Rick Warren

Rick Warren - The Answer Is Easter (Part 1)

April 20, 2025 | S25:E16

Pastor Rick shares biblical truth and practical tools for living the full life God desires for everyone.

#Faith #Humility #Religion #WordofGod #inActive #Cross #Resurrection #RickWarren #Crucifixion #Grief #Longsuffering #1Peter2:21

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Rick Warren | Rick Warren - The Answer Is Easter (Part 1) | April 20, 2025

...
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♪♪♪
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Pastor rick warren: now, the resurrection of jesus
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Accomplished a lot of different things.
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Of course, it split history into ad and bc, but the first thing
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That it did is it validated jesus's identity.
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It proved that he was who he claimed to be.
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Throughout history, lots of people have claimed to be god.
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Lots of people have claimed to be god.
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But jesus said, "i'm gonna prove it by letting them put me
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To death.
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I'm gonna die on the cross, and then i'm gonna come back three
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Days later, alive, and i'm gonna walk around," you know,
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"jerusalem for another 40 days."
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Can you imagine walking down the street, and you put him on the
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Cross, and they go, "he's back."
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That'd be kind of strange, you know.
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Jesus also proved by the resurrection, that there is life
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After death.
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That death is not the end of the story, but what i want us to
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Look at this weekend is the fact that jesus gave us a model in
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His death, his burial, and his resurrection.
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He gave us a model of how to handle pain in life.
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1 peter chapter 2, verse 21 says this, "god has called you to
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Endure suffering," in other words, to go through tough
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Times, "because christ suffered for you."
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And, he says, "he left you an example so that you could follow
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In his footsteps."
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In other words, through jesus's death, burial, and resurrection,
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He modeled what you should do in the worst days of your life.
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When you go through the tragedies, the terrible pain,
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Circumstances, the days of doubt and depression and despair, he
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Says, "you need to follow the model of what jesus did when
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He suffered."
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Now let me explain.
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Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection happened over
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Three days.
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Friday was the day of pain and suffering and agony.
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Saturday was the day of loss and grief and confusion and misery.
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Sunday was the day of joy, celebration, and victory.
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Now, here's the thing.
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In your life, you're going to go through all three of those days,
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Over and over and over again.
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Some of you right now are in a day of pain.
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Some of you are right now in a day of confusion and doubt.
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You say, "i haven't the slightest idea what i'm supposed
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To do next with my life."
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Hopefully you'll get to the day of joy, but you're often gonna
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Go through these three days, and when you do, you're gonna ask
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Three fundamental questions.
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What do i do in my days of pain?
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How do i get through my days of doubt and confusion?
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How do i get to my days of victory?
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That's what we're gonna look at today.
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Now, i hate to tell you this, but you need this message.
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You may not be in a problem right now, but you will have
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Tragedy, you will have loss, major loss, in your life at some
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Point, and so if in any week you need to take notes, this is the
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Week, because i'm gonna teach you what jesus did in the worst
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Days of his life, so you can know what to do in the worst
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Days of your life, and you don't know when they're gonna happen.
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Last easter, i had no idea what was about to happen five
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Days later.
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On easter, i spoke and taught at i don't know how many services,
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About 50, 55,000 people came to saddleback church in all of our
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Campuses, and it was a great, wonderful day.
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Many people gave their lives to christ.
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I had no idea at--on that easter that five days later would be
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The worst day of my life, and on that day my 27 year old son, who
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Had struggled his entire life with mental illness, would take
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His life.
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It was the worst day of my life, and this last year was the worst
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Year of my life, and i went through the saturdays and the
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Sundays over and over and over again.
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The days of pain and the days of confusion.
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The days of pain and the days of loss.
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The days of suffering and the days of grief.
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Over and over.
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What i'm gonna teach you this weekend are the things that i
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Learned from the easter story that you can use in your own
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Life, because many, many times over the past 365 days, i've
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Been asked, "how are you getting through this?
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How are you handling the loss of a child in such a severe way?
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How are you getting on through your grief," and every time i
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Would say, "i'm looking at the example of jesus."
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The answer is easter.
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I'm just following the model he did.
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We begin with the day of pain.
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Friday was the day of pain, and jesus experienced pain at the
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Ultimate level.
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Let me explain.
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First, he experienced physical pain.
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The bible tells us that he was beaten.
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The bible tells us that he was whipped, that he was wounded,
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That he was spit on, that he was slapped, that they plucked out
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His beard just to be mean, that they stuck a crown of thorns
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Down into his skull, that he was scourged, and what a scourging
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Is different than just a whipping.
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It's a long whip with a kind of a cat of nine tails at the end
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Of it, and they would tie little bits of bone, rock, and glass at
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The end, so that every time they would whip you, it would tear at
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Your back.
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So 9 times 40 stripes, you can figure the number of wounds that
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Were on jesus's back before he went to the cross, and then they
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Took him, and without sleep, without food, without water,
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He's been up all night, and they take and they nail him to a
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Cross, which is one of the worst forms of torture you
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Can imagine.
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I don't have time to get into it, the explanation of it, but
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The death of crucifixion is death by suffocation, and that's
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Why they would often break the bones of your legs, so you
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Couldn't stand up anymore and you couldn't breathe anymore.
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Jesus experienced the ultimate in physical pain, but he also
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Experienced the ultimate in emotional pain and psychological
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Pain, because the death on the cross was a death
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By humiliation.
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How'd you like to be stripped naked and nailed like this, and
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Then let people watch you die?
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It was a death of humiliation, a death of degradation, a death
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Of shame.
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He went through the pain of rejection, he went through the
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Pain of betrayal, and many of you know the pain that
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That causes.
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He experienced that.
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But then there was another level of pain that none of us have
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Ever experienced to his degree, and that is spiritual pain,
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Because jesus died on the cross for all the sins of mankind,
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Which means he took the guilt of every evil crime and every ugly
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Sin throughout history, all that guilt on him at one point, and
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So he takes--you know how bad you feel if you feel guilty over
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One thing?
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How would you like to carry the guilt of every murder, every
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Rape, every child molestation, the holocaust, every genocide,
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Every evil thing, every inhumanity to man?
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He took all of that guilt on himself, and he went through the
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Hell of separation from god when he cries out on the cross, "my
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God, my god, why have you forsaken me."
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Let me show you a couple of verses from the bible up here on
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The screen.
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The bible says in hebrews 4, "(jesus)
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Understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same trials and
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Temptations we do, yet he never sinned."
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And the bible says in hebrews 2, "since jesus went through
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Suffering and temptation, he knows what it's like when we
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Suffer and are tempted, and," here's the key, "he is able to
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Help us."
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He knows the pattern, the pathway, and he has the power to
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Get through the fridays and the saturdays, the days of pain and
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The days of confusion, in your life.
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So what do you do in your days of pain?
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You do the two things that jesus did on the last day of his life.
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You need to write these down.
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The two things that jesus did, and he modeled for us to do, you
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Follow his example.
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Number one, this may surprise you, reach out to friends.
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That's the first thing jesus did.
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Their presence can be helpful in your life in sharing your pain.
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On the night that jesus knew he was gonna be arrested, tortured,
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And executed, the last thing he did on planet earth was gather
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His closest friends together and say, "i need you guys to just
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Hang out with me.
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I don't need any sermons, i don't need any speeches.
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I don't need any advice.
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I just need you to be with me."
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This is the ministry of presence.
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And he says, "i need to go pray," and he goes to his
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Favorite prayer spot.
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It was called the garden of gethsemane.
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Now, gethsemane is an olive grove on the mount of olives,
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And so it would--really, you could call it an olive garden,
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But that's a restaurant, so we'll just call it a, we'll call
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It a grove of olives, and this is where jesus regularly went to
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Pray, and so he takes his 11 closest guys, judas has died,
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These people spent three and a half years with him, they're his
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Most intimate friends, and he says, "in my day of deepest
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Need, in my hour of greatest pain, i just need my friends to
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Hang out with me."
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♪♪♪
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Pastor rick: every year, christians from all over the
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World remember the death and resurrection of jesus christ by
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Traveling to jerusalem, where they walked the path that jesus
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Took on the way to the cross.
00:10:53.536 --> 00:10:55.037
That path is called the via dolorosa.
00:10:55.037 --> 00:10:57.740
Now, since you may not be able to ever travel to jerusalem, i
00:10:57.740 --> 00:11:00.943
Want to suggest a way for you to celebrate and reflect on and
00:11:00.943 --> 00:11:04.947
Pray about what jesus did for you on the cross.
00:11:04.947 --> 00:11:08.384
So i've created a brand new one of a kind resource,
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Illustrated with really beautiful, high-quality, glossy
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Photos of mosaic tile artwork that reflect each of the stops
00:11:21.063 --> 00:11:26.001
That jesus made on his journey to the cross.
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Pastor rick: notice what the bible said, matthew chapter 26.
00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:00.569
"jesus took his disciples with him to gethsemane and he said,
00:12:00.569 --> 00:12:06.108
'stay here with me."'
00:12:06.108 --> 00:12:07.843
Just circle that, "stay here with--i just need you to be
00:12:07.843 --> 00:12:09.912
Present with me while i pray."
00:12:09.912 --> 00:12:12.948
And, "then he took peter, and james, and john a little
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Further, and he was filled with anguish and deep distress,"
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'cause he knows what's coming, "and he said to them, 'my heart
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Is so overwhelmed and crushed with sorrow that i feel like
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I'm dying.
00:12:28.831 --> 00:12:32.034
Just sit here and just watch with me.'
00:12:32.034 --> 00:12:35.805
And then jesus took a few more steps, and he fell to the ground
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And he prayed."
00:12:39.675 --> 00:12:41.010
Now that passage in the bible tells us two startling facts.
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Even the son of god need friends in the middle of pain.
00:12:44.780 --> 00:12:51.520
Even jesus needed friends to be around him.
00:12:51.520 --> 00:12:54.924
You see, this is the exact opposite of what you
00:12:54.924 --> 00:12:57.259
Normally do.
00:12:57.259 --> 00:12:58.627
When you are in pain, you typically isolate yourself.
00:12:58.627 --> 00:13:02.231
You back out of relationships.
00:13:02.231 --> 00:13:04.834
When you are in physical pain, when you're in chronic pain,
00:13:04.834 --> 00:13:08.537
When you're in emotional pain, when you're in mental pain, when
00:13:08.537 --> 00:13:12.208
You've had a failure, when you have an enormous hurt, when
00:13:12.208 --> 00:13:15.311
You're embarrassed or ashamed or whatever it is, you typically
00:13:15.311 --> 00:13:18.948
Begin to isolate.
00:13:18.948 --> 00:13:20.416
That's dumb.
00:13:20.416 --> 00:13:23.285
It is a mistake to pull back from your friends in your pain.
00:13:23.285 --> 00:13:27.723
God never meant for you to go through life on your own.
00:13:27.723 --> 00:13:29.959
He meant for them to share your pain with you, and he meant for
00:13:29.959 --> 00:13:35.531
You to share their pain when they are in pain.
00:13:35.531 --> 00:13:40.035
Don't isolate.
00:13:40.035 --> 00:13:41.370
The other thing that's startling about this is how open and how
00:13:41.370 --> 00:13:44.607
Gut-level honest and how authentic jesus is about his
00:13:44.607 --> 00:13:48.744
Emotional condition.
00:13:48.744 --> 00:13:50.279
He doesn't sugarcoat it, and they said, "how you doing?"
00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.047
"i'm doing fine."
00:13:52.047 --> 00:13:53.649
"how are you doing?"
00:13:53.649 --> 00:13:55.017
"oh, i have faith."
00:13:55.017 --> 00:13:56.352
No, he tells them exactly how he feels, and he says, "my heart is
00:13:56.352 --> 00:14:00.222
So overwhelmed and so crushed with sorrow i feel like
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I'm dying."
00:14:04.994 --> 00:14:06.328
Have you ever been that gut level honest with anybody?
00:14:06.328 --> 00:14:11.100
Or have you just held it all in, and sucked it up, and pretended
00:14:11.100 --> 00:14:14.770
Like things were good, and said, "oh, i'm fine," when it wasn't
00:14:14.770 --> 00:14:17.806
Fine, you're going through enormous pain.
00:14:17.806 --> 00:14:22.511
You see, god says, "i don't want you to repress your pain.
00:14:22.511 --> 00:14:26.448
I don't want you to suppress your pain.
00:14:26.448 --> 00:14:28.751
I want you to express your pain to your friends, and i want you
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To confess your pain to me."
00:14:32.087 --> 00:14:35.190
You gotta get it out.
00:14:35.190 --> 00:14:37.226
Let me show you a verse.
00:14:37.226 --> 00:14:38.560
Here on the screen.
00:14:38.560 --> 00:14:39.929
Galatians 6:2 says, "carry each other's burdens, and in this way
00:14:39.929 --> 00:14:44.466
You fulfill the law of christ."
00:14:44.466 --> 00:14:46.936
What is the law of christ?
00:14:46.936 --> 00:14:48.504
Love your neighbor as yourself, and the bible says that i am
00:14:48.504 --> 00:14:51.707
Commanded by god to be there for you when you're in pain, and you
00:14:51.707 --> 00:14:56.612
Are commanded to be there for me when i'm in pain.
00:14:56.612 --> 00:15:00.015
We are to carry each other's burdens, and that way the load
00:15:00.015 --> 00:15:03.719
Is halved.
00:15:03.719 --> 00:15:05.087
You never were meant to go through life on your own.
00:15:05.087 --> 00:15:09.625
Last friday, i met with a friend of mine for a discussion.
00:15:09.625 --> 00:15:13.562
He happened to be out here on the west coast.
00:15:13.562 --> 00:15:15.698
He's in his late 70s, early 80s.
00:15:15.698 --> 00:15:18.667
He's a very famous person.
00:15:18.667 --> 00:15:20.002
In fact, he won the nobel peace prize.
00:15:20.002 --> 00:15:23.005
His name is elie wiesel.
00:15:23.005 --> 00:15:25.841
Elie wiesel has written 57 books, and for his entire life
00:15:25.841 --> 00:15:29.878
Since world war ii, he's been an international ambassador for
00:15:29.878 --> 00:15:34.316
Peace and reconciliation all around the world, but he's best
00:15:34.316 --> 00:15:37.720
Known for the fact that he survived the nazi death camps in
00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:42.524
World war ii.
00:15:42.524 --> 00:15:43.859
He was at buchenwald.
00:15:43.859 --> 00:15:45.227
In fact, there's a famous picture.
00:15:45.227 --> 00:15:46.562
You've seen this picture before.
00:15:46.562 --> 00:15:48.230
Most people don't know, i circled it, that's elie wiesel
00:15:48.230 --> 00:15:51.166
There in that famous picture, on that bunk at the back.
00:15:51.166 --> 00:15:55.904
And he was there in buchenwald, and he saw the horrendous
00:15:55.904 --> 00:15:58.807
Torture and extermination of family and friends and 6 million
00:15:58.807 --> 00:16:04.346
Jews being killed in the holocaust, and last friday as i
00:16:04.346 --> 00:16:08.017
Was meeting with my friend, i said, "elie, how did you get
00:16:08.017 --> 00:16:11.854
Through the darkest days of your pain," and he said, "god
00:16:11.854 --> 00:16:17.426
And friends."
00:16:17.426 --> 00:16:19.294
The very two things that jesus looked to when he was in the
00:16:19.294 --> 00:16:24.099
Darkest last day of his life, and the very two things god
00:16:24.099 --> 00:16:28.570
Wants you to turn to when you are in pain.
00:16:28.570 --> 00:16:31.774
First, you reach out to your friends.
00:16:31.774 --> 00:16:36.311
I stand before you and tell you honestly, i probably wouldn't be
00:16:36.311 --> 00:16:38.614
Standing 'fore you today if it wasn't for my small group.
00:16:38.614 --> 00:16:43.485
My small group of eight people, four women, four men, it's
00:16:43.485 --> 00:16:46.221
Four couples.
00:16:46.221 --> 00:16:47.589
We've been together now about 11 years.
00:16:47.589 --> 00:16:50.526
We have been through every kind of problem you could imagine,
00:16:50.526 --> 00:16:54.029
And i have been there for them in their pain, and this last
00:16:54.029 --> 00:16:57.266
Year they showed up in my life and kay's life, and in amy and
00:16:57.266 --> 00:17:01.370
Tommy and josh and jamie, they're just supporting our
00:17:01.370 --> 00:17:03.939
Family any way that they could.
00:17:03.939 --> 00:17:06.341
They spent the night at our house.
00:17:06.341 --> 00:17:09.011
They've brought food, they've cared, they have been there.
00:17:09.011 --> 00:17:11.680
In the middle of the night i could call them, and as i was
00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:14.850
Going through this day of friday, over and over and over,
00:17:14.850 --> 00:17:18.821
They were there when i needed them.
00:17:18.821 --> 00:17:23.325
If you're not in a small group, i actually worry about you as
00:17:23.325 --> 00:17:26.895
Your pastor, 'cause you don't have the safety net that's gonna
00:17:26.895 --> 00:17:29.965
Carry you when you--when the rogue wind comes along in life.
00:17:29.965 --> 00:17:33.802
Who's gonna help you out when you have the tragedy?
00:17:33.802 --> 00:17:38.006
Who's gonna be there for you?
00:17:38.006 --> 00:17:40.843
Nobody could have told me what was gonna happen last easter.
00:17:40.843 --> 00:17:44.279
I just imagined things are going great.
00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:46.882
I had no idea the wall i was gonna hit five days later.
00:17:46.882 --> 00:17:50.252
You don't know when you're gonna hit the wall.
00:17:50.252 --> 00:17:53.989
So you start by reaching out to friends just like jesus did.
00:17:53.989 --> 00:17:57.659
Now, friends are essential, but friends can't be with you there
00:17:57.659 --> 00:18:01.396
All the time.
00:18:01.396 --> 00:18:02.764
God can, but friends can't.
00:18:02.764 --> 00:18:04.299
Friends can be there and understand the depth of your
00:18:04.299 --> 00:18:07.002
Pain, but they can't understand the real depth of your pain like
00:18:07.002 --> 00:18:10.973
God can.
00:18:10.973 --> 00:18:12.608
And friends have other things they have to do, and
00:18:12.608 --> 00:18:15.177
Friends get tired.
00:18:15.177 --> 00:18:16.512
God never gets tired.
00:18:16.512 --> 00:18:18.247
The fact is, jesus's friends in the garden of gethsemane, that
00:18:18.247 --> 00:18:21.884
Night, in his hour of deepest need, they fell asleep.
00:18:21.884 --> 00:18:25.320
Now, i'm not gonna put 'em down for that.
00:18:25.320 --> 00:18:26.722
I'm really not.
00:18:26.722 --> 00:18:28.090
In the first place, they showed up.
00:18:28.090 --> 00:18:29.858
They were there.
00:18:29.858 --> 00:18:31.193
In the second place, i have fallen asleep countless times in
00:18:31.193 --> 00:18:33.662
My small group, and snored all the way and my group loves me no
00:18:33.662 --> 00:18:38.567
Matter what, i've had a real tough day, so i give you
00:18:38.567 --> 00:18:40.769
Permission to fall asleep in your small group.
00:18:40.769 --> 00:18:43.739
It's better to go to your group and go to sleep than stay home
00:18:43.739 --> 00:18:46.208
And watch television.
00:18:46.208 --> 00:18:49.211
But at least they showed up, okay, but friends cannot be
00:18:49.211 --> 00:18:54.483
There all the time, but god never gets tired.
00:18:54.483 --> 00:18:58.787
So the second thing you need to do when you're in the fridays of
00:18:58.787 --> 00:19:02.057
Life, the days of pain, is you reach out to god.
00:19:02.057 --> 00:19:06.261
You don't just reach out to your friends, you also reach out to
00:19:06.261 --> 00:19:10.599
God, and how do you do that?
00:19:10.599 --> 00:19:12.467
You do it by praying.
00:19:12.467 --> 00:19:14.770
This is the other thing that jesus did right before he faced
00:19:14.770 --> 00:19:18.407
The worst pain of his life.
00:19:18.407 --> 00:19:20.842
He went and prayed.
00:19:20.842 --> 00:19:23.111
The bible says this in mark chapter 14.
00:19:23.111 --> 00:19:26.748
"jesus fell face down on the ground."
00:19:26.748 --> 00:19:30.052
Friends, i can't tell you the number of times i've done that
00:19:30.052 --> 00:19:32.554
This last year in pain and in grief.
00:19:32.554 --> 00:19:35.958
"he fell face down on the ground and prayed that if possible, he
00:19:35.958 --> 00:19:40.762
Would not have to suffer the pain ahead of him.
00:19:40.762 --> 00:19:43.565
He prayed, 'abba!
00:19:43.565 --> 00:19:45.667
Father!'"
00:19:45.667 --> 00:19:47.035
Now, abba is the aramaic word for daddy.
00:19:47.035 --> 00:19:49.705
It's also a swedish rock group, but that's not what we're
00:19:49.705 --> 00:19:52.174
Talking about here.
00:19:52.174 --> 00:19:54.209
He's saying abba, abba is the first word every little middle
00:19:54.209 --> 00:19:58.046
Eastern child learns before any other word.
00:19:58.046 --> 00:20:00.048
It's abba, papa, dada.
00:20:00.048 --> 00:20:03.252
It's ea--any baby can learn to say, "abba, abba, abba."
00:20:03.252 --> 00:20:06.588
It means daddy.
00:20:06.588 --> 00:20:08.557
And jesus is saying, when you are in your worst day of pain,
00:20:08.557 --> 00:20:12.661
And you need to talk to god about it, you don't use
00:20:12.661 --> 00:20:15.597
Fancy language.
00:20:15.597 --> 00:20:17.366
You don't say, "oh, thou most righteous, justice, omnipotent
00:20:17.366 --> 00:20:21.603
Creator of the universe, who art," and you have all of these
00:20:21.603 --> 00:20:26.241
Great theological ter--no, you just go, "daddy, help."
00:20:26.241 --> 00:20:31.179
That's what you do.
00:20:31.179 --> 00:20:32.547
You come to god and say, "daddy, help me," because your heavenly
00:20:32.547 --> 00:20:35.951
Father loves you.
00:20:35.951 --> 00:20:38.287
And so jesus prays, "abba," daddy, "father!"
00:20:38.287 --> 00:20:42.557
And here's what he prays.
00:20:42.557 --> 00:20:44.359
'"i know you can do all things.
00:20:44.359 --> 00:20:47.596
And i don't want to have to drink this cup of suffering.
00:20:47.596 --> 00:20:51.233
Nevertheless, i want your will, not mine, to be done."'
00:20:51.233 --> 00:20:56.438
Now listen closely.
00:20:56.438 --> 00:20:57.806
This is a pattern.
00:20:57.806 --> 00:20:59.141
Jesus prayed three things in his day of deepest pain, and when
00:20:59.141 --> 00:21:03.412
You are in pain, these are the three things you need to pray
00:21:03.412 --> 00:21:09.051
Too, when you're praying to god, when your heart is breaking and
00:21:09.051 --> 00:21:13.555
You don't know which way to turn.
00:21:13.555 --> 00:21:15.490
Three things jesus prayed.
00:21:15.490 --> 00:21:16.858
I call this the gethsemane prayer.
00:21:16.858 --> 00:21:19.428
It is a model of how to pray in pain.
00:21:19.428 --> 00:21:22.397
First, you affirm god's power, and here's what you pray.
00:21:22.397 --> 00:21:27.202
"god, i know you can do anything."
00:21:27.202 --> 00:21:31.740
You write that down.
00:21:31.740 --> 00:21:33.075
"god, i know you can do anything."
00:21:33.075 --> 00:21:35.977
You know, i know you can take away this pain.
00:21:35.977 --> 00:21:38.080
You created the universe.
00:21:38.080 --> 00:21:39.448
If you created the universe, you can do anything.
00:21:39.448 --> 00:21:42.417
I know you can do anything.
00:21:42.417 --> 00:21:44.019
You affirm god's power.
00:21:44.019 --> 00:21:45.687
Second, you express your desire, and you say, "i don't want
00:21:45.687 --> 00:21:52.094
This pain."
00:21:52.094 --> 00:21:53.795
You say, "is it okay to complain to god?"
00:21:53.795 --> 00:21:56.365
Of course it's okay to complain to god.
00:21:56.365 --> 00:21:59.301
David did it all the time in the book of psalms.
00:21:59.301 --> 00:22:01.269
They're called psalms of lament.
00:22:01.269 --> 00:22:03.071
It's okay to say, "god, i don't like this.
00:22:03.071 --> 00:22:05.874
This stinks.
00:22:05.874 --> 00:22:07.242
This is terrible.
00:22:07.242 --> 00:22:08.577
I don't like this pain i'm going through right now."
00:22:08.577 --> 00:22:10.946
That's okay to do that.
00:22:10.946 --> 00:22:12.280
Jesus did it.
00:22:12.280 --> 00:22:13.648
If it's okay for jesus to do it, it's certainly okay for you to
00:22:13.648 --> 00:22:15.617
Do it.
00:22:15.617 --> 00:22:16.985
And he said, "god, i don't like the pain i'm in right now.
00:22:16.985 --> 00:22:19.588
I know you can change it.
00:22:19.588 --> 00:22:20.956
I know you're all powerful, and i don't like the pain."
00:22:20.956 --> 00:22:23.492
But then the third thing you do is you offer your trust, and you
00:22:23.492 --> 00:22:27.229
Say, "but i want your will, not mine.
00:22:27.229 --> 00:22:32.834
So god, if this is not your will, i don't want it.
00:22:32.834 --> 00:22:35.070
I want your will, not mine.
00:22:35.070 --> 00:22:36.438
I know you love me, i know you know what's best for me.
00:22:36.438 --> 00:22:39.808
I know what--you know what will make me happy more than i do,
00:22:39.808 --> 00:22:43.011
And i know, god, that you're in control, and there's no way that
00:22:43.011 --> 00:22:46.281
You don't love me, so i want your will, not mine."
00:22:46.281 --> 00:22:51.219
This past year, anytime a wave of grief or loss or depression
00:22:51.219 --> 00:22:57.859
Or fear or confusion, i would pray the gethsemane prayer.
00:22:57.859 --> 00:23:03.265
I--this prayer, i may have prayed it 1,000 times this
00:23:03.265 --> 00:23:06.201
Last year.
00:23:06.201 --> 00:23:08.069
"god, i know you didn't do anything, and i don't like this
00:23:08.069 --> 00:23:11.072
Pain, but god, i want your will, not mine."
00:23:11.072 --> 00:23:16.478
Now, as jesus finished praying, soldiers show up, they arrest
00:23:16.478 --> 00:23:20.949
Him, they take him through six phony, fake, mock trials, all of
00:23:20.949 --> 00:23:25.587
'em illegal, three jewish, three roman trials.
00:23:25.587 --> 00:23:27.722
They were all at night, which they were all illegal.
00:23:27.722 --> 00:23:29.524
They were just shams.
00:23:29.524 --> 00:23:31.159
Then they torture him, through all kinds of torture, and then
00:23:31.159 --> 00:23:34.229
They nail him to a cross and he dies, and they put
00:23:34.229 --> 00:23:37.532
Him in the ground.
00:23:37.532 --> 00:23:38.934
And now we come to the second day, which are the
00:23:38.934 --> 00:23:41.603
Saturdays of life.
00:23:41.603 --> 00:23:42.938
The fridays are the days of pain and suffering.
00:23:42.938 --> 00:23:46.208
The saturdays are the days of doubt and confusion.
00:23:46.208 --> 00:23:51.012
Imagine how the disciples felt when they saw the messiah, the
00:23:51.012 --> 00:23:56.885
Son of god, crucified by the romans, taken down and put in a
00:23:56.885 --> 00:24:01.156
Tomb, and the tomb is sealed.
00:24:01.156 --> 00:24:04.726
They're all going, "what happened," and they're thinking,
00:24:04.726 --> 00:24:09.264
"we know jesus could have come down off that cross at any
00:24:09.264 --> 00:24:12.567
Point, 'cause we saw him do all the miracles for the last three
00:24:12.567 --> 00:24:15.203
And a half years.
00:24:15.203 --> 00:24:16.571
We saw him heal the sick.
00:24:16.571 --> 00:24:18.306
We saw him give sight to the blind.
00:24:18.306 --> 00:24:20.509
We saw him raise the dead.
00:24:20.509 --> 00:24:22.210
We saw him walk on water.
00:24:22.210 --> 00:24:23.912
We saw him calm the storms and control the weather.
00:24:23.912 --> 00:24:28.083
I mean, we saw him do every"--god can--if he created
00:24:28.083 --> 00:24:31.286
The universe, god can do anything he wants to in
00:24:31.286 --> 00:24:33.154
The universe.
00:24:33.154 --> 00:24:34.489
God could have come down off that cross, jesus could have
00:24:34.489 --> 00:24:37.158
Come off that cross, at any moment.
00:24:37.158 --> 00:24:41.496
It was not nails that held jesus to the cross, it was love.
00:24:41.496 --> 00:24:46.668
It was his love for you.
00:24:46.668 --> 00:24:48.036
It's what he came to do.
00:24:48.036 --> 00:24:49.638
He said, "for this cause, i came into the world."
00:24:49.638 --> 00:24:53.875
Jesus was not a martyr.
00:24:53.875 --> 00:24:55.477
Martyrs are often killed, not at their will, but somebody just
00:24:55.477 --> 00:24:59.447
Kills them because they're doing the right thing, not because
00:24:59.447 --> 00:25:01.349
They will to do--
00:25:01.349 --> 00:25:02.717
Jesus voluntarily sacrificed himself.
00:25:02.717 --> 00:25:06.121
He said, "no man takes my life from me.
00:25:06.121 --> 00:25:08.557
I lay it down, and i have the right to take it back."
00:25:08.557 --> 00:25:11.493
He was not a martyr.
00:25:11.493 --> 00:25:13.094
He was on a mission, and the mission was to pay for all the
00:25:13.094 --> 00:25:16.231
Sins of the world, but imagine the confusion.
00:25:16.231 --> 00:25:20.368
There's profound grief.
00:25:20.368 --> 00:25:21.736
They see this messiah who's supposed to overthrow the roman
00:25:21.736 --> 00:25:25.440
Empire and liberate israel, and now the romans have killed him,
00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:29.744
And he's dead in the grave.
00:25:29.744 --> 00:25:31.680
Huh, what happened?
00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:34.482
That's the massive day of confusion.
00:25:34.482 --> 00:25:36.685
That's the saturdays of life, when you go,
00:25:36.685 --> 00:25:38.887
"why did that happen?"
00:25:38.887 --> 00:25:40.455
♪♪♪
00:25:40.789 --> 00:25:44.926
Pastor rick: every year, christians from all over the
00:25:46.061 --> 00:25:48.697
World remember the death and resurrection of jesus christ by
00:25:48.697 --> 00:25:52.067
Traveling to jerusalem, where they walked the path that jesus
00:25:52.067 --> 00:25:55.770
Took on the way to the cross.
00:25:55.770 --> 00:25:57.238
That path is called the via dolorosa.
00:25:57.238 --> 00:25:59.975
Now, since you may not be able to ever travel to jerusalem, i
00:25:59.975 --> 00:26:03.178
Want to suggest a way for you to celebrate and reflect on and
00:26:03.178 --> 00:26:07.182
Pray about what jesus did for you on the cross.
00:26:07.182 --> 00:26:10.619
So i've created a brand new one of a kind resource, "journey
00:26:10.619 --> 00:26:14.589
With jesus."
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A deluxe, hardcover, gift-edition book that's
00:26:16.124 --> 00:26:19.761
Illustrated with really beautiful, high-quality, glossy
00:26:19.761 --> 00:26:23.331
Photos of mosaic tile artwork that reflect each of the stops
00:26:23.331 --> 00:26:28.269
That jesus made on his journey to the cross.
00:26:28.269 --> 00:26:32.107
You're not ever going to forget this gift.
00:26:32.107 --> 00:26:33.675
It's a great book to keep and to study over and over again, and
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It'd make a great gift for your family and your friends too.
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Male announcer: this one of a kind resource is only available
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Through "daily hope."
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Quantities are limited, so be sure to get yours today.
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Just call 844-467-3900 or visit dailyhopetv.com to get
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Yours today.
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♪♪♪
00:26:59.768 --> 00:27:28.096

Rick Warren - The Answer Is Easter (Part 1)

April 20, 2025 | S25:E16

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