Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20240331 - Hope Arises - John 11:25-26

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#20240331 - Hope Arises - John 11:25-26 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

0:04
Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Open your Bibles to John Chapter 11.
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We'll be looking at various verses today, but John Chapter
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11 is one of the places I like to stop, and we want to talk
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about the power of hope and hope arises.
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Jesus is alive, and we're grateful for the new life that
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we have in him. Can I get an Amen on that?
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That's why we gather God is doing something new in our day.
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This is something you have to pay attention to because when
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you're watching the news and you're seeing the condition of
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the world, it can really bum you out.
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There are a lot of difficult things happening.
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I mean, we are in what what we could describe as an upside down
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culture. You know, the Bible thousands of
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years ago predicted that there would be a day when people would
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call evil good and good evil. Well, we're in that day, and it
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doesn't take much to read a news article or watch the news, to
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see the difficulty around us and be very, very discouraged.
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But on a day like this, we're reminded that the culture
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doesn't get the last word, that even death itself does not get
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the last word in our lives because of the power of the
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resurrection of Jesus Christ. He kept all of his promises to
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us, you know, as a church. Listen, God is pouring out his
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spirit in fresh and powerful ways, and we need to be looking
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for it. It's our responsibility as sons
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and daughters to wake up and pay attention and to get into the
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flow of what God is doing, almost to step into the story of
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what God is doing on the earth today.
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And here we are gathered together for another Easter
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service. I didn't do, I didn't do the
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exact math, but we're a church now for almost 25 years.
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So this is either the 24th or the 25th year that we've had an
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Easter service. And they come every year with
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great regularity, and we anticipate them and we pray for
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them because Easter happens to be one of those times in the
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church life calendar where we have to add services to make
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room for the capacity of we know so many more will be in church
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today. And here we are, another Easter,
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worshipping and celebrating life to its fullest, the resurrection
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of Jesus Christ. But we have to pause, don't we?
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And ask a super important question.
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What is Easter about anyway? Why is it such a significant
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day? I mean, is it just about family
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and friends, as important as they might be?
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Eggs and bunnies? How significant are they?
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Extra candy and dinner with friends in the evening.
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I mean, sure, a lot of that surrounds the lives of many as
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Easter come and goes, comes and goes, but what about issues of?
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I mean, is Easter about the issue of life and death, Life
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and death topics that truly aren't at the top of our list on
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a day like this. But it's important that you
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realize Easter's all about life and death.
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It's all about the significance of sacrifice and forgiveness and
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second chances. Easter's profoundly a sad day
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for many as we come face to face with the reality of lost loved
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ones. You know, those that we've cared
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for, that have gone home to be with the Lord before us, and we
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miss them so much. I've stood as a pastor at the
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grave side of many. I've also stood at the grave
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side as a dad. I've stood at the grave side as
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a son, as a friend, as a husband.
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I mean, it's hard. Facing death is so significant
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that we really tried to pretend it doesn't exist.
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We don't really pay much attention to it because of how
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crushing and how harsh and how final it can be.
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We don't get to the resurrection unless we go through the cross.
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You see, the cross is the singular event in all of human
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history where by which God proved his love to humanity.
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The Bible actually says that. It says that God has proven his
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love as Jesus hung on the cross. And the cross, well, you can't
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get to the cross without going through the beating or what we
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commonly refer to in the church as Good Friday, Good Friday.
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On Good Friday, we gather together as a church and we talk
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about what happened to Jesus before the cross.
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You know, he was savagely beaten before he hung on the cross.
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There's actually a Bible word for that, a Bible word to
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describe the type of beating the two Roman soldiers, Very strong
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men would take these whips, these cords of leather in their
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hands, and they would literally beat with full force, one after
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another, on the back and on the legs and on on the heels and on
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the head of the man that would be headed to the cross.
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The Bible word for that is scourging, scourging.
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Jesus predicted that he would be scourged, beaten on, spit upon.
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We learn from the Bible that not only was he beaten and spit
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upon, but they fashioned a crown of thorns and twisted it into
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his head. You know, before we get to the
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resurrection, we have to deal with the cross, that singular
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event that provided the way of salvation and forgiveness for
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you and for me. And the cross equals death.
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It was a torturous death. And those that were following
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Jesus at the time, for them it was over.
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You know, when I'm reading the Bible, I like to step into it.
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I like to read it as as if I was there.
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And Jesus, you know, he surrounded himself with some
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faithful men and women that followed him very closely.
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In particular, there were 12. They gave up everything.
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I know for us as believers, we've given up much to follow
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Christ, there's a whole new try, transformation and a new life in
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our lives. I have it as so as so do you.
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But the kind of commitment that these 12 men and women and the
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women surrounding them that gave to Jesus was unlike ours.
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It's a very unique commitment. It's not even a commitment that
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Jesus requires today, but it was for them.
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They literally left everything they knew, everyone they knew
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and everything they had to follow him.
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So that for three years they spent 24 hours a day, seven days
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a week with this man. They served.
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They ate, they laughed, They went through hard times
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together. I mean, they were tight.
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They were close. They were as close as you could
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possibly be. But I want you to understand for
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the 12 that followed him, I mean, they are all in whatever
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your definition of all in is. There they have it.
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I mean, this is they have placed all their hope in this man.
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He to them is the fulfillment of the promises of God himself to
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them. They believed him when he
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claimed to be God in human flesh.
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They are ready to follow him anywhere and everywhere for the
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sake of honoring God and obeying him.
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But toward the end, after three years of spending their entire
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life with him, they abandoned him and ran away.
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In Jesus deepest, darkest time, those that were the most loyal
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and committed to Him, the Bible says they fled away.
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In my mind I picture them running away, staying distant,
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but close where they're distant. They're not right up with him,
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but they're watching and they're keeping him out of the corner of
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his eye. They're there when he's beaten
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and he, they hear it and they smell it.
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Maybe some of them see it. They watch him carrying his
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cross. They're close enough, but not
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close enough to help. They've abandoned him, but
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they're probably also wrestling with that.
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What am I doing? What have I done?
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And when they see Jesus, or they hear of him take his last
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breath, it's over. It's over.
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It's done. There's no opportunity now to
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apologize, no opportunity to reconcile.
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I mean, it's done. It's over in a very real way.
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You could say all hope was lost. You know, it's in a moment like
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this, you go, wow, Pastor, a real dramatic story.
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I mean, how where'd you get that from?
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You know, I got it from the Bible.
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We're actually given insight on the feelings and emotions of
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what were happening. And at least two men not even
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close to him, not even super close.
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They had heard from a distance. They weren't even one of the 12.
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There was these two men on their way home from Jerusalem.
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They were headed home. The crucifixion is over and
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they're going home. And we were introduced to them
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three days later. You see, they waited around.
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Maybe Jesus was right. Maybe he will rise from the
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dead. But when they concluded that it
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wasn't going to happen, they went home.
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And wouldn't you know it, Jesus is so gracious.
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He appears to them, but they don't know it's him yet.
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And he starts talking to them after the resurrection and
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listen to what they say. Jesus comes and he asks them
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what things you know, what things are you talking about?
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And they said to him the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth,
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who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word, before God and
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all the people, and how the chief priest and the rulers
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delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified him.
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But we were hoping that it was he who is going to redeem
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Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today
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is the third day since these things happened.
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Did you hear that phrase? We were hoping.
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Do you know why someone speaks of hope in the past tense?
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Because it's lost. They're in a hopeless state
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here. Everything that they placed
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their hope in is now, in their minds, gone.
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I mean, they're in such a position of disillusion that
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listen to what else they say. Yes.
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And certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early
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astonished us. When they did not find his body.
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They came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who
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said he was alive. And certain of those who were
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with us went to the tomb, and we found it just as the women had
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said. But him they did not see.
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They are so overwhelmed with hopelessness that the message
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hey, angels told us he's alive didn't even affect them.
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You're talking to angels. Doesn't matter to me.
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We're going home. Maybe that's you today.
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Oh, for different reasons, in different circumstances.
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But you look at your life and examine your current situation,
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perhaps, and like all hope is lost.
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What did you walk in the room with today?
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What did you wake up with on your heart and on your mind?
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How did you choose to face the morning and face the day?
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I mean, look, some of you and so many of you made it into the
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House of the Lord, and for that we're grateful.
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But, you know, a lot of people didn't make it, didn't have
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enough strength to get out of the house, some not enough
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strength to get out of bed. They're watching online,
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perhaps, or listening on the radio, and they're wanting to
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come. They're they're careful, they're
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pressing in. But so many.
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It seems as if everything around us has sapped out our hope and
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our joy. Even if a But for brief moments,
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death and loss will do that to you.
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You know, even Jesus experienced deep emotion and sorrow over
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death. You remember that time when his
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friend Lazarus became sick. They called for him, said, man,
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we know if you come you can help our brother.
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His sisters, Lazarus, sisters say Mary and Martha.
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So they call for him. But as you know in John 11, what
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the Bible tells us is that Jesus delayed his coming.
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He's on his own timetable, not ours.
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He delayed his coming. But in the delay Lazarus died.
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We have a place if you're in John 11.
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Notice this exchange between Mary and Jesus.
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It says in verse 3232 of John 11.
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It says when Mary came to Jesus and saw him, she fell down at
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his feet saying, Lord, if you would have been here, can you
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feel the emotion there? If you would have just been
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here, my brother would not have died.
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Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came
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with her weeping, he groaned in his spirit and was troubled.
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And he said, where have you laid him?
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And they said, Lord come and see.
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And then two of the most important words in the English
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Bible, it says that Jesus wept. He felt the full weight of
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emotion here in Bethany as he surveyed the scene.
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The question is why did Jesus, the Son of God and the King of
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Kings cry? And this is more than just
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crying, by the way, for you Bible students.
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You know, if you look up the word wept in the original
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language, you know that it has. It's a very descriptive word
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that talks about deep crying, convulsive crying, if you will.
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Some of you know what I speak the kind of crying where you run
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out of tears. Jesus is emotional here.
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God in human flesh. Why?
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Why is he so emotional? I believe he's aching at the
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consequences of death and sin. He knew that it wasn't part of
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God's original plan. He is God.
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He knows that when others are in pain, he's in pain.
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Jesus wept because his heart was broken.
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He wept because it was crushed and bruised by the pain of
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others seeing death. That's the cross.
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They took Jesus down off of the cross and they put him in a
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tomb, sealed it away, and everyone went back to their own
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lives. But three days later, Jesus
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Christ rose again from the dead. And what a privilege it is to
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share with you today that Jesus Christ is alive and the only way
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to a right relationship with God.
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Today is the day where your sins can be forgiven and your life
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can be forever changed. Jesus, the Savior of the world,
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is alive. He declares to you.
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Jesus does. He declares to you that He alone
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is the resurrection in the life. He alone is the resurrection in
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the life, He said, he who believes in Me, though he may
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die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes
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in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?
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Yes. Now, why, Pastor, do we spend so
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much time looking at a very difficult part of the life of
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Jesus? Well, there's a lot of answers
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to that. But let me just remind you, we
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all live in the real world. Every single one of us.
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We live in that span between life and death.
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I really appreciate what Pastor Ian instructed us to do, he told
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us last night. But I've been at every service,
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so I've been able to do it every service for us.
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Just to pause, put our hands on our hearts, and feel in your own
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body, your beating heart, that gift that God has given to you,
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the gift of life, just to absorb it.
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What will, What will God do through that life?
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What is his desire to come to a place of appreciation?
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We live in the real world, friends, and the real world is
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filled with sin. That's the problem in the room
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today, You know, I mean, for all of us, Every single one of us.
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The Bible couldn't be clearer. We all share in something.
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Every single one of us. We're all equal in sharing this
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one truth, and that is this. We have all sinned and fallen
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short of the glory of God, or another way of saying that,
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fallen short of the perfection of God, you know, and helping
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you understand that. I like to take it down a notch
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and say, OK, sin is a heavy word and it's an important word and
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we'll get back to it in a moment.
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But before we get back to it, let's talk about the concept for
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a second. So some people, I'm not a
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Sinner, you know, pastor. And you get that religious
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resistance, you know, the kind of resistance where you built up
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walls. Maybe you've been hurt before or
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somebody's misused the Bible in your life.
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And so you've got these walls of defense.
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And so, OK, OK, I respect that for a moment.
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Let me ask you a different question.
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If you would exclude yourself from all of us that we have
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sinned, would you include yourself If I said this?
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Everybody in this room has made a mistake, Would you say that?
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Oh, yes, pastor. I can agree with that.
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Yes. Yes, I'm full of mistakes.
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And believe me, we all know we live with you.
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You're full of mistakes. We understand that, that that's
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not up for debate. And by saying that, what we're
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admitting is that we're not perfect.
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We know that. I mean that.
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That is as clear as day that we are not living a perfect life.
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Well, in relation to one another we might use the word mistake.
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But let me add this. When you use the word mistake in
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relationship to God, the proper word is sin, because it's far
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greater than some little mistake.
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When we sin, we wound the God of the universe.
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When we sin, we place our we put ourselves in the position.
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Listen and stick with me. With this you got to understand.
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Living in unconfessed, unrepentant sin, you place
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yourself in a position of being an enemy of God.
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Actually, the Bible uses the Word at enmity with God.
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You take the position against God, and I know at this point
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you know someone will go, you know, I don't have any problem
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with God. I have no problem with religion.
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I'm a very moral person. And for that, we're grateful.
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But the truth is apart from Jesus Christ, the resurrected
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God in human flesh. Well, Jesus will put it this
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way. If you're not with me, you're
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against me. You see, Jesus Christ is death.
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He had to die for something. He was sent into this world out
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of a missionary heart of love for you and me.
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He had to die for something, and he did.
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He died for my sin and for yours, which then puts the room
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into categories. The first category we're all the
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same. Downstairs, upstairs, online, in
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in an overflow room. We're all in the same category
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when it comes to sin. But then the room is divided in
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or the building is divided in or.
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Those listening is divided into two categories in relationship
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to sin. And here they are.
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Your sins are either forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ or
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they're not. You're either born again, a
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newness of life in Christ, because you've come to him and
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admitted you've sinned and you've accepted the risen Lord,
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and you admit that you need him and that you want his
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forgiveness, or you don't. And here's where you have to be
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very careful, because the Bible says that we've all sinned and
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fallen short of the glory of God, and sin comes with its own
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wages. You know sin pays.
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Or you can flip the you can think if you're thinking it
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along those lines, you can also think that sin in your life
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comes with a bill that's due and it will be due soon enough.
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Even as we month to month have to pay our bills.
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Well, sin has a bill to pay too. The wages of sin is death,
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physical death, even the death of an innocent man, Jesus
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Christ, dying for not his own sins but for ours.
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And you can be sure of it, Every single one of us will die of
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physical death. But you know, on the flip side
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of that, Jesus would then say, and the Bible would declare to
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us, that even though the sin comes with a bill, God comes
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with a gift. God comes to you with a gift.
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The Bible says that the gift of God is eternal life through
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Christ Jesus our Lord. And so the bridge, the bridge to
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cross from wages to gift is repentance.
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It's humbling, admitted humbly. Admitting your lost condition.
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And that's hard. Sometimes that's hard.
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It's like, no, you don't understand that I'm a very
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successful person. I'm.
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I'm very well esteemed in culture and I've done a lot for
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myself. And those are all just, you
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know, really hindrances. Because God wants to use you as
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a successful man. He wants to use you.
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He wants you be in your life even as you are.
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You got to be careful because I know there are many religions
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out there, Lots of them. Man made religions.
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You might even say, well, what's Christianity?
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A religion? Yeah, some people have made it
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that. But I'm going to tell you right
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now, when you get past Christianity and back to the
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words of Jesus, Jesus didn't come to create a religion.
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He has a very singular invitation.
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Did you know that? It's very easy.
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Jesus just says you come and follow me.
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You come follow me. You leave everything behind and
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you follow me. Jesus didn't come to create a
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religion. He came to have a relationship
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with you. It's interesting.
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It's a beautiful picture. He also came to assemble a
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bride, which is one of the most glorious beautiful days of a
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wedding. When the bride is revealed in
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all her glory with all these false teachings and false the
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all feel good theology substitute saviors.
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There's a lot of them. As you study them and maybe take
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a comparative religion class in college and you know as a trying
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to talk you out of your faith and there you are sitting and
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listening. You know what you'll find as you
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study all the world religions and man made religions that
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exist and have existed through the years.
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You know what you'll find? There's one common thread.
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All of their founders are dead. Every single one of them.
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And if they're not dead now, they will be soon enough.
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Why? The wages of sin is death.
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You go. But hey, Pastor, Jesus died too.
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I'm glad you noticed, because Jesus did die.
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He was buried, and three days later he rose again from the
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dead. This is significant.
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This is significant because it's not just a pastor and a pulpit
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here in the 21st century, close to the death of Jesus Christ,
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You know, there were hundreds, if not thousands of eyewitnesses
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after his resurrection. People that can say I saw him, I
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talked to him, I ate with him, I hung out with him.
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I followed him. The brother, he cooked for me.
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This risen Lord, what he promised, he fulfilled.
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There were so many that you could talk to by the end of the
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1st century was when the Bible was finished being written.
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By the end of 1, by 100 AD, the Bible was already done written,
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but the witnesses that were there were alive.
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People were alive in the 1st century.
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They could have said that's not true.
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That's not true. That's not true.
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But they couldn't say that because the eyewitnesses were
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still alive to saying no, you don't.
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No way. We were there.
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We saw him and while he was still alive, before he ascended
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into heaven, they some of them could even say he's right there,
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Turn around. You can see him with your own
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eyes. But so fast, so quickly.
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There were those saying, you guys are making it up.
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It's not true fairy tales. I'm sure you've met a few of
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them. They're still with us 2000 years
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later. Fairy tales, not true religion,
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Christianity, I mean so much so in the 1st century that Peter,
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you remember Peter. Peter was one of those followers
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that abandoned Jesus. By the way, Peter was one of the
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men. That man, he didn't didn't just
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abandoned Jesus. He went out hard.
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He went out really hard. He was one of those guys that
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was one of an intense, you know, an intense man.
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He was all in and everything that he did.
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So when he was following Jesus, all in, when he left Jesus and
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he was all in. He was an eyewitness, by the
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way. Peter was Psalm with his own
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eyes. I mean, if we could hear the
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testimony of Peter, somebody would come to Peter and say, you
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don't believe that stuff, you're believing in fairy tales.
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I can almost hear Peter's response.
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I could almost hear Peter. He's like you don't understand.
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You. You don't understand.
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I saw him. I was with you.
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You don't know what I did. I, I, I, I I remember meeting
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him for the first time. He called me away from my
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business, and he convinced me that he was the hope.
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He convinced me that he was Messiah and I was all in.
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I mean, this is all I wanted. I left everything I I left the
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business. I left home.
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I mean, I'm with him and I'm listening to him.
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And his words, they they went beyond.
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They went right to my heart. And I love that man.
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But he told me that I was going to deny him, and I didn't
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believe him. He told me he was going to and I
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didn't believe him. I was there with all the rest of
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the rest of our followers of Jesus.
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And as all these guys will deny you, Lord, but I'll never deny
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you. But wouldn't you believe it?
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I did deny him. Not once, not twice, but exactly
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as he said, I denied him three times.
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It was hard. I felt so alone, so much shame,
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so much guilt. I didn't know what I was going
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to do with my life. I watched him from a distance,
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being the beating and the crucifixion and and I watched
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it. I watched it and I'm like, you
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going to tell me I wasn't an eyewitness.
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Jesus, he came back. I talked to him personally.
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He came to me, Peter could say he came to me.
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He came and had a conversation with me.
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And you know, Jesus, he looked at me with that look, you know,
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you know, that kind of look, that look of compassion and
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love. Peter could have said he looked
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me in the eye and he said, Peter I want you to take care of my
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sheep. I want you to tend them and care
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for them. I I want you.
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And and he did it. It's it's amazing.
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Peter could say he did it three times almost like he was making
30:13
up for the three times I denied him each denial he was giving me
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a re enlistment. Each denial with this one feed.
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With this 110 with this one feed.
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I'm like, yes, I can do that. Don't you tell me that Jesus
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isn't alive. I spoke to him.
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He enlisted me back in the ministry.
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I'm an eyewitness, an eyewitness.
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Yeah. We don't have Peter today.
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We just have his writings. Everything I just shared with
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you is in the Bible. It's exactly what happened with
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this man. Peter would later go on to write
30:56
two books of the Bible be used in great ways.
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Why? Because of the resurrected Lord,
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the God of the second chance and the 3rd and the 4th.
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Or for some of you, the God of the first chance, that today,
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this is the day you need to receive the Lord Jesus Christ
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into your life. Put man made religion behind
31:19
you. Turn your back on your own
31:23
self-sufficiency, Maybe lay your shame and your guilt before God
31:29
today. That's what sin does.
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It just wrecks a person on the inside out.
31:34
You just begin to live a guilty, you know, life filled with guilt
31:38
and shame. And before you know it, you do
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so many things to try to cover it and ignore it that you don't
31:42
even feel anymore. It it it has wrecked your
31:47
separation. You know what sin separates.
31:48
It just doesn't separate from God.
31:50
It starts separating relationships too, because
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there's two two things that God said was very important.
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Jesus said these are super important in life #1 is that
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we're to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and mind,
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and then out of that that we love our neighbors ourselves.
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Those are super important, really singularly important
32:10
things in our lives. And I know that you don't really
32:16
need, as you're probably been to many Easter services, you know
32:20
you don't need another pastor to preach at you.
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Don't lie, don't steal, don't gossip.
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Don't worship false gods. You already know them to be
32:32
true. You already know that lying
32:36
hurts and gossip hurts, and you already know your conscience
32:41
screams at you with what feeling you have left, telling you that
32:46
these are wrong and today's the day that you don't need to run
32:50
away anymore, that you come to the cross and you remember the
32:56
empty tomb and you yield yourself to God.
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The only way to deal with your conscience is to and to see your
33:05
sins forgiven is to come clean with Jesus and confess them to
33:11
the Lord. True repentance is turning from
33:15
the wrong, turning back to God. Everyone who calls on the name
33:21
of the Lord will be saved. If you confess with your mouth
33:24
the Lord Jesus and you believe in your heart that God raised
33:27
him from the dead, you will be saved.
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It's the only way of salvation. You can make the alternative.
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Because you know, I know you've come to to church because you
33:45
were promised lunch. That's all right.
33:49
I told him to do that. That's good.
33:53
Get your free lunch. But you can have salvation which
34:00
is free. Oh, it comes at a high price
34:03
from Jesus, but there's no works necessary from you just come you
34:09
kind of endure a little Bible study in church and but but it
34:13
but but being in the room feels good, doesn't it?
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There's no pastor. It doesn't.
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It makes me feel uneasy. Oh, you have a feeling coming
34:20
into the room. That's good.
34:24
You know why? You know where that feeling is
34:25
coming from. God is working on your heart.
34:29
Good or bad, comfortable or uncomfortable.
34:32
Why? Why do you think we create
34:34
something in this room or in this church to somehow
34:37
artificially move you? It's not that way at all.
34:41
God is moving you right now, causing you to stir in your
34:45
chair. Or, you know, I wonder.
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And maybe I'll just wait till everybody starts praying and
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they close their eyes. Then I'll leave.
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No, we lock the doors. You ain't going nowhere like
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you're in, man. You're not going nowhere.
34:57
You can't turn the radio or nothing like you're you're in.
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But what a great and gracious God, who would declare to you
35:06
today how much He loves you, stir you in emotion one way or
35:11
the other, drawing you to himself, that today might be the
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day, whether you receive the Lord for the very first time.
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Or what a grand day of recommitment that God would have
35:25
from you. Like, like, not just the kind of
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the commitments you make over and over again, but like you
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know that you know that it's time.
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And the days in which we live, the situations that surround us.
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It is time, never too late, to surrender your life to Jesus
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Christ. Amen.
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Father, thank you for the privilege of declaring your new
35:49
life to wonderful men and women and boys and girls.
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It is the singular hinge on which all of our lives hang the
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life, the death, and the resurrection of our Lord and
36:06
Savior, Jesus Christ. It's a hard path to get to
36:10
resurrection, just like it's a hard path living in this world.
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Issues of life and death, wayward children, broken
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relationships, pain and sorrow, and things that don't make
36:26
sense, that don't seem to fit the narrative of a good God or a
36:34
gracious creator. And there's just all these
36:37
little, you know, like, little doctrines and teachings that
36:45
like to rip people off in their vulnerable time.
36:49
And I pray God that you're you would just today among us
36:56
through the power of the gospel. It is powerful unto salvation
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that you would draw many to yourself today.
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And I would invite you right now, as I'm speaking, If you're
37:07
here and you need and want your sins forgiven, you want to be
37:11
born again. Just stand to your feet.
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This is the moment of decision for you.
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You recognize the reality of sin, the wages of sin, the gift
37:24
of God, the need to turn and receive and ask if that's you
37:32
with the simple understanding of the condition of your life,
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where you are and where God wants you.
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I invite you to receive the Lord Jesus Christ today.
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Just stand to your feet and we want to pray with you that today
37:44
would be the day that God would just revolutionize your life.
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God bless you guys in the back and over here on the side.
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This is the day right here in the middle.
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Come to Jesus. Follow him.
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He died for you. He rose again for you.
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God bless you right here in the middle.
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Today is the day, Now is the time.
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And this is no small religious experience.
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This is the God of all creation meeting you right where you are.
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Bless you guys on the side. You guys just look around back
38:33
in the back. You're going to have a pastor
38:34
come up with you. So don't be uncomfortable with
38:37
that. That's what's happening.
38:39
We have pastors and leaders ready to come, so you know
38:41
you're not alone, that you're standing with someone that you
38:46
are immediately cared for and loved in this church already.
38:53
I want to give you that opportunity.
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Is there anyone else I know downstairs?
38:57
We don't see you in the overflow.
38:59
Or you could be in your car listening in the parking lot.
39:02
Or there's no parking. So maybe down the street
39:04
somewhere or in Safeway and God's got your number.
39:08
He loves you. He cares for you.
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This is this is the path that so many of us followed.
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This is it. I can't help but remember in my
39:18
own mind, responding to the invitation in the church that I
39:21
walked into, that I didn't really want to be in, but God
39:25
wanted me there. And let me help you with the
39:28
what? The Bible says that if you
39:31
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, I'm going to give you a
39:33
chance to confess, and you can confess it to your God, and you
39:39
can say something like this. God, I admit that I've sinned
39:43
against you, and I ask you to forgive me of all of my sin.
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I believe that you sent Jesus Christ to live for me, to die
39:55
for me, and I believe he rose again from the dead to save my
40:03
soul. I repent of my sins today.
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I turn away from them and I choose to follow you, Father.
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I pray for those that would confess out loud inside,
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standing, sitting, laying in a hospital room somewhere, crying
40:32
in a jail cell, wrestling over a broken family.
40:38
You know, where you have grabbed the hearts of those that you
40:43
love so much that you've pursued.
40:46
Bless those here and far, near and far, that would call out to
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you and receive you and follow you with their lives.
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Bless them, Lord, bless them in every way.
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Bless them and protect them as they begin their journey
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following you. In Jesus name, Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
41:11
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
41:14
prayer. Call us at 87730 Grace.
41:19
That's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
41:25
entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
41:29
online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
41:34
Church app, Be Blessed As You Worship Jesus this week.