back to indexBerean Community Church Evening Devotions 4/13/2022
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Good evening everyone. We're just gonna go ahead and start off the night with a time of worship. 00:11:12.000 |
Hello everyone. Welcome again to Passion Week devotions. 00:11:29.000 |
This is something we've been doing for years now. 00:11:33.000 |
And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we've been giving these devotions to help us see how Jesus walked the last days before crucifixion. 00:11:41.000 |
Something I wanted to remind us of also is as we see how Jesus intentionally takes each of these days towards the cross, 00:11:50.000 |
it causes us to feel and see the richness of what led to that death and what leads to the resurrection. 00:11:59.000 |
And our hope is that we would all be able to feel and sense the depths of that so that even the depths of our worship would grow. 00:12:07.000 |
And today as we spend time going through this together, I hope we're also all very encouraged. 00:12:14.000 |
I know someone I talked to recently said, "Oh man, it's so nice to be able to be here just on these days of the week. 00:12:21.000 |
It's nice to be together to worship even though it's just a short hour." 00:12:26.000 |
And in that, it would encourage us and spur us on towards greater worship of Christ. 00:12:31.000 |
After our prayer set here, we're going to be having our brother Mark come up to give his testimony of how he became a saved person. 00:12:38.000 |
And after that, we'll be going into a silent Wednesday. 00:12:52.000 |
God, remembering that though perhaps we've thought of your march, of Jesus' march to the cross time and time again, 00:13:02.000 |
Lord, that this is a fresh privilege and opportunity. 00:13:10.000 |
God, to remember anew what it is that Christ did to purchase salvation for us. 00:13:25.000 |
So much that our Lord and Savior had to go through. 00:13:30.000 |
And Father, we don't want to take this flippantly. 00:13:37.000 |
God, we want to thank you for each of these days, for each story we go into, for each account in these Gospels. 00:13:49.000 |
God, we want to remember it and never forget it. 00:13:51.000 |
We do not want the Gospel to grow stale in our lives. 00:13:55.000 |
And so Lord, tonight we come in humble adoration, but also in humble submission. 00:14:02.000 |
Lord, coming with empty hands, asking you, Father, to break our hearts. 00:14:18.000 |
And Lord, let it cause in us a huge worship towards a huge God. 00:14:53.000 |
Though the nations rage, kingdoms rise and fall, 00:15:34.000 |
None above Him, none before Him, all of time in His hand. 00:15:44.000 |
For His throne it shall remain and ever stand. 00:15:55.000 |
All the power, all the glory, I will trust in His name. 00:16:17.000 |
Though the dread of night overwhelms my soul, 00:16:44.000 |
And He knows my name, for my God is the Ancient of Days. 00:16:57.000 |
None above Him, none before Him, all of time in His hand. 00:17:11.000 |
For His throne it shall remain and ever stand. 00:17:18.000 |
All the power, all the glory, I will trust in His name. 00:18:41.000 |
None above Him, none before Him, all of time in His hand. 00:18:53.000 |
For His throne it shall remain and ever stand. 00:19:01.000 |
All the power, all the glory, I will trust in His name. 00:20:27.000 |
All I once stocked gain, I have counted lost. 00:20:45.000 |
Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there is no greater thing. 00:21:04.000 |
You're my joy, my righteousness, and I love you more. 00:22:10.000 |
You're my joy, my righteousness, and I love you more. 00:23:15.000 |
You're my joy, my righteousness, and I love you more. 00:23:44.000 |
You're my joy, my righteousness, and I love you more. 00:24:19.000 |
So I have the privilege of this evening of sharing my testimony, 00:24:24.000 |
what God has done in my life and what he's doing as of late. 00:24:27.000 |
And so I've kind of broken up my testimony to hopefully help you guys follow along. 00:24:31.000 |
And in retrospect, I actually was really blessed by going over it. 00:24:35.000 |
It just reminds me of God's handiwork in my own life and what he continues to do. 00:24:40.000 |
And so I begin by presenting the questions that filled my mind throughout high school and college. 00:24:46.000 |
What did I grow up believing? Is it truth? What is truth? 00:24:50.000 |
How come I never heard these things about God despite growing up in religious circles? 00:24:56.000 |
And so my family, growing up, we practiced a type of Catholicism 00:25:03.000 |
One such superstition dealt with hand-me-down shoes and wallets 00:25:07.000 |
accompanied with cash in hopes that the recipient's wealth would multiply tenfold. 00:25:12.000 |
So you can imagine how much money would come in shoes, for example. 00:25:15.000 |
And these rituals were understood as, "We just do it because it's always been the way it is." 00:25:21.000 |
In addition to attending Catholic services, praying the rosary, 00:25:26.000 |
confessing to a priest, and pursuing good deeds, followed that same logic. 00:25:34.000 |
In them were the false promises of a happy, blessed life here on Earth 00:25:41.000 |
This would be my paradigm leading up to college. 00:25:44.000 |
I wish I could say I didn't fall into doing these things, or fail into doing these things, but I did. 00:25:51.000 |
Eventually, it all became a load too big to carry. 00:25:54.000 |
Constantly failing to live up to these standards calloused my worldview, 00:26:03.000 |
During middle school, high school period, I saw fractures in what, at that time, I called my faith. 00:26:08.000 |
Looking back, it was clear that it was man's approval I sought, not the Lord's. 00:26:13.000 |
Going to Sunday Mass, petitioning prayers to Jesus, Mary, and various saints 00:26:18.000 |
were soon exchanged with meeting new friends, hanging out, pursuing money, excelling in school, whatever else. 00:26:26.000 |
I see this was a microcosm of what could have been my life today 00:26:33.000 |
At that time, my best life on Earth was my God. 00:26:37.000 |
The deception was real because it was indoctrinated from the very beginning. 00:26:41.000 |
Fast-forwarding to my junior year of high school is a period where I really first thought of God's word being planted or sown. 00:26:49.000 |
To many, junior year, obviously, is a make-or-break year. 00:26:53.000 |
Academic excellence coupled with extracurricular activities was a surefire way to getting to great colleges. 00:26:59.000 |
My late-night outings included studying libraries for PSATs, SATs, and whatever AP tests. 00:27:05.000 |
If my friends and I were not studying, we were joining as many social clubs 00:27:08.000 |
in an effort to showcase to college recruiters our willingness to go above and beyond. 00:27:13.000 |
There was one club I joined thinking this is great to have on my college application, 00:27:19.000 |
and it wouldn't require too much other than regular attendance. 00:27:29.000 |
I thought, "Well, I've been to church all my life. Why not?" 00:27:33.000 |
This club was evidence, when I look back, of God's providence. 00:27:38.000 |
The club covered many topics such as Romans Road, the commandments, the fruits of the Spirit, among other things. 00:27:45.000 |
It was my first time encountering these truths, despite me being confirmed in the Catholic Church that year. 00:27:50.000 |
I met genuine God-fearing people that are still walking faithfully with the Lord today, 00:27:55.000 |
and I'm still close friends and grateful for them. 00:27:58.000 |
That same year, one of them invited me to a Bible study at a church called Maranatha Chapel in San Diego. 00:28:05.000 |
Their church was going through the book of Hosea, and man, I remember hearing God's Word. 00:28:30.000 |
It was preached clearly and differently than what I was accustomed to. 00:28:50.000 |
And for the first time, I thought, "Wow, is this truth? 00:28:56.000 |
How is this different from what I grew up with? 00:29:02.000 |
Later on, I went home that evening, contemplating, 00:29:08.000 |
and from what I recall, just faint whispers in my head concluded, "This is different." 00:29:15.000 |
I continued attending the Bible studies, curious where the study would lead. 00:29:27.000 |
Thankfully, it was the right Bible, because I had no idea. 00:29:34.000 |
And I remember one of my closest friends mentioned Romans. 00:29:38.000 |
I was like, "I don't know where it is," so I just started. 00:29:41.000 |
And I can honestly say God's Word was planted. 00:29:44.000 |
If I could use emojis back then, it would be the mind-blowing ones. 00:29:50.000 |
Because between Hosea and Romans, concepts of God's faithfulness, 00:29:55.000 |
concepts of no one seeking God, concepts of sin, concepts of grace, 00:30:00.000 |
all of this perplexed me, but it made sense, a paradox. 00:30:06.000 |
Despite my inconsistent attendance to Maranatha, 00:30:09.000 |
every encounter with God's Word challenged and changed my worldview. 00:30:17.000 |
holy, righteous, faithful, gracious, merciful, loving, the list goes on. 00:30:21.000 |
His Word exposed my sins of selfish ambition and man's approval. 00:30:26.000 |
Like an onion, the layers of my sin were being peeled back, 00:30:36.000 |
So I wandered with a rebellious heart my first two years of college, 00:30:41.000 |
thinking there was still a space to have what I wanted. 00:30:47.000 |
and reconnected with old friends and made new ones. 00:30:50.000 |
These same friends eventually brought me here to Berean. 00:30:54.000 |
Faithful pastors and brothers here walked me through and back to the Word. 00:31:03.000 |
Books such as Philippians, Romans, Matthew, Ephesians 00:31:06.000 |
reiterated the insufficiency of my morality ambitions. 00:31:10.000 |
These things did not save me but condemned me. 00:31:16.000 |
and obtain eternal life based on my moral excellence. 00:31:25.000 |
It was clear I was a sinner before a thrice holy God, 00:31:34.000 |
For the first time my heart and heart was being broken, 00:31:49.000 |
Psalm 824 spoke truth that forever would change my life, 00:31:56.000 |
but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, 00:32:11.000 |
And just a few verses down provided the clarity 00:32:18.000 |
By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. 00:32:21.000 |
It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, 00:32:29.000 |
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, 00:32:32.000 |
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 00:32:41.000 |
Just a few months later I confidently declared Jesus Christ 00:32:48.000 |
The sweetness of understanding God's salvation plan 00:32:51.000 |
transformed me in ways where family and friends noticed immediately, 00:33:00.000 |
Some saying that this is just a phase, it will pass. 00:33:17.000 |
And since then, my family has been the one of the ministries 00:33:30.000 |
It's been challenging and heartbreaking on multiple fronts. 00:33:36.000 |
but in these moments of sanctification where I wrestle with surrender, 00:33:39.000 |
discernment, obedience, God has faithfully pointed me back to His word, 00:33:52.000 |
And something I've been meditating on, Philippians 2, 4, 7, 00:33:56.000 |
and which I'll conclude with, rejoice in the Lord always. 00:34:11.000 |
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, 00:34:14.000 |
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 00:34:18.000 |
And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension 00:34:21.000 |
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 00:34:51.000 |
I realized there's so many people pouring into his life, 00:34:56.000 |
And now here he is pouring right back into our students as well. 00:35:06.000 |
that what Jesus did as we keep trekking with Him in this story 00:35:13.000 |
but it has present-day ramification for us every single day. 00:35:17.000 |
That all of that was necessary for Mark to be saved, 00:35:22.000 |
for me to be saved, and for all of us that call ourselves believers. 00:36:24.000 |
Lord, as we go into silent Wednesday this day, 00:36:32.000 |
where there might not have been so much activity in the life of Christ as written, 00:36:46.000 |
I pray, Lord, that as we can even remember every single one of our testimonies, 00:36:54.000 |
God, that what Christ did on the way to that cross 00:36:58.000 |
was vital for us as individuals as well as a body. 00:37:24.000 |
And so, God, I pray that our hearts would trek along with what we sing. 00:37:29.000 |
God, that as we see Jesus on the way to this cross, 00:37:34.000 |
Lord, that we wouldn't be trying to fit that story into our lives. 00:37:43.000 |
God, that we can see how our lives shed light on what he did there. 00:37:49.000 |
That Jesus would be the center of every single one of us. 00:37:56.000 |
Help us, Lord, because we are so self-centered a people. 00:38:00.000 |
We need your grace in order to properly worship you tonight. 00:38:10.000 |
On day one this past Sunday, Pastor Peter took us through Palm Sunday 00:38:17.000 |
And I thought it was really powerful what Pastor Peter kind of ended with, 00:38:24.000 |
On day two this past Monday, Jesus cursed the fig tree. 00:38:32.000 |
Yesterday on day three, Jesus pronounces the woes on the Jewish leaders 00:38:36.000 |
and he tells them to be aware of the future, to be ready for what's coming. 00:38:45.000 |
Wednesday in Scripture, some people call it Silent Wednesday 00:38:49.000 |
because the Gospels are relatively silent about Jesus' activity on this day. 00:39:04.000 |
And the Passover meal, I'm really excited for that tomorrow. 00:39:07.000 |
But I realized then we can't really go into what happened on Passover. 00:39:11.000 |
I'm hoping one day we can actually do that for a devotion. 00:39:17.000 |
But this is the day before the Last Supper when Jesus and the disciples 00:39:20.000 |
would sit down in front of the bread and the wine, 00:39:25.000 |
Now I want to read to you again what we just read in Luke 22 00:39:30.000 |
and to try your best to walk along with Jesus here, 00:39:36.000 |
or the story of Jesus here that's unraveling. 00:39:41.000 |
"Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. 00:39:46.000 |
The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put him to death, 00:39:54.000 |
And Satan entered into Judas, who was called Iscariot, 00:39:58.000 |
and he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers 00:40:03.000 |
And I want to focus in here on the parties that are involved. 00:40:08.000 |
So either you can look down at the text, you can look up here, 00:40:11.000 |
but look and see the detail that Luke is putting in. 00:40:16.000 |
First, you see the religious leaders who are conspiring against Jesus to kill him. 00:40:21.000 |
In verse 2, "The chief priests and the scribes were seeking." 00:40:33.000 |
trying to figure out how can we put this man to death. 00:40:39.000 |
But secondly, we see also Satan at work here, who enters into Judas. 00:40:49.000 |
Satan's been at work trying to figure out how to prevent the Messiah from coming, 00:40:53.000 |
and when the Messiah comes into the picture, how to crush him. 00:40:58.000 |
But thirdly, and perhaps most heartbreaking, in verse 3, 00:41:02.000 |
"And Satan entered into Judas, who was called Iscariot." 00:41:06.000 |
Judas Iscariot was conspiring to have Jesus killed. 00:41:12.000 |
If there's any word that I'd like us to take away tonight is "intention," 00:41:17.000 |
because I think that's what Luke is describing. 00:41:22.000 |
That the chief priests and the scribes were being intentional and willful. 00:41:32.000 |
In fact, Luke is very careful here to mention that Judas belongs to the twelve. 00:41:37.000 |
You see that? Belonging to the number of the twelve. 00:41:43.000 |
To emphasize the fact that Judas was a part of Jesus' inner circle. 00:41:49.000 |
Judas intentionally, willfully, even as one who's been walking with Jesus these last three years, 00:41:56.000 |
he goes to the chief priests and officers and discusses with those men 00:42:00.000 |
who are trying to intentionally kill Jesus, how he might betray Jesus to them. 00:42:10.000 |
In the account of Matthew, it records Judas' actual words to these leaders. 00:42:25.000 |
He goes up to the chief priests and scribes and he says, 00:42:29.000 |
"What are you willing to give me to betray him to you?" 00:42:37.000 |
He goes to them and he says, "What will you give me for me to betray him so that you can kill him?" 00:42:50.000 |
We learn in this account of Matthew that 30 pieces of silver is all it took. 00:42:57.000 |
Some people say that 30 pieces of silver was what it costed to purchase a slave. 00:43:03.000 |
It's shocking that someone so close to Jesus, someone who walked with Jesus, 00:43:09.000 |
who saw Jesus' works and miracles, he was in the inner circle. 00:43:19.000 |
He saw Jesus' grace and compassion and mercy upon people. 00:43:26.000 |
He saw Jesus cast out demons and rebuke disease. 00:43:43.000 |
This was still the responsibility and action of this man, Judas. 00:43:49.000 |
Judas doesn't just give in to a moment of weakness. 00:43:52.000 |
He calculates, and after hearing everything it is to enter into the kingdom, 00:43:59.000 |
after witnessing all it is that the Holy Spirit was at work, 00:44:03.000 |
Judas becomes the one to knock that very first domino down, 00:44:07.000 |
and he paves the way for sinful man to nail Jesus to the cross and crucifixion. 00:44:18.000 |
He just heard Jesus pronounce these woes and rebukes upon the leaders of Israel, right? 00:44:41.000 |
He says, "These men will not enter the kingdom of God." 00:44:49.000 |
And yet, Judas goes right to those leaders on this day. 00:45:05.000 |
It's amazing that in that place his heart had become so hardened 00:45:09.000 |
that he wouldn't fall in repentance and turn away. 00:45:22.000 |
Now, though there's not action in regards to Jesus, 00:45:25.000 |
what I do want to take a moment is to see what might have been going on in the mind of Jesus on this day. 00:45:34.000 |
This is, remember, the last week Jesus walks this earth. 00:45:46.000 |
Before he faces the wrath of God, an eternal wrath of God. 00:45:54.000 |
I mean, this is--have you ever been so anxious about something? 00:46:10.000 |
or you're so scared of something that you're going to have to do, 00:46:13.000 |
or you're so scared of this thing that's looming, it consumes you. 00:46:27.000 |
This is the last week of Jesus before he takes the cup of wrath. 00:46:46.000 |
I mean, what must have it been like for Jesus to know that betrayal, 00:46:59.000 |
What must have been like as Jesus was seeing this happen all around him, 00:47:03.000 |
that yet he was going to take the sin of all of the hostility 00:47:11.000 |
I sometimes wonder what it must have been like for Jesus, 00:47:22.000 |
to not only be pronouncing woes to the scribes and Pharisees over there 00:47:28.000 |
but even in his inner circle to see vile, depraved sin at work. 00:47:41.000 |
What must it have been like for Jesus to see that this sin was just so pervasive? 00:47:49.000 |
And he was just seeing all of this going around. 00:48:04.000 |
I mean, Jesus doesn't use this last week to think about himself. 00:48:11.000 |
He doesn't use this last week to realize what's going on 00:48:22.000 |
He is the only holy one who is walking around. 00:48:42.000 |
He must have known what Judas was doing on that day. 00:48:51.000 |
He took no action to become inward or to cloister or to think that this is a time I can just go 00:49:05.000 |
In fact, again, I can't go too much into this because this is tomorrow. 00:49:10.000 |
But the very next day, during the Passover meal, Jesus washes the disciples' feet. 00:49:25.000 |
What must have it been like for the holy God, the only holy one, 00:49:29.000 |
with vile and righteousness and depravity all around him, 00:49:32.000 |
to kneel down and wash the filthy feet of filthy sinners? 00:49:43.000 |
What must have it been like for him to go in front of Judas, the one who was to betray him, 00:49:51.000 |
I think this account reminds us of a couple of things. 00:49:56.000 |
There is a lot of fear to be had in this story. 00:50:00.000 |
Because I think we need to take care of where we stand. 00:50:03.000 |
Because what we see in Judas here is that nearness to Christ, 00:50:06.000 |
and nearness to the things of Christ, does not guarantee that you know Christ. 00:50:12.000 |
It does not guarantee our salvation, let alone our devotion. 00:50:19.000 |
It shows us that we need to take stock of our own lives and evaluate our hearts, 00:50:23.000 |
and see where there is not only a heart of unbelief, 00:50:26.000 |
but perhaps even what we see in Judas, a purposeful rebellion. 00:50:33.000 |
A purposeful resistance, and even hatred against God. 00:50:38.000 |
As we all have a bit of this Judas inside of us. 00:50:42.000 |
And some sitting amongst us are Matthew 7, 21 people, 00:50:46.000 |
who will one day come before God as Judas perhaps might have. 00:50:54.000 |
Perhaps these were his last-ditch things, even though he knew. 00:50:57.000 |
He comes and he said, "But maybe, even though I betrayed Jesus, 00:51:03.000 |
that I would come before God and say, 'But didn't I do all these things in His name? 00:51:09.000 |
Didn't I do all these things in Your name, Jesus? 00:51:11.000 |
I know, but does Your cross, does Your blood, does Your grace not cover over all sin? 00:51:20.000 |
And Jesus would have stared at Judas and said, "I never knew you, 00:51:23.000 |
but there are those who are sitting amongst us that perhaps would sit in the same place. 00:51:38.000 |
But I think in this story there's also good news 00:51:43.000 |
because Judas' story has closed, but ours are still open. 00:51:53.000 |
You still have opportunity today to turn and to repent. 00:51:58.000 |
You don't need to meet the same end as Judas. 00:52:02.000 |
And this week is all about, I hope you have the opportunity every single night this week 00:52:08.000 |
to repent and turn to the Lord because that's what we see in this story. 00:52:14.000 |
Secondly, there's hope and grace and love in this story. 00:52:17.000 |
We ought to remember how great the love of Christ was in His sacrifice on the cross. 00:52:23.000 |
Remember, these religious leaders were against Him. 00:52:26.000 |
And by the end, the people were shouting out and screaming out, "Crucify Him." 00:52:34.000 |
They were even desiring Jesus to die over a high-profile murderer. 00:52:39.000 |
His disciples had scattered, deserting Him in the time of His greatest need. 00:52:44.000 |
And most terrifying of all, the Father Himself unleashed all the pent-up fury and wrath over sin. 00:52:54.000 |
What we see in the midst of the only Holy One who is walking around all these vile, wretched sinners, 00:53:02.000 |
even to the point where everyone is not just vile and wretched and living out their own lives, 00:53:07.000 |
but breathing hostility against this Jesus, that they might crucify Him, 00:53:13.000 |
that we see the love and the grace that might enact in us hope. 00:53:27.000 |
And if we are believers, we are numbered amongst these. 00:53:31.000 |
I want to turn our attention to John 13, verse 1. 00:53:37.000 |
And this is the John take on what was going on with Judas. 00:53:42.000 |
Because right after this, we see what he says about Judas. 00:53:46.000 |
In John 13, verse 1, it says, "Now before the feast of the Passover, 00:53:49.000 |
Jesus, knowing that His hour had come, that He would depart out of this world to the Father, 00:53:54.000 |
having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." 00:54:08.000 |
I know sometimes we have a tendency to look at Scripture, 00:54:11.000 |
and then you wait for what the preacher has to say about it. 00:54:14.000 |
Look at the words. It says, "Jesus, knowing that His hour had come, 00:54:23.000 |
that He would depart out of this world to the Father, 00:54:26.000 |
having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." 00:54:31.000 |
It shows us the heart of Jesus, which is just crazy to me. 00:54:39.000 |
That as He's walking around, as much as we see the vileness and the wretchedness 00:54:46.000 |
of the sinners that are walking all around Him, 00:54:59.000 |
It's a story about Judas and these chief scribes and these Pharisees, 00:55:05.000 |
these religious leaders, perhaps about Satan who's at work. 00:55:09.000 |
But what we see in this story is actually to paint for us, 00:55:12.000 |
not a picture of us looking at the story and being like, "Man, they're pretty bad." 00:55:17.000 |
This story is actually supposed to show us in this narrative of Christ 00:55:21.000 |
who's walking towards the cross that we are numbered amongst them. 00:55:25.000 |
That we are just as depraved, that we are just as vile, 00:55:29.000 |
and that we were the ones who actually, actively wanted Christ crucified. 00:55:37.000 |
That as intentional, as willful as they were, that so were we. 00:55:43.000 |
This is our story. This is us wanting Jesus dead. 00:55:51.000 |
And so this is Jesus' love for us in the midst of this. 00:55:59.000 |
On Silent Wednesday, as the entire world was working in conjunction to kill the Lord, 00:56:05.000 |
we can really see how great sin is and how much greater is the love of God. 00:56:12.000 |
There is no good in us. There is nothing good in us. 00:56:18.000 |
So I want to lastly go into this text, which I don't have up here, 00:56:52.000 |
"As it is written, 'There is none righteous, not even one. 00:56:57.000 |
There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. 00:57:01.000 |
All have turned aside, together they have become useless. 00:57:04.000 |
There is none who does good, there is not even one. 00:57:08.000 |
Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving. 00:57:12.000 |
The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 00:57:17.000 |
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths. 00:57:21.000 |
And the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." 00:57:28.000 |
Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, 00:57:32.000 |
so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God. 00:57:38.000 |
Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight, 00:57:42.000 |
for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 00:57:44.000 |
And this describes not only Judas, this describes not only the religious leaders, 00:58:00.000 |
"But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, 00:58:06.000 |
Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. 00:58:11.000 |
For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 00:58:16.000 |
being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." 00:58:24.000 |
Would you take a moment to bow your heads and pray? 00:58:32.000 |
I feel like there's a few things that need to happen. 00:58:34.000 |
One thing is we need to see the story of Christ and see everything that is going on. 00:58:43.000 |
Secondly, that I need to shed light on who we are before Him. 00:58:50.000 |
And for us as believers, our hearts beat along with this. 00:58:59.000 |
And I'd like us to pray for maybe two things. 00:59:03.000 |
One thing, would you pray that God would show us again the vileness and wretchedness of our sin 00:59:19.000 |
Wherever you may stand, whatever it is that you have been fighting with or struggling with 00:59:23.000 |
or even giving into, that God would show us the vileness as we've seen the story of Judas, 00:59:37.000 |
Secondly, I pray that we would see the gospel. 00:59:40.000 |
And would you pray this as well, that God would show us beauty, 00:59:45.000 |
that God would show us individually what it is to marvel, to respond in worship, 00:59:56.000 |
to say thank you, and to not just look at our sin and hate the sin, 01:00:02.000 |
but to look to Christ and see our true desire, 01:00:18.000 |
we can feel His intention in light of the sinner. 01:02:32.000 |
- Heavenly Father, perhaps there's so much more prayer 01:02:37.000 |
but God, we wanna thank you even for the moment, Lord, 01:02:41.000 |
where we can see the story of Jesus on his way to the cross. 01:02:46.000 |
And Father, I pray that you would help us to see beauty 01:02:55.000 |
Help us, God, to see that there is only one good 01:03:00.000 |
amongst the myriads of fallenness and brokenness. 01:03:06.500 |
That we might not look to other things to cling to, 01:03:09.000 |
but that there is only one that we can cling to. 01:03:12.000 |
The only one unshaking good in our lives, our Christ. 01:03:17.500 |
Oh, Father, there is no other name under heaven 01:03:34.500 |
'cause even in a testimony shared earlier today, 01:03:37.000 |
we see tears of joy as we remember what you did. 01:03:42.500 |
And God, I pray that for each one of us this week, 01:04:04.500 |
So thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 01:04:51.500 |
♪ Firm through the fiercest drought and storm ♪ 01:04:57.000 |
♪ What heights of love, what depths of peace ♪ 01:05:02.000 |
♪ When fears are stilled, when striving ceases ♪ 01:08:32.000 |
Heavenly Father, I pray that we would not leave 01:08:39.000 |
and be filled with conviction, Lord, to respond. 01:08:47.000 |
let us be moved into transformation and change. 01:09:05.000 |
but the logistics team did ask for some help.