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Reactions to the Resurrected Lord │ Msg 1316 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · 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.
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  Speaker 2: Would be saviors. But the great news is he.
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  Speaker 1: Did rise, and that fact has made all the difference.
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  Speaker 1: Because he rose, good overcame evil, Light overtook darkness, and
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  Speaker 1: love overthrew hate, and life overwhelmed death. Soon after Jesus
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  Speaker 1: shed his grave clothes and walked out of the tomb,
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  Speaker 1: he appeared to his closest followers in his resurrected body.
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  Speaker 1: His appearances guaranteed the prom thmas he offered to all
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  Speaker 1: who believe life eternal. In Chapter twenty of his Gospel,
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  Speaker 1: John describes three of Jesus' post resurrection appearances to Mary Magdalene,
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  Speaker 1: to the disciples, and then to Thomas. Let's witness each
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  Speaker 1: of their reactions as we read the final sections of
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  Speaker 1: John twenty. So turn with me and follow along in
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  Speaker 1: your bibles as I read from the New Living Translation
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  Speaker 1: John twenty, Beginning with verse eleven, Mary was standing outside
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  Speaker 1: the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and
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  Speaker 1: looked in. She saw two white robed angels, one sitting
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  Speaker 1: at the head and the other at the foot of
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  Speaker 1: the place where the body of Jesus had been lying.
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  Speaker 1: Dear woman, why are you crying, the angels asked her,
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  Speaker 1: Because they have taken away my lord. She replied, and
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  Speaker 1: I don't know where they have put him. She turned
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  Speaker 1: 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.
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  Speaker 2: 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'll 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 1: in his side. Eight days later, the disciples were together again,
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  Speaker 1: and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked,
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  Speaker 1: But suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them.
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  Speaker 2: Peace be with you, he said.
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  Speaker 1: Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and
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  Speaker 1: look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound
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  Speaker 1: in my side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe my
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  Speaker 1: Lord and my God, Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him,
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  Speaker 1: you believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those
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  Speaker 1: who believe without seeing me. The disciples saw Jesus do
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  Speaker 1: many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded
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  Speaker 1: in this book. But these are written so that you
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  Speaker 1: may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the
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  Speaker 1: Son of God, and that by believing in him, you
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  Speaker 1: will have life by the power of his name.
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  Speaker 2: This past week, I had a fascinating conversation with a
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  Speaker 2: personal friend of mine who is a mortician. I feel
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  Speaker 2: that it's good to have a close friend, and a
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  Speaker 2: mortician's the last person to let you down. Now that's
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  Speaker 2: not inappropriate. Some of you are hesitant to smile. You
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  Speaker 2: know my work. My work is so serious that I'd
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  Speaker 2: crack up if I didn't work on a sense of
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  Speaker 2: humor at times. And so we were talking about some
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  Speaker 2: things that were a little light hearted, I have to admit.
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  Speaker 2: And he's a neat guy, and I was able to
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  Speaker 2: ask him a question I have all my life. Wanted
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  Speaker 2: to know, have you ever experienced getting ready to embalm
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  Speaker 2: somebody and have them come back to life? And he said, no,
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  Speaker 2: I haven't, but he said I have known those that have.
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  Speaker 2: He said, I'll tell you a case in point, said
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  Speaker 2: I mortician was notified by a hospital that an individual
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  Speaker 2: had died, and he went and picked up the body,
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  Speaker 2: put it in the coach, brought it back to the
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  Speaker 2: funeral home, laid it down on the table, was preparing
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  Speaker 2: it for embalming, and went over to get the equipment
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  Speaker 2: and came back and two eyes were following him. Well,
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  Speaker 2: you've got to either discuss what you want to do
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  Speaker 2: with that person or go back to plan A. And
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  Speaker 2: that's what they did. They this person lived ten days,
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  Speaker 2: as a matter of fact. And he said, what is
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  Speaker 2: interesting is the conversations held between that person who had
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  Speaker 2: come back from the dead and people and their reactions
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  Speaker 2: to a person who lived beyond the grave, as it were.
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  Speaker 2: I did a little research and discovered that that's not
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  Speaker 2: that unusual. There are several cases on record. Guinness's World
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  Speaker 2: Book doesn't mention them, but the local newspaper in nineteen
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  Speaker 2: seventy two does. A fellow by the name of Russell
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  Speaker 2: Lee in nineteen seventy two, who was a student at
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  Speaker 2: Long Beach City College, was riding horseback and in a
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  Speaker 2: sort of freak accident, he fell and somehow was tangled
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  Speaker 2: up in electrical wires and was of course rushed to
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  Speaker 2: the hospital, put under a neurosurgeon's care, and died twenty
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  Speaker 2: three years old. The physician who attended him contacted his mother,
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  Speaker 2: who released his two eyes and kidneys in transplant, and
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  Speaker 2: as the transplant team of physicians was on the way
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  Speaker 2: to the hospital, he revived an incredible and they rushed him,
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  Speaker 2: of course, to intensive care. And from all I've been
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  Speaker 2: able to gather, he still lives, and I am confident
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  Speaker 2: that if there were some way to talk to people
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  Speaker 2: who talk to him, we would have the most astounding
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  Speaker 2: kind of reaction. Now I do not know either one,
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  Speaker 2: and some of it is only hearsay, so there's no
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  Speaker 2: absolute proof. But I do know of one account that's true.
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  Speaker 2: And this individual was not resuscitated, which is simply coming
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  Speaker 2: back from beyond with the same body as is true
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  Speaker 2: of these cases. This person was resurrected and he actually
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  Speaker 2: lived and lives today beyond the grave. I have found
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  Speaker 2: it to be a fascinating study to go into the
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  Speaker 2: Gospel of John, where this record is kept not hearsay,
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  Speaker 2: but absolutely inspired truth, and to discover the reactions of
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  Speaker 2: people who saw the resurrected Lord. Most interesting. Now, you
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  Speaker 2: might feel that everything from the last Sunday's message on
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  Speaker 2: is sort of anticlimactic. I admit in a sense it is,
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  Speaker 2: because what could be greater than the resurrection from the dead.
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  Speaker 2: But in another sense it's very relevant. As a matter
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  Speaker 2: of fact, we can identify more with people who responded
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  Speaker 2: to the post resurrected Christ than to the Lord Jesus
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  Speaker 2: before resurrection, before death, because that's our only perspective, that's
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  Speaker 2: the only way we will ever know him is in
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  Speaker 2: his resurrected state. Furthermore, there's a lot of help just
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  Speaker 2: in studying the resurrection of Christ following his resurrection, because
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  Speaker 2: that's the kind of body we're going to have, the
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  Speaker 2: kind of body Jesus head, and some of the things
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  Speaker 2: we're going to notice in the dynamics of that body
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  Speaker 2: will be true of our bodies. Those same things will
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  Speaker 2: be true save the scars, of course. And so we
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  Speaker 2: studied this passage and passages that follow with a real
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  Speaker 2: keen interest. Let's go to the context. It's been a
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  Speaker 2: week that's passed since we were together, and you might
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  Speaker 2: have forgotten where we were. We left the tomb last
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  Speaker 2: Sunday morning. John and Peter had examined the grave wrappings.
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  Speaker 2: It had come to the conclusion Jesus is raised they
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  Speaker 2: didn't understand it. It had not fallen into place. They
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  Speaker 2: hadn't had centuries to think it over. It was a
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  Speaker 2: firsthand investigation followed by an incredible response sort of clicked,
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  Speaker 2: it fell together, and that was it. But Mary, who
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  Speaker 2: verse two tells us thought that Jesus had been kidnapped,
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  Speaker 2: came back to the tomb to examine what she had left.
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  Speaker 2: So that's really where we pick it up in verse eleven. However,
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  Speaker 2: before we even go any further there, let me point
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  Speaker 2: out the time factor Verses eleven through eighteen. This part
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  Speaker 2: of the account took place that Sunday morning. Jesus was
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  Speaker 2: raised early in the morning. That's when Mary Magdalene is
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  Speaker 2: at the tomb and converses with the angels and then
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  Speaker 2: with Jesus. Now verse nineteen, notice it says when therefore
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  Speaker 2: it was evening, So that's the end of the day.
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  Speaker 2: Sunday evening, Jesus meets with his disciples, except for Thomas.
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  Speaker 2: Verse twenty four tells us he wasn't among them. So
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  Speaker 2: twenty six ads, after eight days, Jesus appeared to them
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  Speaker 2: with Thomas there. Now, don't lose me here. This is important.
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  Speaker 2: It's in the sweep. It's in the traffic of events.
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  Speaker 2: This isn't just a fill in. This puts it all together.
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  Speaker 2: If we could somehow put side by side Matthew, Mark, Luke,
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  Speaker 2: and John and sort of harmonize the account, you would
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  Speaker 2: have a blow by blow account of exactly what happened
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  Speaker 2: between the resurrection and jesus ascension. You have that in
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  Speaker 2: some studies. Our study in John leaves some gaps. Someone
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  Speaker 2: has told us that Jesus made eleven resurrection appearances after
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  Speaker 2: he had been relieved from the tomb. Now, then the
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  Speaker 2: time factor is clear enough from the passage. Then there
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  Speaker 2: are some major characters the story Mary Magdalene verse eleven.
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  Speaker 2: She's mentioned as Mary. Verse eighteen identifies her as Magdalene.
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  Speaker 2: She's the one from whom had been cast the demons.
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  Speaker 2: She was new in her faith. It was all coming together,
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  Speaker 2: as we will see this morning. Second, there are the
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  Speaker 2: disciples verse nineteen. Then there is Thomas verse twenty four,
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  Speaker 2: who is an interesting study, to say the least, And
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  Speaker 2: we'll look at him at length to see how he
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  Speaker 2: fits together. One more word, some people are very serious
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  Speaker 2: about their study of the scriptures, And for your sake
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  Speaker 2: I add this thought in the writings of John, there
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  Speaker 2: is a very clear cut, black and white ipso facto
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  Speaker 2: kind of approach to life. You read his letters, you
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  Speaker 2: find he refers to light, darkness, death, life, a fellowship,
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  Speaker 2: no fellowship. You see that John thinks like that. So
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  Speaker 2: his gospel is like that. In fact, this gospel is
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  Speaker 2: this section we're looking at, is like a wheel that
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  Speaker 2: rolls along, touching the same spot four different times as
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  Speaker 2: it rolls through these verses. Here's the cycle. First, there
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  Speaker 2: is a situation, followed by an appearance of the resurrected Christ,
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  Speaker 2: followed by a reaction, followed by a statement from Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: which leads to another situation, another appearance, another reaction, another
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  Speaker 2: response or statement. So you have that rolling through the
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  Speaker 2: passage like a wheel. It will sort of help unveil
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  Speaker 2: the scene, if you will think in those terms as
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  Speaker 2: we study the Word together. Now, these reactions we have
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  Speaker 2: before us are commonly seen today. First is Mary Magdalene,
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  Speaker 2: Verses eleven through eighteen, and she represents the reaction that
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  Speaker 2: I would call feeling is believing, feeling feeling is believing
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  Speaker 2: Verse eleven. I'll show you why I say that Mary
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  Speaker 2: was standing outside the tomb weeping, and so as she wept,
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  Speaker 2: she stooped and looked into the tomb. Now put yourself
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  Speaker 2: in her place. It's a cool, damp, perhaps foggy, hazy morning.
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  Speaker 2: Moisture hangs low. And she is back, having retraced her
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  Speaker 2: steps at the tomb, looking into that cavity and studying
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  Speaker 2: with her eyes the grave clothes, which John and Peter
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  Speaker 2: have already studied. And they've left, but she's back looking,
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  Speaker 2: and she says in verse twelve, she beheld two angels
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  Speaker 2: in white, sitting, one at the head, one at the
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  Speaker 2: feet where the body of Jesus had been lying. Now
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  Speaker 2: you do not ever read where Mary is astounded with
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  Speaker 2: the angels. She never says, oh wow, angels man, never once.
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  Speaker 2: She just converses as though they are, you know, normal individuals.
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  Speaker 2: So either she did not know they were angels, or
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  Speaker 2: she was so preoccupied with the kidnapping of the body
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  Speaker 2: as she felt it that didn't matter who was there.
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  Speaker 2: So they ask her a question, woman, verse thirteen, why
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  Speaker 2: are you weeping? She said to them, because they have
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  Speaker 2: taken away my lord, and I do not know where
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  Speaker 2: they have laid him. See there again, she thinks they've
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  Speaker 2: kidnapped that body. When she said this, she turned around.
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  Speaker 2: Now there seems to be an anguish in her words.
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  Speaker 2: She said, they'd taken away my lord, and I do
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  Speaker 2: not know where they've laid him. And she turns and
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  Speaker 2: looks in the opposite direction, and when she does, she
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  Speaker 2: sees somebody, but she doesn't make out who it is.
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  Speaker 2: She thinks it's the gardener. It's Jesus, it says. When
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  Speaker 2: she turned around, she beheld Jesus standing there. Now, John
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  Speaker 2: adds that she didn't know in her head it was Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: It was a form that was a man, and that's
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  Speaker 2: all she thought. Why didn't she recognize him? Well, first,
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  Speaker 2: she had been weeping, She was emotionally upset. Perhaps the
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  Speaker 2: tears had barred her focus, and the last person she
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  Speaker 2: expected to see was Jesus Christ, So she didn't even
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  Speaker 2: put that in the realm of possibility. If she wouldn't
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  Speaker 2: be astounded at angels, then she obviously wouldn't detect it
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  Speaker 2: was the living Christ. And so he said to her, woman,
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  Speaker 2: why are you weeping? By the way, ladies, The first
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  Speaker 2: word out of Jesus' mouth is the word woman. That's neat,
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  Speaker 2: isn't it. That's good? Woman, Why are you weeping? Why
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  Speaker 2: are you crying? Same question asked by the angels, and
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  Speaker 2: she said, supposing him to be the gardener, sir, if
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  Speaker 2: you have carried him away, tell me where you have
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  Speaker 2: laid him, and I will take him away. Question why
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  Speaker 2: does she want to take him away? What was there
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  Speaker 2: about Mary that wanted to hold on to Christ the remains?
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  Speaker 2: I don't think she knew. But you see, when your
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  Speaker 2: lifestyle is a feeling is believing concept, you need things
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  Speaker 2: to hold on to. You need trinkets, do dads, what nots, things,
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  Speaker 2: even if they're dead. I've discovered that this kind of
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  Speaker 2: response to the living Christ is not that uncommon. I
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  Speaker 2: find it often. Often I find individuals young in their faith,
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  Speaker 2: filled with zeal, excited, thrilled, ecstatic, who need things to
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  Speaker 2: hold onto, to touch, to look at a lot of
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  Speaker 2: pictures of Christ, so called, a lot of things filling
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  Speaker 2: the house are the person does somehow touch him or
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  Speaker 2: hold him. She was a feeler, She had to grasp him.
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  Speaker 2: And in fact, it says that she having turned back.
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  Speaker 2: Verse sixteen implies she had turned back because Jesus said
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  Speaker 2: to her, Mary, and she swings back around, and she
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  Speaker 2: says rap on knee, my teacher. How comes she knew
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  Speaker 2: him now where before she didn't, Well, obviously a gardener
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  Speaker 2: would not know her name. And secondly, it's clear that
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  Speaker 2: the inflection of his voice was such that it brought
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  Speaker 2: back the familiar. She knew that this was none other
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  Speaker 2: than the Christ, and so she she grabbed him. Forgive
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  Speaker 2: me for that abrupt response, but that's what she did.
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  Speaker 2: Took hold of him. And I take it that she
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  Speaker 2: embraced him or drew him to herself. And he said,
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  Speaker 2: stop clinging to me. Those are the very words that
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  Speaker 2: he uses, stop clinging to me Verse seventeen. Her impulsive eagerness,
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  Speaker 2: you see, was not permitted. She was she wanted to
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  Speaker 2: hold on to him, even if it was the body.
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  Speaker 2: She wanted to hold him, and he was saying to
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  Speaker 2: her in this reproof, Look, Mary, there's a whole new
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  Speaker 2: relationship that's being established. I am to ascend to the Father.
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  Speaker 2: I will be away from you. It will be a
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  Speaker 2: faith plus nothing relationship. You must learn that, Mary. You
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  Speaker 2: can't anymore fix those meals and fix my garments and
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  Speaker 2: touch me and have this kind of humanistic relationship you've
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  Speaker 2: known so long. It's changed, Mary, before going any further,
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  Speaker 2: I think this is a good, a splendid time to
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  Speaker 2: pause and say that those who embrace the feeling is
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  Speaker 2: believing style of Christianity are very fragile, fragile in their faith,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of highs and lows. When the feeling is good,
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  Speaker 2: then there's a good walk. When it's not good and
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  Speaker 2: days are blue, then they're down. I'm not saying that
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  Speaker 2: we're never to have ups or downs. I'm saying that
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  Speaker 2: with people like this, it is not uncommon for there
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  Speaker 2: to be a an extreme high and low. Let me
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  Speaker 2: show you this from Mar's Gospel. Go to Mark chapter four.
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  Speaker 2: Let's look at verse three. It's the longest sermon in
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  Speaker 2: Mar's Gospel thus far that Jesus preached. And there is
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  Speaker 2: found in this sermon a good example of what Jesus
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  Speaker 2: is telling us over in John twenty. Some of you
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  Speaker 2: aren't turning turn Mark chapter four. I don't think you
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  Speaker 2: heard clearly. I want you to turn with me. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: Jesus says, listen to this chapter four, verse three. Listen
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  Speaker 2: to this. Behold the sewer went out to sew, and
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  Speaker 2: he's talking about a farmer who had seed in his hands,
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  Speaker 2: and the farmer is going to sow the seed in
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  Speaker 2: four different kinds of soil, And so came about that
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  Speaker 2: as he was sowing, some seed fell off beside the road.
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  Speaker 2: Birds came and ate it up. I noticed the second
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  Speaker 2: kind of soil. Other seed fell on the rocky ground
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  Speaker 2: where it did not have much soil. And what happened
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  Speaker 2: this is of interest to us. It's the Merry Magdalene
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  Speaker 2: kind of faith. Immediately it sprang up because it had
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  Speaker 2: no depth of soil. But after the sun had risen,
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  Speaker 2: it was scorched because it had no root. It withered,
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  Speaker 2: very fragile, very delicate plant. Lot of fast growth, lot
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  Speaker 2: of appearance, a lot of bushy leaves, no fruit, just
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  Speaker 2: just fast, zealous growth. I dropped down to verse sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: 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 on
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  Speaker 2: the rocky places, who when they hear the word immediately
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  Speaker 2: receive it with joy. That's commendable. But that's all they
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  Speaker 2: go on is that joy. And they have no firm root.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Mark that they have no firm in themselves, but are
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: only temporary. Then when affliction, our persecution arises, because of
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: the word immediately they fall away. You've seen any of
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: that in your Christian walk? Why sure we have? This
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: is commonly called the weaker brother, or, in other words,
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: it is another term for the adolescent stage. Now, it's
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: neat to have adolescents around. They keep us alive and guessing.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: But something's tragic when an adolescent is forty five years old.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: I want to say something that's surely going to be
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: misunderstood by some, but I really don't care. So much
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: is said to the stronger Christian about being careful not
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: to offend the weaker, But I cannot remember the last
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: time I heard someone say something to the weaker brother
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: about growing up. Now, if you're a weaker, grow up.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Don't encourage the retarding of liberty because you're not strong.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Get rid of the do dads, the things that have
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: to be held onto the feelings you're relying on, that's
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: so unstable. Do you go to work just when you
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: feel like it? If you do, you've had a lot
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: of jobs lately. You lose your job. If you go
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: by feelings, you get up, you get dressed, and you go.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: You got a job to do, so do I Jesus
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: Christ is saying to marry stop hanging on Mary. Look
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: there's a job to be done, and he dispatches her
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: as a matter of fact, practical though it may sound,
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: He gives her a project. He didn't say, stick around
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: by the tomb and weep the rest of the day, honey,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: and maybe tomorrow will give you something to do. He said, Mary,
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: you go to my brethren and you tell them I'm
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: ascending to the Father. And it says in verse eighteen.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: She got the message. She went announcing to the disciples,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: I've seen the Lord. Hey, I really have a little
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: bone to pick with people who love their adolescence, their immaturity,
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: and they're just looking for occasions to be offended. Hey,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: we want to grow up. Most exciting thing in a
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: family is seeing them grow up, looking at maturity and
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: individuality and independence taking place before your eyes as they
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: get taller and taller and bigger. I was arm wrestling
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: my oldest son yesterday. He almost beat me. Oh, spraying
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: like crazy again. That's the kind of thing. It's it's
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: thrilling to see that growth, threatening, but it's thrilling to
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: see it. And now now Jesus is saying to marry.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Come on.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Now, Mary, get that message out. Look, this is a
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: good word in season for us at this church. Some
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: of you have been wet nursed long enough. Get into
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: the book, Get into a study of the word. Don't
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: rely all of it on me. You'll be an adolescent.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Don't lean only on your parent, or only on your friend,
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: or only on that Bible class. Get into it on
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: your own. I don't mean to sound overly harsh about it,
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: but her devotion did not run very deep. She wanted
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: to hold on. Some want to hold onto the past,
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: hold on to tradition. And I'll tell you the mature
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: life is the flexible life. We have to adapt daily.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Now there's another group, and they come in verse nineteen.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: They're the Disciples, the men who set it Jesus' feet
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: for three years. Probably if all of them were there,
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: then there were ten. But we do not know exactly
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: how many were there. Let's say that ten were there.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: We know that Thomas is gone. We pick him up later.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: But here we have the ten men who said it
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: Jesus' feet and got all of that wonderful information, and
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: they're scared to death. Verse nineteen says when it was
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: evening on that day, the first day of the week,
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: when the doors were shut where the disciples were for
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: Now why are they afraid? You know they've already been
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: told by Mary, and they've been told by a couple
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: of the disciples. Look, Jesus is raised. It's a victorious message.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: He's alive, he's coming back, He's gonna visit with us.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: There was a thrill of it, and that evening they
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: got the door shut. They're afraid of the Jews. The
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: anti God squad outside running the streets intimidated. James Ingall,
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: who was professor of marketing at Ohio State University, brilliant
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: man Born again speaks to this issue of intimidation. I quote,
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: I have had enough of the garbage we hear so
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: much about today that Christianity is or the misfit, the
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: one who can't stand on his own two feet and
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: face the world. While there are thousands of men and
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: women on college and university faculties today who, like myself,
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: are just plain fed up with this kind of attack
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: on our intelligence and the validity of our faith. Jesus
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Christ has changed our lives completely We're not about to
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: be silenced by a bunch of ill informed critics who
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: refuse to face the facts about the greatest person who
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: ever lived. We're not about to sit back while the
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: anti God squad rules the campus right on doctor ingel
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: and these disciples sitting back for fear of the Jews.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: In fact, Luke says in the Living Bible, the whole
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: group was terribly frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: You see, the doors were closed, and all of a
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: sudden Jesus appears. If you think you are afraid before
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: the time, and there are ten in the group, what
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: would feel like if you count again there are eleven
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: and the door hadn't been opened. You see, Jesus Christ
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: had penetrated the walls of the room. The whole dynamics,
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: the entire molecular structure of his body had changed, and
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: in resurrected form, he was able to move through things
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: that would normally be a barrier in the human anatomy lets.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: You see, that's one of the interesting things about the
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: study of the resurrected Christ. You will have a body
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: like that when you're raised from the dead space. Human
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: factors will be no barriers I can't even explain that.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: But somehow we will be able to move rapidly through
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: space and through solid structures with no barrier. What will
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: we be like? Well, look at what Jesus does. Says
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: he stood in their midst and said to them, peace
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: be with you, the normal greeting shalom, peace men. And
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: when he had said this, he showed them both his
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: hands and his sides turn right this moment. To Luke
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: twenty four, let's don't even finish that sentence. I want
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: to show you another thing that happened. John doesn't bother
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: to mention Luke twenty four to forty one. The last chapter,
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: forty first verse. The they of the verse of the Disciples,
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: And while they still could not believe it, for joy,
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: they were marveling. He said to them, have you anything
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: here to eat? How about that? They're shaking, quaking, disturbed.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Jesus's what's for supper? And he's putting them at ease.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: It is a very wonderful pastime to have a meal
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: with friends. Now that tells us something else. The resurrected
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: body eats, talks, is discernible, and it says that they
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: fixed him some fish give him leftovers. Give him a
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: piece of broiled fish. He took it and ate it
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: in their sight, and you know what happened. Back to
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: John twenty, it says when they saw him they rejoiced.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: Seeing is believing. That's the second group. Mary says feeling
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: holding on to something is believing, and you stay immature.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: Now the Disciples are representing the group that says you've
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: got to see it to believe it. And when they
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: saw the Lord then they rejoiced. We do that, don't we. Oh.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: If I could just see the Lord Jesus on this campus, Oh,
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: I could stand for him. I wouldn't be shattered and
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: disturbed in my faith. Why do you have to see him?
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: He's there. If I could see the Lord in this
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: hospital room, if somehow the Lord could appear, then I
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: could count on his presence. The Word of God says
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: he is there. If I could see him in this
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: relationship in my home that's so threatening, and then I
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: could believe. I could stand fast. I wouldn't be intimidated. Oh,
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: but the scripture says he's there. I am with you always,
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: even to the end of the world, to let the
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: ages run their course. I'm there every waking sleeping moment,
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: all right. The disciples had not learned that. When he
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: came and showed himself to them, then they rejoiced, and
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. That's
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: a gracious response. He didn't preach at them. Verse twenty one,
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: just simply says he told them again, shalloam peace? That's
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: what he wanted them to have. No panic. Well, sure
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: the streets are running over with the unbelievers, were men
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: who's in charge? Sure there's opposition. Even though the forces
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: of opposition are against us, We're still on the winning side.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: We are outnumbered and therefore often paralyzed with fear. Jesus
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: Christ says peace. He gave them a message, gave them
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: the spirit of God verse twenty two, and told them
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: that they have a message of forgiveness to preach. You
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: preach that forgiveness on earth, and those who respond will
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: be forgiven in heaven. It will be taking place both ways.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: There'll be a ministry in heaven, there'll be a ministry
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: on earth, and they work together in a package. Verse
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: twenty three. If you forgive the sins of any their
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: sins have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: of any they had been retained. There's a message. There's
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: a ministry in which God and man are in legue
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: together God and his children. And he says, you declare
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: that message that forgiveness will come. Now that's a marvelous
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: response that they were to carry out. He said, I
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: send you where we get the song verse twenty one.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: So send I you. He got them involved, now one
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: was missing. He is of interest to us because he
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: is the most predominant in this last part of Jesus' ministry.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: His name is Thomas Verse twenty four. Thomas, one of
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: the twelve called didimus. What's diddimus me? That means twin.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: He was a twin. He either had a twin brother
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: or a twin sister. We don't know who she was
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: or who he was. We don't know Thomas's background, but
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: we do know his temperament. He has emerged twice in
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: the Gospel of John, once in chapter eleven, where Lazarus
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: was dead and Jesus said, let's go that we may
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: minister to him. And the disciples said, oh, we can't go.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: We'll we'll be killed. You'll be killed, Lord. And Jesus said,
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: we must go, and Thomas said, let's go and die
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: with him, and that crummy you would think. Thomas would say, Lord,
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: you're you're our life. You're safe. Now, let's go and
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: die with him. And the next time is in chapter
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: fourteen where Jesus said, I go to my father and
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: I go to prepare a place for you, and if
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself.
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: And where I'm going, you know, and the way you know?
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: Thomas said, hold it, wait, we don't know where you're going,
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: and how can we know the way. He's the empiricist.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: He's called the rationalist of the Apostolic band. He's the
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: one that wait, now, hold it, hold it, wait, now,
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: let's get it kind of squared away. Let's just get
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: these things put down in black and white. Where are
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: you going? How do we get there? Thomas is the
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: group that represents proving is believing. Prove to me what
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: you say, and I'll believe. The last thing that a
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: personal Thomas wants is a lifestyle. Like Mary Magdalene, the
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: opposite of feeling, Thomas is the one who lives with
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: that slam doubting Thomas, let me show you why verse
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: twenty five. The other disciples, when they were therefore, were
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: saying to him, we have seen the Lord. The way
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: it's written suggests they said it several times, Thomas, We've
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: seen him. We've seen the Lord. Listen Thomas. Thomas's response is,
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: unless I shall see in his hands the imprint of
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: the nails, and put my finger into the place of
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: the nails, and put my hand into his side, I
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: will not believe. It's never hard to get an opinion
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: out of a person like Thomas. They are at times
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: even impudent. They are even on occasion hard to get
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: along with. Alexander White, in his classic biographical words New
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: Testament Characters, says, Thomas is an anatomy of melancholy. But
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: the melancholic kind of person is one who is very,
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: very insightful. There are some Thomases here today, and I
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: honestly say to you, I cannot find a time where
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: Jesus rebuked Thomas. You're struggling with doubts. If you're a
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: prover kind of person. Jesus Christ left him alone for
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: eight days to wrestle with his doubts. What do we
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: do when your friend has doubts? What do you do well,
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: you want to give him four or five of your
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: favorite books about an inch and a half two inches thick,
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: with a little note attached, kind of a sidelight rebuke.
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: Or parents of kiddos that are having some doubts, you
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: smother the kid with thirty five reasons he's wrong, and
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: he's submerged in the study. Let him submerge, Let her submerge.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: They'll come up for air when they do. Just ram
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: it right down the throat. When they're up for air,
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: that's the time to give it. They'll they'll come up
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: and hey, what do you think. Well, I'm glad you ask.
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: I have seventeen answers right here. You see, we have
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: a concept of Christianity that is not cutting it. That's
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: the catechetical concept. Teach them answers to give when people
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: ask this kind of question. Well, I learned those answers,
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: but they never ask those questions. You ever notice that, right?
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: So I got answers to questions nobody's asking. That's a frustration.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: In fact, the schooling of our day is to memorize
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: the answer. Don't think. Just learn my list and then
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: give it back to me, and you'll make a plus
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: So a guy graduates magna cum Laudie the world asked Laudie,
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: how come I didn't the world? Did he get out
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: of it? You see, I have discovered that schooling really
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: is a place to learn how to think. That's basically
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: why we go to school. Unfortunately, we don't learn that
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: till we're out of school. And Jesus Christ offers Thomas
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: the time to think it through. Thomas is saying to himself, oh, man,
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: the's if I could just look at those hands and
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: study that side. You just let him alone, let him
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: grind it out. And then finally, verse twenty six, this
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: is so good. Verse twenty six says a eight days later,
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: Thomas is still scratching his head, wondering about all of
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: this that he's hearing. And Jesus came the doors having
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: been shut, and he did that again, but this time
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: Thomas is there. Can't you see Thomas? There's the Lord?
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: Oh he appears, and so he's got his attention, and
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: Jesus says, shall oam. Thomas's tongue tied. He can't respond
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: for a moment, and Jesus said to Thomas, reach that's feeling,
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: he said, See that's seeing he said, put your hand
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: in my side. That's proving here. I am Thomas, have Eddie.
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: Don't be unbelieving but believing. There's not even a tack
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: on his character. Oh, I'm so impressed with the way
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: Jesus handled the doubter. Look, the Lord will defend himself.
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: At those precise moments. There will be an opportunity, and
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: that's when to give them help. Let them struggle a little,
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: that's part of the process. No rope creates hazards. Give
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: him the rope, and yet don't lose hold of it.
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: Trusting is believing. That's the fourth My Lord, my God.
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: What a statement of faith. And so John says, there's
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: two reasons I've written this gospel. The first one is
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: in verse thirty one, that you may believe Jesus is
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: the Christ, not because you feel it, not because you
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: see it, not because because you can prove it except
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: by my words this book. I've written this book so
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: you don't have to live like feeling and seeing and
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: proving is essential. Take me at my word. And second,
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: that you might have life in Jesus's name. Isn't that beautiful?
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: The perfect package On the heels of verse twenty nine,
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: Jesus said, blessed of those who did not see and
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: yet believe. Guess who that is? Right? You and me,
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: we have something better than the disciples, because we've never
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: seen him whom, having not seen, we love in whom.
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: Though now we see him not yet believing, we rejoice
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: with joy unspeakable. I draw from this passage a number
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: of lessons. Let me zero in on three of them,
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: of a formula like lesson. A couple of them are.
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: The first one is this, subtract facts from faith, and
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: you divide your strength. If you're simply faith, having faith
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: in a vacant hope, you've never really researched the facts
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: as they appear in scripture, the facts as they are
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: substantiated in time. You're dividing your strength, you'll be like Mary,
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: relying on feeling. So number one, subtract facts from faith,
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: and you divide your strength. Number two is this add
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: sight to faith, and you multiply your doubts. If you
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: have to see, your doubts are multiplied. The third and
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: the best one is this, mix faith with nothing but
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: the truth, and you have life in his name. The
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: Lord Jesus says, I have come that they might have
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: life and have it abundantly, and the record tells the
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: story of itself. As most of you realize. Because of
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: the growth and involvement in ministry of these past days
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: in our church, I've had to give up a number
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: of things that I thoroughly enjoy doing, but it's best
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: that I do that. One of them is hospital involvements.
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: There are occasions under such critical circumstances, however, where death
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: seems eminent that I'm there. One occurred this last week.
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: Close friend of mine has an employee of some nineteen
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: years specimen of health who became ill with severe headaches,
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: and this individual asks if it would be possible for
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: me to see this person because of something that had happened.
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: The man in question was an athlete professional for a
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: period of time before he began working at this company.
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: His name is David, and through a severe series of headaches,
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: he went through a testing about six months ago and
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: nothing showed up. And then this last immediate period of time,
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: they found a mass inside the skull. The man was
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: cut open by a neurosurgeon and sewed up. It's a
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: malignant tumor that will affect his reason and his speech.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: He will die. That's when I was called and I
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: walked to the room last Wednesday evening. The sign said
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: no visitors. I asked permission from the nurse's station that
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: I could see him, and was granted that. I walked
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: in and I said, Dave, I really don't want to
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: beat around the bush. I want to come to terms
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: with eternal life. He said, go ahead. It was in pain,
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: head was shaved, heavily wrapped from the operation. His son
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: was sitting there holding his hand, and I said, Dave,
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: listen to the record. God has given us eternal life.
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: This life is in his son. He that has the
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: Son of God has the life. He that does not
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: have the Son does not have the life. I use
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: John because it was direct one John five eleven and twelve.
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: I said, Dave, by receiving Jesus Christ as your personal savior,
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: even though your future is very very uncertain, very bleak,
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: you can know eternal life forgiveness from sin. He said,
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: I want that. I take that. I accept that right now,
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: he said, right now, and in muffled tones, his son
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: began to weep, and I said, Dave, let's pray. So
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: he gripped my hand as hard as it's ever been gripped.
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: We prayed, and that man passed from death unto life.
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: He hasn't died, but he will, but you see now
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: he's ready. The story of the message of Christ is
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: that it is this, that a person is not ready
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: till death until he's ready to die. Some of you
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: are not ready to die, and God graciously is letting
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: you live at least up till this point. Dave didn't see,
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: didn't feel anything, couldn't prove anything, but he believed. You're
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: saying as you sit there, oh, that's that's true of
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: a guy named David. That's tragic. But I got a
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: number of years later. None of you don't. They've thought
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: that several weeks ago. But there may never be a tomorrow,
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: you know. Friend, that's about to do. Okay, let's come
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: to terms with what it's all about. Friends. Some of
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: you have been coming to this church for a number
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: of months and you've never received Jesus Christ. You like
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: the singing, you might like some of the preaching. You
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: like the way things fit your schedule. It's kind of
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: fun to be a part of an exciting movement that's happening.
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: But you've got to come to terms with your relationship
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: with Christ. I say this to a first time visitor,
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: if you never come back, I say this, Believing in
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ is a matter of your receiving the gift
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: of eternal life, not trying to be good or keep
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: coming to church, or being baptized, or suddenly trying to
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: correct your moral life. Jesus said, he that believes on
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: Me has everlasting life, shall never come into condemnation, but
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: has passed from death unto life. Now that's simple enough
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: for some of you here, who like Mary, would say,
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: right now I receive Christ. I feel God working with it.