F4F | Easter Cringe Fest 2020

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseborough. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. Now, if you've been a follower of the podcast, then you know that for, well, since we started the podcast, every year we've had the worst

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Easter Sermon of the Year contest. Now, in light of the COVID -19 global pandemic,

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I've made a captain's decision, and that is that this year we will not be holding the worst

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Easter Sermon of the Year contest. I think the idea here is, as Captain James Cook once said, yeah, that's, you know,

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Hook, Hook, Captain James Hook. Yeah, having a senior moment. As Captain James Hook once said, that would be bad form.

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Bad form. So, you know, you don't kick somebody when they're down, and I will say this, watching the

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Seeker Driven guys try to create experiences virtually without their standard ability to manipulate crowds and stuff like that, it has been, wow, fascinating to watch.

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So what we're gonna do this year is, this will be a segment one where we're gonna take a look at bad

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Easter sermons. I'll probably revisit it maybe once more or twice more over the next few weeks.

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The basic premise behind it goes something like this, and that is that if you can't preach

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Christ and Him crucified for our sins, risen victoriously bodily from the grave on the third day after He was crucified, then you know you've got a problem as a pastor, or you have a problem if your pastor can't seem to do that.

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So what we do in our bad Easter sermons is we look for kind of stellar examples of bad allegorizing and things like that, and this year we've got new stuff that we've never even seen before, is the best way

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I can put it, but rather than slog through the entire sermon, we're gonna look at highlights. Now, just a little bit of a note here, we are going to begin, in fact let me do this, we're gonna begin with Stephen Furtick.

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Now, that being said, because we're gonna start with Stephen Furtick, I need to inform you, the

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Fighting for the Faith audience, the people who we serve, that we have made a new policy regarding Stephen Furtick, Bill Johnson, Chris Vallotton, and Joel Osteen, and why these men, well there's a specific reason, is that these men believe that they are above the laws of copyright, and that fair use does not apply to them.

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That's sadly the case, and so every time now where we review one of those men, they abuse the copyright system here in YouTube, and take away our ability to support ourselves financially.

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And so what we're going to do, moving forward with these men, and starting with Stephen Furtick here, is we're going to implement our new policy.

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And our new policy is that whenever we review Stephen Furtick, Bill Johnson, Chris Vallotton, or Joel Osteen, we are going to take their original video, and we're going to break it.

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The official legal term for it is, we're going to transform it.

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And in the transformation phase of doing this, by transforming it, they will no longer own the copyright to what we're reviewing.

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But that being the case, since they think they're above copyright law, and that they can claim copyright, even though we are clearly using fair use for the purpose of critique, that means we're going to represent them on video any way we want to.

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So we might change their voice, we might change their appearances, we're going to transform the video, and we're going to continue to do so with these men until we hear from them that they have now agreed that the rules of fair use, the laws of fair use, actually apply to them as well.

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And since they're abusing the copyright system here on YouTube, we're going to take away their ability to claim copyright by transforming the video.

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So you need to know that. I'll say that every time we do it, so the people sit there and go, why does

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Stephen Furtick sound or look so weird? Answer, copyright, because he refuses to believe that fair use applies to him.

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So we're going to break the video, and we're going to transform it, and in transforming it, we will now own the copyright for what it is that we're reviewing.

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That's how copyright law works. So know that going into it.

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So since we're going to start off with Stephen Furtick, I have no idea what my editor is going to do with Stephen Furtick's video here.

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But again, this is because Stephen Furtick believes that he's above the law. So let's take a look then at the rattle of resurrection sermon and listen to this litany of nonsense.

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In fact, I feel like I need to grab my iPad here, because I took notes on this segment, and I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

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So here's our first sample of bad Easter sermonage from Stephen Furtick.

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Here we go. Jesus said in a loud voice, I'm not going to do it now, but he hollered. He said,

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Lazarus, come forth. I believe God is calling some things forth today. Okay, now let me explain what's going on.

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For his rattle of resurrection sermon, Stephen Furtick is taking the account from John 11 of the resurrection of Lazarus, and he's employing his pet

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Bible -twisting technique. We call it narcigesis. That's where you read...

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isogesis is where you read things into the biblical text that are not there. Narcigesis is where you read yourself, the love of yourself, into the biblical text by allegorizing it and all this kind of stuff.

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So he's engaging in narcigesis when it comes to the story of the resurrection of Lazarus, and so he says, and Jesus today is still calling things forth, because he's to that part in the account where Jesus says to the open tomb of Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth.

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And so we're gonna pray for you today, because I believe that Jesus is still calling forth things, which is a

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I'm not gonna do it now, but he hollered. He said, Lazarus, come forth. I believe

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God is calling some things forth today. What's he calling forth today?

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The only way to expect resurrection is to fully accept death.

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What? Hang on a second. I gotta back that up.

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Yeah, so... Expect resurrection. The only way to expect resurrection is to what? Is to fully accept death.

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Right. And you have a biblical text that says that. So what is

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God calling you to accept today? Maybe it's uncertainty. Maybe you control freak you.

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You're having to acknowledge, I don't know what to do. I can't manipulate this.

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Yeah, we call that projecting, by the way. Yeah, I think he was engaging in projecting there.

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I can't fix this, okay? You know what? The moment you accept that, expect resurrection.

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Did Peter expect resurrection as soon as he accepted death or whatever that you're talking about?

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I don't know what you're talking about. None of this makes any biblical sense. The moment you accept the pain and don't try to shove it down.

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Mary and Martha were like, we can't roll the stone away. It stinks in there. God, I can't be honest.

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I don't have it together. God, I can't. Yeah, the protest about Jesus having

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Lazarus's stone rolled away was a legitimate one. You know, he'd been in the grave for four days.

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Bodies decompose in warm climates pretty quick. They're generally odiferous.

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Yeah, lots of odor. It's not an allegory about you not having your act together in your life or having doubts or things like that.

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Let me back that up. Don't try to shove it down. Mary and Martha were like, we can't roll the stone away.

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It stinks in there. God, I can't be honest. I don't have it together. God, I can't believe in you.

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I have so much doubt. Here's what I love about it. Sometimes God asks you to roll your own stone away.

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Yeah, where in scripture am I led to believe that God's going to ask me to roll my own stone away? I mean, we have a graveyard at Kongsvinger and the congregation

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I serve in Oslo, Minnesota. And yeah, we don't put stones in front of the tombs and stuff.

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No, we put them in a casket and then we put them in a vault because of the low water table and things like that.

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We don't want them floating to the surface. But no, we don't roll any stones there.

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What are you talking about? That's just opening up your heart to receive resurrection.

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Right. So I got to roll my own stone away, which means opening my heart in order to receive resurrection, which

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I'm supposed to expect. I want to pray with you right now. If you know somebody who's going through a silent

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Saturday, going through a silent

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Saturday, uh -huh. Allegorizing Jesus's Sabbath rest in the tomb while he was dead.

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Yeah. Right now, maybe you want to send him a link and say, I want you to watch this. It's going to rebroadcast several times.

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And I don't even know if we'll put... I would not send a link to one of your sermons without qualification to even my worst enemies.

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I would not want them to end up in hell. Put it online after that, because honestly, I don't know where the message starts and ends.

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But right now, I want to pray with you. I just want to believe God with you for resurrection.

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Believe God with me for resurrection. Here's what I've learned. I learned it from Lazarus. I learned it from Mary Magdalene, who stood at the tomb because she faced

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Friday. Because she faced Friday. How does one face

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Friday? She got to see him on Sunday. So the reason why she was allowed to see

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Jesus on Sunday is because she faced Friday. Again, do you have a biblical text that says that?

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Because this doesn't make any sense. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. I'm gonna see him on Sunday.

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The beautiful thing about it is that, just like Jesus called Lazarus forth, he's always bringing something forth.

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Always bringing something forth, man. Always. Like what? I believe he's using this time in some of our lives to set us free from the wrong priorities.

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Uh -huh. Helping us to... Yeah, like the priority to go to Elevation Church. Find a priority to go to a faithful church where the pastor rightly handles

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God's Word. Right. Do the math on what really matters. Notice the manipulative, sappy music in the background.

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And by the way, he's engaging in social distancing from the members of the praise band, who are now doubling as the bullpen there and going

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Oh! When he says something pseudo profound. Helping us to realize that we're in this together, and we are not independent.

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I believe God's gonna bring something forth. Lazarus, come forth. God's gonna bring something forth.

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We don't know what, but it's gonna be something. Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. You dry bones there, you better listen up.

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Yeah, allegorizing all kinds of texts here, yeah. Ask the stone what happens when God says to move.

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You want me to talk to a stone? And ask a stone what happens when

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God tells you to move? You talk to rocks.

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Okay. And I want to pray for you right now, because listen, here's the whole message. If you're like,

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I didn't like all that hollering, screaming, and jumping around about the bones, it was kind of scary there.

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I wanted to hear because he lives, and I was gonna hear that on the Easter sermon. Yeah, that's just him taking a swipe at like, you know, a

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Christian who's been to church all their life, and you know, they really hear about Christ risen from the grave, crucified, risen for the forgiveness of their sins.

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They sing amazing hymns that rejoice and praise

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Christ for his victorious conquering of death, sin, and the grave. You know, things like that.

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So yeah, he's just taking a swipe at that traditional Christian who's just so out of it that they don't recognize this is the new thing

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God's doing. That's great. I like the hymn, too. But here's what God said today. What did

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God said something today? Who'd he said it to? Unmet expectation is the starting point of resurrection.

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Oh, what a pile of bovine scatology. And of course, one of the faithful members of the praise band now filling in for the bullpen.

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Wow. Yeah, wow. He didn't say anything. Blue sleeps faster than Tuesday.

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Woo! Yeah, let me back that up. Here we go. I like the hymn, too. But here's what

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God said today. Unmet expectation is the starting point of resurrection.

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God didn't say that, and you blasphemed by saying that God said that. No biblical text teaches it, even in any kind of strained principle within Scripture.

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Unmet expectation is the starting point of resurrection.

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Right there in the chat. I expect resurrection. I expect resurrection.

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Well, there you go. I was kind of checking my notes here. You know, God is still calling things forth.

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You know, I need to speak to my valley and to my dry bones, and I need to accept death in order to expect resurrection.

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My stone equals my either doubt or how my life hasn't got my act together.

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I need to roll my own stone away, which means opening my heart to something. I need to face

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Friday in order to see Sunday, and yeah. Yeah, that's a whole lot of nothing.

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You get the point there. And just a reminder, you know, I don't know what my editor did with this, but I gave him the instructions to break this video so that we now own the copyright to what was said, because Stephen Furtick thinks that he's above the laws of fair use.

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So we broke the copyright, and you know, I got to see it straight, but I have no idea what my editor is gonna do.

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So hopefully it'll be epic, the best way I can put it. And this is our policy moving forward.

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For any vision casting leader or pastor who thinks that the law doesn't apply to them, that means that we will take away the copyright from you, and we will transform the video any way we see fit, while still pointing out your false doctrine.

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So if you don't want us to do that, then send us an email. Talkbackatfightingforthefaith .com and let us know that your pastor's had a change of heart, and he realizes that the law does apply to him as well.

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Alright, moving along here, we're heading to the source of the Toronto blessing, air quotes, and you catch the fire of ministry at the

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Toronto Airport Church, and we're gonna be listening to Steve Long. I have to back this up a little bit here, because it was sitting and spinning there.

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And the name of this is The Promise for Tomorrow, and this is his Easter sermon. And boy, he comes dangerously close,

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I mean really dangerously close, to for real preaching like the biblical gospel. But don't worry, he'll be quick to snatch victory, defeat from the jaws of victory.

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I think that's how that works. Well friends, I want to talk to you about the promise, and Resurrection Sunday is all about a promise of hope.

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It's all about a promise of breakthrough. Do I need a prophecy bingo card for this, really?

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A promise of breakthrough? Will there be a shifting? Is that what's coming next? Alright, so note here, the

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Resurrection does give us a promise, and it does give us a real hope. Hope of our own resurrection, and because Christ rose victoriously from the grave, we know that his sacrifice for our sins was accepted by the

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Father. He truly is the judge of all the earth, and the judge of all the earth, well, he promises to forgive and pardon you of all of your sin.

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Repent, believe, be forgiven, Christ has conquered, he is risen. Alleluia.

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Anyway, so, but he's talking about breakthrough here. So Steve Long, just so you know, the Toronto Airport Church, used to be the

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Toronto Airport Vineyard, the place of the so -called Toronto Revival, Toronto Blessing, Revival and Blessing are not words

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I would use for that, and he's now teaching in the stead of John R.

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Knott and Carol R. Knott, and so this is kind of the legacy of the depth of the theology they leave behind them after their career.

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It's all about victory. It would appear for the Jewish people who were asking for Jesus to be crucified, it would appear for the

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Romans who wanted to get rid of a nuisance and put him on the cross, it would appear that they thought that Friday was a good day of getting rid of a nuisance, but it turned out that Friday was a great day for victory, because as Jesus died two days later on Sunday, which we celebrate today, he rose again on the third day.

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You got to count the days the way Jews do, you know, where one part of a day is considered part of, you know, is considered a day in its entirety.

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Oh man, this is really bad. ...is when he rose again, and it's a breakthrough day.

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It's a promised day, and so I'm just... It's a breakthrough day. Gonna share with you some passages from the

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Scripture, and then we're gonna take some time at the end to pray with you, so I want to encourage you that it's gonna get very interactive in just a moment.

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So the very first Passover, according to the Jewish calendar, was three thousand three hundred and thirty -three years ago today.

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Oh man, I feel some numerology coming on here. We're sorry, not today,

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Tuesday. Oh Tuesday, well that changes everything. Passover is started Tuesday night and Wednesday, so three thousand three hundred and thirty -three

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Passovers ago was the very first Passover, and for those of you who have not read the story, it's in the book of Exodus chapter 12 in the

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Old Testament, where God spoke to the Jewish people who were slaves in Egypt and said, if you put blood over the posts of your door, the angel of death, which is one of the ten plagues, the last plague, that angel of death will not touch your house, and you will be saved.

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And it's so prophetic. We're gonna look at some passages. Right, the Exodus and the plague of the killing of the firstborn, and the

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Passover lamb is a type in shadow that points directly to the crucifixion of Christ, and that Christ, our

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Passover lamb, has been slain, the Apostle Paul says, and it is his blood that that is on us that causes

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God to pass over and not to judge us and kill us as we deserve. Yeah, prophetic indeed.

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Why don't you drill in on that idea there? That'd be a good place to like really like camp.

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Yeah, have you ever heard a pastor say we're gonna camp on this verse? Yeah, that's a good place to do some

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Bible camping, right here. In just a moment, but a lamb's blood was put over the posts as a statement that they were covered, and the

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Bible is going to go on to say that Jesus is the Lamb of God. Yeah, yeah, keep talking, keep going, you're doing good.

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Remember that game you played, you know, you played when you were a kid, you know, your parents would hide something, and then you gotta go find it, and your dad would be sitting there going, oh you're getting warmer, oh, you're getting warmer, whoa, it's really getting, it's getting toasty in here, whoo, it's burning up, it's really hot, you know, he's getting warmer, he's getting warmer, he's getting warmer.

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And so as the blood was over their house, over that post, the angel of death, when the angel came, passed over, skipped the house.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. And instead of, you're burning up man, you're really hot here. That happening, of death happening, the

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Bible says that the very next day, the Pharaoh calls the Jewish leaders together, calls

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Moses and says, get out. And the Jewish people went to their Egyptian neighbors. You're getting cold now, it's really, it's, whew,

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I can feel a breeze, whew, coming from the north, whoa. And the Bible says they took all the plunder.

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Really cold, it's getting Arctic now. I can't, I can't even feel my fingers anymore, man.

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Went to all their neighbors and said, give me all your cash, give me all your jewelry, give me all your best clothes. And the

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Jewish people went from slaves in one day to being wealthy. Yeah, right, yeah.

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Coming, great transfer of wealth thingy, uh -huh. You don't know what

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Easter is about, do you? And there was a transfer, and friends, that's part of the, that's part of the prophetic statement of what happens on Resurrection Sunday.

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The pagans are gonna give me money. Yeah, no, that's not happening. Change happens, breakthroughs happen, victories happen.

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So close. I mean, he was this close, I mean, he was just about ready to preach the gospel. Oh man, so it was burning up hot, and now, now,

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I mean, it's the dead of winter, the sun has set, it's not coming back for three months, and the

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March of the Penguins is happening. If you fast -forward 40 years, and now Joshua is the first leader, or sorry, not the first leader, he's the next leader for the

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Jewish people. And the first day after they have gone across the Jordan River, and they're in the promised land, this land that they've been waiting for 40 years, the very first day there is a

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Passover. And it says the day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened bread and roasted grain.

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And so here we have it again. So fast -forwarding again to a different Passover as they're getting ready to go into the promised land, got it.

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Passover happens, the death of a lamb, lamb blood is sacrificed.

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Getting warmer. And the very next day there's breakthrough. Yeah, no, now it's cold again.

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Freezing, freezing. And so this little pattern follows all through the scriptures. Oh no, oh you could just see where this is going.

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I, dude, stop driving towards that cliff. You're gonna take the whole church with you, you know, over the cliff here.

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Listen again to his words. This is, this is terrifying. Of a lamb, lamb blood is sacrificed, and the very next day there's breakthrough.

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And so this little pattern follows all through the scriptures. Yeah, you can see where this is going.

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So he's gonna take the pattern to Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection to today, today's, today's

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Passover season. Oh no. Stop, dude.

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You're gonna hurt yourself. And then April 3, AD 33, at 3 p .m.

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Are you sure that's the exact day and time and stuff? Are you sure?

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I mean there's a lot of debate about that. Is what most people believe is the actual day and the time when

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Jesus passed away, when he died. And how do we know that? Well the scriptures say this in Mark chapter...

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Does it matter what the actual physical day was as opposed to what happened on that real day?

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After 15 at noon darkness came over the whole land until 3 in the afternoon. Did you know that on April 3,

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AD 33, that there was an eclipse? Where?

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Not just an eclipse, it was a blood moon eclipse. Dude. Okay, I need to explain something to you.

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A blood moon eclipse is a lunar eclipse. When Jesus is on the cross, the sun is darkened.

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And yeah, and it lasted more than 10 -15 minutes.

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It lasted for three hours. It was not an eclipse. Blood moon eclipse.

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Ah yes, this is the theological and biblical depth and magnitude of the heirs of the

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Toronto blessing. Yeah, quite the heritage they got there. And darkness, the

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Bible says, was over the land for three hours. So that's one of the ways to date that, was whatever day that Jesus died, there was an eclipse.

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Well, history tells us it was April 3, AD 33. And with a loud cry,

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Jesus breathed his last. And so this would be... You know, it is finished. You want to talk about that?

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I mean, that'd be a great place segue into, you know, the gospel, the good news, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture, raised on the third day bodily, in accordance with the scriptures.

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You know, that'd be a great place to put the gospel. Right here, you know? Just before the Passover was to begin.

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And you remember the two ladies, two or three ladies came and took the body of Jesus and hurriedly put him in a grave because they wanted to be away from the grave before the

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Passover began. And so the Passover would beginning on that Friday night at sundown.

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And so here's the body of Jesus in the grave. And friends, I don't know if there's symbolism that the very first Passover was 3 ,333.

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Told you there was numerology coming! This is a pagan practice here. And it happened to be that it's

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April 3, AD 33 at 3 p .m., but there's a lot of three. So something's up. I don't know.

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Nothing is up. Nothing. Except for you don't know how to preach Christ and am crucified and bodily risen from the grave for the forgiveness of our sins and justification.

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That's the only thing that's going on. What it is, but there's something interesting about this

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Passover this year. And one of the very interesting things about this Passover and this Easter this year is many of the prophets, legitimate prophets, people who hear from God have had a history of getting things right, have felt that this year is a special year.

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Wow, this sermon didn't age well and we're not even out of April yet. Wow. So rather than preaching the real hope, the real truth, the real promises that we have because of Christ's real bodily death on the cross and real bodily resurrection from the grave, you're going to hitch your

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Easter sermon wagon to the false prophecies of Tracy Cook and Chuck Pierce.

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Yeah, people there at the Toronto Airport Church, you know, catch the fire kind of stuff. They didn't hear

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Christ rightly preached or taught. They were pointed to two false prophecies which means their faith and hope have been dashed.

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And with the coronavirus all over the world and setbacks taking place in finances...

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Setback, that's a prophecy bingo word. People's health are being challenged, some people even dying.

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Many of the prophets have said that they feel that this Passover, this Easter season, today is going to be the breaking of that disease.

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And that didn't happen. Nope, not even close. Yeah, this was

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April 15th. And so I don't know in the next couple days. We'll find out if the prophets were right.

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Yeah, we found out they were wrong. Hmm, that makes some false prophets despite what

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Michael Brown says. If the crest is at its max and it's beginning to go down, but I do want to believe that.

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I'm sure you do, I'm sure you do. Yeah, that's really tragic long.

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I guess that was posted on the 15th, preached on the 12th of April. That didn't work out very well.

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I want to come back to him real quick. That's Kevin Gerald of the Champion Center in Tacoma, Washington.

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We'll come back to him. We're gonna visit Keith Kraft, and let me set this up for you properly here.

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At the beginning of the year, Keith Kraft flew back from Aspen, Colorado, back down to Frisco, Texas in order,

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New Year's Eve, to announce the word that God had given the

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Cathedral of Frisco for the year 2020. And every Sunday since then, every

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Sunday since then, as part of their opening part of their service, they have been decreeing and declaring that word of the

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Lord for 2020, which, if you remember, was double -double. Makes me hungry every time

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I hear it. But double blessing, double anointing, double all this kind of stuff, and all this kind of, well, let's just say that 2020 has not been their best year yet.

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So on Easter Sunday, Keith Kraft let off the

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Cathedral of Frisco in their worship experience online with the standard declarations they've been doing all year.

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And aside from the fact that he's by himself in an empty room, and he's kind of like a muscle memory autopilot, it's just really awkward.

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The thing is is that when he's having everybody in their home stand up to decree and declare, ain't panning out for the year 2020.

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So this one's weird. But let's check in with Keith Kraft at the

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Cathedral of Frisco, and just listen to this opening part, because wow! Hey, happy Easter, everyone!

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Thank you for joining us in this very special season of Easter and our online experience.

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And we just... Yeah, no, no, these Seeker Driven guys, and Keith Kraft is one of them.

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Everything's all about the creation of an experience. It's all emotional.

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But I would note here that everybody who's attending church, who's used to attending something like this, you go into the

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Cathedral of Frisco, there are no windows. It's totally dark. They control all the lighting, all the sound, the smoke machine, the disco ball, the lasers, the screens, and everything like that.

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And everything is designed, you know, and packed into and used for its emotional effect, its impact, for the purpose of creating an experience.

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And so if you've been attending these churches, well, now you've got a problem. You can't send your kids down to the daycare, to the child care services.

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They're gonna be worshipping with you on the couch, along with your family dog and cat.

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So having a Seeker Driven worship experience has proved to be difficult.

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And here's Keith Kraft all by himself with no ability to manipulate all these people, and he knows it, and he looks psychologically pained, like he's really uncomfortable.

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This is super awkward, for sure. But we continue. We welcome you, whether you're part of our Elevate Life church family, or whether you're just tuning in and watching this, we're honored to have you.

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We have a tradition at our church, and we start every service. Listen to the reverb, because there's nobody in the building.

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With some declarations, and so I would like to invite you, whether you're watching with your family or friends, just to stand wherever you are.

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Let's put our hand over our heart. Now listen to these declarations, because it includes the Word of the Lord for 2020.

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And see if you see the disconnect. It's quite startling. Let's make these declarations. Say this with me.

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Say, I declare that I'm created in the image of God. I am blessed to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and take dominion.

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Take dominion. Wow, that's impressive. I declare that 2020 is my year of transformation.

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By transformation, you mean gainfully employed to unemployed. That's quite the year of transformation.

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Yeah. Things are not just going to change for the better, but 2020 will be my best year ever.

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Say this. How's that working out for you? You sure

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God told you that? With me. I declare that 2020 is double, double for me.

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Double, double, toil and trouble, cauldron burn, and you know, whatever. Yeah, you get the idea.

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Double blessing, double anointing, double portion of good things in every area of my life.

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How's that working out for you? I mean, we're about ready to go into the month of May. We're almost halfway through this year, and it's just been double trouble, not double, double blessing or anything like that.

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I declare that according to Psalm 6511, that God is crowning my year with goodness and my...

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Yeah, you're taking Psalm 6511 out of context. ...path will drip with abundance. I declare that as I am taught the

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Word of God and apply it, that I am wonderfully well and blessed and highly favored of the

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Lord. And everybody said, Amen. Come on, let's give God a big hand. The sound of one man clapping.

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Awkward. Yeah, that Word of the Lord doesn't seem to be panning out for people, and whew, that was painful to watch.

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All right, so we're heading over to the Champion Center, Tacoma, Washington. Kevin Gerald, who is a cheap imitation knockoff of Joel Osteen.

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He starts with declarations and things like that, too, and we're going to listen to a portion of his sermon where he's going to take a tiny detail of one of the

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Gospel texts where Mary Magdalene walks to the tomb in the dark and allegorize that and make that the central theme of his

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Easter sermon here. It's weird, but let's check in with Kevin Gerald. Here we go.

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So let's get busy today, and let's just begin. Before I go into the message, let's begin with prayer.

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Listen to the reverb in that building, too. Ain't nobody there. If you would, where you are right now, if you would just set everything else aside, make some space in your heart and your mind, and say this out loud.

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Say with me, Lord Jesus, welcome to my world. What? I invite you today.

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Come into my heart, into my mind. My heart is open.

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My mind is ready. Speak to me. Talk to me.

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I receive it now in Jesus' name.

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And everybody shout a great big amen. Okay, John chapter 20.

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Yeah, notice the hard cut there. Nobody said amen because there ain't nobody there. John chapter 20.

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All right, John chapter 20. Good place to go for the resurrection account of Christ. And verse 1.

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All right, we're good. We're starting at the beginning. This is great. We're going to get all the way to Jesus risen from the grave for the forgiveness of our sins and stuff, right?

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Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,

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Mary Magdalene went into the tomb and she saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

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Now, Mary's full name was Mary Magdalene because she came from a town that was by the

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Sea of Galilee that was called Magdala. Yeah.

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And Mary... Why did you stop reading the text? The important thing happens, you know, a little bit later in that same chapter.

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You know, Jesus raises from the dead. It's kind of a big deal. His life had been dramatically changed since the day she met

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Jesus. Yeah. Since that one day in her life, she had become a fully devoted follower and a strong believer and supporter of Jesus' ministry.

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So wherever he was teaching and talking and sharing and interacting, you could look across the crowd.

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Somewhere in the crowd would be Mary with her friends, people who supported

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Jesus, people who believed in Jesus, people who were excited and enthusiastic about the good news that Jesus was bringing and the hope that he brought to the world.

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But about 60 hours before this, Mary's world had been suddenly interrupted and turned upside down.

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Jesus was arrested. The charge was insurrection. The trial was fixed.

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Witnesses were paid. Jesus was declared guilty. Yeah. He was brutally beaten.

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Yes. Forced to carry his cross to a hillside that was called the

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Place of the Skull. He was crucified there. He died a horrible death, placed in a borrowed tomb with a huge stone in front of the opening and soldiers guarding the tomb 24 -7.

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Mary had helped bury Jesus, and then she went home brokenhearted, confused, emotionally a wreck.

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So our text describes Mary early in the morning.

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Right. While it was still dark. Correct. You know, it didn't mention what she had for breakfast either, you know.

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It says that Mary, in other words, was walking in the dark.

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That's what one does when they walk outside and the sun has not come up yet.

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I would note that it was probably at least blue hour, getting close to golden hour.

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In physical darkness. Now, it's fair to say that she had also been experiencing another kind of darkness.

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Darkness that happened. So notice, he's taking this minor detail. The story is about the fact that the tomb was empty and you're going on about the fact that she went to the tomb while it was still dark outside.

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And that's your main point? When your life gets interrupted. When unplanned, unexpected events.

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Like a global pandemic. Suddenly step in, seize control of the circumstances while it was still dark.

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While it was still dark. While it was still dark.

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Saying it three times doesn't make it a major point of the text at all. Mary leaves her home and she walks towards Jesus' tomb.

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I want to talk in the remaining time that I have today on this Easter, I want to talk to you about walking in the dark.

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Yeah, that's what the sermon is. It's a walk in the dark. That's for sure. There ain't no light in this thing.

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Walking in the dark. How many know that it's not easy to walk in the dark?

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That's when I generally stub my toe. Yeah. We use nightlights. My wife put nightlights in to keep me from stubbing my toes.

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It's counterintuitive to walk in the dark. Everything in you shuts down, says stop, sit down.

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How is this the main point of your sermon? The tomb was empty.

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Jesus rose just like he said. And this is your main point?

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I mean, just walking through a dark room in your own house can be a challenge.

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Much less walking in dark places where you haven't been before. Darkness is intimidating.

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Everything changes in the dark. I was looking at darkness this week and thinking about darkness, and science tells us that darkness is not a thing, but it's the absence of a thing.

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Yeah, this sermon is darkness because of the absence of the gospel and the resurrected

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Jesus. Darkness is the absence of light.

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In other words, it's the absence of what is legitimate. Light is quantifiable. It's tangible.

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It can be felt. It can be measured. You can see it. Darkness, on the other hand, is the absence of all of that.

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It's what we don't have that makes it dark. It's a void.

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It's an emptiness. It's an ambiguous place where you can't see yourself clear.

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The darkness has no power. It has no light, no heat.

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It's actually powerless. But that doesn't mean it's painless.

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Yeah, this sermon is powerless and quite painful. It just means that the pain comes from what is absent rather than what is present.

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The pain comes from what is missing. The pain doesn't come from what is there, but rather from what is not there.

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Yeah, without the ability to manipulate the crowd, this guy just sounds tedious. Now, many of you right now, you're identifying with what

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I'm saying as I explain darkness, and you're identifying with it as something that you are experiencing in one way or another in certain parts of your life or in everything.

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Boy, this is vague and ambiguous. He's fishing for something. He's fishing for something.

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You got to emotionally connect with this so that it's relevant to you kind of thing. Every part of your life right now,

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Scripture says this to all who would believe. It says, for we walk by faith.

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This is true. This is not a valid cross -reference to John chapter 20.

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What are you doing? Not by sight. For we walk by faith, not by sight.

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So here's what I want you to start doing with me for the rest of this message.

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Every time I prompt you, I want to ask you to do this with me. I want you to say to yourself, keep walking.

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This is your Easter message, the big point. Keep walking.

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Wow, I think that's some good advice. I think the people that we're thinking about, you know, attending here should just keep walking.

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Don't stop. Go find a better church, one where the pastor can actually preach Christ. Him crucified, risen from the grave for the forgiveness of our sins and our justification.

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Say to yourself, keep walking. When life is hard, what are we going to do?

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Keep walking. We're gonna keep walking. Right, because, you know,

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Mary walked to the tomb in the dark, so we need to keep walking. When life is out of control, what are we going to do?

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I know, I know. Keep walking. We're gonna. He has nobody to manipulate there.

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So he's going through the motions. Keep walking. When you can't see your way, when shadows fall across your path.

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Keep walking, man. Keep walking. Tell me, what are you going to do? Man of faith, woman of faith.

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Yeah. Young couple. I'm going to keep walking. Family that's been feeling a lot.

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Why? Because, you know, Mary Magdalene walked to the tomb in the dark. A lot of pressure in your life lately.

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Talk to me right now. What are we going to do? We're going to keep walking.

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I'm done. I can't handle another second of that. Wow. So there you go.

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That's a sampling of this year's really bad Easter sermon. We're not going to be holding a contest this year.

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Again, as Captain Hook said, that's bad form. Bad form. But we will be pointing out that if you attend a church and this is what your pastor is doing on Easter, rather than proclaiming

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Christ and him crucified, risen from the grave for the forgiveness of our sins and justification, and misses the whole plot of the resurrection accounts in the

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Gospels by doing something like this, telling you to keep walking, well, then you might need to find a church, a different church, one where the pastor actually rightly handles the word and proclaims

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Christ. And we point this out every year for this reason, because you can really see it clear on Easter Sunday when a pastor has no clue what the

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Gospel is. It comes out and shows up in so many various and stark ways that you just can't miss it.

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So hopefully you found this helpful. If you did, all the information on how you can share the video is down below.

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Just a reminder, we are supported by the people that we serve, and that's you. So if you don't already support us financially, all the information on how you can join our crew is down below.

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And all of you who join our crew, even in the month of April at Gunners Maid or above,

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I will send you a signed autographed copy of one of my fine art prints.

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Still have to pick it out for the month of April. Might go with the snowy one again. But anyway, so all of you who are supporting us, let me thank you for your support.

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We truly cannot do what we are doing here without it. So until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and His vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.