Easter | A Love Story

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- Hey, this is Easter with Crossroads. I'm Kyle.

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- I'm Hannah. And we are so very glad

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that you're here with us today.

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- We're glad because it turns out that 80% of us

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don't feel loved at all,

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and Easter is, like, a -- it's a love story.

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- It's a huge love story.

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So no matter who you are or where you come from,

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we're glad you're here and we're glad

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that you're going to hear it today.

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I'm especially excited because we're talking

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about love, love stories.

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I'm a sucker for love stories.

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Kyle makes fun of me because I like watching Hallmark.

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I know, I know, but, Kyle, I'm telling you

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the reason I like Hallmark, it's cheesy and it's awesome,

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but also they like insert the love hits in there.

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The music. It's about the music.

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- I like that.

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I made a couple of really popular

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love mixtapes in high school.

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- Okay, so you get it, you understand.

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And you know what? Thinking about love and mix tapes,

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I got married in COVID.

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- You did. Congratulations.

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- One of the songs that comes to mind for me

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is that I found love in a hopeless place.

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Like, Hello, COID. Come on.

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- [sings] I found love in a hopeless place.

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- Yes, that song. That's exactly it.

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- How'd you like it?

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- You got it. It was the right key.

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- I'm excited because

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I just want to know what love is, actually,

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- Everyone does, it's like I want to know what love is.

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I know you're singing.

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- I want to know because I heard this other thing.

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Maybe you've heard it, "All you need is love."

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Have you heard that?

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- Come on, I knew where you were going.

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[sings] All you need is love. [vocalizing]

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- Yes. - [sings] All you need is love, love.

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- [sings] Love is all you need.

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- Good job, Kyle. That was awesome.

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- Love.

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We long for love and celebrate it wherever we find it.

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And yet the latest surveys say that

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80% of us don't feel loved.

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If love is love, wherever and whenever you find it,

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why are we still so lonely, afraid, and heart broken?

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The Bible tells us that love actually has a name

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and is incarnate in the person of Jesus.

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The ultimate definition of love,

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who put that love into action

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when He laid down His life.

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Love was made flesh, and that flesh was tempted.

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It was misunderstood.

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It was torn and it suffered unto death.

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Love as God defines it isn't a feeling.

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Love is an action, and Easter is a love story,

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an act of love for a heartbroken world,

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the fulfillment of the promise that

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no matter what has happened in your life,

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what you've done or how far you feel from God,

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love says you were worth dying for.

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The good news of Easter is that

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we don't have to wonder if we're loved

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or what that love will do for us.

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Love has come to save us all.

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[music: Pride (In the Name of Love), by U2]

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[song: God So Loved, by We the Kingdom]

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- Yeah. Love is a big deal.

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I know that right now in our movie industry

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CG is ruling the day, comic heroes are ruling the day,

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Marvel, all those things are ruling the day.

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But there's just something about love story, isn't it?

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There's just something that draws us to it.

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I like Iron Man, but I would rather

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them spend more time on

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Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow.

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That sort of love thing there

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is very fascinating for us.

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What is it that we like a good love story?

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I think what it is, is it's

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the transcendent nature of God

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that's put into stories

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and we connect with that story.

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Some people think that, well, these romantic comedies,

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they're just they're setting up

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unrealistic expectations for the relationship we have,

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no relationship to be that lovey-dovey that long term.

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Time Magazine a couple of years ago

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said this about that dynamic. They said:

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We need to live by stories

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that help us deal with tough realities.

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We all need hope in our lives.

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And Hollywood trades on hope.

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This is why movies are there, to make us feel,

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to make us want, to make us connect with it.

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Because we all need it. I know I do.

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I've wrestled most of my life with wanting love,

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needing love, and not feeling loved.

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How much of that was due to me being adopted?

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How much of that was due to always feeling

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like I was on the outside of things,

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I never could hit the tier that I wanted to?

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How much of that was due to I felt like

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I couldn't earn my parents love and approval

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because I didn't have the grades

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that them as valedictorians had.

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How much of that was due to just my paranoia

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that people are talking about me,

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and thinking negatively about me

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when when they're actually not?

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Or maybe you are actually right now, maybe you are.

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I wonder, do I -- How many choices do I make

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in order to be approved by others

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and feel some sort of love by others?

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Some of us have walked out on God because

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maybe we were part of a church

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and we didn't feel any love in that church.

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And so if God's connected with that church,

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then I can't have anything to do with that.

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What? What is love?

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That's our problem.

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We all have different ideas of what love is.

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Some of our aspects of love are just very emotional

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and subjective, but there is a form of love

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that's very objective.

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It's knowable in history and it's physical.

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The Book of 1 John 3:16 says of Jesus:

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This is how we know love,

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that Jesus laid down His life for us.

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I don't know how well acquainted you are with that story.

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I want to fill you in a little bit with it today.

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But that story is the basis of love.

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That story is the basis of Easter.

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It's why you and I are here today celebrating today.

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I want to take a look at

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the Book of Luke today in the Bible.

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It's a story from the Holy Week of Jesus,

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the last week of Jesus's life.

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It's known as Holy Week, because a bunch of things

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that took place on that week.

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We're looking at today things that took place on Friday,

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Friday when He was crucified and Sunday

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when He was actually risen from the dead.

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Now, later on in our service, we're going to have

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a blowout time of worshiping and connecting with God

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through song, standing and all that stuff.

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I love doing that on Easter.

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We're going to have that coming today.

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It's going to be great, but it's going to be

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really great if we understand the context

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for why you would sing.

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Why would you stand before a God

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and actually say loving things to Him

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and maybe sense His love?

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I want to make sure we understand the picture

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of what that is today.

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Here's the scene where we are,

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Jesus has been unjustly arrested.

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He's been unjustly tried.

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They broke all the rules in terms of

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how the trial was supposed to go,

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the number of witnesses that should have been there,

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should have had the trial at night.

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They break all of these things that are their own laws,

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the Jews, their own laws, and they unjustly arrest Him

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and they unjustly try Him, they unjustly convict Him.

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Then they take Him out to be crucified.

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Crucifixion is the most painful form of execution

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that human beings have ever invented.

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That's where the word excruciating comes from.

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It's the worst there possibly is.

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While He's then hanging on a cross,

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here's where our story picks up, Luke 23:32:

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Two others, who were criminals,

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were led away to be put to death with Him.

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And when they came to the place

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that it's called The Skull,

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there they crucified Him and the criminals,

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one on His right and one on His left.

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So He's got two other guys

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who are being crucified with Him,

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and these people are bad dudes. They're bad dudes.

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I don't mean like they're bad. They're cool bad.

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No, they're bad guys.

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If you were to get crucified by the Romans,

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they're trying to put you on display

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and tell everybody, "Look at this person.

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Don't be like them, because we all agree

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these are awful people."

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He's got two people on either side of Him.

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Jesus was the only one who wasn't awful.

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He was there because it was a frame job,

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because the religious authorities

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were threatened by Him.

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They didn't love Jesus.

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They didn't love the work of God.

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They actually loved their own seat of power,

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and Jesus was threatening that.

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And Jesus is crucified on the side of either people

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who are having major, major problems

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and have had major problems.

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Jesus at this point, He has been he's been beaten,

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He's been spit upon, He's been clubbed,

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He's had a crown of thick thorns woven

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and jammed on his head to sort of mock Him and say,

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"Oh, yeah, right. You're king of the Jew.

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Sure, you're king of the Jews. Yeah.

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We're going to mock that

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by putting a crown on top of You."

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They've doing everything they can to humiliate Him.

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And while he's bleeding in a bloody pulp,

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arms stretched open on a cross, look what He says:

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"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

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Forgive them, that's love right there.

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You know you love somebody when you're willing

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to forgive somebody

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and they're not even asking for forgiveness.

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Many of us, we don't grant forgiveness

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unless someone does the exact right repentance exercise.

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They cry, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

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They cry. They get on their knees.

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They say the right words.

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They repay you back everything

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that they took from you and interest.

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They just don't understand that love doesn't wait

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for all the right circumstances.

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Love just gives. Love just is.

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A person side of our community, his name is Owen,

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who's come to understand love a little bit more

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by being inside of our community.

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Let's hear his story.

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- I had a group of friends

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and one of these people in that group of friends,

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like, we got into a huge argument.

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And so therefore this friend told all my other friends,

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like, bad things about me, like lies, rumors.

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And so that turned all those friends, like, against me.

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Like, they didn't even, like, come to me

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to ask me if any of it was true.

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I felt abandoned.

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I thought that I'd never be loved

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like how I thought they loved me.

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It destroyed my confidence.

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Like, I didn't want to talk to anyone for, like,

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for the longest time because I thought

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I was a bad person.

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I thought that no one would want to be my friend.

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So I just kind of gave up.

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So when I started to read the Bible more,

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focus on Jesus, that brokenness, like, went away.

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I stopped worrying about how others would think about me

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and I just got closer to Jesus and then I felt healed.

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There was this one particular day

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where one of my friends came up to me

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and she was, like, "You know, Hey,

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they're starting a student ministry band,

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and I think you're a pretty amazing drummer

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and I think you should join it."

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At the time, I thought that was a great idea

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because all those friends left me

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and I thought that this would be a good way

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to get them to like me again.

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So the first night of me drumming

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at the high school service, a friend of mine

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ended up texting me that night and she told me,

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seeing me on stage, like, inspired her

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to get closer to God.

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That like, really like opened up my eyes.

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Like, I was like, "What am I doing?

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I'm trying to be up here to make friends

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and I'm missing the whole point

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of drumming at this church.

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I can't be drumming here if I'm just

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trying to do it to get people to like me."

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After I started worshiping on stage more

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and more and more, all those people

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who turned against me actually came back to me

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and said that they were sorry

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and that they shouldn't have believed

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all these things that this person said about me.

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And that they've seen God in me

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and that sharing God's story to them

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through music means a lot to them.

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So I experienced Jesus's love through worshiping,

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like, in the moment.

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I listen to the words and, like, I let it soak in

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and, like, I can just feel God, like, all around me.

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It's like He's giving me, like, a warm hug, you know?

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That's how I feel God's love.

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- Owen wants to feel loved.

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I want to feel loved.

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You want to feel loved.

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And Jesus wants to feel loved as well.

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And I'm not sure how much love He's feeling

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while He's on a cross,

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while people have abandoned Him

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and they're hurting Him intentionally.

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And yet He says, "Father, forgive them.

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They know not what they do."

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Forgiveness is love.

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Now, here's a weird thing.

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What does He mean when He says,

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"For they know not what they do."

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They knew what they were doing. Right?

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If you're a Roman and you take a six inch spike

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and a big wooden mallet

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and you drive it through a person's wrist

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or drive it through their feet,

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you know what you're doing.

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When you're part of the religious elite

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and you trumped up charges and have an illegal trial,

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When you spit on somebody, when you club them,

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when you jam a crown of thorns on their head,

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What does He mean, "They know not what they do"?

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What He means is they don't understand

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the spiritual context that's behind this.

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They understand that you're trying to kill Him,

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but they don't understand there's

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a cosmic battle playing in the background,

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and they're just pawns that are being played.

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Because God has an arch enemy, his name is Satan

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or Lucifer or the Devil or the evil one,

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or whatever you want to refer to him as,

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there's a bunch of different monikers

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that are in the Bible for him.

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And this evil entity, what he wants is

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to separate you and I for the love of God.

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That's what he wants.

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He wants you and I to be totally distant.

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And anything that God loves, he wants to crush that.

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God, the Father, loves Jesus.

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He wants to crush that.

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And he knew not what he was doing.

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The evil one didn't understand the spiritual stakes

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that were here and all the pawns, the Romans,

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the religious authorities, they didn't understand

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that they were just being used.

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They didn't see there was something bigger at play.

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God loved Jesus, and the crushing of Him

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played into His plan for love to be coming to you and I.

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By this we know love,

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that Jesus laid down His life for you and I

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so that I don't have to ever lay down my life

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for myself throughout all of eternity.

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Because God is a just God

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and the Justice is taken out on Jesus

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and I never have to fear going before God

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and wondering whether or not

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He's going to give me a spanking.

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He gave one spanking, Jesus took that spanking.

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He was the one guy, out of love He took it for me.

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See, the evil one is still trying

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to divide people from God today, that's you and I.

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It's not an accident that we don't feel God,

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some of us don't feel God.

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It's not an accident that we doubt that God loves us.

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It's not an accident at all.

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That's exactly the way the evil one wants it,

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because he wants to break the love relationship

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between you and God.

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He wants you to be really uncertain about

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whether or not you matter to God.

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And if he can convince you of that,

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make you feel and believe that you are alone,

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so very, very alone, you'll be defeated

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and actually spiritually destitute.

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The whole cry of our hearts, the cry of our life,

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the cry of every story in the Bible

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comes to the idea of love.

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It's the Bible that says God is love.

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It's the Bible.

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Every other iteration of that copied from the Bible.

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Because it's in the Bible that we see

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Jesus laying down His life.

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The last week of Jesus life, when we look at it,

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all these situations,

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we see the test of love that's coming in.

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Judas betraying Jesus because him

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loving actually money and power

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more than he actually loves the will of God.

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We see another woman the last week of Jesus's life

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coming and taking some very, very expensive perfume

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and breaking the bottle and smearing it all over Jesus.

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And people like Judas looked at this and were like,

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"What are you doing? What are you doing?

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This is very expensive stuff.

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This could be used to to feed the poor."

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He doesn't understand this woman's love for, like,

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multiple years worth of perfume.

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I did some research.

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Do you know what the world's most expensive perfume is?

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You won't believe the name.

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The name of it is Shumukh. That's the name of it.

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See, I know these things because

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I buy these things for my wife

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and I understand these things.

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No. According to the Guinness Book of World Records,

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$1.8 million for a bottle or some such thing.

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Crazy, crazy, crazy.

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It would be a love offering to pour that out on Jesus

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and say, "I just love You.

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I want to sacrifice for You,

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just like you've loved me and sacrificed for me."

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What we long for, our hearts want, is to be loved,

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to have a connection with God.

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And Jesus goes through all these things

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the final week to connect us to God,

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to restore or begin for the very first time

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the love relationship that God has for you and for me.

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Let's try to relive that last week.

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- You have stepped into a sacred, supernatural story.

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There was a beautiful plan for mankind

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to live in relationship with a God who loved them.

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But there was a Fall.

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And after Adam, all would be born into death,

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outside of the garden,

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outside of relationship with the Maker.

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It was a tragedy that would echo through time.

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Now death ruled life.

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But there was a promise made:

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God would make everything new.

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He promised that every part of our dead hearts

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would come back to life.

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Once His Son paid the price, once death was defeated,

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the death working in us daily, in our hearts,

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in our souls would be defeated also.

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We would be made new here and now.

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Resurrected.

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This is an ancient story.

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This is the story of the day. [heartbeat, beeping]

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Jesus came into a world fraught with tension,

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on the brink of revolution.

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He claimed to be the Son of God,

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the fulfillment of God's promise to defeat death,

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the one who would save us.

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His claim threaten the establishment

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and enrage the leadership of His day.

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They arrested Him and brought Him

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before the Roman Governor Pilate.

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He asked the crowd, "What shall I do then

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with Jesus, who was called the Messiah?"

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And the crowd screamed, "Crucify Him."

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Pilate asked the crowd, "What crime is He committed?"

00:23:34

But the crowd just screamed louder, "Crucify Him."

00:24:31

Hanging on the Cross, a sacrifice for our sin,

00:24:35

Jesus cried out, "Father, forgive them,

00:24:40

for they do not know what they are doing."

00:24:47

And with His last breath,

00:24:48

He paid the price for every man's sin

00:24:51

and whispered, "It is finished."

00:25:33

Three days of darkness.

00:25:35

His followers were left wondering,

00:25:37

"How could this be love?"

00:25:39

It certainly wasn't the love they wanted.

00:25:42

They wanted love that looked like staying

00:25:44

and fighting the system.

00:25:45

Love that looked like rebellion and revolution.

00:25:48

Love that fought for physical freedom

00:25:50

from those that oppress them.

00:25:52

But love that laid down its life

00:25:54

for their spiritual freedom?

00:25:55

Love that had the long game in its sights?

00:25:58

Love that wasn't about immediate satisfaction

00:26:00

or the lifting of current pain

00:26:02

didn't make any sense to them.

00:26:05

It felt like love had lost.

00:26:10

[music: Is He Worthy? by Chris Tomlin]

00:26:20

Do you feel the world is broken? (We do)

00:26:26

Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do)

00:26:32

But do you know that all the dark

00:26:35

will stop light from getting through? (We do)

00:26:41

Do you wish that you could see it all made new? (We do)

00:26:54

Is all creation groaning? (It is)

00:27:00

Is a new creation coming? (It is)

00:27:07

It's the glory of the Lord

00:27:09

to be the light within our midst? (It is)

00:27:16

Is good that we remind ourselves of this? (It is)

00:27:25

Is anyone worthy?

00:27:29

Is anyone whole?

00:27:31

Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?

00:27:38

The Lion of Judah, who conquered the grave

00:27:44

He's David's root

00:27:45

and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave.

00:27:50

Is He worthy?

00:27:53

Is He worthy of our blessing and honor and glory?

00:28:00

Is He worthy of this?

00:28:07

He is.

00:28:12

Yes, He is, yes, He is.

00:28:19

Does our Father truly love us? (He does)

00:28:25

Does the spirit move among us? (He does)

00:28:32

And does Jesus, our Messiah,

00:28:35

hold forever those He loves? (He does)

00:28:40

Does our God intend to dwell again with us? (He does)

00:28:50

Oh, is anyone worthy?

00:28:53

Is anyone whole?

00:28:57

Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?

00:29:02

Lion of Judah who conquered the grave,

00:29:08

He was David's root

00:29:10

and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave.

00:29:13

From every people and tribe,

00:29:17

every nation (every nation and tongue)

00:29:20

Oh, He has made us a kingdom

00:29:23

and priests to God to reign with the Son.

00:29:26

Is He worthy? Is He worthy? Is He worthy

00:29:30

Is He worthy of our blessing and honor and glory?

00:29:38


00:29:47

He is, He is, He is.

00:29:52

Yes, He is. He is.

00:29:56

He is worthy. He is.

00:29:59

Yes, He is. He is. He is.

00:30:03

He is. He is worthy. He is.

00:30:08

He's worthy forever. He's worthy forever.

00:30:14

He's worthy forever.

00:30:17


00:30:20


00:30:23


00:30:27


00:30:32

He's worthy forever.

00:30:33

He's worthy forever. And there's nothing better.

00:30:37

And there's nothing better. And there's nothing better.

00:30:42

And there's nothing better. And there's no one better.

00:30:45

And there's no one better. And there's no one better.

00:30:48

And there's no one better. And there's nothing better.

00:30:51

And there's nothing better. And there's nothing better.

00:30:55

And there's nothing better. And there's no one better.

00:31:01

Is He worthy, is He worthy

00:31:07

of our blessing and honor and glory?

00:31:12


00:31:22

He is.

00:31:31

- On the third day,

00:31:32

love delivered on His promise to conquer death.

00:32:32

[music: RATTLE! (Morning & Evening), Elevation Worship]

00:36:04

-People are gathered all over the world,

00:36:07

in every corner of the globe today,

00:36:08

gathered today because the most powerful name

00:36:10

that's ever been, the most loving name

00:36:12

that's ever been has been Jesus.

00:36:14

And what He did was He literally, physically

00:36:17

and historically came back from the dead.

00:36:20

And people didn't believe, you might not believe.

00:36:23

People back then didn't believe.

00:36:25

Two women were the first people to find Him.

00:36:28

Talk about rules of court, in rules of court

00:36:30

Women couldn't give testimony,

00:36:32

but the Bible's recording history because

00:36:33

they're the first ones to give testimony,

00:36:35

and say, "I saw it, the dead bones are rattling.

00:36:38

The dead bones are rattling, He's out.

00:36:39

I don't know where He is."

00:36:41

Thomas. Thomas, we know him as Doubting Thomas,

00:36:44

he said, "No way. I don't believe it.

00:36:45

I wouldn't believe it until I can stick my hands

00:36:48

into the wounds of His side, through his wrists.

00:36:51

I don't believe it."

00:36:52

"Well, here it is.

00:36:53

It's the sound of dead bones rattling, Thomas."

00:36:57

Jesus shows up, "Here I am."

00:36:58

What would it sound like if you started the rattle?

00:37:01

If you came in here just out of obligation, it's Easter.

00:37:04

If you came in here just because, "Well.

00:37:06

I could use something to give me a pick up"

00:37:09

but you actually had your bones rattling?

00:37:12

Open it up. Open up. Come on. Let's do it again.

00:37:16

Come on let's do it.

00:37:19

I want some dead bones rattling in here.

00:37:20


00:37:49

- Let me give you this end part of the story

00:37:51

while we're here, when Jesus is on the Cross,

00:37:54

He's got people on either side of them.

00:37:56

They're going to be dry bones at any moment.

00:37:59

At any moment they're going to be gone.

00:38:01

Here's what happens in verse 39:

00:38:02

One of the criminals who were hanged

00:38:05

railed at Him saying, "Are You not the Christ?

00:38:07

Save Yourself and us."

00:38:09

But the other rebuked him saying, "Do you not--

00:38:12

Do you not fear God since you are

00:38:15

under the same sentence of condemnation?

00:38:18

Do you not fear God?"

00:38:20

And the guy turns and he looks to Jesus.

00:38:23

He says, "Hey, Jesus, remember me

00:38:25

when you come into your kingdom. Remember me."

00:38:28

Maybe this guy was there at the Sermon on the Mount

00:38:32

and he heard Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount.

00:38:34

Maybe he did something awful later on

00:38:36

that caused him to get crucified.

00:38:38

Or maybe he was on the run from the law

00:38:40

and he did something awful

00:38:41

and he was at the Sermon on the Mount.

00:38:43

Or maybe he saw one of the miracles Jesus did,

00:38:45

one of the ways that He loved people. He saw it.

00:38:48

All I know is you're of a spiritual kingdom,

00:38:52

a spiritual reality that's not this Roman kingdom.

00:38:55

And he looked up and said, "When you remember me,

00:38:57

will you remember me?"

00:38:59

Jesus says to him this, verse 42:

00:39:03

And he said to him, "Truly, I said to you

00:39:06

today you'll be with Me in paradise."

00:39:08

Today you'll be with Me in paradise.

00:39:10

Today we will be. Today.

00:39:13

Today dry bones are rattling.

00:39:15

They're going to be rattling.

00:39:17

But today you're going to be with Me in paradise.

00:39:19

There wasn't any, like,

00:39:21

first you have to believe these five things.

00:39:22

First you have to believe in all of this stuff.

00:39:24

First you have to get baptized.

00:39:26

First you have to go to new members class.

00:39:27

No, today, today.

00:39:28

I don't know where you are with God

00:39:30

before you came in here, but today, today,

00:39:33

today your bones can rattle.

00:39:35

Today, the power of

00:39:36

the resurrection can come to you.

00:39:39

We're drawn to pastels and flowers

00:39:41

and all that kind of stuff during springtime,

00:39:44

because I believe the spiritual reality is

00:39:46

some of us were in the dark, dead of winter.

00:39:49

And maybe you came in here and something started to bud.

00:39:52

Your dead bones are starting to rattle.

00:39:54

I hear the sound. I hear the sound.

00:39:56

Justin, you hear the sound? Band, I hear it.

00:39:58

I hear something.

00:39:59

I hear the sounds of dead bones rattling right now.

00:40:01

Come on. Let's open them up. Do it again.

00:40:03


00:40:54

- Today, today you can be with Him in paradise.

00:40:57

Today you can feel the love of God.

00:40:58

Today you can be in the love of God,

00:41:00

whether you feel or not.

00:41:01

Today you can be equipped for tomorrow.

00:41:03

Today, a new level of paradise can happen for you.

00:41:07

But you must do what this guy has done,

00:41:09

he's looked to Jesus and said, "Remember me?"

00:41:13

It wasn't a specific prayer,

00:41:15

but I can lead you through a prayer

00:41:16

if you want to give your life to Christ

00:41:18

for the very first time right now.

00:41:20

The important thing isn't the exact words,

00:41:22

it's the inclination of a heart of love

00:41:24

that you have for God to just say to Him,

00:41:26

as broken is my heart is

00:41:28

and as ill formed as my heart is

00:41:30

and as unfeeling as my heart may be sometimes,

00:41:32

I feel enough right now that I want to be

00:41:35

closer to You and Your love.

00:41:36

I want to give my life for You.

00:41:37

You can just say something like this.

00:41:39

Repeat after me if you want.

00:41:40

Jesus, I want Your love.

00:41:44

I ask You forgive me for my sin.

00:41:48

I give You my life right now.

00:41:52

Would You fill me, please, with Your Holy Spirit?

00:41:57

I will walk with You in a relationship

00:42:00

for the rest of my life. In Your name I pray, Amen.

00:42:07

Man hey, welcome to the greatest family

00:42:10

that has ever been, the family of God.

00:42:12

God's done a great thing this Easter,

00:42:15

He's doing a great thing in you right now.

00:42:17

He's worthy of singing to. Let's do that.

00:43:36

Come on, let's believe this part.

00:46:20

- When you walked in the Crossroads

00:46:22

you got something to celebrate communion with.

00:46:25

If you're at home with us, in a coffee shop,

00:46:26

in a bar, wherever you are, just get --

00:46:29

go ahead and get yourself something to eat

00:46:31

and something to drink.

00:46:32

God will understand the inclination of your heart.

00:46:35

People have been celebrating this

00:46:39

since Jesus left the earth.

00:46:40

He told us when we gather together to do this.

00:46:44

If you've given your life to Christ,

00:46:46

this signifies when you bring Jesus into your life,

00:46:50

you're remembering that by bringing

00:46:52

these elements into your body again,

00:46:55

and you're remembering just how He took His body,

00:46:58

which is the little wafer on top,

00:47:00

or the bread or the cracker wherever you are,

00:47:01

and He broke it.

00:47:04

He broke it and said, "I love you so much

00:47:07

that I'm going to break my body for you."

00:47:10

The love of God seen in the breaking of bread

00:47:13

and the nailing of Jesus on the Cross,

00:47:15

done for you out of love. Take and eat.

00:47:21

You can peel back the top

00:47:22

if you're inside of a Crossroads building right now

00:47:25

for where the juice is.

00:47:26

Or take whatever liquid you have, wherever you are.

00:47:31

This blood signifies the love of Jesus

00:47:34

that spilled blood on our behalf.

00:47:36

His own blood trickled down His face,

00:47:39

trickled down His back,

00:47:42

pooled on the ground of where the Cross was.

00:47:45

It's a sign of His love for us.

00:47:48

It's a sign of a covenant that He makes with us,

00:47:51

a covenant of love

00:47:52

and relationship for all of eternity.

00:47:55

This cup isn't for those who are perfect.

00:47:58

This cup is for those who are forgiven.

00:48:01

This cup isn't for those who are perfect.

00:48:03

This cup is for those who are loved.

00:48:06

That is you and that's I.

00:48:08

The blood of Christ.

00:48:09

Take and drink.

00:55:39

- If you made the choice today to step towards

00:55:42

the ultimate, the greatest love ever,

00:55:45

I want you to go to Crossroads.net right now.

00:55:47

Someone is waiting to chat with you.

00:55:48

- And if you're a giver, I just want to say thank you.

00:55:51

You make all of this possible.

00:55:52

If you want to join in on the giving,

00:55:54

go to Crossroads.net/give.

00:55:56

You are empowering this message

00:55:57

and what's coming in the future, like Mother's Day.

00:55:59

- That's right.

00:56:00

- Where we're going to give your mom a horse.

00:56:02

It's going to be amazing, right?

00:56:03

- Not exactly, but it is, I mean, kind of sort of close.

00:56:06

Anyway, there's an epic surprise that we don't want you to miss

00:56:09

and we want you to come back

00:56:10

in a couple of weeks for it.

00:56:11

- And speaking of Epic, we're doing something

00:56:13

as a community that I think is epic

00:56:14

to thank our educators.

00:56:16

If you'd like to join in, we'd love you to.

00:56:17

You can check this out.

00:56:19

Thanks for being with us.

00:56:21

- Over the past two years of the pandemic,

00:56:23

more than half of all educators

00:56:25

have considered quitting their jobs.

00:56:29

Yet they've responded to these challenging times

00:56:31

in many courageous ways.

00:56:33

And despite uncertainty, exhaustion and discouragement,

00:56:37

they've continued to provide safe

00:56:38

and encouraging learning environments

00:56:40

for their students,

00:56:41

impacting the lives of thousands in the next generation.

00:56:45

We see you. We applaud you.

00:56:48

We are grateful for you.

00:56:56

Join us this spring when for one week

00:56:58

we'll pack ourselves a brown bag lunch every day

00:57:01

and give the money we save from not eating out

00:57:04

straight to hard-working educators.

00:57:09

That same week, we'll be using an app

00:57:11

designed to guide us on an epic adventure

00:57:13

to encourage all the hard-working people

00:57:15

continuing to serve in our schools.

00:57:18

Along with packing our lunches,

00:57:20

we'll be doing other fun and practical activities

00:57:23

to surprise and delight our educators.

00:57:26

- Mrs. Woo, thank you for teaching me

00:57:28

how to be a leader. This is for you.

00:57:31

- Principal Tommasini, your commitment

00:57:33

to the students of our school still inspires me today.

00:57:36

This is for you.

00:57:37

- Ms. Dillon, this is for you.

00:57:39

- Joe, thanks for keeping us safe at school.

00:57:42

This is for you.

00:57:43

- Mr. Loiseau, thank you for encouraging me

00:57:45

to take risks in theater class. This is for you.

00:57:49

- This is for you.

00:57:51

- This is for you.

00:57:52

- This is for you.

00:57:53

- This is for you.

00:57:55

- Join us in celebrating and blessing

00:57:57

the educators in your life.

00:57:59

Go to Crossroads.net/educators for more info.

00:58:04

- This is for you.

Recent Series