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Hey, before we get to Israel, my name is Brian Tome
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I'm the founding and senior pastor of Crossroads Church.
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Man, today is going to be great.
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You're going to get something big out of today.
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Crossroads, like many other organizations, have been utterly shut down.
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We're not meeting in buildings, so we've taken church digital.
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So welcome the church.
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Now, some of us would say, "Wait a minute.
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I understand why you shut down, but hey, man,
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there's this coronavirus thing, COVID-19 that's happening.
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Why in the world would we be talking about Israel at a time like this?
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Well, it's times like this are the exact reasons
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why I'm going to talk about something that's transcendent.
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I don't know about you,
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but I'm kind of tired talking about social distancing,
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let alone practicing social distancing.
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I'm kind of tired talking about quarantines and all that's important.
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All that is, it really is, but sometimes we've got a helicopter up
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to get a more transcendent view of who is God?
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What is God all about?
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Because in times like this,
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when you have the God question right,
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your life aligns and you have something a little bit extra.
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So we're going forward because we believe The Jesus Myth,
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this series that we're in right now, we're about to start,
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is the perfect thing for us in our national crisis right now.
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The perfect thing.
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We believe this is the thing right now to give us
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the eternal perspective we need
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to help us to have the endurance we need,
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to help us to be able to tap into a power that's beyond us.
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Because the question of who is Jesus is everything,
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especially in the midst of crisis.
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So we're going to go ahead and get started.
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And we'll be back to see you in a little bit.
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- The Jesus Myth.
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A pilgrimage to the most controversial places on earth,
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investigating ancient stories of Jesus,
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separating the myth from the truth
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and discovering what it means for you today.
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The third season of Real Encounters with God.
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All new on location in Israel.
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Hey, I'm Brian Tome.
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Welcome to Real Encounters with God, Season Three.
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We're going to go places where very few people ever go.
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That's what a pilgrimage is.
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We're going to go to the Holy Land and see sights
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that you'd have a hard time seeing under regular circumstances,
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let alone circumstances where there's a travel ban
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as our world deals with the global coronavirus.
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You're going to see and experience things
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that I hope take you to a new level,
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not just intellectually, but maybe emotionally, maybe spiritually.
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Just maybe you may meet Jesus.
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What does that mean?
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Doesn't that sound like really weird, "Meet Jesus"?
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Who is He?
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Like some of our depictions of Jesus are just odd.
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Look at this one.
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Is Jesus white?
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This is whitey Jesus.
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No, Jesus was not white.
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This is this is way, way, too --
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Who was Jesus?
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Was he -- Was he a bearded lady, bearded lady Jesus?
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Ws he was a spooky Jesus who just would go,
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(character voice) "Look into my eyes, receive me as Messiah"?
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You know, Jesus can be only four things:
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He can be a myth, just a good story, but not based on fact;
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He can be a moral teacher,
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He teaches us helpful ways to live,
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but not really claiming much beyond that;
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He can be a maniac, a crazy person
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making dangerous claims to be something that He isn't;
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or it could be a Messiah,
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the one who would once and for all save humanity,
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save us from our sins.
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If you ever said, "Jesus Christ,"
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what you're saying is, "Jesus is the Messiah."
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Messiah means one who saves, one who pulls me out, one who rescues me.
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Anybody can say Jesus of Nazareth, that's a historical fact,
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that's where He came from.
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But to say, Jesus Christ, you're recognizing that he's Messiah.
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Christ comes from the Greek word Christos.
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Christos traces back to the Hebrew word for Messiah.
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That is what the scriptures teach that Jesus is.
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Whether He is that or not,
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whether you believe that or not, that's up to you.
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That's the journey that we're going to go on
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here in this episode and throughout this entire series.
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We're going to start this episode off
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with something that's going to be a bit intense.
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I'm going to actually get a tattoo.
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Why would I get a tattoo?
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Well, one of the reasons I'm getting a tattoo
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is because when people would make pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
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they oftentimes would get a tattoo.
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We're going to go into a shop that's been family owned for 700 years.
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People have been coming here to get tattoos
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as a sign of their pilgrimage.
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- Hey.
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- Hey. Good to see you. I'm good.
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I'm the guy getting the tattoo, so let's get started.
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So let me suggest this one, which is 500 years old.
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- This was used in 1669 to tattoo a pilgrim
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who had documented his pilgrimage.
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I have this on me, I can show it to you.
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- Perfect. So I'll take exactly that.
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- We will use the actual stem.
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- All right, so let me tell you why I got this tattooed.
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It's really because I wanted to follow the footsteps
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of thousands of spiritual pilgrims before me.
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I was not excited to mark my body with something permanently,
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but the idea of tapping into a bloodline,
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a family tree to declare my faith
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with a physical mark was pretty cool.
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I got caught up in it.
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I'm totally glad I did it.
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Now think about this for a second.
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What evidence or experience would compel somebody
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to permanently mark their body,
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in many cases, a mark that would get them killed?
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How convinced would you have to be that Jesus is the Messiah
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that you'd be willing to put a mark on your body
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that would have you get killed possibly for your faith?
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I mean, this isn't an artistic cool thing;
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this is a death thing.
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People who take bold steps like this inspire me;
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I want to be more like them.
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- Very early this came with my family from Egypt,
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and this served as a pass to enter churches,
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because when Islam spread out through Africa,
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it started with Egypt.
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And this is where the tattoo came from.
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And those who did not convert or refused to convert
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were actually tattooed with a Cross on the wrist
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to distinguish them to be taxed or, you know.
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- Oh, wow. It was a forceful tattoo.
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- Fascinating.
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So then they just decided to own it,
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and say, "Okay, I will own fate.
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Fine, I'm going to do it myself."
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- Exactly, so one generation after the other,
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they started doing it themselves.
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It also served the purpose of, as I said,
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the Christians to know who remained Christian
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and did not convert.
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So that's how my family started doing tattoos
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700 years ago in Egypt tattooing Coptic Christians.
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Your tattoo is the ultimate proof of your Christianity
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and therefore it gives you the pass into the church.
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- Would this one pass for me if I went in?
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- Yes, it's a Cross.
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All right. So we're doing the red now.
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- You have thick skin, tough skin.
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- I do? - Yeah.
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- You guys are wishing you had one of these, aren't you?
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Come on, admit it.
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- You're not manly enough to get this, though.
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He doesn't like people in the chair who cry.
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All right.
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Good. Thank you, friend.
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It was great.
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Great, great, friend.
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- Excellent.
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- There she is.
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That was good, that was a great experience.
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From the tattoo shop, our pilgrimage continues.
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We're going to go to Church of the Nativity
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in Bethlehem, Palestinian controlled Bethlehem,
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the place where supposedly Jesus was born.
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For real? Let's go find out.
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In our pilgrimage, we're going to be in places
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like this where there is a lot of people
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who have been making pilgrimage from all over the world
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to come right here to Bethlehem.
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Behind me and all around this area is where
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they were raising sheep for the temple.
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All kinds of caves and holding pens would have been everywhere.
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By the way, it's Bethlehem where we are, not Bethleham.
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Jesus was Jewish, He was kosher.
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H wouldn't have any ham.
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But people have been making pilgrimage to this place
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from all over the world and they still are right now.
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We know about this place in large part
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thanks to Constantine's Mother, Helena.
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A little about Helena, se's the mother
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of one of the most controversial figures in all of history,
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Constantine, the Emperor Constantine,
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who mandated Christianity as the official religion
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of the Roman Empire.
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A lot of controversy, a lot of strange stuff there.
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The reason he did that, in addition other things,
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was the influence of his mother, Helena.
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Helena came over to this area wanting to find key sites
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that were significant in Jesus life.
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Specifically and especially she wanted to find
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the place where He was born.
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She wanted to find the place where He was crucified
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and buried and the place where He ascended into heaven
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when the end of His time on earth had happened.
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To do that, what she did was she looked to see
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where people were going and worshipping.
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Where the locals, the people who follow Christ,
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where were they memorializing?
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What was happening?
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And when she saw that, she had churches built.
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This is similar to our country.
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We moralize things when someone dies
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on the side of a highway, you see a Cross
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and you see some flowers and other stuff.
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We know that that's where that happened.
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Whenever something important to us, we put a monument on it.
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Think of these churches as monuments.
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So while we might like to think,
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"Oh, I wish it was just like the manger or the way
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it was way, way back, you know, 18, 19, 2000 years ago."
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You wouldn't want that, it would be gone.
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It would be over.
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It would probably be condominiums there instead.
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Wherever there is a church here,
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it's because something sacred took place.
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What took place was Mary and Joseph came here
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to give birth to their son.
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This is actually prophesied in the book of Micah,
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hundreds of years before Jesus came around
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that this little town, Bethlehem, would be the place
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where the Messiah was to be born.
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Mary and Joseph come and we know the story as
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there's no room at the inn.
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That's not really true.
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It doesn't say that specifically in the Bible.
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What it says is that they came to Bethlehem
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and they would have gone to Joseph's House,
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his household, a place where his family was,
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because they were all coming in for this event for the census.
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It wasn't a large house in all likelihood.
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It maybe had one spare bedroom and that one was full,
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and so they had to go basically into the garage,
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into the stable, into perhaps the cave.
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You might think it could have been because
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the family was a little embarrassed because Mary,
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they may be thinking, was pregnant by dishonorable means.
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Maybe they put them out there
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because we can't have him around here.
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They used to think that way back then.
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But in this place is where the Messiah was born.
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Now we're going to go inside.
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We've got special permission to film in there.
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And it is the place, it's the place this happened.
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It's pretty cool that this is saved.
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So when people take pilgrimage here,
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we can say, "My faith was birthed here.
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It wasn't just that Jesus was born here,
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but this was going to be the birth place for my faith
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to see something in Him that would affect
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the rest of my life, not only that, but my eternity."
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So let's go inside the Church of Nativity to see
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what the actual birthplace of Jesus looks like right now.
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So we're in line right now to go down
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to where the manger would have been.
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And it's the first time I've been here
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when the temple's been restored.
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It's been being restored for over a decade.
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So it's kind of cool this church is put back together.
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I'm just hearing different languages here
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from all over the world, different ages.
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It's pretty cool, and people making pilgrimage.
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[ indiscernible singing ]
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There's a lot of hands that touched that thing.
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You could feel it, it's perfectly smooth.
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You can just kind of get a sense
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of how this could have been a cave at one point
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and the church was built over top of it.
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That's where the manger was.
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A lot of people have been through here.
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This is for real.
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This might not be your brand of spirituality,
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the accoutrements that are on it, but the main thing
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is what actually took place here 2000 years ago.
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This is not mythical; this is reality.
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So let me explain a little more why I believe
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that this is actually the place where Jesus was born.
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Whenever we try to find out what actually happened
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and where, you look at a number of things.
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One, are there sources that speak to it outside of the Bible?
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Two, what about before Constantine came along
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and his mother came along,
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was there any evidence that it was there?
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Three, geographically, does it make sense
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in terms of this was here, this was there in ancient things?
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And then four,
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is there any actual archaeological evidence,
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things you can find and unearth
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that says that this is where it was?
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And in all these four categories,
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the evidence is abundantly clear.
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If you don't believe that George Washington
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ever walked the earth then I guess you could believe
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that Jesus never walked the earth.
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But if you believe George Washington did,
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you've got to believe Jesus did,
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because the evidence is about exactly the same.
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Let's settle it right now, Jesus was real; He was not a myth.
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You know, these questions of whether
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Jesus was a myth, a maniac, a Messiah,
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they're not new questions.
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00:16:00
People have been asking them for thousands of years.
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00:16:04
My friend Alli went to talk to someone
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who's asked these questions in his own life.
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- So, hey, Matt, welcome.
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00:16:10
We're going to talk a little bit about your faith story today.
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Can you give us a little -- give us a little snippet
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of how you grew up
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and how that led you to think certain ways about God?
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- So I was raised in a family that were following God
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in the best ways we knew how.
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And it was really just more or less under compulsion.
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It wasn't something I was interested in.
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It wasn't until very late in college,
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my senior year of college actually,
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that I began to kind of think about God,
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in many ways for the first time.
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I started to wonder what is that stuff
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that I remember hearing as a kid?
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What does that mean for me now?
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You know, I leave school,
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I'm off now on my own in the working world.
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And I met a handful of people in Cincinnati.
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They just invited me in.
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They said, "Hey, we do this thing at our house
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00:17:06
on Thursday nights. Just come hang out.
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00:17:09
We're gonna talk about the Bible a little bit."
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And it was just a matter of digging into scripture,
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really, for the first time of my own volition
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and discussing it with people in community.
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Then going home on my own
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and asking myself some hard questions about
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whether or not I was really going to believe
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all of these things that I was reading about.
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I felt actually very drawn to God.
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And at the same time, what I really wrestled with
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was the intellectual validity of these things
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and whether or not by choosing to believe
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some of these things that I read in scripture
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and to orient my life around them would be
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00:18:00
in some sense almost an intellectual suicide.
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Would I be leaving my --
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sort of checking my brain at the door, if you will,
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by believing some of these things?
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- Faith is risk.
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Can you see a moment in your story
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where you took a risk on God?
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- For me, at least at the time, Alli,
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the risk that I felt like I was taking
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was that I was going to be rejected
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by a lot of other people in my life who I cared about,
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who are not believers.
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And I knew that they were gonna look at me and think,
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"You're one of the smartest people we know,
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what in the world are you doing?"
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- "How can you believe this?"
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- "How can you believe this?"
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- I almost think of doubt as a prerequisite to faith,
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because if I had perfect information --
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- no risk required.
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- -- there's really no need for me to have faith
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because there's just certainty.
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00:18:58
- So talk to me about Jesus.
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00:19:00
How did you wrestle with who He actually was?
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00:19:03
And did that become central?
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00:19:06
It must have at some point become central in your questioning.
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00:19:10
- The central question has to be:
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00:19:12
Who do you say that Jesus is?
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And that's what it came down to for me.
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It can really only be one of three options.
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He's either a fairy tale that really never existed,
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00:19:23
He's actively trying to deceive us about who He is,
-
00:19:29
or He actually is who He says He is.
-
00:19:32
He's actually God.
-
00:19:33
I had this preponderance of evidence
-
00:19:37
that really told me that Jesus absolutely existed.
-
00:19:42
- Right, so you can check off the fairytale.
-
00:19:44
This is not a fairytale.
-
00:19:46
- You can check off the fairytale,
-
00:19:48
but nothing about His story lined up with this second option
-
00:19:54
where He's actively trying to deceive people
-
00:19:57
in some grab for political power or influence.
-
00:20:02
That didn't make sense either.
-
00:20:04
So I'm really only left with one option.
-
00:20:07
That line of thinking, coupled with
-
00:20:10
what the Holy Spirit was doing in me
-
00:20:13
in drawing me to God at the time,
-
00:20:17
just led me to the point where I said, "Okay, that's enough."
-
00:20:20
- "That's enough. I don't know everything."
-
00:20:23
I'm now comfortable with the fact that I don't know everything.
-
00:20:26
- So, Matt, when you think about moments
-
00:20:30
where faith has been absolutely required of you,
-
00:20:33
like there's no way forward unless I exhibit some faith,
-
00:20:38
does a story come to mind where you just really felt
-
00:20:41
like you were in the dark, you're going to move
-
00:20:43
even though you don't,
-
00:20:44
you really literally don't know what's ahead?
-
00:20:48
- Our third daughter was born too early
-
00:20:51
and she didn't survive the delivery.
-
00:20:54
It was a dark, dark moment for us, of course.
-
00:20:59
But even in that moment, I had an experience
-
00:21:05
of God comforting me in the sense that I somehow knew
-
00:21:10
that that child was with Him
-
00:21:13
and that my wife and I were gonna be okay.
-
00:21:16
There was no way that I could have been present
-
00:21:21
for my wife in a meaningful way,
-
00:21:23
but for the grace of God in my life in that moment.
-
00:21:26
- How do you actually connect to Jesus in your day to day life?
-
00:21:32
- It's funny you ask that question because in many ways for me
-
00:21:36
now that relationship feels far less intellectual.
-
00:21:40
- Oh, that's kind of cool.
-
00:21:41
- Than what I wrestled with at the time.
-
00:21:44
What I believe now feels more basic.
-
00:21:48
I know enough of God because of what I have experienced of Him,
-
00:21:52
that I believe that I can trust Him.
-
00:21:54
I believe that He's good.
-
00:21:56
I don't have a dramatic conversion story
-
00:21:59
where I can point to a single moment in time
-
00:22:02
where everything in my life changed.
-
00:22:05
But what I can point to is a series of small yeses to God.
-
00:22:10
- We're going to go along with Cereal,
-
00:22:16
my nickname for him is Tsuriel.
-
00:22:18
Everyone I like I have a nickname for.
-
00:22:20
Let me tell you about Tsuriel.
-
00:22:21
He's one of most impressive dudes I have ever known.
-
00:22:24
He comes from a family.
-
00:22:26
It's a first generation of Jews
-
00:22:28
that immigrated to Israel when it became a new state.
-
00:22:32
Of that first generation, his was the original family
-
00:22:37
that was Christ followers.
-
00:22:39
He comes from a family that's been serving Christ
-
00:22:41
for 80 years inside of Israel,
-
00:22:43
three different generations that have been
-
00:22:46
studying the scriptures, piecing things together.
-
00:22:48
Their family has even discovered Bible locations.
-
00:22:52
That's amazing.
-
00:22:54
He's an incredibly wise guy.
-
00:22:55
He's a hotel owner.
-
00:22:57
He is a business person.
-
00:22:58
He's a tour guide.
-
00:23:00
He's even a former operative with the Israeli Special Forces.
-
00:23:03
He's an amazing dude.
-
00:23:04
I tell you what I love about him most.
-
00:23:06
He's one of the wisest, smartest guys I've ever met
-
00:23:09
with credentials coming out the ying-yang.
-
00:23:11
And yet he's okay to say, "I don't know.
-
00:23:16
I'm not sure of this."
-
00:23:17
Whenever I hear someone say that,
-
00:23:19
their stock goes up in my eyes.
-
00:23:20
So we're gonna enjoy him a lot in this episode
-
00:23:22
and throughout our entire series.
-
00:23:30
So what happened to your hand?
-
00:23:31
- Unfortunately broke it.
-
00:23:33
- How?
-
00:23:34
- I tried to snowboard and it didn't work very well.
-
00:23:37
- Dude, I have heard people say that.
-
00:23:39
I have zero interest in trying to learn that.
-
00:23:42
But anyway, this is pretty cool place.
-
00:23:45
- Yeah, we are just coming now climbing up
-
00:23:48
towards Mt. Moriah where the temple used to stand.
-
00:23:51
- Ah, these steps, are these are the original steps?
-
00:23:55
- Yeah. You can see here some of the original steps.
-
00:23:58
You can see they are carved in the bedrock itself.
-
00:24:00
Some are new, of course, but you can see some of the original.
-
00:24:02
Notice also that there is a different side.
-
00:24:04
It's wide and it's narrow.
-
00:24:06
It's wide and it's narrow.
-
00:24:07
This is how they built it
-
00:24:08
so people would not run up to the mountain.
-
00:24:10
You have to -- it's a holy place up there.
-
00:24:12
So you need to walk slowly, not to have any, you know --
-
00:24:15
- Intentionally slowing you down,
-
00:24:17
so you get into the holiness of the moment.
-
00:24:19
- Yes. That's the purpose of it.
-
00:24:20
- Fascinating.
-
00:24:22
So all of the stuff that happens in the Middle East,
-
00:24:24
around the temple.
-
00:24:25
I mean we're right here.
-
00:24:26
We're just about ground zero of the temple
-
00:24:28
and the mosque and all of that stuff.
-
00:24:30
- Yeah, 2000 years ago, you can imagine Jesus was here
-
00:24:34
with his disciples.
-
00:24:35
He's Jewish. They're all Jewish.
-
00:24:37
The temple is up there.
-
00:24:38
It was a wide street and people would all climb up here.
-
00:24:42
There were tunnels, actually gates and tunnels
-
00:24:45
that would lead thousands of pilgrims all the way up to the top.
-
00:24:48
And this is where Jesus speak to the multitudes.
-
00:24:51
This is where He starts to have those claims about who He is.
-
00:24:54
He's not only a man; He's also the Messiah,
-
00:24:57
basically the son of God.
-
00:24:58
- Wow. And this -- like these walls, this --
-
00:25:04
Was this here when He was here, these exact?
-
00:25:05
- Yeah. These are the original stones,
-
00:25:07
as you can see over here, huge stones.
-
00:25:09
You can see they are carved very, very nice, big stones.
-
00:25:12
- The originals.
-
00:25:13
And so He may have literally brushed up against these stones.
-
00:25:18
- Jesus definitely have seen.
-
00:25:20
He was standing somewhere over here with His disciples.
-
00:25:22
He was climbing through those tunnels
-
00:25:24
that are here with the those stones.
-
00:25:26
- This is when it starts to get real; doesn't it?
-
00:25:28
Of Him saying that He is Messiah.
-
00:25:30
He's no longer just a Jew
-
00:25:33
that has some interesting spiritual ideas.
-
00:25:34
When He starts saying that, it's big time.
-
00:25:36
- He's not only a rabbi, He's not only a great teacher,
-
00:25:39
He is the Messiah and He starts to have those claims.
-
00:25:41
Yes, you're right.
-
00:25:42
- It is game on.
-
00:25:43
The rest of His life is never going to be the same on that.
-
00:25:45
- That's that's powerful.
-
00:25:50
The Jewish temple is the center of the Jewish faith.
-
00:25:55
It's tied up in history, crazy Bible stories.
-
00:25:58
I don't have the time to go into all of them,
-
00:26:00
but one of them, Abraham, climbs up the top of Mt.
-
00:26:03
Moriah
-
00:26:04
to sacrifice his son, Isaac.
-
00:26:05
If he doesn't, by the way, spoiler alert.
-
00:26:07
I can't tell you even all of that story.
-
00:26:08
But it's believed that this exact location
-
00:26:11
is the place of the temple is built.
-
00:26:13
In fact, this exact location
-
00:26:15
is where the Holy of Holies is.
-
00:26:17
This is a very, very, very rich place for all Jews.
-
00:26:21
It's a place where you would go and pilgrimage to,
-
00:26:23
and Jesus would pilgrimage there.
-
00:26:25
And much of His teaching is here around the temple
-
00:26:28
because he could draw crowds
-
00:26:29
and the Romans wouldn't actually interfere with Him.
-
00:26:39
The thing about Jesus's teaching is, you've got to pick a side.
-
00:26:42
You've got to go here or you've got to go there.
-
00:26:45
You've gotta say, "Well, this is either
-
00:26:46
a good moral teaching," or "This is ridiculousness."
-
00:26:50
You've got to say, "Well, maybe He is God," or
-
00:26:53
"My goodness, the guy's a loony tune.
-
00:26:55
He's a maniac. He's an utter maniac."
-
00:26:58
You got to say, "Well, He's actually helpful," or
-
00:27:01
"No, He's actually hurtful to people
-
00:27:02
because His teaching cuts."
-
00:27:04
And we see this as He's in this area
-
00:27:07
and as He's teaching.
-
00:27:09
In the book of John, Chapter 7, here's what it says:
-
00:28:03
Here we see it, there was a division among the people.
-
00:28:07
They were divided because His teaching was blunt.
-
00:28:13
Blunt force trauma sometimes is what it is.
-
00:28:17
He says these weird things in here.
-
00:28:19
He says, "Hey, hey, if you're thirsty, you can come to me."
-
00:28:23
What does that mean?
-
00:28:24
Is that good moral teaching?
-
00:28:26
Do you want people come up and lick on your fingers?
-
00:28:27
That's not very moral.
-
00:28:28
What do you mean?
-
00:28:29
And then He even goes even further that that.
-
00:28:31
He says, "Out of me streams of water will gush forth."
-
00:28:36
What? Are you saying that your belly button is open
-
00:28:40
and everybody drink water and it comes up?
-
00:28:42
What? What? What are you talking about?
-
00:28:44
He starts talking about the Holy Spirit.
-
00:28:47
We know this now in clarity as we look back on it,
-
00:28:50
but in that moment, people go, "What are you talking about?"
-
00:28:52
As he talks about the Spirit, they only knew
-
00:28:55
the Spirit is supposed to be on the other side of this wall.
-
00:28:57
The Spirit is in the Holy of Holies in the temple.
-
00:29:01
And now Jesus saying, "No, I have the Spirit
-
00:29:05
and it's going to be coming out of Me to you"?
-
00:29:09
That's maniacal. That's maniacal,
-
00:29:13
or it actually is good teaching and it is true.
-
00:29:17
No, I have sensed God in my life
-
00:29:20
and millions of other people have.
-
00:29:21
It transcends intellectual arguments.
-
00:29:23
It transcends debating.
-
00:29:25
There's just something that fills your life
-
00:29:28
and comes in when you go to a certain place with Jesus.
-
00:29:31
It's the Holy Spirit.
-
00:29:32
This isn't a big teaching on the Holy Spirit.
-
00:29:34
I just want to have a little parenthetical statement
-
00:29:36
here to say there is a whole new level you can be in,
-
00:29:39
a whole new level, but you're going to have to choose
-
00:29:42
what you think of Jesus.
-
00:29:44
You're going to have to choose how you respond.
-
00:29:46
at some point what side you're on.
-
00:29:49
And one guy starts getting really personal.
-
00:29:52
Jesus starts getting personal with him.
-
00:29:55
Jesus, when he talks about living water,
-
00:29:59
He also talks about light.
-
00:30:01
Let me read this for you as he'll get personal with the guy.
-
00:31:00
There's a guy who's going to have
-
00:31:01
a real personal interaction with Jesus,
-
00:31:03
probably more personal than he wants.
-
00:31:05
It starts with Jesus teaching,
-
00:31:06
saying, "I am the light of the world."
-
00:31:10
This is downright fighting words.
-
00:31:12
It was divisive for the people who were hearing Jesus,
-
00:31:15
because ancient Jews understood when He says, "I am,"
-
00:31:18
and He actually says it, by the way,
-
00:31:19
seven times in the book of John:
-
00:31:21
"I am the bread of life."
-
00:31:23
"I am the light of the world."
-
00:31:25
I am -- he says, "I am.
-
00:31:26
I am,"seven is God's perfect number.
-
00:31:28
Seven days in a week.
-
00:31:29
It comes up again and again in the Scriptures.
-
00:31:33
The Jews knew that God the Father's name was I am.
-
00:31:36
That was His name.
-
00:31:38
God says that to Moses, who says The Pharaoh,
-
00:31:41
"I am has sent me," that is God, I am.
-
00:31:44
So Jesus is maniacally saying apparently
-
00:31:49
seven times, the perfect number, "I am."
-
00:31:53
He's claiming things that only God can do:
-
00:31:55
Releasing the Spirit,
-
00:31:57
allowing people to see,
-
00:32:00
bringing the light,
-
00:32:01
He is declaring that He's Savior.
-
00:32:05
He's declaring that He's different.
-
00:32:06
Is this good moral teaching?
-
00:32:08
Man, I don't know.
-
00:32:11
Darn divisive, I know that.
-
00:32:12
And it gets personal with one guy
-
00:32:14
who doesn't understand life
-
00:32:16
because he's got is ophthalmological nerve.
-
00:32:19
That's a real word, ophthalmological.
-
00:32:21
Don't ask me to spell it, but he --
-
00:32:22
Huh, they must've left that out of this dictionary.
-
00:32:28
He's got -- his eyes aren't working very well.
-
00:32:29
He can't see, so he doesn't see light.
-
00:32:31
He doesn't understand we need light to be able to see.
-
00:32:34
And Jesus decides to call him out and see what he wants.
-
00:32:39
He goes up to this guy, right in this area and He makes mud.
-
00:32:44
And it says He makes mud by spitting.
-
00:32:49
Now, this is one of those things
-
00:32:50
that you can't do in church, boys and girls,
-
00:32:53
but when you're in Jerusalem
-
00:32:56
and you're doing what Jesus did, you can do it.
-
00:32:59
He did exactly this.
-
00:33:03
He spit on the dry, parched ground.
-
00:33:06
And it would have had to be more than one,
-
00:33:09
because He's got to make mud.
-
00:33:10
And then He swishes it up.
-
00:33:20
Swishes it up.
-
00:33:21
Everyone's going, "What? What?
-
00:33:23
What is this maniac doing?
-
00:33:25
What is it?"
-
00:33:28
And maybe the blind guy, he hears him spitting.
-
00:33:31
He's hearing this stuff going on,
-
00:33:34
but he doesn't know what's gonna happen
-
00:33:36
is grosser than the sound of spit hitting dirt.
-
00:33:39
Because Jesus takes a slap of mud and puts it on his eyes.
-
00:33:47
I've never done this before, intentionally put mud --
-
00:33:51
Hey, here's mud in your eye.
-
00:33:55
Here's mud in my eyes, it kind of looks like this.
-
00:34:06
And as awkward as that is,
-
00:34:08
imagine it's somebody else's hands
-
00:34:12
and it's mud made with somebody's spit.
-
00:34:19
So it puts that on his eyes.
-
00:34:24
And here's the crazy thing, it's not over.
-
00:34:28
This is not when he is healed.
-
00:34:32
This is just the beginning of the process.
-
00:34:36
This guy then has to get up
-
00:34:39
and he has to walk a half a mile downhill
-
00:34:45
to where water is run to the Pool of Siloam.
-
00:34:49
Now, not only is this going to be very treacherous
-
00:34:51
for this guy, but as this chapter says, he's a beggar.
-
00:34:56
He's here because people are here.
-
00:34:59
And where there's people, there's hopefully
-
00:35:02
somebody who's going be giving him some shekels
-
00:35:04
so he can get food that night.
-
00:35:06
So he's going to have to leave his normal way of life,
-
00:35:09
his way of earning income to have a 10 cents of faith
-
00:35:16
to do what Jesus says to do.
-
00:35:19
So he's going to have to by faith,
-
00:35:22
decide if he wants to leave his job,
-
00:35:24
leave how he feeds himself and out of trust,
-
00:35:30
go to where healing might be.
-
00:35:33
This is maniacal.
-
00:35:35
This is a a fork in the road for him.
-
00:35:38
Will I follow the teaching of this guy
-
00:35:43
or am I just a maniac
-
00:35:45
deciding to do what He says that I should do?
-
00:35:49
He chooses to leave.
-
00:35:51
Friend, let me tell you something.
-
00:35:53
Any time you want to go to a new place spiritually,
-
00:35:57
you're going to feel that it's crazy.
-
00:35:59
Any time you're going to believe something new spiritually,
-
00:36:02
try something new spiritually,
-
00:36:03
go to some new place spiritually,
-
00:36:05
you're going to look weird.
-
00:36:07
It's going to feel uncomfortable.
-
00:36:08
It's going to be foreign.
-
00:36:10
It might actually be treacherous.
-
00:36:13
I'm going to actually walk the walk
-
00:36:16
that this guy walked.
-
00:36:18
Ad I'm going to do a blindfolded just so --
-
00:36:21
because I could open my eyes right now,
-
00:36:22
even though I would get dirt in my eyeballs.
-
00:36:24
I'm going to do it blindfolded to keep me from cheating,
-
00:36:27
because I want to feel the way this guy would have felt
-
00:36:32
for a half mile journey downhill to the Pool of Siloam.
-
00:36:42
As I get dirt down my back.
-
00:36:46
Okay, now I am blind.
-
00:36:48
I'm effectively blind.
-
00:36:50
Now, this guy would have been used to walking
-
00:36:53
and making his way because he is blind,
-
00:36:56
because he's used to this.
-
00:36:57
But now he's got mud on.
-
00:37:01
He looks stupid.
-
00:37:02
He looks like an idiot.
-
00:37:03
And what's going to be really interesting
-
00:37:06
and difficult in just a little bit.
-
00:37:07
I think, where is it?
-
00:37:09
It's got to be coming up.
-
00:37:11
You remember, as Tsuriel mentioned earlier,
-
00:37:14
these steps are designed to be difficult.
-
00:37:18
They're designed to slow you down out of worship
-
00:37:20
as you would come up to this place.
-
00:37:22
They didn't want anyone running.
-
00:37:23
So now he's got to go down these very uneven steps
-
00:37:31
to see if this is worth it.
-
00:37:37
So I'm going to make my journey
-
00:37:40
the same way the blind man did.
-
00:37:42
I'll see you in about a half a mile.
-
00:38:12
This is a recent archaeological find.
-
00:38:16
The steps are actually worn smooth
-
00:38:19
from people walking to the temple.
-
00:38:21
We are 100% certain this is where the temple is.
-
00:38:25
We're 100% certain
-
00:38:26
that this is the way Jesus would have walked.
-
00:38:29
We are 100% certain
-
00:38:31
that this is where the blind guy would have come.
-
00:38:33
You can still see the the burn marks in this area
-
00:38:37
from when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D.
-
00:38:42
As you walk down, you're taking still
-
00:38:44
the same path that the blind guy would have taken.
-
00:38:48
What's really crazy is just as today
-
00:38:51
you go under a tunnel where it's dark,
-
00:38:53
you're actually mimicking what the blind guy
-
00:38:54
would have been feeling the entire time,
-
00:38:57
walking in the darkness.
-
00:39:32
Maybe you felt like this before.
-
00:39:34
Maybe you felt like you're in darkness,
-
00:39:37
like you just can't see.
-
00:39:40
It's really interesting here that Jesus way up where,
-
00:39:45
He could have given the guy his sight way up there
-
00:39:48
and this walk would have been a lot easier.
-
00:39:52
Spoiler alert, he's going to get healed.
-
00:39:54
It would've been a lot easier had he had a sight up there.
-
00:39:57
But no, he's got to still walk in the dark.
-
00:40:02
Maybe you're feeling like you're still walking in the dark.
-
00:40:07
Jesus says in John 20:29 still walking in the dark.
-
00:40:10
Jesus says in John 20:
29
-
00:40:11
Blessed are you who have not seen, yet believe.
-
00:40:18
I'm not seeing where I am.
-
00:40:22
All right. What is it?
-
00:40:27
Okay. I am not seeing, but I believe --
-
00:40:30
Okay, maybe I'm supposed to make a left.
-
00:40:34
All right.
-
00:40:35
Blessed are you -- I'm not seeing right now,
-
00:40:38
but I'm believing I'm going to get to the end.
-
00:40:41
This is the way the spiritual world operates.
-
00:40:44
You have to believe, and then eventually,
-
00:40:47
you may actually see.
-
00:40:50
I'm doing this shoot right now with Crossroads Church.
-
00:40:55
And if you would've told me 24 years ago,
-
00:40:57
Lib and I 24 years ago that we would be in Israel
-
00:41:01
doing something like this, I'd be going,
-
00:41:03
"Oh, you're crazy."
-
00:41:04
That's not what we had.
-
00:41:05
We had all doors slammed in our face.
-
00:41:07
There was no other option we had
-
00:41:10
than going to a place called Cincinnati.
-
00:41:12
There was eleven people.
-
00:41:14
And isn't like God spoke with shining light.
-
00:41:16
We're stumbling in the dark.
-
00:41:17
We had no idea what the future would look like.
-
00:41:19
It was -- that's the walk of faith.
-
00:41:22
When we lost everything we had in a house fire,
-
00:41:24
and we had no insurance and no money in the bank.
-
00:41:28
Woke up the next day, had time with God, had time with God.
-
00:41:33
I had to just believe that He was going to take care of us
-
00:41:37
and I had to do the right things that day.
-
00:41:39
I've started a number of nonprofits.
-
00:41:41
Doing a nonprofit, it's a walk of being in the dark
-
00:41:44
because there's never enough money.
-
00:41:46
There's never, there's never enough.
-
00:41:47
I've had a number of marriage crises with my wife and I
-
00:41:52
and you never see exactly what you should do.
-
00:41:55
You never have this hope or this confidence
-
00:41:58
that it's all going to work out okay.
-
00:42:00
You're like the blind leading the blind.
-
00:42:02
You're just trying to do the right stuff, hoping it works out.
-
00:42:05
This is, friends, how faith is.
-
00:42:07
And some you are in churches right now.
-
00:42:09
You're sitting in a pew right now maybe,
-
00:42:11
you're having your church experience.
-
00:42:13
And you keep waiting for a lightning bolt to hit you.
-
00:42:18
You keep waiting for some miracle to happen,
-
00:42:21
for an angelic visitation, for some iron clad arguments
-
00:42:26
that's going to make you like [sound effect]
-
00:42:31
It's great when those things happen,
-
00:42:33
but my experiences, those things rarely happen.
-
00:42:36
In fact, Jesus likes it when we stumble.
-
00:42:40
He likes us when we start, we have to lean into Him.
-
00:42:42
He likes it when we have to --
-
00:42:44
We have to think about the future and be about our faith.
-
00:42:48
Stumbling in the dark, this is what this guy does
-
00:42:53
and this is what I'm doing.
-
00:42:56
And to be quite frank about it, it actually gets old.
-
00:42:59
It's tiring.
-
00:43:02
I still have things in my life where I'm in the dark on.
-
00:43:04
I'm just trying to do the right thing,
-
00:43:06
I'm trying to and do what Jesus says.
-
00:43:07
If I believe he's a Messiah, not a maniac,
-
00:43:10
if I believe he's Messiah.
-
00:43:11
He's come to save.
-
00:43:12
He's come to help me.
-
00:43:14
He's come to get me to,
-
00:43:15
then I've got to go where He wants me to go.
-
00:43:17
I've got to take one foot in front the other.
-
00:43:18
As awkward as it may be and as perilous as it may feel to me,
-
00:43:24
this is the walk of faith
-
00:43:25
and every single spiritual great takes this walk every day.
-
00:43:44
For a person who can see, this walk would be 30 minutes.
-
00:43:51
We have no idea how long it took him, but it takes a while.
-
00:43:56
Man, I'm telling you, walks of faith are arduous.
-
00:44:00
They are, they're difficult, they're time consuming.
-
00:44:03
It takes a lifetime.
-
00:44:06
But eventually, eventually he gets to where the pool is.
-
00:44:14
And there would've been people here.
-
00:44:17
He would've maybe had to fight his way through people.
-
00:44:21
He'd probably been here before,
-
00:44:23
so he might have a sense of where things are.
-
00:44:33
He gets down, gets down to the pool.
-
00:44:45
Brings the mud off his eyes,
-
00:44:47
wondering, just maybe, maybe.
-
00:44:51
Was it worth it? Was it worth it?
-
00:44:54
And he could see; it was worth it.
-
00:45:05
Feeling like a nincompoop, feeling stupid,
-
00:45:11
feeling like you had made a mistake,
-
00:45:13
feeling like you're just being a fool.
-
00:45:17
It works. It's all worth it.
-
00:45:20
Friends, this is the way our life is.
-
00:45:24
For us to be able to see, we have to move.
-
00:45:28
Fr us to see new things, experience new things,
-
00:45:31
we have to move.
-
00:45:33
This guy moved.
-
00:45:34
He came, it was the walk of faith.
-
00:45:36
He was in the dark, in the end he could see.
-
00:45:41
I wish I could give you some perfect silver bullet
-
00:45:45
that would prove that Jesus is actually the Messiah.
-
00:45:48
This was maniacal, seemingly maniacal,
-
00:45:50
to send a guy on a journey like that,
-
00:45:52
to put mud in his face.
-
00:45:54
But it worked. Why?
-
00:45:55
Because he's not a maniac; He's actually the Messiah.
-
00:45:57
And I wish I could give you proof from a test tube,
-
00:46:01
but that's not the way it works.
-
00:46:02
It's not.
-
00:46:03
For myself and millions of people for thousands of years,
-
00:46:08
we have to move and we have to stumble,
-
00:46:10
and then what do you know?
-
00:46:12
One day we see.
-
00:46:13
We see after we've been stumbling.
-
00:46:16
Jesus says, "I'm the Way, the Truth and the Life."
-
00:46:19
I can't explain all that fully; it just is.
-
00:46:23
The guy who had his eyes healed.
-
00:46:25
he couldn't explain it fully.
-
00:46:27
The people who were on the other side
-
00:46:28
who were trying to prove that Jesus was a maniac,
-
00:46:30
they were giving him all these questions.
-
00:46:32
They're saying, "What happened? What happened?"
-
00:46:33
And the guy goes, "Whether it's what you said
-
00:46:36
or someone else said, I don't know."
-
00:46:38
He said, "All I know is I was blind and now I can see.
-
00:46:42
All I can tell you, at one point I was lonely,
-
00:46:44
and I'm not lonely right now.
-
00:46:45
All I could tell you is at one point I felt
-
00:46:46
there was no purpose to life,
-
00:46:47
and now there is purpose to life.
-
00:46:49
All I can tell you is at some point
-
00:46:50
I felt like life's totally dependent on me.
-
00:46:52
And now I tell you, no, I don't feel like
-
00:46:53
life totally depends on me.
-
00:46:55
All I can tell you is that at one point
-
00:46:57
it was all about me and my failures
-
00:46:59
and now it's all about Jesus and his successes
-
00:47:01
that He does in my life after I've walked the walk.
-
00:47:05
You have got to move to see.
-
00:47:08
Maybe you've seen enough
-
00:47:10
that right now you want to receive Him.
-
00:47:12
Maybe you've seen enough that right now you're ready.
-
00:47:15
Let's just say a prayer like this:
-
00:47:16
Jesus, I ask that You would come into my life.
-
00:47:19
I want to receive You.
-
00:47:22
Take Your water, Your Spirit, and fill me up.
-
00:47:27
I give my life to You and I will follow You,
-
00:47:31
whether it's in the dark
-
00:47:32
or whether I can see.
-
00:47:35
Amen.
-
00:47:48
I'm sure there's something
-
00:47:49
that feels impossible for you right now.
-
00:47:51
And I believe that there is a God
-
00:47:53
who can do impossible things.
-
00:47:56
Let this song be an encouragement to you.
-
00:48:01
In the shadow of giants
-
00:48:03
At the edge of the sea
-
00:48:07
In the dark with the lions
-
00:48:10
And every wall that faces me
-
00:48:12
When the fear is surrounding
-
00:48:15
And the roar of an enemy
-
00:48:18
Your voice will be louder
-
00:48:21
With the promise of victory
-
00:48:24
I'm ready, I'm ready
-
00:48:28
For impossible miracles
-
00:48:34
Found in You, found in You
-
00:48:40
The victory You’ve won for me
-
00:48:46
Is found in you, is found in you
-
00:49:05
When I’m standing in fire
-
00:49:07
And the grave knows my name
-
00:49:10
When I’m arrested in shackles
-
00:49:13
My freedom is praise
-
00:49:16
To the One who is constant
-
00:49:19
To the One who remains
-
00:49:22
The King of forever
-
00:49:24
With power to save
-
00:49:27
I'm ready, I'm ready
-
00:49:32
For impossible miracles
-
00:49:38
Found in You, found in You
-
00:49:44
The victory You’ve won for me
-
00:49:50
Is found in you, is found in you
-
00:49:55
I’m ready to receive it,
-
00:49:59
to move and believe it
-
00:50:02
Lord let Your kingdom come,
-
00:50:04
Lord let Your kingdom come
-
00:50:07
I’m ready to see it,
-
00:50:10
Your power reveal it
-
00:50:13
Lord let Your will be done,
-
00:50:16
Lord let Your will be done
-
00:50:19
I’m ready to receive it,
-
00:50:22
to move and believe it
-
00:50:25
Lord let Your kingdom come,
-
00:50:28
Lord let Your kingdom come
-
00:50:31
I’m ready to see it,
-
00:50:33
Your power reveal it
-
00:50:36
Lord let Your will be done,
-
00:50:39
Lord let Your will be done
-
00:50:44
Your impossible miracles
-
00:50:50
Found in You, found in You
-
00:50:57
The victory You’ve won for me
-
00:51:02
Is found in you, found in you
-
00:51:07
Is found in you, found in you
-
00:51:13
Is found in you, found in you
-
00:51:35
- One thing that says consistent is that we have a God
-
00:51:38
who consistently deserves our worship,
-
00:51:42
our praise, our affirmation, our gratitude.
-
00:51:45
So we're going to do that right now by singing.
-
00:51:47
So, wherever you are, God doesn't care about how your voice sounds;
-
00:51:51
He'd love to hear your voice.
-
00:51:53
Let's sing this together.
-
00:51:59
- Sing this simple chorus with me.
-
01:00:29
- Hey, I wonder if we can go back and do the anchor part.
-
01:00:31
Let's do that anchor, the anchor part again if we could.
-
01:00:34
And I'll tell you why I want to,
-
01:00:35
this song has some personal meaning for me.
-
01:00:39
A few years ago, my wife had a stroke.
-
01:00:45
Woo, it's still personal, it's still personal.
-
01:00:50
And when I saw my wife
-
01:00:54
with all the family gathered around her
-
01:00:57
and she was looking with her eyes,
-
01:01:00
she couldn't talk, she couldn't move.
-
01:01:03
She was in the emergency room little care room
-
01:01:06
and they took her back to operate on her,
-
01:01:10
I had this song on my iPhone on endless repeat.
-
01:01:14
I set it again and again and again.
-
01:01:16
And I had it on my earbuds
-
01:01:17
and I was pacing back and forth
-
01:01:19
inside of this waiting room.
-
01:01:23
And what I was trying to say to God was,
-
01:01:25
"You've been so good to me,
-
01:01:26
You've been so good to us
-
01:01:27
that no matter what happens right here,
-
01:01:29
God, You and I are still good.
-
01:01:31
You're good. I declare You're good.
-
01:01:32
You're good right now
-
01:01:34
and You've blessed me and my family so much.
-
01:01:36
If life changes permanently for me here on in,
-
01:01:38
whatever it is, feeding tube, wheelchair,
-
01:01:40
whatever it is, You are good.
-
01:01:41
Now, fast-forward to the miracle.
-
01:01:44
The miracle was that she was walking steps
-
01:01:47
and playing tennis a week later.
-
01:01:48
It was a verifiable miracle.
-
01:01:50
God came through and people prayed.
-
01:01:52
It was legit, man.
-
01:01:54
There's something different with our faith.
-
01:01:55
There's something different about our God.
-
01:01:57
But this is personal for me,
-
01:01:59
because right now some of us are struggling.
-
01:02:01
Right now we're pacing back and forth.
-
01:02:03
We don't know how we're going to be.
-
01:02:04
And so I want us to be anchored
-
01:02:06
And I want us to make this our song
-
01:02:08
That we say to God,
-
01:02:09
"Everything might not go
-
01:02:10
the way I want it in my life right now,
-
01:02:12
but I want You, God, and I say You're good."
-
01:02:15
So let's sing that again.
-
01:03:19
- Let's make this personal.
-
01:03:20
Right now make it personal.
-
01:03:22
God, even if my life doesn't go
-
01:03:26
the way I want it to go financially,
-
01:03:28
I say You're good, You're good, You're good.
-
01:03:31
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:03:38
Even if my family struggles
-
01:03:40
and we we have more tensions right now
-
01:03:42
because we're in close quarters,
-
01:03:43
God, I say You're good.
-
01:03:45
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:03:52
If I lose my job and I don't want to
-
01:03:53
and I'm praying it doesn't happen,
-
01:03:55
if I lose my job,
-
01:03:56
God, that doesn't change Your character.
-
01:03:58
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:04:05
God, You've given me health,
-
01:04:07
You've given me health for decades,
-
01:04:08
and if I lose my health right now,
-
01:04:10
I still say, "God, You're good."
-
01:04:12
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:04:20
God, You've blessed me with my family.
-
01:04:23
You've blessed me with decades
-
01:04:24
with my wife in marriage.
-
01:04:25
You've blessed me with decades
-
01:04:27
with my kids who are age 28 down to 21.
-
01:04:29
I don't want to ever lose any one of them,
-
01:04:31
but if I ever do,
-
01:04:32
to give them in my life right now.
-
01:04:35
You're good, You're good.
-
01:04:37
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:04:49
God, if the church that I lead
-
01:04:50
has irreparable harm
-
01:04:52
because of the crisis that we're in,
-
01:04:54
God, this church is here to serve You.
-
01:04:56
We're not to contain ourselves or sustain ourselves,
-
01:05:00
We're here to serve You, God.
-
01:05:01
Do with us whatever You want;
-
01:05:03
shut us out, build us up.
-
01:05:05
God, it's about You and You're good.
-
01:05:09
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:05:16
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:05:24
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:05:31
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:05:38
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:05:46
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:05:52
[ You are good, You're good, Oh ]
-
01:06:00
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:06:32
- God, the night is upon some of us
-
01:06:37
and we want it to be gone.
-
01:06:39
We don't like this dark night of the soul,
-
01:06:44
but the dark night of the soul
-
01:06:46
sometimes is critical for our formation.
-
01:06:49
We want to feel you holding on.
-
01:06:52
The night might be holding me, God,
-
01:06:54
but I know you are holding me more.
-
01:06:57
And even if I don't feel it,
-
01:06:59
I'm telling myself right now
-
01:07:00
that that's the truth.
-
01:07:02
Let's sing again.
-
01:07:03
(singing) When the night is holding on to me
-
01:07:10
God is holding on
-
01:07:17
When the night is holding on to me
-
01:07:24
God is holding on
-
01:07:30
[ Because You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:07:38
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:07:44
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:07:52
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:07:59
You are good, good, Oh. [ You're never gonna let, never gonna let me down ]
-
01:08:06
You are good, good, Oh [ You're never gonna let, never gonna let me down ]
-
01:08:13
You are good, good, Oh [ You're never gonna let, never gonna let me down ]
-
01:08:21
You are good, good, Oh [ You're never gonna let, never gonna let me down ]
-
01:08:28
You are good, good, Oh [ You're good ]
-
01:08:34
You are good, Oh. [ Your faithfulness lasts through a thousand generations ]
-
01:08:41
You are good, Oh. [ There is none like you, none like you, God ]
-
01:08:49
[ You are good, good, Oh ]
-
01:10:26
- I still believe God does impossible things
-
01:10:28
and I hope you do too.
-
01:10:29
If you need a voice of clarity
-
01:10:32
that elevates your eyes,
-
01:10:33
elevates your game,
-
01:10:35
we want to encourage you to follow us at crossroads.net
-
01:10:37
on all of our different social media channels.
-
01:10:40
Every single day we're going to be giving you
-
01:10:42
Things that build into your heart
-
01:10:44
and help you feel a bit better
-
01:10:45
about who God is and where the world is going.
-
01:10:48
And right now we're going to do something
-
01:10:50
that's going to be faithful for us.
-
01:10:51
We're talking about elevating our game,
-
01:10:53
this is something of faith
-
01:10:54
we're going to announce right now.
-
01:10:56
Crossroads is just like
-
01:10:58
every other organization,
-
01:10:59
every other business,
-
01:11:00
every other non-profit is in crisis mode, right?
-
01:11:03
I mean people aren't staying at home.
-
01:11:05
People aren't able to work.
-
01:11:08
People aren't able to give to the same degrees.
-
01:11:11
We don't sell widgets, we exist on people's giving.
-
01:11:14
And when you're not making, you can't be giving,
-
01:11:19
and yet that's what we're going to do as a church
-
01:11:20
because we operate on a different level.
-
01:11:21
We're operating on the level of the Kingdom of God,
-
01:11:24
not just our own thinking.
-
01:11:25
We're going to give this week's entire offering
-
01:11:29
to help workers of the medical crisis
-
01:11:33
have their kids be taken care of
-
01:11:35
so those worker can keep their crazy hours to help people.
-
01:11:40
We do a lot of things a Crossroads.
-
01:11:42
We put $50,000 into tornado relief in central Tennessee.
-
01:11:45
You're going to be able to see a clip of that in a moment.
-
01:11:47
And we want to help people in our community.
-
01:11:49
So, local YMCAs are going to be helped in this situation,
-
01:11:55
And your church is going to forego
-
01:11:57
what it regularly gets this week
-
01:11:58
from this offering time to put into that.
-
01:12:00
So anything you give right now
-
01:12:02
is going to go to that initiative.
-
01:12:04
So you can go to crossroads.net/give.
-
01:12:06
And I will also say,
-
01:12:07
those of those who are tithers,
-
01:12:09
those of us who are consistent givers,
-
01:12:10
Those of us who our income hasn't been affected,
-
01:12:12
I just want to encourage you,
-
01:12:13
hey, we need to stay strong.
-
01:12:15
We need to stay strong because this culture,
-
01:12:19
our world needs needs a church like we have right now
-
01:12:21
and it needs to be funded as long as it can be funded.
-
01:12:24
So I encourage you to continue to stay faithful.
-
01:12:26
And here you go, here's some really cool stuff
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01:12:28
that we've been doing as a community
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- One of the things I have to remind myself of
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and I try to remind our teams of,
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especially in a situation like this,
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is life that was being experienced by people,
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especially here in Cookeville or in Nashville
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the day before the tornado, whether it's addiction,
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marital issues, financial problems,
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whatever those situations are,
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they did not go away once the tornado struck.
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01:13:00
I'm Darren Kroger.
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I lead our Crossroads impact group, Masters of Disaster.
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We go, we mobilize volunteers at Crossroads
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and our people go and we get our hands dirty.
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And this is the perfect opportunity for us
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to show our faith to other people by just helping them
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and serving them in any way that they need.
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And it's not -- it's not easy work.
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It is hard work,
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but God never promised me easy.
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He promised me adventure.