The Temper Comes Calling

Well, please do have a seat.

It sounded like the strangest chant I think I've ever been involved with.

It was beautiful.

But Jesus is the Son of God, and we come to his word this morning expectant.

So can I invite you now to turn to Luke chapter 4,

Luke 4 · chapter mention

and let's finish our reading for this morning,

reading from verse 1 of chapter 4 down to verse 13.

Verse 1 of chapter 4, Luke writes this,

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil.

He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

And the devil said to him,

If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.

Jesus answered,

It is written,

Man shall not live on bread alone.

The devil led him up to a high place,

and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

And he said to him,

I will give you all their authority and splendor.

It has been given to me,

and I can give it to anyone I want.

If you worship me,

it will all be yours.

Jesus answered,

It is written,

Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.

If you are the Son of God, he said,

throw yourself down from here,

for it is written,

He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully.

They will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against the stone.

Jesus answered,

It is said,

Do not put the Lord your God to the test.

When the devil had finished all this tempting,

he left him until an opportune time.

Amen.

This is God's word to us this morning.

Let's just pause for a brief moment,

and let's pray together.

Father, we thank you so much for this morning.

Lord, thank you for the gift of being able to sing your praises,

that you are the incomparable,

you are the indescribable God.

And our prayer, Father,

now as we come to your words,

is that you would blow our minds

with the greatness,

the incomparable greatness,

of your Son, Jesus Christ.

And it's in his name

that we make this prayer.

Amen.

Well, it's fantastic to see so many new faces this morning,

and so many returning faces as well,

and so many familiar faces.

It's wonderful to be here together as a church family.

If you are joining us this morning for the first time,

as John said,

you're joining us one sermon in.

This is the second sermon of this new series we're on in Luke's Gospel.

We're just going to be spending the next while as a church,

and our morning service is just hanging out in Luke's Gospel,

spending time getting to know this man, Jesus Christ.

Dr. Luke,

Dr. Luke, the good doctor,

he's taking the time to write this Gospel

so that Theophilus would have,

and so that we would have as his readers,

certainty about this man, Jesus Christ.

This is why he's written this thing,

certainty.

His generation,

he wants certainty.

Every generation following it,

we are included in that.

He wants them to have certainty about Jesus Christ,

who he is,

what he did,

what he's all about,

and why that infinitely matters for your life,

and my life.

This is the story of Jesus Christ.

And we began last week by looking at John the Baptist.

We met him in the first half of Luke chapter 3,

Luke 3 · chapter mention

and we saw that John the Baptist was the great preparer,

the great forerunner, if you like,

the voice in the wilderness,

whom God had sent as God had promised

to get people ready for the coming of the Messiah.

And we thought about the fact that John was kind of like a best man.

He didn't want the spotlight to shine on him,

he wanted the spotlight to go over him

to the one who was to come.

That's John the Baptist.

And if John the Baptist,

we thought,

was a bit like a best man,

well here,

verse 21,

Jesus the groom,

steps into the limelight.

Question is,

what will Jesus be like as we meet him here

at the outset of his public ministry?

Well, a few months ago,

I had,

or we had the pleasure rather,

of taking a family holiday down in Cornwall.

Anyone meet to Cornwall?

Keep your hands up.

Have you driven from Edinburgh to Cornwall?

Nan has.

Deb has.

A few of us have.

Okay, can you join with me in telling everybody that it's a long way?

Yeah?

The road, it just keeps on going.

Now, I would love to stand here and tell you that I had 10 hours of sparkling conversation in me on that road trip.

But I don't.

So what do you do when you don't have conversation on a car journey?

You stick on the radio, don't you?

You stick on the radio,

and you listen to what's on there.

My wife, Alex, she's determined to make a cultured man of me.

So now and again, we ditch the football phone in on 5 Live and we head to Radio 4.

So we're listening to Radio 4 on this car journey and we're tuning in to what I think was the Today program on Radio 4.

And it's two days after the Brexit referendum.

And they're having a phone in.

They're having a phone in.

I love phone in.

So they're having a phone in.

And they're inviting callers to phone up and tell the whole listening audience how they are feeling,

their concerns, their thoughts, their doubts.

And we're listening to this phone in.

And we're listening to this one caller who phones in.

The presenter says, what's your concern, caller?

And the caller, as he perceives the world around about him that's changed so much,

not just Brexit, the whole thing, the whole world that he doesn't understand,

his comment is, we're in a mess.

We're in a mess.

The presenter says back to him, what are we going to do about the mess?

And he says, we need a leader.

We need a leader who's going to take us out of our mess.

Now think about that sentence for a minute.

Brexit aside, is that sentence our sentence?

This morning, is that sentence your sentence?

As you look out on the world out there, as you think about the contours of your life,

as you look out on the world, as we see it in our TV screens every day,

the conflict, poverty, famine, the mess of this world.

And then you look at your own heart,

and you don't even know where to begin with the mess that's going on in your own heart

and in your own life.

The thoughts, the words, the deeds.

It's not true that we live in a messy, messy world.

I wonder if you are like me.

Every time I see the mess,

every time I experience the mess,

there's a bit inside me that thinks,

where is the leader who is going to take us out of this mess?

Where is he coming from?

Now what do we need in a leader?

What do we need in a leader?

We need a leader who is not like us.

He's not of the mess.

He is outside the mess.

And he will come in and deliver us from the mess

because he's not tainted by the mess.

And we need a leader who will not just look on at a distance to the mess,

but will come and be involved in our mess.

And we need a leader who will succeed in the mess

where you and I fail every day in the mess.

That's the kind of leader that we need.

So where are we going to find such a leader?

Great question.

I'd argue it's humanity's question ever since the fall in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Where is that king coming from?

Well, here's what we need to understand this morning.

And here's what Luke is doing in these verses.

He is showing us that Jesus is that leader.

Jesus is that leader.

In fact, he's more than a leader.

He's a king.

He's a king who has come down from above,

not to lord it over us,

but to step into our mess and rescue us.

That's what Jesus has come to do.

It's what the angels told the shepherds at Jesus' birth.

Chapter 2, verse 11, if you've got it there.

What do they say?

Today in the town of David, a saviour has been born to you.

It's what Simeon, this devout man that we meet in chapter 2,

waiting on God's Messiah to come.

He meets the baby Jesus and he holds him in his hands

and he exclaims,

I have seen your salvation, God.

Jesus is the saviour of the world.

This is what Luke's trying to be.

He's been dropping the breadcrumbs up to this point of the gospel.

Jesus is the saviour of the world.

So when it comes to finding that leader,

this is what we need to understand this morning.

What is Luke doing?

He's showing us that Jesus fits the bill.

Jesus fits the bill.

Come with me to verse 21 of chapter 3.

And see that Luke shows us that verses 21 and 22,

with Jesus' baptism,

that Jesus has a name that we don't have.

So in these verses, Luke tells us about Jesus' baptism.

John is baptising in the wilderness

and as the crowds of people respond to his message,

as they repent of their sins,

as they turn to God, they are baptised.

And Jesus also is baptised.

Now, let's just pause there for a minute.

Why is Jesus being baptised?

Is he repenting of sins?

Of course he's not.

Jesus is the perfect one.

There's no sins that he needs to repent of.

He's not repenting of sins.

So what is he doing getting baptised?

Well, here is our Saviour Jesus Christ

identifying with sinful men and women.

You see, here is a leader who is getting involved,

who is stepping right into the heart of the mess

of the very people that he came to save.

And as he is baptised,

what does Luke record for us at verse 22?

That the heavens opened

and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus

and the voice comes from heaven,

you are my son.

Who is this man?

He is none other than God's eternal son.

Now, one of my hobbies is reading.

I know it was something you always put in your CV

when you were young

and you never actually were into reading,

but you wanted the employer to know you were into reading.

But I am actually into reading.

So every time I go to a bookshop

and I pick up a book that I want to buy

or I go into Amazon

and I click the thing that lets you see the first few pages,

do you know the thing that I'm looking for every time is?

Is the endorsements page.

I want to see this book.

I want to see who's putting their name to this book.

I want to see who has read this book

and is recommending that I read this book

and purchase this book.

Because if it's a name that I trust

and I know and I respect

and I'm buying that book,

but if it's a name that I don't recognize,

if it's a name that doesn't really mean anything to me,

then I probably will put it back on the shelf.

I'm a guy who's into endorsements

when it comes to buying books.

What is going on in Luke chapter 3?

Luke 3 · chapter mention

Who is endorsing to me the son?

Answer, God is.

This is,

my son is the voice from heaven,

is the cry from heaven.

It's a deliberate echo of the language of Psalm 2,

the great psalm about God's chosen king.

And with that backdrop,

do you see that this baptism here

is less like a kind of religious service?

And actually,

it's a lot more like a king's coronation.

Here is heaven's king,

says the voice from above.

And how does God feel about his son?

He loves his son.

And he is well pleased with his son.

Jesus Christ gets heaven's affection

and heaven's commendation.

Luke is showing us that Jesus,

as we meet him here,

is coming with heaven's endorsement.

And would you notice that

all three members of the Trinity,

of the Godhead,

are involved in this section of Luke's gospel?

They're all involved here

in the plan of salvation.

You see, the truth is here

that God hasn't just advised

about the plan to save men and women

from their mess.

He hasn't just got the ball rolling.

He's not just financing this gig

to save men and women

from their mess.

He's not just an interested party,

an investor,

in the plan to save people

from the mess.

God is the plan

to save people

from their mess.

That is what's going on here

in this section.

Charles Spurgeon said this,

from the depths

of divine compassion

come the gift

of the only begotten son.

That's what's going on here.

God is stepping in.

Here is God's son.

Here is God's eternal king.

You see, our mess,

to solve it,

the leader,

we need a leader

who is not like us.

Here is one who is

God's eternal son,

says Luke.

Here's one who is fully divine.

See, Jesus Christ,

as we meet him here,

he's got a name

that we don't have.

And secondly,

verses 23 to 37

of chapter 3,

the genealogy,

that I'm sure

we've never read

like that before,

Luke shows us

that Jesus has

a lineage

that we do have.

And to help us see that,

Luke tells us

Jesus' family tree.

That's what was going on there

in these verses.

Luke tells us

about Jesus' family tree.

Now why

has Luke

included

a family tree

at this section?

Great question.

Full of great questions

this morning.

Great question.

Why is it there?

Well, I was speaking

to a pastor

the other day

and he was telling me

a wonderful story

about a group

of Bible translators

who were working

in the Philippines.

And these Bible translators

were working

to translate

Luke's gospel

from English

into the native tongue

of the people

who they were amongst.

Days passed,

months passed,

they were slogging

away at this,

translating it

and reading it

every day to the people.

And if truth be told,

they had not seen

one single ounce

of inspiration

from the people.

They weren't that

interested in Luke's gospel.

They'd almost translated

the whole thing

except they hadn't

translated this part

of Luke's gospel.

They hadn't translated it

because why would people

need to know

about a bunch of names?

It's probably what we thought

this morning

as we came to this passage.

Why do people

need to know?

And so they thought

to themselves,

we've got nothing to lose,

we may as well

translate the genealogy.

And would you know it,

as they read this out

to the people,

as they translated it

and read it out,

the people applauded,

they clapped

and they cheered.

Fascinating.

Why did they do that?

Well, people were hearing

for the first time

in their native language,

in their native tongue,

that Jesus Christ

was not a mythical figure.

He was one

who had a family tree

and was one

who was truly

one of us.

Maybe that's a word

for some of us

this morning.

But here is one

who can sympathize

with us

in every single weakness.

He is God

in the flesh.

He is one

who is unstained

by the mess,

yes,

but what a glorious truth

that he is one

who can sympathize

with those

who are living

in the mess

because he knows

what it means

to be in the mess.

You see,

Luke is telling us

that Jesus Christ

is not just a savior

for a certain demographic,

for a certain group

of people.

Jesus Christ

is the savior

of the entire human race.

For all those men

and women around the globe,

boys and girls,

who would come

and put their faith

and trust in him

as their savior,

he is their savior.

That's what Luke

is telling us there.

But if that's all

we take away

from that genealogy,

then I think

we're probably

just falling

a little bit short

of the entirety

of doing Luke's,

of what Luke

is trying to do there.

Look at the last name

on the list

at verse 38.

The son of Adam.

Now why is Adam

in there?

Well, of course,

it's with Adam's rebellion,

Adam's failure

in the Garden of Eden

to worship God fully,

Adam's failure

to resist the lure

of Satan

that sin enters

the creation equation,

and what God

had made

as good,

as perfect,

is now marred

with brokenness,

frustration,

and mess.

And we read it

in Genesis 3.15

that God addresses

Satan,

and what does he promise?

He promises

that one of Adam's

descendants

is going to come

and end

the reign of sin.

He's going to defeat

Satan

and defeat

his power.

Genesis 3.15,

what do we see?

That God promises

the serpent crusher

who will come

from Adam's line,

and God says

to the serpent,

he will crush

your heads,

and you will

bruise his heel.

So from that point

on in the Bible story,

we're asking ourselves

the question,

where is this

serpent crusher?

And in passing,

notice just one other

name on this list.

Notice David

at verse 31,

Israel's greatest

and most celebrated

king,

and God had promised

David in 2 Samuel 7,

it's recorded for us,

where David is thinking

about building a temple

for God,

and what does God say?

No, David,

I'm going to build

a temple for you.

I'm going to build

my temple,

and I will ensure

that one of your

descendants

will establish

the kingly throne,

and will sit on that

throne and rule

forever.

And David dies,

and his son Solomon

dies,

and as the kingdom

of Israel crumbles,

we're left thinking

to ourselves

as the readers,

where is this

promised king?

Where is this king

who will come

from David's line

and who will sit

on the throne

of David as a king,

God's king,

and do that forever?

So let's pull Adam

and David together.

What is Luke telling us?

That Jesus

is in that line.

That Jesus

is that promised

serpent crusher.

That Jesus

is the descendant

of David

who will rule

as a king forever.

Jesus Christ

is God's

promised king.

When God

promises something,

God delivers.

See,

we need a leader

who is

not like us,

but we need

a leader

who is

like us.

Here is one

who is

fully divine,

says Luke,

and here is one

who is fully human.

Jesus

fits

the bill.

He is a name

that we don't have

and he has

a lineage

that we do have.

And thirdly,

Luke wants us

to know

that Jesus

is the king

who has

the victory

that we need,

that we must have.

Chapter 4,

verses 1 to 13.

And it's no coincidence

that Luke takes us

from thinking about

Adam,

in verse 38

of chapter 3,

straight into

the temptation

in chapter 4.

Adam,

in the garden

of Eden,

he lost

his battle

with Satan.

He succumbed

to the lure

of sin

and as a result

he is banished

from the garden

and he's sent

into the wilderness

as it were.

That's where

mankind's been

ever since,

in the wilderness.

And so where

is Jesus here?

He's not in a garden.

Actually,

he's in the wilderness.

And he's there

by choice,

will you notice,

in passing.

He's there

by the Spirit's

leading.

He's not there

by accident.

He's not there

hitting his faulty

sat-nav saying,

I knew I should have

updated the software

before I left

this morning.

He's there

by choice.

You see,

yes,

we see Jesus

on the defensive

here,

but that defensive

is in the context

of him being

on the offensive.

Jesus is there

by choice.

And what is he doing?

Well,

there's a purpose

to what he's doing.

Luke wants us

to see that

Jesus goes

to the wilderness

to defeat

the enemy,

to win the battle,

to undo the effects

of the battle

that Adam lost.

And the battle

that all humanity

ever since,

and the battle

that you

and I

lose

every moment

of every day.

and Jesus

goes there

to take on

the greatest

enemy

and to defeat

him

by defeating

him,

rescuing people

from the position

and the mess

that sin

has left us

in.

And this battle

sees the devil

tempt Jesus.

We get three

little accounts

of it.

Firstly,

verse 3,

to a hungry

entire Jesus.

Look with me.

What is the devil?

What does he go for?

If you are

the son of God,

let's turn

these stones

into bread.

Now what's the devil

up to there?

Well, he's questioning

Jesus' identity,

isn't he?

Has anyone ever

questioned your identity

of something that

you know is true

about you

and your first

reaction is,

yes I am?

We don't see Jesus

doing that here.

What's the devil

doing?

He's trying to get

Jesus to doubt

God's provision

and doubt

God's goodness.

You see,

Adam in the garden,

he had absolutely

everything going

for him.

He had absolutely

everything that he

could ever want

and yet he

and Eve,

they doubted

the goodness

of God.

What did the devil

say then?

Did God really say?

As if to say,

can you really

trust God?

Adam who had

everything going

for him,

Jesus here has

quite literally

absolutely nothing

going for him.

And what does he do?

He trusts

in the goodness

and he trusts

in the provision

of God.

You see,

Jesus will not

fail where Adam

failed and where

you fail and where

I fail.

What does he say?

God is good

and his word

is good

and man shall

not live by bread

alone.

And the second

temptation,

verses 6 to 7,

what does the devil

say?

If you worship me,

all authority and

splendor will be

yours.

All authority

and splendor.

And I'll be honest,

I found it quite

difficult this week

understanding what's

going on here.

I'm indebted to a

guy called

Sinclair Ferguson

for helping me to

see what's going

on here.

Because the devil,

as he offers Jesus

all authority and

splendor,

not only does the

devil not have

all authority and

splendor,

but that's already

all authority and

splendor is already

coming to Jesus

later on.

He knows it's

coming,

he knows it's his,

so what's the devil

trying to do here?

Well, he's trying

to offer Jesus a

shortcut to all

authority and

splendor.

You see, that road

to all authority

and splendor,

it is a road that

goes via the cross,

not around the

cross.

Devil offers Jesus

a shortcut to that

authority and

splendor.

Jesus says,

no, I know what

I've come to do.

Jesus will not

fail where Adam

failed and where

you fail and where

I fail.

Worship the Lord,

your God,

and serve him

only, says

Jesus.

Third temptation

at verse 9,

if you are the

Son of God,

throw yourself down

from here.

After all, is that

not what God's

promised in the

scriptures that you

love to quote to

me?

But no, Jesus will

not fail where

Adam failed and

where you fail and

where I fail.

What does he say?

Do not put the

Lord, your God,

to the test.

Jesus wins in the

wilderness.

He wins in the

wilderness.

Praise God that he

wins in the

wilderness because it

is massively

significant, as we'll

come on to see in

just a second.

But incidentally,

notice in passing

how Jesus wins in

the wilderness.

I don't think that's

the immediate purpose

of why Luke is

recording this for us

here, but we can't

help but notice it

as we read it.

What does Jesus arm

himself with?

How does Jesus

defend himself?

Every time he gives

an answer, what does

he say?

Verse 4,

it is written.

Verse 8, it is

written.

Verse 12, it is

said or it is

written.

Jesus defends

himself with

scripture.

Or more

particularly in this

case, he defends

himself with

Deuteronomy.

Jesus knows what

God has said.

And Jesus knows

what God has not

said.

Jesus knows the

real deal and

Jesus knows the

fake.

I was here this

week about the

U.S.

Secret Service.

I've never been

part of the U.S.

Secret Service, but

I heard a story this

week that I didn't

know.

U.S.

Secret Service, I've

got two jobs.

Firstly, defend the

president.

Secondly, defend the

currency.

Did anybody actually

know that?

Nope, we didn't know

that either.

Great, we're learning

stuff this morning.

Defend the

president, defend

the currency.

How do you

recognize fake

money?

How do you

recognize a faulty

transaction?

By being so in

touch with the

real deal that you

spot the fake a

mile off.

Same for us as

Christians, is it

not?

As we take our

stand against the

schemes of the

devil who would

seek to steer us

off course and away

from worshiping our

God.

How do we know

what God has said?

By immersing

ourselves in the

scriptures.

By getting our

noses in the

Bibles.

Because it's not

going to go in by

osmosis, is it?

It's not like if I

hold it there and I

just stare at it

funny that it's

going to go in.

We need to work at

this.

Because Jesus worked

at this.

We need to get this

into our minds.

We read God's

words.

We meditate on

God's word.

We devote ourselves

to learning God's

words.

And we find times in

our massively busy

schedules to make

that happen.

Pull out all the

stops to make that

happen.

Read it with

friends.

That's why home

groups, small

groups are such a

vital part of what

we do here is we

encourage each other

with God's words.

Find ways of getting

God's word into your

bloodstream.

It was said of the

old Puritan John

Bunyan, most famous

for writing Pilgrim's

Progress, that his

peers used to joke

that if you pricked

him, he would bleed

the Bible.

That's what they

used to say of that

man.

Would that not be a

wonderful thing to

someone to say about

you?

But more than that, I

think that's exactly

what we can see and

say about Jesus here.

That he breathed

scripture.

That he lived it.

He breathed it.

He trusted it.

And when trial came, he

wielded it and used it.

And where Adam was

faithless, and where you

and I are faithless,

Jesus was faithful.

Where Adam failed, Jesus

succeeded.

You see, that is what

Jesus has come to do.

To live a life of

worship to God, to

defeat the schemes of

the devil, to defeat the

power of sin.

And by doing that, to

deliver his people from

the rain of darkness.

You see, Jesus, by his

perfect obedience, he

wins the victory that his

people needs.

And when I trust in him,

when we trust in him as

our king, living for us,

pleading for us before

the Father, his victory

becomes our victory.

This is the king that we

need.

This is the leader that we

need.

Here is Jesus, not like us

of the mess, but one with

us in the mess.

And one who has come to

win the victory that you

and I couldn't win for

ourselves.

Here is God's king, says

Luke, as he introduces

them here.

You know, I was telling

you just about Radio 4.

Let's go back to Radio 4.

I love Radio 4 now.

Radio 4 caller.

He called up and he said,

there's a mess.

We need a leader who's

going to take us out of

the mess.

Well, the presenter turns

around the very next

question and says, who is

that leader?

I wonder what you would

answer to that question.

Who is that leader?

Caller said, don't know.

All I know is that we're

in a mess and we need a

leader who's going to take

us out of the mess.

Let me ask you this morning,

are you in the hunt for a

leader?

Are you aware of your mess?

Do you feel the pain of

living in a messy world?

Luke says, here is the king

who has come to deliver you

from that mess.

Trust in him.

Come to him.

I was reading this story

this week in this book by

Tim Keller called Walking

with God through pain and

suffering.

It's a chunky book.

It's got a cracking cover.

Great endorsement.

It's worth a read.

Reading this book by Tim

Keller this week and he's

got real stories from real

people at the end of his

chapters as he teases out

what the Bible is saying

about this stuff.

You can come and borrow it

off me when we finish.

Let me read this story to

you from a woman called

Mary.

Mary's life, I'm presuming

she's American, I'm not

sure.

Mary's life is a life of

mess.

From dysfunctional parents.

From violent partners.

You can read it here.

A string of broken

relationships.

Her own family, her own

children being arrested.

And on top of that, complex

and terminal health problems.

Mary's life is a mess.

Some of it are a result of

our own sin.

Some of it are a result of

just experiencing the pain

of living in a messy and

broken world.

I'd love to sit here, stand

here and read you this

Cinderella story.

Like that's how it's going

to end.

Like she tries on the

golden stripper.

She meets the guy.

She goes to the ball and

everything's happy ever

after.

But this is what Mary

writes.

Life has not changed.

But God is changing me.

I have come to believe that

life will not always be as

it is now.

I find even more comfort in

being able to stop focusing

on all the heartache.

And instead focus on the one

who will someday take that

heartache away completely and

forever.

I spent my entire life looking

for and never finding a

recipe to go from despair to

hope.

It did not come from anything

I did or didn't do.

No.

Hope comes not in the

solution to the problem but

on focusing on Christ, the

one who facilitates the

change.

You see Mary knows what it's

like to live in a messy

world.

And Luke tells us this

morning that we are messed

up people.

We are messed up people living

messed up lives in a mess

messed up world.

But here is Jesus Christ, the

leader who fits the bill and

the leader who has come as

God's king, the savior of the

world to come and to rescue us

from our mess.

And Luke says, come.

Come to Jesus Christ.

Come and see him for who he is.

Come to him as you are and come

to him and say, Jesus be my king.

Save me from my mess.

Here is God's leader, says Luke.

And just before we stand to sing

our final song, let's just have a

moment of quiet.

And let's pause and just reflect on

what we've been hearing this morning

from God's word.

Maybe for many of us, your heart's

cry is, thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus, for what you've

done for me.

Maybe for some of us this morning,

a cry of our hearts is, I need you,

Jesus.

But whoever you are, whatever's going

on in your life this now, just take

this moment of quiet and bring your

prayers to our great God this

morning.

Mercy and grace are mine.

Forgiven is my sin.

Jesus, my only hope, the savior of

the world.

Great is the Lord, we cry.

God, let your kingdom come.

Your word has let me see.

Thank you for saving me.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being the

savior who came to rescue us from our

mess.

By your spirit working in us, would you

this week help us to know you more,

help us to trust you more, and help us

to love you more.

Our gracious father, this is our prayer

in our savior's name.

Amen.

Amen.