Palm Sunday Service - Hosanna! or Have Mercy! | Pastor Phil Holcomb

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. Our scripture that we're

going to read today comes from the Gospel of

Mark. including four scenes surrounding the events

of Palm Sunday that we have today. I invite you

guys to go along with me as I read. Listen, he

said, we're going to Jerusalem where the son

of man will be betrayed to the leading priest

and the teachers of religious law. They will

sentence him to die and hand him over to the

Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, flock

him with a whip and kill him. But after three

days, he would rise again. Then James and John,

the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him.

Teacher, they said, we want you to do us a favor.

What is your request? He asked. They replied,

when you sit on your glorious throne, we want

to sit in places of honor next to you. One on

your right and the other on your left. But Jesus

said to them, You don't know what you're asking.

Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of

suffering I'm about to drink? Are you able to

be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must

be baptized with? Oh, yes, they replied. We're

able. Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus

and his disciples left the town, a large crowd

followed him, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus.

was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus

heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began

to shout, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on

me. Be quiet. Many of the people yelled at him,

but he only shouted louder. Son of David, have

mercy on me. When Jesus heard him, he stopped

and said, tell him to come here. So they called

the blind man. Cheer up, they said. Come on,

he's calling you. Bartimaeus threw aside his

coat and jumped up and came to Jesus. What do

you want me to do for you? Jesus asked. My rabbi,

the blind man said, I want to see. And Jesus

said to him, go, for your faith has healed you.

And sadly, the man could see and he followed

Jesus down the road. As Jesus and his disciples

approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns

of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives.

Jesus sent two of them on ahead. Go into the

village over there. He told them, as soon as

you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied

there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and

bring it here. Then they brought the coat to

Jesus and threw the garments over it, and he

sat on it. Many in the crowd spread their garments

on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy

branches they had cut in the fields. Jesus was

in the center of the procession, and the people

all around him were shouting, Praise God! Blessings

on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor

David! Praise God in highest heaven! When they

arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the

temple and began to drive out the people buying

and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked

over the table of the money changers and the

shares of those selling doves. And he stopped

everyone from using the temple as a marketplace.

He said to them, the scriptures declare, my temple

will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

But you have turned it into a den of thieves.

When the leading priests and teachers of religious

law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning

how to kill him. But they were afraid of him

because the people were so amazed at his teaching.

Thank you, church. And this is the word of our

Lord. Today is a unique day. Some of you may

not follow the church calendar, but we are right

in Holy Week. This is the launch of Holy Week.

So this Sunday is what we call Palm Sunday or

the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

The kingdom that comes that collides with our

own kingdoms as Jesus comes in and really turns

things right side up, but it feels upside down.

And as we heard from that passage, The religious

leaders are going to condemn Jesus. The crowd

is going to abandon him. His disciples are going

to betray him. And then Jesus is ultimately going

to be crucified. And then next Sunday, we are

remembering and celebrating the fact that he

has risen from the dead. So this week is the

most powerful condensed week of remembering what

it is that shapes and forms our faith. And the

gospels all recount this. All four of the gospels

recount this story of the triumphal entry. But

they all hit it from a different side. And you

might want to think about this almost like a

stereo that's coming at you from surround sound.

Different parts and pieces of it. So if you read

it and you're like, oh, this one's different

than that one. It's intentional. There's a reason

why these gospel writers are doing this. They're

wanting to draw your attention to it in a different

way. This morning, our focus is Mark. Why did

I choose Mark for the passage? Mark is a straightforward,

no messing around, starts right away with Jesus

calling his disciples and just moves along in

action. He doesn't do what John does going into

these deep philosophical considerations about

who God is and all of the implications of it.

But what Mark has done is he places Christ in

the center of the story and then invites you

and me to watch as different disciples come in

contact with Jesus. What do they do when they

come in contact with Jesus? You're invited to

consider that this morning as well as we welcome

in the king. What does it look like for your

heart to turn towards Jesus? So would you pray

for me as we invite the Holy Spirit to move within

us this morning? God, as we have just been declaring

in music, we recognize that you are the reason

that we have gathered. You are the reason that

we have been called back to you. You have done

the heavy lifting of the work to restore relationship

with us. And so this morning, we just want to

say, Holy Spirit, that you are invited to move

within us. Would you open our eyes to see you?

Would you open our ears to hear you? And would

you open our hearts once again to be tender towards

who you are, God? We want to increasingly be

shaped into the image of your son, Jesus. And

we want that to be reflected to the world around

you. So do what you need to do in this time through

your word. We pray this in the wonderful name

of Jesus. This is the beautiful country or city

of Guayaquil in the beautiful country of Ecuador.

My family and I got to live a number of years

there. And in 2016, almost exactly 10 years ago

to this day, we were attending a school drama.

And so we were in the meeting, gathering like

this and watching this drama go on. And all of

a sudden, something disrupted our evening. The

room began to kind of shake. slightly. Now, we're

in Ecuador where earthquakes are quite common.

In fact, somebody came up and they said, hey,

do you remember this is about a year ago that

the earthquake hit Ecuador, the same time. And

so we knew this earthquake was hitting us, but

then it started to get increasingly strong and

violent to the point where everybody got up and

they said, okay, let's make our way downstairs

and outside to the football pitch where there's

a place of gathering out there. So we made our

way out and we gathered there. And it was in

the next hours and days and weeks that we came

to find out that this earthquake registered 7

.8 on the Richter scale, a massive earthquake.

But it was down in the coastal area. And over

700 people lost their lives in this earthquake.

And tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed.

They collapsed. Now, what ended up happening

in this country is people were thinking, okay,

yes, this was a strong earthquake. And those

who understand earthquakes and what they do,

depending on how deep they are and where they're

located, were saying the damage was disproportionate

to the level of shaking. In fact, there should

have been way less damage. It was a strong earthquake,

but not strong enough to knock down tens of thousands

of buildings. Why did this happen? So the people

began to ask this question and people looked

into it. And what they discovered requires you

and I to do a little bit of research. So some

of you may fully understand this, but let me

walk us through this. In order to create or to

build a concrete building, you have to have certain

ingredients that you put together, right? The

cement, you put sand in it and small rocks or

stones, and then you mix water into it to then

cause this chemical reaction that firms up the

concrete. But there's an essential element that

is needed, which is rebar, reinforced steel bars

that go in the inside of it. And this picture

shows it. So on the floor of a cement building,

and as they stack them, they'll put rebar, and

then the cement covers that. Same with the pillars.

There's rebar in the center, and the cement covers

it. Now, we can't see the rebar in these buildings.

We can't see it. But it is absolutely essential

for this. Now, what they discovered in Ecuador

was that most of the buildings that were damaged

were along the coastal area. So what had happened

was those who were building these buildings had

taken sand along the beach because it's readily

accessible. But sand along the beach has what

in it? Salt and water. So they had mixed this

salty sand into the mixture. And that had then

corroded from the inside out the steel bars that

were meant to safely keep the building up. Those

who were living in it at the time had these beautiful

colored houses and it looked fine. But something

was happening on the inside that was not okay.

And it was slowly corroding from the inside out.

And what Palm Sunday is, is actually a response

of Jesus to say, you and I have a problem that

we may or may not be aware of. We journey through

life and like those colorful buildings, it looks

like everything is just fine. But there's something

deep inside that needs addressing. And the king

comes into that and he turns everything upside

down, not because he's punishing, but because

he's helping you and I to understand that something

is deeply broken within us. But how do you receive

something you don't even know you need or can't

see? Well, let's journey forward and look at

these different disciples in the gospel of Mark.

We're going to look at four different encounters

with Jesus, and we're going to ask the question,

what does it look like for you to encounter Jesus

as well? So let's look at these disciples while

you ask that question. Let's pick the easiest

ones, the actual 12 disciples that were following

Jesus. Okay? Do you think they're going to do

a pretty good job responding with the heart of

discipleship to Jesus? They should. They've been

walking with Jesus for three years. They know

what he likes to eat, how he walks, where he

sleeps, where he likes to rest, his teaching

and his stories. They're familiar with this.

There's a proximity that is there. So I'm going

to put my money on this group. They've got the

true heart of discipleship. I'm pretty sure that

they're going to respond correctly, right? These

people know Jesus. In fact, Jesus called them

to follow him. maybe they're going to respond

in a way that is a true heart of discipleship.

But as Polo read that passage for us, it's almost

shocking what happens. So Jesus has taken all

of this time to prepare them for the events of

Palm Sunday. If I called you and said, hey, would

you join me on this week where you and I are

going to suffer, sacrifice, be betrayed, die

on the cross, who's with me? Right? Nobody's

going to follow him. So Jesus carefully, like,

walked them into this. And he says, hey, these

are the things that are going to happen. We're

going to go to Jerusalem where the Son of Man

is going to be betrayed to the leading priest.

And he says exactly what will happen. How do

they respond? Lord, help me to follow you, right?

No. They say, hey, can we ask you something?

When you get into your kingdom, Could you have

a sit on your glorious, or sit next to you in

places of honor, one on your right and one on

your left? I don't think you could miss this

moment worse. This is like two totally different

things happening at the same time. Jesus, who

came and said, I did not come to serve, but to

give up my life. I did not come to be served,

but to give up my life as a ransom for many.

And they're like, hey, can we have special seats?

It's a complete miss in this kingdom. Now, we

laugh at that. And yet you and I have something

within us that moves us towards self -promotion.

But Jesus comes and he gently disrupts. their

journey forward and says, hey, I've got something

that's actually much better for you. I realize

that you really want a place of honor. You really

want to be recognized. You really want people

to think highly of you. And you think I'm the

key to that. But I've got something much better

for you, something internal that I'm going to

come and fix. So let's place the disciples on

the side and let's look at our next group of

people. The next group of people is the crowd.

The crowd that is gathered around. And what are

they yelling out? Okay, a little louder. What

are they yelling out? Hosanna, right? And then

we just did this. We just yelled out Hosanna.

But what does Hosanna actually mean? How many

of you woke up this morning and thought, hmm,

what does Hosanna mean? It actually means, it's

a form of praising the Messiah, but the literal

translation would be, save now. Save now. So

they are, in one sense, they are enacting what

they should be. They know that the Messiah is

coming and they are declaring, hey, Messiah,

would you save us now? Save now. But on the other

side, there's something that is being revealed

in what the crowd is asking for here. And you

begin to realize that this story continues to

unfold because what does this crowd do just a

matter of hours later? Their Hosanna turns into

crucify him. How do you change from Hosanna,

save now, to crucify him? It's about the heart's

allegiance and where our heart is given to. And

so what Jesus does is when he comes to address

the people and bring his kingdom, he helps them

to see that their self -preserving way of life,

their allegiance to self -preserving needs to

be handed over to him, the true king. Now, both

of these things, self -preserving and self -promoting,

are things that we just engage in quite naturally.

But I want you to look at what the implications

of Jesus encountering this kingdom does. He disrupts

it, and he invites them to see that, hey, there's

a deeper thing going on inside of you that I

need to address, and that's why I've come. Well,

let's pick an easier crowd to pick on, right?

These are the religious leaders, and we know

them. But before we even get to them, think about

what it is that they are known for. Their knowledge

about God, they knew the scriptures really well,

as well as their maturity. So they seem to be

pretty good candidates for having a true heart

of discipleship, right? They know a lot about

God and they are mature. Their life has demonstrated

a transformation. So we think, hey, these people

have got to be getting it. But when Jesus comes

in, he does something to rock their world, to

help them to see that they are actually putting

their trust in something that they should not

be putting their trust in. How does he disrupt

their world? Well, he walks into the temple.

And imagine walking into ECB and there's one

of our overflow rooms that is for the nations,

right? This is a special part that has been designated

for the least, the last, the lost to come and

be able to engage and encounter God in that space.

And the religious leaders who are responsible

for caring for this space have allowed people

to set up businesses and markets in that area.

What does that mean for the least, the last,

and the lost? They have no place in God's temple.

They are pushed out of God's temple. Do you see

why Jesus is so angry when he walks into this?

The religious leaders were supposed to be guarding

this space for the nations to come in and then

receive the good news of who God was to the Israelites

passed along to them. And instead they had used

it for their own gain and it was for their own

profit. So yes, they had a lot of knowledge and

maturity, but something was happening inside.

And this is why Jesus, when he walks in and he

turns the tables over and you know this scene

and he's got a whip in his hand, it's like, who

is this Jesus? Where's the guy that was like

sitting with the kids just a couple stories back

and like, hey, let the children come to me. What

has happened in this space? Well, he addresses

it. The scriptures declare, my temple will be

called a house of prayer for all nations. But

you have turned it into a den of thieves. What

is he addressing? He's addressing their self

-protecting way of living. So they have taken

their position as a leader and used it to profit

themselves and to help protect their way of life.

And Jesus encounters them in that space and he

says, hey, I want something more for you. I've

been calling you for all of these years to something

different, something better, something more secure.

And so we look at all of these three different

ways and we say, yeah, to walk in the way of

God, I should be familiar with Jesus and I should

be close to him. Yes, I should praise and have

passion about following him. Yes, I should have

a sense of understanding of his word and I should

have maturity. But these are not necessarily

the signs of a transformed heart. These are like

the outside walls on the building. And so God

instead wants us to get to what is inside. Do

we have anybody left in the story that we can

turn to as an example? Who is left in this space?

The blind man, the blind man. And what does he

do? We have Bartimaeus. Okay, so Bartimaeus is

currently sitting outside of the city of Jericho.

So Jericho is the north part of Jerusalem, just

north of Jerusalem. And you come out of the city

of Jericho and you make your way down and then

back up to the city of Jerusalem. And Bartimaeus

is actually placed right outside of Jericho.

Why? The city is considered the place where everyone

belongs, the place where there's protection,

the place where somebody of significance gets

to live. Bartimaeus is blind. He's a beggar.

He doesn't have a place in the city. He's marginalized.

And he's placed himself on the road intentionally,

hoping that people traveling between these two

cities will help him make it through the day.

And that's where the story picks up. So what

happens with Bartimaeus? Bartimaeus, this blind

beggar, he hears that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby

and he begins to shout out, Jesus, son of David,

have mercy on me. What does the crowd say? Be

quiet. But he only shouted louder, son of David,

have mercy on me. When Jesus heard him, he stopped

and he said, tell him to come here. Look at the

response. It's different. Jesus is not disrupting

what is happening in this point. In fact, this

blind beggar's life has been disrupted from the

very get -go. He has nothing to found himself

on. So he's ready to accept what is actually

needed to transform his life. And then he cries

out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Now,

this is a packed quote. Jesus means what? God

saves or Yeshua, Joshua, God saves. Son of David

is calling back to the last king that came into

Jerusalem on a donkey, which was King David.

And it was out of his generation that there was

supposed to be the Messiah. So this is saying

God and Messiah. And then he says, here's my

heart. Have mercy on me. And it's the combination

of all three of those together that reflects

the posture of true discipleship. And that's

what we see when we encounter Bartimaeus. So

he's undone and he is overcome, but Jesus welcomes

him because he comes with a sense of trust and

dependence. Trust and dependence. My daughter

Maya, when she was two years old, was known.

for as soon as we parked in a parking lot, she

actually had figured out how to undo her own

car seat, which these are supposed to only be

adults that do this, but she had figured it out.

And she would, basically we would park and then

she would get out the door and boom, she was

out of there. So we had to make this agreement

with her where we said, listen, when we park

in a parking lot, wait, wait to hold the hand

of an adult. So it can be dad, it can be mom,

it can be one of your grandpa and grandma's,

uncle's, aunt's, whatever it is. But wait to

hold the hand of an adult. What are we doing?

We're protecting her. We're caring for her. We

know what is the possibility of what could happen

in a parking lot like that. And so we would say,

wait to hold your hand. And so she would wait

and we would hold her hand and walk along with

her. Well, one time I said, hey, Maya, you're

not holding anybody's hand. You need to hold

somebody's hand. And she looks at us and she

goes. Yes, I am. Maya hold Maya's hand. She was

literally holding her own hand at this point.

And she's like, hey, I can figure out this system.

You give me a system, I'll figure out another

system. Welcome to parenthood. I did not read

that in any of my manuals on how to parent. But

in a sense, this is what God does with us. God

is here and he's like, hey, I want to care for

you. I want to protect you. And the way for you

to live in a flourishing way is for you and me

to be so intimately combined that the very breath

that is coming out of your mouth, you realize

is God's work in and through you. And what do

we do? Phil holds Phil's hand. Phil's going to

do what Phil needs to do as he goes forward.

And we forget about it again and again and again.

And God graciously comes to us again and again

and again. And he takes it apart and he says,

you need to hold my hands. I'm going to be the

one who cares for you. This is what it is to

be undone and overcome. And we have the most

unlikely person, this blind beggar, be the one

who actually gets to show us what it looks like

to enter the kingdom in a way of true heart posture

discipleship. So what marks your encounters with

Jesus and his kingdom? And be honest. We all

do this. Even preparing for this sermon, I'm

like, okay, I want to protect myself. I want

to promote myself. I want to preserve myself.

What does it look like for me to take grab of

this? And God is like, no, would you open your

hands and let me do what I need to do in and

through this time? Because I'm more interested

on restoring you in a complete and full way than

what you think you need. And there's the difference.

One is all about me thinking I know what I need.

And the other is about God saying, hey, I'm going

to come and restore things from the inside out

in an upside down way that will last for eternity.

So we may find ourselves participating in life

in ways that look like these beautiful buildings

in Ecuador with painted walls. And we think,

Lord, if I just have something else to add to

my life, it's going to be better. Just give me

that one more thing and then I'll be complete.

Just do this other thing and it's going to be

fine. But God comes and he says, you know what?

There's something that I want to do deep inside

you, which is to restore my own deep personal

love and relationship towards you. And that is

where your complete peace will be found. That

is where your shalom will be found. And so there

can be gentle shakes to help us to identify that

where we realize, okay, Lord, would you do it

again? Have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy

on me. How do you respond to these disruptions?

Because quite honestly, they're annoying. They're

annoying at best and they're absolutely destructive

at worst. But when these disruptions come along,

you and I have the invitation to either cry out,

Hosanna, or to cry out, have mercy. Save me now

from this. Paint another thing over the wall.

Just cover that crack. I don't want to know what's

going on. Or we can say, Lord. encounter me in

the deepest parts of where I am, and transform

me from the inside out. Now, we may find ourselves

thinking this. We may think, okay, so Jesus came.

We just celebrated Holy Week, and we remember

that he died on the cross, so it's done, right?

He declared it is finished. So you and I say

this prayer and we say, Lord, have mercy on me,

forgive me. And then I just journey through life

thinking that it's going to be okay, right? Well,

Paul here is going to give us a very strong rebuke.

He's talking to the church in Galatia. But you

know what? This is what he's talking about. And

just read it with or listen as I read it over

you. This is Paul talking to the church in Galatia

with the problem that we find ourselves in again

and again. Phil's going to do it. I've got this

covered. I'm going to be the one to make this

happen. So Paul says, oh, foolish Galatians,

who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning

of Jesus Christ's death was made as clear to

you as if you had seen a picture of his death

on the cross. You were staring at the sacrifice

that was done on your behalf that you didn't

have to do it. And yet you go back and you try

to do it yourself. And he goes on and he says,

let me ask you this one question. Did you receive

the Holy Spirit by obeying? No, of course not.

You received the Holy Spirit because you believed

the message you heard through Jesus Christ. It's

that, Lord, have mercy on me. You are the one

who did it. Let me receive that and not try to

do it on my own again. And he continues on. He

said, how foolish can you be after starting your

Christian lives in the spirit? Why are you now

trying to become perfect by your own human effort?

And we do this again and again and again. We

try with our own effort to do that. And God graciously

comes and he says, let me lift that burden from

you again. Let me lift it from you. And the key

to where we find this is at this last part of

this section in Galatians. Have you experienced

so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain,

was it? In the same way, Abraham believed God

and God counted him as righteous because of his

faith. The real children of Abraham, they are

those who put their faith in God, trust and dependence.

So now we need to go back. Hundreds of years

to Abraham and look at his life. What did it

look like for Abraham to be put up as this example

like Bartimaeus of somebody who we are to model

our lives after? Well, it's an upside down way.

It is upside down and it makes us feel disoriented.

And here's why. God encounters Abraham in Genesis

15. And he encounters him in a way that he says,

hey, I want to bind myself in relationship to

you. Because of my great love for you, I want

to bind myself in relationship to you. The closest

thing you and I have to this experience now is

what we would call like a marriage covenant.

So you would have the husband and the wife up

here, and you'd say, until death does us part,

and sickness and unhealth, and you would give

this covenant back and forth with one another.

It's basically promising how I plan to take care

of this other person, and I'm going to love you.

We're going to be connected, right? So God has

made a covenant with Abraham, and he's engaged

in a way of promising with him, but it's a very

strange way. So I'm going to give you a little

bit of context for it before I show the image.

Because the image is quite shocking. So hold

on to that. Here's what the people used to do

back in the ancient Near East to make an agreement

with each other. They would make an agreement

by, they didn't have signed papers or chat GBT

to help them create a lawyer -based document

that could hold this together. And this wasn't

like a marriage covenant. This was something

different. This was two groups of people that

were saying, hey, how does it look like to agree

to one another? So they came together. And they

would take animals and they would cut these animals

in half. Oh, gruesome. Put it on two different

sides. And so there's this trail of animals.

And then the blood would come into the center

of that space. And then the two parties would

walk. I love seeing the faces. The two parties

would walk through the blood. And they would

look to their left and their rights at these

animals. And it was a visual representation of

saying, if I break my agreement with you, may

this happen to me. Whoa, that is a strong agreement.

By the way, if anybody wants me to do their wedding,

we're going to try this one for the next. That's

a strong agreement. So Abraham is called into

this covenant relationship with God. And God

says, okay, I'm going to bring you to this place

and I want you to bring these certain set of

animals. And I want you to cut them in half and

place them next to each other. So Abraham does

this. He puts them there and God says, I'm going

to then fulfill what I've said I'm going to do

with you. But one detail that's really important

at the beginning, God had just promised land

to Abraham and Abraham's like, how are you going

to do this? He's doubting. He's saying, Lord,

you just promised me children, but I don't know

how you're going to make the land possible. So

he brings his doubt to God and he's like, how

are you going to do this? So God calls him to

this covenant, gets these animals, places them

there. And then you know what God does? He puts

Abram to sleep. Genesis 15. You can go back and

read it after the service. He puts Abram to sleep.

It's like this deep darkness comes over him in

the end part of the day. And Abram's sleeping

over there on the side. And who's making his

way through the covenant agreement? One person.

God. Well, three in one. And he's saying, may

I take on the responsibility of the covenant

I guarantee you are going to break. Brothers

and sisters, that is the best news you've ever

heard. That is a deal that nobody will ever make

with you. And the God of the universe, the one

who holds everything in his hands, reached out

to make that deal with you and me. How did he

do that? Well, he didn't call you and do this

animal thing, right? He instead did it in a different

way. And this is exactly what Holy Week is saying.

So Jesus enters into this space and it's horrific.

There's a lot of sacrifice that he's doing. But

the blind beggar, what does it say at the end

of his section? It says his eyes were healed

and he followed Jesus on the road or on the way.

That was the phrase that was used for discipleship.

On the way. I'm a person of the way. So he follows

Jesus on this road as Jesus goes and then ends

up. being sacrificed on the cross and his blood

is spilt. And Jesus in that moment is taking

on the very infractions, the very breaking of

the covenant, the way that you and I again and

again and again turn back to ourself. And we

say, I got this. I don't need you, God. And he's

saying, you know what? I know that you think

you got this, but I love you more than that.

And I'm going to come and keep disrupting your

life to call you once again, again and again

and again. to my deep and profound, unfailing,

merciful love for you. So you might ask, well,

Pastor Phil, what do I do about this? Maybe the

best thing is to go take a nap. Not right now,

please, but maybe the best thing is to go take

a nap like Abram. I know that sounds ridiculous,

but we strive and we try so hard again and again

and again. And I know this, I'm guilty of this.

And what God has said is, I've done this for

you. Would you just soak in my love? And that

love will then change you from the inside out

to fix the problem that you cannot fix. You will

end up becoming more and more like Jesus just

naturally out of it when you soak in what I have

done for you. And that's why the church has taken

this week and said, hey, this is an important

time for us to remember what Jesus has done.

So participate in it. And what I'd like to invite

you and I to do as we close this time is to really

posture yourself like Bartimaeus, to just allow

yourself to look to Christ and say, Lord, this

morning, how did I enter into this day thinking

that I could do it by myself, that I didn't need

your help, that I didn't need your goodness and

your sacrifice for me? How am I doing that maybe

right now as I'm breathing? What does that look

like? And so I'm going to pray a prayer over

you, and I just invite you to listen to that.

If you want, you can undo your hands and lift

them to the side here in a posture of saying,

may my body reflect what my heart and soul desires

from God. And here's the prayer as an adaption

from Psalm 139. Spirit of God, would you search

me and know me? Would you reveal anything within

me that is anxious, that's fearful, or grasping

for control? Would you show me the places where

I am striving in my own strength or resisting

your invitation to trust? Lord, please shine

your light on what is hidden. Heal what is wounded.

Steady what is unsteady in me. And lead me in

the way of Jesus, the way of surrender, the way

of peace, and the way of love. Amen. we welcome

you to engage by sending us an email to office

at ecb .asia. If God is calling you to support

our ministries, you will find giving options

on our website. And remember to join us next

week. God bless you.