Matthew 20:17–34 | Kingdom Now: Serve Like Jesus, Pray Like a Beggar

I realize that sometimes listening to me

is like getting a drink of water out of out of a fire hose.

And so I apologize if it comes across that way.

I'm a little bit on edge because football season has started.

Had an exuberant time of Chilean cornhole last night.

My competitive juices are flowing a little bit, and I'm

so excited about what God is doing in this church.

I was doing a little bit of research this week

about this next gen ministry and age group,

and specifically Gen Z millennials

and Gen alphas, and what I, what I found was this Barna

in their research in the first six months of this year, reports that 39% of the Gen

Z generation, which is right up to about 29, 30 years old,

and 44% of the millennial generation consider AI.

For spiritual guidance

to be as trustworthy as pastors.

Don't. Don't listen.

Just hang tight. Don't bemoan anything yet.

One what's that say to those who are Gen Z and millennials amongst us?

Don't bemoan it.

Because here's the other stat.

Nearly half of all practicing Christians,

regardless of age, say they would trust AI

in some capacity to help determine and develop their spiritual growth.

That's nothing to do with age.

And so here's here's

the church must not adopt an anti AI position.

That cannot be our position as a church.

It can't be our position as Christ followers.

What the congregation, what the church needs

is a theology to understand the role of AI.

We don't need to deny it.

We need a theology about it.

And so we have to understand that, well, AI is valuable.

AI cannot shepherd a soul.

It has no spiritual authority.

It cannot create a conscience. It is not community.

And it must never be a substitute for careful interpretation of Scripture.

It can

give great information, but it cannot give wisdom.

And so here's, here's here's our here's

our our our view of of AI.

It is here to stay is just going to grow larger and its influence.

But here's here's the Christians view of AI.

Scripture governs all things.

It starts and ends with Scripture.

Pastors teach and shepherd.

They teach Scripture, and they shepherd the people.

The church affirms what Scripture is taught and the teaching

of its pastors and the technology and AI simply assists in that process.

Do we all understand?

This is this is specially matters to our Gen X

and Gen Alpha generation, because they'll oftentimes go to

and consult technology before seeking Scripture

and speak impersonally to a parent, pastor or a mentor.

The danger is that while AI can give great information,

it cannot give wisdom, but it's often the first voice most people trust.

And so this is one reason,

my dear friends, why this flip side flow is so important.

Because this has to do with relationships with each other and with God,

not technology.

While there is a noticeable increase

in and rise and engagement of younger adults in faith,

there is not at all any rise or increase

in the disciplines and the development of their spiritual formation.

So they're interested, but there's no development.

Fewer Christians today

than two decades ago say that faith organizes

their everyday life, and they're less engaged in evangelism

and less consistent in church participation week by week.

So the interest is growing, but the discipline and formation is not.

And that's why this flip side flow is so important,

because we're invited to belong to the family of God by faith,

expressed that in baptism and being a part of a church community

every week

so that we can become more of the image of Christ

and learn the disciplines necessary for that in Bible reading and journaling

and being a part of a small group and spiritual disciplines, so that we can

give to the Kingdom of God, of our time, our talent, our resources, our energies.

Because the Kingdom becomes a priority and we go on mission and our witnesses

to the world because they need to be invited to belonging to his family.

Do you understand this?

This flip side flow?

There are real practical ways to help Christians become biblically

literate, prayerful, generous,

sexually and morally obedient,

to be a part of a Christian community,

to be servants, to be witnesses, and to be spiritually durable.

And so this is why we said, you're going to see this a lot.

You have them in front of you, understand where you are on this flow,

and understand what your next steps are for your own spiritual development.

That's why this next gen thing is so important,

why the young adult ministry is so important,

why these things are doing with men and women are so important.

It forms the spiritually and it makes us good models for the younger generation.

Is that clear? Yeah.

So Matthew 20, we're going through the book of Matthew.

We're not going to get through the book of Matthew until right before

Christmas, that we're just taking our time going through this.

And so we're in Matthew 20.

We started Matthew 20 last week. We're going to finish it this week.

Last week we talked in Matthew 20 about the difference

between gifts and rewards and how salvation is a gift of God.

And a gift is something that is given freely.

You don't earn it. You don't work for you don't pay for it.

Salvation is a gift by faith because of God's grace.

And after salvation, now comes the opportunity for rewards.

Jesus says, now that your the received the gift of salvation.

Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

And so there will be rewards that will be based on what we do on earth,

how we serve, how we give, how we minister, how we how we suffer,

those that will all be rewarded in heaven.

It's not salvation. Salvation not based on what we do.

That's the free gift.

But rewards are based on what we do on earth.

And from Monday morning,

Jesus was very clear store for yourself treasures in heaven.

We talked about what that looks like as far as rewards are

and what gets rewarded and what doesn't in heaven.

And so from Monday morning until this morning, there have been men

and women and young and old in this church storing up treasures in heaven

because they've been serving very well.

There have been many people, many of you have been storing up treasures in heaven.

There are some who have who

for them, it looks like the renovation of all the stuff that's going on here.

They're serving behind the scenes, faithfully stirring up treasures

in heaven.

For some, it's been

they've been visiting people who need visits

on behalf of the church they've been witnessing.

I just someone just told me I saw one of your people at the pool that to serve at

witnessing and sharing faith with someone, I'm like, it's treasures in heaven.

It's really cool.

There are some of you been involved in ministry

throughout the week and this morning, first service during the service

and for next service. Stronger treasures in heaven.

Some of you have used your gifts and ability

in the organization of all things the event, the prayer thing,

the children's, the ministry stored up treasures in heaven by your organization.

Some of you showed up this morning to set up this stuff.

Didn't just show up outside.

These guys show up there strong up churches in heaven by their service

in the morning.

Our sheepdog ministry,

the ones that you never see

who have responsibility for our safety and well-being should anything happen

there, all around this campus, every service and every event.

And they just they know that there isn't anything.

That's how they're serving the Lord. They're treasures in heaven.

And they understand what Jesus said. The last will be first.

Those who were unseen will be seen there.

And I'm so proud of you.

I'm so thank you, church, for your service.

Thank you for stirring up churches in heaven.

Well done. Keep it up. Lean into it.

So that was the first section of Matthew 20.

We really kind of leaned into that last week.

So this week and we're going to round out Matthew 24 verse 17

Matthew 24:17

on through the last of the chapter.

And chapter 20 sets up the rest of Jesus's earthly life.

Everything from chapter 21 on

is all about the last week of his life, his death, and his resurrection.

And so to wrap this up, here's today

we're going to see two kingdoms in conflict with each other,

the personal

kingdom of our own agenda and God's kingdom.

And we're going to see what characterizes both.

So here's the big idea for this second half of chapter 20.

Here's what boils down to Kingdom of greatness is found in serving like Jesus

and seeking him in humble, persistent prayer Kingdom greatness.

Now the Hall of Fame game just happened with the NFL.

There was the great induction into the hall.

People in all of fame, Luke Keely and Sean Payton or Drew Brees and these guys.

The greatest that the NFL had to offer in this class.

That's what worldly greatness looks like.

You championed me because I'm better than you.

You celebrate me because of what I've accomplished.

That's different than kingdom greatness.

Kingdom greatness says you want to be great.

Then follow the example of Jesus and serve

and pursue

him in humble, persistent prayer.

And so let's just jump in here.

I'm going to start in verse 17 and 17, 18, 19.

Then we'll talk about it and we'll just go through the chapter,

verse 17.

And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside.

And on the way he said to them, see, we're going up to Jerusalem,

and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes.

They will condemn him to death.

Who will condemn him to death

and deliver him over to the Gentiles, to be mocked and flogged and crucified.

And he'll be raised on the third day.

Jesus is saying, listen, I want you to understand

what we're walking into right now.

He's walking into the last week of his life.

He knows this.

And he says, the way of the kingdom is the way of the cross.

There is no Christianity without the cross.

There is no Christian without the cross, not just the cross of Christ,

but the cross that we have to pick up every day to

the way of the Kingdom is the way of the cross.

It's the way of suffering.

It's the way of serving

that is kingdom living.

And Jesus is very clear with them about what's going to happen.

The way of the kingdom is the way of the cross

and then the resurrection.

But the cross has to come first.

It's interesting as you look

at what he says, he lays out for them five things that are going to happen.

He says, I'm, I'm going to Jerusalem.

And when I'm there, these things are going to happen to me.

He knows it.

Betrayed, condemned,

mocked, flogged, crucified.

He knows it.

This is not going to be surprised. Him.

He knows ahead of time.

This is what I'm walking into.

I want you to walk with me.

I don't want you to participate in this.

Your time will come later.

But I want you to watch me do it.

Because this is my father's will.

And knowing that's where he's headed,

he keeps walking.

He doesn't try to skirt it.

He didn't try to get around it. He tries not to make excuses.

He doesn't try to back off.

He says, this is what's waiting for me.

I'm going to be delivered

in the hands of evil, evil men.

And they will condemn me and mock

me and flog me and crucify me on a Roman cross.

And I'm going to walk straight into the teeth of it.

This is the way of the kingdom.

Jesus is not surprised by the suffering he's going to face.

He embraces it.

So to follow

Jesus is to embrace his priorities rather than try

to avoid the hardship.

I'm going to embrace the priorities of Christ as model by Christ,

rather than to try to avoid the hardship of what it means

to be a radical disciple of Christ.

And he has this moment with his, with this.

12 and he presses into this, and,

and and this is the first place where he details how he's going to die.

He's told him before he's going to die.

But this was the first place in Scripture he says it's going to be by crucifixion,

the most brutal way designed for capital punishment that the world had known.

This ought

to be a shock to the disciples crucified.

Only Romans can crucify what?

How are the Romans going to get Ahold of you?

This makes no.

They should have felt a charge of adrenaline.

Jesus, if this is where you're headed, I am right by your side, I will.

There should have been this acknowledgment that we're.

This is sacred, holy ground.

Jesus said.

And listen, I want you to understand the call on

my life is to suffer for you and to die for you.

I will be resurrected, but it doesn't.

The resurrection doesn't happen without the cross.

This is what I'm walking into.

I want you to understand what it's going to cost me.

This is a sacred moment.

It's a holy moment. It's a power for a moment.

It's an intense moment. It's a passionate moment.

It's an emotional moment.

This is the way the kingdom.

This is the culmination of a kingdom life.

And then the response.

The disciples show how stupid they are.

You have this moment with Jesus,

this incredible,

this incredible moment

you're invited into with them.

Look at what happens

then.

The mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to her with her son.

This is just.

This is mind blowing.

Some freaking Jewish Karen comes up and says, hey!

These are grown men, James and John.

She's the mother of James.

These are grown men in tow behind mommy.

Like at some point have a freaking backbone, man.

Quit following mommy around and letting her plead your case.

You've heard about her mom's?

This is a Jewish bulldozer, mom. Right here.

This is ridiculous.

Look at what she says.

She came with the two sons, and before him,

she asked him for something, and he said to her.

What do you want? This.

That's the question I want you to pay attention to.

Jesus is going to ask another couple of people this exact same question.

And here's here's the thing.

He might be asking you this question right now.

He might be asking you, what do you want?

Why are. You here?

She said to him,

say to these two sons of mine, say that these two sons of mine

are to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your kingdom.

Those are places of prestige,

typical over involved bulldozer. Mom,

I want to make sure that you know how special my children are.

And I want to make sure that you treat them like they're supposed to be treated.

And I want to make sure

that you're honoring them the way I think they need to be honored.

And I want to make sure they get the right playing time.

And I want to make sure that you understand their issue.

I bet you didn't realize how

practical scripture is sometimes,

Jesus answers.

You don't know what you're asking.

I wonder.

This mom was at the cross

and she looked up and saw Jesus

with one on the right and one on the left.

And I wonder if that moment

she thought, I don't know what I'm asking.

Just as you do not know what you're asking.

And then he turns to the boy.

Since I was you able to drink the cup that I'm going to drink?

In the context, drinking the cup was the full participation with, he said,

do you really participate with me fully in what I'm about to participate in?

And in their ignorance, they said, yeah, we can take it.

And he said to them, verse 23, you will drink my cup,

but to sit on my right hand and my left is not for me to grant,

it's for those for whom it is being prepared by my father.

He said, all right, James and John, you will drink the cup.

James was the first disciple martyred

in the new church, beheaded John.

They tried to martyr him. They just couldn't.

They boiled him to death.

But he didn't die.

And then they sequestered him to the island of Patmos, a prison colony.

And that's where he received the revelation of God and wrote the Book

of Revelation and the three epistles, first, second, third John.

See, John knew that as long as he was on

God's agenda and God's plan, he was invincible.

But they both drank the cup.

And when the ten heard at verse 24, they were indignant at the two brothers.

But Jesus called them and said to them, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles

lorded over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

It shall not be so among you.

Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.

Whoever would be first among you must be your slave.

He says that. Got it? Tell us.

I just told you the way of the kingdom.

And now you're over here worried about your position

in the world.

That's how people who are not part of my kingdom live their lives.

That's not us.

That's not how we live.

It's not about your position.

It's not about your elevation.

It's not about your promotion.

So if you want to be great.

You'll be a servant.

That word servant, the Greek, is Diakonoff

and means literally minister.

It doesn't mean pastor.

That's a different word.

But servant means minister, which is someone who does

the menial work at the command of another.

That's kingdom

that if I'm a kingdom man,

I am doing the hard work

at the command of someone else.

I'm a servant.

It's a way of the kingdom.

Now, most of us would say, I don't mind serving.

I just don't want you to think of me as your servant.

Right?

I don't

mind serving, but don't you treat me like a servant.

Well,

the way of the kingdom is the way of a servant.

And then he goes further and he says, whoever you want

to, the Great One are the ones who will be the slaves.

And it literally means Dulos slave.

Literally.

It's someone who disregards their own

interests for the advancement of God's kingdom.

The way of the kingdom is the way of a servant

who does the work at the command of another,

and he sacrifices their agenda

for the advancement of the kingdom of God.

And these guys missed it completely.

Jesus just talked about dying

and the disciples are talking about promotion.

Do you notice how quickly the kingdom becomes about herself?

The key to this whole thing is verse 28.

And in verse 28

Jesus says, even as he says,

be a servant and be a slave, even as

the Son of Man came not to be served,

but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom.

That's the way of the kingdom.

It's the way of the cross, and it's the way of serving

and slavery

that my life is no longer about my agenda.

It's no longer about myself promotion.

It's no longer about my elevation.

It's about

I allow the Kingdom of God and the agenda to God to redirect

and read my life.

As a servant and a slave.

This guy's just missed it.

And I think we do sometimes.

Want to add Jesus to my life to make it better.

Says you missed it.

And then.

And then Matthew tells this other account,

and I think Matthew puts these two things right back to back

for a very important reason, because you had these 12

guys who saw Jesus, who literally them

and who missed them, and he had these two men who were blind,

who had no sight that saw him.

Look at what the Bible says.

Verse 20.

Oh, sorry, we already did that one.

Verse 29 and as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him.

And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside.

And when they heard Jesus passing by, they cried out, you notice they had to him

because he couldn't see him.

Little details.

They cried out, Lord, have mercy on a son of David.

And the crowd rebuked and tells him to be silent.

But they cried out all the more, Lord, have mercy on the Son of David.

What's the next word say?

And what?

What's this they say?

Answer with your mouth open. What's it say?

And stopping,

just notice

Jesus has just said, this is what I'm going into.

This is where I'm headed.

This is going to start in these next couple days.

This is the horrific evil that's going to be perpetrated against me.

His mind is set.

He is focused. He's determined.

Nothing is going to distract him.

And he's walking along and he hears this guy,

Son of David, have mercy.

And he stops.

And I love that about my Jesus.

That he will.

Stop.

For those who.

Cry out.

I've had so many people tell me, I don't know,

man, I know God's are like really busy.

Why is he going to like he's got so much? Like

if. You cry out,

he will stop.

Jesus called them and said, what do you want me to do for you?

The same question he. Asked.

James, John's mother.

Like I said, he might be asking you to that question today.

What do you want me to do?

Why are you here?

They said to him, Lord, let our eyes be open to Jesus in pity.

Touch their eyes, and immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Now this same account is told

in Mark and John, but it's told a little differently there.

In those gospel accounts it only says there's one blind person.

Matthew says, there's two.

I want to give you a little Bible knowledge, just so you're not caught off

guard by someone who doesn't understand the Bible.

There's no contradiction here in the least.

The purpose of Mark's writing and Mark will say,

there's one guy, and I think Mark was the one who calls this guy Bartimaeus.

Like they knew who he was.

Blame Bart.

And he says, there's one. Here's why.

Because Mark's gospel is written like a like a news report.

Just the facts.

Just give me the facts.

And the fact is, one man cried out, but there were two president.

And the reason

why Matthew says that there were two is because he was writing his gospel to Jews.

And for Jews, they had to have the testimony

of two people in order for something to be corroborated.

And so that's why Matthew says to and Mark and Luke say one.

There were probably two, but only one of them

spoke on behalf of both of them, and his name was Bartimaeus.

And so

Matthew puts these two stories together because he wants to show the juxtaposition

between those who had sight and proximity and who missed Christ,

and those who had no sight, but who were desperate

and who received him.

See, these blind men didn't simply just believe in Jesus.

They publicly pursued Jesus.

Their faith was visible, their faith was audible,

and their faith was.

The Bible says they cried out all the more,

Son of David, have mercy on us.

Shut up!

Like you don't have to be that brass.

Nobody needs to hear.

Nobody needs to like just God.

Nobody needs to see your thing.

Just quiet down.

You don't gotta take this whole thing so public and serious.

Just throttle it back.

And in response, even more. So

you want to shut me up?

You'll hear me more.

See, they were so desperate

that their desperation didn't care about who was around

and who was looking, and what everybody else thought.

They were desperate.

And sometimes desperation gets loud.

And some of you have been in those places,

you know, when you have been desperate

but yet so insecure.

You've never been loud.

These men had a need.

They were desperate, and they believed Jesus could.

And had they remained silent, the implications just would have walked on

by. But because they had a need

that they could meet, and because they were desperate enough

to cry out in front of everybody, Jesus stopped.

And he intervened.

And he did what nobody else could

because of his mercy,

their

arrogance and their pride could have kept them blind.

But their desperation and humility

was the touchpoint of their healing.

And I wonder how many here

Jesus is saying, what do you want me to do for you?

Are you desperate enough?

To cry out?

Our faith is meant to be expressed,

not merely possessed.

Some of us possess great faith, but

it's not really expressed in the public.

And that's not faith that moves mountains,

and that's not faith that gets healed.

They cried out,

no, what they didn't do, they didn't sit there

silent in their hearts, thinking, I know Jesus can and I'm just going to pray.

He hears my prayers, which he does 1,000%.

He does hears silent prayer.

Absolutely.

But there was such desperation

and then that their faith was impossible to ignore.

Faith cannot be ashamed

to be expressed and heard.

The crowd tried to silence them,

and they shouted all the more.

Their declaration of Son of David!

This was a this was a messianic title.

What they were saying is Jesus, we believe that you are the Son of God.

We believe in your DD.

We believe that you came to set the captives free, to heal the

the sick, to to free the oppressed, to open the eyes of the blind.

And we believe this is who you are.

This was not a safe statement for them to make.

The scribes and Pharisees hated you.

They were going to kill him in a week to align themselves with Jesus.

And the statement who Jesus was was putting them in the crosshairs of death.

They didn't care.

They weren't embarrassed.

They weren't.

They were the living example of Matthew ten.

So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge

before my father in heaven they lived it.

One of Satan's greatest victories

is convincing Christians that private prayer is

okay all the time.

Jesus does teach.

Go to your prayer closet in private.

The father who sees in private will reward you.

He teaches that absolutely.

There are times when you go to your prayer closet alone where nobody knows.

But that's not all the time.

The first church always prayed together.

Acts one, acts two, acts four, acts 12.

Over and over and over Bartimaeus shouted.

The tax collector cried out.

The church prayed together.

Paul prayed publicly.

The elders prayed publicly.

The apostles prayed publicly.

Listen.

Prayer is personal, but never intended to only be private.

There are times when it

must cry out in public.

Charles Spurgeon said this if a person will just come to

Jesus, he will find no stinginess in Jesus's healing

power.

I challenge you, show me anywhere in the scripture

where someone cried out to Jesus and he ignored them and walked by.

Now he walked by a lot of people who were in need

because they were silent.

But I don't see anywhere in Scripture where someone in desperation

cries out for Jesus and he ignores him and walks by.

And my question to you this morning is if Jesus were to ask you, what do you want?

Why are you here?

If you would just stay silent and he will walk by

or in desperation as a blind beggar, you will say, I have no hope.

I have no help. I am so desperate.

I don't care who sees.

I don't care who's around.

The healthiest thing for a church is that people pray with each other

after they've heard the Word of God, preached and taught and proclaimed.

There are so many Sundays,

and I know because you tell me

the stories of the healing that you need,

the surgeries that are upcoming, the marriages that are falling apart,

the kids that are wandering away, the health battles you're struggling,

the financial pit that you're in, and you tell me,

I know all of this desperation that you need God to do something.

And week after week, we have opportunity to go before God

with another person of God to approach God's throne of grace together in prayer.

And though there's desperation in your life,

there's a silence in your prayers, and you walk out hoping that

somebody at some point says some prayer for you.

And I just wonder

if there's enough desperation to cry out.

If God would stop.

Not because God can't hear silent prayer.

He absolutely does.

And every morning I go to my prayer closet and pray Scripture.

And for people buying, I know he hears me in the private place,

but public prayer says I need Jesus

and I am so desperate and I'm not ashamed to seek him.

Jesus said, my house will be a house of prayer.

See, prayer is the expression of dependance.

And when we come together in open and pray, it's my expression.

I am so dependent on God, I'm not going to let them walk by

and ignore me.

Let us

then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may

receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Do you have an area of your life

where you need the mercy and grace of God to intervene if you do?

When we sing this last song, I'm a band.

Come forward when we sing this last song.

I don't want you to think.

You gotta wait

till everybody's gone I got trained prayer people all around this place.

Who will stand up and be around. Go

ask someone to approach God's throne of grace.

Where you need mercy and grace.

And in public.

Pray not because God doesn't hear some prayer, but because sometimes

prayer must be public.

And it's got to be desperate enough to be a blind beggar who cries out, God

have mercy!

Through Jesus,

we have also obtained access by faith

into that grace.

It may be humbling to walk towards someone and say, hey,

I need prayer and I need you to approach God on my behalf with me.

Not for me, but with me.

But I'm

amazed that some people are so public

regarding their politics and their sports, and detailing

every area of their lives on social media, and yet struggle

to be silent when it comes to the Christ

in public.

He's blind.

Men remind me there are moments when faith should have a voice,

and especially in a safe place

of the house of prayer.

To seek the church and play with you,

not just for you.

When we sing, I'm going to invite you.

We're all going to stand up.

I'm going to invite you if you have that place that you need

the mercy and grace of God, don't keep it.

Be desperate enough.

To ask for prayer.

Perhaps this morning

Christ is going to stop.

In your life

and do what only he can do.

Throughout the Bible, Jesus constantly stopped

and intervened for people who cried out publicly

and walked by those who remain silent.

If there's a thing, you need God to move in.

If there's a health thing that you have that you're walking into,

if there's a relationship thing that you have not been able

to gain peace, closure, restoration,

healing in, there's a family issue, a financial issue,

a future issue over your kids, over your grandkids.

Don't stay seated.

Approach God's throne of grace will you will receive mercy

and grace to help in your time of need.

Everybody make flip side a house of prayer.

Pick up those lanyards.

Can you imagine?

Just dream a little bit.

Can you imagine what might happen

by a church like ours?

Desperate people like

us who approach God's throne of grace with each other.

How God might move, the healing that is waiting,

the restoration that is waiting in the wings, and

what God might do in our community as every student and teacher

and admin and school board member and administer

and superintend are prayed for by name every day,

can you imagine

what it might be like for God to stop

and not walk by this time?

This is why he went to the cross.

This is the way of the kingdom.

Father.

Thank you.

We come to you in the knowledge

that we need you.

You, God, are our only hope.

As we seek you.

Allow us the privilege to find you.

And as we

find you, meet all of our needs for your glory.

See us in this moment, in this place as we seek you.

Hear us as we cry out for you and respond,

we trust you, God.

There are some people right now who are going to approach your throne

of grace, so that they may receive mercy and grace

to help them in their need.

Oh God,

respond.

Our prayers

are the statement of our dependance upon you.

Oh God, respond.

May your kingdom come in this place right now,

as it already is in heaven

for your glory.

Amen. Church.

I'm going to bite you. Stand up and sing.

And if there is that need, do not leave here.

Do not leave here until you have cried out with someone.

Oh, Lord have mercy.