All right, welcome to the Monday's devotional for this Passion Week. We're gonna go ahead and pray, and then we're gonna have a time of just reflection through song and worship. And then our sister Agnes is gonna come up and share her testimony. And then after she shares, we're gonna have a time of just devotion and reflection and some prayer.

So pray with me and then we'll get our evening started. Father, we thank you for giving us the great privilege of coming and being at your house to pray and to worship. And Lord, we ask that you would help us really to have hearts that are softened throughout each and every day of this week.

So that we would truly understand our position before you without the blood of Christ. And to understand the depths of your love through your sacrifice. And just the great power that is ours because Christ is no longer in the grave. So as we chart through each and every day of this week, I pray that you would help us to be sober minded, to be soft hearted.

But to be filled with immense joy, knowing that we are your children, that we are your bride, and that you love us intimately and deeply. So help us, Lord, to worship you in spirit and in truth, even on this night. We love you, Lord. We thank you. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

>> Why don't we all stand for a time of praise? >> There is a Redeemer. >> Jesus, God's own son. Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One. >> Thank you, oh my Father. >> Thank you, oh my Father, for giving us your Son. And even your Spirit, still the work on Earth is done.

Jesus, my Redeemer. >> Jesus, my Redeemer, name above all names. Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, all for sinners slain. Thank you, oh my Father, for giving us your Son. And even your Spirit, still the work on Earth is done. >> When I stand. When I stand in glory, I will see his face.

There I'll serve my King forever in that holy place. >> Thank you, oh my Father, for giving us your Son. And even your Spirit, still the work on Earth is done. Thank you, oh my Father, for giving us your Son. And even your Spirit, still the work on Earth is done.

The work on Earth is done. >> Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, I think upon your sacrifice. You became nothing, poured out to death. Many times I've wondered at your gift of life. And I'm in that place once again. And I'm in that place once again. And once again I look upon the cross where you died.

I'm humbled by your mercy, and I'm broken inside. Once again I thank you. Once again I pour out my life. Now you are exalted to the highest place, King of the heavens. And one day I'll bow, but for now I marvel at this saving grace. And I fall a praise once again.

And I fall a praise once again. And once again I look upon the cross where you died. I'm humbled by your mercy, and I'm broken inside. Once again I thank you. Once again I pour out my life. >> Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross.

Thank you for the cross, my friends. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross, my friends. And once again I look upon the cross where you died. I'm humbled by your mercy, and I'm broken inside. Once again I thank you. Once again I pour out my life.

>> You may be seated. >> Hi, my name is Agnes, and I'm a fourth year -- oh, sorry. Hi, my name is Agnes, and I'm a fourth year in college. I grew up in a Christian household in Hong Kong, and I attended a Christian school my whole life since kindergarten.

Being a pastor's kid, I was very complacent with my identity as a Christian, thinking that because everyone around me was a Christian, and because I was raised with Christian values, I must be a Christian too. My parents told me that I prayed the prayer when I was six years old, and I knew all the right answers at Sunday school, but my faith was very much inherited and based on external works.

My understanding of God was quite shallow, and I did not truly know what it meant to be a genuine believer. My understanding of the gospel was only that Jesus died to save me from hell, and that was it. I thought that I was a good Christian because I was an extremely obedient child at home and at school, but in my heart, there was a lot of self-righteousness and anger against God.

I became addicted to the approval and validation from people, and I was enslaved to serve man. Throughout my childhood, I was struck with many illnesses and frequently visited the hospital. I had eczema, chronic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, scoliosis, foot pronation, and other things that I can't pronounce. I was so frustrated at God because I didn't understand why God, my creator, would allow such an unfortunate thing to happen to his creation.

Yet my parents would tell me over and over again that God loved me. With good intention, my loving parents would invite many pastors over to my home to pray over me, and my conditions would never improve, which led me to doubt that God really so loved the world. When I got a little older, I experienced a lot of spiritual highs when attending and serving at camps and retreats.

Looking back, despite my involvement at these events, I was still extremely unaware of my sin, and I did not have any personal struggle against it. Any feeling of intimacy with God was not long-lasting. I had little desire to seriously seek a deeper relationship with Christ in my own life because there were many idols at the time that had appeared to be much more attractive and seemed to promise satisfaction.

At home, I was still very obedient to my parents and never caused much trouble, but at school I lived another life. Wanting to fit in, I said a lot of words that I didn't even know the meaning to. I manipulated people so that I might be more popular. I compulsively lied to friends, teachers, and my parents to get out of trouble and idolized the common things that teenage girls idolized.

The summer before I entered college, I fell into a pattern of consistently missing church because I spent Saturday nights partying with friends and being very determined and even excited to step away from the Christian bubble. Because of the hardness of my weak and wandering heart, I desired the world and not anything of Christ.

Coming into college, to my surprise, I was very unhappy with my circumstances. I didn't know how to make new friends, and I was an ocean away from all of my loved ones. Everything that I had placed my identity in disappeared, and I had to start fresh. In those brief moments of emptiness and loneliness, by God's grace, I was led to Berean.

I bumped into a friend from home during the Aunt Eder involvement fair and was invited out to Friday night Bible study. I reluctantly attended and originally did not see myself staying at this church, as I had grown up in a much more charismatic background. It was during a message about making decisions in life that I realized that the things that gave me temporary joy were sinful and was the root of my unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

The Spirit convicted me to recognize that I had to make a decision on whether or not I would choose to invest my time in worldly desires and live as a Christian half-heartedly or repent to God and seek to be totally transformed by him. During a parachurch meeting on campus, I heard a message about God's holiness and was so convicted when I learned about how short I had fallen from the standard of holiness that Jesus mandates for believers to strive for.

I finally believed in my heart that God was a holy God who was completely unique and utterly all-powerful, and I was humbled as I saw that I could not compare myself to him. The Lord graciously softened my heart through his word and the Spirit, and I gradually was able to identify the many idols that I had been shoving into my life in order to fill the God-shaped hole in my heart.

I distinctly remember the pastor using several analogies to explain how we cannot serve two masters and why we had to destroy our idols in order to gain the imperishable glory of God. It was completely God and his grace that my ears were open to understand this mystery of the gospel and the power of this good news that caused me to long to live in obedience of faith.

After a few months, I went back home for winter break and I hung out with some friends one night. These friends, like me, claimed to be a Christian but lived lives that were inconsistent with their confessions of faith. I observed the passions of the flesh that my friends indulged in, that I once indulged in too.

Although my conversion was not immediate, God used that moment to cause in my heart a genuine sorrow, and I uncontrollably wept over my wickedness and my sin. I realized that all along I had been aimlessly trying to find my worth in the strength of my flesh. Despite hearing the gospel countless times growing up, in that moment I finally really understood that I was fully deserving of punishment and separation from God, and that I was in need of forgiveness from him.

God showed me that I was headed for death and destruction, but because of his love for mankind, he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross and place my sin upon himself, and that by faith I was forgiven and granted a new and eternal life through his precious blood.

He opened my eyes to see that there is no goodness in me apart from Christ, and therefore I needed a perfect substitution to pay and atone for the wrath that I deserved. By his mercy alone, I was brought to repentance. My chains were removed and God filled my heart with an unexplainable joy from being free that allowed me to see how precious it was to know Christ and to be known and adopted by my heavenly father.

For the first time ever, it was not just a temporary feeling of being loved by a distant God, but there was a genuine and personal longing to draw near to God. Through the faithful preaching of his word and a growing eagerness to not just learn about God, but to know God, I acknowledged the lordship of Christ and understood God's sovereignty and authority over my life.

God showed me that I needed a savior not to save me from my circumstances or from suffering and sickness or from never needing to wrestle with sin anymore, but to be my steadfast source of life that I could place my trust and my faith in. Philippians 3.8 says, "I count all things to be lost in view of their surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ." As a newcomer at the church, the immense love and care that many brothers and sisters expressed over my spiritual life showed me the powerful love of God that compelled these people to be concerned over the state of my soul.

My hunger for the word grew and my heart contained new desires, a desire to please God, to obey, to bring him glory, and to reflect his righteousness. Through the church I gained a high view of God and in turn a high view of his word. I now live not to be a slave to idols and the things of the flesh, but I strive to live as a servant of God.

I know that by his word, despite being totally undeserving of it, I have assurance of salvation as I walk by faith in him with my eyes set on eternity. God wasted nothing in my life in order to turn me to Christ and deepen my dependence on him. The Lord continues to sanctify and humble me and shows me that I am in need of a savior every day.

I thank God that he has predestined to and is conforming me into the image of his son day by day. Romans 8, 29 to 30 says, "For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren.

And these whom he predestined, he also called, and these whom he called, he also justified, and these whom he justified, he also glorified." Thank you. Thank you, Agnes. As a pastor, there's a part of me that is so thankful for your testimony. And what I know of Agnes, I'm hoping in many ways that my own daughter can grow up to be similar and share a lot of these traits.

And I'm sure your parents are very proud, so thank you for that testimony. Well, it's Monday night, and each year our observance of the Passion Week begins on Palm Sunday, as you guys know, with Jesus' triumphal entry on a donkey into Jerusalem. And we reflected on this yesterday, and so each evening this week, we will be meeting here to reflect on each of the days leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection.

The Passion Week, which means the week of his sufferings, is the most important week in all of human history, and it's also central to the narratives of the four gospel accounts. The man Jesus, you guys know, walked 30 years, 33 years on the earth, and nearly half of all the gospel accounts are devoted to the events and the teachings of just this single week.

During this week, most all things public—Christ's teachings, confrontations with religious leaders, and the events surrounding his trial—they all take place in Jerusalem. But after each day, Jesus and his disciples, they walk about two miles and return to Bethany, presumably to the home of Lazarus and his sisters. So, Bethany to Jerusalem, Jerusalem to Bethany, Bethany to Jerusalem, and much teaching happens to and from, and also on the road.

So this is the physical setting of this week, Bethany to Jerusalem, back and forth. And this is a week in which we also see a lot of Jesus' emotions. We see him weep, we see him rage, and elsewhere in the gospel narratives, we see more amazement from Jesus than either weeping or raging.

But this week is different, and understandably, we see more emotion as Jesus heads toward the cross. And you can tell a lot about the passions of a person's heart by what we see him weep over and what we see him rage over. And you can observe a lot of what a person loves and what a person hates by outbursts of these emotions.

And on Monday, Jesus is visibly very upset. And there are two major things that Scripture points us to that take place on Monday. The first one is the only miracle of destruction in the gospel accounts, where Jesus curses a fig tree while on his way toward Jerusalem. The second is Jesus causing a scene in the temple where he overturns tables, chases away the money changers, drives away those selling doves, and then he gets into it with the religious leaders.

And we read that Jesus literally stands physically in people's ways so that they can't carry merchandise through the temple. So this is possibly the most physically animated we have ever seen Jesus. So Jesus curses the fig tree. Jesus disrupts business at the temple. The fig tree and the temple.

And there is a connection between these two events. The curse of the fig tree is a symbol of God's judgment on the temple. The leafy fig tree, with all its promise of fruit, is as deceptive as the temple, which, despite its religious activity, it's really an outlaw's hideout, a robber's den.

It had the appearance of fruitfulness, of holy sacrifice, but in reality it was barren of anything of worth. So let's take a look at Mark's account together. I'll be reading Mark 11, 15 to 19 for you, and it's up on the screen. "Then they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

And he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And he began to teach and say to them, 'Is it not written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations"? But you have made it a robber's den.' The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy him, for they were afraid of him, for the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.

And when evening came, they would go out of the city." So here in verse 17, we see Jesus alluding to two Old Testament prophecies, Isaiah 56, Jeremiah 7. And I'm going to read little sections of both for you. The first one, Isaiah 56, is one of the most uplifting chapters in all of the Old Testament.

In Isaiah chapter 55, he says, "Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near." And then in 56, it describes reward upon reward for those who earnestly seek the Lord's face in obedience. So I'm going to read verses 6 through 7 of Isaiah 56 for you.

"Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant, even those I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." The second passage, where the den of robbers is prophesied, has a very different feel. So Jeremiah 7, 8 through 11 reads, "Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail.

Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered,' that you may do all these abominations?

Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, declares the Lord." So you can just tell that the mood of this is very different. The temple of God was always meant to be a physical place where sinful man could draw near in worship to seek holy God.

There had to be blood sacrifices, and humility, and a turning away from sins, and an earnest seeking heart of the worshiper to enable him to draw near to God. And one of the first things that God had told Solomon after the completion of the temple, it's found in 2 Chronicles 7, 14 to 15.

You guys, this is a very familiar passage, and many of you have memorized it, but let me read. "And my people who are called by my name, humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Now my eyes will be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place." So the temple was always meant to be a place where the worshiper could seek God, draw near to him, and to pray to him. But in Jesus' day, the religious elite who profited greatly from the business at the temple had turned it into a place where they could use God for personal gain.

And it's important to remember that the Passion Week was during the Jewish Passover, and it was a time—and what is the Passover? It's a time where the people of God were to remember that God had passed over their sins by blood sacrifice so that they could be his people and that he could be their God.

But the opportunity of the holidays had great appeal, and so this had become a lucrative business for the religious elite. They couldn't help themselves. And they easily justified this. After all, they were serving God, and God had ordained portions for their services in Leviticus and in the Book of Numbers.

They worked hard for God's blessings, so they deserved God's blessings. And here's the problem. The temple was meant to be a place of seeking God, but they had turned it into a place of using God. They were using the spiritual needs of the people to satisfy the cravings of their idolatrous and their greedy hearts.

And in Jesus' actions, we observe the hatred that God has toward idolatry. If you're a diligent student of the Bible, if you're just reading the Old and the New Testaments, one of the things you'll notice when you get to the New Testament is that the Hebrew race, who struggled nonstop for a millennia in the Old Testament, they're almost idophobic when you get to the New Testament.

They were taught that physical idolatry had led to the loss of all their fame, their wealth, their power, and their land. And so this entire group of people was kind of traumatized by the external practices of idol worship. So statues, monuments, even coins that hinted of idol worship, they didn't touch with a ten-foot pole.

But their heart of idolatry, the heart they wanted to use God for personal gain, it had never gone away or had been dealt with. So it had just become more sophisticated. And this was very readily personified in the religious leaders who Jesus upset at the temple. So there are a couple lessons we can learn today as we reflect on the events of Monday of the Passion Week.

And I'm going to leave you just with one very sobering truth. The seeking of God and the using of God often looks the same. The seeking of God and the using of God often looks the same. The first is worship that is done in spirit and in truth. The other is akin to a dancing around astral poles or bowing before golden calves.

At its root, the heart of worship cries, "I want to know you, Lord. I seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, even if all these things do not get added unto me." You guys know that passage, right? The heart of a genuine worshiper of God seeks first his kingdom and his righteousness, even if none of the things get added.

But at its root, the heart of idolatry cries, "I want to appease you, Lord, and curry favor. I want to seek your kingdom and your righteousness so that all these things can be added unto me." Given time, the worshiper, like the fig tree that was supposed to bear figs, it bears fruit.

The worshiper bears fruit. The idolater does not. The worshiper of Yahweh, of God, abides. The idolater conforms. The worshiper feeds deeply upon the word of truth. The idolater is satisfied with his ears being tickled. The worshiper is broken and humbled. The idolater is either smug or bitter, depending on the reward that he gets.

The idolatrous religious leaders got in the way of those who had come to the temple to worship. Idolatrous greed and fruitlessness, masked in religiosity, evoked a very passionate response from the Lord Jesus. As we examine the events of this week, and today's just Monday, as we examine just all the days leading up to the cross, we're going to be introduced to many characters in the gospel narratives.

But for Monday, as I reflected deeply, just preparing just for this devotion, I was troubled a little bit and saddened. Because I see elements in my heart, in my life, that closely resemble these religious leaders, and it has nothing to do with my occupation. There are elements in my heart that long to profit off of God for my kingdom, for my pleasure, for my comfort, for my glory.

And we learned yesterday that his kingdom is not of this world. I'm not sure who you'll identify most with this week. The Pharisees, the teachers of the law, the confused disciples, Judas Iscariot perhaps, the Roman centurion, the thief on the cross, or the ladies who grieve at the tomb.

Every single one of these characters, every single person in human history, and every single one of us in this room, and every single one of you watching online, there is a few things that we all have in common. We all have idolatrous hearts of stone that cannot be turned into hearts of flesh by effort or by adherence to religious conformity.

And we cannot save ourselves from idolatry. We cannot help ourselves. We are prone to worship the created things rather than the creator who is to be forever praised. We cannot save ourselves from hearts that are idolatrous. We cannot make our blind eyes see by our own effort. We cannot make our hardened hearts very soft.

And we cannot draw near to God by effort or by our own endeavoring of righteousness. We cannot do that. Atonement had to be made. Sin had to be defeated. And today I wanted to just reflect on idolatry. Spiritual heart transplants needed to be performed. And hardened hearts have to be made receptive and fertile supernaturally.

And each of these things we'll be reflecting deeply on over the course of this week, and especially through this weekend, as we understand that we cannot come to God on our terms, but we serve a God who is gracious and compassionate, just slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness.

He draws near to us. But if we're not careful, we may reject this God and not know it. Because the heart that seeks the Lord and the heart that desires to use the Lord on the surface may look the same. So my hope and my prayer for our congregation is that over the course of this week, that our hearts would grow more and more broken over our sin, over our flaws, over our desperation.

That they would become much more receptive yet again with the constant reminders that holy God came down to meet man, sinful man, through the atoning work of his one and only beloved son. So by the time we get to Friday, that Jesus' trials, his floggings, and his crucifixion would serve to remind us that we are absolutely and utterly just desperate, and that we cannot help but to rely on the grace and the goodness of God.

So that on Sunday when we're reminded that sin and death have been defeated, there will be shouts of acclamation and shouts of joy from people who understand their depravity, but understand better the great and mighty love of our good God and heavenly Father. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, we need you.

There are elements of every flawed and foolish character in scriptures that we see in our own hearts. We are no better than these flawed religious leaders who dare to challenge you. And we are here simply because you've opened our eyes, you've softened our hearts, you've reached out and drawn near.

It's your kindness, we confess, that has led us to repentance. But our flesh is weak, Lord. The things of this world have great appeal. And we are constantly tricked and deceived and enticed to look to the things around us. And we're tempted to use you for our gain. So we pray that this week would strengthen our spiritual legs, would open wider our spiritual eyes, so that we would understand a little bit better what it means to worship you in spirit and in truth.

Thank you, Lord, for just your kindness and patience. In Jesus' name we pray. Why don't we all stand for our closing praise. Purify my heart, let me be as gold and precious silver. Purify my heart, let me be as gold, pure gold, refiners fine. My heart's one desire is to be holy.

Set apart for you, Lord, I choose to be holy. Set apart for you, my master, ready to do your will. Purify my heart. Purify my heart. Cleanse me from within and make me holy. Purify my heart. Cleanse me from my sin deep within, refiners fine. My heart's one desire is to be holy.

Set apart for you, Lord, I choose to be holy. Set apart for you, my master, ready to do your will. Refiners fine. Refiners fine. My heart's one desire is to be holy. Set apart for you, Lord, I choose to be holy. Set apart for you, my master, ready to do your will.

Father, we thank you for just a good Monday evening, and we pray that each and every day this week, as we just reflect and pray on our own and as we gather to reflect together, I pray that you really would cause our hearts to grow in greater appreciation of you and that our lives would reflect this gratitude.

We love you, Lord. Thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, see you guys tomorrow. And good night for all of you guys at home.