SPEAKER_01 0:04

This is the Kennesaw First Podcast. Life built on truth.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Welcome back to the Behind the Sermon podcast. I'm here with Trey, Pastor Perry, and guys. We got a producer here in the studio today. We got Jordan Five. He is mixing it up. He's cooking it. He's always kind of behind the scenes with uh recording and mixing the podcast and getting it ready for you guys. So we're just so grateful to have him uh doing his thing today. Uh and guys, today's a very special day because March Madness begins. The day that we're recording this, March Madness, the greatest, the greatest few days of basketball, of sports begins, and we get to see wonderful stories. We get to see Cinderella runs. And so I want to know who do y'all have winning the winning the tournament?

SPEAKER_03 1:05

I've already done my bracket. Uh-huh. Duke. Okay. There it is. I pulled Duke. There it is.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

They got it.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

That's a pretty good uh cop-out answer. It is, but no, it really is. I can show you my brackets. You're gonna show me your brackets. It would be exciting to to see Duke win without Coach K.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

Yeah, it's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

It's gonna happen. For sure. It's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Gyre's a real deal. It's not all that.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Coach K gonna have it all. I have a sleeper, I have Arizona. Really? It's not a bad choice. Not at all. I mean, again, still a cop out. It's a it's a one seed, you know. If I if I was voting with my heart, it would be Texas going all the way. But if I was voting with my brain, I think they get annihilated. I think they get annihilated in the first round.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

Oh, yeah.

unknown 1:57

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

And Kennesaw State local teams is getting a run in the tournament. That's really exciting.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

But then you pick them to be the, you know, Arizona.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

I don't know much about them. That's what I'm gonna go with.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

Yeah, I'm with you. But we're proud of our Kennesaw State out there.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Yeah, we we sure are. Uh so this week begins the final sprint to Easter. Okay, we we begin a new series. We begin a new series called Look Again. We're taking a second look at Jesus, at the tomb, at the king, at ourselves. And so over the next few weeks, we're going to be taking a second look at the Easter story. And Pastor Perry, will you kind of talk about how the look again series and idea came to be?

SPEAKER_03 2:50

Yeah, look again is just those two words just jumped off the page to me when I started thinking about that. Um, and the whole idea of first is look again into the tomb, you know. So you kind of start at Easter and you go backward. And um, and as I was looking at that, like this Sunday is going to be about Judas. I've never preached on Judas in my whole life. Really? Been preaching for over 40 years and have not ever preached on Judas and really had a ball just looking into the life of Judas and what he was like and some of the detail of who he is. And the question came up: what if he had looked again at Jesus? What would it be like if he would have instead of just looked at his own, his whole remorse, would have looked at Jesus and repented? That would have been probably the greatest story that you could think of, as far as the disciples ever told. So that was kind of part of where this came from. And uh next week we'll be talking about Jesus as king, looking again, seeing him as in his role as king, the Passion Week, how that plays itself out. There's just a whole lot um that we ought to take a second look at when it comes to this very familiar story of Jesus and the Passion Week and all that led up to his death and resurrection. So that's what it was.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

So this week, as we take uh a second look again at this moment in John chapter 18, where the betrayal happens. The the betrayal is actually happening right in front of in front of their eyes, in front of the disciples' eyes. We find three things that you give us. Jesus is more than enough. We see that real peace is a priceless gift that only Jesus can give. And finally, no one will ever love you like Jesus. I'm amazed at at all the details that go into this particular passage and the context that's there that reveals a lot of really good teaching points. Will you walk us through those three points?

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Yeah. Um, well, the first one is really Jesus is more than enough. And when we look at the person of Judas, the major sin that he had in his life was he kept devaluing the person of Jesus Christ. He um was struggling with, I think, an addiction to money, which is obviously a very cultural issue that we have today. It's like money's gonna satisfy me. Money's gonna satisfy me. And when it talks about uh when it talks about Judas and we see him in Bethany, and he's of course concerned because Mary has broke open the perfume, and he says, Hey, this could have been sold for 300 denarii, and we could have given that the poor. Then all of a sudden, on the heels of that, it says, but that was not what he really cared about. He didn't really care about the poor, and the scripture there tells us that he was a thief and he was pilfering inside the money box. So he obviously had an addiction to money, and he had a problem seeing the value of Jesus that came from that. Matter of fact, when I began to kind of venture into this denarii and what that value would be today, the value uh in today's currency would have been$355.52. He sold Jesus, he betrayed Jesus for$355.32 in this Tyranian shekel value of that day, which was the price of a crippled slave. And so, you know, he was, I mean, he was he was obviously willing to sell Jesus out for just next to nothing. And so that's what he did. And he just didn't understand, evidently, or his he was blinded by his own desire for money that what he was willing to do is he was willing to devalue Jesus and uh basically upsell his addiction. And that's precisely what he did. Second thing is a real peace is a priceless gift that only God can give. And the one thing that we find about Judas is he never really found peace. Matter of fact, we find at the end he had remorse for betraying Jesus. But what we find him doing is he ended up instead of looking back to Jesus, finding forgiveness, uh, which by the way, there wasn't that much difference between what Peter did, denying him three times, and what Judas did in betraying him. But they have two different, completely two different results of this glance at Jesus. Jesus glanced at Peter, Peter went out and wept, and later Peter, we find, was recalled by Jesus because what we find he found from that was the real lasting peace. But Judas hung himself. I think that's really a problem in today's culture. People are looking for something that really brings them real value and really brings them real peace in their heart, and only God can give that. That's not something that is generated by this world. Matter of fact, Jesus says, peace I give to you not as the world. I do not give to you as the world gives. It's a different type of peace. And it's one that if you don't find it, uh, if you don't find it, you always have this empty chasm inside your heart where you feel and sense like something's missing in my life. And only Jesus can fill that hole in your heart. And the third thing is this no one would ever love you like Jesus. And that's what we see uh Jesus doing for us. Uh, when when we find that he's about to be arrested, we find that, of course, Peter pulls out his sword out of the sheath and he tries to chop off, I believe, Malchus's head. He misses, he's not a very good shot, obviously, and uh catches his ear and Jesus goes back. It's it's a beautiful the language that's used there is really, really amazing because it doesn't say that Jesus reattached his ear. It's not like Jesus reached down and grabbed his ear and said, Oh, let's put this back together. Literally, you put his hand on his head and it regrew, really revealing that he's the true creator. And can you imagine what it was like for Malchus, just on a side note, to go and see the chief priest after that? He says, Why do you have blood on your clothes? Oh, well, you know, uh my ear got cut off. By who? You know, and it would go from there to, well, you can't tell because Jesus fixed this. You know, what he's the creator. But Jesus, in the middle of that, he says to Peter, he says, put your sword in your sheep, because this cup which the Father has given me shall I not drink it. Nobody took Jesus to the cross. He willingly went. And that's a major part of the message that I'll get into or do get into at that particular point of the passage of scripture. So it's it's an exciting set of scriptures. Uh verse, here every verse is jam-packed. My seminary professor used to say, that text is pregnant. It is so true because there's so much to be born out of it. And so uh we could spend the whole day talking about it, but it's just a beautiful thing that Jesus shows us, which is simply nobody's ever gonna love me like him. He he said, Shall I not take this cup? You know, and that's one of the things he could have said, This is not my cup of tea. I don't want to go die for a bunch of people. I'm sinless. But instead, what Jesus does is he says, Should I not take this cup that the Father gave to me? It's this John 3.16 in in 3D right here, being lived out. It's you know, and it's a wonderful, wonderful passage. It's a it's amazing to see what Jesus has done for us.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

So I want to take a dive to your first point. Uh, Jesus is more than enough. So this sermon challenges us to look again, and I want to put emphasis on look again. This sermon challenges us to look again at Jesus because Judas' story reminds us what happens when we value something more than Christ. So, my first question to you is why do you think that people today still trade Jesus for things that ultimately have less value?

SPEAKER_03 12:02

My goodness, I'd love to hear you ask answer that question. You just asked me. Because, you know, you probably know even better than I do. Because you're I'm a pastor. And as a pastor, people's always in their best behavior around me. You know what I'm saying? Uh but uh, you know, when the subject of Jesus and the very mention of his name comes up, one of the things we know is his name is just used so flippantly. And I think sometimes we just forget really how valuable he is. So what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 12:41

I honestly think because he's not here physically. We're so just you know, goes back to your point where you were speaking about money. Money is here, I can touch money, you know, or hey, there's something, a car, I can touch a car that's there, I can use that now, here and now. Versus Jesus, we're not necessarily seeing that he's here live and in person with us. I think that's that's probably something that people may realize or don't realize that he's just not in front of us. When he really is, he is here, he's everywhere, but we don't consciously see him. And I feel like we just veer away from that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Yeah, I I also think that there is uh, you know, there's a cost to following Jesus. And you know, we we are gobsmacked at Judas selling out Jesus for 300 something dollars. I think sometimes we sell them out for a lot less. We sell them out for comfort, for um, you know, for our own strength. And uh so I think recognizing one who Jesus is and knowing who he is and understanding who he is is a big aspect of this thing. I think sometimes uh we devalue Jesus because we don't know who he is, and um, so learning who he is, spending time with him is, you know, one thing that we have to do. And um yeah, and then uh just just recognizing the cost of following Jesus. Like it's not popular. And it's uh we've talked about this, that it's counter-cultural, it goes against everything that society is telling us to do. You know, we have self-empowerment, we have self-help. And if I were to help myself in the ways that I know how to help myself, it would never come near what Jesus could do for me. And uh so I think recognizing who Jesus is and the cost of it is a big thing.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Yeah, following Jesus to make that kind of decision is the first thing you have to do is say, I'm not gonna be first. It's not I'm not gonna be first in any area of my life. I'm not gonna be first. And I think the natural inclination of our sin nature is to say, I want to be first. You know, and sometimes um what we do is is we we will say, I want Jesus because what about Jesus wants me? And why does he want me? What you know he wants us, it's always for our betterment. But it is it's really a different lifestyle to say, I'm gonna invest so that I can know Jesus, not just know about Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

So we also learned that Judas didn't subtly betray Jesus. You know, it seems like his heart had already been shifted toward money and self-interest, as you stated. But what are some warning signs that something else might be starting to take first place in our hearts instead of Christ himself?

SPEAKER_03 16:07

I think it's straight up sin. I mean, it's that really sounds like a Sunday school answer. It's like, but you start seeing sin, you know it's wrong, you accept that it's okay in your mind, at least for the moment. Like, okay, I'm gonna take care of that later, I'll change later, I'll make this choice later. And the the hanging on and clenching on to things that we know, God is saying, Listen, I got a different plan for you. This is this is this is straight up unholiness. It's not holiness, it's not what I am. It's it's kind of back to that what would Jesus do? I think sometimes it's like, what would Jesus do? The response is, well, I really don't care for the moment. Later, maybe I'll address this. It's kind of the procrastination mentality. I think that's one of the ways you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Yeah, sin, and then also um your thoughts. What's consuming your mind? Um, where are you putting your time? Where are you uh what are you taking in? Where are you running to? Uh, what's your first you know, knee-jerk reaction to uh run towards? Is it Jesus? Is it something else? Um that that kind of shows you where your where your value on Jesus is. And uh so obviously your actions uh and your sin, sin that's in your life, uh, but also I think I think thoughts. Um, you know, what's what's taking up space in your mind uh is kind of uh is something that we should evaluate. Um and it's also could be a warning sign of like, hey, I'm I'm not really I'm not really valuing Jesus right now for who he is. And um so as Christians, we have to take pause and we have to say, hey, I need to remember who Jesus is. I need to look again and say, um, hey, Jesus really is who he says he was. And so now I'm going to turn my focus towards him, and and when we value him, he shows us our value that that is placed in him.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

So to that, what are some ways that we can look again? And it may be a simple response to that, and if it is, it's fine. But seriously, what are some ways that we can look at Jesus again? How can we keep him in the forefront?

SPEAKER_03 18:40

Well, I think one of the things that happens is that Easter, we have things built in our calendar, and um, I think there's a natural progression of life that we have in the calendar that we have. There are consistent memories. One of the things that Jesus said that we are to do, do this in remembrance of me, is we take communion. Communion ought to be more than just a an act, it should be something of a reflection of looking again, remembering. I I love especially Good Friday here. Um a few years ago, we really started making it very celebratory here, and I love that because it is a time of celebration. Um, you know, we do remember his death, but we also look back and we say, what did what does that mean to me? How did that change my life? How does that change my eternity? It's uh, and how does it change me today? Um and I think we live in a world where there's a whole lot less. I mean, probably the biggest hurdle we have to get over is the hurdle of not wanting to make commitments. Because commitments are not something we really want to. We look at commitments saying, okay, that's going to be tied down. I'm going to be kind of painted in the corner if I do this. Um, and I think when we uh experience something like taking communion or we have an Easter season or we go to Good Friday services and so forth, we pause and we say, okay, what is this to me? Is this just a fleeting thing? Is this just a celebration for me? Is this just a holiday? Or is this something that I've committed, you know, more than something, is this someone I have truly committed myself to follow? And that um makes all the difference to me. That's I I love it. I love this season and I love having these moments of remembering.

unknown 20:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

I'm glad they're built in.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Yeah, Trey, when you asked that question, you were like, How can we look again? My first thing was like, it just look again. Like, I know that sounds so simple and uh so clear, but sometimes the the best answers are the ones that are right in front of you. Uh, you know, I was I was sharing with the choir last night at our rehearsal. I was like, guys, I understand that we have a lot of moving parts. We are trying to pull off a lot of things, and we have some great things programmed for our Good Friday and Easter services, but beyond the programming, we have an opportunity. We have a very, very unique opportunity, and that is to tell the greatest story that's ever been told. We have a responsibility to communicate that. So we we want to present and we want to package this familiar story. That's one thing that that I think I heard you say a couple of times was a familiar story for a lot of us, um, in a way that is effective, uh, in a way that is um you know convicting and and convincing. And we want to package that in a beautiful way and and with. With music, you know, we can use art. We can use, you know, you and I are working on some media things and some videos and some ways. It's it's all culminating around the same message. And it it might impact someone one way. Uh, that may be different than the way the sermon impacts someone. Yeah, and this video may just absolutely move somebody to make a decision to follow Christ. And so we are platforming Jesus, we're putting Jesus up there as the main part of the show. He he is he is the the spotlight, he's the focal point. And so we're saying, here he is, look again at him. And then I I think our goal is to say, you're gonna look again and you're you're gonna be faced with a choice to decide who Jesus is. And I think that's really that's that's what we see happening with not just the disciples, but um, but not just with Judas and Peter, but with really all of the disciples. They what what's happening is is they're faced with the choice of saying, hey, who is Jesus? Who is Jesus to you? And I think it's funny how we see Judas and Peter in this in this passage really contrasted against each other. And uh so we see Judas who is selling him out, he's saying, I think Jesus really isn't who he says he is. I'm devaluing him. I would rather take this$300 something dollars that would maybe get me through the next couple of months rather than follow him as my savior. And then Peter jumps up and says, I would rather cut somebody's head off and be in jail. Obviously, he missed, but I'd rather cut somebody's head off for Jesus because I see who he is, even though he did just deny him three times, you know, I think that that same day or within the same time. And so we're we're faced with this choice of deciding who Jesus is. And so I think that that's really kind of been my big question is like, who is Jesus to me? And I think it's a question that we could all ask each other and ask ourselves is who is Jesus to you? And truly answer that question. Not not just, well, he's my savior. Yes, but what does that mean? Well, he I know he died for me, but why? And what does it mean? And so um really I I think um that that's what we're trying to get in this Easter season.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

So, one thing that I enjoy about the walk of faith is the worship. And the reason why is because it brings me peace. That's what happens when we look again. We we look again for peace. Um, and with that being said, why do you think that so many people today are chasing peace and things that can never really truly provide it?

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Because they want peace. Because the world is crazy. It's chaotic. The world is crazy right now.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

Anxiety is through the roof in America today. I think we've all experienced somewhat of that. Um and uh anxiety is so hard to be able to wrestle. It's a bear, and it jumps on you before you know it. And it it's just there, we're moving from one thing to another, to another, to another, to another. And after a period of time, there really is no rest. And that causes you and time to say, okay, I'm not at peace. There's something out of kilter here. So for sure, it's uh it's it's an emotional thing when we think of peace, but it's even more than that. It's a spiritual thing that only God can give. And so I think I think people are really hungry for peace. I think they really are. They're really, they really are hungry and thirsting to be able to just sit down and sense that everything's stable, everything's put together, everything's okay. And it's not just us. This is a longtime thing. If you walk down the streets of Jerusalem today, they're not gonna say, How are you? They're gonna say shalom. And what that means is peace. We're at peace. I mean, so uh at the very core of of the geography of where Jesus was in his ministry, there was this sense that there was a need for peace. And so I think we understand that to a certain level, but often don't know where to find it.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

So, Jason, you mentioned um earlier the contrast between Judas and Peter. We know that they failed Jesus the same night, but they're you know, they overcome we're completely different. So if both of you can from a theological standpoint, dive into that story between them two. Help us better understand Judas' relationship with Jesus versus Peter relationship with Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

I really love how you answered this. I can't wait. That goes pretty deep. Um because Peter was obviously very, very close to Jesus. Relationally, positionally, he was very, very close with Jesus. And Jesus trusted him. He really did. Uh, he trusted Peter. Um, you can see with the way that he interacts with Judas that he doesn't quite trust him. Um, and you can see that he um he's always uh a little bit out of distance. And if you if you pay attention to Judas throughout his time with the disciples, you always uh you always kind of seem like he's he's trying to figure this Jesus guy out. And so I when I was reading this, I was I was I was thinking about Judas, and I was like, who is Judas? Is he a crooked criminal or is he just confused? Is he intrinsically a bad person, or is he just caught in the throes of culture and Christ? And that's kind of where I got to this. We've got to decide who Jesus is because culture is gonna be telling us, like, hey, you need this money, you need this whatever, you need uh a busy schedule, but Jesus is telling you, I'm everything you need, I am peace. Yeah, and um, so going back to that question, we see Peter and we see Judas, and we see really the same transgression that happens. We see the same betrayal, basically, where both of these men are faced with this task of saying, Do you know this man? Who is this person to you? Peter says, I don't know him three times before the rooster crows. Judas says, I just want 30 shekels. But then it's the aftermath. We see Peter, like you said, Peter repents and he says, I realize I have made a mistake. And we see Judas never turns around and looks again at Jesus. And we see, we see the ultimate demise of Judas and the ultimate rise of Peter. You know, we see Peter go on and be uh a part of the early church. We see Peter go on and be uh a part of the the aftermath of Jesus' ascension into heaven. And so I, man, that is such a really interesting question that you that you asked us. And there's there's so many layers to it. What what do you see?

SPEAKER_03 30:31

Well, I'm just gonna read to you guys what I how I can kind of concluded the message because uh the difference between them, that was the whole conclusion of what I was looking for as I was closing the message, and that is just I'll simply read to you. Jesus betrayed Judas betrayed Jesus, Peter denied him, same night, same Jerusalem, same Jesus, but Judas felt regret and ran from Jesus. Peter felt grief and ran back to Jesus. Judas was consumed with remorse. Peter was transformed by repentance. Judas believed his sin was final, and Peter believed that Jesus' grace was greater, and Judas turned his eyes away from grace, and the other turned his, that's Peter, turned his eyes toward grace. Both had a different focus, which led them to a different future. I was thinking about this with Peter. Peter now, you know, a lot of people when they talk about heaven, they'll say, they'll say, Yeah, when I get to see Saint Peter, you know, you think about that, you think about Peter is in the portals of heaven and Judas is on the ground floor of hell. That's kind of a hard, hard reality, but for 2,000 years, Peter's been in heaven, and 2,000 years, Judas has been in hell. And uh he's called the Judas is called the son of perdition. Um we know that Satan filled him when he went and betrayed Jesus. That's what the Bible says. So we know ultimately he didn't come back and take that look again at Jesus. Instead, he just looked at his own sin. And I think that's the difference. Do we look on Jesus and find the forgiveness and grace that he wants to give to us? That is life-transforming. When we understand the core of the gospel is that we do not deserve what we got, but we got what we got because of the grace of Jesus. When we truly value that and we value the gospel, we run to it, we don't run from it. And uh we commit ourselves to it, we don't just give lip service to it. It's a different thing uh in our life. We're totally different because of the way we look again at Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

So the heart of the message and really the sermon series is the invitation to look again at Jesus. And I know we've answered this question plenty of times before on previous episodes, but for someone who feels like they failed God or drifted away spiritually, what does it practically look like to turn back to him? Take a step.

SPEAKER_03 33:35

It's saying I can't do this on my own anymore. I I can't fix me, I can't straighten me out. I know if my left was left up to me, I'm gonna make all the wrong decisions. I'm literally handing the reins over to Jesus and I'm gonna say, wherever you go, you know, the old old hymn goes like this, wherever he leads, I'll go, you take that step and you accept his grace, you value that forgiveness to the level that it should be valued, and you walk out of your old life and walk into a new one where Jesus is in the leading position of our life. That's what it looks like to me.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Jesus's grace is so deep. I was going back and reading this moment in John chapter 13. Um it said in John chapter 13, verse 2, during supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him. And you know what he did a couple verses later? He washed his feet. And he knew, Jesus knew it goes on to say later on in that chapter, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. Jesus knew, but he still washed his feet. Jesus knew, but he still broke bread with him. Jesus knew his sinful state, he knew his wicked and crooked heart, yet he still died for him. And it's the same thing for us. Jesus knows our sinful state, he knows our hearts, yet he still died for us. One of my favorite verses, I shared it last Sunday, is uh Romans 5.8 that says God shows his love for us by this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And the phrase that jumps off the page and slaps you in the face is while we were yet sinners. He could have done it many different ways. He could have said that once my people get to this certain point, or once my people clean themselves up, then the grace of God is sufficient for you. But it says no, while we were sinners. So if you're sitting there today and you're thinking I'm not worthy, I don't deserve it, you're right. You are correct. You don't deserve it. But this this grace of Jesus, this grace of God means receiving something we don't deserve, receiving something we don't earn. And that is forgiveness of our sins through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And so I'm just I'm just amazed at the grace that Jesus had, um, really at the patience. I love, I love the the dynamic between Jesus and the disciples, because I imagine at times he probably felt like he was with a bunch of toddlers because there were times where it's like the disciples were so heroic, they were amazing, they were doing these awesome things. And then there's so sometimes I'm like, these disciples are so inept, like they have no clue what they're doing. And um, it's kind of the same thing for us, you know, we don't really know what we're doing, but we lean on Jesus. But the grace and and and the mercy of Jesus is so deep, it is sufficient, it's enough, it's enough for me. And um if Jesus's grace is good enough to wash Judas's feet, it's good enough for me.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

I want to appreciate you for reading that passage um simply because I'm it I got a little bit emotional as you were reading it. Because if Jesus knew that these guys were gonna portray him, and he still got on his hands and knees to wash their feet, the level of humility that this dude has. And that makes me look in the mirror and like, dude, you got some nerve. You you have some nerve to walk around how you do it.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

And see, this is what happens when we take a look again at Jesus. It gives us pause and it says that we have to look in the mirror and we have to face the music and say, Who is Jesus and who am I? And uh, you know, I I love that word that you used, humility. And he wore that same humility from the time he he was born to the time that he started his ministry, all the way up until the cross. And the the things that he endured, like he did that for me, yeah, for sure. He did that for me, man. And he did that for you. He did that for you, Fife. He did that for every single one that's sitting at this table, every single person that's listening in their car. Jesus Christ died for you. Yeah, and he he took that and he bore that weight for you so that you didn't have to, so that now you can receive things that you don't deserve, that you did not earn. The debt has been paid for you on behalf of someone else. It just that fact alone blows my mind every single day, every single time that I think about it. And I and I keep telling like our teams and stuff that when we are preparing all of our Easter stuff, it's like that is the story that we're telling. That's the truth of why we are doing what we're doing here. And that's gotta stay right there at the front of our mind.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

So the five-word phrase, while we were yet sinners, that's when Christ died for us.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

Absolutely. So Judas and Peter both failed Jesus on the same night. One ran away from Jesus and the other ran back to him. The difference wasn't the size of their sin, the difference was where they turned. If you're listening today and you feel like you've messed up, you drifted away, or you disappointed God, remember this. Your failure is not the end of your story. The same Jesus who stood in that guarding and willingly went to the cross still offers grace today. So here's the message. Don't look away from him. Look again. Gentlemen, see you next week. Peace.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

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