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Reactions-to-the-Resurrected-Lord · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Imagine for just a moment if Jesus had not risen,
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Speaker 1: If two thousand years ago Jesus had simply died on
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Speaker 1: a Roman cross, then we probably would have never heard
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Speaker 1: of him. Jesus would have been a forgotten name on
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Speaker 1: history's list of martyrs, victims, and would be saviors. But
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Speaker 1: the great news is he did rise, and that fact
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Speaker 1: has made all the difference. Because he rose, good overcame evil,
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Speaker 1: Light overtook darkness, and love overthrew hate, and life overwhelmed death.
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Speaker 1: Soon after Jesus shed his grave clothes and walked out
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Speaker 1: of the tomb, he appeared to his closest followers in
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Speaker 1: his resurrected body. His appearances guaranteed the prompt Thmas he
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Speaker 1: offered to all who believe life eternal. In Chapter twenty
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Speaker 1: of his Gospel, John describes three of Jesus' post resurrection
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Speaker 1: appearances to Mary Magdalene, to the disciples, and then to Thomas.
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Speaker 1: Let's witness each of their reactions as we read the
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Speaker 1: final sections of John twenty.
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Speaker 2: So turn with.
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Speaker 1: Me and follow along in your bibles as I read
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Speaker 1: from the New Living Translation John twenty. Beginning with verse eleven,
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Speaker 1: Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept,
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Speaker 1: she stooped and looked in. She saw two white robed angels,
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Speaker 1: one sitting at the head and the other at the
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Speaker 1: foot of the place where the body of Jesus had
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Speaker 1: been lying. Dear woman, why are you crying, the angels
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Speaker 1: asked her, Because they have taken away my lord. She replied,
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Speaker 1: and I don't know where they have put him. She
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Speaker 1: turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus,
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Speaker 1: but she didn't recognize him. Dear woman, why are you crying,
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Speaker 1: Jesus asked her, who are you looking for? She thought
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Speaker 1: he was the gardener. Sir, she said, if you have
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Speaker 1: taken him away, tell me where you have put him,
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Speaker 1: and I would go and get him, Mary, Jesus said.
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Speaker 1: She turned to him and cried out, Raboni, which is
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Speaker 1: Hebrew for teacher. Don't cling to me, Jesus said, for
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Speaker 1: I haven't yet ascended to the father. But go find
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Speaker 1: my brothers and tell them I am ascending to my
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Speaker 1: father and your father, to my God and your God.
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Speaker 1: Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told him I have
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Speaker 1: seen the Lord. Then she gave them his message that
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Speaker 1: Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because
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Speaker 1: they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly Jesus was
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Speaker 1: standing there among them. Peace be with you, he said.
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Speaker 1: As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his
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Speaker 1: hands and his side. They were filled with joy when
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Speaker 1: they saw the Lord Verse twenty four. One of the
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Speaker 1: twelve disciples, Thomas nicknamed the Twin, was not with the
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Speaker 1: others when Jesus came. They told him, we have seen
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Speaker 1: the Lord. But he replied, I won't believe it unless
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Speaker 1: I see the name wounds in his hands. Put my
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Speaker 1: fingers into them, and placed my hand into the wound.
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Speaker 2: In his side.
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Speaker 1: Eight days later, the disciples were together again, and this
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Speaker 1: time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, But suddenly,
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Speaker 1: as before, Jesus was standing among them.
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Speaker 2: Peace be with you, he said. Then he said to.
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Speaker 1: Thomas, put your finger here and look at my hands.
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Speaker 1: Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don't
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Speaker 1: be faithless any longer. Believe my Lord and my God,
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Speaker 1: Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, you believe because you
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Speaker 1: have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.
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Speaker 1: The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in
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Speaker 1: addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these
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Speaker 1: are written so that you may continue to believe that
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Speaker 1: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that
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Speaker 1: by believing in him, you will have life by the
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Speaker 1: power of his name.
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Speaker 3: This past week, I had a fascinating conversation with a
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Speaker 3: personal friend of mine who is a mortician. I feel
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Speaker 3: that it's good to have a close friend and a
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Speaker 3: mortician the last person to let you down. Now, that's
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Speaker 3: not inappropriate. Some of you are hesitant to smile. You
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Speaker 3: know my work. My work is so serious that I'd
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Speaker 3: crack up if I didn't work on a sense of
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Speaker 3: humor at times. And so we were talking about some
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Speaker 3: things that were a little light hearted, I have to admit.
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Speaker 3: And he's a neat guy, and I was able to
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Speaker 3: ask him a question I have all my life. Wanted
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Speaker 3: to know, have you ever experienced getting ready to embalm
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Speaker 3: somebody and have them come back to life? And he said, no,
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Speaker 3: I haven't, but he said I have known those that have.
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Speaker 3: He said, I'll tell you a case in point, said
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Speaker 3: I mortician was notified by a hospital that an individual
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Speaker 3: had died, and he went and picked up the body,
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Speaker 3: put it in the coach, brought it back to the
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Speaker 3: funeral home, laid it down on the table, was preparing
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Speaker 3: it for embalming, and went over to get the equipment
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Speaker 3: and came back and two eyes were following him. Well,
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Speaker 3: you've got to either discuss what you want to do
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Speaker 3: with that person or.
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Speaker 2: Go back to plan A.
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Speaker 3: And that's what they did. They this person lived ten days,
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Speaker 3: as a matter of fact, And he said, what is
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Speaker 3: interesting is the conversations held between that person who had
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Speaker 3: come back from the dead and people and their reactions
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Speaker 3: to a person who lived beyond the grave, as it were.
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Speaker 3: I did a little research and discovered that that's not
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Speaker 3: that unusual. There are several cases on record. Guinness's World
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Speaker 3: Book doesn't mention them, but the local newspaper in nineteen
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Speaker 3: seventy two does.
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Speaker 2: A fellow.
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Speaker 3: By the name of Russell Lee in nineteen seventy two,
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Speaker 3: who was a student at Long Beach City College, was
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Speaker 3: riding horseback and in a sort of freak accident, he fell.
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Speaker 2: And somehow was tangled.
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Speaker 3: Up in electrical wires and was of course rushed to
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Speaker 3: the hospital, put under a neurosurgeon's care, and died twenty
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Speaker 3: three years old. The physician who attended him contacted his mother,
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Speaker 3: who released his two eyes and kidneys in transplant, and
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Speaker 3: as the transplant team of physicians was on the way
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Speaker 3: to the hospital, he revived an incredible and they rushed him,
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Speaker 3: of course, to intensive care. And from all I've been
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Speaker 3: able to gather, he still lives, and I am confident
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Speaker 3: that if there were some way to talk to people
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Speaker 3: who talk to him, we would have the most astounding
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Speaker 3: kind of reaction.
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Speaker 2: Now I do not know either one, and some of
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Speaker 2: it is only.
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Speaker 3: Hearsay, so there's no absolute proof. But I do know
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Speaker 3: of one account that's true. And this individual was not resuscitated,
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Speaker 3: which is simply coming back from beyond with the same
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Speaker 3: body as is true of these cases. This person was
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Speaker 3: resurrected and he actually lived and lives today beyond the grave.
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Speaker 3: I have found it to be a fascinating study to
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Speaker 3: go into the Gospel of John, where this record is
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Speaker 3: kept not hearsay, but absolutely inspired truth, and to discover
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Speaker 3: the reactions of people who saw the resurrected Lord. Most interesting. Now,
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Speaker 3: you might feel that everything from the last Sunday's message
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Speaker 3: on is sort of anti climactic, I admit in a
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Speaker 3: sense it is because what could be greater than the
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Speaker 3: resurrection from the dead. But in another sense it's very relevant.
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Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, we can identify more with
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Speaker 3: people who responded to the post resurrected Christ than to
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Speaker 3: the Lord Jesus before resurrection, before death, because that's our
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Speaker 3: only perspective, that's the only way we will ever know
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Speaker 3: him is in his resurrected state. Furthermore, there's a lot
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Speaker 3: of help just in studying the resurrection of Christ following
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Speaker 3: his resurrection, because that's the kind of body we're going
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Speaker 3: to have, the kind of body Jesus head, and some
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Speaker 3: of the things we're going to notice in the dynamics
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Speaker 3: of that body will be true of our bodies. Those
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Speaker 3: same things will be true save the scars, of course.
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Speaker 3: And so we studied this passage and passages that follow
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Speaker 3: with a real keen interest. Let's go to the context.
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Speaker 3: It's been a week that's passed since we were together,
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Speaker 3: and you might have forgotten where we were. We left
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Speaker 3: the tomb last Sunday morning. John and Peter had examined
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Speaker 3: the grave wrappings, it had come to the conclusion Jesus
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Speaker 3: is raised. They didn't understand it. It had not fallen
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Speaker 3: into place. They hadn't had centuries to think it over.
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Speaker 3: It was a firsthand investigation followed by an incredible response
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Speaker 3: sort of clicked, it fell together, and that was it.
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Speaker 3: But Mary, who verse two tells us thought that Jesus
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Speaker 3: had been kidnapped, came back to the tomb to examine
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Speaker 3: what she had left. So that's really where we pick
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Speaker 3: it up in verse eleven. However, before we even go
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Speaker 3: any further there, let me point out the time factor
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Speaker 3: Verses eleven through eighteen. This part of the account took
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Speaker 3: place that Sunday morning. Jesus was raised.
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Speaker 2: Early in the morning.
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Speaker 3: That's when Mary Magdalene is at the tomb and converses
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Speaker 3: with the angels and then with Jesus. Now verse nineteen,
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Speaker 3: notice it says when therefore it was evening, so that's
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Speaker 3: the end of the day. Sunday evening, Jesus meets with
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Speaker 3: his disciples, except for Thomas. Verse twenty four tells us
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Speaker 3: he wasn't among them. So twenty six ads, after eight days,
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Speaker 3: Jesus appeared to them with Thomas there. Now, don't lose
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Speaker 3: me here. This is important. It's in the sweep. It's
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Speaker 3: in the traffic of events. This isn't just a fill in.
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Speaker 3: This puts it all together. If we could somehow put
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Speaker 3: side by side Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and sort
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Speaker 3: of harmonize the account, you would have a blow by
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Speaker 3: blow account of exactly what happened between the resurrection and
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Speaker 3: jesus ascension. You have that in some studies. Our study
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Speaker 3: in John leaves some gaps. Someone has told us that
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Speaker 3: Jesus made eleven resurrection appearances after he had been relieved
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Speaker 3: from the tomb. Now, then the time factor is clear
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Speaker 3: enough from the passage. Then there are some major characters
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Speaker 3: in the story. Mary Magdalene verse eleven. She's mentioned as Mary.
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Speaker 3: Verse eighteen identifies her as Magdalene. She's the one from
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Speaker 3: whom had been cast the demons. She was new in
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Speaker 3: her faith. It was all coming together, as we will
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Speaker 3: see this morning. Second, there are the disciples verse nineteen.
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Speaker 3: Then there is Thomas verse twenty four, who is an
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Speaker 3: interesting study, to say the least, And we'll look at
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Speaker 3: him at length to see how he fits together.
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Speaker 2: One more worried.
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Speaker 3: Some people are very serious about their study of the scriptures,
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Speaker 3: And for your sake, I add this thought in the
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Speaker 3: writings of John, there is a very clear cut, black
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Speaker 3: and white ipso facto kind of approach to life. You
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Speaker 3: read his letters, you find he refers to light, darkness, death, life,
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Speaker 3: a fellowship, no fellowship. You see that John thinks like that.
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Speaker 3: So his gospel is like that. In fact, this gospel
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Speaker 3: is this section we're looking at, is like a wheel
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Speaker 3: that rolls along, touching the same spot four different times
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Speaker 3: as it rolls through these verses. Here's the cycle. First,
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Speaker 3: there is a situation followed by an appearance of the
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Speaker 3: resurrected Christ, followed by a reaction, followed by a statement
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Speaker 3: from Jesus, which leads to another situation, another appearance, another reaction,
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Speaker 3: another response or statement. So you have that rolling through
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Speaker 3: the passage like a wheel. It will sort of help
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Speaker 3: unveil the scene if you will think in those terms
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Speaker 3: as we study the Word together. Now, these reactions we
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Speaker 3: have before us are commonly seen today. First is Mary Magdalene,
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Speaker 3: Verses eleven through eighteen, and she represents the reaction that
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Speaker 3: I would call feeling is believing, feeling feeling is believing
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Speaker 3: Verse eleven. I'll show you why I say that Mary
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Speaker 3: was standing outside the tomb, weeping, and so as she wept,
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Speaker 3: she stooped and looked into the tomb. Now put yourself
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Speaker 3: in her place. It's a cool, damp, perhaps foggy, hazy morning.
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Speaker 3: Moisture hangs low. And she is back, having retraced her
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Speaker 3: steps at the tomb, looking into that cavity and studying
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Speaker 3: with her eyes the grave clothes, which John and Peter
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Speaker 3: have already studied. And they have left, but she's back looking,
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Speaker 3: and she says in verse twelve, she beheld two angels
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Speaker 3: in white, sitting, one at the head, one at the
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Speaker 3: feet where the body of Jesus had been lying. Now
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Speaker 3: you do not ever read where Mary is astounded with
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Speaker 3: the angels. She never says, oh wow, angels man, never once.
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Speaker 3: She just converses as though they are, you know, normal individuals.
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Speaker 3: So either she did not know they were angels, or
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Speaker 3: she was so preoccupied with the kidnapping of the body
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Speaker 3: as she felt it that didn't.
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Speaker 2: Matter who was there.
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Speaker 3: So they ask her a question, woman, verse thirteen, why
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Speaker 3: are you weeping? She said to them, because they have
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Speaker 3: taken away my lord, and I do not know where
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Speaker 3: they have laid him. See there again, she thinks they've
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Speaker 3: kidnapped that body. When she said this, she turned around.
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Speaker 3: Now there seems to be an anguish in her words.
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Speaker 2: She said, they've.
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Speaker 3: Taken away my lord, and I do not know where
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Speaker 3: they've laid him. And she turns and looks in the
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Speaker 3: opposite direction. When she does, she sees somebody, but she
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Speaker 3: doesn't make out who it is.
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Speaker 2: She thinks it's the gardener.
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Speaker 3: It's Jesus, it says. When she turned around, she beheld
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Speaker 3: Jesus standing there. Now, John adds that she didn't know
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Speaker 3: in her head it was Jesus. It was a form
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Speaker 3: that was a man, and that's all she thought. Why
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Speaker 3: didn't she recognize him? Well, first, she had been weeping,
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Speaker 3: She was emotionally upset. Perhaps the tears had barred her focus,
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Speaker 3: and the last person she expected to see was Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 3: So she didn't even put that in the realm of possibility.
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Speaker 3: If she wouldn't be astounded at angels, then she obviously
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Speaker 3: wouldn't detect it was the living Christ. And so he
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Speaker 3: said to her, woman, why are you weeping? By the way, ladies,
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Speaker 3: The first word out of Jesus's mouth is the word woman.
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Speaker 3: That's neat, isn't it. That's good, woman? Why are you weeping?
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Speaker 3: Why are you crying? Same question asked by the angels,
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Speaker 3: and she said, supposing him to be the gardener, sir,
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Speaker 3: if you have carried him away, tell me where you
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Speaker 3: have laid him, and I will take him away. Question
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Speaker 3: why did she want to take him away? What was
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Speaker 3: there about Mary that wanted to hold on to Christ
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Speaker 3: the remains?
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Speaker 2: I don't think she knew.
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Speaker 3: But you see, when your lifestyle is a feeling is
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Speaker 3: believing concept, you need things to hold onto. You need trinkets,
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Speaker 3: do dads, what nots, things, even if they're dead. I've
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Speaker 3: discovered that this kind of response to the living Christ
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Speaker 3: is not that uncommon.
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Speaker 2: I find it often.
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Speaker 3: Often I find individuals young in their faith, filled with zeal, excited, thrilled, ecstatic,
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Speaker 3: who need things to hold onto, to touch, to look
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Speaker 3: at a lot of pictures of Christ, so called, a
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Speaker 3: lot of things filling the house are the person does
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Speaker 3: somehow touch him or hold him. She was a feeler,
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Speaker 3: She had to grasp him. And in fact, it says
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Speaker 3: that she having turned back. Verse sixteen implies she had
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Speaker 3: turned back because Jesus said to her, Mary, and she
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Speaker 3: swings back around, and she says, rap on knee my teacher. Now,
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Speaker 3: how comes she knew him now where before she didn't. Well,
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Speaker 3: obviously a gardener would not know her name. And secondly,
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Speaker 3: it's clear that the inflection of his voice was such
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Speaker 3: that it brought back the familiar. She knew that this
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Speaker 3: was none other than the Christ, and so she she
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Speaker 3: grabbed him. Forgive me for that abrupt response, but that's
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Speaker 3: what she did.
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Speaker 2: Took hold of him.
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Speaker 3: And I take it that she embraced him or drew
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Speaker 3: him to herself. And he said, stop clinging to me.
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Speaker 3: Those are the very words that he uses, stop clinging
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Speaker 3: to me Verse seventeen. Her impulsive eagerness, you see, was
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Speaker 3: not permitted. She was she wanted to hold on to him,
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Speaker 3: even if it was the body. She wanted to hold him,
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Speaker 3: and he was saying to her in this reproof, Look, Mary,
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Speaker 3: there's a whole new relationship that's being established.
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Speaker 2: I am to ascend to the Father. I will be
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Speaker 2: away from you.
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Speaker 3: It will be a faith plus nothing relationship.
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Speaker 2: You must learn that, Mary.
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Speaker 3: You can't anymore fix those meals and fix my garments
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Speaker 3: and touch me and have this kind of humanistic relationship
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Speaker 3: you've known so long. It's changed.
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Speaker 1: Mary.
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Speaker 3: Before going any further, I think this is a good,
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Speaker 3: a splendid time to pause and say that those who
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Speaker 3: embrace the feeling is believing style of Christianity are very fragile,
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Speaker 3: fragile in their faith, a lot of highs and lows.
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Speaker 3: When the feeling is good, then there's a good walk.
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Speaker 3: When it's not good and days are blue, then they're down.
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Speaker 3: I'm not saying that we're never to have ups or downs.
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Speaker 3: I'm saying that with people like this, it is not
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Speaker 3: uncommon for there to be a an extreme high and low.
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Speaker 3: Let me show you this from Mark's Gospel. Go to
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Speaker 3: Mark chapter four. Let's look at verse three. It's the
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Speaker 3: longest sermon in Mark's Gospel thus far that Jesus preached.
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Speaker 3: And there is found in this sermon a good example
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Speaker 3: of what Jesus is telling us over in John twenty.
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Speaker 3: Some of you aren't turning turn Mark chapter four. I
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Speaker 3: don't think you heard clearly. I want you to turn
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Speaker 3: with me. In fact, Jesus says, listen to this chapter four,
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Speaker 3: verse three. Listen to this Behold the sewer went out
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Speaker 3: to sew, and he's talking about a farmer who had
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Speaker 3: seed in his hands, and the farmer is going to
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Speaker 3: sow the seed in four different kinds of soil, And
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Speaker 3: so came about that as he was sowing, some seed
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Speaker 3: fell off beside the road. Birds came and ate it up.
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Speaker 3: I noticed the second kind of soil. Other seed fell
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Speaker 3: on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil.
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Speaker 3: And what happened this is of interest to us. It's
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Speaker 3: the Merry Magdalene kind of faith. Immediately it sprang up
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Speaker 3: because it had no depth of soil. But after the
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Speaker 3: sun had risen, it was scorched because it had no root.
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Speaker 3: It withered, very fragile, very delicate plant. Lot of fast growth,
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Speaker 3: lot of appearance, a lot of bushy leaves, no fruit,
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Speaker 3: just just fast, zealous growth. I dropped down to verse sixteen.
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Speaker 3: Jesus interprets this part of the soil in a similar way.
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Speaker 2: These are the ones on whom seed was sown.
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Speaker 3: On the rocky places, who when they hear the word
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Speaker 3: immediately receive it with joy.
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Speaker 2: That's commendable. But that's all they go on is that joy, And.
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Speaker 3: They have no firm root mark that they have noot
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Speaker 3: in themselves, but are only temporary. Then when affliction or
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Speaker 3: persecution arises, because of the word immediately they fall away.
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Speaker 3: You've seen any of that in your Christian walk? Why
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Speaker 3: sure we have? This is commonly called the weaker brother, or,
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Speaker 3: in other words, it is another term for the adolescent stage. Now,
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Speaker 3: it's neat to have adolescents around. They keep us alive and.
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Speaker 2: Guessing.
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Speaker 3: But something's tragic when an adolescent is forty five years old.
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Speaker 2: I want to.
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Speaker 3: Say something that's surely going to be misunderstood by some,
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Speaker 3: but I really don't care. So much is said to
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Speaker 3: the stronger Christian about being careful not to offend the weaker,
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Speaker 3: But I cannot remember the last time I heard someone
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Speaker 3: say something to the weaker brother about growing up. Now,
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Speaker 3: if you're a weaker, grow up. Don't encourage the retarding
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Speaker 3: of liberty because you're not strong. Get rid of the
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Speaker 3: do dads, the things that have to be held onto
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Speaker 3: the feelings you're relying on. That's so unstable. Do you
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Speaker 3: go to work just when you feel like it? If
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Speaker 3: you do, you've had a lot of jobs lately.
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Speaker 2: You lose your job.
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Speaker 3: If you go by feelings, you get up, you get dressed.
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Speaker 2: And you go.
27:44
Speaker 3: You got a job to do, so do I. Jesus
27:49
Speaker 3: Christ is saying to marry stop hanging on Mary.
27:55
Speaker 2: Look there's a job to be done.
27:57
Speaker 3: And he dispatches her as a matter of fact, practical
28:01
Speaker 3: though it may sound, He gives her a project. He
28:04
Speaker 3: didn't say, stick around by the tomb and weep the
28:06
Speaker 3: rest of the day, honey, and maybe tomorrow will give
28:09
Speaker 3: you something to do. He said, Mary, you go to
28:14
Speaker 3: my brethren and you tell them I'm ascending to the Father.
28:18
Speaker 3: And it says in verse eighteen. She got the message.
28:22
Speaker 3: She went, announcing to the disciples, I've seen the Lord. Hey,
28:29
Speaker 3: I really have a little bone to pick with people
28:34
Speaker 3: who love their adolescence, their immaturity, and they're just looking
28:40
Speaker 3: for occasions to be offended.
28:43
Speaker 2: Hey, we want to grow up.
28:46
Speaker 3: Most exciting thing in a family is seeing them grow up,
28:52
Speaker 3: looking at maturity and individuality and independence taking place before
28:59
Speaker 3: your eyes as they get taller and taller and bigger.
29:05
Speaker 3: I was arm wrestling my oldest son yesterday. He almost
29:10
Speaker 3: beat me.
29:11
Speaker 2: Oh spraying my crazy toga. That's the kind of thing.
29:16
Speaker 3: It's it's thrilling to see that growth, threatening, but it's
29:21
Speaker 3: thrilling to see it. And now now Jesus is saying
29:24
Speaker 3: to marry, come on. Now, Mary, get that message out. Look,
29:31
Speaker 3: this is a good word in season for us at
29:34
Speaker 3: this church. Some of you have been wet nursed long enough.
29:41
Speaker 3: Get into the book, Get into a study.
29:44
Speaker 2: Of the word.
29:46
Speaker 3: Don't rely all of it on me. You'll be an adolescent.
29:51
Speaker 3: Don't lean only on your parent, or only on your friend,
29:55
Speaker 3: or only on that Bible class.
29:57
Speaker 2: Get into it on your own.
30:01
Speaker 3: I don't mean to sound overly harsh about it, but
30:03
Speaker 3: her devotion did not run very deep.
30:07
Speaker 2: She wanted to hold on.
30:10
Speaker 3: Some want to hold onto the past, hold on to tradition.
30:15
Speaker 3: And I'll tell you the mature life is the flexible life.
30:19
Speaker 3: We have to adapt daily. Now there's another group, and
30:25
Speaker 3: they come in verse nineteen. They're the Disciples, the men
30:29
Speaker 3: who set it Jesus' feet for three years. Probably if
30:33
Speaker 3: all of them were there, then there were ten. But
30:35
Speaker 3: we do not know exactly how many were there. Let's
30:37
Speaker 3: say that ten were there. We know that Thomas is gone.
30:41
Speaker 3: We pick him up later. But here we have the
30:43
Speaker 3: ten men who said it Jesus' feet and got all
30:46
Speaker 3: of that wonderful information, and they're scared to death. Verse
30:52
Speaker 3: nineteen says when it was evening on that day, the
30:54
Speaker 3: first day of the week, when the doors were shut
30:58
Speaker 3: where the disciples were for of the Jews, Jesus came
31:03
Speaker 3: and stood in their midst. Now why are they afraid?
31:08
Speaker 3: You know they've already been told by Mary, and they've
31:11
Speaker 3: been told by a couple of the disciples. Look, Jesus
31:15
Speaker 3: is raised. It's a victorious message. He's alive, he's coming back,
31:21
Speaker 3: He's gonna visit with us.
31:23
Speaker 2: There was a thrill of it.
31:24
Speaker 3: And that evening they got the door shut. They're afraid
31:28
Speaker 3: of the Jews. The anti God squad outside running the
31:35
Speaker 3: streets intimidated. James Ingall, who was professor of marketing at
31:43
Speaker 3: Ohio State University, brilliant man Born again speaks to this
31:51
Speaker 3: issue of intimidation. I quote, I have had enough of
31:56
Speaker 3: the garbage we hear so much about today that Christianity
31:59
Speaker 3: is or the misfit, the one who can't stand on
32:04
Speaker 3: his own two feet and face the world. While there
32:07
Speaker 3: are thousands of men and women on college and university
32:11
Speaker 3: faculties today who like myself, are just playing fed up
32:15
Speaker 3: with this kind of attack on our intelligence and the
32:19
Speaker 3: validity of our faith. Jesus Christ has changed our lives
32:25
Speaker 3: completely We're not about to be silenced by a bunch
32:28
Speaker 3: of ill informed critics who refuse to face the facts
32:33
Speaker 3: about the greatest person who ever lived. We're not about
32:37
Speaker 3: to sit back while the anti God squad rules the campus.
32:42
Speaker 2: Right on doctor Ingell.
32:46
Speaker 3: And these disciples sitting back for fear of the Jews.
32:51
Speaker 3: In fact, Luke says in the Living Bible, the whole
32:54
Speaker 3: group was terribly frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost.
33:01
Speaker 3: You see, the doors were closed, and all of a
33:03
Speaker 3: sudden Jesus appears. If you think you are afraid before
33:10
Speaker 3: the time and there are ten in the group, what
33:14
Speaker 3: would feel like if you count again there are eleven
33:17
Speaker 3: and the door hadn't been opened. You see, Jesus Christ
33:22
Speaker 3: had penetrated the walls of the room. The whole dynamics,
33:26
Speaker 3: the entire molecular structure of his body had changed, and
33:31
Speaker 3: in resurrected form, he was able to move through things
33:34
Speaker 3: that would normally be a barrier in the human anatomy.
33:39
Speaker 3: Let's you see, that's one of the interesting things about
33:42
Speaker 3: the study of the resurrected Christ. You will have a
33:44
Speaker 3: body like that when you're raised from the dead.
33:48
Speaker 2: Space.
33:51
Speaker 3: Human factors will be no barriers. I can't even explain that.
33:56
Speaker 3: But somehow we will be able to move rapidly through
34:01
Speaker 3: space and through solid structures with no barrier.
34:11
Speaker 2: What will we be like?
34:12
Speaker 3: Well, look at what Jesus does. Says he stood in
34:15
Speaker 3: their midst and said to them, peace be with you,
34:18
Speaker 3: the normal greeting shalom, peace men. And when he had
34:24
Speaker 3: said this, he showed them both his hands and his
34:26
Speaker 3: sides turn right this moment. To Luke twenty four, let's
34:31
Speaker 3: don't even finish that sentence. I want to show you
34:33
Speaker 3: another thing that happened. John doesn't bother to mention Luke
34:37
Speaker 3: twenty four to forty one. The last chapter, forty first verse.
34:46
Speaker 3: The they of the verse of the Disciples, And while
34:49
Speaker 3: they still could not believe it, for joy, they were marveling.
34:54
Speaker 2: He said to them, have you anything here to eat?
34:58
Speaker 2: How about that?
35:00
Speaker 3: They're shaking, quaking, disturbed in Jesus's what's for supper?
35:08
Speaker 2: And he's putting them at ease.
35:09
Speaker 3: It is a very wonderful pastime to have a meal
35:17
Speaker 3: with friends. Now that tells us something else. The resurrected
35:21
Speaker 3: body eats, talks, is discernible, and it says that they
35:30
Speaker 3: fixed him some fish, Give him leftovers, give him a
35:36
Speaker 3: piece of broiled fish. He took it and ate it.
35:40
Speaker 2: In their sight. And you know what happened.
35:44
Speaker 3: Now back to John twenty, it says when they saw
35:48
Speaker 3: him they rejoiced. Seeing is believing. That's the second group.
35:55
Speaker 3: Mary says feeling holding on to something is believing, And
36:00
Speaker 3: you stay immature. Now the disciples are representing the group
36:07
Speaker 3: that says you've got to see it to believe it.
36:11
Speaker 3: And when they saw the Lord, then they rejoiced.
36:16
Speaker 2: We do that, don't we.
36:17
Speaker 3: Oh.
36:17
Speaker 2: If I could just see the Lord.
36:19
Speaker 3: Jesus on this campus, Oh, I could stand for him.
36:24
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be shattered and disturbed in my faith. Why
36:27
Speaker 2: do you have to see him? He's there.
36:30
Speaker 3: If I could see the Lord in this hospital room,
36:33
Speaker 3: if somehow the Lord could appear, then I could count
36:37
Speaker 3: on his presence.
36:38
Speaker 2: The Word of God says he is there.
36:43
Speaker 3: If I could see him in this relationship in my
36:46
Speaker 3: home that's so threatening, and then I could believe. I
36:50
Speaker 3: could stand fast. I wouldn't be intimidated. Oh, but the
36:54
Speaker 3: scripture says he's there. I am with you always, even
36:58
Speaker 3: to the end of the world. To let the ages
37:01
Speaker 3: run their course. I'm there every waking, sleeping moment, all right.
37:09
Speaker 3: The disciples had.
37:11
Speaker 2: Not learned that.
37:13
Speaker 3: When he came and showed himself to them, then they rejoiced,
37:17
Speaker 3: and Jesus said to them again, peace be with you.
37:19
Speaker 3: That's a gracious response. He didn't preach at them. Verse
37:23
Speaker 3: twenty one, just simply says he told them again, shalom peace.
37:29
Speaker 3: That's what he wanted them to have.
37:30
Speaker 2: No panic.
37:32
Speaker 3: We're sure the streets are running over with the unbelievers
37:35
Speaker 3: were men who's in charge.
37:39
Speaker 2: Sure there's opposition.
37:41
Speaker 3: Even though the forces of opposition are against us, We're
37:46
Speaker 3: still on the winning side. We are outnumbered and therefore
37:51
Speaker 3: often paralyzed with fear. Jesus Christ says, peace. He gave
37:57
Speaker 3: them a message, gave them the spirit of God verse
38:00
Speaker 3: twenty two, and told them that they have a message
38:02
Speaker 3: of forgiveness to preach. You preach that forgiveness on earth,
38:06
Speaker 3: and those who respond will be forgiven in heaven. It
38:09
Speaker 3: will be taking place both ways. There'll be a ministry
38:13
Speaker 3: in heaven, there'll be a ministry on earth, and they
38:15
Speaker 3: work together in a package.
38:17
Speaker 2: Verse twenty three.
38:18
Speaker 3: If you forgive the sins of any their sins have
38:21
Speaker 3: been forgiven them if you retain the sins of any
38:25
Speaker 3: they had been retained. There's a message, there's a ministry
38:29
Speaker 3: in which God and man are in league together God
38:33
Speaker 3: and his children. And he says, you declare that message
38:36
Speaker 3: that forgiveness will come. Now that's a marvelous response that
38:41
Speaker 3: they were to carry out. He said, I'll send you
38:45
Speaker 3: where we get the song, verse twenty one.
38:47
Speaker 2: So send i you.
38:49
Speaker 3: He got them involved. Now one was missing. He is
38:53
Speaker 3: of interest to us because he is the most predominant
38:56
Speaker 3: in this last part of Jesus' ministry. His name is
39:00
Speaker 3: Thomas Verse twenty four. Thomas, one of the twelve called diddimus.
39:07
Speaker 3: What was diddimus me? That means twin. He was a twin.
39:13
Speaker 3: He either had a twin brother or a twin sister.
39:16
Speaker 3: We don't know who she was or who he was.
39:18
Speaker 3: We don't know Thomas's background, but we do know his temperament.
39:22
Speaker 3: He has emerged twice in the Gospel of John, once
39:26
Speaker 3: in chapter eleven, where Lazarus was dead and Jesus said,
39:31
Speaker 3: let's go that we may minister to him, and the
39:35
Speaker 3: disciples said, oh, we can't go.
39:37
Speaker 2: We'll we'll be killed.
39:38
Speaker 3: You'll be killed Lord, and Jesus said.
39:42
Speaker 2: We must go, and Thomas said, let's.
39:45
Speaker 3: Go and die with him, and.
39:50
Speaker 2: That crummy.
39:52
Speaker 3: You would think Thomas would say, Lord, you're you're our life.
39:56
Speaker 3: You're safe. Now let's go and die with him. And
40:01
Speaker 3: the next time is in chapter fourteen where Jesus said,
40:04
Speaker 3: I go to my father and I go to prepare
40:06
Speaker 3: a place for you, and if I go, I will
40:08
Speaker 3: come again and receive you unto myself. And where I'm going,
40:12
Speaker 3: you know, and the way?
40:13
Speaker 2: You know?
40:14
Speaker 3: Thomas said, hold it, wait, we don't know where you're going,
40:19
Speaker 3: and how can we know the way. He's the empiricist.
40:24
Speaker 3: He's called the rationalist of the Apostolic band. He's the
40:30
Speaker 3: one that wait, now, hold it, hold it, wait, now,
40:34
Speaker 3: let's get it kind of squared away. Let's just get
40:37
Speaker 3: these things put down in black and white. Where are
40:40
Speaker 3: you going? How do we get there? Thomas is the
40:45
Speaker 3: group that represents proving is believing. Prove to me what
40:53
Speaker 3: you say, and I'll believe. The last thing that a
40:59
Speaker 3: personal Thomas wants is a lifestyle. Like Mary Magdalene, the
41:05
Speaker 3: opposite of feeling. Thomas is the one who lives with
41:10
Speaker 3: that slam doubting Thomas, let me show you why verse
41:16
Speaker 3: twenty five. The other disciples, when they were therefore, were
41:20
Speaker 3: saying to him, we have seen the Lord. The way
41:23
Speaker 3: it's written suggests they said it several times, Thomas, We've
41:27
Speaker 3: seen him.
41:27
Speaker 2: We've seen the Lord. Listen Thomas.
41:32
Speaker 3: Thomas' response is, unless I shall see in his hands
41:35
Speaker 3: the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into
41:38
Speaker 3: the place of the nails, and put my hand into
41:40
Speaker 3: his side, I will not believe. It's never hard to
41:45
Speaker 3: get an opinion out of a person like Thomas. They
41:48
Speaker 3: are at times even impudent. They are even on occasion
41:55
Speaker 3: how to get along with Alexander White in his classic
41:59
Speaker 3: biographical words New Testament Characters, says, Thomas is an anatomy
42:05
Speaker 3: of melancholy. But the melancholic kind of person is one
42:11
Speaker 3: who is very, very insightful. There are some Thomases here today,
42:19
Speaker 3: and I honestly say to you, I cannot find a
42:21
Speaker 3: time where Jesus rebuked Thomas. You're struggling with doubts. If
42:28
Speaker 3: you're a prover kind of person. Jesus Christ left him
42:33
Speaker 3: alone for eight days to wrestle with his doubts.
42:38
Speaker 2: What do we do when your friend has doubts. What
42:42
Speaker 2: do you do?
42:42
Speaker 3: Well, you want to give him four or five of
42:45
Speaker 3: your favorite books about an inch and a half two
42:48
Speaker 3: inches thick, with a little note attached, kind of a
42:54
Speaker 3: sidelight rebuke. Or parents of kiddos that are having some doubts,
43:01
Speaker 3: you smother the kid with thirty five reasons he's wrong
43:07
Speaker 3: and he's submerged in the study. Let him submerge, Let
43:12
Speaker 3: her submerge. They'll come up for air when they do.
43:17
Speaker 3: Just ram it right down the throat. When they're up
43:20
Speaker 3: for air, that's the time to give it. They'll they'll
43:23
Speaker 3: come up and hey, what do you think.
43:24
Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad you ask.
43:26
Speaker 3: I have seventeen answers right here. You see, we have
43:30
Speaker 3: a concept of Christianity that is not cutting it. That's
43:35
Speaker 3: the catechetical concept. Teach them answers to give when people
43:41
Speaker 3: ask this kind of question. Well, I learned those answers,
43:45
Speaker 3: but they never ask those questions. You ever notice that, right?
43:49
Speaker 3: So I got answers to questions nobody's asking.
43:54
Speaker 2: That's a frustration.
43:56
Speaker 3: In fact, the schooling of our day is to memorize
43:59
Speaker 3: the answer. Don't think, just learn my list and then
44:04
Speaker 3: give it back to me and you'll make a plus.
44:07
Speaker 2: So a guy graduates.
44:08
Speaker 3: Magna cum Laudie the world asked Laudie, how come I
44:13
Speaker 3: did in the world?
44:14
Speaker 2: Did he get out of it?
44:17
Speaker 3: You see, I have discovered that schooling really is a
44:22
Speaker 3: place to learn how to think. That's basically why we
44:25
Speaker 3: go to school. Unfortunately, we don't learn that till we're
44:30
Speaker 3: out of school. And Jesus Christ offers Thomas the time
44:38
Speaker 3: to think it through. Thomas is saying to himself, oh, man,
44:43
Speaker 3: the's if I could just look at those hands and
44:46
Speaker 3: study that side. You just let him alone, let him
44:50
Speaker 3: grind it out. And then finally verse twenty six, this.
44:56
Speaker 2: Is so good verse twenty six.
44:59
Speaker 3: As a eight days later, Thomas is still scratching his head,
45:04
Speaker 3: wondering about all of this that he's hearing, and Jesus
45:08
Speaker 3: came the doors having been shut, and he did that again,
45:12
Speaker 3: but this time Thomas is there.
45:16
Speaker 2: Did you see Thomas? There's Lord?
45:18
Speaker 3: Oh he appears, and so he's got his attention, and
45:25
Speaker 3: Jesus says, shall oam. Thomas's tongue tied, he can't respond
45:30
Speaker 3: for a moment, and Jesus said to Thomas, reach that's feeling.
45:39
Speaker 3: He said see.
45:41
Speaker 2: Let's see.
45:43
Speaker 3: He said, put your hand in my side. That's proving here.
45:48
Speaker 3: I am Thomas, Hey Eddie, don't be unbelieving. But believing
45:58
Speaker 3: is not even a tack on his character. Oh, I'm
46:04
Speaker 3: so impressed with the way Jesus handled the doubter. Look,
46:09
Speaker 3: the Lord will defend himself. At those precise moments. There
46:14
Speaker 3: will be an opportunity, and that's when to give them help,
46:19
Speaker 3: let them struggle a little, that's part of the process.
46:23
Speaker 3: No rope creates hazards.
46:29
Speaker 2: Give him the.
46:29
Speaker 3: Rope, and yet don't lose hold of it. Trusting is believing.
46:37
Speaker 3: That's the fourth My Lord, my God, what a statement
46:43
Speaker 3: of faith. And so John says, there's two reasons I've
46:48
Speaker 3: written this gospel. The first one is in verse thirty one,
46:52
Speaker 3: that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, not because
46:57
Speaker 3: you feel it, not because you see it, not because
47:00
Speaker 3: because you can prove it except by my words this book.
47:05
Speaker 3: I've written this book so you don't have to live
47:08
Speaker 3: like feeling and seeing and proving is essential. Take me
47:13
Speaker 3: at my word. And second, that you might have life
47:19
Speaker 3: in Jesus's name.
47:22
Speaker 2: Isn't that beautiful?
47:24
Speaker 3: The perfect package on the heels of verse twenty nine,
47:28
Speaker 3: Jesus said, blessed of those who did not see and
47:30
Speaker 3: yet believe. Guess who that is? Right?
47:35
Speaker 2: You and me, we have something better.
47:40
Speaker 3: Than the disciples, because we've never seen him whom, having
47:45
Speaker 3: not seen, we love in whom.
47:48
Speaker 2: Though now we see him not yet.
47:49
Speaker 3: Believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable. I draw from this
47:55
Speaker 3: passage a number of lessons. Let me zero in on
47:59
Speaker 3: three of them, of a formula like lesson. A couple
48:03
Speaker 3: of them are first. One is this, subtract facts from faith,
48:08
Speaker 3: and you divide your strength. If you're simply faith, having
48:13
Speaker 3: faith in a vacant hope, you've never really researched the
48:19
Speaker 3: facts as they appear in scripture, the facts as they
48:22
Speaker 3: are substantiated in time. You're dividing your strength, you'll be
48:29
Speaker 3: like Mary relying on feeling. So number one, subtract facts
48:35
Speaker 3: from faith, and you divide your strength. Number two is
48:38
Speaker 3: this add sight to faith, and you multiply your doubts.
48:44
Speaker 3: If you have to see, your doubts are multiplied. The
48:51
Speaker 3: third and the best one is this, mix faith with
48:55
Speaker 3: nothing but.
48:55
Speaker 2: The truth, and you have life in his name.
49:00
Speaker 3: The Lord Jesus says, I have come that they might
49:02
Speaker 3: have life and have it abundantly, and the record tells
49:09
Speaker 3: the story of itself. As most of you realize. Because
49:14
Speaker 3: of the growth and involvement in ministry of these past
49:19
Speaker 3: days in our church, I've had to give up a
49:22
Speaker 3: number of things that I thoroughly enjoy doing, but it's best.
49:26
Speaker 2: That I do that.
49:27
Speaker 3: One of them is hospital involvements. There are occasions under
49:31
Speaker 3: such critical circumstances, however, where death seems eminent that I'm there.
49:39
Speaker 3: One occurred this last week. Close friend of mine has
49:43
Speaker 3: an employee of some nineteen years specimen of health who
49:51
Speaker 3: became ill with severe headaches, and this individual asks if
49:57
Speaker 3: it would be possible for me to see this person
50:02
Speaker 3: because of something that had happened. The man in question
50:06
Speaker 3: was an athlete professional for a period of time before
50:11
Speaker 3: he began working at this company. His name is David,
50:19
Speaker 3: and through a severe series of headaches, he went through
50:21
Speaker 3: a testing about six months ago and nothing showed up.
50:24
Speaker 3: And then this last immediate period of time, they found
50:29
Speaker 3: a mass inside the skull. The man was cut open
50:36
Speaker 3: by a neurosurgeon and sewed up. It's a malignant tumor
50:41
Speaker 3: that will affect his reason and his speech, he will die.
50:48
Speaker 3: That's when I was called and I walked to the
50:52
Speaker 3: room last Wednesday evening. The sign said no visitors. I
50:57
Speaker 3: asked permission from the nurse's station that I could see him,
51:01
Speaker 3: and was granted that. I walked in and I said, Dave,
51:06
Speaker 3: I really don't want to beat around the bush. I
51:08
Speaker 3: want to come to terms with eternal life. He said,
51:14
Speaker 3: go ahead. It was in pain, head was shaved, heavily
51:18
Speaker 3: wrapped from the operation. His son was sitting there holding
51:22
Speaker 3: his hand, and I said, Dave, listen to the record.
51:28
Speaker 3: God has given us eternal life. This life is in
51:32
Speaker 3: his son. He that has the Son of God has
51:36
Speaker 3: the life. He that does not have the Son does
51:40
Speaker 3: not have the life. I use John because it was
51:45
Speaker 3: direct one John five eleven and twelve. I said, Dave,
51:50
Speaker 3: by receiving Jesus Christ as your personal savior, even though
51:55
Speaker 3: your future is very very uncertain, very bleak, you can
52:01
Speaker 3: know eternal life forgiveness from sin.
52:05
Speaker 2: He said, I want that. I take that.
52:09
Speaker 3: I accept that right now, he said, right now, and
52:15
Speaker 3: in muffled tones, his son began to weep and I said, Dad,
52:19
Speaker 3: let's pray. So he gripped my hand as hard as
52:22
Speaker 3: it's ever been. We prayed, and that man passed from
52:28
Speaker 3: death unto life. He hasn't died, but he will, but
52:34
Speaker 3: you see now he's ready. The story of the message
52:39
Speaker 3: of Christ is that it is this, that a person
52:42
Speaker 3: is not ready till death until.
52:44
Speaker 2: He's ready to die.
52:48
Speaker 3: Some of you are not ready to die, and God
52:52
Speaker 3: graciously is letting you live at least up till this point.
52:59
Speaker 3: Dave didn't see, didn't feel anything, couldn't prove anything, but
53:04
Speaker 3: he believed. You're saying as you sit there, oh, that's
53:09
Speaker 3: that's true of a guy named David. That's tragic, but
53:12
Speaker 3: I got a number of years.
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Speaker 1: Law, No, you don't.
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Speaker 3: They've thought that several weeks ago. But there may never
53:20
Speaker 3: be a.
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Speaker 2: Tomorrow, even Fred, that's about.
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Speaker 3: To do.
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Speaker 2: Okay, let's come to terms with what it's all about. Friends.
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Speaker 3: Some of you have been coming to this church for
53:39
Speaker 3: a number of months and you've never received Jesus Christ.
53:44
Speaker 3: You like the singing, you might like some of the preaching,
53:48
Speaker 3: you like the way things fit your schedule. It's kind
53:51
Speaker 3: of fun to be a part of an exciting movement
53:54
Speaker 3: that's happening. But you've got to come to terms with
54:00
Speaker 3: your relationship with Christ. I say this to a first
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Speaker 3: time visitor, if you never come back, I say this,
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Speaker 3: Believing in Jesus Christ is a matter of your receiving
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Speaker 3: the gift of eternal life, not trying to be good
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Speaker 3: or keep coming to church, or being.
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Speaker 2: Baptized, or.
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Speaker 3: Suddenly trying to correct your moral life. Jesus said, he
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Speaker 3: that believes on Me has everlasting life, shall never come
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Speaker 3: into condemnation, but has passed from death unto life. Now
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Speaker 3: that's simple enough for some of you here, who like Mary,
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Speaker 3: would say, right now, I receive Christ. I feel God
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Speaker 3: working with