The Thief Who Saw a KING | Passion Week Sermon Series | John Giftah | Christian Sermon

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: in 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.

0:46 Speaker 2: Hello everyone, Welcome to this edition of the Fuel for

0:48 Speaker 2: the Soul with John gift podcast. If you've been checking

0:51 Speaker 2: out our recent episodes, this week we're doing a series

0:53 Speaker 2: based on the two thieves on the Cross while they

0:56 Speaker 2: were having an encounter with Jesus. I really recommend you

0:59 Speaker 2: to go back and check the last two episs because

1:01 Speaker 2: there's so much to unpack and so much new to learn,

1:03 Speaker 2: and I really believe that this will be a blessing

1:06 Speaker 2: to you guys as well. So today I'm going to

1:07 Speaker 2: talk about one aspect that many times we just look

1:10 Speaker 2: at it in a normal life, but you know, when

1:11 Speaker 2: I was studying about this, this was something that really

1:13 Speaker 2: caught my attention. So when we think about this passage,

1:17 Speaker 2: right it's mentioned in Luke twenty three thirty nine to

1:20 Speaker 2: forty three, this is where we predominantly take this incident

1:23 Speaker 2: because we look at the fact that one of the

1:25 Speaker 2: thieves is ridiculing and mocking Jesus, whereas the other thief

1:29 Speaker 2: is actually defending and testifying about Jesus, and he is

1:33 Speaker 2: telling the Lord Jesus, remember me when you come into

1:37 Speaker 2: your kingdom, especially in verse forty two. I was also

1:41 Speaker 2: talking to you in the last couple of episodes, just

1:43 Speaker 2: a reminder or in case you missed it, that both

1:47 Speaker 2: the thieves started off mocking Jesus. They started in the

1:50 Speaker 2: same point, but one of them repents on the cross.

1:54 Speaker 2: And one of the things I wanted to understand is

1:56 Speaker 2: that he says, Jesus, remember me when you come into kingdom. Now,

2:00 Speaker 2: there's so much compact, but one of the things that

2:03 Speaker 2: we're going to look at today is that this language

2:07 Speaker 2: that he used and he's saying, remember me when you

2:09 Speaker 2: come into kingdom, this language that he used actually implies

2:13 Speaker 2: a lot of things. The first thing that it implies

2:16 Speaker 2: is that this was a language that people used back

2:20 Speaker 2: in the day and during those times when they addressed

2:23 Speaker 2: a king. Remember me, Remember the things I did, Remember

2:27 Speaker 2: how I did this, So they remember my lord, remember

2:31 Speaker 2: my majesty. So this was the language that they used

2:36 Speaker 2: when they addressed the king. This is how it was

2:38 Speaker 2: during those days. So the fact that this man who

2:42 Speaker 2: just got saved, like I said, he started off mocking,

2:45 Speaker 2: I really want you to go back to the episode

2:48 Speaker 2: I released on Monday to understand that if you want

2:50 Speaker 2: to see the context of it. But he depends on

2:53 Speaker 2: the cross, and then he says, Jesus, remember me when

2:57 Speaker 2: you come into kingdom. So understand something here. He not

3:00 Speaker 2: only looks at Jesus as a good man, like for example,

3:03 Speaker 2: if you see the previous words he says defending Jesus,

3:06 Speaker 2: he's saying, we deserve to die for our crimes. But

3:09 Speaker 2: this man has done nothing wrong. It looks like he

3:12 Speaker 2: considered Jesus as a man. Or maybe he knows a man,

3:16 Speaker 2: a good man, a good teacher, or probably he heard

3:19 Speaker 2: about Jesus and he never paid attention in the past.

3:22 Speaker 2: Or he looks at Jesus' reactions and how he's responding,

3:26 Speaker 2: and how he's behaving, and how people are insulting and everything.

3:29 Speaker 2: He's just looking at observing everything. But here's the thing.

3:32 Speaker 2: He not only looks at Jesus as a good man,

3:35 Speaker 2: but by his language when he says, remember me when

3:39 Speaker 2: you come into your kingdom, what language he uses implies

3:42 Speaker 2: that he didn't look at Jesus for where he was.

3:45 Speaker 2: He didn't look at the naked man on the cross.

3:48 Speaker 2: He didn't look at the blood that was oozing out

3:51 Speaker 2: of his body. He didn't look at the wounds. He

3:53 Speaker 2: didn't look at the pain. He didn't look at the

3:56 Speaker 2: you know, the things that we're looking very how to

4:00 Speaker 2: say this. You know, Jesus was not in a good

4:02 Speaker 2: shape that you look at and be like, oh my goodness,

4:05 Speaker 2: he looks so good. No, he was possibly at one

4:08 Speaker 2: of the quote unquote the worst images or worst scenarios,

4:13 Speaker 2: And he doesn't look at Jesus for how he looks.

4:17 Speaker 2: He looks at Jesus as a king. Think about this,

4:21 Speaker 2: like he even when nobody else looked at Jesus as

4:25 Speaker 2: a king, This criminal who just got saved, didn't look

4:28 Speaker 2: at Jesus for how he looked on the outside. He

4:32 Speaker 2: looked at him for who he was. Think about this, right,

4:35 Speaker 2: isn't that awesome? Because this is a lesson for us.

4:38 Speaker 2: Many times we look at things from the outside and

4:40 Speaker 2: we judge, we pay, I mean, like we write people off.

4:43 Speaker 2: We just look at things from a superficial level. But

4:46 Speaker 2: the Lord says, reminding us, look at this man who

4:49 Speaker 2: just got saved, and he's not looking at Jesus for

4:52 Speaker 2: who he is looking from the outside, but for who

4:57 Speaker 2: he is, that he's a king. Think about it, right,

5:00 Speaker 2: the revelation that he had of who Jesus was, and

5:03 Speaker 2: that moment on the cross, isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing?

5:09 Speaker 2: In fact, when the soldiers were mocking Jesus and they

5:12 Speaker 2: put king of the Jews, they were actually mocking Jesus.

5:16 Speaker 2: The soldiers were mocking the you know, all the authorities,

5:19 Speaker 2: the Satties and Pharisees who came in and they were mocking.

5:23 Speaker 2: They were all mocking, ridiculing Jesus. But there was a

5:25 Speaker 2: criminal who just got saved who instead of looking at

5:30 Speaker 2: Jesus like the way the rest of them were looking,

5:33 Speaker 2: he looked at him as a king. You know, I've

5:37 Speaker 2: seen this many times where people, you know, they will

5:39 Speaker 2: come and say nice thing like oh, you know what

5:42 Speaker 2: good job you know, and stuff like that, But the

5:44 Speaker 2: way they say it, by their tone, by their behavior

5:47 Speaker 2: towards you, they know that you know that they're just

5:50 Speaker 2: being sarcastic, they're just ridiculing it. They're actually, you know,

5:54 Speaker 2: a criticized. They don't mean what they mean, you know

5:57 Speaker 2: what they say. But this is the classic moment where

6:01 Speaker 2: we actually realized that this man who just got saved

6:05 Speaker 2: had a deeper revelation of who Jesus was compared to

6:09 Speaker 2: the rest of the people. And that's where you see

6:14 Speaker 2: that Jesus gives him the promise and says, listen, today,

6:18 Speaker 2: you will be with me in paradise. See. Another thing

6:23 Speaker 2: that caught my attention was he didn't just say remember

6:27 Speaker 2: me when you come into your kingdom. He said, Jesus,

6:31 Speaker 2: remember me when you come into your kingdom. If you see,

6:34 Speaker 2: it was something about he he looked at him as

6:38 Speaker 2: a king, but he had the audacity to call him personally.

6:43 Speaker 2: You know there's something about people calling you within nay

6:47 Speaker 2: with you by your name, do you know what I mean? Like,

6:49 Speaker 2: he didn't just say remember me. He had that personal

6:55 Speaker 2: touch and that's why he received a personal response from Jesus. Guys,

7:01 Speaker 2: I really challenge you to think about this. You know,

7:04 Speaker 2: like there's so much to unpack and maybe this may

7:08 Speaker 2: not necessarily be something that you can take forward as

7:12 Speaker 2: something that you can apply. Maybe there is an aspect

7:14 Speaker 2: that don't look at things to the superficial level, but

7:17 Speaker 2: look at things from a spiritual level, look at things

7:19 Speaker 2: from the inside, ask God for that other, you know,

7:23 Speaker 2: like to see things beyond what you see on the

7:25 Speaker 2: outside that's there. But there's also this, I mean, like

7:30 Speaker 2: an amazing thing to learn from this man who just

7:33 Speaker 2: got saved, that he was able to see something and

7:37 Speaker 2: get a deeper revelation compared to everybody else, compared to

7:40 Speaker 2: even people who walked with Jesus or who experienced the

7:45 Speaker 2: miracles of Jesus first and in their life.

7:48 Speaker 1: Amen.

7:49 Speaker 2: God bless you guys.

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