Latest / Northwest Students / THE WAY, THE TRUTH & THE LIFE | Pastor Josh (I Am Who I Am)

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THE WAY, THE TRUTH & THE LIFE | Pastor Josh (I Am Who I Am) · Northwest Students

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So, I say this like basically every
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week. Um, but if you're new with us or
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don't listen when I talk, uh, Ava and I,
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my wife, uh, not Ava Puit, but Ava call,
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uh, recently moved to Georgia from
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California, right? Uh, and so one of the
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things that you do when you move into a
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new house or a new apartment, uh, is or
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when you move into your dorm room if
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you're going to college anytime soon, is
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that you have to furnish it. Right? Like
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you got to buy stuff for your apartment.
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Are we good?
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>> Seems like we're a little finicky.
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>> Um, so you got to buy stuff for your
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apartment, right? And if you want to get
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stuff for cheap because y'all, furniture
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is like ridiculously expensive. Ava and
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I, we went to a furniture store that one
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of her work colleagues was like, "Go to
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this furniture store. They're great."
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And then we were like, "Dude, you're
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rich. Like this place is insane. It's
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like thousands of dollars for like a
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chair, right?" It was crazy. But so if
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you want to get stuff for your
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apartment, your dorm room, your house,
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whatever, and you don't have rich people
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money, uh you go to one a one-stop shop,
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right? You go to IKEA. Okay,
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>> you guys know IKEA, right? Has anybody
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never been to IKEA?
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>> You said never.
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>> Really, Tony? You've never been to IKEA?
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>> That's crazy. All right, so if you've
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never been to IKEA or you blocked it out
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because it was a traumatic memory, I get
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it. IKEA is a store that sells basically
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everything you could ever need to
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furnish your house, right? It sells
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appliances. It sells furniture, decor,
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dishes, pots and pans, ceiling fans,
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fake plants, like the whole stuff,
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right? You you name it, IKEA sells it,
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right? And because IKEA is a Swedish
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company, all the items in the store
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don't have like normal names, right?
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Like they have this like these like
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weird Swedish names and and the
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instructions have no words in them. And
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so you just have like these pictures of
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this like really weird stick figure dude
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who's got this like big dumb smile on
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his face and he's just super excited to
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be putting together this couch and
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nobody has ever smiled like that when
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you're putting together IKEA furniture.
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Like I will promise you that it's not
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fun.
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>> Correct.
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>> So um when A and I moved to Georgia, we
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went to IKEA to buy a bunch of furniture
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and stuff for our apartment. Right. And
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the hard thing about IKEA is that they
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arrange the store not like Target or
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Walmart, right? They arrange the store
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like a maze, okay? So, you don't really
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know where you are and there's no way to
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get out of the store except to go all
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the way through the entire store. And
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so, you'll be in like the kitchen
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section and then you're like, "Hey,
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there's an exit." And then you walk
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through and it's like, "Now you're in
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the bathroom section." And then you walk
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through another exit and it's like, "Now
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you're in bedrooms or potted plants or
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something." It's it's crazy. And the
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only way to get through is that they
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have these painted lines on the ground,
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like arrows on the ground that will
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point you through all of the displays
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until you find your way out of the
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store. And it will take you like 2 hours
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for real. So like if you go to IKEA and
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you're like, "All I want is one measly
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potted plant." Well, you're going to
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have to walk through the entire store to
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get to your potted plant. And and what's
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what's crazy about it is if you have to
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go to the bathroom while you're at IKEA,
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they have on all of the like display ba
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display toilets, they'll have like paper
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over it that says like please don't pee
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in this display toilet because like you
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just know somebody did it and so now
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they have to have signs that are like
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please don't use the toilets in the IKEA
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display. That has nothing to do with
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anything but just like you know little
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fun fact for you. But so the good thing
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about IKEA is that you can't really get
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lost there, right? Because of these
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painted lines on the ground because
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everything kind of leads into the next
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thing. You can't really get lost. So if
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you ever don't know where you are or how
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you got there or why you're in the like
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man cave bathroom section, right? You
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can always follow the painted arrows on
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the ground and they will tell you which
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way to go. And that that image, the the
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painted lines or the painted arrows that
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tell us which way to go, that's
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important for tonight's message. That's
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why I just spent like 5 minutes yapping
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about IKEA, right? It's it's important
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for tonight's I am statement about
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Jesus. And if you haven't been with us
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recently or you've been kind of in and
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out for the last few weeks, we've been
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spending quite a bit of time over the
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last few weeks talking about the seven I
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am statements that Jesus makes in the
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Gospel of John. We've been calling this
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series I am who I am. And these are
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seven metaphors that Jesus gives us to
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help us better understand who he is and
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what he came to earth to do. Right? He
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it's it's all about his mission and his
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identity. So in the first week, we
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talked about how that phrase I am
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connects the identity of Jesus to the
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identity of God. And then for the last
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few weeks, we've been going through each
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one of these statements, kind of
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unpacking them as we go, right? And so
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every week I've been asking you to
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rattle off the names of these I am
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statements. Who can tell me the the
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first statement that we did?
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>> I am the bread of life.
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>> I am the bread of life. Harper, you got
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a hand raised. Who can you tell me the
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next one or another one?
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>> No, maybe not. Can you guys give me the
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second one?
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>> I am the light of the world.
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>> I'm the light of the world. Very nice.
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The third one.
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>> I am the gate for the sheep. I heard the
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fourth one there. What's the fourth one?
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>> I'm the good shepherd for sure. And then
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the one we did last week.
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>> I'm the resurrection and the life. I
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heard an adult sponsor saying that. So,
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I don't know if I should count that.
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Well, I'll tell you guys what. I have
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been challenging you throughout this
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series to be memorizing all of these I
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am statements. That's like not that
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hard. That's like less than probably
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three Bible verses. You could do it. So,
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I I will make you guys a deal because we
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have two more weeks between now and the
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next time that we meet for Switch
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Sundays. If you come in having all seven
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of these I am statements locked in and
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memorized. I'll bring like ice cream and
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cookies and stuff. And if you can like
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recite them to me, you get ice cream and
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cookies and stuff. And this isn't like
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classic youth group thing where if you
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don't get them, I'll still give you
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cookies and ice cream. Like genuinely,
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that will be for people who have them
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memorized for sure. So I will give you
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tonight's IM statement and I'll give you
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next week's just so that you can like
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start two weeks from now so you can
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start working on it. So here's
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tonight's. Tonight's is I am the way,
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the truth, and the life. I am the way,
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the truth, and the life. The next one
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for next week is I am the true vine. So,
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if you want to start working on that,
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that's that's two weeks from now. Uh I
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am the way, the truth, and the life. So,
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to to set us up here, and we'll get back
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to that that I am statement in just a
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sec, but for this whole series leading
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up to this point, we've been walking
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through with Jesus throughout his
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three-year ministry. And all throughout
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this ministry, we've been seeing seeing
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him do mainly three kinds of things,
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right? He does teaching, he does
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healings, and he does casting out demons
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for the most part. And he goes
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throughout the region called Judea doing
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all these things. And we see people
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responding to him in two different ways.
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Either they recognize that this this man
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who is teaching, who is casting out
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demons, who's healing people, they
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either they recognize that he is the son
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of God who has come to bring eternal
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life to the people of God, or they
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reject him as a liar, as a false
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teacher, as a blasphemer who wants to
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lead people away from God. And over and
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over again throughout John's gospel, we
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see that pattern repeated as the
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ministry of Jesus just builds and builds
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and builds. And if you weren't here last
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week, last week we talked about how at
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the climax of Jesus's ministry, at like
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the high point of Jesus's ministry up
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till now is in chapter 11 when Jesus
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raises Lazarus from the dead. And when
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he does that, Jesus says, "I am the
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resurrection and the life." He's
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describing himself as the the
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resurrection at the end of history that
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that's tied into his identity. And then
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he proves it by doing this thing that
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only God can do, right? He raises a dude
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from the dead. And so as soon as Lazarus
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walks out of that tomb, this the the
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scene in John's gospel, it cuts away
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from what's going on with Lazarus and
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Jesus in that area, right? So it it cuts
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away to the religious leaders. And the
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religious leaders who we know have been
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Jesus's ops throughout this entire his
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entire ministry so far. The religious
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leaders who say, "We got to do something
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about this Jesus guy because if he keeps
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performing miracles, the whole nation is
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going to turn after him. They're going
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to go after him." So the the religious
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leaders, they hatch a plan to kill
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Jesus. And and just for good measure,
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they also hatch a plan to like rekill
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Lazarus, just like to be extra sure,
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he's double dead. And in chapter 12, we
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fast forward from there to the last week
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of Jesus's life. And Jesus begins to
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speak more openly about the fact that he
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is going to be killed, that he is going
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to go to the cross. But the followers of
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Jesus, they don't really understand what
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he's saying. They really don't get what
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he means. And so, they don't believe
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him. And they think that Jesus is just
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like getting ready to establish his
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kingdom on the earth. Chapter 13, we
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fast forward again and now we're on the
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last night of Jesus's life, the night
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that Jesus will be betrayed and
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arrested. And it's the last meal that
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Jesus shares with his disciples before
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the cross. And in Christianity, we we
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tend to call that meal the last supper.
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And at the last supper, Jesus predicts
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again that one of his disciples, Judas,
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is going to betray him. But his
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disciples like still don't get it,
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right? They still don't believe. And at
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the end of chapter 13, Jesus warns them.
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He tells them that he's going to be
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going away. And one of his disciples,
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Peter, tells them like, "No way, Jesus.
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I'm coming with you. Like, even if
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everybody else turns their back on you,
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like I I will never betray you, Jesus."
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And then Jesus is like, "Peter, you're
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going to deny me three times before this
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night is out. You're going to deny that
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you even know me." So, that's the setup,
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right? None of that is the resurrection,
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and the life, but or the the way, the
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truth, and the life, but that's the
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setup. Okay, the they've sat down for
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dinner. Jesus has been talking about how
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one of the disciples is going to betray
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him. Jesus tells Peter that he's going
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to deny even knowing him. Probably this
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is like a really awkward meal, right?
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Like probably the vibe is kind of tense,
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right? And then we get this next
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conversation. It starts in John chapter
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14. If you need one of the Bibles that
10:25
we got in the back there, we're going to
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be in John chapter 14 going through um
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verse like six or seven. So Jesus says,
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"Don't let your hearts be troubled."
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Now, why would his disciples hearts be
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troubled? Because Jesus has just their
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their messiah, their king, their friend,
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the guy who's been leading them. He's
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like, "Hey, I'm going to be leaving and
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you can't come where I'm going." Right?
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So he says, "Don't let your hearts be
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troubled." He says, "Trust in God and
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trust also in me. There is more than
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enough room in my father's house. If
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this were not so, would I have told you
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that I am going to prepare a place for
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you? When everything is ready, I will
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come and get you so that you will always
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be with me and you know the way to where
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I'm going. No, we don't. Lord, Thomas
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said, we have no idea where you're
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going. So, how can we know the way?
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Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth,
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and the life. No one can come to the
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Father except through me. If you had
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really known me, you would know who my
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father is. From now on, you do know him
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and have seen him. Let me pray for us.
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Dear Lord, we thank you for your word.
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We thank you, God, that we have this
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chance to come together and and open the
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scriptures, Lord, that we have access to
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the scriptures in a way that that people
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throughout history have not. We pray,
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Holy Spirit, that you would illuminate
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this text to us tonight. Amen.
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So, so Jesus has just told his disciples
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that he's going to be leaving them,
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right? The atmosphere in the room has
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got to be kind of tense. It's kind of
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awkward. It's kind of sad. Right?
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Remember, Jesus is this promised savior
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of Israel. His disciples have been
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following him for three years going,
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"Man, this is the guy who's going to
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overthrow the Roman government, who's
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going to establish the permanent rule of
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Israel on the earth." Right? They're
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they're hyped about it. Jesus is the one
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who has been preaching this message that
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the kingdom of God is breaking into the
12:25
kingdom of darkness. If you were here
12:26
this morning, that's what we talked
12:27
about this morning. And right when it
12:29
seems like their mission is picking up
12:32
steam when Jesus has been welcomed into
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the city as their promised king, he's
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just going to leave.
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And so to reassure them, Jesus tells his
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disciples, "Hey, don't be sad. Don't be
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troubled." He says, "Trust in God and
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trust in me." That's a big claim, right?
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That's that's a God claim right there.
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Jesus tells his disciples to trust in
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him the way they trust in God.
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He tells them, "I am going to prepare a
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place for you in my father's home." When
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Ava and I were looking at apartments
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before we moved to Georgia, we like flew
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out a couple weeks before we moved. And
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one of the things that we were looking
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at in these different apartments that we
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were we were looking at is that we
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wanted to find an apartment that had a
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guest room because we wanted to be able
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to host our friends and our family who
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came from California to visit. Right?
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So, we've had a couple of chances to
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host people and every time they come
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out, right, we we pull out our guest bed
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and Ava puts like a comforter on and
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she's got like 87 pillows that she'll
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like lay out over the bed like the whole
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thing. It makes it look very like cute
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and aesthetic, right? We prepare a place
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for our guests who come to stay with us.
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And what Jesus is saying is that he
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says, "I'm leaving, but I am leaving to
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go and prepare a place for you and for
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me."
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Only when Jesus comes to take us back
13:57
into his father's home, it's not just
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going to be for like a long weekend that
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Ava's sister comes and visits. It's not
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going to be just my parents coming for
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like a few days or something, right?
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Jesus is saying that the place that he
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is preparing to take us is where we will
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stay with him forever.
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But between this point where we are now
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and that one right Jesus is going to go
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to the cross. The cross is going to be
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the way that Jesus pays the penalty for
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your sin and for my sin. The cross is
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going to be the moment when Jesus
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satisfies our debt before God. The cross
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and the resurrection are going to be the
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way for you and me to be welcomed into
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the home of God. Not just as a temporary
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guest who's there for a long weekend,
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but as a son, as a daughter.
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Jesus tells them, "You know the way to
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where I'm going." And his disciple
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Thomas, who like last week we talked
14:56
about Thomas. I love Thomas. And Thomas
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is like, "No, we don't. No idea what
15:00
you're talking about, Lord. Don't even
15:01
know where you're going. I don't know
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how I'm supposed to like Google Maps my
15:05
way there. And what I think is awesome
15:07
about this passage is that Jesus kind of
15:09
like swerves Thomas's first question.
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Like he doesn't actually tell them where
15:13
he's going. He doesn't say, "That's
15:15
easy, Thomas. I'm going to heaven. You
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just have to like follow me till you die
15:18
and then you'll be good." Instead, he
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focuses on the second part of Thomas's
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question. Thomas says, "We don't know
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the way there." And Jesus says, "You
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don't know the way there? I'll tell you
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I am the way."
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Remember, these are big important God
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connection words that we've been talking
15:36
throughout this whole series. Jesus
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says, "You want to know the way to my
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father's house? You want to know the way
15:40
to get to heaven? I will tell you, I am
15:43
the way and the truth and the life." In
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the next line, he doubles down on that.
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He says, "No one can come to the father
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except through me."
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So, with just the last couple of minutes
15:57
that we have here before we break into
15:58
small groups, I I want to take a minute
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to camp out on each of those ideas that
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Jesus is the way, that he's the truth,
16:06
and that he's the life. So, first off,
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Jesus is the way, right? Remember that
16:11
that where where Jesus has just told
16:13
them where he's going, right? He's going
16:14
to heaven, right? He's going back to his
16:16
father's house. Now, if if heaven is our
16:19
destination, what's our way of getting
16:21
there?
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>> Subway. not subway. Thank you. Jesus is
16:25
our way of getting there. And remember,
16:27
Jesus is speaking to this group of
16:29
Jewish people, right? They they have
16:31
been brought up thinking that they can
16:34
get to heaven on their own if they
16:36
follow the Jewish laws, if they offer
16:38
the right sacrifices, if they pray
16:40
enough and work hard enough, right? And
16:43
and that may have all been true, but the
16:46
problem is that they can't follow the
16:49
Jewish laws perfectly. They can't pray
16:51
hard enough or work hard enough to
16:53
overcome the debt for their sin. But
16:56
Jesus does. Like we talked about this
16:59
morning, Jesus is the only person in
17:02
history who lived his entire life in
17:04
perfect obedience to God the Father. The
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only person in history who perfectly
17:10
followed all of those Jewish laws. And
17:12
Jesus is the one who offers the right
17:15
sacrifice, the sacrifice of his own body
17:18
in order to bring you and me into the
17:22
house of the father. And just in case
17:25
that didn't sound like controversial
17:27
enough, when Jesus is saying it to his
17:29
disciples, he says in his next line, he
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says, "No one can come to the father
17:34
except through me."
17:37
Now, we we might hear that and think
17:40
that sounds kind of harsh. Like, Lord,
17:42
what about my my friend at school who's
17:44
agnostic? What about my friend who's
17:46
like a nice, hardworking, kind Muslim or
17:49
Hindu, right? What about my friend who's
17:51
like a super moral atheist? Or or maybe
17:53
my friend who just kind of sits on the
17:55
fence their whole life that they're
17:56
like, "Yeah, maybe Jesus is the son of
17:57
God, but like maybe not. I don't know."
17:59
Like, would God really send someone like
18:01
that to hell? Well, here here's a
18:03
question for you guys, like an actual
18:04
question. You can respond yes or no. Do
18:07
Christians deserve to go to heaven
18:09
because we're better more moral people
18:11
than non-Christians.
18:12
>> No.
18:12
>> No. Yes or no? Could there be a Muslim
18:15
or a Hindu or an agnostic who is a
18:17
better moral moral person than like a
18:20
particular Christian?
18:22
>> Yes. Absolutely. And and that's my
18:24
point. Listen, heaven is not for people
18:27
who are good enough or moral enough or
18:30
did enough good deeds to make it into
18:32
heaven.
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The message of the Bible is that all of
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us are fundamentally broken. All of us
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deserve to be condemned. And that apart
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from Jesus, all of us will be spend
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eternity separated from God unless we
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throw ourselves on Jesus as the only one
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who can satisfy God's perfect moral
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standard as the only one who can bring
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us into the presence of the father. So
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like yes the the claim that Jesus is
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making to salvation is is exclusive. He
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says that the only way that we can be
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taken into the presence of the father is
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through Christ. But there is also
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something that is inclusive about what
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Jesus is saying. Right? Jesus's offer of
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salvation isn't limited to Jewish
19:20
people. Right? That's what a lot of the
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Jewish people who Jesus was speaking to
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would have thought that God has come to
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save the Jews and the Jews only.
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But Jesus's promise of salvation is not
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something that is limited to one ethnic
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group, to one gender, to one
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nationality, to a certain economic
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level, a certain education level. None
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of those things. The the offer of
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salvation is extended to the whole
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world, to anyone who will put their
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trust in Jesus. He is the way. In Acts
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chapter 4, it says, "There is salvation
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in no one else. God has given no other
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name under heaven by which we must be
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saved. Jesus is the way.
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He also says, "I am the truth." John's
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gospel tells us over and over again that
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Jesus is the one who reveals to us the
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character of the father. Jesus is the
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one who speaks the words that bring
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life, that truly bring life. And Jesus
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is the one who makes these big bold
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claims about himself. these these God
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claims about his ability to forgive
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sins, about him being our one access
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point to God.
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Either Jesus is telling the truth here
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that he is the truth or else he is a
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liar and he is not a king worth
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following. Either he is the only way to
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God or else he is not a way to God at
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all. He has closed off our ability to
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sit on the fence, to sit in the middle
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and say, "Okay, yeah, Jesus is a way to
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God, but he's not the only way to God."
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And at the end of the passage that we
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read that we read today, Jesus says, "If
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you had really known me, you would know
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who my father is." In in verse 9 of this
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chapter, that's after what we read,
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he'll he'll say something similar. He
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says, "Anyone who has seen me has seen
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the father."
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And the point he's making isn't that
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Jesus who who is God the Son is like the
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same as God the Father, right? But what
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he's saying is if you want to know what
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God the Father is like, look at God the
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Son. Look at Jesus.
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The characteristics that are true of God
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the Father are true of Jesus, too. So,
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so when we look at Jesus and we see love
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and mercy and kindness and gentleness,
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when we look at Jesus and we see
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absolute total moral perfection and
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justice and hatred of oppression and
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evil, we see the the character of God
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the Father too.
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And that means if we reject Jesus, if we
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reject the son, we reject the father
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too. That's that's the problem with
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these other religious worldviews, right?
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That is the problem with like uh Islam
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or Hinduism or any of these other faiths
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is that they look at Jesus and they say
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I don't believe that Jesus is the son of
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God. I don't believe that Jesus reflects
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the character of the father to the
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world. But if you reject the truth then
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you cannot know the one true God. You
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cannot have one without the other. You
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cannot have the father without the son.
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Jesus is the truth.
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And finally, he says,"I am the life."
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The beginning of John's gospel, if you
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read John chapter 1, it starts out with
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this God's eye view of creation story,
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right? Of the creation story, right? It
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tells us that everything in creation was
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made through Jesus. That Jesus gave life
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to everything that has life. It is like
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super intense and powerful. And later in
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John's gospel, the disciples of Jesus
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say that Jesus has the words of life.
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that Jesus is teaching is what leads
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people into eternal life, what leads
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people into right relationship with God.
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The message of the Bible is that all
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people before salvation apart from
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Jesus, that all people are dead in our
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sins. And and like we talked about last
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week, if you you were here for our last
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message, it's not that we're mostly
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dead. It's not that we're kind of dead.
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It's not that we're almost dead. We are
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all dead.
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And in the same way that it is
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impossible for a dead person to get up
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out of the grave and walk around on
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their own power, it is impossible for a
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person who is dead in their sins to
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experience eternal life, to make
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themselves right with God.
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But Jesus is the one who brings us back
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to life. Jesus is the one who raises us
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from spiritual death and restores us
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with to relationship with God. And like
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we talked about last week, Jesus is the
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one who has the power over life and
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death. So that means although we may die
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on this earth, although we may
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experience physical death on this earth,
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death doesn't get the last word.
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Although we may die on earth, we will
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experience eternal life. And that's not
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like spirit life where you're up on a
24:23
cloud like strumming a harp forever,
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right? That is physical life in flesh
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and blood bodies living on a recreated
24:30
heaven and earth in perfect relationship
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with God and one another. That's the
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promise of eternal life with with
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Christ. That is the promise of the Bible
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for every single person who knows Jesus
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as savior, who knows that Jesus is the
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only way, the only truth, and the only
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life. Though we may die, yet we will
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live.
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And it isn't because you're you're good
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enough or you're mortal enough or you're
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holy enough or any of those things. You
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are not. I am not. Your sponsors are
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not. And on this side of heaven, none of
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us will be. It is because Jesus is good
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enough. Jesus is moral enough. Jesus is
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powerful enough to overcome sin and
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death and hell, all of it. Jesus is our
25:20
way, our access to God the Father, but
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his arms are wide open for anyone and
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everyone who would call upon him. So
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that's my encouragement to you is that
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you have an opportunity in your friend
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groups, on your sports teams, in your
25:39
jobs, in your future careers, in
25:41
college. you have an opportunity to
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point people back to the one way, the
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one truth, the one life, so that God
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would transform lives and raise people
25:51
up to eternal life. So, let's pray and
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then we'll have the worship team come
25:56
up.