The Hope Hotline - The Hope Hotline | S01-E24 | 04-07-23

Episode Date: April 7, 2023

Question #1 Is Easter a Christian or Pagan holiday?Question #2 Brinley question: Which country started the tradition of the Easter bunny?Question #3The first Easter eggs were dyed what color?Question #4What is the tradition behind the hot cross bun? Question #5I know Peter denied Christ and was forgiven. I have walked away from Jesus too but have difficulty forgiving myself. How do I do that?Question #6In Switzerland, what animal delivers Easter eggs to children?Question #7Where did the world’s largest Easter egg hunt take place?Question #8At Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane it says in Mark that someone ran out of the Garden naked. Who was that and why did that happen?Question #9 Let me ask you this question: While Jesus was on the cross there was a statement by a Roman soldier concerning Jesus Christ. Do you know what it was? Let’s sit and think for a minute.

Welcome to the Hope Hotline. I am so glad you're with me today. It is Easter week. Today is Good Friday and hopefully you got the day off. I know that they have taken so many holidays away from us, Christian holidays, but hopefully today you have off. Super important day, day-to-day, last Sunday, Palm Sunday, very important Sunday. And then, of course, we have Easter. Hopefully, you will be in church, and you will be bringing friends and family with you. I don't care. Well, I would say I don't care what church, but I do care what church you will be doing that,

because don't go to no woke church, people. The woke don't get you saved. They just keep you in a lulled uh what's that correct word like a lackadaisical relationship with god it should be sharper than a two-edged sword relationship with god a fierce more like a lion relationship with God. Close. With God. But here's the thing. Last year, Tracy and I, for Palm Sunday and for Easter Sunday, we did two videos that go in great detail about what Palm Sunday means and what Easter. It's not just what it means.

It's like the important details of it. What were you going to say? The story behind it. So if you haven't watched those, we had, I mean, people loved it. They actually wanted us to put them on YouTube, but YouTube pulls you down over nothing so I give Perry Stone credit for it and who was my other guy that I used no the chosen we used video from that but well who's my other guy that I used a lot of

my information from no Perry Stone was one and there's another guy you'll see it because we give him credit because a lot of the information that I got was obviously from the bible but then the their explanation of certain things like you like I say this all the time you you think you know, but you don't know. You only know what you know, but there's so much more to it. And it will totally open your eyes to what Palm Sunday truly means as far as for that time, but also for the future, revelation for things to come. Palm Sunday is very revelatory about Christ's return and a lot of people don't understand that and they don't know it and then Easter Easter's so

important so so those things those two videos are really really good and then we have a music video correct it's a music video correct it's a music video he is worthy so that is that separate or is that it's at the very end is it that it's the very end of the Easter one oh you didn't make it behind by itself oh that's so awesome that's what I asked for. She's saying that's what you wanted. Oh, I love that. So good, girl. She aims to please people. Tracy aims to please. Somehow my desk is wet and I keep sticking my arm. Jer is in the room

just for everybody's knowledge. Jer is in the room just for everybody's knowledge. Jer is in the room and they're looking at each other lovingly but also laughing at me. Like whatever. So here's the thing this podcast today is dedicated to questions about Easter. We're gonna answer questions. Is this time frame correct that I'm looking at right now? Okay. So these questions, some of them are fun. Some of them are more detailed. Listen, people, just open it up, Jer. I don't care. Just open that Twix up. I'm going to, he's busted. Jerit chairs over because you can pretty much hear everything if

you just heard that that's him just busting it open chairs over there like this with the twix bar he's tried to act like he's eating kind of a little bit healthy over there because he's eating all natural fig bars and stuff you should have just gone for the Twix a long time ago, dude. Who cares? I mean, we all care. Right now we're, you know. He lost a lot of weight, so he's trying to stay with the weight that he lost from the fasting that we did at the beginning of the year, which you have. You've kept it off. I mean, you've done really good.

But what is that? Next level, baby. Next level. That will be at the beginning of next year. When you do another 21 day. I don't foresee another 21 day in Jer's future. I might be wrong. In case you guys don't know who I'm talking about,

I don't know what podcast it was, but Jer helped me close out, which we might have him do today. I don't know. But you never know when Jer will make his next appearance. I think Jer is my first guest on the show. Yes, he was my first. He gave the testimony about giving for his business. How's that going over there?

You're killing it, aren't you? Yeah, he goes, mm-hmm. That's a confident man. Mm-hmm. Not like, yeah, mm-hmm. Because you know what? It's like Tom tells Tommy when you're in the ring, don't act like a football player that goes into the end zone

and dances and acts like celebrates and stuff like that. Because when you do, you act like it's the first time and maybe the last time you'll ever enter into the end zone. Tom tells him, listen, act like it ain't your first time nor your last time. This is just how you live. So when you go in there, don't showboat. Just act like this is a lifestyle for me. That's how Jared just answered that question.

Instead of like like heck yeah we're killing it now he was like because he just knows it's next level next level next level that's the way it goes so now that i've wasted i don't know how many minutes seven minutes on what i didn't waste because it's so important listen go, go to BlackrobeTV. It's BlackrobeTV.com. What is it? Dot com? Blackrobe. She'll have a little thing.

But seriously, in all seriousness, go and watch those two videos. I cannot tell you how many people came up to us last year and they were like, is there a way that I can get a copy of this? We did something similar for Christmas. I wish we could do that for Christmas. I don't know how we could, but we didn't do it this year for Christmas. We did it the prior year for Christmas. But I can't tell you how many people just were like,

I had no idea that that meant what that meant. Because the Bible is full of symbolism, but it's just so interesting and such good stuff like not boring at all but good stuff so take some time slow down a little bit go to blackrobetv.com and it's under foundation church correct so you're going to go to the foundation church um because there's different ones you'll see see my podcast. Yeah, channels, thank you. I don't know the right terminology. That's why we have Tracy and Erin because they keep us straight. But go to the Foundation Church channel.

It'll be one of the last ones, correct? I'll be one of the first ones, one of the top ones. Check it out, seriously, and then let us know what you thought and if you liked it. So if you didn't like it, we don't want to know about it it goes back to what i've said in the past if i sent you into a spiral depression i don't want to know about it just keep that to yourself if you're in a padded room right now and you're able to listen to me in hopes that i still might bring you hope but i'm the one that put you in the padded room, stop listening to me, first of all. You should have learned that lesson, like, a long time ago.

But then, on top of that, I might not be the right one for you. You're in the padded room for a reason. So, let it go. Let's go to Easter. So, first question. Is Easter a Christian or pagan holiday Easter is definitely a pagan holiday it started out with the Anglo-Saxon goddess called Estore it's E-O-S-T-R-E she was the goddess of hold on I'm gonna look this up to make sure I got it right, spring infertility. So they celebrated her.

Now here's the thing. Obviously we don't do that. We don't celebrate her. But it's very close to the word Easter, and I think it is in French where we get resurrection, I think it was. Something along those lines that actually take you to, no, no, no, no, no. There's a word that when we celebrate,

it's a word, I think it's Easter. I don't know. The French use it for purification or something like that. I can't remember what it was, but it actually goes to Easter. So, which is the east star and all this other stuff you they link each other and somehow it ends up being Easter Jesus resurrection so um I know a lot of people like Christmas Christmas again is a pagan holiday some people celebrate no holidays at all they let their yes be yes and their no be no. So they don't celebrate

any holidays at all whatsoever from Easter to Christmas to Halloween. And they don't even celebrate. Some of them don't even celebrate birthdays because they're, you know, it's either their religion or they feel like all three of those holidays are pagan, so they celebrate nothing. And again, I always say work out your own salvation. We celebrate Easter not because of this goddess of spring infertility. We celebrate the resurrected King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who is A number one. And he provided eternal life for us.

And through the redemption of our sins that he purchased on the cross. So that is the reason why we do Easter. And some people would argue with you about that you shouldn't do any of them. I argue the fact of what is the reason why you're celebrating that holiday. No one in this room is celebrating the pagan holiday of Easter. We're celebrating Easter and Jesus dying on the cross on Friday, Good Friday, and being raised from the dead on Sunday. So that is that. Now some people don't even believe, seriously, they don't even believe that Easter is pagan. I mean you got to do some

research but it truth truthfully is. So next question, this is Brinley's question. Brinley and I were driving down the road, which we do sometimes, she's in the back seat and she said where did the Easter bunny start where how did we come up with the Easter bunny so I can't find out how we came up with the Easter bunny I'll be honest with you but I found out what country it started in and it actually started in Germany yeah the Easter bunny the tradition of the Easter bunny started in Germany. Pretty cute. Again, some people have issues with doing the bunnies, the chicks. They only think you should do the cross. I get that.

I mean, I do get that. And again, that's your prerogative. But for kids, they celebrate Jesus, and all the while they have fun with the eggs and the bunny. So I don't think it detracts from Jesus at all. If you just set what priority one is, it's like in your marriage. You know, as long as you set God first, spouse second, kids third. Kids know.

They know. Set the priorities, you know are the different levels and that's how they'll follow um another fun question is the first easter eggs were dyed what color what color do you think they were dyed tracy the very first eggs wait a minute i just what first color yeah what color do you think it was no you're wrong trend no jare no okay tracy said blue trend said yellow jare i just said blue oh my gosh he's okay if Jer had hair, he'd be such a blonde. Holy crap.

He just said, I said, I said, I said, what color was. So Tracy says blue, his wife. Just tells you how much he listens to her. Okay. He does not listen to you at all. Talia says yellow. And then I go to Jer, what color? He goes blue

you're one no you don't listen why would you answer the same question I just said no yeah again you don't listen to your wife or me well I already knew that about he said or you well I already knew that like that's not even a shocker what color chair one more time you little blondie pink Jared out of all the times you could have been right out of all the times you could have been right this is an easy no-brainer for you you choose pink again he doesn't listen to me. The first Easter eggs were dyed what color? Red.

Blue. Thank you. Even after I say to him, out of all the things, you got that, right? Okay. He's now just messing with me. Now you're messing with me. It's red, which is Jer's favorite color. And let me just tell you, if you see Jer, Jer first of all the color of their company is red if you see his shoes a lot of times well not anymore but there for a while every shoe he bought like

how many pairs of those red shoes he has 20 what okay he had 20 pairs of the same Oh my God. What? Okay, he had 20 pairs of the same shoe that were red. Of course she's gonna make you get rid of them. So they had to be new looking at all times. Jer, seriously dude. That's ridiculous. So the first Easter egg, the eggs were colored red. Here's another one. And listen, guys.

Heather, I mean, Heather. You know who I have in my brain. Okay, Tracy. You're going to have to put a pickup of this. But, okay, how many of you guys know what hot cross buns are? Okay. Hot cross buns. I played that on the little thing.

Hot cross buns, hot cross buns. One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns. Right? On the recorder? That's not an accordion. Accordion's this, right? So on the recorder? You don't know.

So what is the tradition behind the hot cross bun I had no idea about this oh my gosh this is so good so this is a question that I found because I wanted to have some questions that I actually was interested in personally I never ask it I never get to ask myself questions so I decided I was going to ask myself some questions. So this is crazy. The tradition behind the hot cross bun is it represents the cross. Yeah. When Jesus Christ died.

The hot cross bun. So next time you eat a hot cross bun, which I don't think I've ever eaten one. I've only played it on the accordion. Not accordion. The recorder. An accordion is one of those things that you play like you play and the thing moves and you move your fingers like it's like a piano keys and this part moves I think that's what it is Talia's laughing so hard right now I think that's what it is but a hot cross bun you look it up it's so cool well you're not gonna have to look it up because Tracy's gonna take care of that

for you but next time you eat a hot cross bun just know it represents the cross and when Jesus Christ died I love that that is so cool next question is you might want to if he comes in here oh he just waved okay cool um so next question i know peter denied christ and was forgiven says i've walked away or i don't know if i see i've walked away from jesus too because but have difficulty forgiving myself so i guess this person denied him and or and lived on their own how do I do that so I know Peter denied Christ and was forgiven I have walked away from Jesus too but have difficult forgiving myself how do I do that okay there's a lot of things that people don't realize and they miss this and, and it's, I mean, this is, like, the story of this is in different places.

So, but the one that's most profound for me is the one found in Luke. So, Luke said, and Luke was the best as far as, if you look at the four Gospels, Luke gives the most description out of all four gospels and and a lot of people believe that was because he was a doctor and doctors are very detailed right um and and provide a lot of descriptions um and plus if you're a doctor you're brilliant like you you're like you would never want me to be a doctor. I might kill you. Just assume, look at you.

Because it would not be good if I was somebody's doctor. But what's great about him is he gave such detail. And in this story, or in his version of what happened was, Peter didn't just deny Christ, he denied him to his face. Jesus actually saw Peter deny him, which is, if you think about that, how profound in being Peter, how profound it would be to know that the man or someone you love so dearly saw you. You said, I will never deny you.

And on the third time you deny him, he sees you. You look at each other face to face. And you know that he knows. And then the rooster crows, right? Let's look at Luke 22, 54 through 62. It says, having arrested him, meaning Jesus, they led him and brought him into the high priest's house. But Peter followed at a distance.

Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. And the courtyard was where they were having, Jesus was actually in the courtyard. That's where he was being his first, you know, that's where they beat him. But also that's where he was also being judged for the very first time to a certain extent,

not fully, but that's where the whole beginning process. I've actually been to where they believe this happened and in this courtyard. No one knows for sure, but very interesting. So Peter is in a place that very few are allowed to go. And a certain servant girl seeing him as he sat by the fire looked intently at him and said, this man was also with him. But he denied him saying, woman, I do not know him. And after a little while, another saw him and said, Meaning the disciples, a follower of Jesus. But Peter said,

Man, I am not. And here's the thing. After this time, the first time when he said, Woman, I do not know him, it was just a period. The second time Peter says, man, I am not, there's an exclamation point, meaning he's indignant. And part of this is because he was fearful for his life because he had the potential

of being arrested. And then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, surely this fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean. Now this statement that Peter says again ends with an exclamation point. It says, man, I do not know what you are saying. And then there's an exclamation point. And it says, I think a lot of us can relate to this question because for me because I walked away from the Lord um and it's not that I denied him but basically when you've walked with him and had somewhat of a relationship with him whether it was one that was

strong or um but you know that you got saved right so one that um you you just like for me I just said I think I'm going to give it a break for a little while I think I'm going to give this Christian thing or this Jesus thing I can't remember exact words but I literally remember saying I think I'm going to give this I think I said Christian thing a break for a little bit and see what see what's out there see what you know, basically what the world has to offer. But I said, see what's out there. And my friend said, don't do it. Because she was smarter.

She had already lived the wildlife. She had walked away from God at a younger age than me, even though we were the same age. She said, don't do it. And I was like, and I remember exactly where we were driving. I remember the exact spot we were driving I remember the exact spot we were driving when I said this because I had made a definitive choice and so I just I know that there are lots of people who feel exactly like I did,

that they knew they were walking away or a slow progression of sin in their lives until they were firmly walked away. And then you realize, okay, this stinks. There's nothing good. I should have listened to my friend because she knew far better than me. Or you may not have had a friend who did that, but you may be like, yeah, life was way better when I was saved. And even if you are a nominal or new Christian, it's still far better than somebody who's living in sin. Because God is good.

Taste and see that the Lord is good, right? So you've tasted him, you know he's far better and superior than what the world offers. Even when your walk is pretty immature or not the greatest. Not that it's not the greatest, it's just you're you're you're fresh in your your your walk or you were um you had one but you still kind of were not sure what that being a strong believer looked like um so if you're like me then you sit there and go, okay, this is not, this is not the life that I want. I need to repent. I need to get this right. I need to get my life straight. I need to get forgiven and, and just move on from there. But here's the thing. How do you move on from there but here's the thing how do you move on from there see for peter uh peter was like you

would sit there and go how could peter like he saw jesus see him deny him how could he have confidence in renewing that relationship or or even thinking that j Jesus wanted one with him again because before I got my life right with God I sat there and go would say how can I go back like you you have this um sense of shame and like who would want me who how could he want me back? Because of the sins that I did, but I rejected him. So if Peter could be restored, and if Peter sat there and said, I don't care that I denied him three times to his face. I want a relationship with him. Then we ourselves can confidently go before the Lord

and do the same exact thing. Now, how do you move on? How do you get past all of that? How do you forgive yourself? Because here's the thing. If Peter can do it, we can do it. Peter forgave himself and we need to forgive ourselves. But we're going to look in scripture

because this is so beautiful. And I have looked at this for myself and said if if Jesus did that for Peter then that's how he looks at me and it doesn't really matter because God has a big purpose and plan for me it doesn doesn't matter that I rejected him. What matters is I came back. And now I'm on fire for him. And I'll do anything and everything that he tells me to do. And if I miss it, he still knows my heart. And he knows that I was trying.

So it says in John 21, 15 through 19. The title of this particular part of the chapter is called Jesus Restores Peter. And so what happens is when Jesus restores him, if you remember, Jesus came to his disciples after he died on the cross and he was resurrected. He went to his disciples three times. And this would be one of the three times

that he shows himself to them so they're out fishing they've been out fishing all night Peter says I'm going to go out fishing the others say I'm going to go with you they fish all night they they get nothing right they see a man out on the beach. And the man says to them, who is Jesus, have you caught anything? And they say, no, we haven't caught anything. And Jesus, what does he do? He says, tell them to throw the net on the other side of the boat.

They catch so much, it was like 153, they counted the fish. It was like 152 or 153 fish, but it still didn't break the net. So they know it's Jesus, even though they knew it was him just instinctively by the things, his behaviors and stuff like that. But if you remember, he had a glorified body. So at times they didn't even recognize him. So once they catch all the fish, Peter, John says to Peter in the boat, that's the Lord.

Peter jumps out of the boat, leaves his friends to row the boat back onto shore. He is so excited. This is how I felt when I got my life right back with God. It's like the boat back onto shore. He is so excited. How many, this is how I felt when I got my life right back with God. It's like the prodigal son. The son is walking up to the house and the father is running to meet him. That's exactly how I felt when I got my life right back with God. I was running to God or Jesus and Jesus was running to me. It was that like overwhelming and how beautiful and how restored and how happy I actually was. I mean, have you ever like had a loved one come into town and you go to the airport and as soon as you see each other, you start running towards one another because you're so excited to see each other. You can't wait to wrap your arms around each other that's how I felt that's how Peter felt

okay he could not wait to get to Jesus as fast as he possibly could because he loved him so much and it says so when they had eaten breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter Simon now notice he does this three times. How many times did Peter deny him? Three times. And Jesus knew what he was going to say. Says, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know I love you.

And Jesus said to him again, feed my lambs. And he said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And he said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said, Tend my sheep. Jesus is giving him an assignment.

He's forgiven. He's redeemed. And now he's getting an assignment. That's us. When we give our lives to the Lord, we're forgiven of the sin and then God has a purpose and plan for our lives for us, for him. He has an assignment for us. He has a calling for us. It's what we do with that calling. And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. Oh he said to her a third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?

And Peter was grieved because he said to him a third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished. We are in a time where we have great assignments because the time of tarrying is short. The Lord is coming back, and he has a purpose and a plan for each of us. And he will gird us up, and he will take care of us through the assignment that he has provided for us.

And some of our assignments are going to be tough. And we're going to look like we're crazy people. But he is worthy. And he said, another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This he spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. And that's what the Lord tells each and every single one of us. If we've walked away from him, or even if we've never had a relationship with him,

he wants us to follow him. And then through that, he forgives us, he restores us. Every single one of us, he forgives us. He restores us. Every single one of us. He forgives us. He restores us. And then that's when we repent. And then he gives us an assignment that he has for us to do. But here's the thing.

Our past failures, our past sin can't hold us back. Because he doesn't remember him. Psalm 103.12 says, they are as far as the east is from the west. That's how much our sin is to God or to Jesus. Okay, so it is as far as the east is to the west. It's not remembered. It's not even a blip on the screen. Every time you bring your sin up to the Lord or you think about it,

he's like i don't even know what you're talking about i don't remember that or it's it's not even a thought in his in his process so it's more or less like why do you keep reminding me of something i don't even remember is let it go so you have to forgive yourself and just remember just like Peter had a calling you have a calling but every time you let your past hold you back that means your future is being held back as well so you cannot look to the past because the past will hold back your future you you will be worth nothing. He can't do anything with you as long as you're unwilling to allow yourself to be moved forward. Forgive

yourself. He doesn't remember it. You shouldn't remember it. Just be about his mission and calling that he has for you because truly that's all that matters let's look at this one this is a fun question next question is in Switzerland when what animal delivers easter eggs to children does anybody know in this room in Switzerland what animal delivers easter eggs children? A what? A sw anything? It's cold there? But why would a reindeer? It would be a little confusing then for Christmas and Easter. Tracy, I'm beginning to wonder why you married this man. He is cute, but... There's in this room it's the Easter cuckoo bird the Easter cuckoo bird delivers Easter eggs to children now this one I have because you'll see why.

Where did the world's largest Easter egg hunt take place? Jer, since you have the most ridiculous answers, let's go with you. The largest? Yeah. In the world. Where did the world's largest Easter egg hunt take place? Australia. You're wrong.

Talia. I said Texas. You're wrong, Texas. I mean, you're wrong, Talia, with Texas. I'd probably say Cyprus or in Florida. There's probably about 500,000 of those. She Googled it. She looked it up.

That's true. Tracy cheated and Googled it. She looked it up. That's true. Tracy cheated and Googled it. She cheated. I'm sitting there going. You didn't say we couldn't look up. Tracy's ridiculous. It is in Florida. It's in Cypress.

Cypress Gardens. Cypress Gardens. Have you ever been to Cypress Gardens? I think it's closed now. Cypress Gardens was awesome back in the day. 500,000 people showed up for it. Cypress Gardens was super pretty though. But it, but it's a whole lot of flowers. It makes sense that it was there. Yeah. Super pretty. That coffee's good. Well, it's not that great. It doesn't't it's not sweet enough but it'll work

what were you gonna say we could beat it have over 500,000 people on 10 acres tracy's a cuckoo bird tracy is a cuckoo bird she's saying we should do one here for 500,000 people. We don't have enough space. Even if we put them out in the woods in the back. And 14 acres. No. No. This is another one. This is a Bible one. It says that Jesus is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. It says in Mark that someone ran out of the garden naked. Who was that and why did that happen? What did you say, Talia? It was Talia.

Talia's been reincarnated. We're going to look at Scripture. Mark 14, 43 through 52. I don't even, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll look at this. And immediately, because some people don't even know the story. I mean, there's so many little things in scripture that, that people miss because they just read it so fast. Just to get through it. Got to get my chapter done for the day. And immediately while he was speaking, Judas, one of the twelve,

with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and elders. Now his betrayer had given them a signal, saying, Whomever I kissed, he is the one. So that's what Judas said. and then they laid their hands on him and took him. And one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. A lot of people don't know this, but that was Peter. Peter's the one that struck the, you didn't know that? Yeah. So, and one of those, meaning the disciples,

who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus actually, in another gospel, actually chastises Peter for doing that. And then Jesus picked up the ear and put it back on the soldier, and his ear was restored. Yep. Then Jesus answered and said to them have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to me I was daily with you in the temple teaching you and did not see and you did not seize me but the Scriptures must be fulfilled and he's referring to the scriptures of him being betrayed. But they didn't want to arrest Jesus in the temple

because there would have been a major riot because Jesus had so many followers. So they knew they had to get him while he was away and then take him. Otherwise, it would have been a hot mess for them. It would have been a bad situation. It's kind of crazy because in the world that we live in, in the political realm, it's kind of like what they're trying to do with Trump. And I'm not paralleling Jesus and Trump.

That's not what I'm saying at all. Not even close. But it just means, what I'm trying to say is tactics don't change. People who are evil, they do the same things. They would have never done to Trump what they're trying to do. Like when Trump, one of his rallies, they would never go in and try and arrest Trump. They try and get you when you're alone, when no one can fight for you.

Oh, and by the way, this is super important, even though it has nothing to do with this, but in Florida, it is now legal as far in June, on June, July 31st.

Is that what you said? July 1st, July 1st, you can carry, you can have an unsealed, unconcealed carry without a license. So all of you that live in the state of Florida, what is it? A concealed carry without a permit.

There we go. God bless you. Thank you for fixing it. So all of you guys who have a weapon that you don't, like for me, I actually took the class. I actually have their certificate certificate I actually never filed a certificate all three of us in this room we've all taken the classes we all legally able to carry except for we didn't file the license so now we're all packing I'm telling you, our church was already, oh my gosh, our church was already off the charts with,

I, we had some people this past Sunday that were new. They sat up front. And I thought to myself, if you guys, because, you know, you never know what people sit up front. They were brand new. They've never been to the church. And I thought to myself, people were watching them like crazy. I was watching them like crazy. I was watching them like crazy. Other people were watching them like crazy because we have a lot of gun toters.

But I'm thinking to myself, oh, my word. Now it's going to be off the charts even more so. But listen, people. Do not carry a weapon if you are not trained to carry the weapon. Just because you don't need a license, don't be stupid. Oh, my gosh, Jared is showing me his guns. They are big, but come on. So go and take a class.

I know a great person that will teach you and train you. Like he's the best of the best. Travis Dexter. What's the name of his D2D? D2D, we'll give you the information. If you want to know how to carry legally, you can do it without this on July 1st. But let's be smart.

Get trained. Know how to use it. Don't be a ding-dong. So let's go back to this. And it says 48. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me? I was with you daily in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me,

but the scriptures must be fulfilled. And then they all forsook him and fled. So that when that happened, that means all of the disciples, everyone that was with him, they all left. So now he's all by himself, right? But one.

Now a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young man laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. So let's read that again, because for some reason, that's not reading correctly to me. Now a certain young man followed him, meaning Jesus, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. Oh, so he's naked, and then the linen cloth. Now I'm getting it, because this is different than my NIV, the King James. And the young man laid hold of him and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

Now here's the thing. In other verses, it says that a Roman soldier grabbed him. So, and then when the Roman soldier grabbed him, he fled, the Roman soldier grabbed the linen cloth, and when he grabbed the linen cloth, the young man ran for his life, which caused him to run naked. Now, who is that young man?

Who is the Nakey Nakey? Nakey butt, is what we used to say. Me and Tom, with our kids, they'd run around the house after they got out of the tub. Naked as jaybirds. We call them nakey butts. Get your nakey butt over here. And then they'd laugh and they'd keep running. So in this gospel, somebody's a nakey butt.

And so a lot of people believe, nobody knows for sure, but a lot of people believe, because this is the only gospel that this is talked about, that it was actually Mark himself. His name is John Mark. A linen garment back then was wool, and it was the outer garment that was worn and then the fine linen garment that was left behind usually only people who are wealthy they would have one of these John's mother or John's parents allowed the disciples and things to come there and to their home, and they would preach and they would teach and things like that. So he was pretty, I mean, he was a part of,

even though he wasn't one of the disciples, he was a very big part and hung around them, right? There were 70 other disciples besides the 12. The 12 were the closest, and then he had 70. And then there was people on the outer skirts of that. That's what I would think either John was one of those 70, or Mark was one of the 70, because he saw so much. His gospel is very, it's not as detailed as Luke's,

but it's got so much information, and it just confirms everything that are in the other four. But what a lot of people don't know about Mark, John Mark, his cousin is Barnabas, right? And this is the same John Mark that caused the big riff between Paul and Barnabas. You know when they had the big split? They left each other? Mark is the one that did that.

Lots of people don't know that, but that's why it's super important to read your Bible. You'll see how they're all interconnected and things like that, or just studied out. So Mark, he bailed on them nobody knows but it wasn't a good enough reason to to decide to to not stay committed to to what you had said you were going to do all of a sudden they go to cyprus and um thought the thoughts are that cyprus wasn't uh they weren't converting. They had a low conversion rate in Cyprus. So, or Cyree, I think it was Cyprus though. So he decided that he was going to bail on Barnabas and Paul.

Paul did not, so when Mark wanted to come back and join the team, Paul was like, no, he's not true to his word. He's not committed to the project. If things go bad, he doesn't want to stick it out. You got to grind, man. In ministry, you grind. A lot of people don't want to grind. When the going gets tough, they get going.

They don't stick it out. Well, here's the thing. And this is where I think, and one of the reasons why I think Barnabas sided with John Mark. And it's because they were family. Blood is thicker than water. You should never, and that's why Jesus said, you should never love son or daughter more than me. Father or son more than me. We are in no way, shape, or form to allow our families to take precedence over him and Barnabas

did to a certain extent because he was he was on a mission he had something that God you know that he had a calling and he had a purpose and a plan and what he did is he decided that he was going to side with his family over, Paul was right, 100%. He bailed on them. He shouldn't, you know, then, you know, in time he was restored. But there's a time of having to hold an account of your actions, having to evaluate. How many times did my parents, oh my gosh,

the thing I hated the most when I was younger is my parents would say go in your room and think about what you've done dear lords of mercy they probably leave me in there for five or ten minutes and I thought it was an hour to two listen I am not the one I love to talk too much I love interaction too much you put me in a room by myself not so much anymore because I love my autonomy time but back in the. You put me in a room by myself, not so much anymore because I love my autonomy time, but back in the day, you put me in a room by myself. Just put a fork in it and call me done. It's not happening. That was worse than a spanking. Worse than a spanking. And so I think what Paul was basically saying is, John Mark, you need to go in your room,

sit on your bed, and think about what you've done. There's consequences for your actions, and then once you understand the cause and effect of things, so now that you understand all of those things, then we can redeem you, we can restore you, and you can come back out on the missions with us. But you're never doing that again. We're not enabling bad behavior.

So I do believe that's one of the main reasons why Barnabas allowed him to come back, and that was because they were family, which makes sense. So that's my opinion, totally my opinion. Next question. And this is a question I'm going to ask the people who are watching. And even the girls and no boy. I was about to say girls and boys in this room. But the boy has left.

I must have bored him to tears. But you can't click me off. He can walk out of the room, but you're not allowed to shut me off. Unless I have, again, you're in a padded room. Unless you're in a deep depression by what I've talked about. But seriously, let's look at this. My mother was talking to me. She's like, the grocery stores this last weekend, the grocery stores, there are just so many people in them.

And I was like, of course, because it's Easter. She's like, that makes no sense to me. I'm like, Mom, you don't have to be a Christian to celebrate Easter. Most people who do not believe are going shopping, and they will have an Easter dinner. They will go to church with their family, and they will celebrate Easter, even though their lives reflect nothing of it. It's a holiday that is celebrated,

but it's empty because there's nothing that goes with it. It's like Christmas. Christmas is a Christian holiday. There are lots of people who celebrate that day. That absolutely, they don't celebrate it because of Santa and the gifts. They actually celebrate it because they know Jesus was born on that day. So to some degree, they are celebrating the Christian holiday. But they have nothing to do with him. But they'll make sure that they have a Christmas dinner. They'll make sure that they go to church on christmas eve or christmas day it's the easter is no different you hope

you want people to come on those holidays so that maybe jesus is drawing him in and maybe they'll make a decision but the odds are they won't you know what jesus did for you he paid a huge price god sent his son knew he was going to die for the forgiveness of all our sins he paid a huge price are you going to be like the roman soldier who acknowledges it but go further and say i acknowledge who you are and I acknowledge that I need you in my life. Because outside of everything else that you do in life, it means nothing. You can make Easter be the starting point of the best moments and the greatest time of your life. And here's the thing, there has been no greater a time and i don't think

anyone in this room would deny what i'm saying to you there's never greater a time right now that everyone needs to be walking with the lord because things progressively are getting worse now how long that will be no one knows but because of that the normal that we used to experience is no longer there is an agenda and we can dig our heads in the sand and hope that it goes away and everything goes back to normal but i can promise you that agenda unless we restrain it unless we fight against it it will be propelled and it will come quick and it's up to us it's up to the ones of us that are saved and we need more people saved not only um so that we have more for to go along with the restraining but listen you don't want to spend eternity in hell. And when things get tough, you want to know that you have the Lord by your side.

Psalm 91 is not there just to be there with a bunch of words on a page. Psalm 91 is there so that you know that you know no matter where you're at and what you're walking through that nothing by any means will harm you that's what it says and long life will i give you so with that being said easter on sunday can be a whole new day it'll look totally different to you it won't just be a day that you go i call them c C&E Christians, Christmas and Easter Christians. You know, you're not really a Christian. You just go on that day to do your obligated duty to your mom or family members or friends. It's just a day that makes you feel good because you went to church on those days.

And those days are important days. So you have to recognize them and acknowledge them do more than that recognize who he is like that roman soldier did truly he was the son of god jesus is the son of god and every single person and every single one of us need him in our lives he will radically change you for the better and make your life far more than you ever dreamt possible. I am living proof of it. I sit here and pinch myself and I think to myself, if I never would have gotten my life right, what would my life look like? It wasn't that great. I thought it was pretty good, but it wasn't that great. And now it is superior, superior to anything that I ever thought. I literally feel like I should pinch myself. I get to live a life of like a dream. And it's all because of the decision that I made when I was 25 years old and I got my life right with God.

And it has never been the same. So I ask you, is that you? And if it is, just say this prayer with me. And from this moment on, your life will be brand new. It will be changed. You are a new creature in Christ is what it says when you get your life right with him. So let's pray this prayer together. Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you right now. I ask you to be my Lord and Savior.

I ask you to rule and reign in my life. I ask you to help me to do the opposite of the life that I was living. I repent of my sin. And I will live for you. For the remainder of my days. In Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen. If you said that prayer. Please let us know.

We want to know. We're going to stand with you. We're going to pray for you. And get into a really, really good church. One. That preaches the solid word of God, that is full gospel, believes in laying hands on the sick and they shall recover,

believing in the gifts, all the gifts, every single last one of them. If you don't know what those gifts are, write us. We can go into more detail with you. But don't go to some woke, weak church. Become a disciple so that you can make disciples.

And we will see you next week. Amen.