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When we think about the
disciples, we often imagine them

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as they understood everything
from the beginning.

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When Jesus called them, it's
important to understand.

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These were young guys.

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Jesus was 30.

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Some of these guys were 19,
18, 17, maybe some in the mid-20s.

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They were young.

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Jesus said, come, follow me.

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And we assume they immediately
knew who he was, what he came to

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do, and exactly how the story
would end.

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But that's not how it happened.

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That's not at all how it happened.

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The followers of Jesus did not
understand from the beginning, and

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we don't either.

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And I think that's why some
people are afraid to follow Jesus,

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because they don't understand
it all from the beginning.

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So they won't take that first
step, walking with him.

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But for the disciples, their
faith grew, their love deepened,

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their understanding developed,
the courage came, and the uncertainty

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was really tested.

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It was a walk of progress,
just like it is for us.

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Sometimes they misunderstood.

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Sometimes they were amazed by him.

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Sometimes they were confused
by what he said.

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They were always drawn to him.

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They were afraid of losing him.

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And they were shattered when
he died.

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And they were stunned,
absolutely stunned when he rose from

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the grave.

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And that's the point at which
they became certain who he was.

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And they gave the rest of
their lives telling the world about

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Jesus.

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When followers start walking
with Jesus, some come because they

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have questions, they have
needs, they have wounds, maybe ambition,

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maybe looking for meaning,
forgiveness, looking for hope.

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Christ accepted them to follow
him wherever they were.

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He just said, come and follow me.

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He didn't give any more
instruction than that.

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Just follow me and you'll see.

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And I think as I look at their
lives and what happened, and we'll

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study them this semester.

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There are nine steps in that
journey that are pretty common to

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most of these followers of Jesus.

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And the question I have for
you this morning is, as I go through

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these nine steps, where are
you on that progression of walking

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with Jesus?

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Because if you can understand
where you are, you can see where

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the next step needs to be and
the one after that that will lead

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you into the kind of
relationship with Christ that these

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disciples had, that they gave
their entire lives and their future

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to telling the story of Jesus
and living for him.

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So the first step was they
were all looking for meaning of some

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way.

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They wanted their lives to count.

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They didn't just want to go
through the motions.

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They didn't want to give up
meaning for the trinkets that the

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world offers.

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They may not have understood
it fully, what he could do and who

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he was, but something in them
knew that There was more to life

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than simply success and
reputation and position and comfort

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and survival.

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They wanted significance and
meaning for their years on this earth.

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And Jesus met them there and
he said, come, follow me with whoever

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you are and however you are.

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And, and then they took those
first steps.

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And at the beginning they were
really drawn to his beauty.

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At first they were not drawn
to what he could do, but by who he

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was in him.

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They saw kindness, that boy,
the Roman Empire sure didn't show.

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They saw joy, they saw
compassion, they saw courage, they

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saw mercy.

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These were characteristics
that were out of sync with society.

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They saw authority, they saw
holiness, they saw purity, they saw

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truth.

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Christ was unlike anybody else
they'd ever met.

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He touched lepers on purpose.

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He welcomed children in a
society where children were not even

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considered worthy of, of anything.

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He ate with tax collectors who
were the most hated people in the

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entire community.

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He defended the shamed.

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When people were self
righteous about him, he turned the

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other cheek.

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He noticed the overlooked and
he had time for those who were desperate.

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You see, at this point they
were just drawn to his beauty.

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They didn't understand the
theology, they, they just wish they

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could be like him because
there was something so different

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there.

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And today I think in our
Christian walk of walking with Jesus,

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we get so focused on trying to
get it right.

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We don't just follow who he is.

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And sometimes it's best to
just let go of that and follow who

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he is to be like him.

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And that's what they were
drawn to.

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And then they were amazed by
his power was kind of the next step

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in this journey of walking
with Jesus.

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He turned water into wine.

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He calmed storms when they
thought they were going to die.

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He healed the blind, he healed
the lame, he took care of the sick,

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he fed the hungry, he raised
Lazarus from the dead.

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They were with him a long time
before they saw his power.

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His power wasn't revealed to
them at the beginning.

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And I think there are a lot of
people who try to walk with Jesus

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and they say, well, I don't
see him doing anything in my life

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because you haven't walked
with him far enough yet.

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And if you walk with Him a
little bit farther, you will begin

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to see his power.

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Many people follow Jesus
because they need him to do something.

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And that makes sense.

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A lot of our prayers are,
lord, please do this and do this

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and fix this and take care of this.

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And that's okay.

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God doesn't mind that.

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But eventually we have to
discover, like the disciples finally

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discovered, it's more about
who he is rather than just about

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what he can do for us.

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And that led them in then to
the fourth step.

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If they began to be shaped by
his teaching, his teaching made sense

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of life.

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The world's way was a limited
approach, very confined approach

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to what life can be.

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And I've talked last semester
quite a bit about the upside down

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world.

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What Jesus did was often
upside down of what society does.

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We'll talk maybe some about
that this semester.

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But the world's approach was
very limited as people were trying

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to figure out life, trying to
figure out how to get by, trying

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to figure out how to make it work.

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And Jesus opened a whole
different arena for them of forgiveness

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and prayer and service and
freedom and purity.

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Jesus taught them, see how God
designed the world to be.

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Jesus taught them how God
designed you and me to be.

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And they weren't living that way.

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But when they began to follow
the teachings of Jesus, they saw

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a different way to operate
their lives.

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Kind of like how I am with my iPad.

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I was up at the Apple store a
little bit ago, had a problem with

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my phone.

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I happened to have my iPad
with me.

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And one of the guys up there
who's one of the senior people at

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the Apple store, Lawrence,
he's a graduate of Belhaven, is an

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art major here, loved Lawrence.

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He'd been there a long time.

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And he said, do you know how
to make that thing run?

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Pointing to my iPad.

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And I said, well, yeah, you
know, I search the web and I can

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stream a movie and I check my
email and all that kind of stuff.

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He said, no, do you really
know how to make it run?

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I said, what do you mean?

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He said, I'll show you.

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He took my iPad and he said,
first of all, we're going to change

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about these six settings, and
then we're going to download this,

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we're going to put this in,
you're going to do this, this.

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And it was a completely
different machine.

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I had been working with an
iPad that had very limited capability

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because it was the best I
could do.

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And when I got the expert to
show me how to really make it work

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in the way it was designed to
work, it became absolutely incredible.

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Jesus offers us in his
teaching a way of life that works

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best.

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You may look at it and say,
well, I don't like it that Jesus

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said, don't do this or do this
or whatever.

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Well, you may not like it, but
that's how life works best.

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And when you do it that way,
life becomes much more full and the

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problems tend to diminish.

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Compared to us trying to
figure it out on our own and run

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it by our way, which is
limited to how he designed it to

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be.

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Just like Apple designed that
iPad to work a certain way.

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I didn't have those keys until
I learned the teaching.

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So they shaped by his teaching.

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Then fourth, we see they were comforted.

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Excuse me.

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They were confused, but they
still trusted him.

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Even in their confusion, they
trusted him.

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As the disciples learned more,
they often became even more confused.

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He spoke of suffering when
they expected victory.

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They want him to come in and
overthrow the Roman Empire.

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That's what they were there for.

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He spoke of bearing the cross
when they expected a throne.

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He told them, the last will be first.

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That didn't make sense.

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He told them, to make an
impact in the world, you must be

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a servant.

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That's the key.

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He told them that he would die
and rise again and again and again

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and again.

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They didn't understand.

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They didn't get it.

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And lots of times in the
teaching of Jesus, we too get confused.

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But they still trusted even
when they were confused.

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You may not understand always
God's timing.

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You may not understand all his commands.

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You may not understand
suffering and why it has to happen

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in your life or your family.

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You may not understand why
obedience is costly, may not understand

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why prayers seem to go
unanswered, or why Jesus leads differently

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than you expect.

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But our prayer needs to be,
lord, I don't understand everything,

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but I know enough about you to
trust you.

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That's real faith.

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That's not blind faith.

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That's not careless faith.

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That's relational faith.

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Trust built in knowing his
character, not knowing every single

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detail of what he says.

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So they were confused, but
they still trusted in that process.

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And then finally they could
see that he was the Son of God.

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Their understanding developed
slowly, gradually, sometimes painfully.

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But they came to see that
Jesus was more than a teacher.

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He was more than a prophet.

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He was more than a miracle worker.

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He was more than a moral example.

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He was the Son of God come to earth.

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He was not just wise and smart
and kind.

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He was God, the Creator come
in the form of a man.

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We all have to eventually
answer the question.

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He asked the disciples, who do
you say I am?

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Who do you say I am?

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And our faith is very, very
fragile until we get to the point

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we can answer and know he is
the Son of God.

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And when you know he is the
Son of God, that's when everything

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changes.

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That's when the teachings go,
I can't get enough.

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I want to do it his way.

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That's when the mercy can't be
enough because I want to do it his

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way.

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That's when the grace comes
into your life that replaces the

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hate and the fighting because
you want to do it his way.

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When you know he's the Son of
God who's come for you and for me,

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it changes everything.

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And I think this is people who
get stuck in their walk with Christ.

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They walk along and they're
looking for meaning.

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They're drawn to the beauty
and they like the power and help

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me, Lord.

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And they're shaped by the
teaching and they're confused.

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But then when it comes to
really committing to understand he

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is the Son of God and what he
says is God talking.

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And we embrace that and we
respond to life differently because

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it's God telling us what to do.

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Until we get to that point,
our walk with Christ just almost

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becomes a struggle.

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There's no joy and there's no
freedom in it.

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00:14:21,810 --> 00:14:25,890
And that's the point that they
got to that made all the difference.

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And then after that, they were
shaken by the cross.

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Crucifixion, stunned the disciples.

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They didn't expect it.

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Yeah, he told them it was
going to happen.

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They didn't expect it.

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They were not ready for it.

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They were shattered.

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They went and hid.

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They doubted.

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They grieved.

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They thought the story was over.

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They thought that was the end
of the journey right there.

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And the question we all have
to ask is, why did Jesus have to

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die on a cross?

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Why did Jesus have to die on a cross?

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Well, I think there are four reasons.

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First of all, victory over
evil and death.

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You see, death is not simply
physical death.

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Death is separation from God.

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And until we're reconciled
with God, we can't have real life.

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The cost of evil is death.

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The scripture says, in that
separation from God.

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And then hope was restored.

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Secondly, because Jesus died
on a cross, Jesus took our sin as

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a sacrifice.

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When you're playing around
with sin sometime when you're thinking,

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well, I'll just do this, it's
not all that bad.

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Remember the price Jesus paid
for your sin.

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Is it really not all that bad?

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He was so serious about it
because he knew the cost of sin that

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he was willing to die for sin.

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And then thirdly, he died on
the cross because it was a chance

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to give unlimited love.

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The length Jesus will go for
us, to give us grace.

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To be reconciled with the
Father was to give his own life for

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it.

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You know, if I was ever in a
situation and I got two kids, and

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if the choice was, you either
got to die or your kids are going

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to die.

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That would be the easiest
decision of my life.

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I'd say, take it, go ahead,
save them.

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That's easy because they're my kids.

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Well, you're a child of God.

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I'm a child of God.

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And that's how much he loved us.

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And his love was that deep
that he gave his life for us.

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And the fourth reason he had
to die on the cross was to prove

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that he was God.

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You see, if he hadn't died on
the cross, he maybe just disappeared

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or died naturally or whatever
they would have said, this is a made

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up story.

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They would have said all kinds
of conspiracy theories about what

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really happened.

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Instead, it was a public
execution in the most gruesome way

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possible.

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And the Roman leader so knew
he was dead.

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He put guards in front of the
tomb so they wouldn't come steal

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the body and then try and make
up something that he rose from the

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grave so he had to die on the
cross in order to give us hope.

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And the disciples were shaken
by the cross, but then they were

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convinced by the resurrection.

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Everything changed when they
saw the risen Christ.

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They'd seen him die.

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They grieved, they cried, they
feared, they ran behind locked doors.

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And then Christ came and stood
among them.

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500 people saw Jesus after he
was resurrected.

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500 different people saw Jesus.

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And in that, he turned fear
into courage.

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He turned grief into joy.

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00:17:45,140 --> 00:17:48,980
He turned shattered disciples
into bold witnesses.

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He turned followers into
proclaimers who lived for him.

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00:17:55,900 --> 00:18:00,220
And then they were transformed
into witnesses.

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00:18:00,700 --> 00:18:04,260
Before all this, they were
unsure, they were doubting, they

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were timid.

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But after the resurrection,
after the resurrection, they went

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00:18:09,220 --> 00:18:11,100
into the world proclaiming Christ.

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They preached him, they
suffered for Him.

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We know through history, most
of them died for him.

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They carried the Gospel across
cultures and across borders to tell

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00:18:23,650 --> 00:18:28,570
people about Jesus, who was
the Son of God, died for their sins,

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rose from the grave and sits
with the Father to redeem them.

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They gave their lives because
they were certain, absolutely 100%

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certain of what they had seen.

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This is who Jesus really was
and becomes to us when we see the

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resurrection.

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But we have to see the
Resurrection to walk the fullness

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of this journey with Christ.

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He takes people who are unsure
and makes them witnesses.

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00:19:00,340 --> 00:19:02,660
He takes the timid and gives
them courage.

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00:19:02,660 --> 00:19:05,380
He takes the confused and he
teaches them truth.

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00:19:05,620 --> 00:19:08,990
He takes the frail and he
gives them restoration.

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00:19:09,790 --> 00:19:13,150
He takes the doubts and meets
them with answers.

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00:19:14,110 --> 00:19:17,950
He takes those who are looking
for significance and gives them calling.

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00:19:18,350 --> 00:19:21,470
Following Jesus is not just
learning about him.

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00:19:22,350 --> 00:19:27,590
It's coming to know him, to
love him, to trust him, and finally

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00:19:27,590 --> 00:19:33,390
to live for him to the point
that others can see Jesus in us.

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00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:39,800
And if they don't see Jesus in
us, our walk is not far enough along

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00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:43,240
yet, and we need to take some
more steps.

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00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:48,400
Well, this semester is not
simply going to be about studying

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00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:49,320
Bible characters.

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00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,480
It's going to be understanding
how people follow Jesus.

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00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:57,720
Matthew will show us that
Jesus gives a new identity.

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00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:02,520
Peter will show us that Jesus
restores even when we totally fail.

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00:20:04,070 --> 00:20:08,630
Thomas will show us that Jesus
meets honesty with doubts.

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00:20:09,750 --> 00:20:13,670
Mary of Bethlehem will show us
where priorities matter even when

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00:20:13,670 --> 00:20:15,190
family issues conflict.

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00:20:15,750 --> 00:20:19,670
The woman at the well will
show us that Christ turns shame into

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00:20:19,670 --> 00:20:20,390
renewal.

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00:20:21,350 --> 00:20:25,510
Zacchaeus will show you that
grace changes our desires.

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00:20:26,310 --> 00:20:30,250
And John will show us that
love matures over a lifetime.

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00:20:30,250 --> 00:20:33,130
And then the only one of the
people we're going to study this

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00:20:33,130 --> 00:20:36,970
semester who did not
personally meet Jesus when He was

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00:20:36,970 --> 00:20:42,170
alive before the crucifixion
was Paul, who showed us a life captured

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00:20:42,570 --> 00:20:44,090
by the risen Christ.

359
00:20:45,530 --> 00:20:48,650
They were drawn, all of them,
to his kindness.

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00:20:48,650 --> 00:20:50,330
They were amazed by his power.

361
00:20:50,810 --> 00:20:52,370
They were shaped by his teaching.

362
00:20:52,370 --> 00:20:54,650
They were confused even while
trusting him.

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00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:57,960
They were in awe that he was
the Son of God.

364
00:20:58,120 --> 00:20:59,840
They were shaken by the cross.

365
00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:02,120
They were convinced by the resurrection.

366
00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:08,040
And they were transformed into
witnesses when they saw the fullness

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00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:09,400
of Christ.

368
00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,400
Are we merely interested in Jesus?

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00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:18,440
Are we merely hanging around
Jesus in our walk because it's the

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00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:19,560
appropriate thing to do?

371
00:21:21,490 --> 00:21:25,330
Are we just familiar with
Jesus, but we don't really love him?

372
00:21:26,210 --> 00:21:29,010
Or are we genuinely following Jesus?

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00:21:29,890 --> 00:21:34,370
This semester, don't just
learn about the followers of Jesus.

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00:21:35,170 --> 00:21:38,930
Find your place among them and
follow Him.

375
00:21:40,050 --> 00:21:42,850
Don't stand at the edge of the story.

376
00:21:44,450 --> 00:21:45,970
Don't stand at the edge of the story.

377
00:21:45,970 --> 00:21:46,930
Hear his call.

378
00:21:47,410 --> 00:21:50,200
Take his next steps and follow Him.

379
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:56,120
And as you do, he will
transform you into a person he's

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00:21:56,120 --> 00:22:01,080
created you to become in the
way he designed you.

381
00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:04,680
Let's share together our benediction.

382
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:07,960
No eye has seen, no ear has heard.

383
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:13,160
No mind has conceived what God
has prepared for those of Him.

384
00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:14,360
Have a great day.

385
00:22:14,770 --> 00:22:15,010
It.