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167: Jesus, the Son of God
39 Plays17 days ago
What if we told you that the Creator of the universe and the Savior of the world wants a relationship with YOU! YOU are His beloved child and He wants to meet you where you are. This week, Ryan Pfendler will be examining God's character as He is revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
If you’d like to dig deeper, check out these discussion questions. You can complete them on your own, with your Community Group, or with family and friends.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Sermon Series
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The following podcast is a Jill dev Divine Media production.
00:00:08
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We really appreciate you coming to Normal Goes a Long Way and hitting play on this week's episode. So let's go ahead and get to it.
Jesus' Divine Nature and Controversy
00:00:15
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The sermon series that Messiah is doing based on the book, The Story.
00:00:20
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Jesus said, if I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My father... whom you claim is your God, he is the one who glorifies me.
00:00:32
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Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day.
00:00:46
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He saw it and was glad. You were not yet 50 years old, they said to him, and you have seen Abraham? Very truly I tell you, Jesus answered,
00:00:58
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Before Abraham was born, I am. At this they picked up stones to stone him. But Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
Reason for Jesus' Crucifixion
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For the past couple weeks, we have been looking at the life of Jesus in this section of the story. We have looked at his birth. We've looked at his miracles. We've looked at his teachings.
00:01:24
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And next week, we are gonna look at the story of his death on the cross. But I gotta tell you this week that Jesus was not killed for being a miracle worker.
00:01:37
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He was not killed for his teachings. He wasn't killed because he hung out with tax collectors and sinners. Oh, people saw that as a problem, but that wasn't worth killing him over.
00:01:49
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No, Jesus was killed because of moments like the one we just read. where he refers to himself with the name of God. That name we get all the way back in the book of Exodus, the divine name I am. And the religious leaders hear Jesus say this and talk amongst themselves and say, this guy has got to go.
00:02:16
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Jesus was killed because he claimed to be God, the son of God.
00:02:26
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This claim is at the heart of the story of Jesus, that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. People have been wrestling with this particular claim for 2,000 years now, and even the early church wrestled with this claim.
Understanding Jesus in Early Christianity
00:02:44
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About 300 years after the life of Jesus, a bunch of leaders and teachers in the church gathered together to answer and figure out some questions about They said, okay, we we believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God, but when we say he's the son of God, are we saying he's the same thing as God, or are we saying he's something less?
00:03:06
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And thankfully, a bunch of spirit-led and wise pastors and theologians looked at God's word, and they looked at the life of Jesus Christ, and they said yes.
00:03:21
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that the one who was crucified on the cross outside the walls of Jerusalem really was God in the flesh.
00:03:31
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And that changes how you read the story.
Jesus' Choice of Love and Mercy
00:03:35
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Because what you realize as you're reading the story of Jesus, thinking about him being God in the flesh, you realize that he has the power and the authority to absolutely squash and destroy all of his naysayers, all of his abusers, and all of his crucifiers.
00:03:55
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But he doesn't.
00:03:58
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I want to invite my friend Grant Lott to come up on the stage real quick. um Grant went with us to the National Youth Gathering last month, and I don't know how many of you have ever been the biggest person in a stadium of 20,000 people, ah but Grant Lott was that guy ah back in July.
00:04:15
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and Now, fun fact, Grant and I actually played the same position in high school football, and I will let you guess which one of us got the D1 scholarship offers. um But I got to tell you a story about Grant.
00:04:29
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um So there was one day that that he and some guys from our church ah went outside to go hang out in the hotel pool. And there were some other guys from other churches hanging out there as well. And wouldn't you know it, some guys thought it would be a good idea to start teasing and splashing and egging Grant on to try to get him to fight them.
00:04:56
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That's a bad idea, okay? That's a bad idea right there. Because this guy has the power to absolutely squash those kids, okay? And I'm hearing this story, and I'm like, this guy, this is not the guy you want to mess with.
00:05:10
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He could destroy you, couldn't you? i don't think it's a question. The confidence should tell you.
00:05:20
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Grant, did you hit them back? No. Tell me why. I thought about what Jesus would have done. you know When he was on the cross, he he didn't just jump down. he He took it. he He wore my sin and everybody's sin, and he washed it away.
00:05:38
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And the same thing with when Judas cut off, or the disciple cut off the soldier's ear. Instead of rebuking the soldiers, he covered the ear up and healed it.
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You turn the other cheek, just like your Lord told you to do. Anyways, thanks, Graham. Thanks for coming up here.
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Jesus didn't just say to turn the other cheek. He actually did turn the other cheek.
Reflection of God's Nature through Jesus
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He had the power to squash and destroy all of his naysayers, his abusers, his crucifiers, And yet, out of love for those very naysayers and abusers and crucifiers, out of love for them, he shows them mercy.
00:06:38
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If Jesus really was God, then the story of his life, death, and resurrection is the clearest image of God that you are ever going to see.
00:06:51
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If you want to know who God is, if you want to know what God is like, you look at Jesus Christ. Even Jesus talked this way. ah During his ministry, he says this. He said to to a bunch of people gathered around him during a teaching, he said, ah you study the scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.
00:07:15
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But these are the very scriptures that testify about me.
00:07:21
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If you want to know who God is, if you truly want to know what God is like, you look at Jesus.
Interpreting Jesus' Teachings and Miracles
00:07:32
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And so if we want to know, we want to know who God is, how should we read the story of Jesus? And I ask that question because, you know, two people can look at the same story and read it in two different ways. I mean, two Christians even can look at the same story of Jesus and read it in two different ways.
00:07:54
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And so what matters is is not just what you read about Jesus. What matters is how you read it, right?
00:08:02
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And so how should we read the story of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
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Well, if we wanted to, we could put all of our emphasis on his teachings. And we could talk only about Jesus being the divine judge of right and wrong, the one who gives us commandments and asks us to follow them.
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Or we could talk about Jesus as the great miracle worker who shows through power and glorious works his power and dominion over creation.
00:08:35
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Both of those ways of talking about Jesus are right. They're not wrong. I've even talked about Jesus that way.
Jesus' Compassionate Healing
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But what I want to do today is get down to the heart of the matter. Who is Jesus Christ at his core?
00:08:55
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Who is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in his heart?
00:09:02
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I want to look at one story today from the Gospel of Mark that I think shows us the heart of the Son of God, who he is at his core, who God is at his core.
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Here's the story.
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Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee, and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
00:09:36
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After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, Ephephathah, they didn't teach me that word in seminary. Let's hope I pronounced it right, which means be opened.
00:09:56
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At this the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly.
00:10:05
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this is a miracle story. And at first glance, every miracle story seems to communicate the same message. It seems like the point of this story is to show us that Jesus is the powerful and glorious Son of God. It's meant to show his power, his might, his authority.
00:10:25
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The same power that calmed the storm on the seas is the power that opens the ears of the deaf and loosens the tongue of the mute. Jesus heals this man and changes his life. He truly is the miracle working God who has power and authority over all creation.
00:10:47
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And so there's a way of reading this story. that sees Jesus through that lens of power and might and authority.
00:10:58
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But there's another way to read this same story. I'm going to read it again.
00:11:07
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Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
00:11:25
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After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue.
00:11:37
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He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, Ephephathah, which means be opened. At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly.
00:11:54
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I read this passage, and the question that comes to mind for me is, what is one person worth to the Son of God?
00:12:05
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Well, if his driving motivation, if who he is at his core is only the pursuit of personal fame and power and glory, well, one person's not worth all that much. If Jesus's motivation was personal displays of might, well, he would have never left the crowds. He would have never left their applause. He would have always received the adulation of the many. He would have never had time for the one.
00:12:34
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And yet in this story, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, creator of everything, gives all of his focus and attention to just one man.
00:12:52
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And not just one man, a deaf and a mute man. Someone who must have seemed so lowly in the eyes of the world.
00:13:08
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to be the kind of guy you you might wanna avoid if you saw on the street, I don't know.
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But for Jesus in this moment, this man was the most important man in the world.
00:13:26
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And I love how Mark mentions that Jesus pulls the man aside away from the crowd, and I think he does that to communicate to this man that, hey, I am not here for the show.
00:13:39
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I'm not here to impress the crowds. I'm not here for my own glory. I'm here for you.
00:13:48
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I'm here for you.
00:13:52
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And the heart that Jesus has for this man is the same heart he has for you.
00:14:02
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Jesus doesn't wait for you to fix yourself, for you to prove yourself worthy. Jesus doesn't wait for you to come up and meet him. No, he comes down to meet you where you are.
Meeting People in Their Brokenness
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The son of God comes down and for just a moment makes one man the most important man in the world and he meets him in his deafness and he meets you in your deafness and in your weakness and And in your brokenness, in your lowest place, he comes to you.
00:14:51
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Author Dane Ortlund says that when Jesus Christ sees the fallenness of the world all about him, his deepest impulse, his most natural instinct is to move toward that sin, not away from it.
00:15:10
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What did he do when he saw the unclean? What was his first impulse when he came across the prostitutes and lepers? He moved toward them. He spent time with them.
00:15:22
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He touched them.
00:15:26
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The heart of Jesus, the heart of God, is not to squash sinners, to
00:15:36
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The heart of Jesus is not to look down on the lowly from a distance.
00:15:44
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What is God like? He is the God who comes down and meets you where you are.
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He comes down even into the very graves that we are buried in and he gives you life. He comes down to the lowest place to raise you back up
00:16:08
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Not when everything looks good and perfect. Not when you fixed yourself. Not when you've proven yourself worthy. He comes down and meets you in the very pits of life.
00:16:21
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And he meets you in that place to heal you and raise you back up.
Paul's Reflection on Jesus' Humility
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Paul talked about Jesus this way. He knew Jesus well. Jesus met him on the road once, and his life was never the same.
00:16:42
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Paul wrote to one of the oldest Christian songs that we still have today. He writes it in a letter to the church in Philippi, and he opens the song by saying, ah in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset of Christ.
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And what is the mindset of Christ?
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Here it is.
00:17:08
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Have the same mindset as Christ, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.
00:17:19
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Rather, he made himself nothing. By taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
00:17:39
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Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.
00:17:48
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Look at how Paul traces the path of Jesus down.
00:17:55
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He had a throne up in heaven, but he came down. to be with you and be among you. and he went down even further and suffered death, and not just death, but the death of a criminal, death on the cross.
00:18:14
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The heart of Jesus is to come down as low as he can go, all for you.
00:18:24
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mean, we are so used to living in a world that is all about self-promotion, self-glorification, power-grabbing.
00:18:36
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And yet the Son of God set aside his power to be abused. He set aside his own glory to face rejection. He came down from the highest place to down here to meet us in our lowest place.
00:18:55
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And he enters into your lowest place not to reject you, not to judge you, but to heal you, to make you whole again.
00:19:11
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He follows you down even into the pits, down even into the grave to give you life.
00:19:24
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So what is your lowest place?
00:19:28
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What is the grave that you've dug for yourself?
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Is it an addiction?
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Is it a sin that you just can't seem to quit that you do over and over again?
00:19:45
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Are you exhausted by the weight of trying to prove yourself constantly to your boss or your spouse or to a harsh parent?
00:19:56
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Are you worn out by life in this world? Are you crushed with mental health issues? Do you question your value and your worth? ah These are the things that we try to fix ourselves before we ever tell anyone about them.
00:20:11
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Because we're afraid that if someone were to know, they would judge us. I got to fix me and look good and perfect so that I can look good and perfect to everyone else. These are the things that we try to hide from the world because they make us look weak.
00:20:30
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They make us look lowly. They bring us shame.
00:20:35
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And yet it is in that place of shame that the son of God is most unashamed to meet you.
00:20:46
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It is in your broken place that he comes to make you whole again.
00:20:54
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You see, the very things that you most want to hide from Jesus are the very things that Jesus wants to come down and meet you in. The very places that you want to hide from Jesus are the same places that Jesus wants to meet you in.
00:21:12
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He comes down and meets you right where you are.
Revelation: Jesus' Worthiness
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He brings healing right where you are. He brings life right where you are.
00:21:28
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Jesus became lowly to save the lowly.
00:21:37
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And scripture says that it is for his lowliness It is for his humility. It is for this downward mobility where he comes and meets us where we are. It is for this that we worship him.
00:21:52
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In the book of Revelation, there's this scene where there's a great scroll with seven seals on it. And the writer of Revelation, John, he he he weeps because no one is found who is worthy to open this great scroll and and and open the seals.
00:22:11
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But the angels take the scroll, and who do they turn to? They turn to Jesus. And they say to him, you are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals. Why? Because you were slain.
00:22:28
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And with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.
00:22:43
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Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.
00:22:55
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When we look at Jesus, it's his lowliness, his humility, his death that we look to most of all.
00:23:08
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because it's that humility and that lowliness. That is why the angels worship him and praise him. Because this is where you see who God truly is.
Acknowledging Jesus' Sacrifice
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He's the God who set aside the heavenly throne for a baby cradle.
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He's the God who gave up everything, all for you.
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And what amazes me most of all
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as I look at this story of Jesus and all that he did for me,
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i know I don't deserve it.
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I know he didn't come because I was good enough.
00:23:56
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I look at myself and I know I've messed it all up. I messed it all up a long time ago and I still have yet to prove myself.
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And maybe you feel that way too.
00:24:11
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Maybe you feel like you messed it all up and that if there is a God, he should by all rights be tired of me by now.
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No. No, he still comes to you and meets you right where you are.
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He meets you right there in the place where you've most messed up and he makes you new again. He heals you when you are powerless to heal yourself.
00:24:49
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For that, all we can do is worship him like the angels in Revelation and say, thank you, Jesus.
Invitation to Further Exploration
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Thank you for coming down for someone like me.
00:25:04
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If you'd like to dig a little bit deeper into chapter 25, Jesus, the son of God, we have some discussion questions for you to consider. You can do them on your own, or you can do them with a group of individuals.
00:25:16
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The discussion questions are designed to help you just go a little bit deeper. And you can find those at normal goes a long way.com. And I invite you to come back on Thursday with your family. As we get to hear chapter 25 in kids form with miss Hannah and miss April with normal goes a long way for kids.