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John chapter 12, and verse 24.

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The Lord Jesus says here, I tell you

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the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls

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to the ground and dies, it remains only

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a single seed.

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But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

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The man who loves his life will lose

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it, while the man who hates his life

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in this world will keep it for eternal

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life.

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The Lord Jesus says, the man who wants

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to keep his life will lose it, if

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you lose it, you will keep it.

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I believe it's an interesting paradox that as

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Christians, on one hand, we all, and I

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believe this is one reason why you're here,

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we all want to be close to God,

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we want to be near God, we want

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to feel God.

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But you know what, there is another tendency.

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On the other side, we sometimes are afraid

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to come too close to God.

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And we rather have a little distance of

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God.

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As I heard one pastor once say, leave

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God in heaven.

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You know, keep a little distance.

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Because we are afraid, if he comes too

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close, he might intervene in areas that I

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don't want him to intervene.

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It's a certain, it's almost schizophrenic.

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Why are we afraid to come too close

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to God at times?

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I often tell this story about, there was

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a girl actually, she's from Australia, she might

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be here, is Helen here?

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Helen Jeffery, is she around?

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Then I can tell the story, you know.

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But many years ago, she came to Austria,

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and she was not a believer, and she

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told me so.

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And I said, well, you can still come,

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that's fine, as long as you, you know,

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do kind of the things that we expect

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you to do.

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And she said, yes, she will.

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So she did come, a great girl, she

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did very well.

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But whenever I spoke about the Lord, whenever

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I had a devotion or whatever, she would

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always just look into the floor.

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She would never respond to anything about Christ.

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And I remember it was the very last

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week, she was with us for six months,

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the very last week before she left, she

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came into my office for whatever reason, and

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I just asked her, I said, why do

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you always look into the ground and just

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try, act as though you are absent when

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we talk about the Lord?

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And after a bit of a longer talk,

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she said, I'm afraid if I accept Jesus,

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I lose my identity.

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That was her fear.

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And then I asked her, what are you

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afraid of losing?

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And of course, I said, who are you?

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She said, well, I'm Helen, I'm afraid that

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I lose to be Helen.

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I said, well, Helen is just your name,

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but who are you?

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Well, I'm Australian.

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I said, well, that's your country, but who

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are you?

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Well, I want to be a nurse, or

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whatever she wanted to be.

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I said, well, that's your profession, but who

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are you?

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And then I ran out of questions, she

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ran out of answers.

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And this evening, we separated, and I said,

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Helen, sit down tonight, please, and write down

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who you are, because I'd like to know

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what you are afraid of losing.

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And tell me tomorrow morning who you are.

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The next morning, I remember, she came towards

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me with a big smile, and I was

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sure that she thought of something else.

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But she actually said, I gave my life

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to Christ, because I didn't know who I

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am.

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And now I know who I am, a

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child of God.

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But you see, although, as men, we have

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a deep longing to be close to God,

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we do have a fear to lose our

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old life.

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And even though many people know Christ, they

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try to keep and find fulfillment in their

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own identity, in their own life.

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And then is the classic phrase that I

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hear very often in the ministry, when Christians

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say, I have tried everything, but I cannot

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feel God.

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I think, I'm sure, that, at least in

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my experience, I've found that from whatever angle

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you look at that problem, whatever problem you

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have about God, the answer is always the

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same.

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And that is, we must first be broken

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before God can fill us.

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I have people say to me, they say,

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nobody will ever break me.

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I don't let anyone break me.

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Well, I have an answer for those people.

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You will be broken anyways.

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Every person will be broken, either by the

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lie or by God.

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You see, an egocentric, proud person is already

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a distorted, a broken person by his pride.

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You will always be broken.

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The question is only by whom.

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If a man gets broken by God, then

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God has a chance from the inside out

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to reveal his character.

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Just like pride distorts a person from the

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inside out in a negative sense.

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Now we have Good Friday today and the

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Lord Jesus, as we think of this day

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in particular, He was broken at and prior

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to the cross.

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We read in Matthew 26 that Lord Jesus

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on the Garden of Gethsemane, He was deeply

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troubled and afraid.

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And He asked His friends to stay with

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Him but of course they fell asleep.

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Three times He prayed to the Father Lord,

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if it's somehow possible do not let me

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drink this cup yet not my will but

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Your will be done.

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And we read that His sweat fell to

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the ground like blood.

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Now the question is what made Jesus so

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afraid?

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Certainly not the physical pain.

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He could bear that.

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What made Jesus so afraid was the knowledge

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and the terror of being separated from His

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Father from His life.

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Although at the same time while He was

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separated He was in the perfect will of

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His Father.

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At the transaction of sin God the Father

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was not near His Son.

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He turned His back to the Son.

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This is when Jesus cried out, My God,

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my God, why have you forsaken me?

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And here is the thing that is important

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to understand.

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In order to keep up the fellowship between

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the Son and the Father Jesus could have

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done that.

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He didn't have to go to the cross.

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He could have kept the perfect fellowship with

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His Father.

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He could have sent a legion of angels

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to destroy them and stay in touch with

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His Father, but here is the point.

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Had He done that for the rest of

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eternity He would not be in the will

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of His Father anymore.

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In order to be in the will of

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His Father the Lord Jesus had to be

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broken and for Him it meant to be

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separated from His Father.

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In other words Jesus could have avoided the

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cross and leave the world as a garbage

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dump or He allows Himself to be broken

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and so save the world.

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The cross on which Jesus Christ our Lord

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was broken where He was separated from His

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Father is the heart of the Gospel together

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with the Resurrection.

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Sometimes we can get so excited about the

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Resurrection that we forget what was leading to

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death.

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And it's my strong conviction if anyone has

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just to some extent understood the cross he

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cannot say I've tried it but it didn't

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work.

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If anyone says I know one thing he

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has not understood the cross even in the

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slightest way.

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You know what's interesting to notice you see

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it in movies you see it in personal

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talks whenever a believer or unbeliever says where

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is God in this God forsaken world you

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know what's interesting somehow the cross is present.

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The cross seems to be present even in

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the most tragic and most forsaken moments in

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this world.

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There's a very moving story from Eli Wiesel

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he's quite a famous Jewish man the winner

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of a Nobel Prize and one of those

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few who survived the Holocaust.

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And he tells a story where in a

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concentration camp they were forced to watch the

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hanging of three Jewish people two of those

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Jewish people were grown up men and one

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of those Jews was a teenage boy.

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And as all three of them were led

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to the gallows and were hanged there the

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two adult men they died fairly quick but

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for some reason the little boy struggled on

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the gallows for half an hour and could

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not die and they were forced to watch

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for half an hour this little boy hanging

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there and Eli Wiesel tells how somebody behind

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him whispered where is God?

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where is God?

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and he felt the same question.

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And then he writes somehow from inside there

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came a quiet voice that says God is

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hanging there on the gallows Theologian Jürgen Bultmann

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he said every other answer would have been

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blasphemy Now the question is this can any

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other faith any other religion apart from Christ

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on the cross give an answer to such

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a question Is it the Lord Jesus when

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he died on the cross he bore our

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guilt he bore our sorrows and by his

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wounds we are healed You see Christ is

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not only real on the victorious side of

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life which is the resurrection Christ is just

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as real in the deepest depth of our

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life That's the cross He's there on both

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sides He's done it all A couple of

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months ago when I was speaking in Germany

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at a conference there was a woman, she

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shared the conference she spoke one evening she's

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a theologian a psychologist and she lives together

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with her man in Puerto Rico her name

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is Aline Westermeyer and she told a story

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about a little boy called Julio Puerto Rico

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it was and she told the story she

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met this man but when this man Julio

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when he was 8 years old a little

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boy something was stolen from the neighborhood and

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everybody was convinced it was Julio who is

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the thief and his father he was an

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officer in the army and he came home

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and he heard that his son has stolen

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although he didn't and the father says my

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son will never steal again and he took

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his boy and took him into the house

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and he and Julio of course screamed I

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wasn't the one in zone but he didn't

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believe him he had to lay on the

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floor and he gave him 60 lashes with

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his bell with an iron end after 30

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lashes he was so exhausted he had to

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rest but he finished it and the boy

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was almost dead it took him about 2

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weeks to get the boy back to life

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again so to speak and of course this

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incident left the traces in this boy he

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came to know the Lord in the mid

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20's this Julio through whatever I forgot what

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it was but he never made it in

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his Christian life it just never worked depression,

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all kind of things kept on coming he

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was about in mid 30's when he met

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this woman, Aline Westermeyer she was telling the

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story and of course she's a psychologist so

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she went with him through his past and

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of course they came to the incident with

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his father beating him and so on and

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he told the whole thing through and then

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she asked him I thought it was very

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interesting she asked him please tell the story

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again but this time take Jesus with you

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always take the Lord Jesus with you so

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he told the story again from the beginning

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and he said my father is walking with

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me to the house and she said where

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is Jesus and they were talking and praying

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it through and he said Jesus he's on

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my side he's coming with us so what's

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next yeah we go in the house and

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my father tells me to lie down on

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the floor and so on and she says

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where is Jesus and after a while he

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said well he's with me and then he

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said now my father starts beating me he

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says where is Jesus and then he said

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Jesus is lying on the floor instead of

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me it was interesting because in Julio's life

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this completely changed his life as a Christian

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more than his rebirth but I believe what

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we need to understand is that the crucifixion

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and Christ on the cross is not only

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a historical thing of course it is but

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it's irrelevant today he bore our sorrows by

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his wounds we are healed and I I

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like to sometimes read Philip Yancey if you

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heard about him but he said a good

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quote he said the way God works he

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says God holds back he is hiding he

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cries, why?

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because he is longing for something that can

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never be reached with power he is a

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king who does not want forceful submission but

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love therefore he chose the slow and hard

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way of becoming a man he chose the

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way to love and death instead of forcing

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Rome Jerusalem and all powers of the world

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into its knees it was a conquest beginning

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from the inside it's a conquest beginning from

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the inside don't you sometimes ask I asked

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myself that the other day Lord Jesus why

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don't you just come down and do some

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great miracle why don't you just reveal yourself

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in some mighty way that everybody can see

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who you are but as Charles quoted in

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the previous lecture remember what the Lord Jesus

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says by this the world will know that

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you are my disciples if you love one

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another you know why I want miracles so

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that I don't have to love as much

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if God chose himself with miracles with great

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power I can just stand on the side

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and say to these non-believers you see

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I told you but that's not the way

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that the Lord Jesus is choosing he chooses

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the slow and the hard way the way

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of love and I don't believe it changes

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until he returns because that's the way that

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the Lord Jesus is he does not want

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forceful submission he wants to change us from

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the inside out when you feel nothing of

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the Lord Jesus when your faith has become

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dull and boring let me ask you this

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one question have you ever come to the

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cross knowing that you must choose one life

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either your own which you want to keep

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or the life of Christ we hear a

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lot today about Christ having died on the

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cross for our sin but we hear very

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little that we are crucified with Christ that

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our life is not our own you do

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not belong to yourself but to Christ and

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this is where we need to make a

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decision we either come to the cross and

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submit surrender to the Lord Jesus or you

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turn your back as a Christian walk away

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from the cross and then comes the famous

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question I cannot feel God there is one

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lie that Christians love to believe you know

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what it is Christians love to believe that

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they can keep their old life and at

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the same time be near God that's a

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lie if you want to keep your own

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life I know one thing about you you

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feel nothing of Christ because you can never

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have both it's one life not two Lord

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Jesus says the man who loves his life

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he will lose it the man who loses

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his life he will gain it the Lord

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Jesus says in Matthew 10 I just quoted

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Matthew 10 verse 39 he says whoever finds

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his life will lose it whoever loses his

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life for my sake he will find it

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in Colossians 3 Paul puts it in another

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way he says Colossians 3 verse 3 for

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you died by the way do you know

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that you died have you been at your

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funeral at your white one I'm serious if

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you have not been at your funeral you

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have a problem for you died and your

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life is now hidden with Christ in God

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in Galatians 1 it says I'm crucified with

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Christ I no longer live Christ lives within

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me now somebody will say well Hans Bitter

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that sounds ok but how can I know

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that this is true well I want to

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close with this and remind you that spiritual

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truth can never be discerned by thinking but

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only by obedience you see there is a

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difference between the Greek thinking and the Hebrew

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thinking in the Greek thinking the recognition of

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truth comes by reasoning and that's what we

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have grown up with we reason we reason

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can it be so and we reason about

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it if you try to find the truth

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which is Christ by reasoning you will never

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find Him the Hebrew way of thinking is

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different if you want to find the truth

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in the Hebrew thinking it's only by one

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way by obedience it says in Exodus I

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think it's chapter 2 or 3 Moses stands

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before the burning bush and God says to

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Moses Moses go to Egypt and you will

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worship me with all the people on this

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mountain if Moses would have reasoned could it

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be that I worship with all the people

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of Israel at this mountain he would still

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be praying today in front of the burning

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bush how could Moses find out whether what

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God said is true only by one way

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obedience he had to go fascinating stories also

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were Joshua with a couple of million people

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standing in front of the Jordan and God

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says to Joshua walk across the Jordan and

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I can see Joshua saying do you see

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the river says yes I know walk across

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the Jordan and I love it because the

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priests they went first and it says when

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the first priest put his foot into the

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water the river stopped running but not before

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how could they find out whether what God

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said is true not by praying not by

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contemplating just by obedience by the way you

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know it's fascinating when the priests stepped into

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the water the water stopped flowing but you

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know where it stopped flowing about 30 kilometers

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north at a place called Adam you know

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what that means the water was still running

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for a few hours until it was dry

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same with prayer sometimes we pray you know

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00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:09,680
God does something but maybe 30 kilometers north

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still flowing but he does it I like

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00:23:15,140 --> 00:23:16,920
the story with a man I think it's

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Luke 4 with a shriveled hand standing there

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and says if you can heal me and

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Jesus says yes I will and he says

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stretch your hand and I can see this

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man saying Jesus that's my problem it's shriveled

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if you heal it I will stretch it

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the Lord says no I want you to

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stretch it and then it will be healed

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it's so beautiful it says and he stretched

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his hand and he was healed it's always

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00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:55,400
it's always that way so if you wonder

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how this works there's only one way to

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find out by obedience go into it that's

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my prayer for my own life that's my

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00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:08,300
prayer for you I'm looking forward to what

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00:24:08,300 --> 00:24:12,080
God is doing this weekend Father we thank

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00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,820
you for the privilege of belonging to you

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00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:17,900
we thank you for the joys that you

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00:24:17,900 --> 00:24:20,020
have set before us in your son Jesus

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Christ thank you Lord Jesus that you endured

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the cross that you were broken in order

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to be in the will of God in

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the perfect will of your Father at the

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cross where you were separated in fellowship but

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still united in purpose Father in the same

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way I pray that we have the courage

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and the trust and the obedience to allow

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00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:52,200
you to break us to become earthen vessels

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so that the treasure within us can shine

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forth Lord Jesus I thank you so much

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that you endured the cross but not only

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that that you rose again that you won

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the victory over death Father I thank you

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for the son that you sent by your

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free choice in order to save us thank

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you Lord Jesus for your obedience and Lord

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only you can do and live the life

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that we are supposed to live so Lord

471
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help us to trust you enough to let

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you break us so that your life can

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find its fulfillment even in people like us

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this I pray and trust in the name

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of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen