understood my prayer.
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And the reason I was driving, because I was praying. Lord, show up. Do something. I didn't know that ministry I didn't know that this gentleman is going to change the trajectory of so many people's lives from darkness to light. All I did was I was waiting for the moment to avail itself.
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He six months into it, he dies. He's he developed some form of cancer, he passed away. But because of his obedience and because he heard God, so many people are saved in a valley full of darkness. And you know, on a side note, breaks my heart to think about it, but I don't think we fully understand the love of Christ. A man in the middle of nowhere, God comes in.
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God reaches down and hears his cry. Shit, you know, brings healing from darkness to light, from hell to heaven, from eternal punishment to eternal life. The question we need to ask ourselves is, are we available to walk into the opportunities God provide? And I can guarantee you this. You make that your daily prayer.
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Lord, make me profoundly aware of your presence. I'm willing to be used. Ministry which impresses him is done through his servant's heart. I don't have to explain that, but Jesus has proved he was the servant of all. The book of Isaiah chapter 53 gives us a whole rendering of the life of Christ.
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And it says in the book of John 13, you know what I've done for you? I've given you an example. And every one of us know that things in when we are doing things that are beneath us, we are demonstrating a servant's heart and attitude. I will give you a little another project that we're doing. We're calling it the Thousand Block Project.
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So it's cinder block. That same gentleman, Johannes, in his community, we have 35 ladies that made commitments for Christ and they're part of a Bible study. But of that 35, we were teaching the woman a little bit around the understanding of a new identity in Jesus Christ. Many of them have to they pray to their ancestors, and the ancestors will take their prayers to God. We are saying no more.
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And we said, let's pray, and we begin to pray. And as we prayed, we asked the woman, what would you need? What is it that you want God to meet your need in? And 18 of them said, we want houses because our houses got washed away. At the end of the prayer, one young lady, you know, said to us, I know how to make blocks.
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So 18 women projected a servant's heart. They make a thousand blocks for the first person, okay, with their own money, their own energy, own strength. Crossroads will come in with local builders, and we'll build them a house. That's one of the That was the first house that we decided to change. As you can see, the women are making cinder block.
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That's the house. Why? Because somebody took the time to go beneath themselves. That's the inside of the house. The question is, are we following the example of Jesus Christ?
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Is it the title or the position? Are we too busy to do the things of God but not being effective? Jesus revealed to us that our responses to ministry exposes our genuine character. What Jesus is reminding his disciples, this is not about how, you know, what position you hold. What you're simply doing is you're showing me who you really are.
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Showing me that you guys are not good you guys your character is flawed because none of you want to wash feet. You know you should be washing feet. You know that. You grew up with that. You understood that.
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And so, while I would not like to overextend the point, but people look at us as shining lights. And there's nothing better than a good Christian testimony. I love that story when, you know, the blind man says to the high the the synodrin and the high priest. I mean, I don't know what you're talking about. Once I was blind, but now I see.
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That's my testimony. I didn't I couldn't see. I can see. I don't know what you guys are talking about. The power of a testimony can change lives forever.
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We've seen In our Bible study, we had a woman meeting, and then one of the local witch doctors, okay, in the community, she's wondering, What is going on? Why are people's lives being changed? Why aren't they coming to me as the witch doctor? I'm in charge. So she comes to the Bible study.
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Okay? She comes the first week, second week, and then I get a call from my colleague who's doing the Bible study saying, hey, by the way, there's a witch doctor coming. So what do you want me to do? I say, speak the truth in love. That's all we do.
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Because the power of God brings salvation. The truth of God God's word reveals. So the testimony of us sitting in the presence of God, unearthing his words, speaking the truth in love, being Christ is hands and feet. That that witch doctor, after eight months of Bible study, gave her life to Christ. The power the power of a Christian testimony.
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She now is by the way, she's bringing other witch doctors to us. We're gonna we're gonna cause a big problem. Jesus and and my last point, Jesus reoriented our understanding of success, reminding us that genuine godly values lies in who we are and not what we do. Pastor Ray mentioned it, and I love that line. It's, you know, it's not about the doing, It's about the being.
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Because once you understand who you are in Christ, the doing becomes natural. And he was gonna teach his disciples. They didn't listen. He was gonna teach them, Guys, it's not who you are. Because if you learn the washing of feet, you'll get success.
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It's how low you stoop, not how high you rise. It's not about in a society we live in, that's the entire thing is reversed. We teach our we teach you need to be successful. You need to have a great career. We teach you need to have everything.
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Nothing wrong with wealth, but what we find out is too many times we want to perform for God rather be rather be a good Christian witness, rather have character for God. And let me end with this. This is my granddaughter. Isn't she beautiful? She's one she's just turned she just turned 12.
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She's one year old. And wait, listen. Isn't she beautiful? That's my wife. Okay, I wanna make sure I tell I wanna make sure to tell you that my wife's beautiful because she may be listening in.
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So she buys she so she she buys this onesie for for Olivia. Her name is Olivia Reagan. We call her Ollie Ray. So she buys this piece of outfit for her, and it says, Love is my superpower. I'm gonna leave with you the Ollie Ray effect, Ollie Ray principle.
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The love of God is our superpower. And you know, this grandchild of mine enveloped all of us. You grandparents, you know that. She's the first grandchild. And every moment of the day, she just, you know, her loves had been shouting us, and we love her to bits.
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I was telling the first group as well, my favorite song? Wheels on the bus go round and round. Uh-huh. So I'll be walking around. I'm a belly, I'm a belly, there's a belly button.
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And people are, What is going on with you? You know? She invi she she took all of us. That's what Christ has done. He changed my song.
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He changed my heart. Love is our superpower, friends. We don't need to perform. We just need to love freely. Freely receive, freely give.
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And the Bible remind and we have a motto in Crossroads. We love people until they ask us why. We love people until they ask us why. Because nobody could refute a touch. Jesus said to the woman, you know, the woman that would issue her blood, who touched me?
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And the disciples are, come on. Why? Because Jesus knew the power of touch. And then he then he says it, what he was feeling, he now calls her daughter. The power of touch, the power of God's love.
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John three sixteen reminds us, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. John three seventeen says, he didn't come to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. And it's easy for me to condemn. We we all, we do that all the time. We look and we can see the faults.
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But what's greater than the faults is the love of Christ. Romans five eight says, but God commanded his love towards us. While we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's the power of our story. We don't need to have we don't need to have processes in how and just love.
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Just love. I had a friend of mine for me the other day and said, by the way, I'm praying for you. I just thought about you. I mean, and he puts the phone down. That is one of the greatest things to know that somebody is showing me the love of Christ.
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Each one of you have the same power because you've tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Let's pray. We look to you, father, from whence come with our help. Our help comes from you. Would you bless your word to our hearts, father?
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Thank you for sending Jesus. The examples are just so plain and simple, yet so powerful and effective, cutting asunder our hearts. You revealed yourself in your in in your word. May may we, as the body of Christ, be real in what we do as ministers and go and do and follow the examples you've given us. In Jesus' name.
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Amen. Amen.
