Turn your Bible, first of all, to Galatians chapter two and the twentieth verse. Galatians chapter two, verse twenty. During the time that I'm going to have at this conference, I want to center my thoughts and meditations with you around this verse. Galatians chapter two, verse twenty, a very familiar verse. If you don't already know it, it would not take you long to learn it. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I'm going to be looking at this verse and breaking it down into basically four sections. And if you look at it again, You might be able to just follow these sections. I am crucified with Christ, the first one. The second one, nevertheless I live. The third one, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And then the fourth one will be the remainder of the verse. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The first section is what we will look at this morning. I am crucified with Christ. And during the course of these moments that we have together, I am going to be reading and citing from verses that are going to be very familiar. There is no new thing under the sun. And I am certainly not known as a person who is highly original. An older brother told me some time ago that I was born too late to be original, so don't worry about it. So there's no new thing that's going to come out here, but rather I'm going to be concentrating on what I see as the basics. You know, this time of year in the fall in September, many of us who are athletic inclined, and for some of us, our days of actual participation are long since removed, but still mentally we are athletic inclined. We tend to think a little bit about football. Football has been beginning. High school football, college football, the professional football games are now starting. But before any of these games got underway, before the first game of the season, those from Nebraska are going to be at least wondering a little bit during the course of this day how the Big Red is doing. in the first game of the season. But before this first game of the season ever came about, these young men had to go through a series of drills and what we used to call even when I was in high school the Tua Days. Now Tua Days is a very polite term for a period of tremendous agonizing and pain and wearyness. It was time that always took place in August when we had two practices a day, one in the first thing in the morning, trying to get it out of the way before the sun got too hot, and then another one later in the evening. And I can remember going through that period as if in a dream you get up, play football, go home, eat, go to bed, get up, go back, play football, come home, eat, go to bed, and that's all you do for about two weeks, that same cycle. And you just sort of drift through it. I can remember putting on my practice uniform in the evening and it was still wet from the morning, the heat and the humidity. My brother had the unfortunate circumstance to go on to college and play football. And his first call back to home from college was, they're trying to kill me. And that's many times the attitude that men have as they go through these drills. drills and conditioning and on and on in the heat and in the high humidity. But what have they done? I've always been impressed with the fact that no matter which level of football it is, high school, college, or pro, and no matter how long they've been at it, the one thing that they emphasize during these two-a-days is the basics. Locking, tackling, running, throwing, catching. Just the basics. And invariably, a coach will remind his team, if you do the basics right, the other things will come into play. No matter how fancy you get on the field, no matter how sophisticated the formations or the plays might be, you still got to do the basic thing. And so these two-a-days, during this grind, is designed to grind in, even for the old professional veteran, it's intended to grind into him the basics, blocking tackling. I would submit to you, beloved, that in Christianity and the race that has been set before us, that over the course of the nineteen hundred and some odd years that we have, that Christians have been involved in the work and the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, that over the years we become very sophisticated. somewhat like the fancy plays and the diagrams that we see in the football field but we've become very sophisticated and a little fancy we have tremendous amount of books we see just here what our brother has here is just scratching the surface of what is available we have cassette tapes available to us we have our Bibles and if the King James English doesn't appeal to you there's other kinds and there's a numerous Different kinds of translations and paraphrases. We have tremendous study aids and help and on and on. We've become very, very sophisticated in our Christianity. But at the same time, I sense that we've come away from some of the basics, some of the basic things in Christianity and what it means to live this life that Christ has given to us, that Christ now lives in us. I would suggest that we have a need to get back to some of the basics. Do not misunderstand me. I'm not criticizing books or anything by any means. I have a tremendous amount of books of my own for study age. But what I'm going to be looking at is to try to zero in and funnel back into some of the basics, some of the first things. Back to first base where we began. First base for the Christian, the origin for the Christian is to go back to the cross. that's where it began and for those of us who meet as we do and remember the Lord each and every Lord's day for us this is a very important issue and it's something that we have made important in our worship and the way that we meet that we remember him each and every Sunday morning or evening but what about in our lives have we really gotten back to the basic and just the way we live day by day and moment by moment. What does it mean I am crucified with Christ? I want to look at two points basically. Number one, I am crucified with Christ as to our salvation. And then secondly, I am crucified with Christ as to our discipleship. When I think of I am crucified with Christ, the first thoughts that come to my mind are identification and imputation. found in Leviticus chapter one. In Leviticus chapter one, verses three and four, we read these words. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a meal without blemish. He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, and he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make an atonement for him. Then in chapter four in verse four we read, And he shall bring the bollock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord and shall lay his hand upon the bollock's head and kill the bollock before the Lord. Here is the identification. In the first case we have the one putting his hand upon the head of the bollock that is to be a burnt offering. Burnt offering is a free will offering. He brought it of his own voluntary will and it was not required by law. But a child of Israel could bring one just because he wanted to show his devotion and love for the Lord, he could bring this offering and present it before the Lord. And in the first three chapters of Leviticus, we have the free will offering or what is called the sweet savor offering. These are sweet savor offerings because God would look upon those who would bring them and see that they have this love and devotion for him and they wanted just to bring something to the Lord. In the next two offerings, in Leviticus chapter four and five, we have trespassing sin offerings and those are mandatory offerings for sin. Whenever one committed a sin, either known or unknown to them, they were to bring these offerings and then these offerings would atone for sin. But in both cases, in the free will offering and also in the sin offering, the first thing that they did was they laid their hand upon the head of the offering. C. H. McIntosh said it is not a question of what he was, but simply of what the sacrifice was. In this identification, when he laid his hand upon that bullock, or whether it be the ram or the lamb or the turtle dogs or whatever they might bring, when they identified with that sacrifice and then that sacrifice was placed on the brazen altar and it was consumed in fire, the person who brought it could look back and see, there I am. There is my presentation. I've identified with that. And when the question of sin came up and the holiness of God needed to be vindicated and established and sin removed, this person would look at the altar and said, there is the payment for my sin, for mine. So before God, it was no longer a question of what that individual was, but it was only a question of what was happening to that sacrifice there on the brazen altar. And as God would look down and would smell that sweet-smelling savor in His presence, He was pleased and accepted that sacrifice, and in so doing, he accepted the one who had brought that offering. There is identification. There is also sin being imputed to that sacrifice, and then the payment for sin is met with the death of that sacrifice. So the sin of that person has been laid upon the head of that sacrifice. And in that, God is well pleased. Our Lord Jesus Christ... has become the fulfillment of all the types and the pictures in the Old Testament. He then has become that sacrifice, the free will offering of his own volition he laid down his life. Of his own will he submitted to the will of the Father, and that was to go to the cross. He is the burnt offering then that is pleasing to the Father. And if we wish to show love or devotion to our Heavenly Father, then we present to him thoughts of Christ. and of his sacrifice. He is the one who has taken away our sin. Throughout the New Testament we read, as in Second Corinthians chapter five, verse twenty one. For he hath made him who knew no sin to be sinned for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Galatians chapter three in verse thirteen. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hang us on a tree. First Peter chapter two and verse twenty four, who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. First Peter chapter three and verse eighteen, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive by the Spirit. He, the just one, died for you and I, the unjust. He who knew no sin was made sin for or on our behalf. Now we can pause for a moment and be thinking, I know that. I know those verses. And I'm thankful for those verses. Really. Are we really? When was the last time that we really stopped to meditate and to think? He was made a curse for me. Or cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. That's for me. By His stripes I am healed. I am healed from sin, from its effects, eventually from its presence entirely. By His stripes That was for me. When was the last time that you read through the account of the crucifixion of our Lord? And with each step said, that was for me. When they spit upon him, when they slapped him, when his visage became so marred, it was unrecognizable as a man. When they beat him so that his backside became as a plowed field and he drove the nails into his hands and his feet. When was the last time you carefully sat down and thought and meditate, cleared your head of everything else and thought to yourself, that was for me. He was made sin for me. He bore my sin. There is the identification. And we identify with the crosswork of our Lord Jesus Christ upon that point that we believe in him. When we receive Him as Lord and Savior, we confess Him with our mouth as Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead. That is done at the point of salvation, but it is also remembered. It is also something that we meditate upon day by day, because I would submit to you that that is going to have an effect upon our lives. When we really see Jesus and we really remember him and his death as we should, when we come together to worship, to take the bread and to take the cup, when we do so as we should, when we really see what has happened at the cross, then that ought to have an immediate effect upon our lives. For the older Christians who have been doing it Sunday after Sunday for years upon years and years, you can look back and you can see tremendous changes that have been made. Not all at once, but gradually over the years. And for the young ones to have this to look forward to, something to look forward to is this change, the effect that this is going to have each time we look at the cross and say, that was for me. And each time we lay our hand upon the head of that sacrifice, so to speak, And we offer up our love and devotion unto the Lord and we say, Father, here is my thought, here is my love and my devotion to you. It all centers around the thoughts and the things that I know of my Lord Jesus Christ and his life and his death and in the power of his resurrection. Because I am crucified with Christ. I've identified with him. He has paid the debt of my sin. And therefore, I'll never let him forget it. I'm always going to be saying thank you. I'm always going to be telling him I love him. But what else? When something of great importance has been done for us, what is our response to that? Ordinarily, our response is going to be one of gratitude. not only in saying the words but in doing deeds. I am crucified with Christ is going to be more than just saying thank you, Father, but it's going to produce now actions and things to show my thanks, my love, my devotion to Him. Not only is it important that we identified with Him, but probably even more important is that he has identified with us. Back in Hebrews chapter two, in Hebrews we have the book of the high priest. Christ is better than and his priesthood is better than the priesthood of the Old Testament economy. Hebrews chapter two and verse seventeen. Wherefore in all things that behooves him to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help them that are tempted. In all things it behooved him to be made like his brethren. He has identified with us. Think of the course of his life. In the beginning he was born, born a man. He took upon himself the form of a man. Not only that, but he came in service form, born in a manger, the lowliest of all possible birth. His ministry was one where he came unto his own, and his own received him not. They refused him. And right from his birthday, there was no room for him. He had to take what was left over. It was not by accident. It was by design. But you remember at the time of his death when there was no room in the city, there was a room that was prepared and waiting for him that he might celebrate with his disciples his Last Supper. But from his birth to his baptism during the course of his life, he was like his brethren. He identified with man. In his baptism, John's baptism was the baptism of repentance. And it was a national call to Israel to repent. And yet our Lord had nothing to repent of. For he was perfect in every way from the time he was born, all through his life. And yet he was baptized. Why? Again he is identifying as the great high priest. He is putting his hand and touching the sinner. During the course of his life we see him as he touched the leper. and the leper became cleansed. Not just in a little while. As we read in Luke five thirteen, he put forth his hand and touched him saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the lepers he departed from him. Those who were untouchable and uncleaned, he reached out and touched them. And in his death he made his grave with wicked. He bore our sins. He identified with us so that He might be the merciful and faithful high priest. Mercy to us who needed it and faithful to God who demanded it. Both the majesty and glory of God and the atonement for sin was dealt with in the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. During the course of Job's life, in chapter nine and verse thirty-three, he made the complaint, neither is there a day's man between us that he might lay his hand upon his boat. Job was complaining, there isn't one between God and man that can touch us both. He would later on declare, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and behold, not another. though my heart be consumed within me. He went from there is no one to touch us to saying, I know my Redeemer lives. And now we know that there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. He has laid his hand upon us both. We have that one that we identify with, that we lay our hand upon, but then even more important, he has reached down and he has touched you in awe. He had laid His hand upon us, and at the same time He is God. He meets the holiness of God, and He takes away sin. He's merciful and faithful. So what does that mean to us? Very intellectual facts that kind of come floating through the mind. Some of it sticks in the subconscious. Some of it goes on through. But we can still say, I've heard that before somewhere. I know those things. What does it do? Secondly, as to discipleship. I am crucified with Christ as to discipleship. In John chapter fifteen, it means a new relationship from those who are apart from God outside of the covenant and promises of God, for those who are on the broad road that leads to destruction. For those who were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. For those who all of our lifetime were alienated in enemies towards the things of God. I am crucified with Christ who has made a difference. Verse fifteen, henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father have made known unto you. He has not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit. and that your truth should remain, and whatever ye shall ask of the Father my name he may give it you. These things I command you that ye love one another. In the new relationship our Lord speaks of it as his being the vine and we are the branches. We are now tucked into him, made one body with him. Henceforth not servant, friends. Henceforth we have a communication between God and ourselves. God is not just God, far above us, but He is now Father. And as children, we can enter into His presence. Jesus Christ is not just Jesus, the Savior, Christ, the anointed of God. He is now Lord. And there is an intimate relationship to say, Lord Jesus. I don't know how many of you have heard the program. There's a program on KGBI now. where one of the fellas comes on and he speaks and to me it's irritating. Maybe I'm odd, but he continually goes through, he's going through the Gospels in the Gospel of Luke. And he continually says, Jesus did this, Jesus said that, Jesus then did this, Jesus then explained, and after a while I turn it off and I keep pounding on the dash because I'm using my car. I'm pounding on the dash, Jesus Christ is Lord. He died to bring about this relationship, this unique intimate relationship that we might communicate with Him. He's not just a figure in history. He is something very special to me and very close to my heart. He is Lord. And in Luke chapter fourteen, our Lord gives to us something of discipleship. Luke chapter fourteen and verse twenty-five. And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple, and whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me. to not be my disciple. I am crucified with Christ. So now I have become his disciple. Out of the great multitudes that followed him, he knew that this would soon send out the crowd when he told them what discipleship included. In my illustration of football, one of the things that we knew at the beginning of the year is that out of so many who started the two-a-day practices, There was always a nucleus that would stick it out. You always have some fellas that come walking on the field and at the beginning of the summer, they're always, we're going to, I'm going to make the team. I'm going to be a star. And since I was one of those who had a starting position, I always had two or three fellas coming to me and saying, I'm going to beat you out of your position. And I didn't even bother to give them an answer because I knew the two of days would tell the story. And invariably, after the two of days, My position was secured usually because I was the one that was left. It soon thinned out the crown. And the Lord turned to the multitudes and said, if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, wife and children and brother and sister, Jay, and his own wife, he cannot be my disciple. Now, wait a minute, that's awful harsh language. And is the Lord telling us that we ought to hate our wives? Children, fathers, mothers? No, I don't believe so. But he is telling us that in comparison to our love and devotion, and dare we use the word commitment to him, that in comparison to that, then it is like hatred. But if we think about it, if we start to think about it in terms of our family, relationships with other people, what is the best thing that we could do for our wives? or husband or children or father or mother, what is the best thing that we could do for them? For those who are rearing children as I am, that sometimes is a good question. What's the best thing you can do for them? Because we love our children. We want to do what's best. We want to do the best thing. So when the low one says, Daddy, I want a bicycle, you automatically think, well, is that the best thing? Probably is. I had a bicycle. didn't hurt me. I thought it was good. Well, Daddy, can I have this? Can I have that? Can I have this? This? All through life, as I've grown up, pretty soon I got so much junk that when you try to move, you've got to have two vans with all this stuff. And then you stop and wonder, am I really doing the best thing for my children? What is the best thing? There was a time in our life when I've felt that the Lord had called us to preach. And I was working at the time at a very good job. And I quit the job. And an older brother, well-intentioned, said to me, what about your baby? That time my children were both very young. One was in diapers and the other just out. He said, what about your baby? I said, what about my baby? What is the best thing that I could do for my baby? What is the best thing that I could do for my children right now? Or for my wife? my father, my mother, I am crucified with Christ, tells me that the best thing that I could do is to be wholeheartedly, one hundred percent, in pursuit of what the Lord has set before me in his will and his work. If you would become my disciple, he said, here is the cost. It's going to cost you everything. For which of you intended to build a tower, should it not down first, and counteth a cost, whether he is sufficient to finish it, lest, perhaps, after he hath laid the foundation, is not able to finish it, all that behold, it begins to mock him, saying, This man to begin to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king goeth to make war against another king, should it not down first, and consulteth, whether he is able, with ten thousand, to meet him, that cometh against him with twenty thousand, or else why the other is yet a great way off. He sendeth an embassy in desire of conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he is of you that forsakeeth not all that he has cannot be my disciple. So it is the cause. Sometimes I'm concerned that in our sophisticated world of Christianity today, we have gone overboard to try to make the transition from darkness into light as easy as possible without cause. Sometimes I'm afraid that in the course of trying to bring Christians along that we've taken shortcuts, we live in a world of instant, instant tea, instant coffee, instant dessert, instant everything, instant. And I'm as guilty as anybody because I have no patience. My idea of doing something is yesterday. It should have been done already. I planted a garden one time. I put the seeds in the ground, went out the next day and said, all right, where you at. Went out a second day and it still wasn't anything. I went out a third day and finally I gave up on them. Since I gave up on them, the weeds came out and choked them off and wasn't anything anyway. But my idea is waiting is give it a couple hours. So I can see the incense that's involved. But sometimes in trying to be in a hurry and we like to see Christians mature and go on in the things of God. But sometimes we try to make the transition just a little too easy. Saying the cost of discipleship really isn't as much as what the Lord said here in Scripture. He said it's going to cost you everything. Everything. Do I have to give up my job? Everything. Do I have to give up this way of life? There are certain habits I have. I can't just drop these habits overnight. Everything. It's going to cost you everything. But I have to take time for myself. I have to take time to relax and everything. The cost is everything. I am crucified with Christ means that all of the old man is nailed to the cross and is buried and is gone forever. Everything's gone. He said, unless the man takes up his cross, What is the cross that we now bear? I've talked to some husbands that think it's their wives. Some wives that think it's their husbands. Some parents think it's their teenagers. My teenager is sitting here, so I have to be real careful what I say about teenagers. Somebody told me, you know, it says the Lord knew what he was doing. He made teenagers so obnoxious so that when they're ready to leave home, you're ready for them to go. But is that the cross? Is that the cross we bear? Who's going to take up his cross and follow the Lord? In scriptures it speaks of the cross. Galatians six fourteen says, but God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. What is it going to cost you? Well, here it's going to cost me the whole world. It's crucified unto me, and I to the world. Philippians three, verse seven, but what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. The apostle had quite a bit. He had education. He had status, positions of power, probably a certain degree of wealth, I suppose. And he said, what things I... ordinarily you would think of his gain I count them lost in the same chapter verse ten that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death in Colossians chapter two and verse fourteen blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his cross second Corinthians four ten always bearing in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. What is the cross? The cross of discipleship is saying that everything has been nailed to His cross. Not only the ordinances of the law, but all desired goals and ambitions of me personally have been nailed to the cross. To be able to honestly and actually pray, not my will but thine be done. and to be saying it all belongs to you not just with the mouth and not just with words running through the head but saying it all belongs to you sometimes people will say my car belongs to the Lord and my question in return is how often has the Lord used it in the last week or day so many times when we say it all belongs to the Lord if we break it down and begin to think well then how often has the Lord actually used it by how my car I am crucified with Christ means that everything is nailed to the cross and that His will is actually the priority. For I would submit to you, beloved, that when one has been to the cross, they can never be the same ever again. When one has been to the cross, they can never be the same ever again. There's no going back. When we've been to the cross, we then embark upon a journey upon which there is no return. Bridges are burned behind us. There's no ships to sail back. There's no return route. No return tickets. No flight back to that old life because now it's been nailed to the cross and it's gone forever. And there is going to be a change. Some quicker than others. But once you've been to the cross, There's no returning, there's no changing back to the old ways, there's only a changing that presses toward being conformed to His image. Then to the cross, you see that's the basic. That's just basic Christianity. That's where it all began. For me it began when I was six years old, sitting down at the feet of my father and praying. I went to the cross then. And I have found that my life is better when I go back and remember that first day and that first love. When I go back to basics, I am crucified with Christ. Bill Gaither put it into words that sounded like this. It was a life filled with aimless desperation. Without hope walked the shell of a man. Then a hand with a nail print reached downward. And with one touch a new life began. For the old rugged cross made the difference, and a life filled with ache and despair. And I will praise him forever and ever for that cross made the difference in me. Has it made a difference in you? Is it making a difference right now? And is the difference noticeable? Do others see that you're changing? There is a difference. John Bunyan saw in his dream a pilgrim hurrying up a hill. And in his dream he saw he ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending. And upon that place stood a cross and a little below in the bottom a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream that just as Christian came up with the cross his burden loosed from off his shoulders to the mouth of the sepulchre where it fell in and I saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and liked them and said with a merry heart, He hath given me rest by his sorrow and life by his death. Then he stood still a while to look and wonder. For it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked therefore and looked again even till the springs that were in his head sent the water down his cheeks. He later spoke of this incident. and said, Saul, while I went but a little farther, and I saw one, as I thought in my mind, hang bleeding upon a tree, and the very sight of him made my burden fall off my back. For I groaned under a very heavy burden, but then it fell down from off me. An unknown poet once wrote, Do this and live the law demands that gives me neither feet nor hands. A better word the gospel brings. It bids me fly. and gives me wings. I am crucified with Christ. I bear the cross of discipleship now, and it has made a difference. What difference? You see, now I am free. The law told me to walk, but at the same time it exposed my crippled nature. But now grace has stepped in and has set me free to fly. Whenever we think back to the cross, we can see how that great burden was loose and it fell down a hill. But even more than that, beloved, we can see how that has given us wings to fly. I'm sure that you all have seen the little poster that people hang in the places where they work. It says it's hard to fly sore with eagles when you work with turkeys. My sister once knew that I was a bit depressed, which is wrong. She knew I was a bit depressed. She sent me a little byline to that, and it said, But don't let the turkeys get you down. Beloved, we have been set free to fly. Our Lord said to us, Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Free, not to muddle around on the dust of this earth. Not to be anxious about the things of tomorrow. Not to be distressed about the circumstances around us. Not to be concerned about what we shall eat, what we shall put on, or where we shall live. Not to be muddled down with these turkeys, these mundane little things here on the earth. But he has set us free to flock. The soar above this earth. Our citizenship is in heaven, and there is our domain. Lines above this earth. Perhaps, if I would be permitted, I might issue a bit of a challenge in this conference, a challenge that rather than it being a conference of which we've all attended a great many and which we all walk away and say, that was nice. But it might be a conference in which something will happen, things will happen when words and doctrines scriptures and principles that we know begin to reach down into our heart and make changes. Do you see how that in your life now you're really not doing much, then do something? Or perhaps you're thinking, I do something now, could you do a bit more? Or perhaps you're thinking, I do a lot now, nobody else is doing anything. Could you do a bit more? I am crucified with Christ and the cross of discipleship has set me free to fly. It is broken through all boundaries and all limits. It exceeds our wildest imagination. It takes us beyond the sphere of what we just see and feel and sense with these five senses. It's taken us beyond that. I would submit to you that the words of the prophet are just as true today as when they were first uttered, the day that weighed upon the Lord. shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. So let's fly. Let's fly into His presence for instruction. Let's run to do His bidding. Let's walk in the fellowship of the saints. But beloved, let's get going. Let's do it now. for the cross has made a difference and it will continue to make a difference in our lives. Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ for in that symbol of death we have life. For there thy son, our Lord Jesus Christ, paid the wages of our sin with his death. We thank thee also for the empty tomb and the power of the resurrection. And we thank you, Father, that the truth has set us free. We are no longer bound