WEBVTT

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This is your daily reminder. God has not run

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out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome

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to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back. Today

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is Friday, March the 20th. So thankful you have

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found the New Mercies podcast. If you're new

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here, I encourage you to subscribe and follow

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and like and all the things so that you be sure

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and get the episodes every single day that they

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come out, Monday through Saturday. Also, if you

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would like to support, you can give or donate

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any amount at the link in the episode description.

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Now, on to our reading plan for today. We are

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back in Luke chapter 23 again, the first. 25

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verses. That's the text that we're going to read.

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It is what I will be preaching on Sunday. Lord

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willing, everything goes well. We will be preaching

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out of this text on Sunday. So it's good to put

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it in your mind a few times before we jump in.

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I want to share with you just a couple of verses

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and a thought or two about this text today. I

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don't know about you, but every time I go through

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a new text that I know I'm going to preach or

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I'm going to try to do a deep study on, what

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will happen is the first time I read it, it's

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hard to get through. through. Even the first

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time we talked about Luke 23, the first 25 verses

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on the episode on Tuesday this week, it was the

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first time we kind of walked through it together.

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And it was kind of difficult. It was a little

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bit hard for me to work through something that

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happens every single time. Don't think that just

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because I'm a pastor or because I do this for

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a living, that as soon as I open the word, it's

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this refreshing spirit of God that just flows

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over me. It's not really the way it works. Sometimes

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I've got to get in there and I've got to dig

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and I've got to figure it out and I've got to

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read and I think, well, what concept is in here,

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Lord? Like, show me the thread. Show me and help

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me understand it, which is why this is an everyday

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podcast because what happens is we built on that

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theme that we read the first time and then we

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looked at a couple of other places in the Scripture

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and then now we read it again today with some

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fresh eyes and fresh ears and it becomes a little

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bit easier to grab some new concepts or some

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new truths or new realities to be revealed to

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us. I love... The further we get in a text, the

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more times we read it over and over again, the

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more it jumps out to me, and the more it makes

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me glad to be prepared and ready to teach it

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or to proclaim it. And so I want to read just

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a couple of things out of this text. Obviously,

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here's the scene. We've already been through

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it once before. Jesus is brought before Pilate.

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This is Pontius Pilate. We know he was the governor

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in this area from about 26 or 27 A .D. to 38

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or 37. so 9 AD. So he's there for about a decade

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or so there in Rome, and he is in charge of the

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place in Jerusalem. Now, here's what's going

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on. Jesus gets arrested, falsely accused, brought

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in front of Pilate to be sentenced to death.

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That's what the chief priests and the scribes

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and all are trying to get to happen. Well, we

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know that according to this text, Pontius Pilate

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does not find anything against Jesus and finds

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out he is from Galilee. So he says, oh, I'm going

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to send him up to Herod Antipas, the other guy

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that's in charge up there. He's the one that

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covers those things. Now, Herod is also in Jerusalem.

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This is Passover. This is a big season. Everybody's

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come to the capital, right? So they send him

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over to Herod. Herod's excited. Herod's the one.

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to meet Jesus. Here's the interesting thing about

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Herod, though. This is the same guy that beheaded

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John the Baptist. This is the same guy that took

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the life of Jesus' close relative, his best friend

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on earth, who Jesus says no greater man has been

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born of a woman outside of John the Baptist.

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So this is the man that was responsible for John

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the Baptist's death. Now here's what I find intriguing

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about this. So Jesus gets brought before Pilate.

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Pilate says, I can't find anything wrong with

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the guy. And then the religious leaders are like,

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he deserves death. So then he says, I'm going

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to send him over to Herod because he's from Galilee.

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Jesus gets over to Herod. Herod says, hey, I've

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been waiting to meet him. Do some signs for me.

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Jesus doesn't say a word, doesn't do anything.

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He questions Jesus, doesn't say a word. I want

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to read the text, in fact, to show you where

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I'm getting this from. In Luke 23, listen to

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what it says in verse number 9. So he questioned

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him at some length, but he made no answer. That

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is, Herod is questioning Jesus, and Jesus is

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standing there silent. There is something big

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that I saw come revealed out to me in this time

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that I was in the Word right now. I was reading

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it, and I thought, Lord, what is it about this

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text today that I can get a new mercy from? And

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that verse jumped out. And when that verse jumped

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out, it made me think, Herod stopped the voice

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of God. Herod stopped the voice of God. I have

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not thought about it that way. Jesus is God,

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right? And Jesus gave no answer, made no remarks.

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Herod begins, even in the narrative of how Herod

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is interacting with Jesus, both Pontius Pilate

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and Herod, neither one, they were intimidated

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by Jesus. He had a big group of followers. He

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obviously had miraculous signs around him and

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about him. People knew about him. Herod sees

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him and is a little bit nervous at first, kind

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of asks him for a couple of things, doesn't happen.

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And so Herod gets more and more bold, and the

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voice of God is stopped. Herod cannot hear the

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voice of God in his life. If you want to know

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how to not hear the voice of God, do what Herod

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did. Begin questioning Jesus. Begin questioning

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things. Try to ask him to do things for you.

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Ask him to say, hey, I want you to submit to

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me and do the things I've asked you to do. You're

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not going to hear the voice of the Lord that

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way. It's not going to happen. Then, as I kept

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reading, Herod begins to mock Jesus, puts a fancy

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robe on him, sends him back over to Pilate. Now,

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when he sends him back to Pilate, he doesn't

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give any verdict or any kind of charge against

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Jesus either. He's like, I can't really find

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anything about him either that is wrong. I'm

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a little nervous about the guy. Sends him back

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to Pilate. He gets back to Pilate. By this point,

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the religious leaders are ready to say, crucify,

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crucify, crucify. Now before, I know I've heard

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it preached sometimes that when Jesus makes his

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triumphal entry into Jerusalem, you can go and

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see when that happens a few chapters earlier.

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He comes into Jerusalem for the last week of

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his life, for the Passover week, but he comes

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in. It's the triumph, the Palm Sunday, as we

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say. We hear this crowd, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna.

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heard it said before that that same crowd, just

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a few days later, is now yelling crucify. But

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the truth is, this is not the full crowd. This

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is the religious leaders that are yelling crucify.

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These are the ones that are against Jesus in

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every form, every... shape, every mindset is

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all against Jesus. This is just that group that's

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doing that. Now, there may be a few onlookers

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that are kind of figuring out the trial that's

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going on, but ultimately, it's not the whole

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nation, right? It's not the whole gathering that

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was at the parade a few days earlier. These are

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the ones that are against Jesus. They say, crucify

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him, crucify him. So, Pilate Pilate still doesn't

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make a full decision. He says, I'm going to wash

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my hands of this. You can go read that in Matthew.

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He says, I'm going to wash my hands of this so

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that I'm clear of this. I don't find the guy

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guilty. So here's what Pilate does. This is frustrating

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too. If Herod silenced the voice of God, Pilate

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smothered it. I mean, just smothered the voice

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of God. Because what happens next? Pilate says,

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he's not guilty. I want to set him free and ends

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up crucifying him. That's what happens in the

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Pilate situation. Why? Because of the next place

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in the scripture I want to read in verse number

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24. Listen to what it says. So Pilate decided

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that their demand should be granted. What was

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their demand? Their demand was that they release

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Barabbas, the murderer, the one who is in there

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for robbery, for murder, and for causing an insurrection.

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Here's what Pilate's saying. There's no way.

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What I'll do, I'll appease the people and I'll

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let Jesus go because it's Passover. It's a tradition.

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We've let people go before on Passover. It's

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kind of a thing we can do. We can kind of get

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around this idea of crucifying this guy, Jesus.

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And instead they say, if you're going to release

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somebody, release to us Barabbas. Now Pilate's

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thinking, I'm not going to release Barabbas.

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He's a top -notch criminal. We've captured him.

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We're going to take him out. We're going to crucify

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him. And the people say, no, we want you to crucify

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Jesus instead. So Jesus takes the place of Barabbas.

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But the thing that jumped out to me today is

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Herod silenced the voice of God because of the

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way he treated Jesus, his pattern, his characteristics.

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Pilate was smothering the voice of God. And what

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I mean by that is he was more concerned with

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his reputation, his influence, than he was his

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character and the way that the Lord would look

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at him. I think about when Jesus is standing

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there before Pilate. Pilate is trying to judge

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Jesus. Can I tell you what's really going on?

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Jesus is sitting there judging Herod and Pilate,

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both of these guys. These guys were the judge

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in order to sentence Jesus to death. Jesus is

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standing there the whole time. He's not the one

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on trial. They are. Their character is. Their

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heart is, just like we are. I think we're getting

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in a very dangerous spot whenever we think, well,

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I wish Jesus would just show me this. I wish

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God would just give me this sign. That's us saying,

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God, we want you to perform for us. That's what

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Herod did. And what happened? Herod heard no

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word from the Lord, none. We've got to be careful

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in how we interact with this God. He's great.

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He's mighty. He's holy. Today, my encouragement

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to you, read the text. Let's see what stands

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out. But I encourage you, don't. Don't silence

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or smother the voice of the Lord. Be more in

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tune with what He wants than what you want.