The Heart of the Matter (Walk Thru the Bible Week 43)

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Welcome to Walk Through the Bible, Susan Michael's 12-month journey through the most exciting

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book on the planet.

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It will transform your life one page at a time.

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Be sure to subscribe for future episodes that will ignite your faith and bring your Bible

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to life.

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Now, let's join our host, Susan Michael.

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Well, hey there and welcome back.

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This week we are going to come to the heart of Jesus' message and his purpose, his mission.

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So stay with me.

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You know, my purpose in this walk through the Bible is to keep reminding you of the story

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that you're reading, the story behind all the stories, and to bring out little pieces

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of information to just affirm to you how accurate and how true your Bible is.

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I want to welcome all the newcomers that are just starting with us to walk through the

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New Testament together.

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And a warm welcome to all of you who have been with us for months now as we walk through

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the Old Testament beginning now with the new.

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I invite you, please invite your family and your friends on this journey with us.

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Please subscribe to this channel, but forward this to your family and friends.

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Let them go on this trek with you through the pages of the New Testament.

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Now this week we are reading in the Daily Bible the dates of October 22nd through the

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28th.

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That's also pages 1364 to 1394.

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Now let's review last week.

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Last week we talked about that inter-testamental period rich in history that set the stage

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for the beginning of the New Testament.

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And then we began reading the New Testament, this amazing story of the birth of the forerunner

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John the Baptist and then the birth of Jesus from the lineage of David in fulfillment of

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God's promises to Abraham and to David.

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What a wonderful story.

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Now at the end of last week we also heard how that Herod the Great, or we read about

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how that Herod the Great got paranoid and because of these visiting magi and he knew

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that there was one had been born king of the Jews and so he orders the murder of all the

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children in Bethlehem.

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Now this story, while we don't have any sources outside of the Bible that corroborate this

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story, it is so in keeping with who Herod the Great was.

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He was an extremely paranoid man that in the end he killed his wife, his favorite wife

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I should say, and his two sons because he was afraid that they were going to try to

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kill him and take the throne and it's all paranoid.

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So this story is so like Herod the Great.

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But I want to take a minute and just mention to you about these visiting magi and who were

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they.

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And if you were with us during the Old Testament reading in the book of Daniel, we saw how

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that Daniel, this Hebrew man, a descendant of Israel, a worshiper of the God of Israel,

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Daniel, a Hebrew, was put over all the wise men of Babylon.

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And then Daniel was still in place when the Persian Empire took over Babylon.

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So Daniel more than likely taught the wise men of the east of Babylon and Persia about

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the Hebrew prophecies, about the promises of God to send a Messiah and of the signs

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in the heavens that he thought would take place and they had passed it down.

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So it's really in keeping with our story that these magi did know about this tradition

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of a star that would arise and so they came following it.

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You know, many times in our Christmas pageants we have the three wise men there with the

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baby Jesus and the animals and the manger and the petting zoo and all of that.

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Well honestly, by the time the magi got to the baby Jesus, he was a toddler.

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Because in the story the Greek word used for the baby is toddler.

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So he was probably as old as two years old when they came.

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And that's why Herod the Great ordered the murder of all the babies two years and less.

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So Joseph and Mary take the baby Jesus and they flee to Egypt.

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Well, this story is very highly likely.

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Why?

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Because there was a large Jewish community in Egypt.

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And they had been there for hundreds of years.

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They had first gone there when they were fleeing the Assyrian takeover of the northern kingdom

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of Israel in 722 BC.

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And then when the Babylonians came in, more fled down into Egypt.

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So there were large communities there.

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Joseph and Mary would have just found, who knows, maybe relatives that were there.

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But for sure, a Jewish community that would welcome them in and help them to be settled

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during their time there.

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And if you go to Egypt today, which I was just there a few years ago, we visited the

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ancient church that is built over an area where the tradition is there in Egypt, that

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that's where Joseph and Mary lived.

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And they can show you a map of different things that Joseph and Mary, whereas they may have

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moved around within the Jewish community there in Egypt.

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These are traditions.

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We don't have it in the Bible.

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But nevertheless, there are probably a lot of truth in them.

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And it's very interesting to go to these places and to realize that you're standing near the

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place where so much history took place.

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Somewhere Joseph and Mary may have taken refuge.

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Of course, once they find out that here the great has died, then they return to the land

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and they make their way up to Nazareth.

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And so Jesus grows up in Nazareth.

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We don't know much about his childhood.

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So our first story is, of course, when they take him to the temple and he stays behind,

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he's about 12 years old.

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He stays behind and they lose him, they come and they find him debating with the rabbis

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and the teachers of the law there.

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And that was the first indication that there's something here.

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But I think that there was a lot of indications within the family home about Jesus who was

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in his power.

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Why do I say that?

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Because the Bible doesn't tell us that.

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Because his first miracle in the Bible is the wedding at Cana.

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We all know it.

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Mary says, you know, they're running out of wine and a marriage at that time, it was

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kind of like a week-long event and everyone came there.

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They had to be fed, you know, the two, three meals a day and wine and beverage.

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And it was a big celebration for days.

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And so at this particular wedding, they ran out of wine and that's just a terrible thing

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in a society based on hospitality.

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It's hard for us as Americans maybe to relate to just how serious this incident was.

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And it had to be solved.

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They had to bring in more wine for the guest.

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And what's so telling in this story is that Mary knew what Jesus could do.

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So she tells the servants there, do whatever he tells you to do.

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And so how did she know?

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Except maybe he'd done it in the home.

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He had done things in the home.

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So she knew.

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She knew his power and what he was able to do.

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And sure enough, he saves the wedding and he turns the water into wine and this is known

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as the first recorded miracle of Jesus.

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Then Jesus moves his home base away from Nazareth down to the Si'ik Allelii to a town named

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we pronounce it Capernaum.

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Now in Hebrew, it is K'far Nahum, which means a village of comfort.

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Capernaum is the word for comfort.

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And there's so many beautiful promises in the Old Testament about that God would comfort

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his people.

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And so this is the village of comfort.

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This is another village that was founded during the Hasmonean period when they were resettling

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the Galilee.

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So Capernaum was a Jewish village.

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And Jesus made it his hometown.

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It's right there on the shores of the Si'ik Allelii.

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And I believe Matthew, the tax collector, lived in Capernaum and also Simon Peter's

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mother-in-law lived in Capernaum.

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We have the story that Jesus spoke in the synagogue there in Capernaum.

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And then when he left the synagogue, they went to the home of Simon Peter's mother-in-law

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and found her sick with fever.

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And Jesus healed the mother-in-law.

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When you go with me to Israel, and I hope that you all will, and I hope that you'll

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go down in today's show notes, and you will click the link to our tour interest list.

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Sign up.

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Let us know you're interested in going.

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We don't yet have dates or an exact package together.

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When we have one, we'll send it to you, but we'd like to know who you are.

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And I hope that you'll all be able to go with me.

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We'll go to Capernaum for sure.

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And we will see there is a synagogue.

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And it's a synagogue that was built in the fourth century, but it's over the top of

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the remains of the first century synagogue that Jesus would have stood in.

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And you can see the dark basalt stones of the first century synagogue.

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And then on top of it are the lighter stones of the fourth century synagogue.

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And when the fourth century synagogue was built, it seems like it was built more for

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Christian tourism to the area, yes, even in the fourth century.

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And because they built the synagogue slightly askew from the first century foundations,

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it's just a hair off.

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And why did they do that?

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So that the fourth century synagogue is facing straight at the home of Simon Peter's mother-in-law.

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And they're pretty sure that this is the home of Simon Peter's mother-in-law.

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Why?

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Because when we go there, we're just looking at stone foundations of what they know as

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a housing complex.

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But this particular home had been preserved as it was.

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It had been plastered over a number of times, which means that for a couple hundred years

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or so, they were maintaining this home.

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It was a special place.

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And they kept it up.

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But the threshold has a broken stone.

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They never replaced it.

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Why would that be?

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Why would they fix up a place but not replace the broken stone?

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Because it could be Jesus himself stood on that stone when he entered the home.

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And on the plaster walls, when they removed, they found in earlier layers graffiti there

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with the name of Jesus and other Christian terminology.

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So the early, when the Roman Empire became Christian in the fourth century, the mother

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of Constantine went to the Holy Land.

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She researched where these places were.

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They built churches over these places.

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And tradition was that this was the home of the mother-in-law, so they built a church

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over it.

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Now today, of course, any church that was built in the fourth century is not standing

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more than likely.

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So there is a more modern church that's been built over it, but they built it up like on

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stilts.

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So they, underneath, you see all the stones.

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And you can go up in the church.

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They have a see-through floor so you can look down at the stones of the home.

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More than likely it really is the place.

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So I want you to go with me and see these places for yourself.

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That's the city of Capernaum that Jesus made as his hometown.

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Now speaking of synagogues and first-century synagogues, we read this week that Jesus went

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throughout the whole region teaching in the synagogues.

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And so there has been a first-century synagogue uncovered very close to Capernaum, right on

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the shores of the Sea of Galilee, in the town of Magdala.

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And this would be the town where Mary Magdalene was from, Magdala.

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And there they uncovered just in the last 20 years a first-century synagogue.

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This one is so exciting to go to.

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You can go and you'll see the actual floor of the first-century synagogue where Jesus,

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we feel confident he stood there in that synagogue and taught.

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And so you can see it, you can take pictures of the floor.

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Very special to be there.

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This week we also read a story where Jesus went to Jerusalem and he carried out a healing

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there.

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It's a very important story, so I want to highlight it.

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Of course you're going to read a lot of stories this week and they're all great.

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But this one I want to point out to you.

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And it's the healing of the lame man that was at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem.

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And there was a tradition that the waters would stir and that an angel was stirring

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the waters.

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And when they stirred the waters, if you got in them first, you could be healed.

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And so this lame man had laid there for many years because he could never get into the

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water in time to experience the healing.

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Now this story is kind of odd because it doesn't sound like the God of Israel to use an angel

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to stir up the waters for healing.

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So there's a couple of possibilities here.

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It could be that this was a place that the pagans taught that.

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And it is also possible that this is a place where the waters would come up not because

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of an angel, but because of the tides and the tide levels and the water levels underground

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and that it would bubble up at times and come up.

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Nevertheless, the story is that this is what they were told that it was because an angel

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was stirring the waters.

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This man could not be healed.

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And even though it was the Sabbath that Jesus healed him, and then there's this great debate

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that takes place with the rabbis over Jesus doing this, and they describe, question him

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about this healing.

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And so I want to bring it up because Jesus did not break the laws of Sabbath as written

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in the Old Testament and is given to Moses on Sinai.

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What Jesus had broken was a rabbinic ruling about how to observe the Sabbath.

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Obviously, a rabbinic ruling that he didn't agree with.

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But Jesus observed all the laws.

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He was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi.

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He observed all the laws.

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If he had broken the laws, he would not have qualified to have been Messiah.

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So it's important that we understand this.

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The difference between the actual laws as given at Sinai and the many traditions of

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the rabbis over the centuries of how to observe those laws.

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Well, what is the definition of work?

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What about if you walk three miles to a synagogue?

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That's kind of work, isn't it?

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Is that too far?

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So how far can you walk to synagogue?

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All of these laws.

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And that's what Jesus had broken at times in the Gospels.

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Now he told the man that his sins were forgiven.

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And the scribes question his authority to heal sins because this was considered blasphemy.

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This was claiming to be God if you were claiming that you could forgive sins.

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So Jesus said, well, what's the difference in saying be healed or be forgiven of your

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sins?

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So there's some debate amongst skeptics and they'll claim that Jesus never claimed to

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be divine.

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He never claimed to be God.

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But actually Jesus did through his actions and through his words and the Jewish people

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around him knew when he was claiming divinity.

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But we in the 21st century, we read these things and we don't quite understand the Old

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Testament background, what they believed about God.

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And when they accused Jesus of blasphemy, it's because what he had done and said was

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a claim of divinity.

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So be very clear about that.

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And then the other thing about Jesus wasn't just that he forgave sins, but they said he

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taught with authority.

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He wasn't just a teacher.

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And this is another thing people will try to claim, oh, Jesus was a great teacher.

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I agree with Jesus' teachings, but I just don't believe that he was divine.

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Well, Jesus wasn't just a good teacher.

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Jesus taught with authority as the one who had written the laws in the first place, as

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the one who had created these things in the first place.

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He spoke with the authority of God.

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And this is what really astounded the people.

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Speaking of his teaching, we do need to talk this week about the Sermon on the Mount.

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You're going to read it.

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It's beautiful teachings that really get to what I call the heart of the matter.

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I have heard some people say that Jesus brought a whole new set of ethics, a whole new set

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of morality, that the Sermon on the Mount is the replacement of the Old Testament law,

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that it's just all new.

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And it was all based on love and peace.

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Well, when you read the Sermon on the Mount this week, I want you to be cognizant of the

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context of the Sermon of the Mount and what's going on here.

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First of all, Jesus is not in any way disagreeing with any of the laws of Moses.

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Instead, Jesus is describing the actual original intent of the law of Moses, the heart of the

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matter, the heart and the soul of the law of Moses.

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Remember what we said, that the word law actually is better translated instruction.

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And the law was there as an instruction.

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It wasn't just rote commandments.

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It was there to teach us.

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It was there to reveal to us something.

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And Jesus here in the Sermon on the Mount is revealing the heart of the law.

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He's bringing the people back down to the heart of the matter, not to disagree with,

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but to elaborate on to clarify it.

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Also, Jesus is speaking within a certain context here of the Roman Empire.

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The Roman Empire is some call it the most brutal empire in history.

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It was a brutal, pagan, godless empire and in the face of that great empire, here are

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the little Jewish people in their land just wanting to be free, just wanting to be able

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to obey their God, to live their lives and they're under the oppressive yoke of the Roman

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Empire and the Romans are not just brutal, but they are taxing them to the hilt.

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They are paying so many taxes.

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So the people want freedom from this.

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You and I would want freedom from this.

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We would be yearning for the Messiah to come and overthrow Roman rule.

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That's where the people were.

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That's what they were waiting for.

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That's what they were praying for.

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That's what they were crying out for.

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And in this context, Jesus is saying to them, look at the heart of the law.

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Look at the check your heart.

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Not that he was opposed to confronting Rome, but he knew now was not the time.

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Jesus knew that his mission was to reveal the Father to his people, to reveal the heart

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of the matter to his people and to pay the price for their sins.

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That was his mission.

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When he returns, he's going to deal with all the Roman empires in the world and you can

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be certain of that.

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So today, some people try to depict Jesus as this pacifist that is against any kind of

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political engagement or opposing the evil empires.

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And that is really not the case.

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Jesus knew that was not the time for it.

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And he knew how sensitive the situation was.

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And with the slightest, the slightest hint of him being Messiah could spark off the zealots

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and a revolt that could bring the Roman Empire down on the people.

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He knew how sensitive it was.

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And his mission at the moment was to reveal the Father's heart to the people and to pay

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for their sins.

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So he didn't bring a whole new ethic.

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He didn't bring a whole new set of teachings.

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And he wasn't saying that all for all of history now, we're just to give in to those over us,

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that we are to be non-political, that we are to be pacifist.

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That was the prescription for the moment at that time.

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Now it was not, I want to say something else.

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Many times in our teachings and our sermons, we have this idea that the Jewish people were

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in error because they were looking for that Messiah to free them from Roman rule.

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They were looking for someone to come and establish the throne of David, which means

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to re-establish sovereignty over the Jewish people, that there would be a Jewish king

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over them, that there would be a descendant of the House of David over them.

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That's what they were yearning for.

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And that's not wrong.

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We try to portray that as wrong, that Jesus came to say, no, that's wrong.

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It's all about a heavenly spiritual kingdom.

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And that's not completely accurate.

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Even Mary, even Gabriel, I should say, told Mary, and I want to quote it here to you in

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Luke 1, verses 32 to 33, the angel Gabriel said,

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The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the House of

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Jacob forever and of his kingdom.

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There will be no end.

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So this is what they were expecting.

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This is what God had promised with someone to sit on the throne of David over the people

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of Israel, the House of Jacob.

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So it wasn't wrong to expect that.

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Jesus just knew that this wasn't the time, that this was going to happen later.

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No one understood this.

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Even his disciples didn't understand this.

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And they were with him and listened to all of his teaching.

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And after Jesus' death and resurrection, when we get to Acts, we're going to talk about

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this again.

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But at the very beginning of Acts, right before Jesus ascends into heaven, he has spent 40

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days teaching his disciples about the kingdom of God.

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And what is the burning question on their hearts?

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This is their last question to Jesus.

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Are you now going to establish the kingdom of Israel?

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This is what they knew was going to happen.

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This is what they were expecting.

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And Jesus did not rebuke them.

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He didn't tell them they were wrong at all.

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He said, now is not the time.

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It's like, now you're not going to know the timing of the Father.

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Now is the time for you to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and go out to the nations and

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make disciples of all nations.

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That's what the time is now.

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So is there to be a physical return of Jesus to the earth, to a physical Jerusalem?

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Yes.

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And to set up a physical throne, the house of David, that's what the whole Old Testament

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is pointing us to.

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And that's what I believe that we're going to see hinted at even in the New Testament.

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So Jesus is not here to confront Rome.

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But when he returns, we read, Jesus says that when the Son of Man returns in his glory,

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he will gather all the nations before him and he will separate the sheep from the goats.

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And he will cast into fire the goats.

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We'll read that when we get to it in Matthew.

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But believe me, Jesus is going to deal with the nations.

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And it's just at his second coming.

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All right.

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So that finishes the ups up for this week's reading.

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I have two resources for you.

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I want to point you to.

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I recommend if you'd like to hear more about Jesus' childhood in Nazareth and his ministry

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there in Galilee, that once again you go to the 3D Jesus series that I have.

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I link to it down in today's show notes.

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Episode one and two, we talked about last week.

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So three and four deal with his childhood and his ministry there in Capernaum and in

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the Galilee.

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If you'd like to learn more, please listen to those this week.

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Also we have an exciting DVD that I want to tell you about.

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We also link to in our show notes.

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It is produced by our good friends at the Christian Broadcasting Network, CBN.

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And it's called Written in Stone, Jesus of Nazareth.

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And it goes through some of these locations and shows you the life and ministry of Jesus

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and some of the places that we're going to be talking about and that it took place.

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Very, very low price little DVD.

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I recommend you get it today.

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We'll link to it in today's show notes.

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So I hope you enjoy this week's reading.

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So many stories, so many things that Jesus did and said.

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Let the Holy Spirit just lift it off the pages into your heart and speak to you today from

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the life and ministry of Jesus.

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I'll see you back here next week.

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And until then, God bless.

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If this is the first time you've listened to the Out of Zion podcast in our Walk Through

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the Bible series, you'd like to join us.

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Please download our New Testament reading guide so that you can be reading along with

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us each week as we are walking through the pages of the New Testament.

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Go to www.outofzionshow.com and request your New Testament reading guide.

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Do it today and we'll see you back here next week.

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We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael.

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Be sure to subscribe to Out of Zion now on Apple podcasts, cpnshows.com, YouTube, or

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Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ USA, All Rights Reserved.