The Truth About Grace | Anchored Week 3

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You were made to be brave.

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You were born to make a difference.

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God designed you for heart-pumping, joy-filled adventure

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and we're here to guide you to that adventurous life:

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Crossroads Church.

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- Hi, I'm Brian Tome, Senior Pastor at Crossroads.

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- And I'm Chuck Mingo, one of the teaching pastors at Crossroads.

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- Before we get to our regularly scheduled program today,

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let's just notice the tensions that are happening right now.

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There is racial tensions that are happening in our country.

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Actually, there's some of us that are really frustrated by this.

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There's some of us who are really angry about it.

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There's others of us that are kind of tired,

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like, are we talking about this again?

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I think all of us are in different places

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and we can learn something from the coronavirus, maybe,

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based on where you are in the country,

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coronavirus is a big deal or not so much of a big deal.

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And based on where you are in the country

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and your perspective and your neighborhood,

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the racial tensions might be a big deal

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or might not be a big deal.

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But the truth is, the racial stuff we're dealing with,

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it's not going away, at least it hasn't been going away.

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And we need to start talking about these things

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and trying to find a better place to land in our relationships.

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Chuck's a really good friend of mine.

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And how are you doing right now?

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- Yeah, man, it's been -- it's been challenging.

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I think, for a lot of the people that I'm spending time with,

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there's a sense of lament and grieving about,

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man, we are here again.

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And this is ultimately a heart issue, and I know that.

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And so a lot of my time has just been spent

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really just asking, God, "God, how do You --

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how do You change our hearts in this moment,

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all of us, regardless of where we are?"

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I've also gotten a chance to spend some time

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with friends of mine who are in law enforcement

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and connect with them and pray with them.

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I mean, as we've seen now unrest happening

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in many cities across the country

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and some of that turning into, unfortunately,

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vandalism and other things.

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You know, just getting the chance to spend time

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with people who are on the front lines of that

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and just listen to their challenges.

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They're, you know, not taking days off and all of those things.

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So there's a lot of things happening in the country right now

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that cause my heart to be heavy, and at the same time,

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to want to lean in relationally with people like you,

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other people who I'm in relationship with and say,

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"Hey, man, how do we use this moment

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to actually get to a better place?"

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- Yeah, relationships are the key thing.

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I've been doubling down on just interacting

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with folks who have darker skin tones than I am,

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"How are you doing? How are you feeling about this?

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How are you processing it?"

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Walking in the shoes of somebody else,

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or as Jesus would say, you know,

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loving your neighbor as yourself

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has been critical for all of us right now.

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- That's right. That's right.

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And it's one of the reasons why we've been talking

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about this on social platforms and we've written --

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you've written an article about it that I think is really helpful.

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And you can find those things at Crossroads.net

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because we do think that the church is meant

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to be a resource in times like this.

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- Yes, we thought about today preempting

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our regularly scheduled program,

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which we're going to get to in about a minute and a half,

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but realized actually the content for what we're doing today

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is actually perfect. Perfect.

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We're going to talk about Jesus being the judge.

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He's the judge? Yeah, Jesus is the judge.

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That's a core tenant of what it means to be a Christian.

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It's a core tenant of the key things

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of what makes Christianity millions and millions

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and millions of people seen Him that way for a long, long, long time.

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And you've got to wonder, what would it look like

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in our culture if we had Jesus as judge?

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If we had Jesus who is metting out the right justice

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and the right mercy, it would be pretty impressive.

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- It would. It would. I mean, think about it.

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We all want to believe that we can get justice,

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that justice can be achieved,

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whether we're on one side of that and we need it

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or if we're on the other side of that where we deserve justice.

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We want to know that it's gonna be right.

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And Jesus makes it right.

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I mean, think about the peace that we would have right now

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if we knew that ultimately He was making the calls on these things.

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And I believe He is.

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I believe He is and wants to in our lives

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as He gets more and more ground in our hearts.

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And so I think today's going to be really encouraging

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for people to hear that there is a just judge

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and also a merciful judge.

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- Well, let's stop talking about it

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and let's start getting on it.

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- In the second and third century, just like today,

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there were a lot of opinions on what it meant

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to believe in Jesus.

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His followers knew this was a problem,

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so they worked together to write formal statements

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about what those non-negotiable beliefs were.

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They called those statements creeds.

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And one of the most well-known and enduring

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is the Apostles Creed.

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For 1700 years, these are the truths

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that Christians have anchored themselves to.

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- The hardest thing for people to grasp is

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the full personality and responsibility bandwidth of Jesus.

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When you don't just pigeonhole Him into sort of one category,

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but you see He's got a breadth and depth to His role,

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it solidifies your life.

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It gives you an anchoring in the midst of the storm,

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not just to stay where you are,

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but to keep from being tipped over

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and to actually get someplace in your life.

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I'm in a courtroom right now because -- and by the way,

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my name is Brian Tome, Senior Pastor at Crossroads.

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And I'm in this courtroom right now because it reminds me

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of an aspect of Jesus's personality and responsibility.

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In the Apostles' Creed, this ancient set of beliefs

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that followers of Christ have held for thousands of years,

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it says that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father

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and He will come to judge the living and the dead.

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He will come to judge.

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Let me tell you something,

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I love to encourage and inspire people.

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In fact, I think it's part of the responsibility

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for a church to encourage and inspire people.

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We live in a society and a culture

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that is incredibly discouraging, that is incredibly draining,

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that's always putting more expectations on us,

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more demands, and grinding us down to a nub.

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And I believe God's people should be

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an oasis in the midst of negativity.

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And having said that, you're going to be hearing me

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really clearly, the main job of a church

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is not to encourage, it's not to inspire;

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the main job is to prepare, is to prepare you

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for a life that is just around the corner,

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to prepare you to understand a God

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who is more involved in this world and your life

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than you can imagine.

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To make you prepared, because one day all of us

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are going to stand before the judge.

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And believe it or not, His name is Jesus.

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He's not just a lovely flower power good guy,

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He's a judge.

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The very first time that Jesus is recording as teaching

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something He teaches from the Book of Isaiah 61

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and He applies this prophecy to himself.

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Here's what it says:

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That Isaiah passage, that's just great stuff

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throughout the whole thing.

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I think that we all err towards

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grasping all the positive things,

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how He's there to help the oppressed,

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how He's there to help the poor.

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And we should; God cares about all those things.

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But I also think at the same time,

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we're robbing ourselves of understanding

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the full band width of the personality

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and responsibility of Jesus.

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All of us are tired of preachers screaming at us.

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All of us are tired of angry white man just yelling things.

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All of us do not appreciating going downtown

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and people holding up signs about turning and burning.

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None of us like the like the billboards

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on the side of a highway that reminds us that hell is for real.

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All of us have heard these things that we're like, ehh.

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And so therefore, we've selectively shut down

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out of our mind all of the truth in the Bible

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that talks about vengeance being something that God does,

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talking about judgment being a core responsibility

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and part of the personality of Jesus.

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Now, to spill this out more, let's take a look at

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the book of 2 Timothy 4. Here's what it says:

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This is a section of the Bible that the Apostle Paul

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was writing to Timothy,

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preparing Timothy to lead people spiritually

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and he was preparing people like me to lead you spiritually,

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preparing people like you to lead other people spiritually.

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This is important stuff here.

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And he says we're supposed to do our job, when?

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We're supposed to do it in season and out of season.

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What does it mean to do it in season and out?

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It means when you want to do it

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and when you don't want to do it.

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No one ever -- I'll speak for myself.

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I never want to tell people about the judgment of God.

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I never want to remind people of the vengeance of God.

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It's just not someting I get excited about.

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I'm out of season right now, but I told you before

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I'm here to prepare you today, friends.

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I'm here to get you ready for a life of solidity.

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I'm here to get you ready for the future.

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I'm here to get you ready, it sounds cliche but it's true,

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to meet your maker.

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It's gonna happen someday,

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maybe sooner than many of us believe it's going to.

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And to do that, how do we prepare?

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Well, by reproving, by rebuking, by exhorting, and by teaching.

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Reproving would be to say,

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"Hey, you're going a degree off one way or the other.

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Just come back another degree."

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Rebuke would be, "Hey, you're going down the wrong path.

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Let me get you to totally switch

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and come back the other side."

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Exhorting, encouraging, "Keep going. Keep going.

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You're doing well. Come on."

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And teaching, "Here is the character of God

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that you have to see," and I have to teach you right now.

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I've got to exhort you. I've got to rebuke you.

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I've got to reprove you

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based on where you are spiritually

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to see here that Christ Jesus is the judge.

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He doesn't just affirm.

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He doesn't just make you feel good.

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He doesn't just make you smile.

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Part of His role is to judge.

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Well, who?

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Well, the living: everyone who's alive right now;

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and the dead: everyone who's been alive before us.

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Friends, this is deep stuff.

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We should expect -- We should expect if there is a God

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that is above and beyond us,

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we should be facing truths periodically that we don't like.

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We should be facing cosmic realities

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that cut against the grain of our culture

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that wants to numb us down

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and just have a stream YouTube all day long.

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This is critical, friends.

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Every, every single follower of Christ

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who has fared well before the judgment seat of Christ

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has been anchored and rooted in this identity of who Jesus is.

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Now, let me kind of get out of my defendant seat

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for a moment and let me maybe be the prosecutor.

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Let me -- let me give us some evidence right now.

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If the Apostles' Creed is right, if the Bible is right,

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if thousands of years and millions and millions

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and millions of followers of Christ are right

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that Jesus is actually God, He's actually Lord,

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He actually has a grand macro responsibility over all of us,

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what might that affect?

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Let's say if He's Lord, if you choose that He is Lord,

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and the truth is, reality is He is Lord,

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you have unlimited upside.

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You are ready to experience the judge.

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You are ready for whatever eternity has for you.

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Let's say that Jesus actually is Lord.

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You choose that He's Lord.

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But what if He's not? What if He's just a nice guy?

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I mean, all of us agree He's at least a nice guy, right?

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Well, then then where does that get you?

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Well, you still have significant upside.

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I just ran across a study released by Harvard

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that said that people who have faith in Jesus,

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who attend religious services have 66% more likelihood

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of having the right attitude during difficulty,

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between 66% and 33%, depending on age and gender

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So even if He's only a nice guy and you see Him as God,

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as the judge, massive upside.

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Your life will only improve.

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You're not wrong; you've just made a choice

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that's still going to give you a better life.

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What if Jesus is really a nice guy?

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That's what you choose, He's just a nice guy.

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And Jesus really only is a nice guy, well, there's no change.

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Whatever, just continue living your life the way you are,

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having no power, having no anything, but there's no change.

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If you believe Jesus is a nice guy,

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and he's actually Lord, you have on limited downside.

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Because He's not just the most loving person

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who's ever walked the planet Earth, He is,

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He's also judge.

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And this is intimidating.

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And it should be intimidating.

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But what makes Jesus unique as judge

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is also what makes Him uniquely qualified

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to be on the judgment seat

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and that's what we're going to look at next.

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- Man, that is good news to know that I have a judge

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I can trust in Jesus.

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It gives me hope in the midst of all the crazy stuff

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going on in our world.

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We're gonna get back to Brian in a moment,

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but maybe you're checking us out for the first time

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or you want someone to pray with you

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or you would just like to figure out what are

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my next steps in being a part of the Crossroads community?

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We'd love to talk with you, so come on and talk with us.

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You know, even though our church buildings are closed,

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the church is still open.

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And I believe now more than ever,

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our neighbors need a church.

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They need people who are on a journey to follow Jesus

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and places they can connect and belong.

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And so I just want you to know you can do that.

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And those of us who give, who tithe, actually fund

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the kind of life change that we see happening around Crossroads.

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If you want to join us in that,

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you can go to Crossroads.net/give

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or text the word Crossroads to 313131.

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Well, let's get back to Brian

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and see what he's up to in that courtroom.

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- I am not wearing that.

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You should want Jesus to be your judge.

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Someone has to judge us.

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Someone has to set things right in the cosmos.

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We know there's way too many injustices.

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There has to be a reckoning before a just God.

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And if you're going to go before that God,

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you want that to be Jesus,

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because He's the one who's full of grace.

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He's the one who understands mercy.

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He's the one who understands forgiveness,

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who has actually died for you to be forgiven.

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The last words in the Apostles' Creed,

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this belief statement that millions and millions

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of people have been anchored to for thousands

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and thousands of years summarizes

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the good news of Jesus as the judge.,

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the good news of the gospel.

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It says that: I believe in the forgiveness of sins,

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the resurrection of the body,

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and the life everlasting. Amen.

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Ominous phrase in there: the resurrection of the body.

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Jesus was resurrected literally, physically, and historically.

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It proves that He is God because He beat it

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and it's a foretaste of what happens with every person

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because He's going to judge the living and the dead

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who are resurrected to come before His judgment seat.

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I told you, friends, we're preparing for something here.

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I know this might sound crazy right now,

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but someday this going to happen with you

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and you're going to be thankful you heard at one place,

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at least, that's right here.

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He is amazingly graceful.

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He's amazingly powerful.

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And He's beyond are even description,

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that's why the art forms that we have

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that try to depict Jesus

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almost always fall way, way short of the mark.

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But I saw one recently that I thought nails it.

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The first depiction of Jesus where I saw it,

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I thought, yeah, I would give my life to that guy.

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And I've seen it a few times.

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And every time I see a little snippet, I get emotional.

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I want to share one of those snippets with you right now.

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It's from a project that's called The Chosen.

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You can get that app or you can also get it on YouTube.

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It's fantastic.

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I've been interacting with the producers and directors,

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Dallas Jenkins.

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He's given us permission to be able to show this.

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And I love this scene.

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It's assuming that Peter had some significant financial problems

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and he is wearing a lot of stress

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before a well-known miracle takes place.

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I want you to see this because you're going to see

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the Jesus that I know that I've never seen depicted

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until I saw it in the midst of this production.

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And I want you to see if you can't maybe relate

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a little bit to the frustration or the difficulty

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that Peter's going through in this depiction,

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which may have been exactly historical,

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but we just don't know.

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History is pretty silent on it.

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Before this well-known miracle takes place,

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we see Peter in significant financial and relational distress.

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He's in debt.

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He owes taxes that he can't get caught up on.

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And bad things are about to happen to him.

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He's at the end of his rope

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and he's trying to get some fish to knock down the bills

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and it's just not working. Let's pick up that scene.

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- Put that down for a catch, a little farther out.

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- I don't have a quarrel with you, teacher,

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but we've been doing this all night, nothing.

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All right, at your word.

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Grab the net. Grab it.

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(struggling) Take that side.

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(grunts)

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Hey. - Let's go.

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(indiscernible yelling)

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(laughter)

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- Simon, I told you.

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I told you. I told you.

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My brother and MY baptizer.

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You are the Lamb of God, yes?

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- I am.

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- Depart for me.

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I am a sinful man.

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You don't know who I am, the things I've done.

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- Don't be afraid, Simon.

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- I'm sorry.

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We waited for you for so long.

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We believed, but my faith, how sorry.

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- Lift up your head, fisherman.

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- What do you want from me?

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Anything you ask, I will do.

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- Follow me.

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- Maybe you're like Peter.

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Maybe you're at the end of your rope financially,

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the end of your rope physically, emotionally,

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relationally, spiritually.

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And you need a judge that's going to come to you

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and tell you it's OK,

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who's going to raise their gavel and go, "Not guilty.

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Innocent. I declare you forgiven."

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That is called grace.

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You and I need a judge that is full of grace, full of power,

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and has the ability to do what you and I can't do.

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That's the Jesus I know.

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That's the grace giver I know.

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That's the judge that I'm looking forward to going before.

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Maybe you've never received Him, you can do that right now.

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Let's just pray together.

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Jesus, I want to receive You into my life.

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I pray right now that You would forgive me for my sin.

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Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit.

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As best I can, I will follow You the rest of my life. Amen.

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If you've prayed that prayer,

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why don't you go to Crossroads.net and chat with us.

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We'd love to be able to help you out on next steps.

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And for all of us, we need to be so thankful

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for the amazing grace of this great judge.

00:23:32

Why don't we just sing to Him right now

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and let's join our voices together from all over the country,

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giving Him the praise, the compliments, the adoration,

00:23:42

the worship that this just judge deserves, let's do that.

00:34:29

- Thanks for singing together.

00:34:30

You know you can listen to the Crossroads Music

00:34:32

and use it to encourage you in your relationship with God throughout the week.

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You can find it on all of your music platforms.

00:34:38

Another way you can stay connected with us throughout the week

00:34:40

is using the Crossroads app.

00:34:41

If you go to Crossroads.net/anchored

00:34:43

you can download the app, and in it follow Brian and others

00:34:47

as we journal and share what God is teaching us

00:34:50

you can get daily Scripture,

00:34:51

you can also get prayed for, all right through the app.

00:34:54

Crossroads is fueled by the generosity of people like you and me.

00:34:57

So if you want to join us in giving to what God's doing here,

00:35:00

you can go to Crossroads.net/give

00:35:02

or texting the word Crossroads to 313131.

00:35:06

Next week, Ali's going to be talking about the next aspect of The Creed:

00:35:10

I believe in the Holy Spirit.

00:35:11

You know, the Holy Spirit can be this mystical thing,

00:35:13

but she's going to demystify it and make it super relevant to your lives.

00:35:17

You won't want to miss it.

00:35:18

I'm going to be here. Are you going to be here?

00:35:20

I hope so. Have a great week.

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