Both Thieves Started the Same Way | Passion Week Sermon Series | John Giftah

0:01 Speaker 1: Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world

0:05 Speaker 1: is a crazy place and it just seems to get

0:08 Speaker 1: crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and take a break.

0:13 Speaker 1: This is Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We're

0:17 Speaker 1: a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living,

0:23 Speaker 1: and Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live

0:27 Speaker 1: the life that you were created for. Your host is

0:30 Speaker 1: a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world record holder,

0:35 Speaker 1: aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist and founder of John Gifta International.

0:41 Speaker 1: Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta.

0:45 Speaker 2: Hello everyone, Welcome to this edition of the Fuel for

0:47 Speaker 2: the Soul with John Gifta podcast. Even as we are

0:50 Speaker 2: stepping into the Holy Week and were you know, coming

0:54 Speaker 2: to that moment when we will remember what Jesus did

0:57 Speaker 2: on Lacross on Good Friday for a better resroductions. And

1:01 Speaker 2: here's the thing I want to talk to you guys

1:02 Speaker 2: today or for the couple of days that we have

1:06 Speaker 2: this Good Friday. I'm going to be speaking in two

1:08 Speaker 2: different churches. I just want you guys to keep me

1:11 Speaker 2: in your prayers and I'm going to share the same

1:13 Speaker 2: word in both the churches that they've given me, the

1:15 Speaker 2: word regarding the encounter of the two thieves with Jesus

1:23 Speaker 2: on the cross. Right, So I'm going to talk. I've

1:26 Speaker 2: been studying quite a bit about this for the last

1:29 Speaker 2: couple of days, meditating on the word studying because I

1:33 Speaker 2: always go back to this, I say, you know what,

1:35 Speaker 2: a lot of times, in a lot of churches, they

1:38 Speaker 2: follow this whole concept of the seven words of Jesus

1:40 Speaker 2: on the Cross, and sometimes it gets a little boring

1:43 Speaker 2: because the same thing is being repeated over and over again.

1:46 Speaker 2: And I was like, of course, I'm given this opportunity

1:49 Speaker 2: to minister, and I'm grateful to God for this. But

1:51 Speaker 2: I was like, God, I don't want the same Like

1:53 Speaker 2: I don't want to just go back and repeat the

1:55 Speaker 2: same thing.

1:55 Speaker 3: Over and over again.

1:56 Speaker 2: And I want to share things that will make a difference,

1:59 Speaker 2: you know what I mean. And I've been studying quite

2:01 Speaker 2: a bit, and so I want to share these things

2:03 Speaker 2: for the next couple of days. So today I've got

2:06 Speaker 2: to start with something that really caught my attention. This

2:08 Speaker 2: is something you may or may not know this, but

2:10 Speaker 2: I really want you guys to get this. So a

2:13 Speaker 2: lot of times, especially from the time when you are young, right,

2:16 Speaker 2: at least for me, we've often heard this story like

2:19 Speaker 2: there was a good thief and a bad thief.

2:22 Speaker 3: You know, we say that, you know one was.

2:24 Speaker 2: A good thief because he repented right basically, and the

2:27 Speaker 2: other one is a bad thief. But the truth of

2:29 Speaker 2: the matter is both a thieves.

2:31 Speaker 3: A thief is a thief. A thief is bad.

2:33 Speaker 2: You know what, Stealing is bad because by the ten

2:36 Speaker 2: commandments that you see, the scripture is very clear do

2:39 Speaker 2: not steal. So if you steal, you have broken the law.

2:42 Speaker 2: And according to God's standard, if you break one law,

2:44 Speaker 2: you've broken all of them. Right, even if you have

2:46 Speaker 2: not stolen something, the Bible says, by God's standard, if

2:49 Speaker 2: you eye someone lustfully, that means you have committed adultery.

2:53 Speaker 2: So if you're an adulter, you're also a murderer. Why

2:57 Speaker 2: because the Bible also says if you hate someone, we've

3:00 Speaker 2: already murdered them. By that logic, I'm sure we've all

3:04 Speaker 2: murdered a lot of people. Recommended I'd alter you with

3:06 Speaker 2: a lot of people. Why because if you've broken one law,

3:09 Speaker 2: you've broken all of that. By God's standard. None of

3:12 Speaker 2: us are, you know, in a sense where we can

3:15 Speaker 2: say that, you know what, I am blameless, I'm not

3:17 Speaker 2: committed any sin. No, we all had the same starting point.

3:21 Speaker 2: And what is interesting, even with regard to the two thieves,

3:24 Speaker 2: is that we think that, oh, one thief was so

3:27 Speaker 2: good and the other thief was bad. You know, that's

3:30 Speaker 2: how we generally think. But what caught my attention was

3:33 Speaker 2: the scripture says this. If you see to be clear, right,

3:36 Speaker 2: if you look at the first thing from Matthew chapter

3:39 Speaker 2: twenty seven, see, we generally talk about this incident from

3:42 Speaker 2: the gospel, according to Luke Okay, most churches focus on

3:45 Speaker 2: that because it is in the gospel, according to Luke,

3:48 Speaker 2: where the two thieves are saying something and then Jesus

3:53 Speaker 2: responds to the second team by saying, today you will

3:55 Speaker 2: be with me in paradise. So a focus is generally

3:58 Speaker 2: from this passage in Luke, you know, from chapter twenty three,

4:03 Speaker 2: verse thirty thirty nine onwards. But you have to understand

4:06 Speaker 2: that this incidence is also mentioned in the gospel according

4:10 Speaker 2: to Matthew as well as Mark Okay, and both of

4:13 Speaker 2: these gospels mentioned something that you need to focus on.

4:17 Speaker 2: Both of them point out because a lot of times

4:19 Speaker 2: there are people who think that, oh, there could have

4:21 Speaker 2: been been a lot of people who are crucified along

4:24 Speaker 2: with Jesus, you know, But both of these gospels say clearly.

4:27 Speaker 2: If you see Matthew twenty seven, thirty eight, it says

4:31 Speaker 2: there were two robbers. In some translation, two revolutionaries. Some

4:35 Speaker 2: would says two robbers, in some it says two thieves.

4:38 Speaker 2: In some it says two recalled rebels. Okay, why I'm

4:43 Speaker 2: saying that is to let you know that these guys,

4:46 Speaker 2: you know, broke the law in different accords, right, Like

4:49 Speaker 2: it was not like one reason they're going to be crucified,

4:51 Speaker 2: you know, like what I mean. So the focus is

4:55 Speaker 2: that there were two right who are crucified along with Jesus.

4:58 Speaker 2: One two is right, one to his left. Even if

5:01 Speaker 2: you look at Mark chapter fifteen, verse twenty seven, it

5:03 Speaker 2: says that there were two of them who were crucified

5:07 Speaker 2: along with Jesus, one to the left and one to

5:09 Speaker 2: the right, emphasizing that there were two thieves, right. And

5:14 Speaker 2: the Bible also says, okay, if you look at Matthew

5:18 Speaker 2: twenty seven, verse forty four, that both of them or

5:23 Speaker 2: the criminals who were crucified along with Jesus mocked Jesus. Okay,

5:28 Speaker 2: if you look at the same incident mentioned in the

5:32 Speaker 2: Book of Mark also says this in verse thirty two,

5:36 Speaker 2: that even those crucified alongside mocked Jesus. Why I wanted

5:41 Speaker 2: to emphasize these two verses was that there were two

5:43 Speaker 2: of them. It says, who were crucified also marked. Like

5:47 Speaker 2: if you say that there were, you know, ten people

5:49 Speaker 2: who were crucified. If somebody says that there were ten

5:51 Speaker 2: people crucified and you say that even those who crucified

5:56 Speaker 2: along with Jesus were mocking him, people can say that

5:59 Speaker 2: maybe there was one who did not mock him, Okay,

6:02 Speaker 2: and that's why that one repents. That's how we tend

6:05 Speaker 2: to think, like, oh, even out of ten, if nine

6:08 Speaker 2: of them crucifi marked, we would say that even those

6:11 Speaker 2: who were crucified along with Jesus mocked, right, we wouldn't

6:15 Speaker 2: look at the one who did not mock.

6:17 Speaker 3: We generally generalized the statement.

6:19 Speaker 2: So that's the reason I emphasized and said that the

6:23 Speaker 2: Bible clearly says both of them, there were two of

6:26 Speaker 2: them who were crucified along with Jesus, and both of them, okay,

6:30 Speaker 2: we are the criminals mocked, which I want to use

6:34 Speaker 2: to emphasize the fact that both of them had a

6:38 Speaker 2: similar starting point. Both of them started in the sense

6:42 Speaker 2: of mocking Jesus. Okay, it was not that one tie

6:46 Speaker 2: was very good and the other was bad. Both of

6:49 Speaker 2: them had the same starting point. I want you to

6:51 Speaker 2: get this in new spirit. Both at the same starting point,

6:54 Speaker 2: which I want to use to emphasize that we are

6:57 Speaker 2: all having the same starting point because of the fallen

7:00 Speaker 2: nature of mine.

7:01 Speaker 3: All of us are.

7:03 Speaker 2: Having the starting point as sinners, and that's why we

7:06 Speaker 2: need Jesus.

7:08 Speaker 3: That's why we need Jesus to save us. Right. I

7:11 Speaker 3: want you guys to understand this.

7:13 Speaker 2: Maybe something you already know, but it's a lesson to

7:16 Speaker 2: look at because sometimes we think, oh, I'm better off

7:18 Speaker 2: than them, because you know what, I'm a good person.

7:21 Speaker 2: You know, like the way we generalize and say one

7:24 Speaker 2: was a good thief, but both the good thief or

7:27 Speaker 2: quote unquote the good thief as well as the bad thief.

7:30 Speaker 2: Both of them started in sin. Both of them started

7:35 Speaker 2: in the same place where they were mocking Jesus. But

7:39 Speaker 2: one of them repented on the cross itself, and that

7:43 Speaker 2: is the one that we emphasize or talk about as

7:46 Speaker 2: the good thief. What I wanted to understand it is

7:49 Speaker 2: today you may have the same starting point where you're saying,

7:53 Speaker 2: I'm in a bad place. Maybe you made poor choices,

7:56 Speaker 2: you intentionally committed sin, you had a sinful lifestyle, you

8:00 Speaker 2: did things right.

8:01 Speaker 3: You know what you're talking about. You know exactly what

8:03 Speaker 3: I'm talking about. But here's the good news.

8:07 Speaker 2: Even if you are in a cross situation where you

8:11 Speaker 2: are messed up and you are in the consequence of

8:12 Speaker 2: your sin, even now, you have an option today as

8:17 Speaker 2: you're listening to this, to repent. Because both these thieves

8:22 Speaker 2: have an opportunity to have close proximity with Jesus, and

8:26 Speaker 2: one of them chose to repent in that situation, whereas

8:30 Speaker 2: the other heard in his heart. Today, my question to

8:33 Speaker 2: you is you may have the same starting point as

8:37 Speaker 2: the rest of the world in terms of starting out

8:39 Speaker 2: in sin. But today you can make that choice and say,

8:44 Speaker 2: I'm not going to let this define the rest of

8:46 Speaker 2: my life. Today, I'm going to make a choice to

8:50 Speaker 2: make a close correction, turn around and do what God

8:54 Speaker 2: has called me to do.

8:56 Speaker 3: Let this be that day you do that.

8:58 Speaker 2: Amen, Let's talk more about this incident and study a

9:02 Speaker 2: couple of more things in the taste to come. All right,

9:04 Speaker 2: God bleish you guys.

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