Truest Truth | Easter

well hello
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happy easter welcome to 242 my name is
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tony i'm one of the pastors here and if
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you haven't had the chance to meet um
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i'm so glad that you're here i love the
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chance to chat with you uh after the
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service i told you i'm one of the
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pastors but the reality is that's not
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the truest thing about me well what if i
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asked you that question today what if i
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very simply asked you this what is the
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truest thing
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about you
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like i don't know what your answer would
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be but today we're gonna we're gonna dig
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into that reality like what is the
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truest thing
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about you
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it was a friday morning
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jesus had spent some time
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in a religious trial of sorts he'd been
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arrested by the religious leaders and
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put on trial that really wasn't fair and
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it just seems strange in and of itself
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but the religious leaders were trying to
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find a way and a reason to have jesus
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killed
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and so they go through this trial
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overnight and friday morning they take
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jesus to pontius pilate's palace say
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that five times fast
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they take him there and they present him
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to pilate they don't really bring
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charges per se but they say hey this guy
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claims to be the king of the jews now if
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you're a pilot and you're in charge of
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of leading an area
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and someone comes along and claims to be
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a king
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that's a significant threat
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so pilot has to look into this right so
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so pilate takes jesus into his palace
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and he begins to ask him questions and
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have a conversation with jesus about
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about who he is and and what it means
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for him to supposedly claim these things
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check out the conversation
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jesus said my kingdom is not of this
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world
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if it were my servants would fight to
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prevent my arrest by the jewish leaders
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but now my kingdom is from another place
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you are a king then
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said pilate
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jesus answered you say that i'm a king
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in fact the reason i was born and came
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into the world is to testify to the
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truth
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everyone on the side of truth listens to
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me
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what is truth
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retorted pilate
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into that question he he leaves the room
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he goes out onto the balcony where
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people are waiting to hear what what
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pilate's final final verdict was and
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it leaves jesus
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alone in the room to contemplate and
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think about the fact that the wheels
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have been put into motion
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to take his life
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and in the coming hours things are going
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to happen and and jesus is going to die
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so what is truth
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it's a question that pilate asked but i
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think for generations we've been
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wrestling with trying to figure out like
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what exactly is truth
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now whether we're talking about our
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identity
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or we're talking about religion or
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politics or whatever it may be like we i
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think at the core are asking the
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question what is truth
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maybe dare i say because you don't have
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to do this very long to realize that
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there are thousands of competing ideas
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for what truth is in your life
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maybe the question we're really asking
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is what what is
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truest about me what is the the truest
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truth
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about me
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now the reality is i'm a husband
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i'm a father i'm a friend i'm a son
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i'm a sports fan i'm a pastor i'm a
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pseudo-adequate athlete okay i'm a
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horrible athlete uh-huh when i was in
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seventh grade i pulled a fire alarm and
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got in trouble and got suspended from
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school like that there are certain
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truths about me
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but here's what we know like that is not
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the truest thing
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about me
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those things aren't the truest things
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about you either
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now i know you you may be here today
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because
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mom asked you to come to easter service
3:37
with her
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but that's cool i get it
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i used to be me when i was a kid
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maybe you're here because you're just
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dipping your toes in the waters of this
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jesus thing and you're like i'm just i
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just want to explore i just kind of want
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to know more about this this jesus guy
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i'm not sure i believe in him not sure i
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kind of wrap my mind around i'm not sure
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it's for me and
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maybe that's just what you're wrestling
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with but here's what you need to know
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about 242
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we gather every week not just on easter
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we gather every week to worship and
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celebrate what we believe what we know
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is the truest truth
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and the truest truth is jesus
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it's jesus
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raised from the dead
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it's resurrected because because this
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jesus this this risen lord is the one
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that is the
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what's the greatest picture of who god
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is for us
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and maybe for you that's not what you
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picture when you think about god
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you
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had some other
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concoction in your mind about who jesus
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or god was and maybe for you it was like
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the old guy in the sky right
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that's what i thought of when i was a
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kid that god was just this
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white-haired white bearded white robe
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wearing god that sits on the clouds and
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just kind of observes creation and the
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world happened kind of distant
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disconnected and that's just who god was
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maybe maybe that's the picture you have
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of god
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well maybe for you it's it's cop god or
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cop jesus right
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that he's just a like a police officer
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waiting to pounce and and bust you for
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doing bad things and wrong things he
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just wants to wants to punish you maybe
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that's the depiction that you have of
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god when you think about god or maybe
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for you as like celebrity god right like
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when i was a kid i was a
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huge cubs fan ryan sandberg fan if you
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if you like the cubs and i remember
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going to a ball game and afterwards
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there's a fenced in area where the the
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ball players parked and sometimes they
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would sign autographs and i would sit on
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my dad's shoulders and i had this this
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book called rhino it was all about ryan
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samberg and my dad squeezed his way to
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the front we were there by the fence and
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ryan sandberg was coming down the row
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like autographing for everyone i had my
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book and i was i was holding it out i
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was so excited as he was the guy next to
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me this this old guy that probably to be
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fair is probably in his 40s
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bill i was a kid so everyone seemed old
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at that time
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and he was signing his baseball and
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and then ryan sandberg when he handed
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the baseball back to him turned
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walked to his car and left
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it's like who does that right you don't
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end before the kid
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you sign the kids stuff
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but the reality is like he didn't even
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look at me
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he didn't even know i existed paid no
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attention to me because in my mind he's
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like well it's just a celebrity he's a
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he's a famous baseball player he has
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much more important things to do than to
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focus on me and maybe that's your view
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of god
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that when you think about god you
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picture a god who has so many more
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important things to do than to worry
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about you
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maybe that's what you think of when you
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think about god
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or maybe it's it's uh like jesus is my
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homie like homeboy jesus right like like
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we're best friends we just kind of hang
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out there's no judgment no criticism
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we're just we're just friends and
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buddies and and everything is good all
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is well and nothing needs to change
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maybe maybe that's your picture of who
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god is
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and what is it in your mind when you
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think of god what do you think about
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the new testament authors had a very
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consistent picture of god that they
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pointed to over and over again
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and that picture of god
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is the resurrected jesus
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they didn't point back to this old guy
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in the sky or or cop god or anything
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like that they pointed back to the
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resurrected jesus as the picture of who
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god is
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if you have your bibles i invite you to
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turn to romans chapter 8 and join me
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there over the next few weeks uh we're
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going to spend time in this chapter
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because we're going to begin to discover
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what romans chapter 8 has to say about
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our identity about who we are in christ
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what the bible says about our truest
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truth
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but before we can really dig into that
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over the next few weeks we have to first
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understand what does
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what does it say about god
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what is the truest truth
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about who god
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is
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many look at romans chapter 8 as one of
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the the most beautiful greatest passages
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chapters in scripture because it really
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paints a picture for us who who god is
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that the character and identity of god
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through jesus
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check out the first couple verses
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in the book of romans
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it says therefore
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there is now no condemnation for those
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who are in christ jesus because through
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christ jesus the law of the spirit who
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gives life has set you free from the law
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of sin
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and death
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so what's the author telling us
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the author is saying that there was this
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this set of rules right these laws that
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were given to the jewish people that
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were supposed to follow it was through
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obedience to those laws that we were
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able to become righteous
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right it was through our sacrifices and
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in the way that we engage with those
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things that that we could be seen as
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righteous before god the reality is
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like it didn't actually work
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we weren't actually becoming righteous
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we couldn't actually fulfill the law to
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its fullest
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and what he's saying is that measuring
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stick that measuring stick of this law
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is
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is no longer your measuring stick
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the measuring stick for you is
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it's jesus
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that
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jesus is the measuring stick not because
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you need to be just like him but because
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in him and believing in him when we find
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ourselves in christ we
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we receive the righteousness that the
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holiness the
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the goodness that is jesus
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that's why it says there's no
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condemnation for those who are in christ
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jesus
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because when we're in christ we receive
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the righteousness that he offers us
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my friends you know that jesus died on a
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cross for you
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like he gave up his
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i mean he took your spot right because
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the bible tells us that because of our
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sins because of our brokenness you and i
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were condemned to death that we were
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going to die in our sins
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but instead jesus the sinless one the
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son of god died on a cross so that you
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wouldn't have to
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and what we begin to see is in the death
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and resurrection of jesus we see the
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truest reality of who jesus is we see
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the truest truth of god
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well like pilate said what is truth
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well let me tell you what truth is
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truth first and foremost is that god
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desires to be known by you
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god the creator of the cosmos wants to
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be known
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by
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you
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this is what the author of hebrews
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says it says in the past
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god spoke to our ancestors through the
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prophets in many times and in various
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ways
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but in these last days he has spoken to
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us by his son whom he appointed heir of
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all things and through whom also he made
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the universe so god has sent messengers
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like there have been prophets who have
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spoken to the people on behalf of god
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there have been angels who have come
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miracles and and wonders and amazing
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things that god has communicated to his
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people through but nothing
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nothing compares to the gift of his son
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the son here this friends is the
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radiance of god's glory
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and the exact representation of his
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being
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sustaining all things by his powerful
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word
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after he provided purification of your
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sins
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he sat down at the right hand of the
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majesty
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in heaven look at this friends the
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radiance of god's glory and the exact
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representation of his
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being
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jesus is
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the picture
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of god
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and what the author is saying is like
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look if you want to know god
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you do so through jesus
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if you want to know god you you will
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know jesus
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like we have a creator god
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who wants an intimate relationship with
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you i want you to picture for a moment
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that god created all things the universe
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is ruler over the cosmos everything that
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you know and see and feel and experience
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god created is the ruler over yet in the
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midst of it all he says i want you
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to know me
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a stark contrast of the celebrity god
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a stark contrast to this idea that we
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have a god that's just not concerned
12:05
with us but instead a god that says i
12:08
want to know
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you
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i mean you realize how significant it is
12:13
that the creator of all things
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wants to have an intimate personal
12:17
relationship with you
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and it's through jesus that we get to
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experience that like if you want to know
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god
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you'll know jesus
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because the truth is god wants to be
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known by you but that's not that's not
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the fullness of the truth there's
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there's more to the truth
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not only does he want to be known by you
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he also wants you to experience his
12:38
unconditional love
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and you may be sitting there like tony
12:42
that's it's a lie it's a farce there's
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no such thing as unconditional love
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and even if there was unconditional love
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like it couldn't be for for me
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because maybe you look at your life and
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you're like tony if you if you knew how
12:55
broken i was
12:58
if you just knew this the sins of my
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life the things that i've done and
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things that i've said that oh my gosh
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the things that i fought in my mind
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and there's no way that that
13:06
unconditional love even if it does exist
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could be for me
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i i get it
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and there's still numerous times i step
13:16
back in my life and i'm like god are you
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are you sure
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are you really sure that you still love
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me
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like even
13:25
even the you know my brokenness and my
13:28
past and the things that i've done like
13:30
are you sure god that you still love
13:32
me and maybe that's you
13:36
maybe you you look at the world and
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you're like you know what i get it that
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god loves other people but the fact that
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he could love me well it's just too far
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fetched i can't get behind that
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let me share with you what what helps me
13:47
when i have those feelings
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i think about jesus on the cross
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not just because he died for us that's
13:53
really important but but it's what he
13:55
said from the cross
13:57
that in a prayer he says father forgive
13:59
them
14:00
for they do not know what they
14:03
are doing
14:06
for one i think he's speaking that over
14:07
all of creation but we have to
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understand that while he's on the cross
14:10
about to take his last breath he says
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these words
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and he's looking at the people
14:16
who drove the nails through his feet
14:18
and the nails through his hands
14:21
and raised the cross so that he could
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die
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i i don't know
14:27
what your past looks like i don't know
14:29
what you've done i don't know what
14:30
you've experienced i don't know what
14:31
kind of pain and heartache you carry
14:33
with you but i'm pretty sure that you
14:35
weren't the ones that physically with
14:36
your hands
14:38
killed jesus
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yet he looks upon those people
14:44
and he loves them
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and i think
14:48
pretty sure
14:50
that if he can love them he can love you
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regardless of your past regardless of of
14:55
what you carry with you that he loves
14:59
you
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you see god has this unconditional love
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because it's his character
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there's really no other way that god can
15:07
act and behave in fact first john kind
15:09
of lays this out for us
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so dear friends let us love one another
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for love comes from god
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everyone who loves has been born of god
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and knows god whoever does not love does
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not know god why because god is
15:26
love
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this is how god showed his love among us
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he sent his one and only son into the
15:33
world that we might live through him
15:36
this is love
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not that we love god but that he loved
15:40
us and sent his son as an atoning
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sacrifice
15:43
for our sins
15:46
friends god loves without condition for
15:47
one reason
15:49
he is love
15:51
it is at the core of his character
15:54
see one of the things we experience in
15:56
the the life the death and the
15:57
resurrection of jesus
15:59
is the greatest picture of this love
16:02
that through jesus we have an
16:04
opportunity not just to to know god but
16:06
to experience the unconditional love of
16:08
god
16:10
because that is who god is
16:13
god is
16:14
love
16:16
and maybe you walked in here today and
16:18
the one thing you need to hear is that
16:20
that god loves you
16:23
the creator god
16:25
loves you
16:28
and maybe you haven't felt loved
16:30
you haven't experienced unconditional
16:32
love
16:34
and you even find unconditional love
16:35
difficult because we struggle showing
16:38
love unconditionally because we're
16:39
broken humans
16:41
but god
16:43
it is his nature and his character to
16:45
love unconditionally
16:47
but not only does god want you to know
16:49
him god wants you to experience his
16:52
unconditional love
16:56
but again that i don't think that's the
16:58
fullness of the truest truth of who god
17:00
is
17:02
the truest truth is that god wants you
17:04
to experience
17:05
transformation
17:08
god wants you to experience the fullness
17:10
of
17:11
of what jesus has done for you and
17:13
and the identity that he establishes for
17:15
you through the death and resurrection
17:17
of jesus what we discover is that our
17:19
identity is is not in the lies or the
17:21
truths of this world
17:23
our identities in the truth of who jesus
17:25
is and that he loves you
17:29
this is how
17:30
the author puts in first corinthians
17:32
chapter one he says for the message of
17:34
the cross is foolishness
17:36
to those who are perishing
17:38
but to us
17:40
who are being saved it is the power of
17:42
god
17:44
you see the cross is the greatest
17:45
picture of love we could ever imagine
17:47
and the resurrection is the greatest
17:49
picture of power we could ever imagine
17:51
and that power do you know what it does
17:52
for you
17:54
you know the power of jesus does for you
17:56
it frees you from the temptation of
17:58
thinking that you have to be perfect
18:01
it frees you from your sins and your
18:03
brokenness in your life
18:06
it allows you to embrace the fullness of
18:08
your identity in christ not in this
18:10
world
18:12
what what is true about you
18:16
what what's true about you you're human
18:20
you're broken
18:22
you are sinful
18:24
you are corrupt
18:27
some of you are single
18:29
some of you are married you're divorced
18:31
you're dating you're a widow
18:35
some of you have numerous failures so
18:38
many that you don't even want to talk
18:39
about it
18:41
some of you have overcome addiction and
18:43
others of you are struggling to find
18:44
sobriety in your life some of you have
18:46
been fired
18:49
there are so many other things that
18:52
the world says about in fact there are
18:53
thousands of truths about you and we
18:56
could talk all day long about what those
18:58
truths are about you but there is a
19:00
truer truth
19:02
and the truest truth about you is that
19:04
you are loved
19:05
by
19:07
god
19:09
that jesus loves you
19:12
and because of that we find the fullness
19:14
of our identity in
19:15
christ
19:17
we find the fullness of our identity in
19:20
jesus
19:21
because god's love trumps every title
19:24
every failure every identity and every
19:27
lie of this world
19:30
now over the next few weeks we're going
19:31
to continue this series called truest
19:33
truth and we're going to dig into the
19:35
realities of that like what is jesus is
19:37
life death and resurrection actually say
19:40
about our identity
19:42
and who we are in him and the truest
19:44
truth about us
19:46
so i want to invite you to make sure you
19:47
return back because i really think this
19:49
is a life-changing series
19:52
that's going to help you grab a hold of
19:53
the freedom that jesus wants for you
19:57
but but i want to circle back to where
19:58
we started
20:01
what is truth
20:04
pilate asked the question
20:07
and then he walked out
20:10
jesus never answered the question for
20:11
pilate at least not verbally
20:14
but he answered it on the cross
20:17
romans 8 11 says and if the spirit of
20:20
him who raised jesus from the dead
20:23
is living in you
20:25
he who raised christ from the dead will
20:27
also give life to your mortal bodies
20:30
because of his spirit who lives in you
20:34
you see on the cross
20:36
the fullness of god's character is
20:37
revealed
20:39
it's because of the cross that we can
20:40
know him it's because of the cross that
20:42
that we can experience the unconditional
20:44
love of god it's because of the cross
20:46
that our lives can be transformed that
20:48
we can find our identity in something
20:50
other than this world
20:52
yes it may be true of you that you are
20:54
hurt
20:56
it may be true of you that you are
20:57
broken
21:00
it may be true of you that you feel
21:01
rejected alone and forgotten
21:06
it may be true of you that you feel
21:08
unworthy of being loved because so many
21:10
people in this world have proven it to
21:12
be true
21:12
[Music]
21:14
all of those things might be true of you
21:16
every single one of them
21:18
but they are not the truest truth about
21:20
who you are
21:23
because the truest thing about you
21:25
is that you're loved
21:28
the truest thing about you
21:30
is that jesus died for you
21:33
and i want you to understand this nuance
21:35
he died not so that you would be saved
21:37
but so that you could be saved
21:40
you see jesus died on a cross for you
21:42
specifically knowing that you might turn
21:45
your back on him
21:48
that you might decide not to receive his
21:49
love
21:52
you might decide that you don't want to
21:53
know jesus you just want to know about
21:55
him
21:56
he died for you knowing full well that
21:59
you might reject him and his sacrifice
22:01
for you would be for naught
22:05
because i don't know if i can think of a
22:07
greater picture of love than that
22:10
the sacrifice of the son of god
22:13
not so that you would but so that you
22:15
could be saved
22:17
i think the invitation of jesus is quite
22:19
clear it has come to me
22:22
and know me
22:23
[Music]
22:24
come to me and be loved by me
22:28
come to me and be transformed
22:31
by me
22:33
come to me
22:35
and discover the truest truth about who
22:38
you are
22:39
you
22:40
are
22:41
mine
22:45
some of you here today find yourself in
22:47
christ
22:48
[Music]
22:49
you've received him you've accepted him
22:50
you've been a follower of jesus and
22:53
and you know what it's like to not just
22:54
know about him but actually know him
22:57
and you know what it's like to be
22:59
unconditionally loved by him
23:03
that you look at your life and you see
23:04
the brokenness but you know
23:06
because you've experienced it that he
23:08
loves you anyway
23:11
and you know what that transformation is
23:12
like to find your identity not in things
23:14
of this world
23:16
not on what you tell yourself about you
23:18
or not what the world says about you but
23:19
in jesus and what he says about you
23:22
[Music]
23:24
if that's the case we're going to
23:25
continue to worship here in a moment as
23:26
we do like you should have received some
23:28
communion elements when you came in
23:30
and that's a great opportunity when you
23:32
were prepared during that time to just
23:34
experience the sacrifice of jesus
23:38
that's a reminder for us of what what
23:40
god did for you so that
23:43
you can know him
23:45
and everything you're thankful for about
23:47
your relationship with jesus
23:49
is represented in that cup
23:51
of the body and blood of jesus as we
23:53
remember his sacrifice for us but some
23:56
of you
23:58
some of you here today
23:59
are not in
24:02
christ some of you are here because you
24:05
were asked to be here
24:08
some of you are here because you've been
24:09
standing kind of on the outskirts of
24:11
this
24:12
this jesus thing
24:15
and you've been watching from the
24:16
outside wondering if it's for you
24:20
any and even some of you have been
24:22
feeling this nudge that you haven't been
24:24
able to put words to it but friends
24:25
that's the holy spirit nudging you to
24:27
take a step into a relationship with
24:29
jesus so that you can experience the
24:31
fullness of the truest truth about you
24:33
that you are loved
24:35
by him
24:39
friends here's what jesus is inviting
24:41
you to
24:43
jesus is inviting you
24:45
to no longer be identified by your
24:47
mistakes
24:48
[Music]
24:50
he's inviting you to no longer be
24:52
identified by your sins and your
24:53
brokenness
24:56
he's inviting you to no longer be
24:58
identified by what the world says about
25:00
you or the pressures of the world to be
25:02
certain things because there are many
25:04
truths about you
25:06
and there's a lot of pressure to live
25:08
into those truths but there's only one
25:10
truth that really matters and that is
25:11
that you are loved by god
25:16
and if you're here today and you haven't
25:17
experienced that love
25:19
ma'am i'm
25:20
pleading with you
25:22
that there is no greater feeling than
25:24
knowing the fullness of the truest truth
25:26
about you and that is that you are loved
25:29
by
25:31
god
25:31
[Music]
25:34
if that's you today i want to encourage
25:35
you to
25:37
to go right over here we have some
25:38
amazing leaders ready to have a
25:40
conversation with you i i know it's
25:41
easter and and you all dressed fancier
25:44
and you did your hair and your makeup
25:46
and
25:47
ladies you did too
25:48
[Music]
25:51
so here's the thing like we were ready
25:52
for you
25:53
you may not have woke up this morning
25:54
being ready for that
25:56
you may not woke up this morning i'm
25:58
gonna go to church i'm gonna get in a
25:59
tub of water and be baptized today but
26:01
maybe that's what the holy spirit is
26:02
nudging you toward
26:06
we have a rule around here one of those
26:08
is when you feel the holy spirit nudge
26:09
you should probably respond
26:11
[Music]
26:13
friends there is
26:15
no greater thing
26:17
than the transition from knowing about
26:19
jesus
26:21
to actually knowing him
26:25
there is no greater thing than going
26:27
from this concept that maybe you're
26:29
loved to
26:30
knowing that you are loved
26:32
[Music]
26:34
and there's no greater thing than going
26:36
from
26:36
being identified by the lies and the
26:39
truths of this world
26:42
to understanding that our real identity
26:45
is found in jesus
26:47
[Music]
26:48
so i'm going to pray here in a moment
26:50
and
26:50
after that prayer i
26:53
i'm just asking you if the holy spirit's
26:54
nudging you
26:55
to take your step toward jesus
26:58
so that you can know him so you can be
26:59
loved by him as you can be transformed
27:02
by him i want you to walk right over
27:03
here and have a conversation
27:07
would you pray with me
27:09
[Music]
27:11
lord god we are forever humble
27:15
the very idea
27:18
that you love us
27:22
[Music]
27:24
sometimes it's hard to wrap our minds
27:25
around
27:28
because we know our stories
27:30
we know where we've been
27:32
we know we've experienced we know what
27:34
we've done
27:35
but god so do you
27:38
and even though you know all that
27:40
[Music]
27:41
you still gave up your life for us
27:44
[Music]
27:46
and you invite us in
27:49
so we know the invitation of jesus is
27:51
quite simple
27:53
come to me and know me
27:56
come to me and be loved by me
28:00
come to me and be transformed by me
28:02
[Music]
28:03
come to me and find your identity in who
28:06
i say
28:08
you
28:09
are
28:10
and i say you are loved
28:13
amen
28:15
[Music]