Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 277 | Conversation - Walking to Easter - Saturday

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277 | Conversation - Walking to Easter - Saturday · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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  well in John chapter four.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living her life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  In this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
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  join Kim Miller and Erica Close in a conversation as we walk with Jesus.
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  In today's conversation, we find ourselves after Easter, but we are continuing
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  a series of conversations about the week leading leading up to Jesus's death and his resurrection.
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  Join us as we look at these events and their message for our lives.
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  Well, thank you so much for joining us. I'm Erica Close, and I'm here with Kim Miller.
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  Hello, and thank you. What a joy it is to spend the next few moments with you
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  just walking through Saturday of Holy Week.
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  I'm so excited. We've gotten to Saturday, and we know what that means.
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  We know what our next podcast will be about, and that is very very exciting.
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  But today we are talking about Saturday.
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  I know a lot of people refer to Saturday as the silent Saturday,
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  but we've got a lot to say about Saturday. So, Eric, you want to get us started?
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  Sure. So Saturday was a tremendously bleak day, right?
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  It was a day of, we would say, silence. It was a day of stillness.
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  And it was a day when Jesus himself was completely isolated,
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  isolated from the Father, isolated from his followers, and he was confined.
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  It wasn't anything like the Friday previous, and it certainly wasn't anything
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  like what we know to happen on Sunday.
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  And it was a day when he was literally, literally dead.
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  And while that had been seen by so many people, the enemies of Jesus were still
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  very nervous, And they really wanted to make sure that he stayed dead and that he stayed buried.
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  And so we're going to take a look at Matthew 27, verses 62 through 66.
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  Now the next day that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests
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  and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that the deceiver
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  said, while he was yet alive,
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  after three days I will rise again.
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  Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day,
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  lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say unto the people,
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  He is risen from the dead, so So the last error shall be worse than the first.
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  Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch.
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  Go your way and make it as sure as you can. So they went and made the sepulcher
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  sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch.
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  So here we have a setting where the religious leaders go to Pilate on the Sabbath,
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  which is Saturday, and they're going to make sure the tomb of Jesus has extra
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  guards and extra protection.
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  They want to make sure that no shenanigans takes place.
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  And so these were the same people breaking the Sabbath by traveling and working
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  on that day that crucified Jesus for healing on the Sabbath earlier.
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  So you see these double standards and you see that today among people who are
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  looking and attacking Christians and doing the very same things themselves,
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  not realizing that we are Christians are just simply sinners saved by grace.
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  And so they're willing to break the Sabbath for their needs,
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  and they're trying to do everything they can to keep the body of Jesus from being stolen.
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  But what the religious leaders didn't understand was that the disciples weren't
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  plotting to steal Jesus' body.
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  But instead, they are bewildered, depressed.
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  They're wallowing in the silence and unanswered prayers of Saturday.
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  Day. Because here's the reality.
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  Jesus is still dead.
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  Jesus is still in the grave.
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  And they're probably terrified that they're the next that's going to be crucified
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  because of their association with Jesus.
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  And so they're afraid that they're going to suffer the very same violence and bad end result.
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  They're also grieving the loss of a friend and a teacher.
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  And don't forget, they're probably very humiliated. They really believe that
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  he was the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
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  You know, I think it's really interesting that the enemies of Jesus did what they could.
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  They did everything that they could to prevent his resurrection, right?
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  When we read in the scriptures, it says, Now the next day, the day that followed the day of preparation.
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  So the day of preparation was the day that was just before the Sabbath day.
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  So, and Jewish Sabbath is Saturday, but I think it's what's amazing is that, um.
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  This very time in history when Christ rises from the dead is what turns to us
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  then having the Christian Sabbath on Sunday, right?
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  So they had their day of preparation to prepare for their Sabbath.
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  But I think it's amazing to think that Jesus's death prepared the way for the
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  Christian Sabbath, right?
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  We get to celebrate on Sunday because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday. day.
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  And you make a really good point when you talk about how the chief priests and
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  the Pharisees should have been doing the business of the Lord,
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  which was their job on the Sabbath, but instead they were dealing with Pilate.
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  They were doing things that they really shouldn't have been doing.
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  And in doing so, they're really just adding to their rebellion,
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  right? They're adding to the sins that they had committed.
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  And as you said, they had that double standard, right? They'd often and ridiculed
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  Jesus for working on the Sabbath, for healing people and changing their lives
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  and doing so much good, but now they're just trying to cause harm.
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  And one of the things that I love so much in that passage that we read was that
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  they understood and they had listened to what Jesus said when Jesus said that after three days,
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  I will rise again, right?
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  They knew what he had said, and they were going to do all that they could to
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  make sure that that didn't happen.
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  They were speaking to try and keep Jesus dead, and it didn't work.
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  But we're still on Saturday.
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  And to those who believed, it was life.
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  But to those who were persecuting him, it was death, and they remembered it with rage and malice.
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  So here's the scene again. Again, they're speaking of Pilate with respect. They call him Sir.
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  While they refer to truth itself, which is Jesus, as a deceiver.
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  We see that in our world today where right is looked at as wrong and wrong is looked like as right.
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  And so if you look closely here, you see that they were asking the tomb to be
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  guarded because they feared the resurrection.
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  They knew enough to know that Jesus said it, that it could very well be true.
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  Even Jesus's enemies, even when it looks like things are going their way,
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  are still feel in fear of losing and being looked like they were wrong.
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  There's no peace where there is no Jesus.
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  Oh, that's good. And when you look at our lives today, that is so true.
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  People who look like they have everything are killing themselves.
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  They're losing everything they have. They're destroying their families.
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  They're out looking for pleasure in a bottle, in some sort of drug.
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  Some sort of addiction that they are choosing to try to fill this void because
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  we were created to serve Jesus.
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  And there's a longing in our heart that will never be satisfied by anything else.
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  And where there is no Jesus, there is no peace.
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  They claimed that the disciples would come and steal the body.
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  That was simply ludicrous.
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  What would that have even proved? Why would they have have even done it.
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  If Jesus did not rise from the dead, as he said, he would then be something
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  that was making them look stupid.
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  It was the disciples that had the most to lose.
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  So why would they come and steal it? They had left everything that this world
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  had to offer to follow him.
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  They really really understood Mark 8, 36, which says, for what shall a prophet
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  a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? They were all in.
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  So if he doesn't rise like he says he's going to, they're the ones that look foolish.
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  They're the ones that have the most to lose.
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  And all the power of hell and earth was doing everything it could to keep Christ
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  in the grave, but it wouldn't be enough.
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  That was all in vain, because when his hour was come, death and those sons and
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  heirs of death could no longer hold him, and sin and death no longer had dominion over him.
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  To guard the sepulcher against the poor, weak disciples was folly as as well as needless.
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  It was just stupid.
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  But to try to guard the sepulcher against the power of God was absolutely insane.
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  It was fruitless and had no purpose, yet they thought they were acting wisely. They really did.
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  And again, that just reminds me of how people live their lives today,
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  making all these decisions and they think, oh, I've got it all.
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  And yet they're just striving to get more and they're living with no peace and they have no joy.
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  And basically the wages of sin is death and it is constantly destroying their
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  lives and they're acting as if they got it all.
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  But where there is no Jesus, there is no peace.
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  And I think it's interesting because we've spent so much time talking about
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  the Pharisees, about Jesus's enemies, right?
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  They don't have Jesus, and they are running around not in peace, right?
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  Trying to make sure that evil prevails.
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  And then we have to stop and think for a minute about what the disciples are doing.
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  We already talked about how they were in mourning, right?
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  We have no real account of what happened on that day for the disciples,
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  but no doubt they were just, I'm sure, sitting in grief and shocked and, you know, in silence.
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  And it's interesting because as Jesus' enemies said, and as we know the disciples
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  heard, he said that he would return.
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  And while this silent Saturday is happening to them, Jesus had prepared them for this day as well.
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  In John chapter 16, we read an account of Jesus talking to his disciples,
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  and we believe that this conversation happened on the Thursday of Holy Week.
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  And Jesus took the time to warn them about the grief and the disappointment
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  and the doubt and the silence that they were going to have in the days to come.
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  And he talks about it in mourning, in a time of grief.
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  So we're going going to look at John 16, 20 through 22.
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  Jesus says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament,
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  but the world shall rejoice.
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  And ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
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  A woman, when she is in travail, has sorrow, because her hour is come.
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  But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish,
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  for joy that a man is born into the world.
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  And ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall
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  rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
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  Jesus was letting them know that they would have a time of pain and that they
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  would have a time of waiting and a time of grief.
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  But he told them he was coming back.
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  He was basically asking them to wait.
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  In faith. He was asking them to hold on to the hope that he offers them.
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  He was asking them to believe what he said.
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  And when we really take hold of a complete trust in Jesus Christ.
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  And we see that this is what he's telling them in this passage,
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  those who had walked with him and knew him, what he's saying to them is, I am your hope.
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  You can believe and trust in me, and I will transcend your pain,
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  your grief, and your doubt.
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  And the hope and the trust that you have in me, the faith you place in me,
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  will sustain you through the silence, through the grief, and through the problems.
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  And so here's what we're learning on Silent Saturday. day.
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  And it's a wonderful lesson that will take us through our troubles and our confusions
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  and our pain that we face on a daily basis in our life.
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  The disciples were confused. They were dazed. They were hurt.
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  And they were scared during the silence.
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  And that's just like how we are. We sometimes get that way when we don't hear
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  from God or we don't hear what we want to hear from God.
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  But God told them to have hope in him and to believe in him,
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  and he would transcend their pain and their problems.
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  He does the same thing to us.
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  He's telling us to have hope in our time of silence and to continue to believe
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  and trust because we know who he is.
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  He is telling us the very same thing. And in our time of waiting,
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  and if you'll just bring to your remembrance Psalms 46.10, which says,
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  Be still and know that I am God.
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  I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
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  Be still and know that I am God.
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  It's not that you're not doing anything. Being still is active.
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  You are employing your faith at its greatest strength.
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  You are relying totally and perfectly upon Jesus when you are still and you know.
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  And Jesus promises that despite the the silent, that joy is coming.
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  And in our times of grief and pain, misunderstanding, confusion,
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  betrayal, hurt, it's in those moments that we're left wallowing in the silence
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  of God and the yet-to-be-answered prayers.
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  We're stuck in our Saturdays, the days following our darkest moments.
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  And this is when we can hold on to the promise, that one promise that Jesus
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  gave his his disciples some 2,000 years ago, joy is coming.
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  And it's a joy that no one can take away.
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  What we learn in Silent Saturday is to trust and believe. Remember you are loved.
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  Jesus loves you. And Sunday's coming.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  Thank you to the gospel group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you.
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  Music.