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the Significance of the Infant Savior · Relish: a Christian podcast

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  Music.
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  Just sufficient to flavor, to be pleased or gratified by, enjoy.
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  We are hoping that what we bring to your table today might add some spice to your life.
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  Hey, Rowan, how are you doing? Good, how are you, Don? So far, so good.
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  Let's see what kind of questions you have drummed up today for us,
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  because you've had some really good ones.
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  I don't know, did we ever tell, yeah, we did the Relish, told people about Relish.
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  And I got to tell my dad today that we helped name this broadcast over Mom's Relish.
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  Yeah. As she used to make it. And dad thought, well, that's odd, but I'll tell her.
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  Pretty good. That's neat. All right.
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  Well, since we just came off Christmas, the spirit of Christmas. Oh, yeah.
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  Why did Jesus come as a baby? Did he have to come as a baby?
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  And like, what's the significance of that?
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  Well, from our standpoint, God has all the prerogative to do it anyway. way he wants to do it.
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  But I think part of God's motivation is it takes all those barriers away because
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  most of us don't have any barriers between us and children.
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  I mean, what's more inviting than the laughter of a child or the coup of a child
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  that, yeah, I mean, everybody wants to hold babies, right?
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  And so it takes down all those barriers. If he'd have come as a white middle-class
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  businessman into that situation.
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  Well, that wouldn't have been accepted because, you know, okay,
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  white in that culture, a businessman with that many poor, there'd be all those
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  kinds of barriers, whereas he came as a child.
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  I think it was a great plan and took away all those things that normally would
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  be easily to dismiss receiving a child.
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  Right. So like more accepted, more. More accepted. Yeah. Biding.
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  Yeah. And the fact that he didn't come into a castle, he came into a common
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  home, even a poor home, if you would. Yeah.
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  That broke those barriers as well. And those are significant when you start
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  thinking about, well, you know, this is a rich man's gospel.
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  Or this is a woman's gospel, or you could qualify it because of who it came by.
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  Coming as an infant, we've all been there.
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  Yeah. We've all been an infant. And so it takes all those barriers away.
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  All right. Works for me. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, yeah, it's a great,
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  I couldn't have thought of it. God did.
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  So then in, like, how will Jesus return?
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  Like his, when he comes a second time, will we just like, everybody just knows
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  Jesus? or will it be like Bible times and they'll like, some will think it is, some won't think it is?
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  I think Jesus is taking care of that little problem because you're right,
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  that would be a problem if somebody would recognize him just because they,
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  oh, I saw him once, that kind of recognition.
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  But in Acts chapter one, Jesus talks about it himself, which is a good place to start.
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  And he says, are you going to restore the kingdom him at this time, and he says.
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  Okay, it goes down through, and this is chapter 1 of Acts, beginning of verse
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  7, and he gives the, what if you would call the call to ministry,
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  but you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit comes
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  on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and all the ends of the earth.
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  And after this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
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  And so they were looking up intently into the sky as he was going.
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  Then suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
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  And they say, men of Galilee, they say, why do you stand here looking in the sky?
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  This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the
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  same way you have seen him go into heaven.
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  Well, I don't know about you, but aside from helicopters and airplanes,
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  somebody coming out of the sky will be noticed. I mean, it's not like the normal guy on the street.
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  Paul would go on in Ephesians, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and give a little
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  bit fuller explanation.
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  No, that's not what I'm looking. And those are in heaven. Blood cannot inherit mystery.
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  Okay, that's not what I'm thinking. I'm wanting to see.
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  The dead are right. Okay. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.
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  And this is talking about when he comes again.
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  In a flash and twinkling of eye at the last trumpet.
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  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
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  I think people will start to notice that that kind of stuff is going on.
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  Yeah. He also then goes into 1 Thessalonians.
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  The Lord himself, verse 16 of chapter 4, the Lord himself will come down from
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  heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel.
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  And I haven't heard an archangel lately, but I think it probably something people will notice.
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  And the trumpet will call of God. Now, that is also referenced in Matthew chapter 24.
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  So it's something that even Jesus talked about was that trumpet sound.
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  And the dead in Christ will rise first, which we talked about in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
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  And after that, we who are alive will be left and are left will be caught up
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  together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
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  And so we will be with the Lord forever.
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  So this event, when Christ comes again, actually, there's some indication that
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  Jesus actually won't touch the ground in this part of the second coming.
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  Until he comes on the horse in chapter 20 of Revelation.
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  And so there's some scholars that would differentiate his second coming in that
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  this is the resurrection part, which many would call rapture part.
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  And then when he comes to rule for the thousand year reign at that coming,
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  then that is much more dramatic and also on the ground, on the Mount of Olives.
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  And so it's almost as if it's referring to two different events.
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  Will he be recognized? Yeah, I think he makes that much noise.
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  People are going to know. Yeah. Something's going on here.
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  And the fact that people will be raised from the dead.
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  Yeah. This building that we're meeting in is right across from the cemetery.
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  That's going to be the most active place in town that day.
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  Because the dead in Christ will rise. Yeah. And be caught up in the air with
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  Christ. And people will notice.
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  I mean, even if you don't live close to a cemetery. I think people will start
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  noticing when all of a sudden there's resurrection.
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  So the part where the dead in Christ will rise, wouldn't they already be in heaven though?
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  Well, that's two different pieces.
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  So your body, we see, you know, and this one will croak. Yeah.
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  But our soul is everlasting. So even though our body we put into a grave when
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  we pass away, we don't do it before that.
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  That's usually good not to do it before that.
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  But when we die, we put the body in a grave, but the soul is with the Lord.
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  And that's what Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 5.
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  To be here in the body is one thing, and to be dead would be with the Lord.
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  So it indicates that he believes that right after he dies, he will be with Jesus.
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  And that's the soul piece, will be with Jesus.
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  I think the mechanics we start to lose, the fact that, and I believe this firmly,
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  that all the molecules, I mean, after I die, all the molecules will go, I mean, go away. Yeah.
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  We go to turn to dust. We return to the dust we were made of.
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  That's true. But when the resurrection happens, it will be a physical resurrection
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  of our once physical body made likened to his own glorious body.
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  That would be 1 Corinthians 15.
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  We're remade into that perfection. I believe the kind of perfection he would
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  have created us with in chapter 2 of Genesis.
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  That kind of glorious body likened to his own. That discussion happens in that
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  1 Corinthians 15 passage.
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  But our soul will come back and be with that body.
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  Part of that, I think, is easily dismissed because we think,
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  oh no, that can never happen.
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  But in reality, I think we're maybe short-selling God as to what kind of miracle
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  he will do in his second coming.
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  Because I guarantee you when that starts to happen, like it did in when Jesus
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  rose from the dead, the graves, I mean, people were resurrected at that time
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  and it got people's attention. It got recorded in the gospel.
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  Oh yeah. Aunt Hilda, she died four years ago. What's she doing walking down Main Street?
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  And so that kind of thing, I think adds to the fact that our God is a powerful
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  God and a transforming God to the point that he's able to transform our old
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  dead bodies into something glorious and new.
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  Because that's what it says in 1 Corinthians, that our bodies will be made like
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  unto his own glorious body.
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  That's cool to think that we would have a body like it was intended to be in
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  Genesis 2, like God originally designed it without any death in it,
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  any disease in it, any corruption in it.
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  I was actually at a cemetery where my great-grandfather was buried,
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  and his wife and the cousins and was talking to the sexton the sexton's wife said.
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  I had asked why this whole section of the cemetery didn't have a stones because
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  it looked like only half the cemetery had been used. Yeah.
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  And she said, well, there's quite a few people buried there.
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  Their stones are all gone.
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  And she said, I have to go up there. And I guess I'd call it witching,
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  but she uses sticks to tell where these bodies are. And she can tell where these bodies are.
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  And then she says, and I can tell whether they're male or female,
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  and I can tell how old they are, whether a child or an adult.
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  And I gave her that kind of look. I gave her that kind of look,
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  Rowan. I really did, authentically did.
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  And she said, well, it's biblical because all those molecules are going to come
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  back together on the day of resurrection.
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  And I had never, ever thought of it that way.
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  But all those old caskets are gone.
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  You can't find the casket anymore, but she could tell there was a,
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  had been a body buried there.
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  Interesting. So I, I believe in the physical bodily resurrection of the dead
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  and that it's going to be, it really, really will set a lot of towns on edge
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  when all cemeteries start opening up. Yeah.
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  Did I answer that question? I believe so. Okay.
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  That was a pretty good one. Did you expect that answer? I don't think I was expecting that.
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  Yeah. Not that far. I just believe in that. Yeah.
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  And I guess that's why I think of death differently than I used to.
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  Yeah. Moving on, is it harder to believe in Jesus now than it was while Jesus was on earth?
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  I don't think so. Well, it's sort of a double-sided coin.
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  So if you're Peter sitting there around the fire with Jesus and watching Jesus
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  pick the fish out of his teeth, that kind of thing,
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  it would have been easier for him to realize that Jesus was a man.
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  It might have been harder for him sitting at that fire, realizing that Jesus
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  was the Christ, even though he would say, you are the Christ in Matthew 19.
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  That being said, for us, we really have a whole lot more evidence of Jesus being
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  the Christ than like Peter, James, and John.
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  Peter, Andrew, James, and John, the inner circle of the 12.
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  We really do have more empirical data, not only that he lived and what he did,
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  but also who he is as far as being the Son of God.
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  I mean, there's a lot of miracles that's happened even since he was taken back up to heaven.
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  So, would it be easier? Mm-hmm.
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  So, sort of, sort of easier. Like at those times when they were,
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  yeah, like you'd, they'd be able to see that Jesus was human and they would,
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  it'd be kind of hard to get over that.
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  Like you're walking to the next town to disciple people and Jesus is tired.
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  Like, how could the Messiah be tired?
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  Right. And it's like that aspect would definitely be harder.
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  But then other times you see him just raise a dead man. Like,
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  I can't do that. Yeah. Yeah.
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  Yeah. And raising of Lazarus, you know, that's classic in John 11 where you see him.
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  Okay. So first of all, he waits, he gets the news that Lazarus is sick,
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  but he waits an extra couple of days.
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  And then when he finally heads towards Bethany, he basically tells his disciples,
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  okay, I waited till he was dead to go.
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  And, and, you know, whoa, dude.
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  Wouldn't this resurrection have been easier had you been there earlier?
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  And the way he greets Mary and Martha is very much like a brother or a friend.
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  And the fact that as he comes to the sepulchre, he cries. Yeah.
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  He's moved to tears. And I guess part of it is his humanity shows that here
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  he is raising this guy from death, which relieved his suffering,
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  into life, which caused more suffering.
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  And Jesus would know this because in John's gospel, it actually has Lazarus's
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  life being endangered because Jesus raised him from the dead.
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  In other words, when the teachers of the law find out that he's raised from
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  the dead, then all of a sudden they decide, well, they need to take him out
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  just like they want to take Jesus out.
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  And that's chapter 12, John 12, verse 10.
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  So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him,
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  many Jews were coming over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.
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  And Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, knowing all this.
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  Can you imagine how hard that would be to know, my buddy, I'm going to raise him from the dead.
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  And he wasn't feeling too good before.
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  And now I'm going to raise him back to life. And he's also going to have a death
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  sentence on him, like I've got on me. And then he gets to die again.
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  Can you all that going through i as i think of what was going through jesus
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  mind i have to think about those things wait a minute if i was jesus and doing
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  this resurrection i think i'd shed tears too for lazarus yeah it's it's yeah
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  you get thinking about that there's a lot of pieces to it.
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  Now, did I hit that question at all? That was a good question.
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  And it got Don off on a tangent, and Don followed the tangent,
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  and down through the valley and back up the other side.
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  Yeah, I think you got it. Okay. It was about the humanity of Jesus,
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  whether it'd be easier to... Okay. Yeah.
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  Well, I kind of took you off. Okay. There when I brought up the Raising of the
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  Dead Man. You've got to be careful, Ron, about taking Don off on a tangent,
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  because it could go for a long time. Yeah.
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  That's cool. Good question. Good question. To wrap it up here with the new year
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  coming, what is a good New Year's resolution for Christians?
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  That in the coming year, day by day, I'll grow closer to God and understanding His Son, Jesus Christ.
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  How should they go about that? Well, I think a daily walk in the Word, that's good.
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  But, you know, I think it's sort of like working out. I think it's good to have
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  a buddy or someone you do this with so that you're taking this journey together as friends,
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  friends in flesh, friends who want to know more about Jesus.
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  So take someone with you on the journey, maybe your spouse, maybe join a Bible
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  study in your church or in your community.
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  I mean, there's several Bible studies that aren't necessarily church-related
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  but are meeting in communities.
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  And what that does is it sort of paces you. You know what? I bought a gym membership. Really? Yes.
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  Bought it in November. Oh, yeah. Do you think I've gone yet?
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  No. Really? No. I was going to go last night even. I thought, oh man, I don't know.
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  And I got thinking about it. It would be easier if I went with somebody.
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  Yeah. Because it's a new place. I don't have an introduction to it.
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  And it's the same thing here. If we want to get deeper in our relationship with
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  God and Jesus Christ, there's a piece of it we need to do ourselves.
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  And we're not going to take that work away either.
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  But there's also a piece that's better done together.
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  Yeah. And so for me, if I'm going to get deeper in Christ day by day,
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  it's good at least not only to do my work every day, but also have some that
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  I do with each other. Do it together.
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  Also, with the working out analogy.
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  Being consistent with it. Like if you work out once a week, I mean,
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  it's good, but it's not enough. Yeah.
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  It's like every day you'll see more improvement, development.
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  And yeah. And having a buddy say, ah, you can do more than that.
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  Come on, keep it up. Keep going.
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  One more, one more rep, one more rep, that kind of thing. Yeah.
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  And we can do that with the word.
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  Yeah. Just, you know, and actually the illustration about Lazarus and thinking
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  about Lazarus from Jesus' perspective, that resurrection, that came from somebody
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  else. That's not original Don.
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  So that's the kind of thing we can actually give each other.
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  Yeah. Because we think about it from a different point of view. Yeah.
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  Cool. Good question. Good question to end up 2024, get into 2025. Yeah.
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  Thank you for answering all those again. Thank you for the questions.
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  They're good questions. Just show up and put you on the spot. Oh, yeah.
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  Every day. But that is part of the comic relief here, is that Don doesn't know
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  what's going on. And well, maybe Don doesn't know what's going on anyway.
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  But anyway, Don doesn't know the questions ahead of time. And so we're answering
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  them cold. He doesn't. Yeah. Yeah.
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  Well, thank you guys for joining us. I hope you enjoyed watching Don come up
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  with answers. Get fried, yeah.
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  Yeah, make sure to check out our other videos.
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  That's right. Stay tuned for the next one. See you next time. Lord willing.
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  Thank you for joining us for this podcast. Feel free to become part of this
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  ministry by sharing it with others.
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  Our goal is to help each other grow deeper in our understanding of who God is
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  and is calling to us in our daily lives.
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  Thank you again for joining us and may God bless your day.