Jesus Broke The Rules | Who Was Jesus Really Week 2

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There's a reason you aren't satisfied with the ordinary,

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you were made for adventure.

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A life with God doesn't have to be boring.

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It can be a pulse pumping, heart pounding life of purpose

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and we can guide you there.

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The adventure awaiting you is bigger

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and more life giving than you could ever imagine.

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Join us every weekend for 45 minutes of

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challenge, hope and encouragement

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to guide you on your spiritual adventure.

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- Hey, everyone, and welcome to Crossroads.

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We are so glad that you're here,

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whether it's your first time

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or your 1000th time joining us,

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we are so glad that you're here

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for week two of Who Was Jesus Really?

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My name is Hannah

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and I produce experiences here at Crossroads.

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- And I'm Kyle the Community Pastor

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for Crossroads Church online.

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And that question, Who Was Jesus Really?

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Is critical to ask because the answer is wildly important.

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And also like they're very different answers out there.

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Last week in this series we talked about

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how Jesus kept all of the rules.

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This week we're talking about

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how Jesus also broke the rules.

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- And you know, what happens when you break the rules, Kyle?

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- "Go to your room" is what happens.

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- That's close, but what else happens

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when you break the rules?

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- One time I broke the rules

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and I had to go to the principal's office.

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- That's closer. That is closer.

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Our senior pastor, Brian Tome, is actually

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going to tell us what happens when you break the rules.

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So let's catch up with him right now.

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- He probably knows, too, right?

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- He does - I feel like he does, yeah.

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- There are rule keepers

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and there are rule breakers.

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I'm in place right now,

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which is where the rule breakers go,

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specifically the capital offense rule breakers go.

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I'm in solitary confinement in the exact same place

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where Shawshank Redemption was filmed.

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Andy Dufresne was right here.

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I am geeking out on this big, big, big, big time.

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We're going to talk about

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how Jesus was a rule breaker today.

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But there are, all of us are either

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rule keeper or rule breaker.

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I'm not saying that there's --

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All of us who are going to create capital offenses

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or I'm not saying all of us are going

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to do five finger discounts or all of us

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are going to take advantage of somebody physically.

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I'm not saying that.

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I mean, those kind of rules that

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maybe don't matter so much.

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Like I'll just tell you what those rules are like.

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That's like me. I'm a rule -- I'm a rule breaker.

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Like, I've never seen a sign that says

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"Wet Paint, don't touch" and have not touched it.

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I've never walked by a lawn

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where there's a sign that says, "Don't walk on the grass,"

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and not just taken one foot and put it on the grass.

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I know, I've got problems,

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but then that's just kind of me.

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A few years ago I was on

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an adventure motorcycle riding trip

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and it was actually in winter.

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It was in December. It was through West Virginia

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and there was snow that was down.

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And one of the things that really irks me

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is when I'm in a public land area, National Forest,

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and all these beautiful roads

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would be perfect for off-road motorcycles

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are shut down and gated.

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They're there, they're created, it just kind of bothers me.

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And I can tell you, and no one's using them.

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No one's walking on them. No one's riding a bike on them.

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In other words, they're just not used.

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So I can't tell you how many times

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I've actually gone around a gate.

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One time I went around it in West Virginia

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and it wasn't a good idea,

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not just because I was breaking the law,

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but because snow was on the ground

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and a ranger came by and he saw a motorcycle

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or motorcycles had gone around it.

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And he opened up the gate and he came back

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and he gave us a ticket.

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And he was not happy, justifiably so.

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He drove us back to where our campsite was.

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And he'd cooled down a little bit.

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And he wrote out this ticket for me and gave it to me.

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I said, "Officer, is this is this ticket good for all day?"

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And he said, "It's not a pass, sir. It's not a pass."

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Please hear me, I shouldn't have gone to run that gate.

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I don't think I've gone around to gate since that time.

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I'm just trying to say my proclivity is

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to kind of push on rules.

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And some people just geek out on rules.

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They love rules. They love enforcing rules.

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Some of you will be shocked to hear

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that Jesus was actually a rule breaker,

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the rules that were in the religious culture

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in which he lived, He broke those rules

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again and again and again.

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Either the people who he touched who were sick

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or the people he hung out with

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who may have been a woman in public

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or may have been somebody who is a known sinner

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or some of the things that he taught

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that went against the grain

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of what the established religious order had done.

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Again and again and again and again and again

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and again He actually broke the rules.

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You and I have got to see this idea,

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this element of Jesus being a bit of a radical,

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being a bit of a rebel,

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being somebody who's coloring outside the lines

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for us to fully understand His life

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and understand the life that you and I could have.

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Jesus broke the rules.

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Jesus broke the rules

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and He cared for rule breakers.

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Here's an interview I did with Kim Elliott,

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the executive director of the Four-Seven,

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an organization that is committed

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to equipping the lives of the incarcerated

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and their families with tools and resources

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that lead to transformation.

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Kim, it's great to be with you.

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We've sent so many volunteers through you

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and your ministry called Four-Seven.

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Tell us about what you do.

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- Well, I am the executive director of the Four-Seven.

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And what I get to do is just run hard

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after those that are lost,

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after those that are broken,

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and with a group of people that realize

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that none of us are our worst mistake.

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And so therefore, what we do is we go into the prisons

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or any other place where Jesus would go.

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We're not taking anything into the prison

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that we have to be there to provide.

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But we know that Jesus is already there,

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so we go there to meet Him.

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- Jesus talks a lot about prisoners,

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setting the captives free.

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Have you done much thought

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as to why He does that so frequently.

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- Well, I think because all of us

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are imprisoned in some way.

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I truly do believe that if we all look at our lives,

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there is something that we're holding on to.

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So being imprisoned isn't just your outer circumstances.

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We're imprisoned on the inside

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long before we actually walk through any prison doors.

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So I believe that when Jesus talks

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about setting the captive free,

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He's referring to that, our internal brokenness,

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as well as the things that we may have done

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that separate us from our loved ones,

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separate us from one another,

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separate us from society even.

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- So, for everyone who is in an institution

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like this where we go and serve,

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there's other people on the outside

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who have been hurt by the actions

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of somebody who's in prison.

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And sometimes those folks can feel like,

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"Hey, we're not talking enough about

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the real pain and heartache that's happened

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as a result of these people's choices."

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What would you say to them?

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- That pain is real, first of all.

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As I said before, we run hard after

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those who are in that situation,

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we also make it a point to make sure

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that they understand, "Hey, we get it,

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that right now is a time for you to work on you."

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But we also want them to realize that

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there are always going to be consequences for the actions.

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You know, repentance means turning

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and going the other way, but it does not mean

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that we forget what led us to what we did.

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And so for someone else,

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if they're still struggling with that,

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they're still struggling with the hurt,

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they're still struggling with

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the consequences of what you did,

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you have to be compassionate towards that as well.

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And realize that it may take time for them

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to accept the fact that you've made a change.

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They may never accept it.

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And that may be something that

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they have to give to God and God has to help them

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to work through forgiveness on that issue.

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- Yeah, the hurts and the pains

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and even the bitterness is understandable

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and actually justifiable. - Absolutely.

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- We just can't -- We can't dismiss that.

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Kim, we're just so thankful for you,

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the work you do,

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the work of all the volunteers at Crossroads

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that are building into folks in institutions like this.

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So just on behalf of for all of us, thank you.

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- Thank you for the opportunity.

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- Jesus was a rebel, He broke rules.

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This should really resonate with our culture

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because more than ever we're breaking rules.

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No one wants to be a conformist,

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specifically, no one wants to conform

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to somebody else's ideals who we don't respect.

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Jesus challenged the status quo in every way,

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and that meant breaking rules.

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He broke rules about having women followers.

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He would talk to women in public.

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He would shun politics and talking about politics.

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He virtually never, ever, ever,

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ever talked about politics.

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He would make outrageous claims,

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miracles that people could have if they follow Him,

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miracles and blessings people could have

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who didn't deserve it.

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We can learn a lot about

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how to challenge the status quo

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by following the footsteps of Jesus

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and unlocking that little rule breaker

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that lives inside of all of us.

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Specifically and especially as it relates

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to the rules of religion.

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Religion is really about control,

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trying to tell you how to live your life.

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This is the way that you should pray.

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These are the kind of people God doesn't like.

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This is how to make God like you.

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It's all about what you do and keeping the rules.

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Religion can be a form of power,

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and power makes the rules.

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The ultimate power, not the ultimate power,

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but an awfully powerful force in our life

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is the power of sin.

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It's this need to rebel against God.

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It's this need to break His commandments,

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things that we shouldn't be breaking.

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But these -- this sin that always is enticing

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on the front end always ultimately leads to bondage.

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It's because there's a bigger, more powerful force

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that is needed to break those rules.

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And Jesus, in a weird oxymoron kind of way,

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is that powerful force who does break the rule of sin.

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But Himself, He also breaks the small R rules.

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The Book of Matthew,

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which is a book in the New Testament

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that's written specifically and especially

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to Jewish religious people,

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we can see this again and again and again.

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In Matthew 8:2 it says this:

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When somebody had a disease that people could see

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by the rules of religion, they should be shunned,

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they should be outcast.

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Jesus not only does shot him, He touches him.

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In touching him, by the religious laws of that day,

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he would be making himself simultaneously unclean.

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There's certain stories in the Bible

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that are told a couple different ways

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from different perspectives.

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In the book of Mark,

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it talks about this exact same story,

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but they add a little interesting emotional twist

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in here I want to make sure we see.

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Here's what it says. It says:

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Jesus is always the smartest person in the room.

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And He knew that when He was breaking the rule

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by touching and blessing somebody

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that the religious people were shunning,

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He knew they were judging Him.

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He knew they were angry and He gets angry.

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"I can't believe that you people

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have these rules that are so ridiculous."

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He's angry over the condition of their heart

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and He breaks their rules and He touches this guy

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and He blesses and heals him.

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These people who are religious,

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they didn't keep all the rules.

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You could look at their life and you could see

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that there were all kinds of rules

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that they were breaking that God really cared about.

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The very God Himself in flesh was right there

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and they were breaking the rule of worship

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by not honoring the one ultimate God.

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We all like to break rules

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and so many of us love to make rules.

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I said earlier, there's rule makers and rule keepers,

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rule followers and rule keepers.

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It's one of the things that's been happening with the masks.

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I'm pro masks.

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I've worn a mask.

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I don't like it, but I have.

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But haven't we all noticed that there's

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just some people who get their jollies off on masks?

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It's their new way to find a new rule.

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Some people are not religious at all,

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but they're incredibly rule driven.

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Rules on how you should separate your recyclables,

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rules on how you should wear your mask.

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And some of us just really geek out on this.

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Sometimes, those of us who feel like

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we're the most enlightened following

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these various man-made rules are often times

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those who are farthest away from Jesus.

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And often times those of us who are keeping

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all of our religious rules inside church,

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going to Sunday school, also are those

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who are furthest away from Jesus.

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While Jesus broke rules,

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He also did understand certain rules, relationship rules.

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He was a relational guru.

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He was friendly with people who had broken rules

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and had sin in their life.

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Now, He's not friendly with sin.

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These -- all of these bars here,

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these cells contained people

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who had some serious sin in their life.

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I was looking at the placard of people

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who were in here for everything

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from breaking and entering to cutting,

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I'm not sure what cutting was,

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bigamy, and all kinds of stuff.

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People were in here for real, legitimate sin.

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Jesus is not friends at all with the concept of sin,

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with the actions of rebelliousness

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that hurt others and get us away from God.

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But -- but the person inside of here,

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the people inside of here,

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the people inside of our church right now,

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the people inside of our broadcast right now,

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He is incredibly friendly with.

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In fact, He broke the rules

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of having unscrupulous friends,

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people who had problems and people who had issues.

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Perfect example is one of his key followers.

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His name was Matthew and he was not respected.

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He was not liked by anybody.

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Here's how the story goes of Matthew 9:10 and following:

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Matthew is a tax collector.

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Now, most people don't like tax collectors

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in today's modern culture because

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it reminds us we owe the government something.

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No one wants to owe the government anything,

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but tax collectors are a whole different deal

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way back when.

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They actually worked on commission.

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So they would give Rome what Rome wanted

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and they could keep everything else themselves,

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or at least Rome didn't care.

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And these tax collectors were Jews who understood

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all the different economic veins of their system

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and understood what what Harry did for a living

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over here and how much he was likely making,

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and this person over here.

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And they use that to extort money

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out of their fellow countrymen

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who they supposedly shared the religion with,

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but they didn't.

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And they were utterly hated.

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And when Jesus invites Matthew into relation with Him,

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they're thinking, "No, you should be

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inviting him into a cell,

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that's what you should do,

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you should be inviting him to be locked away."

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But He actually says, "I want you to follow Me."

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And He goes and He has a party at his house.

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Gosh, that's unbelievable.

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That is -- that is really invigorating for me

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to think about, that no matter what you do,

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Jesus wants to have relationship with you.

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Let me say that again.

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No matter what you do,

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no matter what you have done,

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no matter what you will do,

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whether you're in one of these

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or you should be in one of these,

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Jesus wants to have a friendship with you.

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In 2020 I had two friends

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who had been indicted on felony charges,

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both of them make the papers,

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and both of them maintain their innocence, by the way.

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One is convicted, one's awaiting trial.

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And I get emails like,

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"How can you be such and such's friend?

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How can you -- how can you?"

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And I just go, "Hey, if Jesus is a friend of sinners,

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as He said He was and as He was,

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I'm a friend of sinners."

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Jesus didn't justify the sin in His friend's life.

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I'm not going to justify the sin

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or at least the alleged sin in my friend's life.

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I'm not going to give testimony

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and try to convince people that they're innocent.

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But no matter what you do, I'm going to be your friend.

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I want to walk with you

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and Jesus wanted to walk with us.

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There's so many things we don't understand about Jesus.

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Maybe it's the rule breaker piece

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or also the humor of Jesus,

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or specifically the sarcastic humor of Jesus.

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When we read this, you've got to see

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Jesus as sarcastic or it doesn't make any sense.

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When He says, "I've not come for the healthy,

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but for the sick."

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When He says that, when He says,

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"I've not come for the righteous,

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but I've come for the unrighteous,"

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He's not saying that there's anybody who's righteous.

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Because the Bible's very clear, none is righteous.

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No, not even one.

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He's not saying that there's some of us

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who are naturally spiritually healthy.

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Nobody is naturally spiritually healthy.

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He's sarcastically saying, "Well, if you think

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that you're healthy, then I guess you don't need me.

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Well, if you're one of those righteous people

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who never sins and does everything right,

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Well, then you don't need my help."

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It's complete sarcasm.

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He says, "I'm here for people

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who recognize they have problems,

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who recognize they've broken rules,

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big, important rules.

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And I want to be your friend."

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Everyone in here, everyone in these cells

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had broken rules and every one of them

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probably had a line of friendships that were lost.

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And Jesus doesn't abandon us when we broke

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a rule that we shouldn't have broken.

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This is who He is and you would think,

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wait a minute, God's this way?

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Well, shouldn't God be just shunning us

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and throwing us in hell?"

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There's a place for hell

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and there is a place called hell.

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But that's not where we are right now

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and that's not what Jesus wants with you right now.

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He wants a relationship with you.

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I've got a friend of mine who leads a search firm

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to help churches fill pastor positions.

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And so when he recommends somebody to a church

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saying, "This should be your new senior pastor,"

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he's really putting his neck out on the line

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because he doesn't want a dead body to turn up

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and all of a sudden they've got to fire this pastor

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and he and his firm look like they've done an awful job.

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So in the process he's interviewing

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this final candidate,

00:20:14

he'll say, "Now look, is there any moral failure

00:20:18

in your life I need to be aware of, any moral failure?"

00:20:21

He doesn't want to find that

00:20:23

there's been an adultery that no one knew about

00:20:25

and all of a sudden the church

00:20:26

is thrown up in a tizzy over it.

00:20:28

One person he said,

00:20:29

"Hey, is there any moral failure I need to know about?"

00:20:32

This guy paused and he went,

00:20:33

"My whole life is a moral failure."

00:20:40

And he's like, "Oh, yeah, I guess that's the gospel,

00:20:44

that we are moral failures,

00:20:47

that we are unrighteous,

00:20:49

that we are sick and we need Jesus."

00:20:53

If your life is in the moral failure,

00:20:56

then you don't need Jesus.

00:20:57

He didn't come for you.

00:20:58

Yes, my life was a total moral failure.

00:21:00

I do things. I'm embarrassed about,

00:21:02

I've done things I'm embarrassed by.

00:21:03

I say things that I shouldn't say.

00:21:05

I do all kinds of things that I shouldn't do.

00:21:09

And I never have to worry about

00:21:11

Jesus abandoning me as a result of it.

00:21:14

He breaks that rule of quid pro quo

00:21:16

of if you don't like me then I don't like you.

00:21:19

He breaks that rule.

00:21:21

I need Jesus death on the Cross.

00:21:23

I need His friendship.

00:21:25

I need Him to break rules.

00:21:26

And He has for me and He will for you as well.

00:21:30

I am so loving being in this environment.

00:21:32

It's one of my greatest sets to film on

00:21:35

that I've ever been on.

00:21:37

I'm absolutely going to leave here

00:21:40

and go home and watch Shawshank Redemption for,

00:21:43

I don't know, the umpteenth time.

00:21:44

I think one of the things that

00:21:48

inspires me so much about that movie

00:21:50

is how we're seeing an element of people

00:21:53

that's beautiful when you're not expecting it.

00:21:55

You're expecting all these convicts

00:21:58

to just be awful people and you find,

00:22:00

no, they're people created in the image of God.

00:22:03

And there's these little snippets of humanity,

00:22:06

I would say snippets of Jesus where people get humanized.

00:22:09

Jesus would humanize people.

00:22:11

I love that scene.

00:22:12

I actually asked if we actually get on the roof,

00:22:15

the roof when Andy and others are re-tarring the roof

00:22:19

and they're working.

00:22:21

And then there's that moment

00:22:23

where the guards and them are fellow human beings,

00:22:27

where the guards give them a beer

00:22:30

and they drank a beer,

00:22:31

just like a bunch of dudes

00:22:32

that are sitting there hanging out.

00:22:34

It's like there they're breaking the rules.

00:22:37

Guards aren't supposed to be fraternizing with prisoners.

00:22:40

Prisoners aren't supposed to be having beer.

00:22:42

And yet it's in the breaking of that rule, the rules,

00:22:45

there's this beautiful moment of grace,

00:22:48

of connection that I think is astounding.

00:22:51

And I think we have more grace

00:22:54

and we have more connection with one another

00:22:56

if we break more rules.

00:22:58

Seriously, it's okay to break some rules.

00:23:01

Let's break some rules if it brings harmony,

00:23:04

if brings oneness, if it brings joy,

00:23:07

if it brings levity.

00:23:09

That's the kind of things that Jesus broke all the time.

00:23:14

So where in your life do you need Jesus

00:23:15

to break chains, to set you free?

00:23:18

Someone had to set these people free.

00:23:22

All of us are in some sort of prison of our own making.

00:23:26

Do you understand that Jesus not only

00:23:28

comes to visit you as a friend in prison,

00:23:32

but He comes to open up the door and set you free.

00:23:36

He wants to set you free from

00:23:38

the rules of culture that wipe you out.

00:23:41

He wants to set you free from expectations

00:23:43

of religion that you cannot uphold,

00:23:46

and probably many of them you shouldn't.

00:23:47

He wants to set you free from your past.

00:23:50

He wants to set you free from

00:23:52

the oppressive expectations that culture puts on us.

00:23:55

He wants to set us free.

00:23:58

In every poll that I see

00:24:00

shows that fewer and fewer of us believe in God,

00:24:03

fewer and fewer of us actually

00:24:06

are reading the Bible and believing the Bible.

00:24:08

And maybe that's why more and more of us are frustrated,

00:24:13

more and more of us are unhappy,

00:24:16

more and more of us are depressed,

00:24:17

more and more of us are anxiety ridden,

00:24:20

more and more of us are drawn

00:24:22

to some sort of suicidal tendency,

00:24:24

more and more of us are drifting into some mental illness

00:24:28

because we are being crushed by

00:24:30

what our culture is putting on to us

00:24:32

and we're refusing to turn and look to

00:24:35

the one who comes and visits those of us

00:24:38

who are in prison

00:24:39

and those of us who recognize

00:24:41

that we are naturally in prison.

00:24:43

I am naturally in prison and so are you.

00:24:45

And the good news is there is a God

00:24:48

who has broken rules for you to come and break you free.

00:24:52

Let me pray for you right now.

00:24:53

God, I thank You for the clarity You give us

00:24:56

that You don't live by anybody's standard

00:24:59

except Your own

00:25:00

and that Your standards and Your ways work.

00:25:03

Lord, thank You for breaking rules for me

00:25:05

and You for breaking me out of my prison.

00:25:08

I pray right now for some of us

00:25:10

who want to receive You right now.

00:25:11

We say, "Jesus, I want to receive You.

00:25:15

I want to be busted out of my prison.

00:25:18

I ask Your forgiveness.

00:25:20

I ask you to fill me with Your Spirit.

00:25:23

As best as I can, I will walk free

00:25:25

and I will live the way that You want me to live

00:25:28

and nobody else, Amen.

00:31:23

- Jesus is the chain breaker.

00:31:25

I don't know where you feel trapped in your life,

00:31:27

where you feel stuck, but He came

00:31:29

and He broke the rules so that you could be free.

00:31:32

We would love to help you experience that freedom.

00:31:34

We're here to be your church, which means

00:31:36

take care of you however you need help.

00:31:39

If talking to somebody who would help you right now,

00:31:41

you can chat into our website, crossroads.net.

00:31:43

Just click the chat button,

00:31:44

a real live person will be there and talk to you.

00:31:47

Or you can email me kyle.ranson@Crossroads.net.

00:31:50

I'd love the chance to help connect you

00:31:53

to the resources that you need to experience

00:31:54

the freedom that Jesus has for you.

00:31:56

- And that freedom that Jesus has, it compels us

00:32:00

and it compels us to worship,

00:32:01

to gratitude, and even giving.

00:32:04

If you want to participate in giving right now,

00:32:06

you can go to Crossroads.net/give.

00:32:09

- Oh! - Whoa. - Hey, football.

00:32:11

- What is that about? - Foosball.

00:32:13

- Oh, my goodness. Well, you know what?

00:32:15

It sounds like you're going to have to

00:32:16

come back next week to find out

00:32:18

what this football thing is all about.

00:32:20

We'll see you next time.

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