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The Call of Jesus
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Welcome to lesson 19 -
"The Whole Story".
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We are going to look at
the most important thing, in this video.
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The most important thing is:
why we are here?
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What is it that separate us
from God?
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How sin has separated us
from God
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and what it was
Jesus did on the cross?
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This is so, so important.
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It's important that we understand it.
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It's important that you understand it.
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And it's also important that you take the time
to explain it to other people out there.
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That you tell them the whole story.
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Don't be "nice" and compromise.
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We have too many Christians,
too many believers who are so nice,
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they don't want to see people suffer,
so therefore they tell nothing.
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They keep quiet.
They don't want to talk about sin.
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They don't want to talk about
the issue.
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But people need to know sin,
before they can receive Christ.
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Try to imagine a doctor who has
a patient coming in, who has cancer.
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He's very, very, very sick of that cancer
and he's going to die.
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But that doctor has his medicine.
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This medicine will work if...
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...the patient follows the description
100%.
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He needs to follow every word and take
the medicine every day at the same time.
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Otherwise, the medicine will not work.
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That doctor, when that patient with
cancer comes,
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he will not say: Hey, hey, everything
is good, everything is fine,
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but here some medicine,
if you want it you can take it.
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I encourage you to follow it, but you are,
actually, okay, everything is fine.
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No, he would not be afraid
to tell the truth.
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Hey, the truth is:
You have cancer all over.
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You have cancer all over your body.
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And you are going to die.
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You are going to die if...
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...if we don't treat this cancer.
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And this cancer is already spread
there, and there, and there.
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And the doctor takes good time
to tell about this cancer
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and how this cancer is killing his body,
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even the other guy maybe starts to cry
and feel sad.
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Why? Because that is the truth.
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And because,
if you don't give him the bad news,
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he will not be able
to receive the good news.
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And after he has told the patient
the bad news,
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and how he has cancer all over his body,
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then he can say: But...
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I have some good news.
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This treatment can help you,
but you need to follow it 100%.
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But in this moment, at this time,
because of the bad news he heard first,
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he's ready to take this treatment
and follow it 100%.
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The bad news is sin.
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We have all sinned.
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And people need to know this.
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And when I talk with people
about Jesus,
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I like to start in the beginning.
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I encourage you to start
in the beginning,
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to show them where
it all went wrong,
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and also show them
how God looked at earth
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and why we need forgiveness.
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In the beginning of the Bible
we read how God created heaven and earth,
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and how He said that everything He created
was very, very good.
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Everything God created in the beginning
was good. It was perfect.
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God created a perfect world.
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And people need to know that.
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And there I often focus on how people
walked with God.
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Because in Genesis 2 we read
how God, in details, created Adam and Eve
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and put them with Him in the garden.
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You can read that in Genesis 2,
how God created Adam and Eve
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and put them in the garden,
to take care of the garden,
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and how they walked with God.
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We can also read in Genesis 2
that in the middle of the garden
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there was the tree of life,
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and how they should eat of this
tree of life and live forever.
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But there was also another tree -
the tree of knowledge good and evil
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and they were not allowed to
eat of this tree.
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But we also read how they,
actually, went against God's command.
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So they took of the wrong tree.
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And therefore, they were thrown
out of the garden,
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separated from God.
Why?
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Because now He didn't want them to eat
of the tree of life and live forever,
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because then we will always
have a problem with sin.
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So, this is the beginning.
The beginning is...
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...that God created man
to walk with Him,
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to have fellowship with Him.
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They walked together in the garden,
they had fellowship,
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and the world God created was perfect.
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And man was supposed to eat
of the tree of life and live forever
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and everything should always be good.
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But they sinned against God.
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They took of the wrong tree.
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Sin came in.
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And God said: Oh, if they now
eat of the tree of life,
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they will live forever.
We will always have problem with sin.
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And therefore man was thrown
out of the garden,
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away from the tree of life,
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and therefore, separated from God.
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And this is so important
that people know this,
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that this was the beginning,
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and that gives a clear picture
of why the world is as it is today.
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We are now living in a world
that is not perfect.
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We are living in a world
that is far from perfect.
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And it's just going the wrong way.
It's going down.
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And I've met many people who say:
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Hey, how can there be God
when so many bad things are happening?
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The answer you find in the beginning.
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This was not how God created
the world.
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God created the world perfect,
where man walked with God.
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But then man rebelled.
Man sinned.
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And he was thrown away
from the garden.
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And since that time,
it has just gone wrong, wrong, wrong.
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And God doesn't look down on earth
today and say:
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Oh, I love everyone!
It's so beautiful.
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Look at you. I love every evil thing
that is happening.
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No. God doesn't look like that.
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We can read that in Genesis 6:5-6:
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"The Lord saw how great the wickedness
of the human race had become on the earth,
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and that every inclination of the thoughts
of the human heart was only evil all the time.
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The Lord regretted that He had made
human beings on the earth,
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and His heart was deeply troubled."
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Here we read how God looked down
on earth
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and regretted He created man.
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Because of the sins.
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And His heart was deeply troubled.
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He did not look down and said:
"Everything is amazing!" No.
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God did not like
what we see here on earth.
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He doesn't like it.
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At that time, because of men's sins,
He actually found Noah, who built the ark,
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and He judged the world
because of sin.
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But there was a problem.
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Because as soon as Noah
came out of the arc...
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...we saw sin again.
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Why? Because the sin is not only
inside the earth.
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The sin is deep inside of man.
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The sin is deep inside of man.
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It's deep inside of you.
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of me,
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of all who are away from God,
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who's not born again,
who has not got that new heart yet.
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The problem is our hearts.
The problem is sin.
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And we need to start here.
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We need to start in the beginning.
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Why should people want a savior
if they don't see they are lost?
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Why should people want forgiveness
if they don't see they have sinned?
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And we, as the church,
have done a big, big, big mistake,
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that we have been serving Jesus
to self-righteous people,
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to people who don't see their sins.
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And that is like throw pearls to pigs.
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In Matthew 7:6 Jesus is saying that.
He said:
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"Do not throw your pearls to pigs.
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If you do, they may trample them
under their foot,
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and turn and tear you to pieces."
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And this is what we have been doing
by telling: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
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Jesus, Jesus to people,
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without talking about sin first.
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People are now mocking us.
"Er, why do I need Jesus?"
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And they use that against us.
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No, we need to take time to talk about sin.
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We need to help people to understand
that they have sinned,
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and they need a savior.
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Before that,
before we talk about the sickness,
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we cannot come with the cure.
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If we move on and look at Romans 3:23,
where we read:
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"For all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God."
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All people have sinned,
but they don't understand it.
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They don't understand
that they have sinned.
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So, our job as believers,
is we need to help them
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to see their sin
by using the law of God.
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I often use Matthew 5. In Matthew 5
Jesus talked about different things.
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One time He talked about anger
and He said this in Matthew 5:21-22:
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"You have heard that it was said
to the people long ago,
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'You shall not murder, and anyone
who murders will be subject to judgment.'
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But I tell you that everyone who is angry
with a brother or sister
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will be subject to judgment.
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Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister,
'Raca' (idiot) is answerable to the court.
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And everyone who says, 'You fool!'
will be in danger of the fire of hell."
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These are very, very strong words.
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We often hear Jesus said:
"Love your neighbor as yourself",
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but it's not so often we hear
these words.
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But this is the truth.
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If you murder you are guilty,
but Jesus goes deeper,
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because the heart was the issue.
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So, He said: If you just have
hate in your heart,
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you are already guilty.
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If you said: "idiot" or "raca"
to somebody,
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you are guilty to hell.
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These are Jesus' words.
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And after these words
He continued talking about the lost.
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In Matthew 5:27-30 He says this:
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"You have heard that it was said,
'You shall not commit adultery.'
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But I tell you that everyone
who looks on a woman lustfully
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has already committed adultery
with her in his heart.
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If your right eye causes you to stumble,
pluck it out and throw it away.
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It is better for you to lose one eye
of your body
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than your whole body to be thrown
into hell.
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And if your right hand causes you to stumble,
cut it off and throw it away.
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It is better for you to lose
one part of your body
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than your whole body get thrown
into hell."
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These are Jesus' words.
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That is what Jesus is saying.
Why did He say this?
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Because we need to see
the seriousness of sin.
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We need to see our sin
before we need a savior.
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And that was the problem.
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Many self-righteous Pharisees at that time
did not understand they needed Jesus.
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But those who saw their sin
were those who needed a savior.
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Let me ask you:
Have you done this?
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Have you looked with lust
on somebody?
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Have you sat there and
looked at porn?
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Are you doing that now?
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Are you living a life in sin?
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Then you are lost.
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You need a new heart.
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You need to be born again.
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You need a new heart
and a new spirit,
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and you need freedom from your sin.
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It's not enough to believe that
there is a God.
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You need a new heart.
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You need to wash away your sins,
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and you need a new spirit
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in you.
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A new life.
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Try to imagine, I have a camera
which is filming your life.
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And I often use this example
when I talk with people about sin.
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Try to imagine I have a camera
and I film your life.
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I have your whole life on my camera.
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I see everything. Not everything.
I don't see all the good deeds.
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Because the good deeds you have done
are not a plus on your account,
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and the bad deeds are a minus.
People sometimes think that.
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If I just have more plus then minus,
everything is okay.
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No. The good deeds are the zero.
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Because the good deeds are what
have been expected from you.
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But sin is sin.
It's a minus.
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Let's say I have your life on my camera
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and I will now show the whole world
your life.
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The unclean things you have said
and done,
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the evil things you have said and done,
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the times when you have stolen
something,
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the times you have misused
God's words,
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the times you looked with lust
on somebody
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and had fantasies about them,
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the times you have been lying
and the times you broke God's law.
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And James 2 is saying that
whoever keeps the whole law
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and yet stumble in just one point
is guilty in breaking them all.
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Try to imagine I put your life
on a camera
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and I show you the most evil, selfish,
unclean things to you and the whole world.
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You would be so ashamed.
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You would be so ashamed if people around
you saw what you have really been looking at,
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saw what you have been thinking,
saw what you have been doing.
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And the truth is: You are
guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.
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And you and everyone else
deserve hell.
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Why?
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Because God is good and you are not.
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And if you say you have not sinned,
you make God a liar
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and the truth is not in you, the Bible says.
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This is the truth and
people need to know this.
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People need to know how much
they have sinned,
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and what sin is, before we talk about
the good news - Christ.
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Jesus said something in Luke 7.
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He talked about that there were two persons
who owed money to a moneylender.
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And that moneylender forgave
both of them.
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One of them he forgave 500 dinars,
and one he forgave 50.
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And then Jesus asked people around Him:
Who loved the most?
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And they said: The one who have been
forgiven most.
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And Jesus continued: Therefore I tell you,
it was about a woman who was caught in sin,
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her many sins have been forgiven,
as her great love has shown,
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but whoever have been forgiven little,
loves little.
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What Jesus is trying to say here
is that the one who loves the most,
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or love much, is the one who have been
forgiven much.
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Why do people in churches today
don't love Jesus more than they do?
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The answer is simple.
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They don't understand
how much they have been forgiven.
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They have never really seen their sins
and how much they have been forgiven.
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And if you are a "nice" person,
being in church your whole life,
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or you are a drug addict
out on the street, been in jail,
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you are guilty the same.
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And you who have been a "nice" person,
when you start to see your sin,
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you will love Jesus as much
as that homeless drug addict person,
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who have been in jail.
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Why? Because you have been
forgiven as much as them.
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Because we have all sinned.
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You don't do people a favor
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by not talking about their sins.
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You do the opposite.
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If you don't talk about sin to people
and let them see their sins,
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they will never see their need
for a savior,
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they will never really repent
and they will never really love Jesus.
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So, if you love people around you,
you need to start with the beginning
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and tell the story, and let people
know why they need a savior.
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Before you give a person
a vaccination / Jesus,
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show them their sickness,
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show them their sins.
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And there I want to say,
I said it also last time,
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we have resources,
we have videos,
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where we show you
how we share the gospel.
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And I encourage you to see
those videos.
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I'll put them together with
the description here.
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And there is a video called
"The Cups and Cookies".
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There is also a video where
we use the gospel cards.
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And I really, really encourage you,
until the next time,
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take the time to go through it.
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Take the time to learn
how to share the gospel.
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When we talk about people sin,
don't come like this.
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"You have done that.
You, you, you, you!"
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But take the Word of Christ,
Jesus' words, and say:
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Jesus is saying: everyone who looks
with lust on somebody
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has already committed adultery
in his heart.
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Have you done that?
Have you ever looked with lust on somebody?
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Okay. What does that mean?
You have broken His law.
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Jesus also said: If you broke
one of the laws, you are guilty in them all.
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Jesus said: if you have hate in your heart
you are murderer.
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Did you ever have hate in your heart,
towards somebody?
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They you are a murderer.
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And then, try to, not in a guilty way,
in the I'm-better-than-you way,
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but in an honest, direct way,
get people to understand their sins.
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Get people to understand
their evil heart, their stone heart,
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and then, when they see that,
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come with the solution.
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Sometimes I start sharing the gospel
with people.
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I did it just a few weeks ago,
or a week ago.
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I sat with a guy. I said: give me ten minutes,
let me explain the gospel.
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I sat down with him and I started to share
the gospel, but when I started...
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I talked about sin, he was not
interested at all.
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What did I do? I stopped there.
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I did not give him Jesus
and the solution. Why?
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Because he was not ready for it.
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No. Start with sin.
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And when you then start with sin,
and then you explain what it is,
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like the doctor who has the patient
who has cancer,
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then say: But there is a good news.
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And in the next video I'm going to
tell about those good news.
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See you next time.
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Bye-bye!
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The Call of Jesus