The Kingdom Mission of the Son

So it was really cool for Becca and I, you know, back when we first got introduced to you guys, there were all sorts of connections that we discovered we already had with the church and with the area. And Juan is one of those. So for the past couple of years, I’ve been working with his twin brother in Columbia. His twin brother operates or runs an after school ministry that was hosted at the church that I was helping pastor. And whenever we were considering this move, he said, hey, you need to meet my brother down there. So I’ve gotten to know Juan now for a couple months and really enjoy his heart for Christ, enjoy His heart for the church. He’s on a very similar path of ministry that God placed Becca and I on. And I’m extremely excited to have him preaching this morning.

So this past week for Becca and I was filled with a great time. We’re at a marriage conference that the CBA sent us on and I had some school stuff on the front end. So I figured a fresh Juan is way better than a tired Jeremy and y’all deserve the best of the best. So this is it right here. Okay. So here’s the deal. I want you guys to give the same receptivity and welcoming atmosphere and all the love to him that you normally give to me. And he’s got a word for us. All right. So brother, if I can’t, I’ll just pray for you real quick.

Yeah, absolutely. Run into it. All right. Yeah. Lord, thank You. God, I’m just extremely grateful to be able to share the pulpit this morning with the friends and with the co-laborer and You. God, I thank You for the time that You’ve met with Juan over the past few weeks preparing for us. And God, I pray that You would help our church to receive the word like good Bereans, that we would test it and that it would bear fruit in us. Lord, we love You. And it’s in Your name we pray. Amen.

Well, church, it’s a huge blessing for me to be here this morning. I love to preach God’s word. And so I love to share God’s word with you this morning. Again, I’m thankful to have gotten to know Pastor Jeremy over the past few months. And every single time we have a conversation, he would share with me just God’s work in this place and His love for you guys. So, Jeremy, again, thank you, brother, for this opportunity. So if you guys have God’s word with you, please open it to Mark 9, verse 1 through 13. Mark 9, verse 1 through 13.

Now, I think there is a necessary detail of telling you guys a little bit about myself, right? So I am the better looking twin. So that’s just to clarify things. But right now, if you guys see that, my face looks like I got punched in the face or something. I’m just dealing with some health issues, but it’s okay. Now, again, since none of that most of you guys don’t really know me, I’ll share a little bit about myself. I’m currently at my church overseeing the young adult ministry. We thankfully have gone from a small group of four to a growing group of 20. And what I love to do with this dear group of friends and colleagues is to cook food for them. So whenever we have Bible studies or one-on-one meetings, I’ll get them to my house and I’ll make them a delicious, delicious dinner.

Now, it’s a joy for me. And I don’t brag about a lot. I don’t brag about much. Because, I mean, I’m a short guy. I mean, I don’t have much to brag about, right? But there is one thing I’ll brag about. And it’s my cooking, okay? My cooking, I mean, I love to cook. I didn’t go to school for it, but I did go get training in my cooking. And it’s, oh, man, it’s chef’s kiss. It’s so delicious. But if you have cooked any number of times for any number of people, you know for a fact it is a process. Am I right? It is a process. Now, you can gather all the ingredients, prepare your mise en place. You can cut a finger or two, burn a hand here or there, right? And the oil splatter just comes at your face. And you’re like, oh, it’s just, it’s a process. But the one thing, I’ll cook to my wit’s end. I’ll cook every single day if I could. But the one thing I just can’t stand is just doing the dishes.

I cannot stand doing the dishes. If I could cook without the dishes, that would be great. Here’s the thing. I love to cook, right? I love to cook. And this time-consuming, this suffering that I spend my time doing to deliver this meal to people I care about is what matters to me. It’s a long and painful mission to deliver this food to watch people’s enjoyment. And this brings us to our text this morning. Because in the same way, we’ll see that the Son reveals and delivers the kingdom through His suffering.

Now, if you have your Bibles again, if you look along with me now as I read Mark 9:1 through 8. And He said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after His come with power.” And after six days, Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them. And His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses. And they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them. And a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

As we look to see the Son deliver the kingdom, we have to notice here how the Son of God reveals the kingdom and its King. The Son of God reveals the kingdom and its King. Here we see in verses 1 through 3, the Son reveals the kingdom. Verse 1 here has often been debated. Because the words, “who will not taste death,” is a, say, off-putting phrase. But Jesus is saying to this idea, to a crowd of people, and He tells them that there are some of them, this crowd, who are standing there, will witness the kingdom of God and its power. Now, some think this refers to the second coming of Christ. Clearly, we can read the text and see why they come to this conclusion. But, but, to me, it seems Jesus is really talking to these people, not dying. Literally not dying before seeing the kingdom come with power. These words, “taste death,” isn’t a metaphor. It really means death. You will not see death until God’s kingdom comes with power.

So how do we make sense of this idea? How do we make sense of this text? Well, I believe our, our verses, 2 and 3, give us our answers. It says, after six days, Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, those that were in the crowd, and led them up to a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, and His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. Jesus reveals the kingdom to Peter, James, and John. And He reveals His power by the transfiguration. So Jesus is the focus of the kingdom. And if you look earlier in the book of Mark, in chapter 1, verse 15, Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God has come. Repent and believe in the gospel.” He’s indicating this based on His ministry. Jesus is the one that brings the kingdom, but we’re not really there yet, right? Jesus is only now revealing it to His closest three disciples. And we see here that He was transfigured before them. His clothes became radiant, white. So transfigured here also means transformed. You can see that in the text.

If you’re familiar with the Old Testament, this narrative is pulling us back into Exodus 34. Exodus 34:29 describes to us Moses going up to the mountain and speaking with God. I don’t know if you guys are familiar with that story. As he went up the mountain, as we’ve seen so far in our text, God descended to meet with him and speak to him, giving the law through Moses. And when he came back to God’s people, they were terrified, right? Terrified because his face shone. His face shone. Because it radiated the glory and holiness of God. Moses reflected back the glory that he saw. In our passage, see something even greater. Jesus, the Son of God, does not reflect a glory given to Him. No, He reveals a glory that He already had. The same glory He had with The Father is what He’s displaying here. This monumental unveiling of the kingdom coming with power. He reveals this to these disciples to know how He’ll ultimately deliver the kingdom later. Now, this idea of seeing Jesus showing His glory, we call it the Shekinah glory of God.

It reminds me of a time when I was a little bit young. I’m sure you guys know what a matinee is. It’s just going to a movie before a certain period of time in the mornings, right? So when I was younger, I went to a matinee with my family. And we went into this dark theater. And the movie itself was exceptionally dark for whatever reason. I don’t know. I don’t remember the movie, so don’t ask me about it. But it was just not a bright movie. And the inside obviously is dark itself. And now my eyes adjusted to this darkness. I can’t see very much. I’m just kind of just watching this movie and enjoying it.

Once it finishes, for whatever reason, this day was just very weird on my eye. But we walked outside, and it’s now high noon, right? You see high noon is the sun is as bright as it is over your face. And all of a sudden, I’m like, I’m blind. I can’t see. I’m wearing glasses as it is, but I’m even more blind now. I can’t see.

Again, in the same way, Jesus has dialed up the light of His glory in a piercing way to show His radiance, His power, His nature, His divinity. Because the Son not only reveals the kingdom, but also the King. The Son reveals the King.

Now, looking back at verses 2 through 4, we see how Jesus reveals Himself as the King. Now, it might be obvious that any kingdom has a king, right? Any kingdom will have a king. But what we need to see here is how Jesus shows that He is the fulfillment of the scriptures as that King. We’ve seen how in verses 2 through 3, the Lord’s unveiling of His glory as the only Son of God. But the description goes even further.

In Daniel 7, we see this description of the Ancient of Days. It says, “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, its wheels burning fire.” The Ancient of Days, in clothing white as snow, that’s poetic language for this sense and idea of holiness. But it is describing the same thing as we see here with Jesus. And the language about flames and fire represents His radiance, His intensity. And like we mentioned before, Jesus shows that the holiness and glory comes from Himself. He is one with the Father. And therefore, the name Yahweh, Ancient of Days, applies equally to Him. Jesus is the eternal God from the Old Testament and the Ancient of Days.

And so when we hear the words from Psalm 47, “For the Lord, Yahweh, the Most High, is to be feared. A great King over all the earth,” speaks equally to Jesus.

But more importantly, in verse 4, Jesus is revealing something about Himself. Speaking with Moses and Elijah. This shows two really important things. First, Moses and Elijah represent the law and the prophets. So if you guys are familiar with the Torah, the first five books, the Pentateuch, right? You see it’s literally written by Moses and therefore it’s the law. And Elijah, he’s the greatest of the prophets in the line of prophets. Because he’s the only one that’s been wrapped up with chariots of fire, right? You guys remember the song here, the days of Elijah, right? So he represents the prophets. And for Jews, this describes all the scriptures. Jesus speaking with them is showing that He is the fulfillment of those scriptures. This is a remarkable movement of the text.

And secondly, Jesus’ conversation with them is shared by Luke. Luke has given us a little bit more detail. It says they were discussing His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Here’s the important part. Jesus, the Son of God, reveals the kingdom and Himself as the King. In all of His splendor and majesty, He is showing His awesomeness in front of the disciples. This is for the future of their ministries. When they look back to this moment and be reminded of the great King who revealed Himself to them.

Friends, this is what the Christian life is about. This is what the Christian life is dependent on. As to behold the greatness of our God regularly. Not just on Sundays. As one wise pastor said, we become what we behold. So when we uphold Jesus, when the words, “Jesus is Lord,” is more than just a one-time profession, but as a daily confession, we see our lives, we become something different. We realize that we need to uproot the sins from our lives. This could be the idol of control. This could be the lust for power. This could be the need to be right in every situation. This could be a multitude of things. Right? This could be anything about our lives. But sin just needs to be uprooted when we see Christ. And then in turn, we accept humility, trusting that God has a greater objective to our lives.

Now we just watched a video about the IMB. Right? The IMB is an important organization that sends missionaries. Those missionaries are sent not from some housing institution that says, “Here’s born of missionaries.” No. They’re from the church. Church members who say, “God, I don’t know what you want me to do. I don’t know what you have set out for me, but I’ll trust you. I’ll do what you want me to do.” And these missionaries come from churches like this, sent and called by God. God has a greater and deeper plan for our lives. And in short, it’s to sanctify us. It’s to make us more like Jesus.

You see those wristbands every once in a while by a young kid that says, “What would Jesus do?” But it’s not just about what would Jesus do. It’s what is Jesus like? Who is Jesus? How am I going to be like Him? We need to become more like Jesus in our daily lives because we behold the greatness of God.

Yet this is the shocking thing. This is the shocking thing. Peter, James, and John are all three physically standing right, holding the glory of God. What we see next, though, is the disciples’ unbelief. Look at Peter’s response starting in verse 5. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

Peter has his continuous reputation, longstanding in church history. It’s a very good thing. The Catholics really love him, but we love him too, right? But he has this longstanding tradition of being that one disciple that just speaks without thinking, right? He’s like a kid in class who would just throw out six answers in hopes one sticks well. Now, he’s doing it here again. Come on, Peter.

A cursory read will make it seem like he’s just being hospitable, welcoming in these three figures, these three important figures. What’s being communicated here is, comically, Peter and the other disciples’ unbelief. I mean, read the room, Peter. Do you see what is going on here? We have, one, an obviously dead prophet. Two, a prophet that has been known to be wrapped up by the chariots of fire and ascended into glory. The living God in flesh, right in front of you. “Let me go make a tent for you guys,” right? This is a shocking, shocking realization for us to see. This is next level unbelief. He doesn’t understand what’s going on here.

It was only a week ago where Peter had heard and seen and declared Jesus was the Christ in Mark 8:29. But then immediately following that scene, Peter rebuked Jesus. And our Lord said, “Look, stop Satan,” right? Called him Satan. Not only Peter, but all the disciples were in unbelief. Verse 6 tells us, he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. They hadn’t actually come to grips with what’s going on. God’s holiness is a terrifying thing. We’re faced with perfection as imperfect people. Which isn’t so surprising, right? In the face of God, you only have two true reactions. One, awe-filled worship. Hands up in praise. Two, staunch unbelief.

So church, I wonder, what is our reaction? What is your reaction? How do you react to God?

I’ve spent a good deal of time over the past several years. I’ve taken a lot of counseling classes. I’ve been in counseling. I’ve read counseling books. And I think personally, this is my own opinion, I think second to preaching God’s word, counseling ministry is one of the most important ministries for a pastor to do. Now, I’m posing on Jeremy. It doesn’t mean go ring up Jeremy’s office. What I’ve seen a lot of times when people are confronted by God’s holiness, they have a lot of interesting reactions. It’s in between the frames, right? Holiness, awe and worship. Secondly, just staunch unbelief. In between those things, there’s not really much of a gray area. They live in both realities.

Now, if you recall Pastor Jeremy’s sermon, he mentioned a moment whenever he visited a church member. And someone comes in, and he was using this hand illustration of just kind of rubbing their hands together and saying, “Clean myself up. Clean myself up to come to church.” Heartbreaking reality. Like he said, it’s a heartbreaking reality when someone says that. In the face of a person with a pastor in front of their name, I’ve heard this for my own sake too. So it’s not just him. A sinner is confronted with the realities of God.

Or maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe there’s a sense of self-righteousness. When people look at God’s holiness, there’s a deflection, a movement away from saying, “Oh, I’m holy.” They’re not. You cast someone else aside. There’s still shame, but it looks different. I’m afraid of my own wickedness, so I’ll make sure others know that someone else is worse than me.

Where’s the balance? It’s ultimately looking at Jesus. And this is the same answer that Pastor Jeremy said last time. It’s the same answer. When we’re at the crossroads of God’s holiness and human sinfulness, there’s actually a middle road. And that middle road is where Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you [rest].” And anyone in between. That’s good. That is sweet news. It comforts the soul.

Again, in my time doing counseling and spending time learning about counseling, that’s the one thing most people really need. They need to be confronted about their sin. And most times they just think, “I’m too dirty. I’m too dirty to come to God. I’m too dirty to come to church.” Jesus said, “Come to you.” You’re here today, either mustering up your own good deeds to show God that you’re good and holy, or you feel like you’re one phone call away from a mental breakdown. Look to Jesus. Your faith, your belief in the King who never fails.

The amazing gospel benefits we receive is actually shown from Peter after this event. The belief takes hold of him. He’s changed. He’s renewed. He’s transformed. Peter looks back on this moment and writes in 1 Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness, out of your sin, and into His marvelous light, into holiness. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s. Once you have not received mercy, but now you receive mercy.”

Peter compares this moment of the transfiguration and God’s covenant in the Old Testament with all-filled worship and realizes that God’s covenant to make a kingdom out of Israel is for God’s church. The kingdom is realized in the church. This is the inspiring kingdom mission. And we see this mission affirmed by the Father. This mission is affirmed by the Father.

Looking now at verses 7 and 8, we see that this image of, same image as the Mount Sinai in Exodus. God descends on the mountain in a cloud and speaks to His people and tells them to obey the prophet. Here we see the Father descend in the cloud to His disciples and tells them, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him.” This, I believe, is in reference to when Jesus foretells His death and resurrection in Mark 8:31. This is the first time in the book of Mark that Jesus references His own death and resurrection. And God comes in and says, “Listen to Him.” His command is all the more emphatic when the end of that sentence, they suddenly see just Jesus standing right there. The Father affirmed the mission that He had sent His Son out to do. Peter, still wrapped with unbelief, had just been told by the Father to listen.

Now we’ve been seeing here in these eight verses that the Son of God has been testifying and revealing to us the kingdom and His kingship. But let’s look back in our Bibles now and read and continue on in verses 9 through 13. It says, “And as they were coming down the mountain, He charged them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked Him, ‘Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?’ And He said to them, ’Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that He should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? And I tell you that Elijah has come. And they did to Him whatever they pleased, as it is written of Him.

We start to see now the narrative shifting. In the ascent of the mountain, the intention of Jesus was to reveal the kingdom. And now in the descent, this brief interaction tells us the way to deliverance. Here we see the Son of Man delivers the kingdom as its king. The Son of Man delivers the kingdom as its king.

It’s easy to think with this incredible experience that they’d tell everyone what just happened. Jesus comes in here to charge or command them not to speak of this event. I’m convinced what Jesus is doing here is likely, like in other places of Mark, He’s trying to prevent an early, earthly exaltation. But what we see here is the full kingdom withheld. The full kingdom withheld.

There’s really one major event that this portion is focused on, right? The death and resurrection of Jesus. I think that’s clear from what we read. In verses 9 and 10, Jesus uses the name He most commonly uses of Himself in reference to Himself: the Son of Man. This is going back to our reference in Daniel 7 again, where we saw this idea of the Ancient of Days, right? If you guys remember. This is going back to that reference, but emphasizing that second portion of that passage. Not only is Jesus the Ancient of Days, but He’s also the Son of Man who brings the kingdom.

Daniel 7:13 through 14 says, and listen as I read this: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven…” As we see back in our passage, the Son of Man is given the kingdom, but look what the passage is telling us. It says, until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. See that the Son of Man must, don’t rise back from the dead without being dead.

Then in verse 10, the disciples’ hearts are still in unbelief. Still in unbelief. Because they haven’t understood yet what this means. They are questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. Jesus has been saying for the entirety of Mark that He is the Son of Man. Therefore, everyone’s idea of what’s happening is that Jesus is bringing the full kingdom now. The expectations of everyone is, He’s here. He’s here. The kingdom is coming. The Romans are going to die. Everyone prepare for this. He’s here and we see. Is He going to do it? Is He going to bring back the kingdom? But what we see is that the full kingdom is being withheld for the time being.

It’s really funny. Because He shows them this incredible vision of His power. And then He says, I’m going to die soon. Their expectations are, needless to say, dropped. They’re astonished. I mean, think of what that feels like. It’s like a child. They’re being told they’re going to an amusement park, right? Tell a child, hey, let’s go to an amusement park. They look at you and like, really? We’re going? That’s awesome. They’re anticipating, they’re looking forward to this exciting moment, right? They’re like, oh, man, I can’t wait for that roller coaster. I can’t wait for the elephant ears. I can’t wait for all these amazing things that’s going to happen at this amusement park. I am so excited, right? Some of the kids now are probably hearing this and they’re like, man, are we going to go soon? Sorry, parents.

Then all of a sudden, you say, we’re going to go to Florida, kid. We’re assuming they’re a little bit ignorant about what’s going on in Florida, right? Florida? What’s in Florida? What are we going to do in Florida? They’re in disbelief. They have this expectation set in mind, right? Man, I was going to go ride these rides. I was going to cruise around and see all my friends. We’re going to have so much fun. Now we’re going to Florida. But the child begrudgingly, seriously, gets into the car. Expectations are shot. They’re still going on this trip with some new information. No idea that they’re heading to Disney World of all places.

And this is the same thing that we see with the disciples. Expectations, it is, my king, you’re supposed to bring back the kingdom. But you’re going to die? Jesus leaves them with a sense of anticipation. The kingdom that they expected is not coming yet. Instead, they’re left with questions about death.

But look in verse 11 through 13. We see for ourselves what Jesus meant. We see The Son of Man must deliver by suffering. In light of what they just saw, the disciples start asking why the scribes say that Elijah must come. The teachers of the law and most of the Jewish tradition understand that Elijah is to come. Elijah is to come based on Malachi 4:5 and 6. It says, “Behold.” This is post-exilic times. This is close to the end of the Jewish Bible for us. And the Israelites are left waiting for the kingdom with a sign from Elijah.

But notice what Jesus says in verse 12 and 13. He affirms what the scribes say. It’s like, yeah, that’s what the scribes say. True. Elijah has to come. John the Baptist, his ministry was the precursor to Jesus. He and Elijah’s ministry were the same exact ministry. Ministry of repentance. Right? Baptizing for repentance. And they were to call all of God’s people to turn from their sin and back to God. This is what they meant, that Elijah’s coming to restore all things.

Notice what he says about himself. Elijah is to come. But the Son of Man is greater than Elijah. So how is it written of the Son of Man that He should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? He’s displaying this argument from lesser to greater. What they would do to Elijah will be significantly worse to the Son of Man.

Now look at verse 13. Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they pleased. The people of Israel didn’t see the work of Elijah as John the Baptist. It was presented to them. They disregarded it. And we see here that Jesus is telling the disciples that the people of Israel will do worse to Him. As we heard earlier in the book of Daniel, the Son of Man is to have dominion that’s everlasting. To be eternal. But Jesus said of Himself, He should suffer many things and be treated with contempt. The way to deliver the kingdom is through suffering.

This is the tragic picture. Jesus, the miracle-working and compassionate Messiah, reveals His glory on the mountain. He displays His power as the only Son of God in all of His radiance, in all of His beauty, in all of His glory. He is the only Son of God in all of His power. They should be worshiping Him. Jesus is supposed to be worshiped by all. His power screams to everyone, “I deserve all the worship.” Not His mission. No, His mission is one of suffering. His mission is to deliver His eternal, everlasting kingdom. Through the whippings and the lashes. Through beating and spitting. Through nakedness and shame. And through hurt and betrayal. Death by crucifixion. Highly exalted Son, who displayed Himself power. Chooses to die, sinner. To die for you and for me.

John the Baptist had the easy way out. One quick [inaudible]. Jesus’ hours. Hours of torture. Jesus had the wrath of the Father poured out onto Him. Our passage this morning is not one of humiliation to exaltation. That’s a normal narrative a lot of preachers will go to. But it’s one of exaltation to humiliation. Jesus suffered so that we would turn our sins. For our faith in Him to neglect our self-righteousness. Our selfishness. Our own desires. And say, Jesus, you are the one in control.

If you’re here this morning. Trusting on your own merits. On your own power. On your own ability. Please, give it up. Because you know better than me. How your life has not turned out the way it has been planned for a long time. Right? You have planned things. They fell through. You know that you’re here. I know that I’m here. We have tried our hardest to merit our way up to the Lord. That’s not the case. What’s incredible is that Jesus, all of His righteousness, and said, “Here, this is for you.” He gives it freely and graciously.

Now, this isn’t to make much of me or to draw pity, but it’s helpful for an example. The past few weeks, like I mentioned earlier this morning, I’ve been wrestling with some health issues. It’s led, it’s interesting because it’s gone on for a while, but by the time this week of preparing for the sermon came, it just ramped up. I would attribute it to spiritual warfare and just the circumstances that I’m going through, and I feel like this is a test of my faith, really. There’s moments I’ve lost sleep, about three to six hours a night sometimes, but the reason I share this, the reason I mention this, is so that we understand that our suffering in this life is only temporary. Our suffering in this life is only Temporary. We don’t suffer forever. We suffer for a period of time in this life because ultimately you’re given something else. You have put your trust in Christ. You have been given hope. Ultimately, as the Lord has said, you’ll come back. And one day when He comes back and that glorious moment He has unveiled and we behold His glory full and beautiful, that hope that we look to bring us and deliver us all of our suffering, all of our pain. And ultimately, we will see Him forever and live with Him because He has provided us a kingdom and He is our King.

Go to the Lord now in prayer. I’ll give you a moment to pray. I’ll give you a moment to just pray and then I’ll pray to finish. Father, we thank You for Jesus. We thank You for the reality of what He’s done. He came for us. We don’t deserve that. We don’t deserve the good things that we have. We’ve broken Your law. We’ve betrayed You. We’ve idolized. We’ve been filled with false ideas and false hopes. We put our false hopes over You. We’ve made idols of things in our lives. But the reality is, though we’ve done these things, You are a gracious and gracious God. You love us and You care for us. And it’s through Jesus that we can see a kingdom and a King, holy and perfect and beautiful. He cares for us. God, thank You for this day and this time. And we thank You for what You’re doing here at Sauldam Baptist Church. We pray this in Your Son’s holy and perfect name. Amen.