Myth or Messiah | Real Encounters Week 1

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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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People have been asking them for thousands of years.

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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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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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on Thursday nights. Just come hang out.

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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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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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- So talk to me about Jesus.

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How did you wrestle with who He actually was?

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And did that become central?

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It must have at some point become central in your questioning.

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- The central question has to be:

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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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He's actively trying to deceive us about who He is,

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or He actually is who He says He is.

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He's actually God.

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I had this preponderance of evidence

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that really told me that Jesus absolutely existed.

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- Right, so you can check off the fairytale.

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This is not a fairytale.

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- You can check off the fairytale,

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but nothing about His story lined up with this second option

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where He's actively trying to deceive people

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in some grab for political power or influence.

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That didn't make sense either.

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So I'm really only left with one option.

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That line of thinking, coupled with

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what the Holy Spirit was doing in me

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in drawing me to God at the time,

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just led me to the point where I said, "Okay, that's enough."

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- "That's enough. I don't know everything."

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I'm now comfortable with the fact that I don't know everything.

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- So, Matt, when you think about moments

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where faith has been absolutely required of you,

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like there's no way forward unless I exhibit some faith,

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does a story come to mind where you just really felt

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like you were in the dark, you're going to move

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even though you don't,

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you really literally don't know what's ahead?

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- Our third daughter was born too early

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and she didn't survive the delivery.

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It was a dark, dark moment for us, of course.

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But even in that moment, I had an experience

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of God comforting me in the sense that I somehow knew

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that that child was with Him

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and that my wife and I were gonna be okay.

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There was no way that I could have been present

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for my wife in a meaningful way,

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but for the grace of God in my life in that moment.

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- How do you actually connect to Jesus in your day to day life?

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- It's funny you ask that question because in many ways for me

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now that relationship feels far less intellectual.

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- Oh, that's kind of cool.

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- Than what I wrestled with at the time.

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What I believe now feels more basic.

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I know enough of God because of what I have experienced of Him,

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that I believe that I can trust Him.

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I believe that He's good.

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I don't have a dramatic conversion story

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where I can point to a single moment in time

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where everything in my life changed.

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But what I can point to is a series of small yeses to God.

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- We're going to go along with Cereal,

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my nickname for him is Tsuriel.

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Everyone I like I have a nickname for.

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Let me tell you about Tsuriel.

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He's one of most impressive dudes I have ever known.

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He comes from a family.

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It's a first generation of Jews

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that immigrated to Israel when it became a new state.

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Of that first generation, his was the original family

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that was Christ followers.

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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


00:49:44


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


00:50:57


00:51:02

Is found in you, found in you

00:51:07


00:51:13


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


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


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


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


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


01:05:16


01:05:24


01:05:31


01:05:38


01:05:46


01:05:52

[ You are good, You're good, Oh ]

01:06:00


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


01:07:44


01:07:52


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


01:08:21


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


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

01:12:28

that we've been doing as a community

01:12:30

- One of the things I have to remind myself of

01:12:36

and I try to remind our teams of,

01:12:38

especially in a situation like this,

01:12:40

is life that was being experienced by people,

01:12:43

especially here in Cookeville or in Nashville

01:12:46

the day before the tornado, whether it's addiction,

01:12:50

marital issues, financial problems,

01:12:54

whatever those situations are,

01:12:56

they did not go away once the tornado struck.

01:13:00

I'm Darren Kroger.

01:13:01

I lead our Crossroads impact group, Masters of Disaster.

01:13:06

We go, we mobilize volunteers at Crossroads

01:13:09

and our people go and we get our hands dirty.

01:13:13

And this is the perfect opportunity for us

01:13:15

to show our faith to other people by just helping them

01:13:20

and serving them in any way that they need.

01:13:23

And it's not -- it's not easy work.

01:13:24

It is hard work,

01:13:25

but God never promised me easy.

01:13:28

He promised me adventure.

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