You are a Son or Daughter

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- Welcome to Crossroads.

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I'm Andy and Crossroads is a church

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that you can be a part of no matter where you live

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or what you believe about God.

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We actually have people watching

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all over the country and the world.

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I want to give a special shout out

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to our community in southeastern Indiana.

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Batesville Crew, hey, we love you

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and we're so thankful for what you're doing.

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Now, today we are starting a new series

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called Real Encounters with God,

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and this is the fourth season

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where we're going to follow Brian Tome

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as he travels to Israel

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to help us discover our spiritual roots.

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Now, we actually filmed this series

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earlier this year,

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and right now you just need to hear me on this,

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our prayers are with all of the people

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who've been hurt by the ongoing conflict in the region.

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On Monday, we actually hosted a night of prayer

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where peoples of all backgrounds

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and all nationalities came together

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to pray for peace.

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And this isn't something we planned

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or budgeted for, but Crossroads

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is actually donating $100,000 to humanitarian relief.

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These funds will provide much needed

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food, water and temporary shelter

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for nearly 20,000 people

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across the area for a full two weeks.

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Now, when we see pain like this in the world,

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it can be hard to come to terms with.

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Like, what do we do?

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How do we think about this and what can our response be?

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In times and in moments like these,

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we really can look to God.

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He hears us in these moments.

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And songs like the ones we're about to sing

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can help us focus our attention on Him

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and believe and pray for His goodness

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in any and every situation.

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So what we're doing now

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is responding to God in songs.

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It's been going on for literally thousands of years.

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Thousands of years.

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Now maybe there weren't microphones

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thousands of years ago and there weren't

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lights like this and screens,

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but people gathered in response

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to a God who created them.

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Psalm 19 says this:

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The heavens declare the glory of God,

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and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.

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Day to day pours out speech

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and night to night reveals knowledge.

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Yet there's no speech. There's no words.

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Monday we were gathering as a staff

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and we focused on Psalm 19.

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And that the challenge for us

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in this prayer time was just meditate on that.

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So, I spent some time and I didn't get too far.

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I didn't get too far from the first two lines

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of this scripture.

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And I want to read to you, kind of my thought.

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What would the skies say if they had words?

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What would the heavens tell us

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about the glory of God if they spoke English,

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or if they spoke Spanish,

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or if they spoke Portuguese or Mandarin?

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Most of us are speaking English,

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so I'll simply reply in English.

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That's all I can do.

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It's my first and only language.

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What would the heavens and the skies say

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of God if they did speak with words?

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They might say this.

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The skies would say, "Your view of Him

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is hindered because of where you stand.

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Even your highest pedestal

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gives you just a hint of His width.

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Sure, you could leave the earth

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in an airplane or a balloon,

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and you'd surely discover

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there's even more of Him to see,

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even more of Him to explore."

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And then the heavens might chime in,

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"Sure, press through my skin with a rocket,

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I won't bleed, but you will be swallowed

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by the vast expanse of space,

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the depths in which light travels silently,

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millions of miles in a moment.

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He is there, but this boundary isn't His end.

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Keep pressing forward,

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like you're looking for the back of the wardrobe,

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but you won't find it.

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You will end before you find the fullness of Him.

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In fact, you must.

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You will be swallowed whole,

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obliterated and restored to your original design

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when you see Him for who He really is.

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You will be restored

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when you see God for who He really is."

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And then the heavens in the sky might say this to us,

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"Day after day we chant

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the rhythm of His weightiness.

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Night after night

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we sing of His mysteries.

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Won't you join us? Won't you join us?"

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And my response is, "Heck yeah.

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Let's join the heavens,

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let's join the skies,

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in doing the thing they were made to do,

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we were also made to do."

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Jesus, we love the way that You love us.

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We love the way that You pursue us,

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the way that when we we lift up Your Name,

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You make Your presence known to us.

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So, we come here right now just to say

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thank you, thank you.

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We ask that you would see our steps

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into this place as silent prayers

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of wanting to encounter You for who you are,

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without having to take a balloon

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or a rocket through the skies.

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But You come to us and You make Yourself known.

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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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- Hey, thank you so much for singing with us.

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Hey, one thing I want you to know

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is that Crossroads isn't just content that you watch.

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It's a movement that you can belong to.

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Just this week, I was actually

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in the Crossroads Anywhere app,

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and I was texting with folks

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on three different continents,

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all over the country, all over the world,

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because that's where our church is.

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We're not bound by one place on the map

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or one day of the week.

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And if you want to get connected too,

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you can download the Crossroads Anywhere app,

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select your nearest site, and then you'll get

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specific location-based opportunities just for you.

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What I love the most about the app

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is it can help us connect with God

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and with each other.

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Now we believe that God created the earth

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and everything in it, including us.

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So, we use what God gives us

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in ways that honor Him.

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We recognize all the good things

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that God has done for us, and in gratitude,

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we give out of that resources

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that He's entrusted to us.

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Our church is so generous that

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our giving allows us to help in crisis,

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or to create tools like the app

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to connect people with God all over the world.

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To learn more about what we spend money on

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or to join the team of faithful givers,

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just head to Crossroads.net/give.

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I'm so excited about this.

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Today we are starting

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Real Encounters with God season four.

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We're taking you to the real places

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in the Bible and uncovering

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what it means for our lives today.

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The Land of Israel is a powerful place

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that still has meaning today.

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- In the beginning,

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the Word was with God,

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and the Word was God Himself.

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- The story of God,

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it's not only written on pages of scripture,

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but it's carved into the land itself

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by the finger of God.

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The land, it speaks.

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It speaks of who He is,

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and because of Him who we are.

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The land was spoken into existence

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by the Word of God.

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The Word became flesh.

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The Word, a person with a name, Jesus.

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God himself spoke a word to you and me,

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not just from the dusty pages of history,

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but here and now the Word is alive.

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- There in the shadows, a whisper of light

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and the fell of darkness fell.

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The Word was, the Word is,

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the Word will forever and ever one.

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the Word will forever and ever one.

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There in the middle, the Word became flesh,

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from glory down to dust.

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He traded the heavens to come wash our feet,

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living water here with us.

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All for a world He loved.

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- Imagine a God who loved you so much,

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so personally, so wildly,

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so beyond measure,

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that He creates the entire world,

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the land itself,

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just so you could know God's love.

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It speaks God's Word in Hebrew.

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Dabar means word, or talk or thing, a noun.

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Catch this, there is no difference

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between the Word of God and the person of God.

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It speaks of who He is and who we are.

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- The Word was, the Word is,

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the Word will be forever and ever.

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the Word will be forever and ever.

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- There is a heartbeat.

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A heartbeat in the pages of Scripture.

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A pulse beneath the land calling

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to its people, to you, to me,

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adopted sons and daughters,

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the downline of King David.

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It speaks God's Word, His truth,

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His character, the great I Am.

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It speaks of who we are

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because of who He is.

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It tells the story of our spiritual roots.

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We are the signature of God.

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We are Imago Dei, His image bearers.

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So, if we were created to look like Him,

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if we were created to bear His image,

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then we have to ask, who is He?

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What does He look like?

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His land, His people, His Word reveals it all,

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father, mother, your ruler, friend,

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creator, son, daughter, the great I Am.

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- For when You say it, it is finished,

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your Word is final and I believe it.

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For when You say it, it is finished,

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Your Word is final and I believe it.

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Your word was, your word is,

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Your Word will be forever and ever.

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Your word was, Your Word is,

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Your Word will be forever and ever.

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Your Word heals, Your Word builds,

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Your Word stands forever and ever.

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Your Word is moving,

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Your Word is living,

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Your Word is returning to earth from the heavens.

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- Six identities, primal, essential,

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all working together in perfect harmony,

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not a number to lock you in

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or a sign to mark you or cage you

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or keep you from living free,

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but a beautiful balance of a spiritual DNA

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to give you the wisdom and the strength

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that you need to live fully alive, to thrive.

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No more numbing out.

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No more being out of alignment

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with who God called you to be.

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One building upon the other.

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Nothing in contradiction because

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He is who He says He is, the great I Am.

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He is, I am, you are, the land speaks.

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Are you listening?

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- And in the ending, the Word will remain,

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though the earth will pass away.

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Kingdoms will crumble

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and riches will fade,

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but the Word of God will reign.

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- The Story of God told through the land of Israel

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is written in the pages of Scripture

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and carved by the very finger of God into the land itself.

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Join us on a journey to discover your spiritual roots.

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Uncover the six essential elements

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of identity deep within you,

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revealed through the life of King David

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and perfected in the life of Jesus.

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The fourth season of Real Encounters with God: Downline.

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All new on location in Israel.

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New places, new encounters, real encounters with God.

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- All right, we're back in Israel. We're actually here.

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We've got the Temple Mount behind us, the Mount of Olives.

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Actually back in the land

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for the fourth season of Real Encounters.

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We've got Brian Tome, Senior Pastor,

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got Hannah, Teaching Pastor, and Tsuriel, our guide.

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I think this is a season 4 with you, right?

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- And friend.

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- Right, first time that we're meeting together,

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loving you all, enjoying working with you.

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- You're loving us all and we're annoying you, I know that.

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- Just constantly. - That's true.

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- Yes, he's not even disagreeing.

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- Sense of humor, right? - It's my love language.

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- We're back here for a reason.

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Because you've been stewing on this concept

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that God's been building in you for a long, long time

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about these six essential elements of identity,

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the primal DNA, so talk about that.

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- I work with a lot of people.

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I've been working with a lot of people for a long time,

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and had a lot of observations about what makes a life work,

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why do some people's lives work,

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and other people don't have a life that works?

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And as I have looked at it

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and I've looked in the scriptures at it,

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it seems like there's six things that come up

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over and over and over and over again.

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So these are not things that you develop.

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These are things that you recognize that you have

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you can develop your life around.

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- And this isn't like a Myers-Briggs,

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you know, I'm one type.

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- Anagram or something like that.

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- This is like they kind of build on it.

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- Right, right. Everyone has all of these.

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There's six of them. Everyone has all of them.

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And when a really started popping off the page for me

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was when I started noticing that

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my favorite person in the Bible, who isJesus,

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by the way, He's always the answer.

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My favorite person is Jesus.

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But really, my second favorite person

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in the Bible is King David.

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I just find him fascinating

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and I've read his stories more than probably

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anything else in the scriptures,

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other than the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

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And I realized, gosh, these six things that I'm seeing,

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they come up with him over and over and over again.

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There's a link between, and of course, with Jesus.

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We'll see it over and over and over again.

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So, there's this strand of DNA, if you will,

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through the Bible, through the life of David

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and Jesus that's in us.

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And if I can help people see that this is who you are,

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life is going to start to make sense and go forward.

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- Yes, I'm so excited for this series.

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- That's good.

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- Because I've just seen it in you,

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you get this burn for this idea.

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So we're starting in a particular spot because

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there's one of these you got to lock down first

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before you can get the rest. Which one is that?

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- That is son or daughter.

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It's your relationship with God.

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Jesus is told by His father,

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"This is My Son, in whom I'm well pleased."

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Until you believe that you're loved by God,

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that you're His son, you're His daughter,

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that He accepts you as you are.

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Not that -- Not that He's not going to push you.

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Not that there aren't going to be significant changes in life,

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but until you see that you are loved,

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who you are right now,

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you're going to just go down a rabbit hole of performance,

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a rabbit hole of judgmental-ism.

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It's the starting place of strength and power

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to start building your life.

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- So what do you think is the place

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to kind of go to talk about that?

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We see David being a son. Where do you want to go?

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Well, that's why we got the expert here.

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That's true.

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-I was thinking, I was thinking that maybe

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the beginning of his life and Jesus's life.

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- Right. We're thinking about Bethlehem.

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- Yeah. If what we were talking about that

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Bethlehem, of course, 1000 years before Jesus,

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we have David. This is the City of David.

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Not only Jerusalem is known as the City of David.

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The Bible also speaks about Bethlehem.

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He was born there. This is where he grew up.

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This is where he lived all around.

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And Jesus, 1000 years later, is being born at the same place.

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He's from the same root of David,

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of course, the same family.

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So it's linked together, the two places,

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the one place with the two different

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characters that you're going to deal with.

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- Yeah. And when you had this idea,

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I realized this is just another example.

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Their lives are popping up the same things

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over and over again, so I think it's a great idea.

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We'll go do a deep dive in Bethlehem,

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which most people only think of it as Christmas time.

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- Yeah. - But it's a big deal.

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- Jesus is known as the Son of David.

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Tsuriel, what's your last name again?

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- Bar David. -What does that mean?

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- In Aramaic bar is son and David is David.

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So, it's the son of David.

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Of course, I have no idea if I'm any how connected to David,

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but that's the name.

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My grandfather came 100 years ago.

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He was one of the first believers here in Israel,

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Jews who would believe in Jesus.

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Of course, there were no communities,

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no congregation, nothing like that.

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- Yeah.

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- And by the way, when he came here 100 years ago,

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he went to Bethlehem.

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It was under the British Mandate,

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and he went there to a Bible college.

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So, also Bethlehem is part of that story in there.

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- Another link in there. - Fascinating. - I love that.

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I think it's just relating and showing us

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how there's this downline that exists

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that we get to see in the life of David

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and the life of Jesus, and then in the life of of us,

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we are the sons and daughters. - That's awesome. - Yeah.

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- So we're going to go with you to Yad Hashmona.

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- And Brian, you're going to start

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talking about David and Bethlehem.

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- Modern day Bethlehem is a city of 25,000 people,

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about six miles south of Jerusalem.

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In biblical times,

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only several hundred people would have lived there.

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This small town is highly significant

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as the birthplace of both Jesus and David.

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- I'm here in Israel looking to have

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a real encounter with God, as people have throughout history.

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I'm at a very critical place,

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one of the most important places in all of Israel,

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or the Holy Land. I'm just outside of Bethlehem.

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We're looking at these whole hillsides.

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I'll tell you what, Bethlehem is kind of

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the foundation in many ways of Christianity.

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Bethlehem as, you probably know,

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is the place where Jesus was born.

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You can actually go there and see, as the GPS is,

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exactly where Jesus was born. It's pretty interesting.

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It also is the place where the lambs

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were brought up for the temple.

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The lambs that would go to be sacrificed in the temple

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were raised in Bethlehem.

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Kind of fascinating that Jesus is born in Bethlehem

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because he's going to be the Lamb of God

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that's going to be sacrificed.

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And actually Jesus's great great great great

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great great great great great great great

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great great great great great great great

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great great something like that grandfather

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was from Bethlehem, his name is David.

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We're going to be looking at the links between David and Jesus.

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They are significant. They are all through the Bible.

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And I'm not so interested in you just seeing

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the links between David and Jesus.

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I'm looking for you to see how they share DNA.,

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they literally share physical DNA,

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but they also share spiritual DNA,

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which, whether you know it or not, you have as well.

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There are things that are in you

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that you may have never identified, that they're in you.

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You may have never known what your genome is.

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You may not understand all the DNA in your code.

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None of us do, but I can tell you

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inside of your primal code, your primal DNA,

00:37:53

there are six things that you just are.

00:37:57

And these six things, if you see them,

00:37:58

they don't give you like a new checklist

00:38:00

of something new to do.

00:38:02

These six things help fuel you to do the things

00:38:06

that you need to do or that you want to do.

00:38:09

It's the six primal core characteristics of who we are.

00:38:13

This first one is the most important.

00:38:15

Just like Bethlehem is maybe the foundation

00:38:19

of all Christianity, this first one

00:38:22

is the foundation for your life.

00:38:24

All of the other ones all cling on this one.

00:38:27

If you don't get this one right,

00:38:29

everything else will be bastardized.

00:38:32

And I'm using that term bastardized on purpose.

00:38:36

This is one of the links that David and Jesus have.

00:38:39

There's a thread of being a bastard

00:38:43

that goes through both of their lives,

00:38:45

or at least being perceived as a bastard,

00:38:49

or at least feeling like a bastard.

00:38:52

It was here in this area where the prophet Samuel

00:38:57

comes to anoint a new king of Israel.

00:39:00

Saul has basically disqualified himself,

00:39:02

the first king of Israel,

00:39:04

and now we have the prophet looking for a new one.

00:39:07

God says, "Go over here to the house of Jesse.

00:39:11

The new king is there."

00:39:12

And Samuel goes over to the house of Jesse,

00:39:15

and he sees all these sons.

00:39:18

He sees the biggest one like, "Oh, wow, wow,

00:39:20

this must be the one."

00:39:21

And God says, "No, no, not that one."

00:39:23

And then he goes and he sees the next biggest one.

00:39:25

He thinks, "Oh, this must be the one."

00:39:27

And God says to him, "Look, look, look, look.

00:39:30

Man looks on the outward appearance,

00:39:33

but I look at the heart."

00:39:35

In fact, that's America today, right?

00:39:37

We look at the outward appearance.

00:39:38

We don't look at the heart.

00:39:39

We look at what our waist side size is.

00:39:41

We look at what our skin tone is.

00:39:43

We look at what our bicep size is.

00:39:47

We might even look like what political party

00:39:49

am I wearing on my clothes

00:39:51

or what political party is on my bumper?

00:39:54

We want to look at people, make a snap judgment

00:39:56

and think that we understand them.

00:39:58

This isn't an American thing, this is a human thing.

00:40:01

And God spells it out, says,

00:40:03

"Don't look at the outside thing.

00:40:05

Don't. Who cares about body beautiful?

00:40:07

That has nothing to do with whether or not

00:40:08

I'm pleased with this person and active in this person."

00:40:12

So, Samuel hears this from God and he says to Jesse,

00:40:15

like, "Is this it? I kind of heard from God

00:40:18

that the next king was here. This is all your sons?"

00:40:23

And Jesse says, "Well, there's one more."

00:40:27

Let's read it together, 1 Samuel 16:10:

00:40:31

And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel.

00:40:34

And Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen these."

00:40:38

Then Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?"

00:40:42

And he said, "Well, there remains yet the youngest,

00:40:45

but behold, he's keeping the sheep."

00:40:47

And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and get him,

00:40:50

for we will not sit down till he comes here."

00:40:53

He says, it's the youngest one, the youngest one

00:40:57

who's doing the crappiest work

00:41:00

of being out in the pasture keeping sheep.

00:41:03

Being a shepherd is a dirty, dirty job.

00:41:07

Jesus was a shepherd. He was known as the Good Shepherd.

00:41:10

And that was a dirty job because

00:41:11

He had to put up with all of our crap

00:41:13

and He actually died on a cross for our sin.

00:41:17

Since we were in Bethlehem,

00:41:18

we went looking for a herd of sheep.

00:41:21

We found a herd of goats. Close enough.

00:41:27

Oh, look at this little guy.

00:41:30

Come here. Come here, little guy.

00:41:33

Oh, he's got a bad leg.

00:41:39

He's got a leg. You got a leg that's not operating right.

00:41:43

I see him limping on this leg.

00:41:47

What's hurting? You got something hurt, buddy?

00:41:49

What's wrong? You got something hurting?

00:41:51

You need the Good Shepherd.

00:41:52

Jesus says that He's the Good Shepherd.

00:41:55

Sometimes that's what God does, He just kind of takes us,

00:41:59

takes care of us. He's the Good Shepherd.

00:42:04

Yeah. Mm.

00:42:08

You know, these shepherds here,

00:42:11

people will try to steal sheep.

00:42:13

And actually, in ancient times,

00:42:15

they would try to steal livestock.

00:42:19

Oh, you're okay. They'd try to steal livestock.

00:42:23

And if you're a hired shepherd. There you go.

00:42:26

If you're a hired shepherd,

00:42:28

you'd just abandon them and leave them.

00:42:30

But Jesus says he's the Good Shepherd

00:42:32

because He lays down His life for us.

00:42:34

It doesn't matter what the opposition is,

00:42:37

He lays down His life for us.

00:42:46

So, the kind of trick is keeping all these goats

00:42:50

or sheep together, keeping them safe.

00:42:54

And the person in charge is the shepherd, that guy over there.

00:42:58

You know, it's a pretty intense job he has

00:43:00

taking care of all this livestock,

00:43:02

a lot of responsibility.

00:43:03

And he's about the same age that David was

00:43:06

doing the kind of work that David would do

00:43:09

right here in this same area.

00:43:12

The Bible, in many ways,

00:43:14

is being played out right before us. It's pretty cool.

00:43:18

I'm Brian. Brian. - Pero. - What is it? - Pero.

00:43:22

- Pero, good to meet you. Good to meet you.

00:43:25

Good, good hard working man.

00:43:27

Good, hard working man right there. There he is.

00:43:30

The beautiful universal sign of manhood right there.

00:43:33

How old are you? - 14.

00:43:35

- 14. And how many years have you been doing shepherding?

00:43:39

- Five years. - Five years?

00:43:43

It's kind of amazing that you are about the same age

00:43:47

and probably the same size as David, King David,

00:43:50

who was a shepherd boy and then a great king.

00:43:52

So, we're going to pray and trust that

00:43:54

God has great things for you,

00:43:56

and you're a future king in your own right. It's good.

00:44:04

I want to do some more shepherding here.

00:44:06

Let's see if I can keep them all together.

00:44:08

This is basically what being a pastor is,

00:44:09

getting all these people who aren't as smart as you

00:44:12

to all stay together and go the same direction.

00:44:15

Okay, boys, let's go. Let's all go this way. There you go.

00:44:18

Yes, go, go. We're going to stay here.

00:44:21

We're going to -- What is that?

00:44:27

Are those testicles, or is that a milk sack?

00:44:34

What are those? Milk sack? Okay. All right.

00:44:38

I'm going to keep shepherding.

00:44:40

Vamanos, vamanos.

00:44:44

Oh, no, no, no, no, oh, no, no, no, no, no.

00:44:46

You're too young. You're too young for that.

00:44:48

They're too young. Too young.

00:44:50

Let's go. Go over there. Go with all your people.

00:44:53

Go with all your people. Come on.

00:44:54

What if I run at them? If I run at them?

00:45:06

I got them to on the move. That's something.

00:45:16

Being a shepherd is messy, messy work.

00:45:19

You give the least of the least that work,

00:45:22

and that's what David is.

00:45:23

He's got this work out where he's shepherding

00:45:25

and he gives him the phrase, he doesn't necessarily say

00:45:29

he is the youngest, what Jesse says,

00:45:31

it could also be taken in the original language,

00:45:33

"He is the least." He is the least in Jesse's eyes.

00:45:39

When you come over to Israel, you'll see

00:45:41

just a bunch of Orthodox Jews with their curls

00:45:44

and their hats and their clothing and all that stuff.

00:45:48

And if you know what to look for,

00:45:50

you might be able to distinguish

00:45:52

between which rabbi they align with.

00:45:55

There's this phrase, a rabbinical school of thought.

00:45:59

This traces all the way back to when Moses

00:46:03

brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai.

00:46:06

And when Charlton Heston came to -- I mean Moses,

00:46:09

when he came down from Mount Sinai, what Jews believe

00:46:13

is that he brought the written law,

00:46:15

but he also brought the oral law.

00:46:17

The oral law were things that God said to Moses

00:46:22

that then he passed on to other leaders.

00:46:26

And so these different rabbinical schools of thought

00:46:28

are different rabbis who was taught by this rabbi,

00:46:31

who was taught by this rabbi, by that rabbi that traces back.

00:46:34

And they try to trace back and say,

00:46:36

"We got the real goods from Moses. We heard from him.

00:46:39

This is what Moses got from God."

00:46:42

One of the rabbinical schools of thought

00:46:44

is they have different interpretations

00:46:46

of different Bible verses, all that stuff,

00:46:48

is that the reason why Jesse was dismissive of David

00:46:53

and not really wanting to serve him up to Samuel

00:46:57

was that he didn't like his son,

00:47:00

that he had doubts whether or not his wife

00:47:03

had actually had sex with another man

00:47:06

or sex with him to have David,

00:47:09

that he actually viewed David as a bastard,

00:47:14

and he treated him this way.

00:47:18

There's some pretty good evidence for this being true.

00:47:22

I'm not sure that's true,

00:47:23

but there's some interesting evidence for it.

00:47:25

David, one of his identities we'll talk about

00:47:28

is he is a creator, he's always creating things.

00:47:30

And he creates great poetry, much of it

00:47:33

is preserved for us in the Book of Psalms.

00:47:35

And David says this in the book of Psalms, Psalm 51:5:

00:47:40

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity

00:47:43

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

00:47:46

What does he mean when he says, "In sin I was conceived?"

00:47:52

Is he -- is he giving us a clue to his background

00:47:56

that his mother committed the sin of adultery?

00:48:02

I don't know. We'll let different rabbis debate that,

00:48:04

different scholars debate that.

00:48:05

But here's one thing I know for sure David:

00:48:09

felt like a bastard.

00:48:10

He felt unwanted.

00:48:13

He felt unloved.

00:48:15

His dad is bringing everybody else to show the prophet.

00:48:18

It's only when the prophet says,

00:48:19

"Are you sure there's nobody else?"

00:48:21

He goes, "Uh, okay, there's one more."

00:48:24

I believe David has been receiving this kind of brunt

00:48:27

from his dad throughout his entire life.

00:48:31

He has this in common with Jesus.

00:48:34

Again here in Bethlehem,

00:48:35

Jesus was born of a virgin, born of Mary.

00:48:38

And of course, the townspeople didn't believe this.

00:48:41

And so they believed that Jesus was a bastard.

00:48:44

In fact, in the book of John, the Pharisees,

00:48:47

the religious elite, are coming down on Jesus.

00:48:50

They say to Him, "Well, at least we know who our father is."

00:48:56

They're poking at Him like, "Oh yeah, son of God,

00:48:59

Virgin Mary. Oh, yeah, you're just saying that

00:49:01

because you don't know who your father is

00:49:02

because you're a bastard."

00:49:04

Jesus doesn't like it. He's actually hurt by it.

00:49:05

He says, He says, "oh, talking about fathers,

00:49:08

I know who your father is. You know, your father is?

00:49:10

Satan. That's your freaking father is."

00:49:13

Jesus got mad every once in a while.

00:49:14

This is one of the times he got mad.

00:49:16

This theme of being dismissed, not being welcomed,

00:49:20

not feeling enough, having questionable origins,

00:49:25

David and Jesus have that in common

00:49:27

and we have that in common.

00:49:34

Do you feel you have questionable origins?

00:49:37

Maybe not physically when you were born,

00:49:39

but do you feel like your education

00:49:42

isn't up to snuff with the other people that are around you?

00:49:45

Do you feel like you aren't accepted,

00:49:48

that people look down on you?

00:49:50

Do you feel that way?

00:49:51

Do you feel the people are constantly judging you,

00:49:55

that you can't measure up to their expectations?

00:49:58

Do you feel like every day you have to perform?

00:50:02

And if you don't perform that day,

00:50:04

then you don't justify your existence and you may go hungry?

00:50:09

Do you actually feel that you're on the verge of hunger,

00:50:12

the verge of starvation?

00:50:14

Do you feel that there is a lack of resources to go around

00:50:17

and so you've got to fight for them?

00:50:20

Do you feel like you've got to constantly

00:50:22

compare yourself to somebody else?

00:50:23

Am I as in shape as they are? Am I as successful as they are?

00:50:26

Am I as beautiful as they are?

00:50:28

Am I -- how am I with my discipline towards them?

00:50:31

He's getting ahead of me in this.

00:50:33

She's getting ahead of me of that.

00:50:34

Do you find yourself having these inner conversations?

00:50:37

I know you do. I'm ringing somebody's bell.

00:50:41

You might not identify with all of those things,

00:50:43

but this is part of the human condition.

00:50:47

We feel like orphans. We feel like we're on our own.

00:50:51

We're feeling like we've got to claw for everything

00:50:53

and no one's going to give us anything.

00:50:56

And maybe the government will give us something

00:50:59

if we can get a voting bloc.

00:51:01

Maybe we can shame people into giving us something.

00:51:03

And then when they don't give us something, what do we do?

00:51:05

We cancel them, because orphans can't handle

00:51:10

somebody else doing something that bothers them.

00:51:13

They're very, very fragile creatures.

00:51:15

It's like they're like Oliver Twist in the orphanage,

00:51:17

just wanting gruel, and everyone's got to have the same.

00:51:21

This is actually how socialism, I believe, is on the increase.

00:51:25

Because we're a bunch of orphans

00:51:27

that we have a massive problem

00:51:28

with somebody else having more than me.

00:51:30

So can't we just, like, level the playing field,

00:51:32

everybody has exactly the same,

00:51:34

just like you have in the orphanage?

00:51:37

There's a lot of manifestations for this.

00:51:39

Again, you may not be able to identify

00:51:41

with all of these descriptions, but I know

00:51:44

some of them you do because this is

00:51:45

the condition of our hearts.

00:51:48

We have the orphan mindset.

00:51:50

Now here's the great, great thing, it's unbelievable.

00:51:54

That's not in your DNA. It's common to us.

00:51:57

It's a thing that's kind of in the air,

00:52:00

an evil spirit that's in the air, that's taking root in it.

00:52:02

But that's not who we are.

00:52:04

Who we are is we are a son.

00:52:07

We are a daughter. That's who you are.

00:52:10

You're a treasured child of the Most High God.

00:52:14

You're born and created in the image of God

00:52:18

for a purpose, for a plan of God.

00:52:23

You have been created and He loves you with his whole heart.

00:52:28

He's into you.

00:52:30

I have to tell this to myself regularly

00:52:32

because I am an orphan. I have an orphan spirit.

00:52:36

Not only do I have an orphan spirit,

00:52:38

but I was a literal, physical orphan.

00:52:41

I was I was born at a very early age and I was adopted.

00:52:46

So, I was an orphan for a little bit

00:52:49

after when I was born to right when I was adopted.

00:52:51

And I've told some of the story to some folks, so bear with me,

00:52:54

I got a new twist at the end to give to you.

00:52:57

I was born and I was adopted into a very loving family.

00:53:01

Very thankful for my parents, my mom and dad who adopted me.

00:53:03

They're great, but I always felt like I was on the outside.

00:53:07

I didn't look like them. I didn't act like them.

00:53:10

I was taller, my dad was shorter.

00:53:12

My dad was a smart Ivy League guy.

00:53:15

I was a stupid guy who took seven years

00:53:16

to get a four year degree.

00:53:18

We just don't have the same sense of humor,

00:53:20

none of that stuff.

00:53:22

And this caused me to always feel like I didn't fit in.

00:53:25

And I always wondered, man, maybe I would feel

00:53:28

better about myself if I just knew my birth father.

00:53:31

Maybe that's the hidden key to my DNA.

00:53:35

And I actually ended up meeting him.

00:53:37

It was a crazy story.

00:53:38

I'm not going to go into big depth here right now,

00:53:40

but I did see some things in him that I saw in me

00:53:43

that I've never seen in another human being.

00:53:45

It was very forth thinking, very straight talker.

00:53:48

My parents, not so much so.

00:53:50

He's just a no BS kind of guy, kind of like me.

00:53:53

There's a bunch of things they had in common with him.

00:53:56

And at the same time there's a bunch of things

00:53:58

I had nothing in common with him.

00:53:59

On his third marriage. I'm still on my first marriage.

00:54:03

Doesn't know where his daughters,

00:54:05

my two stepsisters live.

00:54:07

I know where all my kids live.

00:54:08

They all live within 15 minutes of me.

00:54:10

And they choose to, because they actually like me.

00:54:12

It's pretty awesome and I like them a lot.

00:54:16

When we got together it was a real rocking experience.

00:54:20

And I came away from that thinking, "Man,

00:54:23

I thought I would have the hidden keys

00:54:24

to understanding my identity when I got with this guy,

00:54:27

and instead I have even more confusion now.

00:54:29

Who am I? Who am I?" It was really a crisis of belief.

00:54:33

And the next morning I was having some time with God,

00:54:37

and God said to me in my prayer time, He said,

00:54:39

"Brian, you're My son. I get you.

00:54:43

I understand you. You're My son."

00:54:47

It's still emotional talking about that day.

00:54:49

It was a very important, special time for me.

00:54:53

Now, that was four-ish years or so ago,

00:54:58

and I've tried to stay in touch with my birth father.

00:55:01

I've sent him texts and stuff,

00:55:03

and the last four texts I've sent him,

00:55:06

I have gotten no response.

00:55:07

I don't think he's dead,

00:55:09

because he was really healthy when I saw him.

00:55:10

And if he was dead, his number would be out of order

00:55:13

or somebody else would be texting me saying,

00:55:15

"Hey, this isn't whoever's number you think it is."

00:55:18

And so four times in a row, I've been blanked.

00:55:21

And my orphan heart wants to say to me,

00:55:24

"You're not important.

00:55:26

You're not even loved by your own flesh and blood.

00:55:30

You're not worthy of some guy returning a text."

00:55:34

My flesh feels that way.

00:55:36

But then I have to realize, Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no,

00:55:38

no, that's not true. That's not true.

00:55:40

What might be true, he might not like me. That might be true.

00:55:43

But what's true is

00:55:45

I'm a treasured son of the Most High God.

00:55:49

And you're a treasured daughter of the Most High God.

00:55:52

In the Bible, it talks about us being sons of God.

00:55:54

It really doesn't talk about us being daughters of God,

00:55:56

though if you're a woman, you are a daughter of God.

00:55:59

What the Bible is trying to say in that ancient vernacular

00:56:02

is the only people who would get an inheritance were sons.

00:56:05

And so by calling us sons of God, it's saying that

00:56:08

men and women all get an inheritance from a loved Father.

00:56:12

All of us are sons of God. All of us are daughters of God.

00:56:17

And when God comes to you, He says to you

00:56:20

what He said to Jesus the first time

00:56:23

we have record in the Bible,

00:56:24

what God said to Jesus was this:

00:56:28

This is My Son, in whom I'm well pleased.

00:56:32

God only spoke to Jesus three times in the Bible.

00:56:35

Three, that's it.

00:56:36

At least that's the only time it's recorded. Three.

00:56:39

Two of the three were total repeats, exact same:

00:56:44

This is My Son, in whom I'm well pleased.

00:56:46

Let me tell you something,

00:56:47

if Jesus needed to hear that two times,

00:56:50

I need to hear that twice a day, three times a day.

00:56:52

You need to hear that right now.

00:56:53

You need to understand right now who you actually are,

00:56:56

not who the world says you are,

00:56:58

not who you think you are, but who you are.

00:57:01

And that is a son, that is a daughter,

00:57:03

in whom He's well pleased, whom He loves.

00:57:07

When you believe this about yourself,

00:57:10

everything else in your life changes.

00:57:13

Before we get into these other identities

00:57:16

that are in your primal DNA, you've got to recognize

00:57:18

if you're not solid on this one,

00:57:21

that you are a son of the Most High God.

00:57:23

If you don't get that one really clearly,

00:57:26

the rest of these are going to be bastardized.

00:57:28

You're not going to operate properly,

00:57:30

you're going to abuse people. You're going to twist things.

00:57:33

Everything starts with saying, "Hey, I'm good.

00:57:36

I'm good because God's good with me, and He's pleased."

00:57:41

To understand why being in Israel

00:57:43

matters to our identity as sons and daughters,

00:57:46

Kyle and Hannah are about to go deep

00:57:48

on what God says to us through the land itself.

00:58:15

Welcome to Yad Hashmona. This is my hometown. Okay.

00:58:20

Finally! We're here. - Finally.

00:58:22

- Yeah, yeah, it's a mix.

00:58:23

A mix between Jewish people who believe in Jesus

00:58:27

and non-Jews who believe in Jesus

00:58:28

that live here all together.

00:58:30

So, that's the uniqueness of this community.

00:58:33

So I myself, I was born in Tel Aviv,

00:58:37

but I moved here when I was four.

00:58:39

- So, who all lives here?

00:58:40

- My parents live here. They moved here when I was a child.

00:58:42

Of course I grew up, I got married,

00:58:44

so myself and my wife, my brothers

00:58:45

and some of my sisters that are married,

00:58:47

they also live here. My children live here.

00:58:49

My brothers' and sisters' children live here too.

00:58:52

So, it's like three generations now that are here.

00:58:55

And it's -- I have here cousins, and actually

00:58:59

it's a big family that are living, you know, all together.

00:59:01

- Can we see more of the property, more of the hotel?

00:59:03

- Let's go. - All right.

00:59:08

And this is also where Jesus was when he was walking

00:59:11

the first day of the week to the village of Emmaus,

00:59:14

it's the same valley down below.

00:59:16

This is where he was heading to. - Wow.

00:59:18

- So He was just walking this hill that you see over here.

00:59:21

There is a Roman road that goes from Jerusalem,

00:59:23

crosses that hill and go down there. This is the --

00:59:25

- Is it still there? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:59:26

So, this is where Jesus with the two followers,

00:59:29

I would call them, disciples, was walking

00:59:31

all the way down to that village on that side.

00:59:33

- The the road to Emmaus? - Yeah.

00:59:36

- Wow. - Across that hill over here.

00:59:40

- Who's just somebody that has poured into you.

00:59:43

We've been talking a lot about son.

00:59:44

We've been talking a lot about daughter.

00:59:46

Obviously, you run this place and it's generational.

00:59:48

Was that your parent?

00:59:50

- I had the privilege, really, and my uncle Ari,

00:59:52

that some of you met him before,

00:59:54

and he was guiding Brian and others,

00:59:56

and all his life his heart is about the Bible, of course,

01:00:00

and the land of Israel through, you know,

01:00:02

you walk through the land of Israel with the Bible,

01:00:04

so you understand better.

01:00:05

And for me to grow up as a child, he would take us,

01:00:08

you know, to three days in the desert.

01:00:10

We will have to wake up at 3:00 in the morning.

01:00:12

We had to walk for several hours quietly, like in the military.

01:00:15

And then we would open Bibles and we would read.

01:00:17

And so all this mentality of walking through the lan

01:00:21

d and learning, and he has all those insights about,

01:00:24

you know, the scriptures and the land.

01:00:27

I would say big part of what I share

01:00:30

is actually what I learned from him.

01:00:31

- So, Ari sounds awesome and I think he's around for you.

01:00:36

So let's get to meet him, yes,

01:00:38

and hang out with him and chat with him.

01:00:39

- Let's do that. - All right.

01:00:45

- Aria is not only a native Hebrew speaker

01:00:47

and theologian who has dedicated his life

01:00:49

to studying and teaching the Bible in its original language,

01:00:51

but he spent his entire life, more than 70 years

01:00:56

walking and living in the Land of Israel,

01:00:58

studying its topography in intimate detail.

01:01:01

His insights gathered over those years

01:01:03

reveal something incredible,

01:01:05

that the story of God has not only

01:01:07

been written down with words in the pages of Scripture,

01:01:10

but meticulously carved by the very finger of God

01:01:13

into the land itself.

01:01:15

To see it, we have to start by orienting ourselves.

01:01:19

To be oriented means to understand

01:01:21

what direction you're facing.

01:01:22

In the Western world, north is at the top of the map,

01:01:26

but in the ancient Middle Eastern world,

01:01:28

East was at the top of the map.

01:01:48

- In ancient Hebrew culture going east

01:01:50

meant physically going forward or leaving home.

01:01:53

And spiritually it meant going far from God.

01:01:56

When God delivered Israel from Egypt,

01:01:58

where they were enslaved for 400 years,

01:02:00

He took them on a long 40 year journey through the desert

01:02:04

until beginning at Mount Nebo,

01:02:06

He led them west towards the Promised Land.

01:02:09

Going west meant going back into a relationship with God.

01:02:13

God used the direction they walked into freedom

01:02:15

to speak deeply to them about what it meant

01:02:18

to be far from Him, and what it meant to return to Him.

01:02:21

God used the physical land

01:02:23

to teach them a deep spiritual truth.

01:02:36

- What do they call it?

01:03:14

- This is how the Bible says.

01:03:16

When you read it in Hebrew language, it calls the,

01:03:18

what you call the Dead Sea, it's called the Front,

01:03:20

and the Mediterranean is called the Back Sea.

01:03:22

This is the way the Bible speaks about those seas.

01:03:24

- Wow. - Yeah.

01:03:25

- Our translation just takes that out.

01:03:27

- Yeah.

01:03:34

- Yeah. This is not the only time

01:03:36

God used the physical landscape of Israel

01:03:38

to teach us how to live in relationship with Him.

01:03:40

Throughout the Bible, time and time again,

01:03:43

God uses the very ground they walk on

01:03:46

and the way He leads His people through it

01:03:48

to show us who He is and who He has created us to be.

01:04:10

- This is where it gets mind blowing.

01:04:12

If you trace the major events and places

01:04:14

in the nation of Israel's history, you'll find that

01:04:17

they all fall on an exact line on the map.

01:04:21

A line that starts in the east and moves steadily to the west.

01:04:25

Each new event and place marking progress

01:04:28

on a clear return of God's people to Him,

01:04:31

going west physically to the land He promised them,

01:04:34

and going back spiritually to follow Him.

01:04:37

The more west they went, the closer they got to God

01:04:40

and returning to God's perfect, holy design for life with Him.

01:04:45

More west, more holy.

01:06:47

Wow!

01:06:48

But this is clear.

01:08:59

- It's almost like the land itself is speaking.

01:10:55

- Four years old.

01:11:50

- The world.

01:12:39

- Wow. Well, thank you for sharing that with us.

01:12:42

That [explosion FX]

01:12:44

- That was the short version.

01:12:45

- That was the short version.

01:12:47

I want to hear. I want to hear your reaction.

01:12:49

- Okay. Let me try to get some cohesive thoughts.

01:12:54

I think that most people genuinely believe

01:12:59

they are here by random chance,

01:13:01

that God doesn't actually have any sort of order,

01:13:07

He just wants to be obeyed and worshiped.

01:13:09

And that makes Him this, like, kind of ridiculous,

01:13:13

self-absorbed God.

01:13:15

That's a lot of the world, I think, kind of believes that.

01:13:18

And so they shun Christianity.

01:13:19

They shun this idea that Jesus is Messiah.

01:13:22

And then even people that are following Jesus,

01:13:24

I think sometimes struggle to believe

01:13:26

that He created them with very specific things in mind,

01:13:31

He has a perfect plan, and that He has something

01:13:35

for them that's not an afterthought,

01:13:37

but has been thought about for many, many years.

01:13:40

And so listening to that story, you almost get, like,

01:13:44

a little emotional that God cares so much about us,

01:13:48

even back in Ohio or Kentucky or wherever we're from,

01:13:53

watching this right now, He cares so much about us

01:13:56

that he didn't just lay out this land,

01:13:58

that He kept walking west so He could lay out our land,

01:14:01

so that this identity, this idea of being a son,

01:14:04

of being a daughter of God is not a concept

01:14:09

that's just out there,

01:14:10

but something that is physically represented.

01:14:13

And frankly, the very stones that

01:14:15

we get the pleasure to sit on right now,

01:14:18

and that He has a plan for us

01:14:20

that is as specific as this map,

01:14:23

that He has a way for us

01:14:25

that is as kind and generous and thoughtful,

01:14:29

and that we get to be a part of this bigger story.

01:14:33

Right? Of Him really just showing us His love

01:14:36

and the way that He writes it is His steadfast love, right?

01:14:41

It endures. And so anyway, mind blown.

01:14:45

Thank you so much for that.

01:14:46

And thank you for the short version.

01:14:48

I can't believe that's the short version.

01:14:51

And yeah, I just pray that folks will,

01:14:55

after seeing something so specific,

01:14:57

believe that He has something so specific for them.

01:15:00

And that because of Jesus,

01:15:02

they are grafted into this story,

01:15:04

grafted into the family of God,

01:15:06

and that the identity as a son, daughter, as an heir

01:15:10

is not a word that we chose to make them feel good,

01:15:13

that when He's calling us that, He's not just like --

01:15:16

He means it, and He meant it even

01:15:18

from all the way east to all the way west. So praise God.

01:15:22

- Amen. - Yeah, Amen.

01:15:25

- I hope you heard it today.

01:15:26

This is a story written about you and for you

01:15:30

by the God who created you.

01:15:32

No matter who you are or what you currently believe,

01:15:34

there's an invitation on the table of God

01:15:37

inside His house with your name on it.

01:15:39

And there's a seat at that table,

01:15:41

and no one's allowed to sit in it

01:15:43

until you're ready to take your place.

01:15:45

See, you are His son. You are His daughter.

01:15:51

- Okay. Thank you so much for joining us.

01:15:52

And make sure to set a reminder to watch

01:15:54

every week of Real Encounters with God.

01:15:56

Now, your experience doesn't have to stop here.

01:16:00

After every weekend,

01:16:01

there are follow up questions in the Crossroads app that

01:16:03

you can process the service by yourself,

01:16:05

or especially, it's so good, so good

01:16:07

when you process it along with other people

01:16:10

and take something with you

01:16:11

into the rest of your week

01:16:12

that'll help you and grow you.

01:16:14

And don't miss next week

01:16:15

on Real Encounters with God.

01:16:18

- Next week on Real Encounters with God,

01:16:20

we explore David's identity as a warrior.

01:16:24

The 14 year old shepherd boy

01:16:26

who ran towards the fight

01:16:28

and slayed the giants.

01:16:29

The six essential identities

01:16:31

God is woven into our primal DNA

01:16:33

are the key to having a life that works.

01:16:36

Don't miss out on discovering

01:16:38

your spiritual roots

01:16:39

and how to unlock the warrior within you.

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