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Andy Stanley - Ninety Part 2 Upside Down · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: Today we're gonna talk a little bit about temptation, and
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Speaker 1: so as I was thinking about temptation, I made this
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Speaker 1: observation basically as it relates to me, and I think
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Speaker 1: this is probably true of you as well, that temptation.
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Speaker 1: For me, temptation is always an invitation to embrace self interest.
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Speaker 1: Have you noticed this? I mean, when I'm tempted to
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Speaker 1: do something, it's always from my perspective, something that's gonna
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Speaker 1: be beneficial to me, or I think will be beneficial
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Speaker 1: to me. But it's certainly all about me. I am
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Speaker 1: never tempted to be selfless, right, I'm never tempted to
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Speaker 1: be overly generous. In fact, when I have an inclination
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Speaker 1: to be selfless, like I think I'll give up my
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Speaker 1: Saturday and go help them, or give up half a
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Speaker 1: day of work and help them, or not do what
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Speaker 1: I need to do in order to help somebody else,
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Speaker 1: or write a check to an organization that's in need.
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Speaker 1: Whenever I find an inclination to be selfless, I don't
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Speaker 1: consider that a temptation, do you? You know what we
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Speaker 1: consider that? We consider that Am I a great person?
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Speaker 1: Or what? That's what we consider that, right, But it's
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Speaker 1: kind of the same thing. It's like, I'm sort of
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Speaker 1: tempted to do something selfless, and then I'm tempted to
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Speaker 1: do something that's selfish. And again, maybe this is just confession,
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Speaker 1: and maybe you can't relate to this, but I tend
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Speaker 1: to be more successful at overcoming temptations to selflessness than
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Speaker 1: I am temptations to selfishness. Isn't that strange? And then
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Speaker 1: I have learned, and we've all learned, and some of
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Speaker 1: you are in the middle of this. In fact, maybe
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Speaker 1: it's why you're watching or listening or why you're in
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Speaker 1: church today. We learned that over time that in our
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Speaker 1: pursuit of our selfish self interest, that we eventually hurt
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Speaker 1: ourself and oftentimes we hurt others. And then Jesus comes along.
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Speaker 1: This is so amazing, He was so brilliant. Jesus comes
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Speaker 1: along and says this, if you live a self centered life,
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Speaker 1: in other words, if somehow you make your life all
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Speaker 1: about you, all about self, in the end, you don't
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Speaker 1: just hurt yourself. This is powerful. In fact, this may
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Speaker 1: be where you are. You just didn't have these words,
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Speaker 1: he said. In the end, you don't just hurt yourself
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Speaker 1: in the end, you lose yourself. For the next few weeks,
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Speaker 1: we're following Jesus from the time that he was introduced
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Speaker 1: to the world to the time that he sacrificed his
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Speaker 1: life for the world, and throughout the series, we're going
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Speaker 1: to come back to this theme that Jesus showed up
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Speaker 1: to introduce something brand new, to introduce something brand new
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Speaker 1: to the world. Specifically, he came to introduce a brand
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Speaker 1: new covenant, a brand new arrangement between God and mankind,
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Speaker 1: a new covenant that would replace the old covenant between
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Speaker 1: God and a nation. He came to introduce a brand
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Speaker 1: new command, a single governing ethic, one single command that
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Speaker 1: would be the governing ethic for his brand new movement,
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Speaker 1: which is called the Church. And from the beginning, from
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Speaker 1: the beginning, those who paid attention and those whose fortunes
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Speaker 1: were tied to the old way, it was very very
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Speaker 1: clear to them that Jesus had not come to continue something,
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Speaker 1: to do Judaism two point zero, to simply complete some
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Speaker 1: sort of religious book. They understood that Jesus came to
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Speaker 1: do something and to introduce something, and to offer something
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Speaker 1: brand new, and so they resisted. And that's the tension
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Speaker 1: of the story. Now. Previously on ninety we were introduced
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Speaker 1: to the guy that introduced Jesus's name is John the Baptist.
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Speaker 1: Not a stranger to too many people. John drew an
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Speaker 1: extraordinary large crowd. And once he drew an extraordinary large crowd,
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Speaker 1: he then drew people's attention to Jesus. And if you'll remember,
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Speaker 1: if you were here last week, how John introduced Jesus.
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Speaker 1: And I love this, he simply said, to his audience,
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Speaker 1: to his crowd, to his fans, many of whom thought
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Speaker 1: he might be the Messiah himself. He had this giant crowd,
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Speaker 1: and Jesus shows up on the banks of the Jordan River,
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Speaker 1: and John says, may I have your attention, please? Look,
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Speaker 1: I love this. Look, here's why this is important. He
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Speaker 1: did not say believe, He did not say follow, He
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Speaker 1: did not say change, He didn't say change your mind,
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Speaker 1: and he certainly didn't say pretend. He said, look, the
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Speaker 1: Lamb of God who comes to take away not just
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Speaker 1: the sin of our people and his people, who comes
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Speaker 1: to do something for the entire world. And that Jesus
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Speaker 1: makes his way down into and he insists that John
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Speaker 1: the Baptist baptize him. And this is so backwards. This
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Speaker 1: is so upside down. In fact, when he gets down
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Speaker 1: into the river, John is a little bit embarrassed because
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Speaker 1: he's told his whole audience how great Jesus is and
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Speaker 1: that he's not even worthy to be jesus servant. And
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Speaker 1: now Jesus comes into the water and he insists that
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Speaker 1: John baptize him, which is a symbol of him placing
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Speaker 1: himself under John's authority. This is so upside down in fact,
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Speaker 1: the text says this, But John tried to deter him.
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Speaker 1: Imagine you're face to face with the Son of God
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Speaker 1: and you say no. I mean, you know, we do
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Speaker 1: that all the time because he's invisible. But imagine you're
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Speaker 1: standing with Jesus. It's like no. John tries to deter him, saying,
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Speaker 1: I need to be baptized by you. You are the
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Speaker 1: greatest one. You are the great one. You're the one
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Speaker 1: we've waited for, in some cases for centuries. And now
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Speaker 1: you're here and you want to submit yourself to me.
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Speaker 1: This doesn't make any sense, and you you should be baptized.
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Speaker 1: You should be baptizing me. I don't have any business
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Speaker 1: baptizing you. Again, it was so backwards, it was so
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Speaker 1: upside down. And here's the point. This was the first
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Speaker 1: clue as to the upside down nature of the new
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Speaker 1: that Jesus when it was introducing into the world. Now
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Speaker 1: Here is the fascinating twist in the plot. At this point,
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Speaker 1: Jesus is now a public figure. Jona says, look the
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Speaker 1: lamb of God. He hasn't done anything, he hasn't amazed anybody.
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Speaker 1: He's just another guy in the crowd. But everybody in
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Speaker 1: the crowd knows this is something special. He and John
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Speaker 1: are having this little interaction down in the water. There's
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Speaker 1: a murmur in the crowd. Jesus is baptized, and then
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Speaker 1: instead of sort of stepping front and center and saying John,
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Speaker 1: thank you very much, you can go behind the curtain.
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Speaker 1: I'm you know, I'm here. Thanks for introducing me. Matthew, Mark,
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Speaker 1: and Luke. All three gospels say that immediately Jesus left
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Speaker 1: and disappeared by himself into the wilderness. In fact, they
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Speaker 1: say that God actually sent him into the wilderness. It's like, daddah,
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Speaker 1: here's Jesus. He'll be back later. And Jesus disappears alone
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Speaker 1: into the wilderness. But there's more to it than that.
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Speaker 1: Here's what the text says. The text says, then Jesus
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Speaker 1: was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be
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Speaker 1: tempted by the diaboloss before we get our word diabolical,
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Speaker 1: the slanderer, the accuser in our English Bibles, the devil. Now,
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Speaker 1: this is a really interesting little piece of narrative. And
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Speaker 1: if you grew up in church, it's like, oh, yeah,
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Speaker 1: I know how this whole thing goes, so just hang on.
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Speaker 1: If you didn't grow up in church, it's like, okay,
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Speaker 1: so wait, wait, wait, wait, so do you expect me
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Speaker 1: to believe in the devil? And the answer is no.
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Speaker 1: So for those of you who know how the story goes,
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Speaker 1: and for those of you who want to cross your
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Speaker 1: arms and say I'm checking out because you're going to
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Speaker 1: talk about the devil, for both groups, I want you
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Speaker 1: to just hit pause for a moment, because, more than anything,
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Speaker 1: I want you to understand why this is included in
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Speaker 1: the New Testament. Whenever you read anything in ancient literature,
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Speaker 1: especially but maybe especially the Bible, because come on, you
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Speaker 1: don't read any other ancient literature for the most part.
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Speaker 1: In fact, most people don't even read the Bible. But
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Speaker 1: when you run across something in ancient literature, you should
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Speaker 1: always ask the question why did the author choose to
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Speaker 1: include this? And the reason that's a big deal in
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Speaker 1: ancient literature is there wasn't much ancient literature, and anything
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Speaker 1: that was written took on an extraordinary extraordinary authority. I mean,
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Speaker 1: even in our culture, if you're having a conversation with
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Speaker 1: someone and you're arguing about something, and somebody in the
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Speaker 1: argument says, well, I read an article. As soon as
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Speaker 1: they say I read an article. The fact that somebody
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Speaker 1: actually wrote something gives it a little bit more credibility.
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Speaker 1: And then if you find out who the author of
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Speaker 1: the article was, that even has more credibility. Well, in
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Speaker 1: a day and age, in ancient times, when virtually nobody
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Speaker 1: could read and nobody could write, like ninety over ninety
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Speaker 1: percent of the population, anything that was written down had extraordinary,
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Speaker 1: extraordinary authority. It was expensive to write anything down, and
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Speaker 1: so you have to ask, of all the things Matthew,
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Speaker 1: Mark and Luke could have written down about Jesus, why
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Speaker 1: did they include this? Why was this so important? As
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Speaker 1: strange as it is, as odd as it is, as
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Speaker 1: many questions as it surfaces for all of us and
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Speaker 1: for them, why in the world. Would they include this
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Speaker 1: little bit of narrative. And the answer is, it's not
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Speaker 1: a lesson on how to overcome temptation. Although there are
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Speaker 1: certain takeaways, it's way bigger than that. It's way more
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Speaker 1: epic than that. And what happens next is central to
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Speaker 1: the story of Jesus because Jesus in these moments, and
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Speaker 1: as we're going to discover later, Jesus throughout his life
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Speaker 1: was tempted to opt for the old ways instead of
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Speaker 1: the new ways that he had come to introduce, the
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Speaker 1: old way being the me first way, the kingdoms of
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Speaker 1: this worldway. In fact, Luke says this was recurring temptation
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Speaker 1: throughout his life. So here's how it went down. After
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Speaker 1: fastening forty days forty nights, he was hungry. This may
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Speaker 1: be the most obvious statement in all of the New Testament,
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Speaker 1: but they included it in case we missed that little detail.
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Speaker 1: He fastened for forty days and forty nights and he
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Speaker 1: was hungry. And why do they include this. Here's why,
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Speaker 1: because they wanted their readers to know. In the first
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Speaker 1: century he was human, he was a person. This is
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Speaker 1: why the apostle John constantly said, our hands have handled
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Speaker 1: our hands have handled we touched him. He was not
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Speaker 1: a ghost, he was not an apparition, he was not
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Speaker 1: some sort of spirit. He was human. So he fasted
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Speaker 1: forty days and forty nights, and he was hungry, and
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Speaker 1: he was weak, and he was vulnerable. And it says
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Speaker 1: if he was saying to the tempter, come on, give
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Speaker 1: me your best shot. I want you to know how
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Speaker 1: serious I am about the new I've come to introduce
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Speaker 1: to the world. And the tempter came to Texas. The
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Speaker 1: tempter came to him. And now it's a new Greek word, pironzo,
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Speaker 1: which basically means the inquisitor, the tester, the prodder, the poker,
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Speaker 1: the person that's going to try to get out of
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Speaker 1: him what no one else could get out of him.
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Speaker 1: And he said to him, if you are the son
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Speaker 1: of God, tell these stones to become bred. In other words,
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Speaker 1: just speak it, and if you're the son of God,
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Speaker 1: it will be done. Because I mean, you know, I
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Speaker 1: read the first part of your book, and God spoke
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Speaker 1: the universe into beings, so certainly you could speak from
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Speaker 1: bread into being from stones. Besides that, you're entitled. Come on, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: you're you, You're Jesus, mortal kings, if they had that
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Speaker 1: kind of power, would do as much. Jesus responds to
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Speaker 1: this first temptation by leaning into the old Covenant, the
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Speaker 1: covenant between God and Israel, because even though he had
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Speaker 1: come to establish a new covenant, throughout his life as
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Speaker 1: the hinge, as the door from one to the other,
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Speaker 1: he functioned under the rules and the laws of the
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Speaker 1: old Covenant. So he leans into that and he quotes
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Speaker 1: from the Old Testament. He says, this Jesus answered, it
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Speaker 1: is written. He responds, as one under this old covenant.
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Speaker 1: He says, this man shall not live on bread alone,
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Speaker 1: and he quotes from Deuteronomy eight, where takes us back
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Speaker 1: to that picture of the nation of Israel traveling through
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Speaker 1: the wilderness and there's nothing to eat, and God provides
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Speaker 1: manna from heaven. And in those years, God was teaching
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Speaker 1: his people to depend on him every single day, daily dependence,
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Speaker 1: daily dependence, daily dependence. And Jesus finishes it out. He says,
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Speaker 1: but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
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Speaker 1: In other words, even though I am the son of God,
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Speaker 1: even though I have been sent into this world to
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Speaker 1: do something new for the world, I will act on
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Speaker 1: my own, and I will not act independently of my
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Speaker 1: heavenly Father, because to do so is so kingdom of
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Speaker 1: this world. Then the text says, then the devil took him. Now,
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Speaker 1: as a kid, when I would hear this story, taught
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Speaker 1: it was sort of like something from Star Trek. Suddenly
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Speaker 1: they were beamed from one place to the other, and
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Speaker 1: this whole story is But it's not that way at
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Speaker 1: all when you read the text. This wasn't some magic trick,
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Speaker 1: This wasn't some mystical thing that apparently Jesus and Evil personified.
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Speaker 1: They spent time together. So the text says, then the
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Speaker 1: devil took him, and Luke says brought him. That is,
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Speaker 1: they walked there. They walked from the wilderness all the
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Speaker 1: way to the Holy City of Jerusalem. He took him
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Speaker 1: to the Holy City and he had him stand on
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Speaker 1: the highest point of the temple. And again you get
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Speaker 1: this picture that they're standing, you know, balancing on some spire,
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Speaker 1: But that's not the case at all. They essentially went
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Speaker 1: to the highest point of the temple, which was on
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Speaker 1: the southeast corner where you look down hundreds and hundreds
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Speaker 1: and hundreds of feet into the valley to the kid
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Speaker 1: Dron Valley. In fact, Josephus, who was the first century historian, said,
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Speaker 1: if you stood on that southeast corner and you look
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Speaker 1: long enough, you would get dizzy and people would have
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Speaker 1: to step back because it was it was so spectacular
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Speaker 1: and it was so far down. And so the tempter
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Speaker 1: says to Jesus, okay, let's try this. Then the devil
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Speaker 1: said to him, or then he said, if you are
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Speaker 1: the son of God, why don't you just throw yourself down?
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Speaker 1: I mean, people would notice. This would be a big deal.
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Speaker 1: I mean, I mean they saw you on the banks
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Speaker 1: of the Jordan River. That was but you know, a
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Speaker 1: big deal. I who is this guy good? But I'm
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Speaker 1: telling you, you throw yourself off this ravene into this
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Speaker 1: ravine and you dust, you know, shake the dust off.
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Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's pretty spectacular. I mean, why don't
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Speaker 1: you just throw yourself down? For it is written? And
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Speaker 1: now the tempter actually quotes the Old Testament that Jesus
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Speaker 1: too can play that game. He says this, He quotes
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Speaker 1: Psalm ninety one. He talking about God. Come on, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: throw yourself down, because he God will command his angels
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Speaker 1: concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands.
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Speaker 1: You'll land lightly on your feet so that you will
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Speaker 1: not strike your foot against the In other words, he
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Speaker 1: taunts Jesus. He says, didn't God promise to take care
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Speaker 1: of you? Don't you have faith in God? Come on, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: don't you believe him? And you just said every word
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Speaker 1: that comes from the Father's mouth, surely you trust that
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Speaker 1: God is going to take care of you. And in
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Speaker 1: this moment he was tempting Jesus to do it. Oftentimes
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Speaker 1: we're tempted to do He was tempting Jesus to try
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Speaker 1: to use God or to presume on God. This, unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: is the modern version of faith, the faith that some
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Speaker 1: of you were brought up with, the faith that some
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Speaker 1: of you chose to leave, The faith that some of
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Speaker 1: you should leave, The faith that is the reason you
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Speaker 1: haven't been back to church in a long time. The
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Speaker 1: faith that says, if you just believe, you'll receive, If
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Speaker 1: you just believe, you'll receive, if you just believe enough,
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Speaker 1: if you just quote a verse, God has to come
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Speaker 1: through for you. And Jesus answered and said this. It
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Speaker 1: is also written, do not put the Lord your God
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Speaker 1: to the test. And he quotes Moses. When Moses was
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Speaker 1: addressing the Nation of Israel on their way to the
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Speaker 1: Promised Land. The nation said to Moses, God has to
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Speaker 1: do such and such for us. God owes it to us.
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Speaker 1: We are his special people. This is what God has
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Speaker 1: to do for us. And Moses say, no, you don't understand.
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Speaker 1: You're God's chosen people. But God doesn't have to do anything,
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Speaker 1: and you do not manipulate and you cannot manipulate your God.
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Speaker 1: In fact, the point for us, and we'll move on,
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Speaker 1: is simply this. If you're a Christian, and this may
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Speaker 1: be disturbing, the moment that you try, and the moment
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Speaker 1: that you begin trying to manipulate God, the moment you
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Speaker 1: begin looking for a magic formula, the moment you begin thinking,
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Speaker 1: if I do these three things consistently, God has to
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Speaker 1: do something for me, and that moment you are no
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Speaker 1: longer practicing Christianity, and that moment you're practicing magic. Your
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Speaker 1: religion has become superstition. Your religion has become the pagan
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Speaker 1: superstitions that Jesus came into this world to replace. Not
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Speaker 1: simply for a nation before all nations, for all mankind.
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Speaker 1: Your religion has become so very kingdoms of this world.
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Speaker 1: Here's why I say that, because later we'll get to it. Later,
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Speaker 1: Jesus would say to those who gathered around to hear
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Speaker 1: him speak, he would say, look, when you think of God,
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Speaker 1: God is not a king in heaven that can be
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Speaker 1: bribed or manipulated. God is not a king in heaven
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Speaker 1: with his arms crossed waiting for you to bring enough
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Speaker 1: gifts and enough sacrifices, and enough offerings, and enough prayers,
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Speaker 1: and enough good deeds and enough generosity to get his attention.
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Speaker 1: When you think of God, from now on, you are
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Speaker 1: to think a perfect, heavenly father who already knows everything
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Speaker 1: you need. He does not need to be talked into something.
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Speaker 1: He cannot be bribed. You come as children who simply ask. Now.
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Speaker 1: Those are the first two temptations. Jesus got through those,
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Speaker 1: and he passed, and he gets to the third of Now.
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Speaker 1: I think the third of this is just my opinion.
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Speaker 1: I think the third one's the main event. I think
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Speaker 1: the first two were kind of a warm up. I
15:57
Speaker 1: think you were just getting to know each other. Because
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Speaker 1: now they've spent maybe days or weeks together, we don't know,
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Speaker 1: And now we get to the third, but not the final,
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Speaker 1: but the third in a list of three that will
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Speaker 1: be repeated over and over throughout his ministry. We get
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Speaker 1: to the main event, but before we get to that,
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Speaker 1: I want to talk about us for just a minute.
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Speaker 1: Then we'll get to it. Here's the question I want
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Speaker 1: to ask. Why are powerful people so inclined to go
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Speaker 1: off the reels? Why is that? Why are powerful people
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Speaker 1: so Now? When I first created a slide, I had men.
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Speaker 1: Why are powerful men? I thought, Nah, I don't want
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Speaker 1: to leave anybody out. I'll get email, Okay, So why
16:35
Speaker 1: are powerful people? Why are powerful It's mostly men? We
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Speaker 1: know that, but you know I want to be inclusive.
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Speaker 1: So why are powerful people so inclined to go off
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Speaker 1: the rails? Why are they so inclined to go off
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Speaker 1: the rails morally, ethically, financially, why is that? I mean,
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Speaker 1: you would think that the more power a person had,
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Speaker 1: the better person they would be. They have less financial pressure,
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Speaker 1: nobody's telling them what to do, they have more freedom.
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Speaker 1: You would think with more freedom and more autonomy and
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Speaker 1: more wealth, person would become a better person. In fact,
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Speaker 1: you think if you had more power and more influence
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Speaker 1: and more wealth, that you would be a better person,
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Speaker 1: don't you think so? Why is it that powerful people
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Speaker 1: oftentimes go off the us. Why is it that the
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Speaker 1: inclination is, now that I've got the power, now that
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Speaker 1: I've got the influence, now that I've got the wealth,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to leverage it for my benefit. Where does
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Speaker 1: that come from? Why isn't it the opposite? Why do
17:26
Speaker 1: powerful people ultimately oftentimes make it all about themselves? Similar
17:32
Speaker 1: along the same lines, where does bullying come from? I'm powerful,
17:37
Speaker 1: I'm bigger than you, since that sense of entitlement, sexual harassment,
17:43
Speaker 1: because I have the power, and because I'm stronger, and
17:46
Speaker 1: because I have more influence, and because I can control
17:48
Speaker 1: your future and control your profession and control which opportunities
17:51
Speaker 1: you get or don't get. Where does that come from? Arrogance,
17:54
Speaker 1: dismissiveness that you know, well, just whatever, you're just the
17:57
Speaker 1: little people. Elitism extrive get consumerism. People who just spend
18:02
Speaker 1: gobs and gobs and gods of gobs of money on
18:04
Speaker 1: more and more and more stuff. And they're a little
18:06
Speaker 1: generous here and there, and they think they're just so
18:08
Speaker 1: generous because they look at the dollar amount rather than
18:10
Speaker 1: the percentage. Where does it come from? Greed. What is that?
18:16
Speaker 1: Because you think like I think, Wow, if I had
18:19
Speaker 1: that much, if I had that much influence, that much power,
18:21
Speaker 1: I would just be the best person. I would be
18:23
Speaker 1: a better person. Why is it that it generally doesn't
18:26
Speaker 1: make people better, it makes them worse? Why do they
18:30
Speaker 1: go off the rails? Why is it that power corrupts?
18:35
Speaker 1: Why is it that there are just so few stories
18:37
Speaker 1: of extraordinarily wealthy, powerful people who actually end well? What
18:44
Speaker 1: is that? And here's the great thing, And this is why,
18:47
Speaker 1: this is why you should follow Jesus. Just should even
18:50
Speaker 1: if you don't believe this Son of God, you should
18:51
Speaker 1: follow Jesus throughout jesus ministry throughout his life. We're gonna
18:55
Speaker 1: watch this and look for this. Throughout his time on earth,
18:58
Speaker 1: Jesus taught and modeled. He taught and he modeled. He
19:03
Speaker 1: taught and he modeled. He taught and models something that's
19:06
Speaker 1: not new to us. But I'm telling you it was
19:08
Speaker 1: new to the first century. No one had ever seen
19:11
Speaker 1: it done well on a grand scale. He taught and
19:15
Speaker 1: modeled that power is not primarily for the benefit of
19:20
Speaker 1: the powerful. No one had her ever heard of such
19:22
Speaker 1: a thing. That's just not the way the world works.
19:25
Speaker 1: That's not how you get anything done. Jesus, if you're
19:28
Speaker 1: gonna start a movement, if somehow you're gonna move the needle,
19:32
Speaker 1: if somehow you're gonna change what's happening the vicinity of
19:34
Speaker 1: your hometown and Jerusalem and Judea and Gully, if somehow
19:38
Speaker 1: you're gonna get the Jewish people back on track and
19:40
Speaker 1: in the sync with the will of God, so God
19:42
Speaker 1: can do something magnificent. This isn't gonna work. This is
19:45
Speaker 1: upside down. He taught that wealth is not primarily for
19:50
Speaker 1: the benefit of the wealthy. Jesus consistently taught. In fact,
19:55
Speaker 1: Jesus talks so much about money, and Jesus consistently said
19:58
Speaker 1: that wealth is a sewardship and that it all belongs
20:03
Speaker 1: to my Father in Heaven, and that wealth, just like power,
20:07
Speaker 1: it's a test. It's a test to see how well
20:11
Speaker 1: you will do. And how well you do is judge
20:14
Speaker 1: not on how you spend it on yourself, but how
20:17
Speaker 1: generous you become, if you can be trusted with more
20:21
Speaker 1: later and very few people past the wealth test, very
20:26
Speaker 1: few people. And I know when I say that, I
20:28
Speaker 1: know what you're thinking. I'd like to at least sign
20:30
Speaker 1: up for the test. Can you sign up for that test?
20:32
Speaker 1: Because I think I could pass it. I'd at least
20:34
Speaker 1: like to try to take the test right. And the
20:37
Speaker 1: truth is, if you're listening to me, or watching me
20:40
Speaker 1: or here in one of our rooms, you're already taking
20:42
Speaker 1: that test. Seventy percent of the people in the world.
20:46
Speaker 1: Eighty percent of the people in the world would consider
20:49
Speaker 1: you wealthy. Ninety percent of the people in the world
20:50
Speaker 1: would consider you wealthy. And you know what you do?
20:53
Speaker 1: You do? What I do? You think? Yeah, well, I'm
20:54
Speaker 1: like middle there's you know, there's the super rich. Wherever
20:56
Speaker 1: you are, there's more than that. They're the rich. That's
20:58
Speaker 1: who Jesus is concerned about. And Jesus will say throughout
21:02
Speaker 1: his his ministry. Wait, wait, wait, what's in your hand?
21:05
Speaker 1: What's in your hand? What's in your hand? Who do
21:07
Speaker 1: you think that's for? Well? I earned it, I deserved it.
21:10
Speaker 1: And Jesus is gonna say consistently, that's the kingdoms of
21:13
Speaker 1: this world, that's the way the world has always worked.
21:15
Speaker 1: I have come to introduce something new. And that influence,
21:22
Speaker 1: he would teach, is not primarily for the benefit of
21:26
Speaker 1: the influential and then throughout his ministry. That's why this
21:30
Speaker 1: is such an epic battle. This is why the whole
21:33
Speaker 1: story begins here. Throughout his ministry, he would be tempted
21:38
Speaker 1: right up until the very last night on this earth.
21:43
Speaker 1: Throughout his life, he would be tempted to go kingdoms
21:46
Speaker 1: of this world and to take what was rightfully his
21:50
Speaker 1: and to leverage what he could leverage for himself for
21:53
Speaker 1: him self. And that's why I think this third temptation
21:59
Speaker 1: was the point of the whole interaction. Again, the devil
22:04
Speaker 1: took him, didn't magically take him. They walked there together. Again.
22:09
Speaker 1: The tempter took him to a very high mountain and
22:13
Speaker 1: he showed him all the kingdoms of the world. And
22:17
Speaker 1: of course that's impossible, but now we can do it
22:19
Speaker 1: with Google Earth. But somehow they did it then. But
22:21
Speaker 1: here's what I think. This is just my and I
22:23
Speaker 1: love this. They don't leave it there, Matthew doesn't leave
22:25
Speaker 1: it there, not just the kingdoms of the earth. And
22:27
Speaker 1: this is the point and their splendor. And I think
22:31
Speaker 1: what happened is they went to a very high mountain,
22:33
Speaker 1: probably north of Jerusalem, at night, and they sat on
22:37
Speaker 1: that high mountain and it was cold and they were
22:39
Speaker 1: bundled up, and he saw the whole city lit up
22:42
Speaker 1: at night in all of its splendor, and about sixteen
22:46
Speaker 1: miles away there's Jericho lit up at night, in all
22:50
Speaker 1: of its splendor, all of its history, the epicenter. This
22:54
Speaker 1: was the epicenter of the presence of God and the
22:56
Speaker 1: lives of Jewish people. This was the group that was
22:59
Speaker 1: waiting for God, dude to do something in the world
23:02
Speaker 1: for the nation. And it's as if the tempter said,
23:07
Speaker 1: feast your eyes, because I know this is why you're here.
23:14
Speaker 1: All of this I will give you, he said. Luke
23:20
Speaker 1: tells us he says it a little bit differently, and
23:23
Speaker 1: Luca says, I will give you all of their authority
23:28
Speaker 1: and their splendor. It has been given to me, and
23:30
Speaker 1: I can give it to anyone I want. And besides that, Jesus,
23:33
Speaker 1: I know why you're here. This is what you've come for.
23:38
Speaker 1: I mean, isn't that what we all want? Isn't this
23:41
Speaker 1: what everyone wants? Isn't this what you want? To be recognized,
23:44
Speaker 1: To have your fair share, to have a little bit
23:46
Speaker 1: more power, a little bit more glory, a little bit
23:48
Speaker 1: more wealth, a little bit more influence, a little bit
23:50
Speaker 1: more leverage. Imagine if someone offered you the kingdoms of
23:53
Speaker 1: the world and he said, all you have to do
23:58
Speaker 1: is bow down. All you have to do is recognize
24:03
Speaker 1: that it's mine to give all you have to do.
24:06
Speaker 1: I don't. I'm not for the rest of your life.
24:08
Speaker 1: I just want a moment where you will recognize that
24:11
Speaker 1: it is mine. I want you to leverage your worship
24:16
Speaker 1: for your sake. After all, that's what she came for.
24:22
Speaker 1: After all, we both know it's yours anyway, It's what
24:25
Speaker 1: you're entitled to. And come on, who refuses what they're
24:29
Speaker 1: entitled to, Who refuses what they deserve, Who refuses what's
24:34
Speaker 1: come in their way? Who does that? I'll tell you
24:37
Speaker 1: who does that. The people that you have the most
24:39
Speaker 1: respect for. Great people. Here's the point. Jesus had not
24:47
Speaker 1: come to barter for a kingdom. Jesus had not come
24:51
Speaker 1: to barter for kingdom. Jesus had come to establish a
24:54
Speaker 1: kingdom in the hearts of men and women, a kingdom
24:59
Speaker 1: of conscience, a kingdom that said wealth is not for
25:03
Speaker 1: the wealthy, and power is not exclusively for the powerful,
25:06
Speaker 1: and influence isn't to be leveraged for those who have
25:08
Speaker 1: all the influence. A kingdom like no other, an upside
25:15
Speaker 1: down kingdom, a kingdom where the subjects were not at
25:19
Speaker 1: the whim of the selfish rulers and kings. A kingdom
25:24
Speaker 1: where the subjects weren't weren't required to lay down their
25:27
Speaker 1: lives for the king. A kingdom with the king would
25:35
Speaker 1: lay down his life for subjects. There had never been
25:42
Speaker 1: such a thing, And anyone on the outside watching would
25:46
Speaker 1: have said, it just doesn't work that way. And Jesus said,
25:53
Speaker 1: away from me, Satan, for it is written, worship the Lord,
25:56
Speaker 1: your God, and serve him only. And the text says
26:00
Speaker 1: that when the devil had finished at all this tempting,
26:03
Speaker 1: he left him. And this is what Luke says, for
26:06
Speaker 1: an opportune time. In other words, this is just round one.
26:09
Speaker 1: We're not finished. While you're walking on this planet. I
26:13
Speaker 1: will be back, and I will be back to convince
26:15
Speaker 1: you to opt for the ways of the kingdom of
26:18
Speaker 1: this world. And then the text tells us that after
26:24
Speaker 1: this Jesus went back north to Galilee. He says he
26:27
Speaker 1: went to Galilee in the power of the spirit, and
26:29
Speaker 1: news about him spread throughout the whole countryside. And then
26:35
Speaker 1: just for fun, just perhaps despite the devil. Instead of
26:39
Speaker 1: turning stones into bread, he went to a wedding and
26:44
Speaker 1: he turned water into wine, not for himself, but for
26:50
Speaker 1: the guest and to honor the host. And do you
26:53
Speaker 1: know why Jesus turned water into wine because his mama
26:59
Speaker 1: asked him to do it. And I think that's the
27:03
Speaker 1: point of this entire story is say yes to your
27:07
Speaker 1: mama and no to the devil. Now you laugh, and uh,
27:16
Speaker 1: let's just be honest, all of you watching all of
27:18
Speaker 1: our campuses, you're at home by yourself, how many of
27:20
Speaker 1: you would admit you would be better off if you
27:23
Speaker 1: had said yes to your mama and no to the devil.
27:26
Speaker 1: Let's see those hands. Yeah, yeah, a few honest people,
27:28
Speaker 1: that's right. Now, here's the real point. Jesus early on
27:33
Speaker 1: was offered, at some level and to some extent, what
27:38
Speaker 1: we all want, but he refused it because Jesus had
27:44
Speaker 1: not come to take over. Jesus had come to take
27:48
Speaker 1: away the sins of the world, and Jesus had not
27:52
Speaker 1: come to lord over. Jesus came to get up under
27:56
Speaker 1: the burden of mankind. In fact, at the end of
28:00
Speaker 1: his time on the planet. And we're gonna get to
28:02
Speaker 1: this in a few weeks. I love, love, love this
28:04
Speaker 1: piece of narrative. We're gonna look at it in detail.
28:06
Speaker 1: Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. And as many
28:09
Speaker 1: times as he has said this, and as many times
28:11
Speaker 1: as he's modeled it, as many times as he's taught
28:13
Speaker 1: it and illustrated it his followers, they still can't get it.
28:17
Speaker 1: They're still thinking, Okay, we know the way the world works.
28:19
Speaker 1: You know those are good sermons. Yeah, yeah, but whatever.
28:20
Speaker 1: But we know how it works. We know how authority works.
28:23
Speaker 1: We know there's like the top person, and the top
28:25
Speaker 1: person tells the next level what to do, and they
28:27
Speaker 1: tell them the next We know how this works. I mean,
28:29
Speaker 1: we've seen it all our lives. It's the kingdom of
28:31
Speaker 1: the world. It's the way of things. And at the
28:35
Speaker 1: very end, they still haven't been able to wrap their
28:38
Speaker 1: minds around the fact that he has come to introduce
28:40
Speaker 1: a brand new way of living, a brand new way
28:42
Speaker 1: of thinking, a brand new kind of relationship with God.
28:46
Speaker 1: And so he sets them all down and he gives
28:48
Speaker 1: them a little lecture, and we'll look at the lecture
28:50
Speaker 1: in a few weeks. But at the end, he says this, guys,
28:54
Speaker 1: come on, Come on, look at me, he would say.
28:56
Speaker 1: Even even the Son of Man did not come to
29:01
Speaker 1: be served, but to serve and to give his life
29:04
Speaker 1: a ransom for many guys. I'm serious. We're not going
29:10
Speaker 1: the way of the kingdoms of this earth, the kingdoms
29:14
Speaker 1: of this world. The me first. I'm in it for me.
29:17
Speaker 1: What can I get out of it? Kingdoms of this world.
29:20
Speaker 1: I know it's all you've seen. I know it's the
29:22
Speaker 1: way the world works. I know that you've never seen
29:24
Speaker 1: another plan, You've never seen it work out. But I'm
29:26
Speaker 1: telling you I'm not backing down. This is why I've come,
29:29
Speaker 1: and I'm going to stay on this course all the
29:31
Speaker 1: way to the very end. And here's why this is
29:35
Speaker 1: important for you. Regardless of your religious belief or background,
29:38
Speaker 1: or if you're part of another faith community. Do you
29:43
Speaker 1: know what Jesus valued more than the kingdoms of the world.
29:50
Speaker 1: He valued you because you are a part of this
29:56
Speaker 1: many that he came to ransom his life for you,
30:02
Speaker 1: Because regardless of how much power you had, you don't
30:05
Speaker 1: have the power to overcome the consequence of sin in
30:08
Speaker 1: your life. Do you He came to ransom you because
30:11
Speaker 1: regardless of how much money you have or don't have.
30:14
Speaker 1: No amount of money can heal a relationship, and heal
30:16
Speaker 1: a broken relationship, and get you forgiven or get you
30:20
Speaker 1: forgiveness from someone you love. And no amount of influence
30:25
Speaker 1: can reverse the consequences of sin in your life. The
30:29
Speaker 1: kingdoms of this world, the values of this world, they
30:31
Speaker 1: don't even they don't even intersect in any kind of
30:34
Speaker 1: meaningful way with the things that are most important to
30:38
Speaker 1: the human heart and the human soul. And so he
30:41
Speaker 1: came to be a ransom for many. And regardless of
30:45
Speaker 1: what you believe, and regardless of what you've been taught,
30:49
Speaker 1: you are part of that many. And do you know what?
30:51
Speaker 1: Do you know what hung in the balance? Do you
30:54
Speaker 1: know what hung in the balance of Jesus' decision to
30:57
Speaker 1: resist temptation to embrace the ways of the kingdoms of
30:59
Speaker 1: this world? Do you know what hung in the balance?
31:03
Speaker 1: You hung in the balance. And do you know what
31:07
Speaker 1: hangs in the balance of your decision not to embrace
31:10
Speaker 1: the ways of the kingdoms of this world? You hang
31:15
Speaker 1: in the balance. And you know what. You already know this.
31:18
Speaker 1: And here's how you know it. Because when you live
31:22
Speaker 1: your life for you, you just get smaller don't you.
31:27
Speaker 1: And when life is all about you, it's not much
31:32
Speaker 1: of a life. And the reason I'm tempted, and the
31:35
Speaker 1: reason you're tempted every single day of our lives to
31:38
Speaker 1: do it all for us. The powers for me, the
31:40
Speaker 1: wealth is for me, the influences for me. How do
31:42
Speaker 1: I get more, more and more and more and more
31:43
Speaker 1: so my life will be better? Better, better better. It's
31:45
Speaker 1: all we've ever seen, it's all we know. And in
31:48
Speaker 1: the end, in the end, we're smaller, we're not better.
31:53
Speaker 1: And Jesus said, that's why I've come. I've come that
31:56
Speaker 1: you might have life, And when it's all about you,
32:01
Speaker 1: it's not much of a life. You see the reason
32:08
Speaker 1: on a daylight today, all over the world we're talking
32:11
Speaker 1: about Jesus in languages we've never heard of, in places
32:15
Speaker 1: many of us don't even want to visit. The reason
32:18
Speaker 1: he's central is because he did not opt for the
32:22
Speaker 1: kingdoms of this world. And his life was so big,
32:26
Speaker 1: and his influence was so big that he outlasted his
32:32
Speaker 1: own life, his own generation. In fact, he would say
32:37
Speaker 1: it this way, and this is what he would say
32:38
Speaker 1: to you, and I'll close with this. He would ask
32:41
Speaker 1: this question, and this is again, regardless of what you
32:43
Speaker 1: think about Jesus or if there's a devil, just forget
32:45
Speaker 1: off of that for a minute. This is this is
32:47
Speaker 1: the question we all have to wrestle to the ground.
32:49
Speaker 1: This is the question Jesus came to address, and this
32:52
Speaker 1: is this is the issue that kept him on, you know,
32:54
Speaker 1: marching orders all the way to the cross to be
32:57
Speaker 1: a ransom for you and a ransom for me. He
32:59
Speaker 1: asked question, He said, come on, Americans, come on, middle class,
33:04
Speaker 1: come on, upper middle class, come on, rich people, come on,
33:07
Speaker 1: people who are trying to you know, get there. Come on,
33:09
Speaker 1: come on, let's just be honest. Okay, you know enough
33:12
Speaker 1: to know this is true. What good is it? What
33:17
Speaker 1: good is it? I mean, come on, in the end,
33:19
Speaker 1: what do you really get out of it? What good
33:21
Speaker 1: is it if you gain the whole world? What good
33:24
Speaker 1: is it if you become the wealthiest and the most
33:27
Speaker 1: powerful and the most influential. What good is it if
33:30
Speaker 1: you gain the whole world? But in the end you lose,
33:33
Speaker 1: or you forfeit your very self. Selfishness at the end
33:39
Speaker 1: of the day, leads to a loss of the very
33:41
Speaker 1: thing you're trying to gain and save, which your self.
33:44
Speaker 1: And here's how you know this. You know this, You
33:46
Speaker 1: knew this before I said it. Because the people who
33:49
Speaker 1: have the biggest lives and the people who make the
33:52
Speaker 1: biggest difference, and the people you admire the most are
33:56
Speaker 1: the most self less, and we rarely see it done well.
34:02
Speaker 1: Jesus says, I've come to establish a kingdom. That's all
34:05
Speaker 1: about that. So in this new upside down kingdom, the
34:09
Speaker 1: first would be last and the last would be first,
34:11
Speaker 1: and power. Power would be leveraged for the powerless, and
34:15
Speaker 1: wealth would be leveraged for those in need. An influence
34:20
Speaker 1: would be leveraged for those without a voice. But this
34:26
Speaker 1: would not sit well with the powerful and the wealthy
34:31
Speaker 1: and the influential. Then here's why, and this is where
34:35
Speaker 1: some of you are even as I'm speaking. We naturally resist.
34:40
Speaker 1: We naturally resist what we can't control and don't understand.
34:46
Speaker 1: We naturally resist what we do not understand and what
34:49
Speaker 1: we cannot control. And so temple an empire would conspire
34:55
Speaker 1: together to crush him, but in the end they would
34:59
Speaker 1: be maneuvered